Top Ten of Tasks that People do not want to do.

In a survey carried out by The Woolwich a list was compiled of the tasks that homeowners would rather get someone else to do, it makes interesting reading for the avid DIYER. First in the list is Electrics, which being an Electrician is surprising but not unusual, second is Plumbing, which I am not a favourite of but can get by at a push. Third is an extension, fourth is installing a new kitchen or bathroom, fifth is carpeting, sixth is tiling or flooring, seventh is replacing a fire, eighth is landscaping the garden, ninth is putting up sheds and tenth is painting and decorating which is again very surprising because as the saying goes if you can pXXXs you can paint.

Plumbing

Plumbing mainly is not difficult to do as a DIY task, not as dangerous as electricity anyway, at the most that can happen if you make a mistake with plumbing is a very wet self or area. One of the harder jobs I can see is the soldering of the joints in the pipes, so in theory I suppose if you are using a blowtorch is also set the place on fire.

DIY and Electricity

The more astute amongst you will have noticed that my profile shows I am an Electrician so I will be tempted to offer advice on Electrical items, but I will try to bare in mind that the recent regulations have tightened up a bit what can be done.

Electricity

Electricity can be dangerous, if you feel unsure about working on circuits at the very least turn off all power at the distibution board, if you are still unsure contact an Electrician.
I suggest that circuit breakers should be used in the distribution board as opposed to fuses, as apart from circuit breakers being more sensitive to faults on the circuit they are also easier to reset than having to change fuse wire.

DIY

Do it yourself or DIY refers to the practice of fabricating or repairing things on one's own rather than purchasing them or paying for professional repair

Why do DIY

There are many reasons why we choose to do DIY or DO IT YOURSELF, some of them are to save ourselves money, some because we enjoy DIY, and some because we have no other choice than to do it ourselves. Whatever the reason for carrying out DIY it should be enjoyable for at least some part of the proceedings, it may not seem much fun at the start of the job for various reasons or even in the middle when you are struggling with it, but at some point a sense of achievement or fulfillment should present itself.
As I have pointed out previously in these articles if you are capable of DIY and set yourself enough time to complete the DIY task, at some point you will enjoy it.

New Planning Rules

Government ministers are set to cut red tape for home improvements -- allowing homeowners to undertake small projects without planning permission, the Times reported on Saturday.
Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will unveil a planning policy paper on Monday, expected to herald the largest shake-up in planning rules for 20 years.
The Times said the paper will include plans to allow people to build kitchen extensions, loft conversions and conservatories, or fit wind turbines and solar panels, without seeking prior approval.
At present, homeowners must obtain planning permission for minor alterations to their properties, in a process that costs up to 1,000 pounds and takes months.
Brian Berry, of the Federation of Master Builders, said the proposed overhaul was a "very good idea" for homeowners.
"If you want to extend your kitchen or have a loft conversion, you (will) no longer need to have planning permission," he told BBC News 24 on Saturday.
"Homeowners, at the moment, have to wait between eight and 16 weeks to get permission, as well as paying up to 1,000 pounds: this means this will be taken away, cutting out the red tape if you want to renovate your home."
Berry allayed fears that people might find it more difficult to stop their neighbours undertaking building work that they object to. There would be limits to what homeowners could do without permission; homeowners must comply with height and depth restrictions and meet an "impact test".
The move is expected to free-up the planning process, allowing planning authorities to concentrate on larger, more complex projects.
Some 350,000 domestic planning applications are processed per year, of which more than 90 percent are granted immediately, because there is no damaging impact on neighbouring property.
As the cost of moving home soars, more and more homeowners are choosing instead to improve and extend existing properties.
The cost of moving home has more than tripled in the past decade, according to a recent survey by property Web site propertyfinder.com.
Buying and selling costs -- excluding the property price and mortgage fees -- now stand at 9,486 pounds, up from 2,925 pounds in 1996. Stamp duty has increased 823 percent in the past decade. These mounting costs have led to a supply shortage that has stoked house price growth.

Garage D.I.Y.

I have at my house a garage, if you can call it that, constructed with wood battens, and asbestos panels. I think it was built not long after the house was built in the sixties, so obviously the problems with asbestos was not known about at the time.
The doors of the garage are wooden and I do not think they were ever painted or stained, so I have just painted the doors and part of the asbestos funnily enough the same colour as the fence at the back of the house. Strangely enough I replaced and painted the fence last year as well. I would like to point out that asbestos is safe as long as you do not damage it or make holes in it, so painting it is okay, in fact you may be encapsulating it, well it looks good anyway.

Painting Walls

I find that it is quite a good idea to paint walls a very neutral colour, possibly magnolia to keep the house looking bright and maybe bigger.

Security D.I.Y.

I recently put up some outside/security lights at my house, fortunately the one at the back was just replacing an old one that was an original when I bought the house, so no major problems there.
The harder task was the lights at the front of the house, I wanted a lantern type that came on when you walked past it and a flood light at the side that did the same.
The main distribution board was at the front of the house, and I had already put some mini trunking up the wall when I had moved in, admittedly it was too small now to take any more cable, but at least it was a start.
So I put some larger trunking up the wall, and drilled through to outside, and took both cables out, one to the lantern and the other to the floodlight.
The lantern type I bought from a local diy superstore after searching around a couple of them, and settled on a decent type that has two levels of light, it is on all the time when it is dark, at a very low power setting, but it makes the front of the house safer.
Obviously when you walk up to it goes into high wattage and all in all it does the job well.
I know that the power usage has now increased but I think that it makes the house a lot safer so have offset this with safety.

Tip

I would suggest that if you are thinking of doing a job outside make sure you have the time to complete it, and check the weather forecast!!! it is not fun working in the rain, especially if you are painting.

Mistakes

First Mistake
One of the first mistakes a lot of d.i.y.'ers do is overestimate their ability to carry out the task, which usually means that it all goes wrong and they end up not completing the task, probably a lot more common end than is admitted, I would think this most likely affects men, as women would know their limitations.
Second Mistake
I think that the next mistake d.i.y.'ers do is to use tools that are not quite up to the task, or should I say they are not of a quality to withstand the use they are being put to. A typical example would be maybe a screwdriver that has been bought from a stall on a Sunday market, okay for the occasional use, but when used for a prolonged amount of time will give up, or worse break. As an Electrician myself, I think that it is worth paying a little extra on good quality tools for the use they are required for. I am not suggesting that everyone runs out and buys industrial strength tools that professional tradesmen use, but some people may prefer this option, just be aware that some tools are of a better standard than others.