What Did you Learn on YouTube Today?

This past weekend, I replaced the door handle on our back door.  No problem, right?  I went to the hardware store and got another one, came home all set to replace it.  I grabbed a screwdriver and headed to the door thinking this would be as easy as all the other ones I have replaced in the past.

As I knelt down in front of the door, screwdriver in hand, I stopped.  There were no screws visible on the door handle itself.  I had no idea where to start because on every other door handle that I've replaced, there were screws on the outside of the handle.

I opened the replacement package and tried to see where the screws would go eventually.  Even though it was clear from the instructions where the screws were supposed to go, I also saw there was a cover.  The question was, how do I remove that cover?

At first, I tried just jamming the screwdriver between the cover and the handle and creating some leverage.  The cover moved slightly, but nothing even remotely close to giving me access to the screws.  I took a closer look at the handle and saw a very small opening but didn't think it was anything important.  More on that later.

After several failed attempts at "leveraging" the cover off, and growing frustration, I took a step back.  I tried to think about who I could call to help me.  Many of my friends are very handy and would know how to do this.  As I was thinking about who to call, I saw our laptop sitting open across the kitchen.

I walked over, went to Google, and typed in "How to remove a door handle when the screws are not visible?"  Much to my delight, several "how to" YouTube videos were on the first page and after scanning a couple of them, I found my answer: an allen wrench!

That small opening I referenced earlier was just the right size for the second smallest allen wrench I owned.  With a couple of counter-clockwise turns, the cover came off and there were the screws!  I was able to replace the handle pretty quickly.

Previous to this situation, I had not thought of YouTube as a resource.  Don Taylor (@dtaylor60 & @msms_teamsummit) has consistently encouraged us in #MPSVT to create our own YouTube channel.  It is easy to think of YouTube as only for music videos and celebrities.  However, there is so much more.  If you don't believe me, I challenge you to use it the next time you run into a dead end in a do-it-yourself project at home.  Share your stories in the comments below!