Anyone ever just say F it all and then hire a pro?

I'm feeling my age today.

Wife inherited some hand-me-down chandelier crap that she wants me to install. I knew it would be a crap shoot opening up the ceiling and that replacing a 5 lb light fixture with a 40 lb chandelier would definitely require extra bracing.

Sure enough, the current bracket in the tiny hole barely is strong enough to hold the 5 lb light and needs to be replaced. Also, in taking it apart to check I can't seem to get the cheap bracket back together. Now, I have wires hanging from the ceiling.

Got so frustrated trying to look in a tiny hole 10 ft in the air with progressive lenses that only are clear on the bottom. I feel oooold.

Lots of French words, pissed off wife, and I just called the handyman cuz I'm done.

I am staring 70 in the face with fake knees and a brand new hip.  Damn skippy I hire pros to do all that shit.  Ladders?  Bwahahahaha.  If I need to get 3 feet off the ground it's a hard pass.  

And I hate letting strangers in my house.  I had several new ceiling fans to install.  replacing existing ones so the bracket was already strong enough etc.  Just needed to be able to climb a ladder with a 40 lb fan and hook it up.  I paid.  They look great.  

I did most stuff up until my knee replacements and I don't feel less of a man paying to get shit down.

I just turned 70 so I feel your pain brother.

I most recently changed transformers and installed LED bulbs in light fixtures attached to a vaulted ceiling.  Had to buy a taller ladder and make sure the wife was around in case I biffed it.

I did finally get smart, went to Walmart and bought cheap reading glasses so I don't have to do the progressive lens head tilt to try and see what I'm doing.

I don’t have much of an age excuse (49), but I’m fine with calling a pro if the project is going to wipe me out and make me useless at work for a week.

Some stuff is better left to the young guys who mow the lawn or work on trees for a living.

When my safe was delivered, I was grateful for the two young men with strong backs who wiggled it in where I wanted it. I was happy to tip them for their careful youthful exuberance.

I’m the primary earner around here. If I get injured, we’re gonna suffer bigly.

I'm only 50.

But reading glasses, that's the cheat code!

Thanks for the idea!

Insert You’re goddamned right meme

As I’ve gotten older and wiser I’m starting to make calls instead of trips to Lowe’s or reading up on how to DIY. Hell, I’ve rebuilt my AC systems on my older cars.  Compressor went out on my Mustang a couple weeks ago.   I paid the dealership to fix it.  Yea, it sucked knowing I could have done it.  But I would have hurt for two weeks after crawling under the car and swapping it out.  $1800
Just paid the Honda dealership $600 to change the plugs, $300 for new brake fluid and $300 trans fluid in my wife’s Pilot while they were doing the timing belt. I’ve done all of this in the past.  
I would have spent two days doing this shit, have to build a cradle type under hood creeper to access the plugs and again, hurt for a week or two after to recover.  

Paid a guy last year to build new steps on the front of the house. He did it in two days.  Would have taken me two weeks at the pace I work at.  

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still do minor stuff like oil changes or smaller projects around the home.  Pressure washed the dock last week. Yep, just over a week to recover.

You know what makes it easier to spend the money?

Watching my wife earn it and the shove $100 bills into a slot machine like it’s Monopoly money.  I’ve decided if she can drop $10k on a cruise to wherever or a $1000 weekend at a casino, I don’t need to be killing myself anymore.

I have a guy (Manny) that I call for things I estimate would be more trouble for me to do than to pay him for.  He works as a maintenance sup for some large apartment complex and does side jobs for cash.  

When we bought this house eight years ago he installed some gas lines under the house for us (to date I still haven't been in the crawlspace under the house).  I was sure I could replace the sliding patio door, ordered it, and realized I was in over my head.  I called Manny and for $450 he installed it and trimmed it up beautifully.  Most recently one of the outside spigots cracked during the freeze last winter, and was leaking at the valve.  That meant going in the crawlspace.  Manny replaced the spigot, parts and labor, for $150 (parts were just over $50).

So that's my advice; find a maintenance guy at any nearby apartment complex and find out if he'll take odd jobs for cash.

Buddy of mine decided to change the oil in his wife's car.  Jack stands were kept out of the way up in the garage trusses.  Set up step ladder to get on the work bench so he could reach the jack stands.

Step ladder tipped, he fell and broke 5 ribs.

But hey, he didn't have to pay quick lube $50, so there is that.

I know it's hard for younger guys to believe but we all lose strength and durability with age.  Age and surgeries especially.

In my early 50s I could bench 250 lbs, run reasonably well, squat a full rack and in all areas be a man.  Today after 2 fake knees, a fake hip, a bout with septic shock (that resulted in 3 months lying in a hospital bed and two follow up hernia surgeries installing mesh 12" x 15") I am unable to do many things that lots of guys here think we should be able to do.  

I doubt I could do a rep of 150 bench, I can't run at all, and lifting packages delivered weighing 50 pounds  seems heavy.  I'm only 70 but even going to the gym and (laughs and snorts out coffee with the amount of weights used) and lifting I am getting weaker not stronger.

Hence - I pay guys to do a lot of stuff.  It sucks but sucks less than getting on a ladder and breaking 5 ribs.  

i'm 68 and have been adding 2k sf onto our house. so far i've done everything except the 6 ft high foundations. currently sheetrocking our living/kitchen room  with 12 ft ceilings. already hung the lids, finishing up the walls this week. next is mud and tape, paint, tile flooring then trim. lotta work, but it beats being bored.

Just some advice for older guys:  They make cheaters with the helper lenses on top for working over your head: Double-D Lens Occupational Safety Glasses

The cheap alternative (which doesn't work as well) is to turn your regular bifocal or progressive lens glasses upside down and balance them on your nose.

I do not even think it is an age thing.
I get some one else to do the job when it involves heights.
We did permanent holiday lighting I was barely able to finish up to the gable and back down on the garage soffit.
Had to sub out the second floor

I'm trying to hire an electrician to do my main line to my house since I want to move it underground from overhead. Talked to the power company so I got a quote from them coming.

I have talked or called no joke 10 electrical contractor places and haven't gotten anyone to estimate it or most never call back. I know what it may cost and it's a pretty damn easy project, imo.

I need them to run from my new pole to my house, new meter base, then into my house panel



Guess I will be doing my own studying to learn enough to do it by code to pass an inspection so it can be done by myself.

I recently won a MEP-802A generator from the gov auctions.  Did all the mechanical work to get it running, poured my own slab, moved it (800#) to the slab with the help of a neighbor, but didn't want to do the electrical work to connect it to the panel.  Hired a guy for cash to do that.  Fully licensed, he works as an electrician on the nearby mil base and does odd jobs on the side.  Suggestion- find some construction happening nearby and go talk to the electricians.  You will probably find one that will do the work on a weekend for cash.