Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home

My mother was the sort of woman who could fix almost anything, or at least attempt the project. Her father was an electrician, and he taught her all about things to do with electricity. She was also goid at plumbing, painting, wallpapering, sewing, cooking, baking and on and on. Baking and cooking I can do well, painting is OK, wallpapering is so so. The rest not so much.As the mother of three with no father in the house, I was at a loss on fixers. I would emp,in my brother or father, until my brothers moved away and my father became too one to assist. So, until my son wS old enough to help, I was on my own. I took several classes but not in home repair, what I needed was the basics. I purchased this book. I have always felt if you can read you can do anything, well, almost. This is a great guide for basics in fixing. I have used it numerous times. I find the writing us clear, concise and helpful. The pictures that accompany the chapters are quite fine. They outline the process involved, and that is what is needed. I would recommend that this book or one like it be given to every woman as a graduation gift, or as a gift anytime.Recommended. prisrob 06-06-15

I live in an old mobile home which, due to its age and frailty, now and then encounters problems, especially plumbing issues, which always seem to crop up from time to time. When they do, I reach for this book, and usually the problem can be solved with some simple adjustment, or some inexpensive item I can get at the hardware store and apply myself. I was inspired to get on right now and write this review because I had a toilet that wouldn't stop running. I grabbed my Dare to Repair, looked it up, and found that the problem was easily fixed by adjusting something manually; I didn't even need a tool. Yay! On other occasions with this book I've unclogged drains, put on a new toilet handle, and installed a new shower head -- all by my own little techno-phobic, mechanically super-ignorant self. So great!I think one of the differences between men and women is that men really enjoy taking mechanical things all apart and putting them back together, figuring out and discovering how everything works and then making it work. Most women (not all; the most skilled fix-it-all handyperson supermechanic I know is a woman, but she's very unusual), on the other hand can't stand this. We just want it to work, and don't care about the intricacies of how. So this book is perfect for us. In the simplest of terms it describes what's probably the problem, only refers to the anatomy of the appliance or fixture that you'll directly have to deal with, has a simple picture guide to the tools and parts you'll need, then in a really simple, but effective, manner tells you just what to do. No more, no less. I feel so much more in control of my own life, safer really, having this book. These things really aren't so scary or mysterious. I recommend the book to anyone. Even the man who's not terribly enthused by tools and things. It gets the job done.

I gave my book to my son and just replaced it. Very handy book

This book is awesome. I recommend it for anyone male or female. I would give this book away as a shower gift, or a wedding gift, a high school or college graduation gift. Many ways to give this book or just because. It covers just about everything that a household would need to have fixed but not just your "normal/everyday" things but also your "not so normal" out of the way things. And don't forget a copy for yourself especially if you need help doing something like changing an outlet.

I'm a first-time home buyer in my 30s, and though I'm not dumb, there's things I just don't know how to do. I suppose you could say I'm ignorant on the matters of home maintenance, though I've always just had to call the landlord.The book really is practical for the basic things. If you've owned a home before, or even just paid attention watching others, then you probably don't need this book. I needed something to remind me of the basic home maintenance tasks (what, I have to change furnace filters?) that I just never bothered with before.So yes, if you're vaguely familiar with home maintenance, I can see how some people would find it too low-level. But for someone like me, it's great! I plan on installing a peephole on the door leading to the garage, and this will explain how to do it. I feel confident that I can do simple things, like change my water heater temperature, relight pilot lights without blowing the house up, or deal with the circuit breaker (oh yeah, mapping it would probably be good, right). Simple, but if you don't know where to look then hey, you don't know where to look.My one complaint is that it's a bit too girly-girly for me in some sections. It compares some home repairs to things like painting your nails, and frosting a cake, and really I could have done without that. But hey! It's helped me learn what I wanted to learn, so I'm happy.

Gave this to my girlfriend as a random gift. She didn't look too surprised when I handed it to her, but then again she really isn't the type to go and fix things herself. I'm hoping to change that, and it looks to be working, albeit SLOWLY. She's asking for her own pink tool set now which seems like a good start. I'm sure she'll read the book in its entirety someday and put it to good use, but as of now she's too fixated on gym and Zumba. She did mention that the book was entertaining and she liked it. I took a glance at it and noticed that it's well written and entertaining. There are pictures there explaining the who, what, where, when, why, and how of projects or repairs. It's actually broken down into a decent structure so if you need to access something right away you're able to without much hassle. Aside from this book being directed at women, a guy could actually find themselves useful helping the wife or girlfriend around the house fixing things if they didn't know where to start.

This is more of 'a talking point' than a practical guide - the advice is too general to be specifically helpful.

Its a book, I haven't had any use for it yet (ie. no repair jobs) however when I read the first few pages I thought is was well written (easy to read and understand, good structure)

Poorly written.

Clear, straightforward instructions for many of the home repair projects that come up unexpectedly... bought as part of a housewarming gift for my sister and she was delighted with it. Easy to follow