The ‘lady of the house’ gets more involved in repairs, improvements

By Gretchen McKay

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The 75-year-old house Twyla Boyer ended up buying nearly two years ago was, to put it mildly, a doozy of a fixer-upper.

The kitchen was dated, the roof leaked, there were holes in the Pepto-Bismol-pink walls and the basement spouted a waterfall every time it rained. About the only thing the house in Bethel Park, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, had going for it was a nice layout.

It was, however, all the first-year student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary could afford. So she bought it and quickly set about doing most of the repair work herself.

In addition to patching and painting the walls, the 35-year-old finished the drywall in the bathroom and tiled the tub surround, installed cabinets, put down a new vinyl floor in the kitchen and even waterproofed the basement.

Jean Anthony, 60, of Port Vue, Pa., is another Jill of all trades. Over the past 20 years she’s tackled not only traditional decorating projects such as painting and wallpapering but also just about every type of home improvement and maintenance project imaginable.

That includes rewiring lighting fixtures, putting up drywall, laying floors and installing countertops.

“My husband is not mechanically inclined, so if I didn’t have any extra cash, I just asked a lot of questions and did it myself,” she says.

A growing number of women are trying their hand at home improvement and repair, and not just because they can’t find a handyman. We actually enjoy getting our hands dirty.

How much? An Ace Hardware survey reported that 62 percent of women who own homes are tackling home improvement projects and repairs on their own. And a study by Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse found that four out of 10 women believe they do more home improvement projects than their spouse or partner.

“There’s a sense of accomplishment in being able to do things by yourself,” says Chris Ahearn, spokeswoman for Lowe’s.

Some women are inspired by TV shows which portray home improvement projects not only as fun but also as something even a novice can do.

Others are finding their way via books such as “100 Things You Don’t Need a Man For” (Laurel Glen Publishing, $21.95) and “Dare to Repair: A Do-It-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home” (Harper Resource, $14.95).

Both paperbacks give practical, step-by-step instructions with illustrations on everything from how to repair that leaky faucet to how to lay carpet, change the direction of a refrigerator door, and build a tongue-and-groove tub panel.

For many women, figuring out how to unclog the toilet or install a dimmer switch is not so much a cool recreational activity as a matter of necessity and economy. According to the National Association of Realtors, single women now comprise the second-largest group of home buyers 15 percent just behind married couples. And nearly 90 percent of all women will at some point live alone because they never marry, become widowed or get divorced.

Not surprisingly, home products aimed specifically at the gentler sex are proliferating. Tomboy Tools (www.tomboytools.com), which makes and sells tools that are smaller and more ergonomically correct for a woman’s hand, holds Tupperware-style, in-home “workshops.”

“Our philosophy is if you educate women, they’ll feel empowered,” says Diane Lambrou, one of two Tomboy Tools consultants in the Pittsburgh area.

Depending on her customers’ skill level, workshops can be as basic as “this is a hammer and here’s how you work it” to drywall repair and trouble-shooting leaking faucets.

OK, so it probably won’t turn anybody into a contractor, but Lambrou is seeing a big response.

“They’re tired of waiting around for a man to do it or paying a handyman a fortune for something simple,” she says.

FOR YOUR SHELF

“Dare to Repair: A Do-It-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home”

“100 Things You Don’t Need a Man For”