My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence in
using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive course
in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by Able
Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f****** radiator
nut.

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of
confidence in
using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock
up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course
in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by
Able
Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day
intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator
nut.


Well I learnt because I couldn't afford to pay a plumber when I bought
my first house! (or bricky or carpenter or electrician or a car
mechanic) Just rolling up your sleeves and applying common sense is a
remarkable self teaching course. They say necessity is the mother of
invention. At least these days Google is hovering in the back ground
whispering in your ear.

AWEM

On Jun 21, 5:51*pm, "Gareth" wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence in
using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive course
in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by Able
Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber 60 to tighten a f****** radiator
nut.

Honestly I think you'd do better to jsut come here and ask when you
have diy 'events', and keep comign back for more info until its
sorted. Also coming here at times to learn what you can is very
effective. There's also a wiki, which is mostly quite good
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...egory:Plumbing

I've avoided short courses, as they dont have enough time to address
the real life issues, and the basic stuff can be got online quicker
for nothing.


NT

Gareth wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of
confidence in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making
a costly cock up.
Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised
by Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

Where I you based? Maybe one of the regulars will let you watch or help on a
project that they are doing. I would.


--
Adam

Huge wrote:
On 2011-06-21, ARWadsworth wrote:
Gareth wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of
confidence in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making
a costly cock up.
Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course
advertised by Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day
intensive course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

Where I you based? Maybe one of the regulars will let you watch or
help on a project that they are doing. I would.

A lot of local colleges do one day courses, usually at weekends -
things like "Build a brick wall" and "Fit a tap".

I was thinking more storage heaters, as I have to fit some in a 3rd storey
flat that has no lift.

The experience would be invaluable to someone prepared to give up their time
for free to learn how to install them.

--
Adam

On 21/06/2011 17:51, Gareth wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence
in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by
Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

My personal opinion on short courses is that they are not much use
unless you want to use the skills fairly soon. For example, if you took
this 5 day plumbing course and then didn't need to tighten any radiator
nuts for a few years would you remember what you did on the course when
you needed to use the skills?

Maybe you would, or maybe the fact that you had been on the course would
give you the confidence to have a go, or maybe you do plan to do some
plumbing soon?

Personally I find books and the internet very useful, for example a
while ago my washing machine stopped working and I have never fixed a
washing machine before. I just typed the make, model and problem into
Google and after a few minutes I found a website which told me EXACTLY
what to do.

If the main problem is a fear of making a costly cock up perhaps you
could make sure that your home insurance covers DIY cock ups before you
try anything.

ARWadsworth wrote:
Huge wrote:
On 2011-06-21, ARWadsworth wrote:
Gareth wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of
confidence in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of
making a costly cock up.
Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course
advertised by Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day
intensive course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

Where I you based? Maybe one of the regulars will let you watch or
help on a project that they are doing. I would.

A lot of local colleges do one day courses, usually at weekends -
things like "Build a brick wall" and "Fit a tap".

I was thinking more storage heaters, as I have to fit some in a 3rd
storey flat that has no lift.

The experience would be invaluable to someone prepared to give up
their time for free to learn how to install them.

Now that's a novelty, an electrician setting up Internships - not related to
(or taking advice from) a certain Deputy Prime Minister are you Adam?

Nice try to get the 'humping' done for you for 'free' (I wonder if the OP
realises how heavy those bloody heaters are?) - and I give you full marks
there for initiative. LOL

Cash

After serious thinking Andrew Mawson wrote :
Well I learnt because I couldn't afford to pay a plumber when I bought
my first house! (or bricky or carpenter or electrician or a car
mechanic) Just rolling up your sleeves and applying common sense is a
remarkable self teaching course. They say necessity is the mother of
invention.

I could not agree more - that is what I had to do.

At least these days Google is hovering in the back ground
whispering in your ear.

A truly invaluable resource.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

"Gareth" wrote in message
...

On 21/06/2011 17:51, Gareth wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence
in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock
up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by
Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

Back in the mid 70's when we bought our first house, I had to have it
rewired within six months. The lender withheld some money from the mortgage
to ensure this was done.

