What new skills have you learnt to 'do it yourself?

Finefoot

In the past month, I have re-sealed my oven door, changed the belt on my hoover and bled my radiator. What new skills have you guys learnt, and which ones would you recommend NOT to do yourself?

wymondham

I've fitted a new kitchen
Restored a classic mini (inc doing the welding!)
Replaced the toilet

I think unless its dangerous then everyone should think about having a go!

Wonderlands

I have made several small cute yarn hats to decorate my house.
If you have some creative ideas then just give it a shot. You'd be surprised by yourself.

Davesnave

People obviously shouldn't do things that should be assessed/signed off by someone qualified, like re-wiring or knocking big holes in supporting walls, but with modern materials and the internet as a huge resource, you'd need to be pretty dim not to cope with many tasks a homeowner faces when doing home improvements.

For me, it's plastering and related skills which are most daunting, as indeed is anything else time-sensitive. For example, just before Christmas, I got someone else to plumb-in a new inspection chamber. I dug the hole and demolished the old one, but I figured that if I c0cked-up, or was very slow, there'd be complaints from senior management. As it happened, torrential rain meant that we finished the task just an hour before the hole was completely filled with water, but if I'd had the time, or it had not been the last manhole in the line, there was nothing terribly scary about that job.

With relation to time, there also comes a point when sitting there swearing is less profitable than handing-over to someone who knows the job inside-out and has easy access to special tools or parts. For example, I think my brushcutter's carburettor has a fault, but it's far more sensible to hand it over to the lawnmower man than fiddle, maybe for days, when I could be doing something else.

Gloomendoom

Probably the only thing I haven't done is tile a roof.

Plastering is something I would leave to professionals, unless I specifically wanted a rustic finish.

Ebe_Scrooge

I think most things are within the scope of DIY as long as you do a bit of research, spend the time on preparation and work methodically. Over the years I've :


Installed a kitchen.
Ripped out an old patio and laid a new one, including building retaining walls.
Ripped out an old bathroom and replaced it.
Replastered a room.
Rewired a whole house ( in the good old days when you were allowed to do such things ! ).
Repaired and serviced numerous cars.
Replaced missing roof tiles.
Built a go-kart - well, I picked up a "broken" lawnmower for free, stripped down the engine, rebuilt it and thought "how hard can it be ?" :-)


I think the main thing is to build up your experience gradually. Have you seen that TV advert for the Royal Navy ? Something along the lines of "If you can fix a bike, you can fix a car. If you can fix a car, you can learn to fix a battleship". So it goes with DIY. If you can wire a plug, you can wire a socket. If you can wire a socket, you can add a spur to a ring main.


There are things that need to be approached with caution. Obviously, anything involving gas or electricity has the potential to cause some pretty nasty consequences if it goes wrong. And there are regulations in place as to what the DIY-er can do. That said, it's not difficult if you have some experience, but you need to know your limitations. Like I said, I rewired an entire house years ago. The electricity board came round, tested everything and made the final connection. Saved myself a tidy sum.


But good for you, OP, for taking the first step in learning how to do things - true MSE style :-)

27col

As someone who has built myself 2 houses I have tackled everything except serious plastering. (Although I could have probably done better than the oaf who plastered the second house.)
I do quite like bricklaying, but not sure that I would want to tackle a whole house.
Years ago, as Ebe Scrooge says, electrics were easy. You just got Southern Electric to check what you had done and then connect the supply. Though I was electrically trained at the time.
Though I do look back now at some of the mistakes that I made, with a feeling of amazement.
There was not the wealth of Internet information available as there is now.
I may not be able to tell you what and how to do a particular job. But I can certainly tell you how not to do it. I have made every mistake under the sun in my time.
They say that you might be a fool to make a mistake, but you are a b*****y idiot if you don't learn from your mistake.
The depth of ignorance shown on this forum about how houses are constructed is deep, or though, I suppose, not altogether surprising.
Personally, I have always wanted to know how everything I see is constructed.

phil24_7

I wont touch gas and I don't like plumbing (waste pipes are fine) but anything else I will have a bloody good stab at.

Things that take a lot of time to perfect like plastering/rendering and quality carpentry etc I will happily pay someone else to do but most other things I will, and have done.

Concreting, drainage, linear drainage, roofing, electrics, retaining walls, building work benches in my cellar and garage, re-wiring, knocking down and rebuilding non structural walls, insulating (cavity walls and loft), closing cavities, shed building, installing gabion baskets and raising a garden, fencing and path building amongst other things have all been done by me in the last 6 years.

I do love a DIY project!

TheCyclingProgrammer

In the past, I saved my parents some money by re-roofing their kitchen extension. Ripped off the old felt, rotten chipboard etc, insulated, re-boarded with OSB and fitted an EPDM membrane with trim. Hardest part was the flashing but I was happy with the job and it never leaked!

Since we bought our house, I've done as much as possible:

* Built my own alcove cabinets from scratch, and some alcove shelving too.
* Lots of decorating
* Basic electrics - replaced switches, sockets, wired up a new light and switch in the garage, moved a socket, wired up a smoke alarm. Anything beyond this I leave to a professional because even if I could learn how to do something I don't have the means to properly test everything.
* Learned how to drain and remove a radiator and mount and plumb in a new one.
* Plumb in a dishwasher and washing machine (really never had to do it before)
* Some very basic repointing
* Boarded our loft
* Levelled up my general DIY and decorating skills.

Beyond very basic stuff I won't touch plumbing or plastering.

Finefoot

Wow, you are a talented bunch! Keep it up!

ManuelG

Finefoot wrote: »

Wow, you are a talented bunch! Keep it up!

Yeah, I feel a bit inadequate after reading this thread.

I can put up a shelf!