Does anybody do DIY anymore?

Mistral001

London50 wrote: »

Check the Charity shops as many people from my generation not only had advise from a parent but also collected many D.I.Y, books as a backup and as stated with the internet coming along the younger generation would sooner use that for how to guides so well loved and looked after books like that end up on the charity shelves.

Yes plenty of DIY books in charity shops. I have bought some there.

EssexExile

Mistral001 wrote: »

Cookbooks by the celebrity chefs it would seem are the most prolific non-fiction books in bookshops these days. One bookshop I visited before Christmas had a least fifty titles - yet no DIY books.

Some of the "celebrity chef" books should really be in the fiction section.

keith969

Lorian wrote: »

Another observation - I was taught many DIY skills by my father - general woodworking and repair, often by watching, and helping..

Same here, Dad taught me electrics, plumbing, woodwork, you name it he did it all.

Sadly my kids were never so keen to learn, preferring computer games - don't think they even know what dovetail joints are, let alone how to cut them by hand.

d0nkeyk0ng

I was taught how to wire a plug by my dad (back in the day when appliances often came without one). I've learned everything else by reading and in this day and age, I use forums (like this one) and youtube. I've heard good things about the collins one but I struggled to find a modern version. The last time I looked, the latest published one was almost 10 years old.

Lorian

d0nkeyk0ng wrote: »

The last time I looked, the latest published one was almost 10 years old.

The red one was published 7 years ago. Not much has changed In DIY in that time. The blue one is ok too if you can pick it up cheap at a car boot or charity shop

EssexExile

Practical Householder magazine seems to have disappeared, that was useful back in the 70s! I learnt how to rewire houses from that, I rewired a few before electricity suddenly became dangerous & you needed a certificate.

Cornucopia

I'm definitely still a DIYer. In the last few weeks I've fitted an oven, fitted a wall heater including making a new fused spur, and changed a single-gang wall socket to a twin.

I've still got a new heated towel rail to fit, though.

I definitely recommend Youtube tutorials for DIY tasks. The overall standard is very high (across content, presentation and technical competence).

Waterlily24

My hubby did nearly everything in this house except the electrics and fitting a new boiler because of the certificates needed. We also got somebody to do the bricklaying for the extension so it was done quicker. Hubby and son did the roof tiling etc (it was the whole roof because we had to take the old one off lol). Had a crane to put the roof trusses on.

He did all the plastering and skimming, fitted the windows, all the decorating, (fully tiled 3 bathrooms, kitchen and utility room). Put coving up, fitted all the doors including outside ones. Everything really including a very large garden that was really overgrown with nothing in it on one side. Looks lovely now though.

simonineaston

Plus One More for YouTube - I use it like I used to the ancient, stained and bulky Readers Digest Guide to DIY, now long consigned to the recycling centre, only YouTube takes up less room and is easier to follow! On the rare occasions I'm stumped, I post on DiyNot, with a picture of the problem and get great advice (as well as the occasional slice of sarcasm, if I'm being particulalry dumb!). DIY is truly one area where print has had its day (and I say that as a part-time book-binder so, if anything, I'm biased towards print)