At the time I knew sweet FA about DIY but a neighbour lent me his Readers
Digest Do it Yourself Manual and I managed to rewire the house myself and
get it passed and connected by the electricity board at their first
inspection. You probably couldn't do this now with all the new regulations
etc.

Since then I have picked up plumbing and woodworking skills, mainly from
books and, in recent years, the internet.

There is a great deal of information available through Google as has already
been suggested and some sites even provide videos e.g. YouTube. So, in
answer to your question, I wouldn't bother with short courses unless you
value the social aspect.

On 21/06/2011 17:51, Gareth wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence
in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by
Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

I'm afraid it's not so much a 'short course'; it's a long course. You
start by tackling small jobs, and then work your way up.

Yes, I'd have been afraid to do a plumbing job 20 years ago. But not
now. Start small, build skills.

--
R

On 21/06/2011 18:24, ARWadsworth wrote:
wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of
confidence in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making
a costly cock up.
Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised
by Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

Where I you based? Maybe one of the regulars will let you watch or help on a
project that they are doing. I would.


Me too if it helps.

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Owain wrote:
On Jun 21, 7:21 pm, "Cash" wrote:
I was thinking more storage heaters, as I have to fit some in a 3rd
storey flat that has no lift.
The experience would be invaluable to someone prepared to give up
their time for free to learn how to install them.
Now that's a novelty, an electrician setting up Internships - not
related to (or taking advice from) a certain Deputy Prime Minister
are you Adam?
Nice try to get the 'humping' done for you for 'free' (I wonder if
the OP realises how heavy those bloody heaters are?) - and I give
you full marks there for initiative. LOL

They're not heavy if you take the bits out of the box and get them
upstairs in stages.

However if you leave the other bits at the bottom of the stairs the
pikeys will have them while you're halfway up.

Hence the advisability of having someone else to run up and down the
stairs 30 times while Adam sits in the van 'looking after the stock'
and drinking tea.

Owain

Owain,

I must admit that it's a long time since I handled the bloody things, and
even the 'bricks' in them then seemed rather heavy (even for a stripling of
30 some odd years old and built like the proverbial brick crapper) - so
hopefully, modern technology of today has sorted that out.

But I still suspect that Adam was being rather crafty with his (presumably)
tongue-in-cheek request - and as you say, being the gaffer, he has to get
*his* priorities right. G

Cash

In article ,
Gareth writes:
My personal opinion on short courses is that they are not much use
unless you want to use the skills fairly soon. For example, if you took
this 5 day plumbing course and then didn't need to tighten any radiator
nuts for a few years would you remember what you did on the course when
you needed to use the skills?

I would agree with that. If you choose to do a course, plan a project
to do just afterwards which uses these skills.

I started by watching my dad, and 25 years later progressed to
designing and fitting a whole central heating system and replumbing
everything else in the house too as part of kitchen and bathroom
refit.

There were some areas of building where I had no skills and needed some,
plastering and brick laying. For each of these, I did a 2-day course at
a local building trades college, which gave me the necessary skills.
These were aimed at other tradesmen who needed some cross-training,
but there were a couple of DIYers on each one. I could have learned
the bricklaying from a book, but with plastering, I think you really
do have to be shown how and watched by someone who can tell you what
you're doing wrong. Besides that, the courses were both great fun.

Two weeks after doing the brick laying course, someone demolished my
gatepost, which was perfect timing ;-)

Once you have built up skills in a few areas, you can gain confidence
to tackle new things. 5 or 6 years ago, I decided to take some time
off between jobs, and I stipped back and replaced the felt and battens
on part of the roof, rebuilding the valley gutter. That's the sort of
thing I would never have even thought of doing myself 20 years before.
The reason it needed doing was because the person I paid to do it 20
years before did a poor job. Last year, I repointed my chimney and
refitted the roof ridge tiles. However, I did get a roofer in to
replace the chimney's leadwork, and he did a much better job than I
would have. (He was very complimentary about my repointing though:-)

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Gareth wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence
in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock
up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised
by Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

Think you learn these sort of skills gradually - starting off with
Meccano, moving on to fixing your push bike then motorcycle then car etc.

