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GUEST
Julie Sussman & Stephanie Glakas-Tenet: Do-It-Herself Home Repair
CBN.com
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DARE TO REPAIR MORE
Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet have been helping thousands of women be self-reliant with their “Dare to Repair” series. These “do-it-herself” books for women written by women have shown ladies across the country how to bravely take care of the repairs needed in their homes and cars. Their first best-selling book, Dare to Repair, hit the New York Times bestseller list in 2002.
In the same encouraging style, Julie and Stephanie guide readers to the “next level” (in “laywoman’s terms”) exactly how women can continue to make improvements to their homes. With Dare to Repair, Julie and Stephanie taught readers how to fix a leaky faucet. In Dare to Repair, Replace, and Renovate, they teach readers how to replace it. In the first book, they show how to change the direction of ceiling fan blades. The latest book shows how to install a new fan. Julie and Stephanie have gone from basic repairs to easy projects that can make homes more comfortable, more beautiful, and more valuable.
HOME REPAIRS THAT EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
Some of the home repairs that Julie and Stephanie feel that every woman should know are:
1. Fixing a Running Toilet
2. Restoring Electrical Power
3. Freeing a Jammed Garbage Disposal
4. Patching Cracks & Holes in Walls
5. Weather stripping Windows & Doors
6. Knowing How to Shut Off the Main Water Supply Valve
WEATHERSTRIPPING FOR WINDOWS AND DOORS
The U.S. State Department of Energy states that a typical home loses 1/3 of its energy through its windows and doors. This usually indicates that the windows and exterior doors in a home are not properly sealed, and therefore, cooled or heated air is escaping. An inexpensive way to keep air from escaping a home is weatherstripping. The best way to purchase weatherstripping for windows or doors is through the manufacturer. If this is not an option, weatherstripping can be bought at home improvement stores.
Weatherstripping comes in a variety of lengths and widths. To find out the amount of weatherstripping needed, the perimeter of the doors and windows must be measured. The width can be determined by taking a piece of the old stripping to the store and look for a replacement.
There are different kinds of weatherstripping: felt, foam, metal, vinyl, and rubber. Felt and foam are the least inexpensive and the easiest to install. However, they are not very energy efficient and won’t last very long. Metal is the most energy efficient, but is the most expensive. Vinyl and rubber are the best options. Julie and Stephanie choose rubber weatherstripping over vinyl because rubber has self-adhesive backing and comes with a warranty. The vinyl required nails to install and did not come with a warranty. Hint: Expensive stripping is not needed on all windows. Inexpensive foam stripping can be used on windows that aren’t used much. For the show, the possible demonstrations will include weatherstripping a door, unsticking a door, putting a new handle on a door, and unsticking a window.
DO-IT-YOURSELF
Julie and Stephanie met 18 years ago at a barbecue. At the time, Julie’s husband traveled extensively. “Every weekend, I had honey-do lists,” says Julie. After realizing that most do-it-yourself repair books were geared towards men, Julie came up with the idea for a repair book for women.
Stephanie has always been handy around the house. “I called her to ask if she wanted to help write a book,” says Julie who worked part-time jobs trying to raise a family. After conducting a survey of over 500 friends and family, Julie and Stephanie learned their greatest home repair fears, got experts to explain the fix, and actually performed the repair themselves to be sure they were easy.
The book is so good that Habitat for Humanity has partnered with them for its Women Build program. Julie and Stephanie are also national spokeswomen for the Lowe’s companies. Together, they have committed themselves to address the issue of substandard housing by involving women in the construction and maintenance of Habitat homes. The U.S. Military and Lowe’s also partner with Julie and Stephanie to provide Dare to Repair clinics that teach home repair and car care to wives managing the home front.
“We cooked up Dare to Repair out of sheer frustration,” says Julie. “We put it together when we had time and it took 10 years to write.”
Both Julie and Stephanie make it their mission to help women. The cover of their book shows their inspiration: Rosie the Riveter. “By having Rosie on the cover, the message that we’re sending is, Look, we can do it,” says Julie.
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