UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions.

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Default DIY manuals - are they still a thing?

Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?

Cheers



Dave R


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On 12/03/2020 09:53, David wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?

Cheers



Dave R


stuff that you can't beat a good youtube video ..
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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:57:19 UTC, Jim Stewart wrote:
On 12/03/2020 09:53, David wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?

Cheers



Dave R


stuff that you can't beat a good youtube video ..


+1. The availability of so many viewpoints & assumption levels makes videos far better, though some like to waste 10 minutes presenting 1 minute of info. FWIW that 70s reader's digest one still pops up for sale on occasion, much of it very out of date but some is still good. IIRC it includes how to change a gramophone idler wheel & zero risk assessments.


NT
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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:53:52 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.
Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?


As I live in a 1960s/70s flat, the Readers Digest and similar *are* current to me :-)

Owain



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On 12/03/2020 09:57, Jim Stewart wrote:


With a printed DIY manual it's often like the Haynes manuals for car
mechanics where you need a translation.
http://messybeast.com/dragonqueen/real-haynes.htm

With a decent Youtube video, especially from a professional or company
demonstrating the a product, you get real world instructions. Obviously
common sense must be applied to weed out the crap and to realise that
perfectly vertical walls, 90 degree corners and level ceilings shown in
demonstrations usually don't exist in older properties.

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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:53:52 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.


Is my memory playing tricks or did one vintage of this manual show you how
cover a panelled interior door with plywood (or quite possibly hardboard),
while a later vintage told you how to restore a door that had had such
an atrocity perpetrated on it?

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Default DIY manuals - are they still a thing?

In article ,
David wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.


These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.


Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?


Pretty well all the basics of DIY ain't changed much. Sure there are more
power tools around to assist with things, but that's about all.

DIY books only ever covered the basics of things like plumbing and
electrics anyway - and they are still the same.

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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:07:28 UTC, wrote:
Is my memory playing tricks or did one vintage of this manual show you how
cover a panelled interior door with plywood (or quite possibly hardboard),
while a later vintage told you how to restore a door that had had such
an atrocity perpetrated on it?


I think it was the DIY magazines that went wild with abandon telling you how to build your own bedroom furniture out of asbestos sheeting, etc.

Hardboarding interior doors probably saved thousands from the skip in the 60s and 70s

Owain

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David wrote

Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very
good Readers Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.


These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.


Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?


No idea, I find YouTube videos and websites much better
and much more likely to be specific to the problem you have.

For example there is some problem with the windscreen
washer bottle in my car and its in the wheel arch behind
the cover panels with no obvious way to get it out. There
us however a very decent youtube video showing you how
to get it out easily. No paper DIY manual will have that.
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Default Lonely Auto-contradicting Psychotic Senile Ozzie Troll Alert! LOL

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 05:15:43 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


No idea,


Right, but you will blather away anyway, you senile piece of ****!

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wrote in message
...
On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:57:19 UTC, Jim Stewart wrote:
On 12/03/2020 09:53, David wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good
Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?

Cheers



Dave R


stuff that you can't beat a good youtube video ..


+1. The availability of so many viewpoints
& assumption levels makes videos far better,
though some like to waste 10 minutes
presenting 1 minute of info.


Yeah, it certainly makes it clear how skilled
the professional presenters are when you
see the worst of what some amateurs can do.

FWIW that 70s reader's digest one
still pops up for sale on occasion,


Yep.

much of it very out of date


Yeah, no mention of the rivnuts so common in cars now.

but some is still good. IIRC it includes how to change
a gramophone idler wheel & zero risk assessments.



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You can if you are blind.I despair on the computer sort your own computer
problems one with as you can see on this screen simply click on......
Same goes for diy, but the older books tended to have descriptive words not
just pictures, so you could scan them and get the basic idea, now, no way.

Brian

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"Jim Stewart" wrote in message
...
On 12/03/2020 09:53, David wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?

Cheers



Dave R


stuff that you can't beat a good youtube video ..





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Default More Heavy Trolling by Senile Nym-Shifting Rodent Speed!

