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It turns out that at a certain point, money can buy time. Do I fix the leaky tap myself, or hire a plumber? After electricians rip up my basement drywall (per

It turns out that at a certain point, money can buy time. Do I fix the leaky tap myself, or hire a plumber? After electricians rip up my basement drywall (perfectly reasonably -- I was getting solar panels installed and the electrical panel needed to be upgraded) do I fix it myself or do I hire a professional drywaller? To be fair, some of the time I spent on this came away from Tarsnap. But less than you might imagine.

Alupis 1y ago
> or do I hire a professional drywaller When it comes to drywall, always hire a professional. Learn from other's mistakes... it's not as easy as you think and it won't turn out well.
- pokabul2 1y ago
  [dead]
- cperciva 1y ago
  True. In this case it was drywall in a poorly lit basement, so I wasn't all that concerned about it turning out perfectly -- but it absolutely did turn out much better than it would have if I tried to do it myself.
- bluGill 1y ago
  I know how to do drywall as well as a pro - it just takes me 6x as long. It is easy to do, but you can't do what the pros do without a lot of practice. By planning on 6x longer you can slow down, do thiner coats and such (pros do 3 coats of mud, I do 6 for the same thickness). Which falls into the do or hire.
- jonhohle 1y ago
  Dry wallers are amazing. As a diyer, it’s one of the few things I can never seem to get right. I’m happy to put holes in it, but seeing professionals patch it is another level.
  - firesteelrain 1y ago
    My wall has orange peel on it so I just spray it with orange peel after getting the spackle smooth and sanded. Never know I patched it.
- firesteelrain 1y ago
  It’s really not hard. I added onto a house I owned back in 2009 after returning from Iraq and saving a bunch of money. IRS also gave me a huge refund that year. Something with GWOT vets and taxes with combat pay. Anyhow, converted a covered porch to a room, had permits, raised the floor, added electric, energy efficient Argon gas windows, etc. You give 84 lumber the blue print plans from the architect and they tell you how much material you need. After I got to the stage to add furring strips for the concrete block part and insulation (which is easy too), I was ready to add the dry wall. Just lift it up to the wall then screw it in. Dry wall tape, corner bead, and mud to cover the seams. Orange peel can hide imperfections. Then paint. Pretty straightforward
AlienRobot 1y ago
At a certain point money can even buy money. The other day I had the opportunity to get a 10% discount on a fridge if I could pay the whole thing in one payment. If I didn't have the money I wouldn't get the discount, so in a way being poor means everything is more expensive.
- naikrovek 1y ago
  Being more poor is always more expensive than being less poor. All poor people know this in their bones because they face this every day of their lives.
- phonon 1y ago
  "The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
  - fud101 1y ago
    I refuse to drop $300 on a pair of bluetooth earphones but i've spent easily over that by buying lots of bad cheap ones. I'm still ok with that on principle, I don't like the idea of being ripped off..
- wkat4242 1y ago
  [flagged]

Alupis 1y ago

> or do I hire a professional drywaller When it comes to drywall, always hire a professional. Learn from other's mistakes... it's not as easy as you think and it won't turn out well.

pokabul2 1y ago
[dead]
cperciva 1y ago
True. In this case it was drywall in a poorly lit basement, so I wasn't all that concerned about it turning out perfectly -- but it absolutely did turn out much better than it would have if I tried to do it myself.
bluGill 1y ago
I know how to do drywall as well as a pro - it just takes me 6x as long. It is easy to do, but you can't do what the pros do without a lot of practice. By planning on 6x longer you can slow down, do thiner coats and such (pros do 3 coats of mud, I do 6 for the same thickness). Which falls into the do or hire.
jonhohle 1y ago
Dry wallers are amazing. As a diyer, it’s one of the few things I can never seem to get right. I’m happy to put holes in it, but seeing professionals patch it is another level.
- firesteelrain 1y ago
  My wall has orange peel on it so I just spray it with orange peel after getting the spackle smooth and sanded. Never know I patched it.
firesteelrain 1y ago
It’s really not hard. I added onto a house I owned back in 2009 after returning from Iraq and saving a bunch of money. IRS also gave me a huge refund that year. Something with GWOT vets and taxes with combat pay. Anyhow, converted a covered porch to a room, had permits, raised the floor, added electric, energy efficient Argon gas windows, etc. You give 84 lumber the blue print plans from the architect and they tell you how much material you need. After I got to the stage to add furring strips for the concrete block part and insulation (which is easy too), I was ready to add the dry wall. Just lift it up to the wall then screw it in. Dry wall tape, corner bead, and mud to cover the seams. Orange peel can hide imperfections. Then paint. Pretty straightforward

AlienRobot 1y ago

At a certain point money can even buy money. The other day I had the opportunity to get a 10% discount on a fridge if I could pay the whole thing in one payment. If I didn't have the money I wouldn't get the discount, so in a way being poor means everything is more expensive.

naikrovek 1y ago
Being more poor is always more expensive than being less poor. All poor people know this in their bones because they face this every day of their lives.
phonon 1y ago
"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
- fud101 1y ago
  I refuse to drop $300 on a pair of bluetooth earphones but i've spent easily over that by buying lots of bad cheap ones. I'm still ok with that on principle, I don't like the idea of being ripped off..
wkat4242 1y ago
[flagged]