Habitat hones woman do-it-yourselfers

If sharpened steel blades whirling at high speed make you queasy or the thought of 120 volts of household current running through your veins makes you swoon, you might want to make a quick visit this morning to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville.

Experts are meeting at the Habitat Store to give free advice on rewiring, remodeling and basic home repairs. The seminars are aimed at women, but organizers say no one will be upset if a few guys want to learn as well.

“It’s designed to help women better understand home maintenance issues because women are involved in a lot of the decision-making regarding remodeling and projects and this helps give them enough background to do it themselves, if they want,” explained Carla Mullen, who has helped organize the daylong program, replete with demonstrations and seminars. “A lot of home projects are not that difficult, but they’re intimidating, For instance, replacing a light switch really isn’t that difficult, but people get nervous because they’re afraid of electricity. Once you understand the basics, it’s not intimidating at all.”

Novices in mind

The series of seminars, called Women With Nails, is being held at the Habitat Store at 1221 Harris St. and is designed with novices in mind. Topics to be covered include painting, repairing and replacing faucets, framing and hanging art, minor repairs and some overhauls. For more information, check out http://www.cvillehabitatstore.org.

Ms. Mullen said the Habitat Store officials want women to feel comfortable coming into the center, which resells donated items from furniture and housewares to leftover and salvaged building materials. The funds raised help pay for Habitat for Humanity projects.

Today’s event, which begins at 10 a.m. and winds up at 2 p.m., is the second such seminar put on by the organization. It’s the brainchild of Leadership Charlottesville participants who thought it would be a good way to bring more women into the know of home repair.

“They felt, and we did, too, that there was a need for women to feel more comfortable in the store and in their own home,” Ms. Mullen said. “We had our first event in April and it was a real success. We knew there was a need, we just didn’t how much need there was.”

The organization has held scattered summer events focusing on single topics, but decided an autumn home improvement festival was needed.

Two hours or 20 minutes?

“Most women who come into the store don’t know how to do the things we’re talking about in the seminars. This allows them to get a good idea of what’s involved in a project,” Ms. Mullen said. “Even if they don’t do it themselves, they have enough knowledge to be able to talk to a contractor and know if a project is a two-hour project or a 20-minute project.”

In keeping with the Women With Nails theme, the presenters are all women.

“Some of them are professionals and some of them are volunteers who do a lot of work in remodeling or construction or just enjoy doing it,” Ms. Mullen said. “It’s a lot of fun and it empowers women to do more home remodeling,”