If the magnet isn’t cutting it, Stardust suggests using a heavy-duty magnetic tool called a StudPoP. “This works because there's a screw that goes through the drywall into the wood frame…and magnet is finding in the wall,” she explains in the video, noting that the trick “works even better with plaster and lath.” The necklace is helpful because the weight of the pendant positions the chain or cord so that it lines up with the stud. Instead of using a stud finder-which not everyone owns, or necessarily needs-Stardust demonstrates how to get the job done using a $3 magnet attached to a necklace (though any type of lanyard, string, or chain with the equivalent of a pendant would do). Whether you’re hanging shelving, wall sconces, or a heavy piece of art on a wall made of plaster or drywall, the first step is finding a stud. Here are seven of our favorite videos showcasing Stardust's signature blend of humor, home-improvement tips, and kindness. While Stardust’s tutorials-which can also be seen on her YouTube channel and heard on the Handy Ma’am Hotline podcast-are largely aimed at renters, most of the DIY hacks and repair techniques are equally relevant to homeowners, because as she points out, “a focus is not an exclusion.” “Compassionate DIY is about making people feel seen first, then worrying about educating them second.” “There’s no shame in not knowing what we don’t know, but we attach so much shame to these specific tasks,” she says. That’s why in her videos, Stardust breaks a repair down into easily digestible steps, using tools and supplies people already own, or can purchase for a reasonable price-all while reassuring viewers that they’re “worth the time it takes to learn a new skill.” This radically gentle approach makes Stardust’s content feel fresh, despite covering well-trodden topics like unclogging a toilet and fixing a wobbly table. “They think you have a baseline of knowledge, and don’t understand that they’re actually skipping steps when they’re teaching something,” she notes. “You’re not going to want to learn how to do this stuff yourself, because you’re convinced that every time you try to do something, you make things worse.”Īlong the same lines, she observed that when her fellow maintenance professionals did take the time to explain to residents what went wrong and how to fix it, many did so using jargon and prohibitively expensive tools, which Stardust views as forms of gatekeeping. “If every single person who comes into your home to fix something has that mentality, you're going to develop the mentality that you are the problem,” Stardust says. During that time, she says she encountered countless members of her profession who unfailingly blamed residents and “user error” for anything in need of repair. Mercury Stardust in her studio Photo: Azena Photographyīefore the viral videos-which Stardust and her production company now create in their Madison, Wisconsin, studio-she worked as a maintenance technician for 16 years.
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