When do you know....?

westend wrote:
When do you know it's time to hang up the wrenches and tools and start seeking repair help?

I started wrenching on motorcycles at age 14. Since then, I've repaired and maintained anything except aircraft. I'll be turning 68 next month and am finding repair, just on my small auto fleet, is getting to be a drag. My travel trailer is a love object so that gets the best of attention.

Did anybody older look back and say "Yeah, when I did X, that was the indicator?"

I'm exactly the same age as you (I'll be 69 next month) and done the same repair/maintenance wise for the last 50+ years as you have. There has only been one thing that I have tried to repair/fix that was a failure and that's leaking vehicle radiators:( ). I would bet my repair/fix-it repertoire probably exceeds yours by a large margin, but enough chest beating since that's not important except to emphasis that I've depended on others much less that probably 99% of the people out there) None of my vehicles in that time have ever been to a dealer for either repair or maintenance except when under warranty and then those I can count on one or maybe two hands since I will do warranty repairs if they are simple and not too time consuming or costly for me. Yes it gets harder, but I've learned to work in "spurts" and it can take a whole day to do an oil change now, but I've got the time and you just have to relearn to take projects in "steps" and not try and overdo it all at once. I almost never start and finish even a simple project in one day. I've also started investing is the safer items to help me like the "Little Giant Safety Step Stepladder" and I now limit my ladder climbing and the roof stuff is definitely out now. Biggest thing is to not get in a hurry and think things thre two or three or more times before starting with a bias towards safety and being realistic on what your limitations are now.

Even so you're right at some point I will have to cut back even more and the biggest issue is finding someone or many sources to do what I would have in the past for what I think is a reasonable cost.

It seems now days it all about the $$$ and a prime example I currently ran into is replacing my WH in the S&B home. It's a simple task that I have done in the past, but the first thing the install services you can use from say Lowes or HD is they want to know how much the replacement water heater is since that is a factor in what they will charge. This is IMO a clear indicator of FALSE PRICING since it costs an installer the same to do say a low end water heater or a more expensive one that require the same installation configurations.

Larry