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 07:13:32 +1100, John_j, better known as cantankerous
trolling senile geezer Rodent Speed, wrote:


Makes more sense to have that online as a diy wikipedia.


The ONLY thing that would make sense in your case would be if you swallowed
your Nembutal, you useless 86-year-old cretin! What did you buy it for
anyway? Or were you only trying to attract attention, you senile asshole
troll?

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Default Lonely Auto-contradicting Psychotic Senile Ozzie Troll Alert! LOL

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 06:09:40 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


Yeah, it certainly makes it clear how skilled
the professional presenters are when you
see the worst of what some amateurs can do.


It certainly makes it clear that YOU got NO life outside the Net AT ALL, you
clinically insane senile sociopathic swine!

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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:28:59 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
David wrote:


Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.


These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.


Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?


Pretty well all the basics of DIY ain't changed much. Sure there are more
power tools around to assist with things, but that's about all.

DIY books only ever covered the basics of things like plumbing and
electrics anyway - and they are still the same.


I leafed through a 1970s reader's digest diy manual late last year. It surprised me how much of it was truly out of date, and how plainly dangerous some of the advice was.


NT
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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:53:52 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?




DIY magazines seem to have vanished too.


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alan_m wrote:

Slightly before my time but I believe that was down to a DIY expert on a
TV program of the time.


Barry Bucknell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RVnzu0COFU

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"harry" wrote in message
...
On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:53:52 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?


DIY magazines seem to have vanished too.


So have those books.

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Default Lonely Auto-contradicting Psychotic Senile Ozzie Troll Alert! LOL

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 19:58:00 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


So have those books.


So, just have a few of your Nembutal pills, you useless senile trolling
cretin!

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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:07:28 UTC, wrote:
On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:53:52 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.


Is my memory playing tricks or did one vintage of this manual show you how
cover a panelled interior door with plywood (or quite possibly hardboard),


Might be I remmerb my dad doing it, he also did the same to the stairs regarding
covering up the banistars.

while a later vintage told you how to restore a door that had had such
an atrocity perpetrated on it?


Well he never got around to that.




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On Thursday, 12 March 2020 17:56:22 UTC, wrote:
On Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:07:28 UTC, wrote:
Is my memory playing tricks or did one vintage of this manual show you how
cover a panelled interior door with plywood (or quite possibly hardboard),
while a later vintage told you how to restore a door that had had such
an atrocity perpetrated on it?


I think it was the DIY magazines that went wild with abandon telling you how to build your own bedroom furniture out of asbestos sheeting, etc.


was that to protect you from the hot sex session you had after installing a mirror on the ceiling ;-)



Hardboarding interior doors probably saved thousands from the skip in the 60s and 70s

Owain


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In article , David
writes
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?

Cheers



Dave R


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Good god, yes. You've prompted me to getup and go look... and there it
is up on the top shelve on the book case.
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On Thursday, March 12, 2020 at 9:53:52 AM UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals,


I've just bought the Home Extension Haynes manual,
they also have Piano Manual etc etc

I've bought Insulate and Weatherize
and several others from Taunton Books

[g]


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On 12/03/2020 09:53, David wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

These days most of the advice seems to be YouTube videos and websites.

Are there any real paper DIY manuals which are both good and current?

Cheers


I've got the full bound set of "The Knack" sat here if you want some
projects.
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On 13/03/2020 08:26, alan_m wrote:
On 12/03/2020 15:07, wrote:
On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:53:52 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google)
wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.


Is my memory playing tricks or did one vintage of this manual show you
how
cover a panelled interior door with plywood (or quite possibly
hardboard),
while a later vintage told you how to restore a door that had had such
an atrocity perpetrated on it?


Slightly before my time but I believe that was down to a DIY expert on a
TV program of the time.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bucknell

My parents having purchased their first house covered all doors with
hardboard and boxed in the stairs with the same. It was the "modern" 60s
look.


Which in one sense at least means they period features are preserved and
can be uncovered later.



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On 14/03/2020 22:04, newshound wrote:
On 14/03/2020 14:28, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/03/2020 08:26, alan_m wrote:
On 12/03/2020 15:07, wrote:
On Thursday, 12 March 2020 09:53:52 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google)
wrote:
Back in the day I worked from DIY manuals, including a very good
Readers
Digest one. We are talking 1970s though.

