Welcome to DIY Doctor's blog

Lucy Mangan writes an ‘outspoken’ column for Stylist magazine

This morning’s issue of Stylist featured an article by Lucy Mangan on why we’re all saying ‘Bye, Bye’ to DIY – if you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here. For the most part, I can agree with Lucy’s sentiment. The quick fix, flashy home makeover shows of the last decade did perpetuate the attitude that you should throw money at your house to tart it up to sell, and then move on. But I don’t, and can’t celebrate the (purported) decline of DIY. I’d argue that rather than the recession crushing our notions of fixing up our homes, it is doing the opposite. Yes, the recession has caused many of us to stick where we are rather than move house. Perhaps to our chagrin, we can’t so easily leave the eighties kitchen of our first house behind, swapping it for a new build setup without any effort on our part. More than ever, the improvement of our homes has been left up to us, especially as pinched salaries mean we think twice about employing builders for jobs we could do ourselves.

As a twenty- something renting in London, the idea of possessing space that I can modify to suit myself is massively appealing. My flatmates are looking to buy their first property together, and the idea of having to carry out some work themselves to bring an older, cheaper property up to scratch doesn’t phase them – in fact, we’re all excited about it. Chalk it up to naivety if you will, but it’s something I can actually see myself getting into more and more as my ownership (and living space) increases.

People have done brilliant things to modify their Ikea furniture, including making this cupboard tool shed!

It’s true that I’ll never really enjoy a trip to B&Q, but probably like many other people, I find the idea and act of DIY liberating. In essence, it’s learning how to do something for yourself that improves your living environment – what’s not to like about that? The recent upsurge of the ‘Making’ movement can attest to this feeling – from making cakes through to modifying furniture you’ve bought from Ikea, we’re all getting hooked on the pride that comes with making something yourself. The age of online video is now firmly upon us, and you can now learn how to do just about anything from someone somewhere in the world, including from the DIY Doctor himself on our site. You can to do many more maintenance jobs around your house than you probably think – redoing your pointing, for example. For the uninitiated, pointing is the mortar between your bricks that can, over time become cracked with the movement of your house. Replacing the mortar sounds like a big job, but after a look at our website my Mum attested rightly that she could do it herself, as really, it was ‘just like plastering your walls, but on the outside’.

So, in short, I for one think that DIY allows us to make the most of  living as we do now – learning how to live with less money, how to value what we have and learn the skills we need to truly make our homes our own. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Tweet

Share via email

Samuel-James Wilson describes himself as a Bricklayer/Builder/Blogger from North Yorkshire

He entered the building trade at 15, having been disillusioned with school, and started off taking a plumbing apprenticeship before switching to become a Bricklayer’s labourer for two years, and finally formalising his training by entering a bricklayers apprenticeship.Now self-employed his jobs have included working on a Gold Medal winning garden at the Harrogate Flower Show. He is currently undertaking the The Prince’s Foundation – Building Skill in Craft Programme.

He has been blogging for nearly three years, we found his blog on twitter and became really interested in his story. We decided to interview him for DIY Doctor’s blog, so we can share his story with our users. We hope you find it interesting.

Hi Samuel, thank you for agreeing to talk to us about your enthusiasm for the building trade today:

Q. It is really great to see you being so enthusiastic about your choice to complete an apprenticeship, what prompted you to train formally rather than just be a ‘handyman’?

A. At a very early age it became very clear If I was to continue in the same fashion I was heading (nowhere) I wasn’t going to achieve anything in life. I made the decision to get qualified very early. During my early years in construction I came across lots of people who had been in the trade years just doing the same thing without any qualifications just making money to spend on the weekend. I really didn’t want to be like them, I am not saying it is wrong to do that, it just wasn’t for me.

I also knew from a very early age I wanted to do something that would give me the option to work anywhere around the world in the future, an apprenticeship was the perfect choice and something I grabbed with both hands.

