Around here, $300 is what it costs for someone just to show up and tell you that you need 2lbs of refrigerant. The refrigerant is another $300.

Make a 1x4 to match cabinets. Rip in half and splice 1 1/2 " on each side them make counter to fit.

Ok but really you get a lot of retired military in the panhandle and they are s-t-u-b-b-o-r-n. That and people who have lived in their small town since they were born, so it really does track lol

We have a culture that ingrains the idea that money is infinite and time is scarce so it’s best to trade money to save time because you can always make more money.

In reality, time is also infinite, but not on the scale of one human life, and we’re an individualistic culture.

The older they get the thirstier they become. I had a roommate that was putting in a quart in every month. Our tandem parking looked like a murder scene.

If you get an old enough vehicle, it will change its oil on its own. You just have to keep it topped off is all lol

Yeah everyone likes to talk about how much cheaper it is to do everything yourself but usually that only takes in to account the job going right first time

I was lucky enough to get a new build home but it’s made me terrified of giving stuff ago myself… if the job goes wrong and I break something I’m likely gonna have to shell out loads more money to fix something that didn’t need touching in the first place… always scares me in to putting stuff off

I think this is mainly an American issue, my boyfriend works around a lot of tourists and the american ones always seem to have trouble doing things themselves.

I love doing my own work but admittedly I’ve reached a point in my life/career that time has become an issue. I just don’t have time to work on everything myself so those projects stay waiting for a year or two, or I break down and call someone for help.

Recently a pipe clogged at my moms house and no amount of plunging/snaking made a dent at all. I finally broke down and just called a plumber since I have a few other renovation projects going at our house and I just couldn’t dedicate anymore time to it. The plumber had to hydrojet the whole drain line only to find years worth of built up grease. It took him a couple of hours to get it all out. I wouldn’t have known what to do even if I tried at that point and was very glad I called someone in. It cost a few hundred bucks but that guy earned it that day! lol

My point is, we all enjoy doing our own work but sometimes it’s ok to call someone in for whatever reason. Sometimes you just need to pay a pro what they’re worth to get passed whatever you can’t figure out in your own.

Trust me when I say that some people are not certified to change their own oil. And because of that, they'll drive 30k miles without an oil change.

We’re in the same boat (literally same niche and vanity widths). We decided we’re going to install it anyways and see if the gap drives us nuts.

If it does then we’re going to buy custom side splashes extra thick with the right cut outs to make it look full/continuous.

Other ideas we considered:

• adding drywall on one or both sides to narrow the niche ( was going to be a pain because the electrical would need to move)

• creating some kind of hidden 2” storage pull out to fill the space

Such a pain!

Will having a 1" gap really be that awful? It is a finished vanity vs a builder's built-in, so it will at least look clean at the ends.

If you are a surgeon or pianist it's quite stupid to start to do such things. You just don't know what can go wrong, and that's ok, your fingers are precious tool.

I’ve always done everything myself including building my own house. My wife is the same. Her father and brothers were in construction so she just assumed every man knows how to do all this stuff. Her father was staining his deck when he was 94 while in a wheelchair. My father was the same . I would go visit him and find him on a ladder or on the roof when he was in his mid 80s. I’m getting pretty old myself now, 72, but I just can’t bring myself to hire people to do work at my house. It’s not the money, it’s just something I like to do myself. My wife and I are always amused when we see people that don’t know how to do anything. My sister and her husband can’t do the simplest task. They recently hired a plumber to change the hoses on the back of their washing machine.

All of it should’ve been cut off below the floor and below the traps in straight run areas of pipe and capped not with something like you’re describing but something much more rugged

You really need to reconsider the vanity OR get a custom top. Simple as that

Everyone had to learn once. If you've grown up in a state that doesn't let you pump your own gas... It might take a while... Or forever

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Obviously ignorance.

How many kiwis are there in this sub?? Imagine if we all put our hands up and suddenly it was like 95% hahaha I love the self sufficiency and satisfaction I get from it, and money I save!

Very dramatic

I DIY cuz I'm cheap AF. Simple as that.

wouldn't it have been easier to shut off the mains tap for water overnight?

Tbf things cost less in the states. I would rather pay someone to plaster my walls but I can't afford a second mortgage

I would like to say I am here because I like to be self reliant but honestly I’m here because I’m broke. That doesn’t mean I don’t get a sense of satisfaction when I actually do fix something that other people would imagine was even possible without special certifications and specialized training (nothing crazy, just like suspension and I fixed my water heater and my furnace too)