I just moved back into my townhouse condo this weekend (the one with the bad stove I posted about recently). My ex has been living here for the last three years, and I've finally taken it back. Long story, not important, BUT now that I'm moved in, I'm seeing what kind of shape it's in and the list of Things That Must Be Fixed keeps growing.
This is not stuff that is "nice to have," like a remodeled kitchen, but things like there is hardly any water pressure in a few places, and there is only enough hot water for a 5 minute shower for one person anyway, and the bathroom fan no longer works so there is mildew growing on the ceiling. Also, the heating is terrible - even with it running all the time the place is still freezing. I suspect some of that is layout (big loft with high ceilings - heat rises, cold descends), and some is window heat loss, and some is a crappy thermostat.
I feel like I've been camping indoors for the last four days.
Because I'm not handy at all, big red dollar signs are flashing before my eyes. I've watched a couple of tutorials on how to replace a bathroom fan and am just not sure if I can do it. (Like, I don't have an attic that I can crawl into to hook up the vent - so what do I do now? Tutorials don't cover that sort of thing.)
Any general words of encouragement from the DIY community here? I feel like I need to become handy if I want to avoid spending a fortune on this house. Where do I start? How do I decide what kinds of things to try to do myself versus biting the bullet and hiring someone who really knows what they're doing?
[/complainypants whinge]