They Came, They Sawed, They Saved

Classes Grow Handier In Economic Downturn

It was pushing 9 p.m. on a recent Tuesday when a dozen students got a lesson in power saws. Teacher Billy Harvey showed off the relative advantages of using circular and reciprocating saws and offered a warning: "Never take your eyes off the blade. . . . That's when fingers come off!"

The bravest of volunteers, donning safety glasses and dust masks, gave the tools a whirl, inching the blades along a sheet of cement board and letting loose a cloud of dust.

When they finished trimming, they took the cement board and nailed it into place behind a bathtub in a mock bathroom in the middle of the classroom.

Every Tuesday night for 10 weeks, this crew of students will meet at Bryant Alternative High School in Alexandria for a bathroom remodeling workshop that takes average homeowners through the phases from demolition to the finished product. It's one of several do-it-yourself courses that Fairfax County offers through its adult and community education program, and a class that more people are finding handy in a down economy.

Whether it's a primer on power tools or a weeks-long class on finishing a basement or repairing car brakes, enrollment is up this year as people look for ways to save, program officials said.

Some students want to fix houses they can't sell; others just want to save on hiring a contractor, Harvey said. Regardless, the economic downturn has brought him a more diverse student body.

"You are seeing people that aren't the typical do-it-yourselfer. I get software programmers and actually more and more women students. It used to be two or three out of 12, now it's four and five," he said.

By day Craig Delaney, 39, is an accountant, "not your typical handyman profession." By night he's working hard to fix up his 50-year-old house in Springfield. He has done some painting and electrical work and is ready to tackle the bathrooms. Rather than "fumbling" through the repairs himself, he decided to take a class.

After contractors estimated it would cost $20,000 to renovate the bathroom in her Fairfax house, Christy Linn and her husband figured they could do it themselves. But she wanted some instruction.

"You can only learn so much on HDTV," said Linn, 28, a consultant, as the students compared their favorite do-it-yourself television shows.

Fairfax County's adult and community education program began more than 50 years ago to improve literacy, workforce training and residents' quality of life. Most classes are in public schools and costs about $40 to a few hundred dollars.

About 50,000 students enrolled in classes last year. The majority pursued workforce training or English language classes or worked to complete a high school degree. About 20,000 people enrolled in what the county calls community interest courses.

James Ginther, the program's deputy director, said that, despite rising fuel costs and a sagging economy, enrollment is up across the board for "purely discretionary" classes. In addition to home improvement classes, the catalogue details courses as diverse as wood turning, crock pot cooking, genealogy and Japanese floral design.

"People are not spending money on lavish things, and they are turning to more homeward kinds of pleasures, whether it is a cooking class, finally learning that language that they wanted to master to trying to feather their nest," Ginther said.

At Bryant, students envisioned their nest as they pounded nails into studs, talked shower pan details and counted their savings.