What would you not do?
 

Thinking of a few recent threads... what would you NOT do? What, for you, crosses the line between being self-sufficient and dangerous?

I don't mean something that would make the difference between life or death- like going back in a burning building to save your kids- I mean everyday things, like cutting down a tree that's leaning towards the house. When do you draw the line and call someone (could be a pro, could be a buddy who just knows more about the situation) in?

For me, personally, it's electricity. I do the plumbing and some structural, but I figure with both you can at least get out of the way if something goes wrong- you get a little warning :D Not to mention that there are few reports of bad plumbing killing anyone.

And some things with the animals. I do all our vetting, except surgeries and the like. And farrier work. I'd hate for one of the critters to suffer at my hands. Wound dressing, absesses, dislocated cat toes (don't ask)- I'm good with. I just don't know enough to cut into an animal- anywhere.

So, what's your answer?

I do plumbing, and electrical until it comes to the service panel. I won't mess with 220. I maintain the mowers / vehicles but unfortunately I don't have expertise or tools to go beyond simple oil changes in the truck and car. Wish I did, but my son just got hired by Goodyear...no I have a "go to guy". I've installed water heaters, dishwashers, helped with a furnace, gas ovens, switched out toilets, sinks, tubs and showers...If it's soldering, though, I suck and have to have a pro do that. I fell trees (big ones), build most of the stuff we need built around here, hung doors, did tile work in two bathrooms, put down t&g floor throughout an entire house,,,,guess I'd consider myself fairly handy.

Well this is a generalization, but as much as I enjoy privacy, I would want to live close enough so that if something really bad happened I could get help.
Not to be crude, but I'd hate to think of someone locating me by the smell.

That sort of thing hurts property values.

When I get my dream place, I intend on inviting each and every sherriff's deputy and lawman in the area over for a cup of coffee and a visit.
Being an ex-cop, I like the company of law enforcment folks, and let them know this old dude is out here alone.

Sully

lol, Sully!

Pheasant- that's the sorta think i'm talking about. I've built barns and sheds, fencing, all sorts of plumbing and toilets/sinks/tubs & showers, flooring of all sorts- but electrical of any sort is my stopping point.

I do what has to be done. Electrical, plumbing, building, vetting, mechanics, and plane old hard work.
If I can't do it I think real serious about if I really need it done. Can't remember the last time I decided I needed someone to do my work.

We did all of our electrical except having it run to the house from the pole and putting in the breaker box. We could have done that too but better safe than sorry.

We have done all sorts of crazy stuff over the years and have the scars to prove it but we do try to do what we have to do with as many safety precautions and as much forethought as possible. We cut our own trees even massive ones, we do all our own building although we have help with the pole barn we are putting up. We do our own doctoring on animals and us and draw the line at surgery. But we have backgrounds in healthcare and electronics and stuff so we know what we are doing.

Not really sure where we draw the official line. A lot of times we think we need help and so we call someone, they come out and we figure out we would be safer and smarter doing it ourselves. That's not arrogance either, sometimes the "experts" just don't radiate reliability.

I know how to build almost anything, and I ain't askeerd of much, but I WILL NOT help my wife pick out clothes!

Honey, does this make my butt look big?

I've only come across a few things I will not do.
1. Anything involving the big volts...I will replace a light switch though.
2. Clean or rebuild a chimney...I'll get an expert for that.
3. Kill any of my own animals (unless it really came down to it) I'll hire out this job, pick 'em up freezer ready.
4. Work on or install propane gas lines.
5. Drive my old tractor on very steep hillsides (or any place that really scares the you know what out of me.)
Guess I'm kind of a sissy. If you can call someone that routinely has to shoot coons and other chicken killers, a sissy : )

I'm afraid my list of things I won't do is longer than my list of things I will do. I know nothing about electricity, plumbing,heating, AC. So far what I have hired out at this place is installing water and hydrants to 2 outbuildings, roof on 1 outbuilding and electric to 3 outbuildings. I am best with the animals...but I don't do farrier work on the horses or float their teeth. I do trim the goats feet. I think this thread stems from a post on the equine forum...I would not get on a green stallion, but I would not fault a person who would. I do a lot of dangerous things around here and at work but they are all things I desire to do so it's worth the risk for me. I have no desire to get on an untrained horse...btdt. :)

We don't change our own oil - no place easy to dispose of it. We also don't do our own car repairs if it is beyond a quick look. Jobs we don't have the equipment for, we hire out or rent - like ditch digging. Other than those- if it's legal for us to do it, we do.

