Welcome to DIY Doctor's blog

‘How to’ and ‘Review’ videos are becoming a really popular part of what we do

The DIY Doctor channel on You Tube is packed full of useful tool reviews, so if you are thinking of replacing your cordless drill or investing in a wet and dry vacuum, why not check out what we have to say?

They are completely independent reviews of tools and products that any DIY or home improvement enthusiast might want to buy. Our boss Mike Edwards tests most of the tools (unless they are gardening tools – he is not a hypocrite!) and his style is blunt and honest.

Video Tool Review section

We also have a video tool review section on DIY Doctor, this gives you a written round up as well as the featured video. The beauty of video tool reviews is that you can actually see the tools in action on screen before you buy.

In the video tool review section we give an impartial review of the product, point out the pros and cons, tell you whether we like it, and why, and give it a star rating so you can easily compare similar products. Then we then leave it up to you to decide.

‘How To’ videos make learning new DIY tasks easier

The other brilliant use for You Tube is the ‘How To’ videos we produce. Videos are often the easiest ways to learn new home improvement tasks, and we always welcome your suggestions. So if you can’t find the video you want to see just let us know – leave a comment here on the blog or use the ‘contact us’ button on the main website.

DIY Doctor is invited to give talks at trade shows where we give advice on home improvement jobs like plastering, plumbing and tiling. We video the talks so you don’t have to miss them even if you can’t make it to the exhibition centres.

A bit of fun with DIY

In addition to the serious ‘how to’ and tool review videos we also add in some that are just a bit of fun, like this beautiful DIY Christmas tree that CEO Mike Edwards designed and built in our film studio to show you what magical things can be made out of basic building materials.

We were delighted with the response to this fun video (over 600,000 views so far!) and we are asking him to plan his next seasonal video. We will upload it to You Tube as soon as inspiration strikes – so why not follow the DIY Doctor You Tube channel and you will be the first to know about his latest brilliant project.

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It’s not exactly news that being more active makes you fitter, and many of you DIY Doctor users will identify with the thought that physically ‘doing stuff’ makes you feel better about yourself, and gives a sense of satisfaction to what you do.

In addition to the feel-good factor, moving around has many other physical benefits too. According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) around 25% of breast and colon cancers, and 27% of Heart disease and Diabetes could be caused by a sedentary lifestyle. The human body just wasn’t made for inactivity, and sitting down is killing us.

With this in mind we thought we would point out the health benefits of basic DIY and Home Improvement tasks.

We have researched and displayed the amount of Calories per hour for each task, as a guide to show the exertion involved, but it isn’t just about weight loss it is also about decreasing blood pressure, improving mood, lowering cholesterol, and improving the immune system:

Mowing the lawn
Even with electric and petrol mowers there is a certain amount of physical effort involved so this could burn around 250 Calories, but this would be more like 325-425 Calories per hour if you use an old fashioned push mover. If you include fighting the machine out of the shed, and walking backwards and forwards to the compost heap you are getting a full body workout.

If you don’t have a lawn to mow why not find out if an elderly neighbor could use help in the garden. This could benefit both of you if they do the easier tasks and you do the more physical ones, you get the health benefits of the work and the feel good  benefits of being outdoors and helping other people.

Gardening
Depending on what you are doing – gentle sowing, weeding and planting is a good all round exercise, but raking leaves, fencing, double digging, laying walls, or building a shed can be a very physical workout. 200 – 450 calories per hour.

Walking around a garden in the fresh air makes you feel good, improves your circulation, reduces stress and gives you sense of satisfaction when the work is done.

Snow shoveling
There has probably been a fair amount of this going on recently – expect to burn up about 415 calories per hour, and come back indoors with a warm glow.

Chopping wood
If you have a fire or log burner chop your own wood and get your heart pumping, but be very careful, wear leather gloves and safety glasses, for added protection against flying wood and splinters wear a leather apron. Approx 300 Calories.

Stacking and carrying the wood, as well as sweeping the fire and disposing of the ashes are also good physical activities.

Painting and decorating
Bending, stretching, climbing ladders, it is a work out in itself isn’t it? This burns about 215 Calories per hour. However if you are also plastering, artexing, and doing your own carpentry this can be increased to 325 Calories.

There are lots of helpful guides in the DIY Doctor projects section if you want advice on how to decorate. If you haven’t tried plastering but would like to have a go then visit DIY Doctor’s plastering section for a ‘How to’ guide.

Sweeping up after yourself
Be honest, this may not be the thing you are best at but sweeping and mopping burn up about 240 calories per hour. If you are using a vacuum cleaner to clean up after yourself that uses similar amounts of energy and all involve movement lifting and walking around.

