How To! | Take Charge of Home Repair (with Sam Sanders and Mercury Stardust)

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Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the second half of How To!’s wide-ranging conversation about home improvement, gender, sexuality, and much more, journalist Sam Sanders and author Mercury Stardust (aka The Trans Handy Ma’am) talk with co-host Carvell Wallace about a truly daunting idea: skipping the contractors—and doing the work yourself. This episode is available to Slate Plus members now. Non-members will be able to listen on Nov. 11, 2025. If you missed the first half of this conversation, check out How To Talk to Contractors (With Sam Sanders and Mercury Stardust). Mercury’s latest book is Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair. And, check out the latest episodes of The Sam Sanders Show. Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. The show is produced by Rosemary Belson and Sophie Summergrad. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer. Get more of How To! with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of How To! and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the How To! show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/howtoplus for access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Where do you find a clear signal in a world of static?
0:03.2	In a time of rapid change cut through the noise,
0:06.2	the economist goes beyond the headlines to decode the forces shaping today
0:10.7	and defining tomorrow.
0:12.7	Get the full story.
0:14.1	It's more than news.
0:15.4	It's a trusted global perspective.
0:17.7	The economist know which way is up.
0:21.2	Today's episode is brought to you by Upwork. Feeling overextended and understaffed, Upwork
0:27.0	Business Plus gives you instant access to the top 1% of talent on Upwork so you can bring in top-tier
0:33.1	freelancers fast. Here at HowTo, we know how crucial it is to find the right expert for the job.
0:39.4	We'll talk more about that and Upwork later in the show. Right now, when you spend $1,000
0:45.2	on Upwork Business Plus, you'll get $500 in credit. Go to upwork.com slash save now and claim the author
0:53.3	before December 31st, 2025. Again, that's upwork.com slash save now and claim the author before December 31st, 2025. Again, that's upwork.com
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1:08.0	There's just so many things I've put off. Like I have an electric car.
1:11.7	Right. I need to have the high speed charger put on the side of the house. But I think it requires the running of a line to do a thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't even know how to tell the person that would do it what I need, right? Yeah, no, I relate to this. Electricity always freaks me out. I tried to rewire lamp ones on some, I can do with shit and I ended up like almost blowing up my living room, you know, so it's like, you know, like I have queer audacity to a point, but then I don't. Welcome to how to. I'm Carve-Wallis. Imagine that you've hired a contractor to paint a room in your house and it looks great. The
1:47.0	color is perfect. The room is transformed exactly as you thought it would be and the experience
1:52.3	with the contractor went pretty well, probably because you listened to last week's episode.
1:56.7	So you're feeling pretty good. That is until it's time to pay. And as you dip into your
2:03.3	precious and dwindling savings account to cut the check, you find yourself thinking, maybe I should
2:08.1	have done this myself. Could I have? Should I have? Do I have the know-how? Or is that a ridiculous
	...

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