Q. Do you think that quality standards are improving in the building industry?

A. That’s a hard one. In certain aspects of the industry they’re due to the regulations getting tighter and tighter every year due to the influx of ‘cowboys’ in the trade but you still come across ‘bodge’ jobs now and again. Only last week I was asked to repair some stone steps in a garden that had moved and were unsafe to walk on. It was only when I took them up I realised that they were laid straight onto the soil and just propped up with mortar. This is becoming less and less common like I say but it does still happen. Overall I think standards are improving, less and less is being accepted and more and more people are feeling the need to complain about poor workmanship.

I have being doing just that over the past couple of months. Near where I live the local church is being extended, they have built a ramp up to the new entrance that in my opinion is shocking and looks terrible I took it upon myself to complain to the project manager and the council about this, I am currently waiting on action to be taken but I have received some very positive responses. The whole story is featured on my Blog.

Q. Do you think that customers are aware of the training necessary to be able to become a qualified and skilled trades person?

A. I am not sure, I get asked on the odd occasion how long I have been working as a bricklayer but not so much about the training. I would like to think so, its not an easy thing to do it takes a lot of dedication and rainy days to be where I am now. I used to go to college on weekends and days where I had no work just to practice building walls.

Q. Do you think customers place any value in the skills-training of the tradespeople they employ, and do you ever get asked to prove your knowledge?

A. I do, I have never been directly asked to prove anything but It always stands you in good stead if you can answer the questions you’re asked confidently. That is the difference between a tradesman and a handyman I guess the depth of knowledge. I spend hours researching about my craft, learning new things and I am coming up to my 10th year doing it. “Every day is a school day”

Q. What effect do DIY makeover shows have on customer expectation do you think?

A. I am personally not a great fan of these shows. I realise that they’re doing a good thing for the families involved but I think it can harm the image of a proper craftsman. Is it really possible to do a proper makeover job in 60 seconds? I will let you make your mind up. Also can you name any of the builders on these shows? They’re really just about the client and the customer. The only time you get the chance to know the builders name is on shows like ‘cowboy builders’ and that’s nothing to be proud of.

Q. Building is a hard job physically does it bother you that it is so demanding?

A. I have been doing this work since I was 15 so its something I have got used to. I really enjoy it. I am never happier than when I am working hard all day created an exciting project for a customer. The most recent job I have complete, building a folly/garden feature in a back garden near where I live was possible the hardest yet in terms of being so physically demanding. The garden was just a HUGE slop. The only way to get the materials down to where I was building was in wheelbarrows down the concrete steps that were two average strides long. There was thirty steps to the project and another ten steps to the mixer – I now have legs of steel!

Q. With so many people willing to work ‘cash in hand’ or being unskilled in the building jobs they undertake, does it make it difficult for you to make a proper living?

A. I think it effects certain jobs. The little jobs people just want doing quickly without really knowing the whats involved. For example the repair of a roof. It isn’t hard from a customers point of view to take some tiles off and replace but there is so much more to it and if you don’t get the correct professionals in you will end up paying for it in the future.

Q. Will that improve or deteriorate in the future?

A. Who can say. I hope it improves for the sake of my craft and all the others. I would hate to grow old in the knowledge that people are getting away doing rubbish jobs all the time with no qualifications after I worked so hard to achieve them.

Q. And finally, on a lighter note,  what do you listen to when you are working?

A. Anything that doesn’t give me a headache. I am currently rather addicted to the new Stereophonics album.

Thank you so much for spending the time to talk to us Samuel, and if anyone wants to read more about Samuel-James and his crusade for good building practices please do visit his blog ‘The Apprentice Ship’.

Tweet

Share via email

Step out into the light, the sun is shining and it is time to do something about the garden path. If your path is less than inviting, but Landscaping scares you, find out how to remove your old concrete path and lay a new one with our series of YouTube videos, to break down the process into manageable sections.

