Al Heavens is a Haddonfield, N.J.- based, nationally syndicated, home-improvement writer and author whose newspaper columns, magazine articles, and books have been the first word on remodeling for 50 million readers for more than three decades. He is the author of What No One Ever Tells You About Renovating Your Home and Remodeling on The Money: Fifteen Innovative Projects Designed to Add Value to Your Home and was “The Gadgeteer” on Discovery Channel’s Home Matters program.
After 56 years as a writer, I have concluded that the time has come to give my fingers a rest.
I would venture a guess that the number of articles, columns and blog posts I have crafted since my days as a school page reporter for the Waterbury, Conn. Sunday Republican likely exceed 10,000, and that doesn’t include my three books, scripts for radio and television, nor the long to-do lists I wrote and still write for my three houses.
The to-do lists will continue, since, as people comment as they pass me cleaning gutters, mowing the lawn, or replacing front-porch floorboards, “the work never ends, does it?”
It also will never be finished, because there is just one more thing that must be done, from changing a lightbulb to replacing the 12-year-old electric fireplace in the wall I built facing our bed that helps keep us warm on the coldest winter nights.
No, I have just concluded that I have no new advice to give, nor can I keep up with the technology and products that appear on the scene faster than I can read up on them, even with access to the Internet.
Case in point: The faucets in the downstairs bathtub were long overdue for replacement, as was the 65-year-old toilet that my wife noted was a year older than she.
The toilet was easy – just remove and replace the water-guzzler with a dual-flush Toto. When the plumber arrived with the new tub faucets, he realized that there was no access panel. So, he cut one, very efficiently I might add, in the wall of the hallway behind the tub.
Which left it to me to repair the wall, adding an access panel as well as a 2-by-2-foot sheet of drywall. As usual, I applied three coats of mud to the perforated sticky tape that I have used for more than 20 years (the same roll), sanding three times with a wet sponge to minimize dust.
I was relating this experience over coffee to a contractor who was spending the rest of the day sanding drywall in a kitchen remodel for his sister.
“Three times is the charm,” he said, “but did you know they now make even-thinner perforated drywall tape that works better than the one you used?”
No, I didn’t, which means that, even as I do more work on my house, I continue to lose touch with advancements in the remodeling industry.
Nostalgia has its place, but there are much better sources than my experience on which you can depend.
In the basement home office that I built for myself in 2011, there are two five-foot-by-five-foot Ikea bookcases. The one on the left is filled with home-improvement books, as well as several years of the Old House Journal, that I have collected since the 1970s.
I rarely look at them because they seem so out of date. Only a handful mention computers, and then only fleetingly. In 2007, when my second book came out, I wanted to make it interactive, so when you turned to the chapter on laundry rooms, you could see a link to the topic on the associated website. Clicking on that link, you would be able to see related videos and products to help you make an educated and up-to-date choice.
My publisher did not have a clue what I was talking about and wouldn’t take a chance. The book is as out of date as most of those on my home office shelf, and the website sits relatively unchanged.
Some things never change, of course, such as using a hammer or the difference between Phillips and slot-headed screwdrivers, and those things were long ago committed to memory.
None of these books mention LED lights, however. The electrician who someday may do some work at my house (I waited three months for a visit and three weeks for an estimate) gave us a complete lecture on them when he came up to check out what I wanted him to do.
When LEDs first appeared on the radar, they seemed exotic and not ready for prime time. Although I wrote about them, the focus was more on the objections than the advantages, which seemed to be fewer than incandescent.
Being a do-it-yourselfer is not as easy as it was back in 1975, when I carved a spot out my parents’ basement for a darkroom (my landlord had said “no” to the idea) or used my father’s tools to build a bookcase to impress someone to whom I later — briefly — became engaged.
Compare it, if you will, to the modern automobile. My father took an adult education course in the 1960s where he learned to tune up his Rambler American, then his Cadillac, and, finally, his Chevrolet Impala.
Earlier this week, I took my 12-year-old Toyota Prius into the dealership for what I thought would be an inexpensive, 5,000-mile oil change, after spending $2,500 on major maintenance issues in June, and $1,300 last December.
I left after paying $1,121. Who knew Priuses needed a new set of $600 spark plugs at 120,000 (it has 128,000, so someone might have mentioned it in December or June), or had to have carbon buildup blown out of the system?
I did have the Internet with which to double check, but still … someone might have mentioned it at the last two appointments.
I commented to my wife later that “fixed income” to which retirees refer really means “income you spend to fix everything.”
So, I have reached the end of a very long trail and most enjoyable journey.
I have had the opportunity to inform and, hopefully, help millions of readers with their home improvement and real estate questions through my columns and articles, books and radio and television appearances nationwide.
I have rubbed shoulders with icons such as Norm Abram, Bob Vila, Steve Thomas, Rich Trethewey, Tommy Silva, Tom Krauetler and Leslie Segrete, Dean Johnson, Ron Hazleton, and Chris McWatt and Susan Powell (Miss America 1981) – my compadres on Home Matters.
I got to try out to be the Maytag Repairman by doing standup at Caroline’s Comedy Club on Broadway, even though I never had any attention of taking the job.
But remember this …
Treat anything you see on the Internet with care, and always test information in the same way you test the firmness of pasta before you transfer it from pot on the stove to colander in the sink.
When you choose anyone to work for you, from builder to home-improvement contractor, to electrician, plumber, landscaper, and handyperson, check references, ask questions, and get EVERYTHING in writing.
The key to a successful project is communication … constant, clear, and quick. Never keep your thoughts and ideas to yourself. If you want to make changes, do it in time to make things doable.
If you follow this advice, you will have few regrets when the job is done, and possibly none.
Good-bye and good luck.
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Al – it’s been a pleasure working with you over the years. From having us featured in your books, to being a guest on our Webinars, to writing this Blog and hosting the Podcast. You are a gentleman in the truest sense of the word and have been a wealth of information with your remodeling knowledge. We wish you all the best in all your future endeavors. THANK YOU…