DATE: Thursday, June 12, 1997               TAG: 9706110439

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Military: A Special Weekly Report

SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   68 lines

DO-IT-YOURSELF DUTY: THE NAVY'S NEW SELF-HELP ACADEMY INTENDS TO SAVE $300,000 A YEAR ON MAINTENANCE CALLS TO MILITARY HOUSING.

Jamie Collins is accustomed to intricate repair jobs. He works on F-14 Tomcat fighters for a living as an aviation electronics technician.

But what he saw inside the newfangled toilet tank of his Navy house perplexed him.

``I've never seen a toilet like that,'' Collins said. ``I'm a fix-it man. If I can fix it myself, I will. But when I saw that, I said, `What in the. . . ?' ''

The Navy's new Self-Help Academy fixed him right up. At a short session on basic plumbing repairs, Collins and several other residents of Navy housing learned more than how to fix a leaking toilet. They studied up on how to save the government more than $300,000 a year in service calls to Navy housing by doing minor household repairs themselves.

With the opening of new and improved base housing, the Navy has a vested interest in keeping it in good repair. The Self-Help Academy, in a building next to the new Ben Moreell housing area, provides training, supplies and tools to residents.

``The more they know about how to take care of it, the longer it'll last,'' said Allen Whittaker, supervisor of the warehouse where supplies and equipment are kept. ``We do anything we can to help them do the work themselves and save the government money.''

Instructor Buddy Midgett has a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom mock-up, screen repair tables, video library and more to work with. His free classes are offered on a rotating schedule or by appointment.

``We have nice housing now,'' Midgett said to a recent class. ``We'll give you basically everything you need to keep your homes as nice as they are right now.''

He showed them which way to turn their free wrenches to shut off the water to their toilet tanks - ``Righty tighty, lefty loosey'' - and how to open the package containing a new float. Then he showed them the new tanks, sans float, that use one-fifth the amount of water and rely on air pressure instead of gravity.

``This is china, just like your nice china set,'' Midgett said, patting the tank. ``It's very fragile, breaks easily if you drop something on it.''

Break it, and a new one costs $328, he said, compared to less than $100 for an old-fashioned tank with float. Avoid breaks by laying your wrench on the floor, he advised, not on the tank.

The class soaked it all in, then dispersed to look around the workshop. Midgett gave an impromptu session on patching drywall and some advice on paint.

The warehouse supplies residents with home maintenance equipment ranging from child safety locks for cabinets to bedding plants, to toothbrush holders to chandelier bulbs.

The Self-Help Academy is on the Norfolk Naval Base, but supply centers are next to housing at Hewitt Farms, Oceana, Portsmouth, Wadsworth Shores, Willoughby Bay and Little Creek.

Collins expects to come back for more training. ``My dad used to be in the military and we lived in housing and they never had anything like this,'' he said. ``One day, I'll have my own house to do this in.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

Instructor Buddy Midgett explains the workings of a toilet to

residents of government housing so that they will be able to perform

minor household repairs themselves instead of having to call for

professional help. Midgett has a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom

mock-up, screen repair tables and videos to help him teach his free

classes.

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