We have a series of ‘How To’ Videos on YouTube that work through the process from concreting fence posts to using a sledgehammer safely, to break up the old garden path ready to start your new landscaping project. Follow Mike’s instructions to stop you hurting your back when you are using a sledgehammer. (Although you will notice he is not the one doing the lifting – which might be the best way to protect your back when lifting something heavy!)

One really good tip from the video ‘How to Lay a Path’ is that if you lay slabs onto weed control fabric once you have laid the foundations for you path, then you will eliminate most weeds.

Paving and weed control fabric make your garden low maintenance. Any weeds that do manage to germinate will be shallow rooted and undernourished and so will be really easy to pull out.

The video series also shows you how to erect a post and rail fence, and we also have some ideas for how to cut the paving slabs to make an unusual pattern on your path.

Head over to our YouTube channel to see all our videos and subscribe to be sure not to miss the next selection of building process.

Tweet

Share via email

The government are releasing up to 100 building plots in the 2012 Olympic village in Stratford, and some East Londoners are bidding to self-build on the site.

The London Legacy Development Corporation’s (LLDC) has called for expressions of interest for anyone wishing to build on the site, which was the former handball arena.

There is currently a group of twenty households who have expressed their interest in building their own homes on the site. The LLDC plans to allow some 8,000 homes on the former Olympic Site overall. While this is likely to

This is another indication of the Government’s policy to try to open up the idea of self-build to a wide range of budgets, and not just to affluent people. Their idea is to tackle the housing shortage by getting people to build the houses they want, and then presumably to settle in them long term, given that they are offering these tax breaks providing you stay for 7 years.

The news follows on from last month’s announcement by the Governments Housing Minister Mark Prisk, who plans to release £14million in grants over the next two year to bump start the self-build market along these lines. See the statement released by the Housing Department last month.

If you are planning a self-build project we have a section in our project pages with lots of information to do with building your own home, go to the DIY Doctor self build index page and browse through all the useful information including specialist mortgages, finding building plots, development processes, cheap materials, vat implications, planning costs, and how to design your own home.

You may also want to check out our blog about the new changes to VAT on Self Build Projects, by clicking on this link.

Tweet

Share via email

Thank you to everyone who completed our recent survey about DIY tasks. We were really pleased with the response.

If you took part, your survey answers will be used to make sure we have the right information on our site for anyone thinking of building and Taking on DIY.

We also want to congratulate our winner of the prize draw. Well done to Charles May, from Basingstoke, who will receive a complete toolkit in the post shortly.

DIY Survey Findings
The scenario that we set up for you was that you had inherited a house that needed a complete overhaul, and we asked you to tell us which household  repairs and maintenance you would feel happy to tackle.

So what did we find out from your replies?

We can tell by your answers that you are happy with the idea of decorating, because 96% of you said you would happily paint, and 82% would tackle wallpapering.

Garden tasks wouldn’t phase you either with 87% being happy to do the gardening, 81% would erect fencing and 74.5% would be happy to fit decking.

Making your house better insulated is obviously something you are happy to get involved with, as 81% said they would happily fit loft insulation.

What was interesting was that only 32% would be happy to try plastering, perhaps this is one of the reasons that our trade show demonstrations, and You Tube Videos on How to Skim Plaster, are so popular.

Another DIY task that seemed to be very popular was ceramic tiling, 86.5% would put up wall tiles, but strangely only 68% would have a go at floor tiling.

We cover a huge range of repair, maintenance, DIY and building tasks in our Projects section, click here to view the full list of projects.

Other responses
In order to make sure that we covered all the DIY tasks that you might be prepared to do, we also asked you to name any other household repairs or jobs that might crop up. There were some very interesting answers, CAT5 cabling came up a couple of times in your lists, and some mentioned solar installation.

The most drastic answer was:

“Knock the house down and start again subject to planning”

But our favourite response was:

“Making Tea for professional tradesmen or women!”

Tweet

Share via email