If you don't feel up to tightening a nut you've a lot of learning to do,
and probably not worth it.

--
*Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:51:00 +0100, Gareth wrote:

My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence
in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock
up.

The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked.

"Every one makes mistakes" said the Dalek climbing off the dustbin.

To build your confidence and skills why not try get some scrap bits
of tube and fittings from a plumber. Passing a couple of quid will
aleviate the loss to the plumber of weighing the scrap in.

Play with them, take them apart, see how they work, safe in the
knowledge that if you do cock it up it doesn't matter.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Jun 21, 8:16*pm, Ron Lowe wrote:
On 21/06/2011 17:51, Gareth wrote:

My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence
in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by
Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

I'm afraid it's not so much a 'short course'; it's a long course. *You
start by tackling small jobs, and then work your way up.

Yes, I'd have been afraid to do a plumbing job 20 years ago. * But not
now. * Start small, build skills.


.... or if you need to, start big. A newsgroup like this can guide you
through most of the questions along teh way.


NT

On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:19:23 -0700 (PDT), Tabby
wrote:

On Jun 21, 5:51*pm, "Gareth" wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence in
using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive course
in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by Able
Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber 60 to tighten a f****** radiator
nut.

Honestly I think you'd do better to jsut come here and ask when you
have diy 'events', and keep comign back for more info until its
sorted. Also coming here at times to learn what you can is very
effective. There's also a wiki, which is mostly quite good
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...egory:Plumbing

I've avoided short courses, as they dont have enough time to address
the real life issues, and the basic stuff can be got online quicker
for nothing.


NT


Is getting plastering flat included in that statement ? :-)

HN

"H. Neary" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:19:23 -0700 (PDT), Tabby
SNIP


Is getting plastering flat included in that statement ? :-)

HN

OK Many years ago I got fed up getting plasterers in to quote to do a
wall, saying 'go ahead' and them never turning up. Happened 5 times.
Never having plastered in my life I thought 'what's to lose?' bought a
bag of browning and top coat. Read the book, set up vertical laths on
browning dabs. Ruled off the browning between laths, removed the
laths, filled in the gaps, skimmed twice with top coat and it was
pretty good. That encouraged me to plaster an arch between two rooms.
No way am I as fast or as good as someone who does it every day, but
with a positive attitude it's amazing what you can achieve.

AWEM

Cash wrote:
Owain wrote:
On Jun 21, 7:21 pm, "Cash" wrote:
I was thinking more storage heaters, as I have to fit some in a 3rd
storey flat that has no lift.
The experience would be invaluable to someone prepared to give up
their time for free to learn how to install them.
Now that's a novelty, an electrician setting up Internships - not
related to (or taking advice from) a certain Deputy Prime Minister
are you Adam?
Nice try to get the 'humping' done for you for 'free' (I wonder if
the OP realises how heavy those bloody heaters are?) - and I give
you full marks there for initiative. LOL

They're not heavy if you take the bits out of the box and get them
upstairs in stages.

However if you leave the other bits at the bottom of the stairs the
pikeys will have them while you're halfway up.

Hence the advisability of having someone else to run up and down the
stairs 30 times while Adam sits in the van 'looking after the stock'
and drinking tea.

Owain

Owain,

I must admit that it's a long time since I handled the bloody things,
and even the 'bricks' in them then seemed rather heavy (even for a
stripling of 30 some odd years old and built like the proverbial
brick crapper) - so hopefully, modern technology of today has sorted
that out.
But I still suspect that Adam was being rather crafty with his
(presumably) tongue-in-cheek request - and as you say, being the
gaffer, he has to get *his* priorities right. G

I would actually take someone with me, to help and to watch if they wanted
to learn how to install cables. They would be limited in the hands on stuff
due to public liability (depending where I was working).

--
Adam

"Gareth" wrote in message
...
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of confidence in
using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making a costly cock up.

Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive course
in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course advertised by Able
Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day intensive
course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.


One point I haven't seen clearly mentioned - what are the entry requirements
for the course?
Is it for people who have never touched a tool of any kind in their life, or
does it assume a level of previous experience in DIY or the building trade?

