I’m not a carpenter, or a plumber, or an electrician, or even a masterful DIY hobbyist. Most of you aren’t either. What are we to do when things break, or we need something new built, and we can’t just call an expert? Here are a couple of the main barriers I’ve found as I work on my ability to fix things myself, and some ideas for getting around them.
Fix your over-estimation first
Here’s a challenge for you though: Take some common piece of equipment you use often and understand pretty well how it works: a toilet, a bicycle, whatever. Now describe how it works. Once you’re done, imagine a bright, curious, but annoying child’s there drilling with the questions: Why does pulling the handle make the stuff in the bowl go away? Where’s that water come from? Why does the water quit running into the bowl, or refilling the tank? Keep up the questions until you can visualize every detail of the workings of the equipment or until you give up.
Here are some bicycles drawn by some folks who thought they knew how a bicycle worked. They could ride one, after all.
Psychologists call this the “Illusion of Competence” (1) We use something successfully all the time, so we know we have a good grasp on how it works. When pressed, most people did pretty pitifully bad on the Kid’s Questions test. Turns out they didn’t fully understand the equipment; they fully understood how to use the equipment.
And that’s plenty for normal living. It’s not plenty if you need to fix something; or worse, find a work-around for a fault that can’t be restored to its original. I ran into this when I went to rework gutters to fill my rainwater collection barrels — I had a good general idea of how to construct gutters, but struggled with the details such as the best way to cut the pipe and fix the connections of the used equipment to suit my new needs.
How to fix the Illusion of Competence problem
I tried the Kid’s Questions test on myself for several pieces of equipment. Some I rocked, some I was poor. What was the difference?
Practice. I did very well with toilets: I had replaced our tank kit and seat previously. Bicycles? Nailed it; I’m a cyclist and have changed out most parts at one time or another. Guttering? My rain barrel project did a lot to fix that bit of ignorance. Solar oven construction? Weeelllll…you might want to have a snack while I jigger with the lid and the angles and and and… I’ve never actually tried to build one, you see.
In case you’ve every wondered why our site is Beans, Bullets, Bandages, and You, it’s because Salty and I are convinced that working on yourself is one of the biggest pieces of really being prepared. To be ready to be able to make do without an expert on hand, we’ve got to work ourselves up to competence. YouTube’s great and all, but you don’t find the sticking points until you try it yourself.
To fix things, you need the right bits
Pass any home improvement store on a pleasant weekend day and you’ll find the parking lot packed with trucks (even if they’re bringing home only some screws the guys’ll want to drive their trucks to this store) as people pick up That One Thing they forgot they needed.
They don’t have to be giant or expensive, but a few of the right screws and nails go a long way.
Now some of that is recreational shopping. Looking for the Perfect Something is a time-honored delay tactic. Some though is for real. Sadly, duct tape doesn’t fix everything; at least not for long.
Here’s another thing my foray into learning to fix things has taught me. The little kibbles — having the right size and type of screw, the right drill bit, a socket wrench that fits instead of trying to get by with pliers — make a big difference. Having just a little bit of wood scrap adaptable to a purpose or some fencing wire on hand can make a big difference. And, of course, duct tape does fix lots of things! (Too bad duct tape doesn’t store well.)
This understanding motivated Salty and I to make some small but valuable purchases at the hardware store. We got some variety packs of screws, nuts and bolts, and nails. I’ve already hit up those collections multiple times, and ‘re-fixes’ made with the right little bit have lasted longer than the ‘this’ll probably work’ first fix attempts.
1) Chabris and Simons. 2010. The Invisible Gorilla: and other ways our intuitions deceive us. Random House Audio. http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/overview.html
Thank you for this post. As a desk worker, I try to deal with this problem in three ways: 1) Have duplicates of things that I am really dependent on. 2) Have a stock of Tools and Materials with which to make repairs. 3) Have a variety of “How To” books in my personal library. These tactics will not turn me into a handy man, but they will put me well ahead of my non-prepper, non-handy man neighbors. 🙂
I feel you, Paranoid Prepper; I’m not one of those super-handy people either. I’m a work in progress, you might say. Still, I figure things evident enough that I’ve already figured them out need to be shared.
There are great youtube videos showing you how to fix everything in the world. I do all the work on my old pickup myself now, I changed out the front hub assembly earlier this year just following the videos. Wheel ain’t come off yet!