I Hate Working on My House
The experience may not be pleasant but the takeaway from the work usually is.
As a dad, I should love working on my house. But I don’t. The thought of installing a ceiling fan fills me with dread. It doesn’t matter what the task is, I won’t enjoy it. This is weird because I love working on my cars. Few things in life give me the satisfaction of fixing a car. To most people, working on a house or a car is mutually exclusive. I’m here to tell you that they’re not.
The Dishwasher Saga
Last week I installed a new dishwasher for my wife on Valentine’s Day. Because when you’ve been married for 10 years and have 3 kids, acts of service go a lot farther than roses and chocolate.
I tried to fix our old dishwasher. I researched the symptoms and deduced that it needed a new heating element and thermostat. I purchased the parts and installed them when they arrived. When my repair failed, my wife purchased the dishwasher she wanted.
When the new unit arrived, I saw it sitting in my garage, challenging my patience without leaving the box—I knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant install. After we put our kids to bed, it was my turn to toil in the kitchen. I followed the instructions. Luckily I removed and installed our old dishwasher last week, so this should have been easy, right?
No, it panned out exactly how I expected. I fought to get the old one out. I had nasty, stagnant water dumped on me. I created a new leak under the sink. And this was before the new one had been opened.
Once I removed the old unit and kicked it to the curb, it was time to install the shiny new dishwasher. I carefully brought it inside. I double-checked all of my hardware. I then proceeded to move it in place and connect everything. For the most part, connecting the drain hose, the water line, and the electricity was easy. Adjusting the height and tilt was the challenging part.
I spent an hour and a half raising, lowering, and tilting the dishwasher to get it just right. But for some reason, it wouldn’t stay flush with the countertop. I pushed, I pulled, I even kicked the damn thing to no avail. This fine-tuning process took up 75% of the installation time. It was ridiculous.
Once I adjusted everything, I asked my wife to look at it. She looked at it for two seconds and said, “No.” And she was right, it still could have been better. Knowing that I wasn’t going to win, I went to bed so I could struggle with it the next day.
Having rested and given myself time to think about my approach to the dishwasher, I was ready to take it on. I discovered that the new adjustment legs had wider feet that were hitting the floor. I cut away the floor and the dishwasher miraculously moved in place. Great.
I then discovered that the front anchors didn’t match up with the mounting plate on the bottom of my countertop. I had to drill new holes and hope they would work. Luckily, the bit I used was a tad smaller than the mounting screws. I installed the mount, only to discover that the torque from the screws had bent the mounting plate, which looked awful from the front.
So I cranked up the dishwasher’s mounting feet so the top gap was negligible. Thus bending the mounting plate into place and hiding the anchors. I checked over everything and did a test wash. To my surprise, everything worked as planned. I had accomplished something.
Ok, I know I’m being overly dramatic but I hate these types of projects. But what was my alternative? Pay somebody $250 to half-ass the job? I’d rather toil in misery and do it correctly than pay someone and end up redoing their work.
What’s the lesson here?
Complain less and get on with it. I’m reminded of the line in Book Five in Meditations:
“I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world?”
Struggling and toiling aren’t all that bad because I usually learn something from them. The experience may not be pleasant but my takeaway from the work usually is.
Knowing this helps but it doesn’t change the fact that I still hate working on my house.