Skills · Support
Fix repairs the house. Maintain keeps the systems running. Support extends the life of everything else — the gear, clothing, tools, and small installations a household depends on.
A torn rain jacket that gets patched lasts another five seasons. A welded trailer hitch that would otherwise be scrapped keeps working. A drip line repaired at the break costs $0.50 instead of replacing the entire run. These skills are the difference between the replacement cycle and the maintenance cycle.
What Support is
The Skills section divides household capability into what the structure needs (Fix, Maintain, Protect, Build) and what the household's gear and equipment needs (Support). These are different problems solved with different skills. A leaking roof needs a roofer's toolkit. A torn backpack needs a needle and thread. A cracked bracket needs a welder. A drip irrigation line needs a tube cutter and a barbed fitting.
Support skills share a common orientation: they make what a household already has last longer. This matters at all times — a repaired jacket is less expensive than a new one — and it matters specifically during disruptions, when replacement supply chains may be unavailable or delayed. The household that can repair its gear is better positioned than the household that discards and replaces.
Solar and battery setup is the one Support skill that's primarily about installation rather than repair — it fits here because it's a small-system, hands-on capability that's distinct from the planning and strategy covered in the Energy domain. The wiring connection, the charge controller setup, the battery chemistry — these are practical skills, not planning decisions.
Skill levels in this category
The five Support skills
Hand stitching, iron-on and sewn patches, zipper replacement, seam repair, and gear mending. The skill that keeps jackets, bags, tents, and tarps functional when they would otherwise be discarded.
Conditioning, cleaning, and preserving leather. Saddle stitching, snap and buckle replacement, boot care, and harness repair. Leather gear maintained correctly lasts decades rather than years.
MIG welding basics for farm and household metal repair — cracked brackets, broken trailer hitches, garden tool frames, and implement repairs. The skill that keeps metal equipment working when fabrication shops aren't nearby.
Installing and connecting small solar charging systems — panel, charge controller, battery, and output. Sizing cables, fusing correctly, and understanding battery chemistry. The hands-on companion to the Energy domain's planning content.
Drip line repair, sprinkler head replacement, timer programming, and poly pipe connections. The skill that keeps a garden's water system functional through a season — patching breaks, clearing clogged emitters, and winterizing before the first freeze.
More skills coming
The Support category is expanding. Additional gear repair and maintenance skills will be added as they're built.
Why Support skills matter for preparedness
A cracked weld on a trailer hitch, a torn tent seam before a camping trip, a broken drip emitter in a garden at peak season — these are equipment failures that don't stop a well-prepared household. They stop households that only know how to replace, not repair.
A small solar and battery system that a household built and understands is more resilient than one installed by someone else and managed by a phone app. When the system needs adjustment, the household that wired it can adjust it.
An irrigation system that fails mid-season threatens a garden that took months to establish. The ability to diagnose a failed emitter, splice a broken line, or replace a stuck valve keeps food production running through the season regardless of supply chain availability for replacement parts.
New to the Skills section?
Other skill categories
Fix
Plumbing, electrical, drywall, appliances, flooring
Maintain
HVAC, vehicles, small engines, tools, trees
Protect
Painting, weatherization, gutters, pest control, locks
Build
Carpentry, masonry, concrete, fencing, structures
Respond
First aid, fire safety, public health, weather literacy
Safety
Ladder, electrical, chainsaw, generator, permits
Start Here
Tool kit, skill levels, home maintenance binder