Found a 1950s car repair manual at a yard sale in Tucson that changed how I patch drywall

The chapter on body filler and metal mesh gave me this weird idea to use fiberglass tape on a hole in my hallway last month, and it hasn't cracked yet. Has anyone else tried using old shop manuals for home repairs?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendyw714d ago

Lol "how I patch drywall from a car manual" is the most Tucson yard sale sentence I've ever heard. I bet the next chapter covers how to use carburetor cleaner as paint thinner. Seriously though man, if fiberglass tape works, it works. My neighbor used a 1962 Ford Falcon timing guide to fix his washing machine once. It ran for like 6 more years, no lie.

mitchell.dakota4d ago

That really hits home for me. My dad was the same way, he fixed our fridge with a diagram from a 1978 Chevy van manual and that thing kept ice cream cold for another decade. I think being handy means grabbing whatever works, doesn't matter where it came from. If that fiberglass tape holds, you just saved yourself a lot of money over the fancy patch kits at the store.