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[qvcfreak]

I had my front light bulb go out and I couldn't reach it so I removed one from outside the garage that I could reach and sadly they aren't the same. I need to go back and purchase correct type plus a ladder as I can't reach with my step ladder either 

[Q4u]

We can still do most of the lightbulbs but there is one smoke detector that is at the apex of the living room ceiling and when you put the ladder there, the railing to the basement stairs is right there at the deepest part, one wrong move and not only would you fall off the ladder, you'd probably go down the stair shaft too!  Our oldest son changed the battery the last time but it even gave him pause.....  

What are the contractors of these homes thinking?  Had they moved it down the ceiling 4 feet, t would have been fine, and the smoke (if there was any) would have hit the detector earlier..... 

[Azcowgirl]

In our place up north, the smoke detector was in an impossible place to reach.No way to set a ladder anywhere, because it was over a stairwell of a two story vaulted ceiling, and the darned thing would start screeching for no apparent random reason, in the middle of the night.

So glad to be in a one story house for so many reasons now such as steady window washing, light bulb changing and all of those home maintenance issues (:

[kivah]

I'm in my house 16 years. Recently, 4 of those round vanity bulbs over my bathroom sinks blew out. A male friend come over --- and he replaced the10 bulbs. A few weeks ago, I went to Walmart and purchased Great Value 40 watt clear globes - 3 in a pack. Each pack was $5. Can't beat that.

I have a list of things that need to be repaired in my house. When I needed something done immediately (like replacing all my smoke alarms), I called an outside handyman company that I found on Yelp. I check to see if there are other things they can fix. Sometimes u just need a handyman - not an electrician.

I found a neighbor on nextdoor dot com - who fixed several things for me a few months ago.

[aubnwa01]

I have one of those long pole bulb changer things for changing the small flood bulbs in the can lights in my vaulted ceilings. 

My biggest problem is changing out the batteries in my smoke alarms, since even standing on the very tippy top of my 6 ft. step ladder, i still can't reach them safely & I have 3 smoke detectors at that height of the 6 in my house.  Luckily, my local fire dept. will come out & do the batteries for me.  I just call the non-emergency number & some young strapping (& way taller than me) firefighters come out & do them for me when they're between callouts. 

[NickNack]

My smoke detectors were hard-wired, and recently one of them started going off randomly so I had them replaced.  I replaced them with smoke detectors that have a 10-year lithium battery.  I also have recessed lights.  I used to be able to replace them myself with one of those long poles.  I think the new type of light bulbs are heavier, and they don't work as well with the poles.  I just waited until I had a list of things for the handyman to do and had him replace the bulbs a couple of months ago.  He replaced the smoke detectors at the same time.

[NickNack]

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@151949 wrote:

About once a year we have DH's young cousin come over and do some handyman chores for us. He gets on the roof and cleans out the lint from the dryer vent, he takes down the covers on the AC vents - I clean them & he gets back up to replace them. He cleans the ceiling fans, gets up in the attic and puts stuff away for us. He is great at electronics and helps us out if we have any ? about how to do something. He also pulls weeds and helps DH spread mulch. For this day of handyman work I believe DH pays him $150. Last year he replaced a screen on our lanai and taught DH how to do it. The professionals wanted a couple hundred dollars just to do that. There are some things best left to the young to do. He is happy to get the $$$ and we are happy to get a bunch of stuff we can't do taken care of.

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You are very lucky @151949!  I let my handyman chores pile up and had Mr. Handyman come out for eight hours a couple of months ago.  I paid over $800.