Even studs were rookies once.
Gionni Thompson, who teaches at Hinkley High School in Aurora, is the new mahatma of the hammer-and-nail set. He makes his TV debut on a DIY Network “Stud Finder” special (7 p.m. Feb. 25, Comcast digital cable channel 277). Starting in March, he’ll host his own home-improvement show on the network, having been chosen through a national contest.
He’s got TV good looks and, because he’s spent nine years as a chemistry teacher, knows how to speak in public, even to an audience of skeptical teenagers. They’ve been asking for his autograph just in case he gets really famous.
He wasn’t always the handiest of handymen. He remembers his first project – putting up wallboard. “I didn’t ask for help. I bought some wallboard and I used a rip saw to cut it. Stuff was everywhere, so much dust. I got a couple of sheets cut and decided, ‘This basement isn’t going to happen.”‘ A friend came to the rescue and showed him that wallboard is supposed to be scored with a knife and snapped. It was a revelation.
Which leads to his first principle of home improvement: If you don’t know, ask. “Don’t be shy. Go ahead and ask. Ask twice sometimes. I’ve even gotten to the point where I’ll see contractors in the aisle (at the hardware store) and ask them. They love answering questions. I go to job sites and ask how to do stuff.”
Thanks to TV fix-it shows like “This Old House” and the DIY Network, plus big-box stores like Home Depot that offer classes in tiling, painting and other tasks, more women are getting into projects. “Those big stores make it easy for anyone to start a project.”
Thompson will be at the Colorado Garden & Home Show this weekend with another DIY expert, Paul Ryan, who hosts the network’s “Kitchen Renovations.” For do-it-yourselfers everywhere, Thompson has one large hunk of advice: “There’s no dumb question.”
Around the dial
KCNC-Channel 4 re-airs the two-part “Criminal Minds” at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Some viewers thought the show had been cut short after Sunday’s Super Bowl … “24” star Chad Lowe guests on “The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet” (9 a.m. today, KDVR-Channel 31) … Former Denver radio personality Perry Allen died Jan. 31. He was 75 … Quotable: “The ugliest of trades have their moments of pleasure. Now, if I were a gravedigger, or even a hangman, there are some people I could work for with a great deal of enjoyment.” Douglas William Jerrold
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-954-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
