I'm in the process of buying a house, and will need to get cracking with various DIY jobs when I move in. This is my first house, so haven't done much in the way of DIY, other than simple decorating, as obviously when renting you rely on the landlords tradesmen. So, is there? a DIY / home repair singletrack equivalent that has reliable advice that anyone can recommend?
This place probably. The problem with any new forum is working out who to listen to and who are the bawbags. At least here you probably already have a good idea and there are folks here who really know their stuff
For tutorials or looking up how to do something then a lot of the DIY stuff on youtube is brilliant.
For asking questions then here is as good as anywhere, get your answer then look it up on youtube also.
Second km79.
There's a hardly a job in a house that someone hasn't described and videoed on YouTube.
And of course here is really good for tips. But nothing beats actually seeing somebody doing something.
DIYnot can be handy for some things but I think nearly every trade is represented on STW.
And anything electrical and plumbing (apart from simple stuff) is best left to experts (IMO).I realise some folk here have become good amateur plumbers - but it's one of those things you need a bit of time and maybe someone to show-how.
Cheers for the advice, Ill use here and YouTube. I'm not planning on doing any electrics or plumbing, it's mainly things like floor and bathroom tiling, laying lino, wooden flooring, that type of thing. Might have to fit a upvc front door. I won't know for sure to I get the keys, and my style consultant ( my Mrs 😀 ) has got a feel of the place.
It's worth asking on here when it comes to buying tools. For some things it can really help spending that bit more to get something that works well or even just getting the right tool rather than making do. In other cases it's not so important. For example I've had much better success using a simple scribe rather than either a cheap or rented tile cutter when using big format tiles
Plumbing, really? Easiest job in the house, especially with Speedfit. To be fair electrical stuff is easy enough with the right tools provided its a simple job. Tiling and flooring and such is a different beast, whilst first fit type jobs dont need to be pretty the end stuff is easy to cock up and even if nobody else notices [i]you always will[/i].
For tool talk I find UK workshop to be very good as well as on here. And never try and make do, especially with cheap crap*, buy the tools that will do the job.
*not all cheap tools are crap but crap tools are generally cheap.
The other place to look is one of those big remainders type book shops or the book clubs who come to offices with discounted stuff.
I have picked up very cheaply a couple of big fat diy manuals. Really handy to have kicking around for basic info like concrete mixes or how to cut coving or how to make a step in the garden.
The good thing about books is they don't need the electric or WiFi working!
Loads of really helpful folk on here too.
My best ever tool buy as a DIYr is a DeWalt 18V li-ion cordless hammer drill. For years I struggled with budget cordless drills. They were all crap in comparison. This gets used so much it's worth the big outlay. I wouldn't necessarily buy the same brand again but I would buy that quality again.
I'd rather plumb than plaster!