CHICAGO -- A few years back, Beverly DeJulio, noticed gallons of sudsy water about to spill over the top of her sump pump pit onto the basement floor.

Without a clue what was wrong, DeJulio shut down the clothes washing machine and averted disaster, but the sump pump was done.

Helpless and frustrated, DeJulio sat on the basement stairs and had a good cry, after all, that's what a woman was supposed to do in such a dilemma.

As a single mother of four with no shoulder to cry on, however, it wasn't long before DeJulio dried her eyes and started asking for help.

The neighbors became advisors -- most agreed she needed a new sump pump. Salespeople at the hardware store became tutors she incessantly grilled and her kids cheered her on -- at a distance -- as she ripped out the old pump and installed the new.

The job wasn't easy.

The in-training do-it-yourselfer had to make several trips to the hardware store for additional supplies to make adjustments and correct some errors, but DeJulio eventually got the job done.

Over time with additional projects she developed a tired-and-true approach to organizing home maintenance, repair and improvements using St. Francis of Assisi philosophy: "Start by doing what is necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

DeJulio now shares her experiences and expertise along where her borrowed philosophy in her new aptly titled book "HandyMa'am" (Real Estate Education Company, $19.95), a do-it-yourself manual with instructions for everything from adhesives and aluminum screening to electrical wiring and wood priming.

"If you can use a hand mixer you can use a power drill. Once you complete some of these projects," she says, "it will give you the confidence to tackle others."

Successful home projects, she says, requires a how-to learning ability to develop know-how skills, which foster can-do confidence.

Along with step-by-step home repair, maintenance and improvement projects, DeJulio offers money-saving tips, insights on getting kids involved and safety tips and she explains what its like to be a female do-it-yourselfer.

With detailed illustrations and diagrams, chapters cover a home owners' necessary tool kit, colors, flooring, windows, lighting, kitchens, baths, bedrooms, accents, electrical wiring and plumbing. The appendix includes a compendium of do-it-yourselfer resources, many of which are Web-based, including DoItYourself.com, HomeCentral.com, ThePlumber.com, Toiletology.com, and GetSafe.com.

DeJulio also offers these tips to avoid common do-it-yourself pitfalls:

• Plan, organize, pay attention to detail. Eighty percent of any home project should be spent preparing the 20 percent that shows.
• Keep small parts, such as screws, nails, bolts and other fasteners on a piece of masking tape so they don't get lost.
• Follow installation directions backwards to remove an old appliance before installing the new one.
• Save old leather belts or rubber gloves to line the jaws of pliers to protect finishes.
• Measure twice, cut once.
• Purchase wall paper in rolls that all have the same run number so the dye and color matches. Keep the run number for additional purchases for the same project.
• When disassembling a faucet, place the parts down in the same order you take them off for reassembling ease.

Published: April 16, 1999

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