"More than half of young people lack the skills they need to maintain their 
homes, with many relying on their parents to carry out basic tasks, a survey 
suggested today.
"Around 50 per cent of people aged under 35 admitted they did not know how 
to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a radiator and 
63 per cent said they would not attempt to put up wallpaper, according to 
Halifax Home Insurance."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305500/Do-Not-likely-youre-35--Survey-finds-young-people-DIY-dunces-rewire-plug
.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xZu365qC

Or, in the current market, if a faucet starts dripping, walk away from your 
home and buy another. 

HeyBub wrote:
> "More than half of young people lack the skills they need to maintain their 
> homes, with many relying on their parents to carry out basic tasks, a survey 
> suggested today.
> "Around 50 per cent of people aged under 35 admitted they did not know how 
> to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a radiator and 
> 63 per cent said they would not attempt to put up wallpaper, according to 
> Halifax Home Insurance."
> 
>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305500/Do-Not-likely-youre-35--Survey-finds-young-people-DIY-dunces-rewire-plug
.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xZu365qC
> 
> Or, in the current market, if a faucet starts dripping, walk away from your 
> home and buy another. 
> 
> 
  I have advocated for years that HS junior or senior year needed a 
course called 'stuff you need to know in the real world'. One semester 
of stuff like how to own and operate a checking account/credit card, get 
a consumer loan, not get bent over at the car dealer, etc. The other 
semester of basic mechanical and home repair tasks, like how to change a 
tire, how to check oil, how to not get bent over at the repair shop, how 
to do basic household repairs, and how to know when to attempt it 
yourself vs. when you should call a tradesman (and not get bent over by 
him either.)

Well, parents obviously ain't passing on these skill sets any more, 
assuming they ever had them.

-- 
aem sends....

On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:47:13 -0400, aemeijers <a...@att.net>
wrote:

>HeyBub wrote:
>> "More than half of young people lack the skills they need to maintain their 
>> homes, with many relying on their parents to carry out basic tasks, a survey 
>> suggested today.
>> "Around 50 per cent of people aged under 35 admitted they did not know how 
>> to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a radiator and 
>> 63 per cent said they would not attempt to put up wallpaper, according to 
>> Halifax Home Insurance."
>> 
>>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305500/Do-Not-likely-youre-35--Survey-finds-young-people-DIY-dunces-rewire-plug
.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xZu365qC
>> 
>> Or, in the current market, if a faucet starts dripping, walk away from your 
>> home and buy another. 
>> 
>> 
>  I have advocated for years that HS junior or senior year needed a 
>course called 'stuff you need to know in the real world'. One semester 
>of stuff like how to own and operate a checking account/credit card, get 
>a consumer loan, not get bent over at the car dealer, etc. The other 
>semester of basic mechanical and home repair tasks, like how to change a 
>tire, how to check oil, how to not get bent over at the repair shop, how 
>to do basic household repairs, and how to know when to attempt it 
>yourself vs. when you should call a tradesman (and not get bent over by 
>him either.)
>
>Well, parents obviously ain't passing on these skill sets any more, 
>assuming they ever had them.


They used to call that "shop" and "home EC"

On 2010-08-25, HeyBub <h...@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a
>  radiator....

I'm thinking, "what the hell is 'bleed a radiator'", not realizing,
for a few seconds, this does not mean a car radiator.  I suspect a
large majority of folks in the US haven't a clue about how to bleed a
steam radiator, having never seen one.  Are there even radiators west
of the Mississippi?

nb

On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:23:28 GMT, notbob <n...@nothome.com> wrote:

>I'm thinking, "what the hell is 'bleed a radiator'", not realizing,
>for a few seconds, this does not mean a car radiator.  I suspect a
>large majority of folks in the US haven't a clue about how to bleed a
>steam radiator, having never seen one.  Are there even radiators west
>of the Mississippi?
>
>nb

Or south of DC?

HeyBub <h...@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote in message 
news:r...@earthlink.com...
> "More than half of young people lack the skills they need to maintain 
> their homes, with many relying on their parents to carry out basic tasks, 
> a survey suggested today.
> "Around 50 per cent of people aged under 35 admitted they did not
> know how to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to
> bleed a radiator and 63 per cent said they would not attempt to put
> up wallpaper, according to Halifax Home Insurance."
>
>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305500/Do-Not-likely-youre-35--Survey-finds-young-people-DIY-dunces-rewire-plug
.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xZu365qC
>
> Or, in the current market, if a faucet starts dripping, walk away from 
> your home and buy another.

I only know these things because I "helped" in the remodel of my home. I 
fought my Father-unit tooth-and-nail the entire time I was living my 
teenangst-riddled years. He didn't know half as much as my friends and if he 
was able to provide a sample, I was quick to shoot it down as a poor sample.

As I got older, of course things changed, but I was still too slow to catch 
on just how much he knew before he passed on. Saddest day I realized was the 
day I called my Sainted Mother(tm) and asked, "So how do I do this again?"

"That was a lesson Dad tried to teach you. You didn't want to listen."

The same parents, with similar attitudes during the same times, are 
lamenting their lack of listening skills because their kids have never seen 
tools or had experiences that they did. 