Thats on my "wont do" list also Trailrider. I do our plumbing, building, electrical etc. and there isnt too much we wont tackle but propane scares me for some reason.

I also agree with you on the old tractor comment, I have an old 1948 Allis Chalmers WC with tricycle gear and I only use it on the fairly level areas we have. The 4WD Kubota gets to tackle the hills. I guess I would rather be an old "sissy" than a dead or crippled brave heart!

I am afraid of electricity. I received a very bad shock 22 years ago that threw me from a counter top, across the kitchen into the refrigerator and broke my wrist. But I have decided I need to learn how electricity and basic electrical wiring work. I hope to take a class at the local community college when we can spare the funds.

We used to hire out anything.:o, but now we've gotten the homesteading mindset and are doing one little project after another, gaining confidence. We laugh at ourselves a lot.

I'm with MushCreek, I draw the line at clothes shopping with the girls. :nono:

because it's too much of this :gossip:

everything else is fair game, felling trees, electrical, plumbing, demolition, changing transmissions, engines, skydiving, EOD...

but rattlesnakes are another story, I'll kill every darn snake I see, ain't taking the chance of rotting flesh or DEATH :nono:

I feel capible of doing a lot of things, but I tend to be very slow at doing it or getting around to it.

So, I tend to be trading time vs money when I decide on how a project gets done.

I hired people to do a concrete floor. I hired people to re-plaster (concrete over the rock/concrete 100+ year old walls) the outdside of my barn. I hired people to rewire the farmstead backbone. I'm hiring people to wire up a new machine shed.

I plan to plaster (cement) the inside of the barn walls myself in the next 18 months - I might make it as pretty but can get the job done.

I could wire the machine shed, but time - I won't get to it.

I plan to paint the house this year yet.

I plan to shingle the house next year. Big job, but seems on my tall house people don't want to, and the quality of people who are willing to seems to be poor - flashing & other bits don't seem to be quality work....

I wouldn't consider doing the concrete floor or major electrical service deals because I'm not quite up to those.

Basically it comes down to skill and time.

Oh, tree cutting, I'll drop a tree around my buiildings. Friend had a few of us over to cut up some dead trees, I wanted no where near the tree leaning toward the house. My tree & my house, I woulda done it and just the same way they did it, but I'm not going to take that risk with someone else's property!

Which reminds me, I should get off thew internet, see if things dried down enough, & start cutting up the 3 large trees that blew over during the past several windstorms we've had.

--->Paul

a little different answer than the others, but I won't do without storebought toiletpaper... the thought of a bucket full of nasty rags sitting around waiting to be washed does not appeal to me

between me and my son i can't think of a single thing right now..if i do i'll come back and post it

Ill try any thing once. If we had to rewire the whole house, I'd have that paid for, but we install plug ins and lock sockets all the time.
Did some plumming myself yesterday. plugged up kitchen sink, that was beyond using just a plunger. Those plummers don't let you in on the price till it's too late.

Dental work. Nuf said.

:pound:

You WIN ... ;)

I would put it as things I have done that I won't do no more...

Pulling water well.
Cleaning septic system.
Putting on new roof.
Any tractor repair that involves pulling it in half.
Most anything that involves hard work when it's 100+ outside.

There's surely more that aren't on the top of my head, but that's a fair start.

I'll be hiring people to brick my house and put the roof on hopefully in the semi near future.

I'll likely still do all the wiring with a little help and plumbing.

I'll be hiring in a crew to do the sheet rock.

None of it because of any danger, e are always safe ways to do most anything. They are more jobs I find I'd rather pay someone to do.

I will never do any more concrete finishing. I don't do it enough to be truly skilled at the finish work.

Plastering. Again, something that would require lots of practice for me to do well. For the limited amount I did building my house, I paid an acquaintance that is a union plasterer to do it. It was money well spent.

Laying brick/concrete block. A small project I would tackle. Anything more than that and I am calling someone to do it.

The rest? I will do just about anything that I feel that I have the time to do.

