Home Improvement

I was raise where if you can do it, you don't pay others to. If you've never done it, look for instructions and figure it out. And for the most part, I'm good at home improvement kind of stuff. I can build things, fix things, etcetc. The one thing I've never messed with though is electrical.

When we were at the old house, we had a fan go out right before we were to move. This wouldn't do. I couldn't, in good conscience sell a house with a faulty fan. Who wants to move somewhere and immediately have to fix stuff? Not me... do unto others...

Well, I was newly pregnant and everyone was treating me as a delicate flower, so I was kind of forced to call an electrician to replace the fan. The fan cost $39.98. The labor to install cost $75. I was SO.MAD. when I got that bill. And since then, I became even more determine to fix things that seemed reasonable. My motto is kind of "If I know my dad can do it... so can I." And I know my dad has installed ceiling fans before.

When we bought the new house, it only came with two fans. In the master and the livingroom. The other bedrooms and media room only had a light fixture. This is not cool (ha!) during Texas summers. I was finally able to buy 4 fans. And today, I installed my very first ceiling fan. Because I was a little nervous, I read and reread the directions over and over to make sure I understood. I double checked and then checked one last time with each step. So, the first fan took me an hour to install. The only thing that stumped me was when all was said and done, the blades would not move. I could hear the motor, but that was it. Turns out the directions were missing a very important piece of information.... Remove the rubber stoppers. Ugh. Oh well. After I got that done, everything went fine.

We now have 3 of the 4 fans installed. A friend was bored and offered to come help. This friend also has 9 years of electrician experience. So, I promptly hopped off my ladder and allowed him up. He installed the other two fans for me. I have one more to do, which will be on my own, but I am so much more confident in this now.

Installing a ceiling fan is EASY. I'm almost still mad that we wasted so much money at the old house...