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Local home stores' classes teach homeowner skills
Ginny Hetterich has a house on the water in Amityville, and, little by little, she's been learning to make some of her own small repairs. Like fixing a faucet or replacing a faulty electrical outlet. "Any little thing I can do myself helps," says the retired administrative assistant. "If I can do it on my own, I can save some money and not have to wait for the repairman." For this liberating sense of achievement, Ginny Hetterich thanks Jim Gilchrist of The Home Depot in Copiague. For nearly a decade, Gilchrist, a former contractor, has been running a couple of different in-store seminars for the big-box retailer. And Hetterich is living, breathing proof that such seminars are more than gimmicks to attract potential customers. "I don't push products," Gilchrist, 60, of Copiague says, "and I try to be honest and take time with the people who show up for our workshops. It's fun, because there is this need for people to be more self-sufficient." On a Wednesday night a few weeks before Christmas, Gilchrist is showing about 20 members of the store's Ladies Woodworking Club - which includes Hetterich - how to use pneumatic tools. Each woman has a chance to drive nails into pieces of scrap lumber, and Gilchrist is there to guide them. "He's really good," says Lori Castellaneta of Massapequa. "He knows his stuff, and he enjoys sharing what he knows." Unlike Hetterich, Castellaneta isn't big on doing it herself. But she has a couple of sons and a husband at home, and she finds that attending the workshops enables her to be a more accomplished supervisor. "When they are doing something around the house the wrong way," she says of the men in her life, "I now have the knowledge to stop them and tell them how to do it right." In-store workshops So don't scoff at in-store seminars and workshops run by stores like Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. The folks who attend them say they're gaining valuable first-hand, around-the-house knowledge on how to, when to and why to. And it's all free. At the Copiague Home Depot, for example, Gilchrist also directs a series of "university classes," set to start up again at the end of this month. The university classes - ranging from minor household repairs in plumbing and electrical to outdoor maintenance - feature the wisdom of licensed trades professionals. "These guys are top-notch in what they do, and they enjoy teaching," Gilchrist says. In addition to the women's woodworking seminars and the university series, the Copiague store also runs kids' clinics, for ages 5 through 12, and weekly how-to seminars every Saturday morning on everything from tiling to planting. The weekly how-to seminars on Saturdays are a feature of Home Depot outlets nationwide. Similar seminars also were offered by Lowe's until last summer. According to Lowe's spokeswoman Abby Buford, Lowe's found its customers were too busy to attend classes on a regular basis. Instead, Lowe's now furnishes a collection of how-to repair projects and do-it-yourself videos on its Web site. Attendance at any in-store seminar is hit-or-miss, says Paul Hughes, who manages the Home Depot in Commack. Hughes, who has worked at several Home Depots for more than 10 years, says customer interest almost always depends on the season. "You'll find that in the early spring, when people are getting to their landscaping, our planting seminars are just packed," Hughes says. "Then, on some Saturdays during the winter, a tiling seminar will just attract a few people." On one Saturday morning in Commack, only a few customers stop as employees Ross Batchelor and Kevin Goger conduct a tiling seminar. However, one customer, Alex Kaczun of Northport, is all eyes and ears. Kaczun is preparing to tile a 10-by-10-foot bathroom floor, and he's watching closely as Batchelor measures and cuts tile, spreads thinset mortar and provides tips on laying out a project. "I've been to a few of these over the years," says Greg Hansen of Greenlawn, who is shopping for tile for a kitchen backsplash. "They're extremely helpful, because they show you little tips and shortcuts for doing things you might not otherwise get." Lowe's still runs in-store sessions for kids, called Build and Grow Clinics. "I think we want to give kids a chance to work with their hands and develop some confidence about doing things for themselves," says Steve Gazes, who runs the children's clinics at the Lowe's in Bay Shore. As Gazes talks, nearly 20 youngsters hammer away at tables arranged in a rectangular setting. Their parents or grandparents watch - and sometimes help - as the kids work at turning a precut wood kit into a desk calendar. Children's woodworking Arianna Wynn, 9, of Wantagh, has been attending the weekly seminars at the Bay Shore store since it opened in February of 2005. Her red apron, provided by Lowe's, is filled with clinic patches. After completing one of the workshops, each child is awarded a patch that can be added to the apron. "She just loves working with her hands," says Arianna's grandfather, John Schmitt, also of Wantagh. "And we come because of that guy right there." Gazes is popular with the adults who must chaperon their children or grandchildren. An accomplished woodworker, Gazes often runs the Saturday morning sessions on his own time. On some Saturdays, as many as 40 or 50 kids have crowded into the second-floor workroom. Linda Knieste of Dix Hills agrees that Gazes is a big reason for the large attendance. "He's great," she says. "He's so patient with the kids." Knieste and her husband, Christopher, have brought their son, also Christopher, 12, and nephews Rocco Gest, 12, and Anthony Gest, 10, to the morning clinic. The Kniestes also appreciate that Gazes emphasizes safety. Children must wear safety glasses during projects, for example, and before sessions begin, Gazes usually displays the tools to be used and how to properly use them. For Tom Pfaffe Jr. of West Islip and his son, Tom III, 6, the workshop is more about developing another relationship. "We do come because he loves to build things," says Pfaffe, whose wife, Linda, suggested the clinic after seeing a poster in the store. "We call him our little engineer. "But we always try to do things together, my son and me, and this is just one more way to spend a little quality time together." http://www.newsday.com/features/home/ |
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