Jun 09
DIY Doctor are pleased to welcome Sylglas to the website. As a company, they offer a wide range of easy to use sealing, waterproofing and safety products and applications for the DIYer’s home and garden. They have joined our Lead Flashing project page to show an alternative to lead flashing which is their own Flashing Tape.
The Flashing Tape is very easy to use, you just peel and stick, and it provides a lead like finish which bonds to all common roofing and building surfaces, giving a long lasting seal. It is ideal for sealing and repairing your damaged flashings, including valley gutter repairs and any extension flashings.
Mar 18
I need thermostatic control unit to open and close a 3 way valve
the valve is labelled 220VAC but seems to have a common line at about 170VAC and the Open or Close lines at 220VAC when operating
recommendations please
Mar 15
DIY Doctor would like to welcome Drivewayfix to the website. They offer a full range of original products to help the homeowner repair and look after their driveway, path and patio, whether the problem is cracks, potholes, stains or just faded tarmac, they have the solution.
Great news when you realise what bad winter weather can do to concrete and tarmac sometimes. They have a DIY Pothole Repair kit, Rapid Repair kit for filling cracks and holes in concrete, Stain Away to remove oil and grease marks, Drive Revive to tart up a faded driveway, and several products to help when laying your patio or path.
It’s a great time of year to get outside and do some of these repairs and outdoor projects, so take a look at our Driveway and Path project and discover Drivewayfix.
Mar 04
There has been quite a lot of press just recently about an artist from California called Andrew Myers. The 31 year old creates unique 3D portraits by drilling thousands of screws into wood at various depths and painting them. The number of screws used in each picture averages between 7,000 and 10,000 and they are all painted individually once in place.
He says ‘I do it from a photograph, but I also have to meet the subject in person first to make sure I get their facial features just right.’
‘I have created eight portraits in total, three large ones which measure 4ft by 4ft and five smaller ones that measure 2ft by 2ft.’
He has sold all of the five smaller portraits for $9,000 each, but the price tags on the larger portraits are more like $35,000 each.
Feb 18
The inventor of the Black and Decker Workmate, Ron Hickman, has died aged 78.
After struggling to find a company who would take on his workmate invention, it was Black and Decker who eventually took it on in 1972 after which the product was a huge global success, with 10 million workmates sold by 1981. As a spokeperson for Black and Decker said “His effect on the world of DIY is immeasurable.”
Mr Hickman also worked as a car designer for Lotus and was the designer behind the Lotus Elan.
He had moved to Jersey at the end of the 1970′s, and this is where he died yesterday after suffering illness following a fall several months ago.
Feb 11
A new standalone bathroom store has been opened in Stoke on Trent by Screwfix. The store is next to their main trade counter, but is a 3000 sq ft showroom with a full range of bathroom items, designed to help the consumer or trade shopper.
Their commercial director says “Our new showroom concept is a step change in presentation and experience which specifically responds to what our customers are telling us they want and need… The result is a unique environment that enables both audiences to shop the way they please, but that also brings them together so that tradesmen and customer can browse and specify together.”
If you are looking for a plumber or decorator for your bathroom refurb, you can get free quotes from trademen in your local area by going to our Find a Tradesman page.
Jan 24
An article in the Telegraph by Mary Portas has highlighted her Top 10 worst customer service crimes. Portas has a new series on TV called ‘Secret Shopper’ where she is tackling the service we receive in retail outlets in the UK.
Her top 10 include things such as not keeping enough tills open, cashiers not communicating, signage overload, and being told ‘If it’s not out on the shop floor, we haven’t got it’. But at number 4 she has ‘Assistants who don’t know their stuff’, a major bugbear at DIY Doctor. On that subject Mary Portas also goes on to say that
“DIY shops are the worst. Winding queues, nobody on the floor. Bank Holiday Monday in Homebase? I’d rather stick pins in my eyes. And ears.”
This is precisely how DIY Doctor came about! Ten years ago, www.diydoctor.org.uk was set up by Mike Edwards after another trip to a DIY superstore and yet again being dismayed at how little the staff knew about the products they were selling.
So it would appear that customer service in the DIY stores may not have improved much in the last ten years. What do you think?
Jan 21
DIY Doctor would like to welcome Honeywell to their website.
They are supporting a new project page on Wireless Heating Controls which gives helpful advice on how you can use these controllers to reduce your home’s energy consumption. Fitting a wireless thermostat is one of the simplest and cheapest ways of improving the efficiency of your heating system.
Honeywell are the leading supplier of domestic heating and combustion controls in the UK, with products including time, temperature, gas and water controls.
Jan 15
A call to all the DIY Doctor users -
Does anyone have contact details for two tool companies:
Wolf Electric Ltd (\\/olf) and British Mower Company (BMC)
If anyone can help, please email office@diydoctor.org.uk or leave a comment on this post,
Thank you!
Dec 28
The sonic screwdriver that is Doctor Who’s tool of choice might not be far off becoming a reality for DIYers according to engineers. The Time Lord has been using one since 1968, but sonic engineers at the University of Bristol say that thay are busy working on sonic technology to open locks and undo screws.
Bruce Drinkwater is the Professor of Ultrasonics at the University, and says that ‘the answer lies in ultrasonic sound waves. By operating the waves at frequencies way beyond the realms of human hearing, they can be used to apply forces to objects.’
He says: “Doctor Who is renowned for bending the rules of science. But technology has radically moved on since the Doc first stepped out of his Tardis in the sixties. Whilst a fully functioning time machine may still be light years away, engineers are already experimenting with ultrasonic waves to move and manipulate small objects.”
