There are many reasons to turn a blind eye to the small jobs that need to be done in a house. In these times of inflation, the lack of budget is a major obstacle for many.
To those who are “exasperated […] to pay a fortune” to improve their home, Stéphanie Lévesque offers a solution: do it themselves.
Yes, the world of renovation can be intimidating. Yes, beginners will sometimes feel inadequate and make mistakes. “Your pride will be touched,” she warns. However, the collaborator of The Press is convinced that improving your manual skills has a host of benefits and is worth the time.
“If you weren’t a manual worker, say, 80 years ago, it’s not complicated, you were dying,” she illustrates, sitting in a café in the Sud-Ouest borough, in Montreal. Why are we not more interested in it today? People need to be more manual. »
In Reno-tonomeher fourth book, Stéphanie Lévesque guides readers in carrying out different maintenance or finishing work: attaching a hook to the wall (and making sure it stays there), repairing a small, medium or large hole in gypsum, painting melamine cabinets, installing ceramic tiles, changing faucets, insulating electrical outlets, etc.
“My goal with this book is to help people make their environment more personalized. […] There are ways to improve our interior and simply make it our image,” thinks the woman who is notably a trainer on the online platform Les Filles de la Construction.
Some people are afraid of making holes in the walls. Your wall is not going to fall. You will be able to repair it.
Stéphanie Lévesque, general contractor
And because errors are part of any learning process, with each of the works proposed in Reno-tonomeStéphanie Lévesque gives solutions for “when things go wrong”.
Small jobs, big impact
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Among the small jobs covered in the book: laying ceramic tiles
Some maintenance work often overlooked by people can have major repercussions. Window caulking is an example. “A caulking [calfeutrant] which has run out of life and which has become detached from the wall, it must be redone,” illustrates Stéphanie Lévesque. If you choose to ignore the problem, beware of water infiltration, she warns.
What I try to explain to the world is that there are small things that are accessible, that you can do, and that if you don’t do them, it will overflow beyond your control. knowledge.
Stéphanie Lévesque, general contractor
When beginners embark on renovations, what is their biggest misstep? Ignore the planning stage, answers the woman who has been giving craft classes to the general public for more than 10 years.
“Before you begin, you need to see your project as a whole. […] For example, if you are renovating a child’s bedroom, you must be able to visualize it completely in your head,” argues Stéphanie Lévesque. According to her, not only does it allow you to carefully note the tools and materials you will need, but it also limits oversights during the project. “As you write each step down on paper, sometimes you realize: “Ah, I hadn’t thought of that step.” »
Always more to learn
When you work with your hands, you constantly learn, rejoices the trained cabinetmaker. She doesn’t know everything herself. This is also why she surrounded herself with numerous specialists for the writing of her book, including the general contractor Patrick Mathon, with whom she collaborates on the show Sell or renovate Quebec, and Tania Trudel, a “very passionate” furniture enhancer. “Plumbing, I can explain it to you in an interesting didactic way, but to go find someone who teaches it, it was a must “, she gives as an example.
Whether they are electricians, carpenters or cabinetmakers, all the participants who collaborated on the work have in common a passion for manual work. It is this flame that the author would like to ignite in readers who will obtain Reno-tonome. “I truly believe that when you use your hands to do something creative, something happens inside you. You forget the complications of life. You enter a bubble. Using your hands in a creative state is therapeutic. »
Réno-tonome – Tool box for repairing, renovating, renovating…
Quebec America
256 pages