Many thanks to diyfail.com for the image. We thought it would make you smile……
Welcome to DIY Doctor's blog
Aug 23
A new word was brought to the attention of DIY Doctor at the weekend.
Oikodomophobia. Apparently this term was coined in 2006 and comes from the ancient Greek ‘oikodomo’ meaning building, but the word oikodomophobia now refers to a fear of tradesmen!
According to an article in the Daily Express last Saturday, nearly five million men in Britain suffer from oikodomophobia. Symptoms include nervousness, sweaty palms, difficulty breathing and sweating, which according to the article is brought about by their lack of knowledge when dealing with builders, electricians and plumbers.
The statistics were gathered via a survey conducted by Thomson-local, with 30% of men saying they felt ‘intimidated and confused when speaking to tradespeople’. One in four admitted to needing help with DIY but admitted they were more likely to turn to friends for help rather than professional tradesmen.
Let us know if you or anyone you know suffers with oikodomophobia or you have any views on the subject!
If you do want to find a tradesman to then click here to get to get free no-obligation quotes for your home improvement projects from reliable and insured tradesmen in your local area.
Aug 23
If you are expecting guests this bank holiday weekend, you may well be cleaning and preparing a spare room or a comfortable place for them to sleep. But don’t forget that if you are placing any orders that delivery days and times are also affected by the shorter working week.
In terms of the choice of sleeping solutions for guests, Comfy Living have made some recommendations:
Chair Beds
Chair beds are constructed from a firm foam-like filling and are best suited to children up to the age of around 10 years old. These are often called ‘Z beds’ or ‘flop out beds’ due to the simple nature of construction and children are easily able to use these in their bedrooms.
Futons
For small rooms where space saving is paramount and to accommodate guests would be a struggle with buying a spare bed, consider buying a futon to help with holiday sleepovers. Futons are versatile items of furniture, quickly changing from a sofa to a bed within seconds. Futons are available with a metal or a wooden frame and are suitable for adults of all ages.
Divan beds
Divans are a seen as a permanent addition to a spare room. Budget divans have no storage in the base and come with a mattress suitable for occasional use. Options with upgrading divan beds include storage options (drawers or slide storage) with a mattress which is deeper than a budget range, perhaps to a hand tufted variety, or memory foam.
Delivery recommendations
Comfy Living have released order times for the forthcoming August Bank Holiday and would like to inform all customers of the following dates and order cut off times:
- For delivery Friday 26th August order online by 3pm Thursday 25th August.
- Orders taken after 3pm on Thursday 25th August and by 12 noon on Friday 27th August will be delivered on Tuesday 30th August.
- Orders taken after 12 noon on Friday 27th August will be delivered on Wednesday 31st August.
Comfy Living telephone support will be up to 2pm on Friday 27th August, after which time the telephone lines will re-open on Tuesday 30th August. Over weekends and Bank Holidays there is no telephone support as the office is closed at these times.
Aug 22
Following on from our blog posts earlier this month on ‘ladder safety’ – it appears that this advice should have extended to animals as well……
Metro have reported that the Scottish SPCA were called out to deal with a cow that had got it’s head stuck in a ladder. The inspector was called out to deal with the situation in Ayrshire, West Scotland and told the BBC ‘I arrived at the field to find the cow looking confused but surprisingly calm despite having his head wedged tightly between the rungs of the ladder.’ With some help from the farmers family to keep the rest of the herd away, he was able to gently release the cow’s head.
- Cow with head stuck in ladder, Ayrshire. (Picture courtesy of Metro/PA)
‘The farmer had no idea how the ladder ended up in his field as he only recently took on the lease for the land. It may have been used to patch up a hole in the fence or it could have fallen off a passing van or lorry. Either way, it’s a rescue I won’t forget in a while.’
Aug 22
Summer brings out the gardener in everyone! Lawns mowed, borders trimmed and any number of other jobs undertaken with vigour.
One job our users seem to be very keen on is fixing hanging baskets to house and garden walls but unfortunately we get a great many emails on how to do this properly as (it would seem) quite a lot of these new decorations are falling off!
DIY Doctor (as you will see from our book Master Basic DIY) does not believe in simply offering advice on individual projects when explaining the principle of the operation covers so much more ground. For example, fixing a hanging basket is exactly the same process as fixing a shelf bracket or fixing a miroor to the wall. That is of course, if they are all being fitted to the same type of wall.
The principle of plugging and screwing to masonry surface is identical for all applications.
Instead of dealing with a hanging basket on it’s own, we will explain how to fix (anything) to masonry. The best way to understand this operation is to visit our project page called fixing to masonry and take a look at the video here.
Good luck with your gardens and shout if you need help!