Lots of press coverage in the UK for a Survey by AA which states that DIY (Do It Yourself) is on the way out because men are becoming too enamoured with their tech toys. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hCJm55RLFI3OfBySiRJ9ovIdHmlw?docId=N0183111295183095047A

Other than RC - does anyone on here fix their plumbing, install their own TVs, build their own extensions or paint their houses?

I think we just rebuilt ours from scratch 

Nice press release will undoubtedly get loads of coverage but as they point out themselves its more related to not learning things from your parents than anything tech toy related. I suspect you could write the same article about lack of cooking, knitting or sewing skills in women.

Anyhow - credit crunch will turn that around. I'm willing to bet a few more people learn to change a washer themselves when water is metered and its a choice between paying the plumber or eating next week (its natural selection millenium style).  You do have to get professional certification for so much now though that its never going to go back to the days when my dad would get me (aged 7) to help him rewire the house in stages at the weekends

I do everything other than gas, electric & plumbing myself.  I avoid 2 of those out of appreciation for the lives of my family and the other out of appreciation for my own sanity. 

The only practical skill I learned from my father is how to swear loudly during DIY. I tried this approach with the plumbing for a while, but found that skilled tradespeople are a more effective way of dealing with leaks than shouting fuck at a pipe repeatedly.

Quote from: Rooftop on January 18, 2011, 12:10:29 PM
I tried this approach with the plumbing for a while, but found that skilled tradespeople are a more effective way of dealing with leaks than shouting f### at a pipe repeatedly.

If you'd met our plumbers you might doubt that statement

>>>>>does anyone on here fix their plumbing, install their own TVs, build their own extensions or paint their houses

err yeah cos its my full time job

just spent the last few weeks replacing my kitchen, floor tiling plumbing etc and now doing the decorating due to the fact last September I got a painter to do the whole house from top to bottom inside and was told before he started that i want to see my face in the gloss and was prepared to pay a little extra for that privilege

to cut the tale short i sacked him after 9 days because he was still upstairs through not doing full days but expecting to get paid for a full shift, I worked out at the rate he was working it would take 5 -6 weeks and a cost of around £3,200, he ended up getting £600 including materials and got told to fuck off and don't come back

this is the case though with lots of trades now, i have employed 9 different lads in the last 12 months and each have their qualities don't get me wrong but i could not leave any of them on their own on a private house due to the average finish what they are only capable of achieving, better than a DIY person could achieve granted but not good enough for a professional standard and this is the same with all trades these days due to no apprenticeships being given for the last 25 years plus young lads can earn more sat behind a PC screen and be bone dry

I agree with the survey as I learned basic DIY and home maintenance skills from my father, he was in the building trade too and in the 70's - 80's you did tend to follow what your father did regarding getting a trade if that be construction or engineering and of course the pits were booming too all of which paid a good wage for a hard days graft...my dad earned £50 a week on price work in 1969 which was major money at that time, i started work in 1974 and a trade mans basic wage was £28

the biggest issue now is lads want the money but like to lean on the spade handle....hmmm not on my jobs they don't

kin hell I only called home to wait for 2 chairs to be delivered

>Anyhow - credit crunch will turn that around.

Yeah the recession of the early 1980's brought DIY to new levels.  I'm willing to bet the big hardware/lumber retailers are already seeing it.

I limit myself to light house painting and some small projects.  Otherwise it is not worth the cussing and blood press pressure rise for me to do it.  Not to mention that it takes me a whole afternoon to do what a pro could repair in a half hour.

>plumbing

Learned my lesson on that one.  I now use a reputable plumber with a union shop and it gets fixed right the first time and they stand by it.  Costs more but worth every penny. 

Never been one for DIY, but over the last 12 months or so I've found myself doing more and more and started enjoying it... I also like to get out into the garden and do a little work at the end of the day, makes a good change.

I hooked up and installed my new Xbox the other day. Even got it online. Does that count?

I try to do stuff around the house but I am renting right now so there isn't much in the way of improvements I can do. But if needed I would be able to drywall, lay carpet, do some minor electrical and plumbing, counters, tile, pour concrete, and other basic home repairs. If I ever had to move a wall, cut in a door or anything structural I would need to hire someone.

>Other than RC - does anyone on here fix their plumbing, install their own TVs, build their own extensions or paint their houses?

I used to joke that I'm probably the only guy here that has flipped a backhoe into the river in the morning and then screwed up a database in the afternoon.

Quote from: rcjordan on January 18, 2011, 04:27:00 PM
> the only guy here that has flipped a backhoe into the river in the morning

Oh!  backhoe.  I still had to look it up.