Luckily for me, the foreman on the job saw potential and was willing to 
"teach" me. It wasn't so much teach as letting me do it wrong until I was 
totally frustrated and then saying, "I'd recommend doing it *this* way..." 
Money and time meant a larger paycheck for him and a collej edumacation from 
Hard Knocks U. for me but it was worth it.

The Ranger 

On 8/24/2010 11:23 PM, notbob wrote:
> On 2010-08-25, HeyBub<h...@NOSPAMgmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a
>>   radiator....
>
> I'm thinking, "what the hell is 'bleed a radiator'", not realizing,
> for a few seconds, this does not mean a car radiator.  I suspect a
> large majority of folks in the US haven't a clue about how to bleed a
> steam radiator, having never seen one.  Are there even radiators west
> of the Mississippi?
>
> nb

When I was a first grader back in the middle of the last century, the
Catholic Parochial Gulag I was remanded to had steam heat via radiators.
I remember the hissing of the water separator doodad on the side of the
big old silver painted cast iron radiators. It was an old building then
and it had tall ceilings, transom windows, incandescent lights hanging
from the ceiling that had the half silvered big bulbs and of course, no
air conditioning. This was in North East Alabamastan and I don't see
steam except in hospitals and very old buildings, in fact, the steam
plant in downtown Birmingham is scheduled to shut down in 2013 because 
of of too few customers. It is supplying steam to the UAB hospital
complex and other institutions in the area so UAB is looking at building
its own plant for $69 million. I have done some work in the basements
of some of the downtown buildings that got their steam from the existing 
steam plant and the area around the steam meter was a bit warm. The 
steam meter looks a lot like a water meter. There are steam
leeks all under those old buildings and I remember a steam line bursting 
on a street a few years ago under a car that cooked the
occupants like lobsters.

http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2010/04/uab_to_develop_steam_plant.html

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2wb86ml

TDD

g...@aol.com wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:47:13 -0400, aemeijers <a...@att.net>
> wrote:
> 
>> HeyBub wrote:
>>> "More than half of young people lack the skills they need to maintain their 
>>> homes, with many relying on their parents to carry out basic tasks, a survey 
>>> suggested today.
>>> "Around 50 per cent of people aged under 35 admitted they did not know how 
>>> to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a radiator and 
>>> 63 per cent said they would not attempt to put up wallpaper, according to 
>>> Halifax Home Insurance."
>>>
>>>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305500/Do-Not-likely-youre-35--Survey-finds-young-people-DIY-dunces-rewire-plug
.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xZu365qC
>>>
>>> Or, in the current market, if a faucet starts dripping, walk away from your 
>>> home and buy another. 
>>>
>>>
>>  I have advocated for years that HS junior or senior year needed a 
>> course called 'stuff you need to know in the real world'. One semester 
>> of stuff like how to own and operate a checking account/credit card, get 
>> a consumer loan, not get bent over at the car dealer, etc. The other 
>> semester of basic mechanical and home repair tasks, like how to change a 
>> tire, how to check oil, how to not get bent over at the repair shop, how 
>> to do basic household repairs, and how to know when to attempt it 
>> yourself vs. when you should call a tradesman (and not get bent over by 
>> him either.)
>>
>> Well, parents obviously ain't passing on these skill sets any more, 
>> assuming they ever had them.
> 
> 
> They used to call that "shop" and "home EC"

Perhaps in your part of the world. In the schools I attended, Home Ec 
was cooking and sewing, and shop was Wood Shop and Metal Shop. Both 
taught in Junior High (usually now known as Middle School), and it was 
after my era when boys started taking home ec, and girls were allowed in 
shop. Both were junior versions of what was called vo-ed track in High 
School, where they steered the non-college-track kids. None of which 
included the stuff that kids would need to know to live on their own. 
More aimed at getting them ready for pink-collar and greasy-collar jobs 
after graduation.

But yeah, what I am advocating is what HS shop and home ec shoulda been.

-- 
aem sends...

On 08/24/2010 09:47 PM, HeyBub wrote:
> "More than half of young people lack the skills they need to maintain their
> homes, with many relying on their parents to carry out basic tasks, a survey
> suggested today.
> "Around 50 per cent of people aged under 35 admitted they did not know how
> to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a radiator and
> 63 per cent said they would not attempt to put up wallpaper, according to
> Halifax Home Insurance."
>
>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305500/Do-Not-likely-youre-35--Survey-finds-young-people-DIY-dunces-rewire-plug
.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0xZu365qC
>
> Or, in the current market, if a faucet starts dripping, walk away from your
> home and buy another.
>
>

I'm glad that people don't feel comfortable hanging wallpaper :)

FWIW I'm just barely outside that demographic and I consider myself 
rather handy albeit not an expert.

nate

-- 
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Aug 24, 11:23=A0pm, notbob  wrote:
> On 2010-08-25, HeyBub  wrote:
>
> > to rewire a plug, while 54 per cent did not know how to bleed a
> > =A0radiator....
>
> I'm thinking, "what the hell is 'bleed a radiator'", not realizing,
> for a few seconds, this does not mean a car radiator. =A0I suspect a
> large majority of folks in the US haven't a clue about how to bleed a
> steam radiator, having never seen one. =A0Are there even radiators west
> of the Mississippi?
>
> nb

its the UK, cooler temps and all HW radiator heating