Girls just want to DIY

In May 2002, after Michael and Crystal Rocke were married on the beach in Hawaii, Michael carried his bride over the threshold of their Overbrook home. The gesture was unforgettable - and so, unfortunately, was the house.

The roof leaked, nails protruded from the warped floors, the walls were dingy. Spiders were everywhere.

"It was like the movie Arachnophobia," says Crystal. "I literally cried for about eight months. For me, it was like the sitcom Green Acres, except we were living in the city of Philadelphia."

But Crystal, 45, had promised her husband she would help, and pitch in she did: sanding, scraping, painting, refinishing doors, taping and spackling drywall, installing molding and bathroom tile.

In the course of transforming the three-story stone twin - and transform it they did - the couple discovered some differences.

Michael, a plant operations specialist at West Chester University, is mechanical and methodical, relying heavily on his trusty tape measure.

Crystal, a property coordinator, is more intuitive, and the queen of quality control. She notices paint drips and can't abide them. When Michael, 56, installed a windowsill that wasn't perfectly level, Crystal made him do it again. "Women can see things men don't see," she declares. "It's not in a man's DNA to be detailed."

Fighting words? For sure. A gender generalization? Yes indeedy. Possibly true? Many women, and some knowledgeable men, think so.

In fact, as more women take on do-it-yourself and home-improvement chores traditionally done by men, more than a few have reached the conclusion that women may actually be better suited to such tasks.

"Men sometimes need to feel manly," says Crystal Leung, head of the kitchen and bath department at Home Depot in Broomall. "They don't like to follow directions, and their attitude is 'I'll do it my way.' When they get frustrated, they start banging and throwing things, and that makes it worse."

Assistant store manager John Mills adds: "Women are more patient. Guys don't want to look silly. They don't want to fail, so they put it off."

Mills sees more women buying tools and supplies and asking for how-to advice. They are single mothers who can't afford professional help, wives tired of nagging their husbands to tackle the honey-do list, or women fed up with unreliable contractors. Some just crave the sense of mastery and accomplishment that comes from fixing or making something yourself.