Do you know where your stopcock is?

wigglebeena

I read a post on The Simple Dollar recently where Trent was advocating the value of being self-sufficient in as many areas as possible e.g. painting and decorating, fixing your car, plumbing etc.

A lot of people argued the toss, pointing out the time and opportunity cost of acquiring so many skills, but his response was that the point is not to become expert. It's to have enough basic knowledge/skills to minimise your expenditure on professional help. E.g. knowing where your stopcock is could massively reduce subsequent expenditure in a plumbing emergency (certainly as far as water damage goes), or knowing how to change the oil on your car, or knowing where your fusebox is.

I have to admit I know none of these things, nor even where to start or what things are most important in this regard! Does anyone have any good resources on such things e.g. recommendations for books or websites?

Pink.

Hi wigglebeena,

The experts on the In My Home board should be able to help more with this so I've moved your thread over there to see if you can get more replies.

Pink

ormus

http://www.diynot.com/
this is ok for basic stuff.
also try the screwfix website (forum) for more advanced info. there are lots of pros on there to answer your questions.
your local library will have hundreds of books on basic plumbing and decorating etc...

daveyjp

Collins DIY book is good for starters. I do know where the stopcock is - I turn the water off and drain the system every time we go away.

markelock

stopcock yes, fuseboard yes, changing the oil in the car? that's for the spanner jockeys.

Chester_Draws

Knowing where the stopcock is , thats one thing, but actually being able to turn it off is another.

Its a bit like the adverts on TV for smoke detectors .......... dont wait for an emergency to discover its seized up and you cant turn it. Get the WD40 out tomorrow!

totalsolutions

well yes of course I can and do all that for myself (and others), it's all in the name.

Tribulation

wigglebeena wrote: »

I read a post on The Simple Dollar recently where Trent was advocating the value of being self-sufficient in as many areas as possible e.g. painting and decorating, fixing your car, plumbing etc.

A lot of people argued the toss, pointing out the time and opportunity cost of acquiring so many skills, but his response was that the point is not to become expert. It's to have enough basic knowledge/skills to minimise your expenditure on professional help. E.g. knowing where your stopcock is could massively reduce subsequent expenditure in a plumbing emergency (certainly as far as water damage goes), or knowing how to change the oil on your car, or knowing where your fusebox is.

I have to admit I know none of these things, nor even where to start or what things are most important in this regard! Does anyone have any good resources on such things e.g. recommendations for books or websites?

It's good to know where your stopcock is but as for changing oil on your car, yes I can do it but it's so cheap at places like National and Kwik Fit that I'd rather pay them the extra £5 - £10 than getting completely filthy crawling around under my car doing it myself.

roses

Chester_Draws wrote: »

Knowing where the stopcock is , thats one thing, but actually being able to turn it off is another.

It's just a knob which you turn round!! How can some people not know?!

wishiwasarichgirl

roses wrote: »

It's just a knob which you turn round!! How can some people not know?!

i had a plumber in recently, neither of us could find the stopcock, he had to go round to the neighbours to ask where hteirs was (turned out it was in the chimney breast?? !!!!!!??)

anyway, it obviously hadn't been touched in years cos even with spanners & wrenches & allsorts he couldn't budge the blimmin thing.

Had to turn off the one outside under the footpath in the end.

fusebox I know about, I'm pretty good at most painting & decorating, got myself a nice hammer drill and not bothered about putting up shelves etc...

but cars? not a clue. A friend was amazed recently cos I haven't seviced (or even checked the oil) in my car for a couple of years now surely there's a warning light in the car to tell you something is wrong?

Wickedkitten

Yup I can do Diy and work on a car because my dad didn't want me to grow up having to depend on a bloke to do things for me.

Years ago I got a flat tyre and was changing it on the side the road when two blokes stopped to help and seemed quite gobsmacked that I knew how to do it.