Is my memory playing tricks or did one vintage of this manual show
you how
cover a panelled interior door with plywood (or quite possibly
hardboard),
while a later vintage told you how to restore a door that had had such
an atrocity perpetrated on it?


Slightly before my time but I believe that was down to a DIY expert
on a TV program of the time.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bucknell


Also master of the spiral ratchet screwdriver. With flat blades.
Obviously everything was pilot drilled *and* assembled beforehand.


Yup, I don't recall seeing many of his programs (A bit before my time
really), but the prowess with the Yankee driver did stick in my mind. I
recall using one for the first time, and being a bit disappointed :-)
But then, I had not appreciated then that for the TV shows all the holes
were pre-drilled, and they had rehearsed the build first - so the screws
already knew where they were going!


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John.

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On Monday, 16 March 2020 01:29:12 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
On 14/03/2020 22:04, newshound wrote:
On 14/03/2020 14:28, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/03/2020 08:26, alan_m wrote:


Slightly before my time but I believe that was down to a DIY expert
on a TV program of the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bucknell


Also master of the spiral ratchet screwdriver. With flat blades.
Obviously everything was pilot drilled *and* assembled beforehand.


Yup, I don't recall seeing many of his programs (A bit before my time
really), but the prowess with the Yankee driver did stick in my mind. I
recall using one for the first time, and being a bit disappointed :-)
But then, I had not appreciated then that for the TV shows all the holes
were pre-drilled, and they had rehearsed the build first - so the screws
already knew where they were going!


Yankee screwdrivers are hopeless compared to even the cheapest cordless screwdriver. It's not just the terrible mechanism, the drill bit geometry was way off too. Plus any sort of powerered screwdriver doesn't work well in an era of mostly slotted screws. It was just better than nothing.


NT
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On 14/03/2020 14:28, John Rumm wrote:

Which in one sense at least means they period features are preserved and
can be uncovered later.


Isn't "period feature" just estate agent speak for junk that need
modernisation?

Not all period features are good and some are just a PITA when it comes
to decorating.

I was persuaded once to start stripping the heavily paint period stair
spindles because the original bare wood would look nice. After stripping
3 it was evident that poor quality wood had been used and the spindles
were nailed top and bottom with the large nail holes filled with a soft
putty.

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On 16/03/2020 02:57, alan_m wrote:
On 14/03/2020 14:28, John Rumm wrote:

Which in one sense at least means they period features are preserved
and can be uncovered later.


Isn't "period feature" just estate agent speak for junk that need
modernisation?

Not all period features are good and some are just a PITA when it comes
to decorating.

I was persuaded once to start stripping the heavily paint period stair
spindles because the original bare wood would look nice. After stripping
3 it was evident that poor quality wood had been used and the spindles
were nailed top and bottom with the large nail holes filled with a soft
putty.

Ah, the 'stripped pine' problem. If you are going to paint it you dont
use top quality wood and you dont bother to blind fix.

I keep telling people that pine was the 19th and early 20th century
equivalent of MDF...


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On Thursday, March 12, 2020 at 5:56:22 PM UTC, wrote:
On Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:07:28 UTC, wrote:
Is my memory playing tricks or did one vintage of this manual show you how
cover a panelled interior door with plywood (or quite possibly hardboard),
while a later vintage told you how to restore a door that had had such
an atrocity perpetrated on it?


I think it was the DIY magazines that went wild with abandon telling you how to build your own bedroom furniture out of asbestos sheeting, etc.

Hardboarding interior doors probably saved thousands from the skip in the 60s and 70s


I had a flat with all the doors panelled with hardboard and wooden trim tacked on. I decided to have them 'dipped and stripped' and set about removing the hardboard, only to find the moulding had been removed and bits of plasterboard had been fixed into each recessed panel. So that had to be stripped out as well (all this the evening before the doors were due to be collected), and then new moulding made up and fixed in place once the doors had been returned. Worth it in the end though, I think!

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has anybody else noticed that Haynes car manuals are rubbish these days?...
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