Welcome to DIY Doctor's blog

In Part One we looked at the screws you might use for particular jobs, now we look at the drivers and bits that you can use to put them into the materials you are fixing together.

DIY Doctor recommends that you have two drills in your toolkit, especially if you are a regular DIYer or if you have a big job to complete – one to use as a drill and the other to use as a driver. This avoids the need to constantly swap between drill bit and screwdriver head as you work your way through a project. Although this might appear expensive, or even lazy, in fact it makes it much quicker to complete tasks. Also with the vast array of drills on the market, it is not that expensive to add an extra drill to your kit.

Mike Edwards from DIY Doctor has been reviewing tools to give you advice on what each product does and whether it is worth adding to your toolkit, check out our other Video Reviews.

Here are the ones that are related to ‘what drives them’:

Makita 8391 18 volt Combi Drill, click to see review page

DeWalt DCD785 Combi Drill, click to see full review

Hitachi 18V Cordless Combi Drill, click to see full review

Angled Bit Holder, click to see full review

It is worth mentioning that you should be sure that there are no pipes or cables in the area you are about to start drilling. You can get detectors that will flash and sound an alarm if they are passed over an area where there is cabling – below Mike reviews the Bosch Digital Detector. In our blog on electrical safety we also went into the importance of having and RCD on your electrical supply, just in case!

Mike comments “while it is usually safe to assume that cables will run straight up the wall from switches and sockets, and that pipes will run along logical lines from radiators I used to live in a house where the radiator pipes ran in ducting down the center of the walls before splitting out to the left and right to feed the radiator. Fitting a shelf or picture on this wall without going through the pipework would be hit and miss without the use of a detector, so it is always best to be sure”.

Bosch Digital Detector, click to see full review

 for more information on having your product reviewed by DIY Doctor click here

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DIYDoctor’s Mike Edwards has been busy trying out a host of Home Improvement products, from Ladders to drills, screws to shoes and everything in between.

There are hundreds of tool reviews coming over the next few months

These are being loaded onto the website now and we hope they prove an invaluable resource to all our visitors.

Each page has a video showing the item being used and discussing its merits and any downsides. There is also an overview and rating from the Doc, a list of the features, a note of what you get for your money ‘what’s in the box’ and a link to read more reviews from customers who have already bought the product.

If you like what you see you can simply click on the buy button to have it delivered direct to you.

Find all our videos by clicking on the Video Tool Review button to the left hand side of our home page.

Find tool reviews under the 'Video Tool Reviews' button on the site

Click here to visit the main page and have a look around the reviews http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/product-reviews/, don’t forget to keep coming back as we will be uploading more videos in the coming weeks.

We would also love to get feedback from you, so let us know what you think, and if you have any suggestions about other products to feature, or details you would like to see included, then please leave your comments on this page.

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If you feel like being a bit creative and you’ve got some small pieces of furniture or picture frames you’d like to give a new lease of life to, you could try the art of decoupage.

Decoupage involves applying a collage of images to the surface of an object and is very effective on items such as boxes, frames, trays or small tables. Our new project on decoupage tells you all you need to know, from collecting your images and deciding how you want to decorate your item, to preparing the surface and actually applying the pictures.  It talks you through what glues and varnishes to use and how to get a good finish to your piece.

Decoupage is great fun and is an easy way to transform accessories for the home or to give as presents, and you don’t have to be artistic to have a go!

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A new addition to the projects on diydoctor is ‘how to wallpaper a stairwell’ - a tricky job, and not one many people feel confident tackling, so we have created a project to help.

Most people’s main concern is the height and angle you can be working at when you are papering (or painting for that matter) the stairs, so it is vital that you have a safe area to work. We suggest you construct a platform -  you can either use a special ladder for using on stairs or construct your own platform using boards – just make sure sure it is safe and secure.

We already have projects to help with choosing  wallpaper and using the right wallpaper adhesive, but this page gives you advice and tips on pasting, hanging and trimming your paper so you get a professional finish.

You can also refer to our hanging wallpaper and wallpapering a ceiling projects. Good luck with your wallpapering!

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An unusual way to decorate a room! These guys start by dipping their long hair in paint and then headbanging to heavy metal music in a strangely pink room. Not the most efficient technique of decorating a room, but quite entertaining to watch!

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