Initially I couldn't figure out why you would want to throw her into the river - but hey, everyone has their kinks.

>>The only practical skill I learned from my father is how to swear loudly during DIY.

Oh, your father went to the same trade school as my dad. I have to give the guy credit though, by the time he hit retirement, he could build beautiful cabinets and at the age of 70, he and two friends built an entire house (his current home) except for plumbing, electric and heating. He also built much of a second house on the lake... he worked on that for a decade and by the time it was done, he was tired of it and sold it.

Strangely, his dad was a mechanic, and yet I never saw my dad do even the most minor car repair. His main mechanics training for me and my brother was to say "You kids want to use the car? Well then you replace the exhaust system."

I do not enjoy DIY stuff, but in our current house I've nevertheless laid a couple thousand square feet of floor, lacquered the trim, doors and cabinets, built shelving, painted everything in and out except for the parts that still aren't painted, installed toilets, added new circuits into the main box, formed up a driveway, lots of roof repair (for friends) and a few other things.

Part of this is that we live in the country, and getting someone to come out for a small job can be a real problem. Example: I wanted the stair light on a motion sensor. It cost me $17 in parts and took an hour to splice it in to the circuit. The electrician wanted $574 for the job because with travel it would pretty much burn his entire day.

Pretty much everyone who lives up here is able to do basic plumbing, electric and carpentry and there's a lot of sharing of tools, knowledge and labor. 

In the last three years, I've roofed two houses along with other neighbors for people who couldn't afford to hire it out.  One neighbor - a retired trucker who has been very generous with his tools and knowledge - told us that, because of the height and steepness of his roof, the pro contractors bid $30,000-$35,000 for the job. Nine of us from the neighborhood got together and did it in a weekend for $3500 in materials. I got a LOT more satisfaction out of that than from anything I've done on my own house.

>painter

I've always wondered why all painters try to be Charles Manson look-alikes?

>DIY

I can't say I like doing the labor. I just like getting the result I wanted.  I'd add that I apply the DIY philosophy to many projects other than construction-related ...managing legal issues, computer system for the wholesale company, etc.   

>The electrician wanted $574

I have a lot of standards and rules of thumb that determine whether I decide to tackle a project or not.  But the topmost one is a sort of what's my time worth evaluation. Except it's "How much am I willing to pay right now in order to be reasonably sure that I'm never going to have to do this project again?"  It's not about the money saved because I know that this means that I'll often be spending more -usually much more- than the job might cost if I had it done by a tradesman.  But by doing it myself, I'm able to use the money saved on labor to buy the best materials I can find or to overbuild the infrastructure.

I do smaller jobs myself. I could do probably just about anything, as I enjoy it, like working with my hands and usually do very good work. Problem is I'm too much of a perfectionist and try to get things that don't matter just right.

Last year we had the exterior of our house remodeling - new siding, windows, gutters, etc. Nothing was done that I couldn't do without some research and an extra pair of hands. They got done in 3-4 weeks what would have probably taken me as many months. I screened in the back patio while they did the second half of the job.

My favorite is home theater, or anything to do with electronics. My living room tv is a front projector with 96" screen. All bought, upgraded, wired, built, etc. etc. myself. As an example to my perfectionism, a buddy helped me build the screen one afternoon. It's a wooden frame with lauan (thin) plywood facing, a plastic sheet for screen material and wooden window trim for a frame. My friend got a bit frustrated with me when finishing, as I had to have 1/64th of an inch tolerance on the exact dimensions.

The most fun is picking, buying, setting up and wiring together:
Projector
Audio/Video Receiver
HDTV tuner
Xbox 360
PS3
Wii
PC
AV capture device for YT videos
CD Player
5.1 surround system
all networked together and switchable from one programmable remote

My wife Amy is currently remodeling the interior of the house, one room at a time. A jitterbug saw is running right now, in the next room, where my office just moved from. She has finished the guest bathroom, including new pedestal sink, and my new office.

I do any small jobs that I can, for the bigger jobs I call in the experience of my step-dad who is in his late 60's.  I think there is something great about learning from your elders and he has so many skills which have been built up over the years.

Our last project was my office, a converted summer house in the garden, double skinned insulation, three curcuit fuse box to keep the computers up if the heating/lighting trips.  High security (low visablility) locks, cameras and lighting, skirting, carpet, decking connecting it to the house etc.  I must say it is THE best place I have ever worked.  Once I start making more than the living and start-up costs I am going to make sure that I pay him back big time!