Sort of related, but I was in B&Q recently asking about sliding wardrobe doors, and the helpful lady said to me that if the doors weren't tall enough then I would just need to get my joiner to lower the ceiling a bit. I said - eh, thought this was supposed to be a DIY shop?? She thought it a very bad idea that I should be doing it myself.
Of course it is a DIY shop - you can buy gas fittings, electrical consumer units, electric showers and cookers
Yeah, but you can't help to notice that section for fitted bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms takes pride of place in the middle of the store and seems to have expanded every time I go in.
A man after my own heart, I'm 43 and I am literally fearless, nothing phases me. I've replaced an engine in a 306TDI after i drove through a flood, I build my own furniture, i recently bought my first house and gutted it top to bottom, plastering, replaced storage heaters with electric rads, laminate flooring, lighting etc etc. extractor systems, wired up workshop. I build and fly RC aircraft anything that allows me to use my hands and makes me think I love. I've recently started buing things from a local auction, fettling them up and ebaying them, quite a nice sideline. Two weeks ago I did finally loce my nerve replaceing an immersion heater, I couldn't get the old one out and called a plumber before i split the tank and flooded the house! I had to lay down for 2 hours to recover from the 90 quid cost though! The only tradesman I have paid in 3 years of renovating my house. This weekend I have a sealed double glazing unit to replace and a smart heating control system. I love it!
That is the difference though - a good diy'er compared to bad "trades" person. A good diy person whom takes time and care on a project will quite often produce better results than a cowboy whom will bodge it, take the money and run. At the moment we have a crazy situation where some work that could be done by a competent "non qualified" person isn't deemed as legitimate because they don't have the correct paperwork. Windows are a classic example. Replacement windows are relatively easy to fit but go and sell your house afterwards and the solicitor will request a Fensa certificate. You could have all the C&G certificates as a carpenter / cabinet maker and can fit doors but not fit a compliant window.
Yep know where yer all coming from I never throw anything away, last week I converted an old wooden door into a coffee table, you would never know it had been a door
Yeah my solicitor had a bee in his bonnet about the FENSA certificate when I bought this house, its was a great price and clearly had replacement windows and he was essentially suggesting i don't buy it because of the lack of certificate. I pointed out that even if the windows "didnt work" it would maybe be 2k for a 2 up 2 down to have them all replaced and the house was 15k cheaper than any other 2 bed locally... do the math!
I had similar when I bought some houses a few years ago they vendors had to get all sorts of indemnity policies which are useless. However, the daughters house was the funniest. It is in a conservation area and sometime the chimney above the roof line had been removed. We pointed this out to the solicitor and she wanted to inform the local authority and then write to all the previous owners to see who was responsible. Her face fell when I said, just put a note on the file against the estate agents picture showing the chimney was missing at the time of purchase.
So much time, effort, thought and planning has obviously gone into the project with no detail left to chance.....................................it never once entered my mind it started out in life as a door
thanks Kit, but with skill and care it’s surprising what can be achieved, our old bed frame gave out a year ago but the mattress still had a lot of life left, so I gathered a few pallets together and knocked a bed frame up, you would never know it wasn’t from Slumberland
I preferred my grifter bike and football than sniffing glue out of a carrier bag although when I put my Airfix together I used to get a funny turn