I would have thought that the local adult education might do an Introduction
to DIY or Home Maintenance or similar which would be a broader grounding for
you to build on later with more specific courses.

A local college may do evening classes, for instance.

HTH

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On 21/06/11 23:51, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Think you learn these sort of skills gradually - starting off with
Meccano, moving on to fixing your push bike then motorcycle then car etc.

If you don't feel up to tightening a nut you've a lot of learning to do,
and probably not worth it.


Yes. The theory can be learnt from books, internet etc. The manual
skills of come with practice

--
djc

Owain wrote:
On Jun 21, 7:21 pm, "Cash" wrote:
I was thinking more storage heaters, as I have to fit some in a 3rd
storey flat that has no lift.
The experience would be invaluable to someone prepared to give up
their time for free to learn how to install them.
Now that's a novelty, an electrician setting up Internships - not
related to (or taking advice from) a certain Deputy Prime Minister
are you Adam?
Nice try to get the 'humping' done for you for 'free' (I wonder if
the OP realises how heavy those bloody heaters are?) - and I give
you full marks there for initiative. LOL

They're not heavy if you take the bits out of the box and get them
upstairs in stages.

However if you leave the other bits at the bottom of the stairs the
pikeys will have them while you're halfway up.

Hence the advisability of having someone else to run up and down the
stairs 30 times while Adam sits in the van 'looking after the stock'
and drinking tea.

I have worked in places where I have paid someone to sit in my van all day
to keep it safe whilst I was working in the flats!

--
Adam

On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:51:55 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
If you don't feel up to tightening a nut you've a lot of learning to do,
and probably not worth it.

I think it's just a mental hurdle to overcome. The majority of DIY jobs
can be broken down into simple sub-tasks which are usually easier than
the whole (and during the learning phase if you muck one of them up you
can often correct and still produce a good result).

I've watched professionals work before. They make mistakes, too. What
they're good at, I think, is planning, having a good mental picture of
the whole job while tacking individual bits, and recovering when some
unforseen disaster does strike.

cheers

Jules

The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 21/06/2011 18:24, ARWadsworth wrote:
wrote:
My diy skills are useless. I think a lot of it is a lack of
confidence in using tools and also, to be honest, the fear of making
a costly cock up.
Has anyone here as a complete beginner undertaken a 5 day intensive
course in, say, plumbing? I saw the 5 day intensive course
advertised by Able Skills and it does sound good.

Is it possible though for someone who is completely lacking in both
confidence and technical skills to get anything from a 5 day
intensive course?

The last straw for me was paying a plumber £60 to tighten a f******
radiator nut.

Where I you based? Maybe one of the regulars will let you watch or
help on a project that they are doing. I would.


Me too if it helps.


Wireless doorbell or rabbit hutch:-)?

But seriously, it is a service that I would be delighted to offer to a
poster on the uk.d-i-y newsgroup.


--
Adam

On 22/06/2011 18:50, ARWadsworth wrote:

But seriously, it is a service that I would be delighted to offer to a
poster on the uk.d-i-y newsgroup.

Which one? :-)

Clive George wrote:
On 22/06/2011 18:50, ARWadsworth wrote:

But seriously, it is a service that I would be delighted to offer to
a poster on the uk.d-i-y newsgroup.

Which one? :-)

Well having had the pleasure of meeting TMH I would say that we could offer
a comprehensive course in how to eat a full english breakfast in a cafe!

--
Adam

On Jun 22, 8:56 pm, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
Jules Richardson wrote:

I've watched professionals work before. They make mistakes, too. What
they're good at, I think, is planning, having a good mental picture of
the whole job while tacking individual bits, and recovering when some
unforseen disaster does strike.

I'm seeing this with our plumber, busy laying a lot of pipe for a new
water main and for a bathroom and a loo. He's having to figure out how
to get from the bedroom he's traversing, into the other bathroom that
has the hot water tank etc. Problem is there's a load of steel under the
wall between them.

feck me!
watch him closely!
don't be out when he "sorts" it his way......
;)

Jim K