However, I have found that there are jobs that end up being more expensive (when you factor in YOUR time) to do yourself. To shingle my roof (about 22 square on a 7/12 pitch), to do it myself would have been a long process. Two Amish laborers cost me $100 per day each. We did the job in a day and a half. That was the best $300 I ever spent. I even tipped them each $20. For me to do that job would have taken a month of Sundays.....

The only thing I can think of that we will "not" attempt is electrical wiring (except for simple things like replacing an outlet or hanging a light fixture)...neither of us know enough about it.

There are, however, some things we won't do ourselves "again"...and as soon as DH gets home, I'll ask and come back to post 'em.

Don't forget the doughnuts!! ;)

For me taking on a woman with children into my life would be crossing my line between self reliancy and dangerous stupidity where half of what little I have would be put at risk along with my personal comfort and sanity.

Ha ! You are so right ! That's one truism about every officer of the law I've ever met, donuts are never safe near them.

I make pretty good sinkers in my Dutch oven, so I'm good there. Thanks for reminding me !

Other than surgery/dental work, about the only thing I wouldn't do is something that takes more equipment than I have. Best case example is the well. 297' down through rock. Yes... I was thinking about it, but $12k isn't that much to have it done this decade.

Michael

Shrek- do you mean an immediate threat (Don't break that!) or eventual? If eventual, then there are prenups.... :)

Minelson- partly from that thread. And partly from the "it can't be done" thread. So far, my only real 'experience' on an unbroke horse came from a friend who, we eventually discovered- only heard part of what was said to him. Not as a mean thing, just a small sort of brain injury. "She's broke- just needs a tune-up." was what he heard. And repeated to me. The truth was- she was a former harness racer, had never had a person on her back in her life, hated all horses and liked to kick.
Ever been airborne? lol
All my other unbroke horse experience has been on the ground and on lead or just weight bearing training.

Okay, okay I give ya the dental work thing.... after seeing my dad with 50 lbs of padlocks (don't ask) suspended from a piece of fishin' line that was tied to his TOOTH.... 'nuff said.

And for the guys who hate shopping with the girls- come shop with me.
Summer shopping- 'hand me those jeans. My size? Got any holes in the butt? Good. Will ya take a dollar for them? Gimme that tank top. Looks like my size."

Winter shopping- 'hand me those jeans. My size? Got any holes in the butt? Good. Wonder if this thrift store discounts? Gimme that long sleeved western shirt, looks my size. Oh while we're here, we need scratch and some beet pulp."

All my shopping is yard sales, thrift stores and Co-op/TSC type places. I can't STAND new jeans- they have to be old and butter soft.. of course, this means that their lifespan is greatly shortened.....

We had no choice when starting out but to do anything and everything our selves if it was going to get done.This was simply because we didn't have much money.

My husband grew up farming where it was necessary to learn to do everything from building, repairing, plumbing, electrical, vet work, health care, gardening, animal breeding and care including hoof trimming, shoeing, butchering and farm and woods work with oxen or horses. When his Dad first put wiring in they did it themselves as well as the first plumbing in the house. My husband learned to make and rebuild old farm machienry. Right now he is almost finished building himself a new mo-ped which will be sturdier than anything he could buy.

I learned to garden, cook , bake from scratch, dehydrate, can and preserve, sew without patterns, make anything we needed from baby clothes to rugs. Clean with out a vaccuum, nurse, do mild first aide, raise chickens, have babies naturally and nurse them. I taught myself about nutritian and healthy living so to better care for my family long before I married Bill. When we got married we both had survival skills which put together served us well.

The only thing we don't do is major surgery on people or animals or dental work. I tried pulling my own teeth but ran into problems because the tooth root had grown into my jaw bone!
Last year we also had to pay to have the field bed and septic fixed. No one is allowed to do it themselves anymore. Had it not been right out in the open we would have still fixed it ourselves and not said anything. There are too many laws now. The pioneers would have never survived if they had to keep all the laws thrown at modern people trying to live off the land.

Basically we don't hire anything done or buy anything that we can do or make ourselves. After a life time of doing we would feel like we were wasting money hiring someone to do our work or buying something we could make.

I won't do much of anything thats what I have a Wife for.

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big rockpile

Rockpile, I'd be very scared. :) You better be nice to her! Hope that was a deer (and not a dear) hanging from that tree!

I dont go on the roof. Not for any reason. It is not happening, period.