By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 17, 2004
While her friends would dream of having their daddies build them the perfect dollhouse, Tina Hanson was figuring out ways to make her own. Armed with a hammer and nails, she would build little sheds next to her family’s house.
Flash forward about 30 years. Hanson, now 40, has done enough work on her Skokie home to make Bob Vila jealous.
“Instead of going in the business finance world, I wish I’d had the foresight to have studied architecture in college,” says Hanson, who works as a bookkeeper for a local travel agency. “I think I would’ve been pretty good at building houses. I do all right repairing them.”
Hanson is among the growing number of women who take a hands-on approach — literally — to home repair. Instead of waiting for her husband to fix something, she’ll tackle it. More often than not, the result is so good a professional couldn’t have done any better.
Nowadays, that repairer could very well be a woman — a trend that’s reflected on television. Turn on “Trading Spaces” and there’s Amy Wynn Pastor whipping up some amazing furniture for a giddy family. Tune in to “Toolbelt Diva” and there’s Norma Vally demolishing walls and making spaces livable. Go to www.barbarak.com and there’s New York single mom Barbara Kavovit selling tools made to fit better into women’s smaller hands.
“I got married, had a child, got divorced and he took the tool kit with him,” says Kavovit, whose first book, Room for Improvement, will be in stores Mother’s Day. “Even though I was the head of a construction company, I was still fearful of how to do repairs without relying on men.”
She got an early inkling that she would be handy at age 9 — when she helped her father put together the bunk beds she and her sister would sleep on.
“If I could do it at 9, I could tinker around the house as an adult,” she says, laughing. “This doesn’t mean women should or have to do their own home repairs. But knowledge is power, and while you can’t master everything in life, it’s empowering to know that you can do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you — and you’ll know if they fixed it correctly or not.
“Today’s generation of women is different from our mothers’ or grandmothers’. Not all of us get married young. Many women end up buying and repairing their own homes themselves.”
Indeed, the estimated median age at first marriage for women has risen by almost 5 years, from 20.5 in 1963 to 25.3, in the last four decades. And let’s face it — we all know women who waited until their 30s or even 40s to tie the knot. Given that a woman’s home is frequently her most valuable financial asset, women need to arm themselves with the knowledge and tools to keep their homes in good repair.
“From the record numbers of single women buying a first home to divorcees or widows, more and more women are finding themselves responsible for a home,” says Georgeann Georges, vice president of Sears’ Home Services unit. “The fact is that the vast majority of women are likely to spend years at either end of their adult life as sole caretakers of a home.”
For the record, Hanson’s toolbox rivals that of any man’s. For Christmas, her husband has asked for a new suit. The top item on her wish list is a new compound miter saw.
“If I waited for men to fix things, they would never get done,” Hanson says. “I don’t mean that in a malicious way, but I have a knack for repairs, so why not do it? My husband isn’t handy, so he’s happy to hire someone to do them. But I’m the one who sees the bills so I don’t want to take that approach.
“People always say things like, ‘Aren’t you afraid to take that door apart?’ And the answer is no. If it gets to the point where I know I can’t do it, I can hire someone. But usually I can figure things out.”
When they wanted to add a deck to their house, Hanson checked with the village office first to get the right specifications. Then she took over as her own general contractor. She poured the cement. She installed the hot tub. She even pre-drilled holes so other less-than-handy members of the family would know where to put in the screws. The only thing she didn’t touch was the wiring for electricity.
“I used to watch my mother change outlets in our garage all the time,” she remembers. “She knew her way around a toolbox. But I always call the electrician when we need that kind of work done. I know my limits.”
Like Hanson, Carol O’Keefe knew early on she had a knack for repairs. A curious child, she took apart clocks, radios and wristwatches. Sometimes she didn’t put them back together quite perfectly. But more often than not, she had them running like new.
“I learned to take apart things and how to sew,” says O’Keefe, 56, of River Forest. “Generally people are as surprised to learn I installed a sink as they might be if they heard some big guy sewed brand new curtains. My husband loves it. He’s not so good around the house so he lets me decide what needs to be done on that front.”
Her piece de resistance so far is their Wisconsin cabin, which she designed in 1998. She worked side by side with the builder, doing odds and ends such as waterproofing. A girlfriend taught her how to use a chain saw to clear the timber off the land.
“I’ve always been the type to ask for screw guns and screwdriver sets instead of bubble bath,” she says.” “A compressor [that you use with a nail gun] would be really nice. Maybe this Christmas.”
Laughing, she adds, “A woman can always dream.”
*****
TOOLBOX EMPOWERMENT STARTS HERE
Let’s face it, some of us just aren’t handy. But don’t fret. You, too, can learn to love your toolbox.
OK, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. Maybe you don’t even have a toolbox and aren’t sure what you’d even put in it.
Barbara Kavovit designs her Barbara K line of tools, which are made for women’s smaller hands. Her signature tool kit ($49.99) includes 30 pieces and is available at retail stores and at www.barbarak.com.
If you’d rather put together your own kit, Norma Vally, who hosts the show “Toolbelt Diva” on the Discovery Home Channel, suggests that all women — handy or not — invest in the five following pieces:
*16 oz. claw hammer. It’s not so heavy it’ll strain your wrist, but not so light you can’t tackle bigger projects.
*Utility knife with a retractable blade.
*Multibit ratcheting screwdriver. The multibits allow quick changes from Phillips to flat head, all in just one driver.
*Channellocks, which are multipurpose adjustable-sized pliers that are essential, especially for any plumbing work.
*1 inch wide tape measure.
Now you’ve got the tools and you’re ready to tackle some projects. But remember that knowledge is power. So if you’re at all interested in trying to fix that leaky faucet yourself, do a little reconnaissance work first. Check in with your local hardware store. Many of the employees will be happy to share tips — if you don’t catch them during a busy time.
There also are a slew of how-to books and programs aimed specifically at women. Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home (HarperCollins, $14.95), by Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet, was so popular it spawned a home video and DVD. “Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Home Improvement” (PBS/Paramount Home Video, $19.98) will be available next month — just in time for the holidays.
“Not having to rely on your husband or boyfriend or father is a huge feeling of empowerment,” Barbara K says. “Learning how to take care of things ourselves is probably one of the greatest gifts we can give.”