The health benefits of doing this is one thing but think of the Brownie points you will earn if you leave your DIY job looking finished, clean and tidy at the end. This increases the feelgood factor tenfold for you and spreads a warm glow into the heart of your partner too!

Washing the car
if you wash and vacuum your car, and give it a nice vigorous polish you can work up quite a sweat. There is lots of upper arm workout and cardiovascular activity, especially if you are carrying buckets of water rather than using a hose to do the job. 300-400 Calories.

You could even do a charity fund raiser offering to wash neighbors cars in return for donations to your favorite charity, get the children involved and away from their computer games for the day.

A cautionary note

Be careful to increase activity gradually, if you have not been doing anything physical. You could split tasks down to half an hour sections at first, building up to a couple of hours a day.

Be careful of your joints, if you have been sedentary you may find your wrists, knees and back are prone to injury. Vary the tasks you do over the time you have allowed and ensure you maintain a good posture.

Take regular breaks from very physical tasks and monitor how you are feeling, if you push yourself too hard and hurt yourself you won’t want to start your DIY task next time.

If you are any doubt about your general health, ask your doctor’s advice before making a lifestyle change.

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The Government’s Green Deal launched today

This is a scheme to allow homeowners to have energy saving work carried out on their home and the cost added to fuel bills rather than paying for the work in advance.

We have written quite a bit about the Green Deal in our recent blogs, but here is a quick breakdown:

Pros

Using the Green Deal may allow you to get work done that you wouldn’t be able to afford any other way.

Most households will be eligible to take advantage of the scheme, even if their credit rating would not allow them to borrow the money elsewhere.

The work can only go ahead if it will cost the same or less than the predicted savings on energy bills, called the ‘golden rule’

Interest charged on the money will be carefully monitored to ensure the savings are not eaten up by interest payments

Cons

Changes to your household may meant the savings are not realised – for instance, having a baby would dramatically change the energy consumption in a household.

If you move, then the bill for the work (and savings it makes) stay at the property, but what suited you might not suit new buyers.

Although there are no up-front costs, the assessment company is likely to charge a fee so ask questions and shop around carefully.

Some companies are setting up specifically to take advantage of the Green Deal by using high pressure selling to make sure you sign with them, be careful not to agree to any work there and then, consider it carefully and at a distance, before signing anything.

DIY Doctor’s Green Living section has more information on the Green Deal and other green subjects, which has been developed in partnership with Be Energy Smart.

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After trading for 30 years Godfrey DIY Supermarkets Limited has announced it is going into liquidation.

The company based in Norfolk and Suffolk employs 50 people, but has noticed a decrease in sales since 2008, and finally had to join the likes of HMV and Jessops in calling in the receivers.

It is always a shame to see local stores having to close or be swallowed by larger retailers, but the current economic climate makes it very difficult for smaller retailers to compete with the large multi-nationals and DIY sheds.

Managing director Barry Godfrey said it was a “Sad day” adding “We are not the only retailer to have encountered difficulties since Christmas and probably won’t be the last”. He thanked his loyal staff and customers

Liquidator McTear Williams and Wood, said Godfrey DIY would continue to trade as normal until 30 January. It will then hope to sell the Diss and Stowmarket stores as going concerns.

By contrast the Notcutts Garden Center in Bagshott is hoping to join forces with Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Group, in a move that will save jobs and secure the future of the site, providing plans are approved by the local council.

Perhaps this is the beginning of Waitrose branching out into garden centers nationally which would seem to be a comfortable  match for the high end home a grocery stores.

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The Met Office reported that 2012 was the second wettest year on record and we can expect more of the same in the the next few years.

Not only are we getting more rain but it is falling in more intense downpours, which makes the likelihood of flooding more likely as the rivers cannot deal with taking water off the land quickly enough.

Last year nearly 8,000 homes and businesses suffered from flooding, which apart from the financial implications is very traumatic for people who have their home life disrupted and favorite belongings ruined by flood water.

In addition farmers suffered loss of crops and even the crops that do survive are less nutritious because essential nutrients are leached form the soil in flood conditions.

The Environment Agency website publishes information on areas that are subject to flooding so you can use this information when choosing where to live, you can sign up for free text alerts of flood warnings in your area to prepare in advance if you do live in an at risk area.

They also have advice on making a flood plan and what to do after a flood has hit.

To look on the bright side the weather is also becoming milder (not so much this last week) and so gardeners will be able to grow more temperate plants, this is a trend that has already started as evidenced by the popularity of some tropical plants such as New Zealand Tree ferns which would not have survived our climate 30 years ago.

It is also going to be good weather for ducks and rice farmers.

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