I have been watching this web site along with many other DIY sources for
years now. I always detect an unexplained "Fear" by the DIY community that
some huge monster will descend on them if their DIY project fails to meet
some "unspecified" level of quality or fails to meet some obscure regulation
that may be in a builders manual somewhere. Is it the "nanny state"
mentality that generates this "Fear" or does it actually happen. I am on my
6th (and last) house reconstruction now and I could load you up with tales
of seriously bad things I have repaired by DIY that was created by certified
engineers. I am not a builder or anything but I have average ability and
several well worn "Collins" manuals which have almost always answered the
questions. When they did not answer my question, I got a certified engineer
in to do it and that was not always successful.

I would like to thank those like Andy, Ed, and the other serious
professionals who give excellent advice here without berating the poor sod
who has never heard of Part P or whatever. You guys don't know it but I read
and remember your comments on problems that I haven't had yet. It will occur
someday.

As a final comment--I still have the "Fear" of whoever this great monster
who devours DIY'ers. For future reference I would suggest a lot of your
answers to the lesser qualified DIY'ers could be to go out and buy a good
DIY Manual. Sorry for all the "waffle". You could also leave a few examples
of cases where the monster has actually prosecuted a person for faulty DIY.

Jimbo wrote:

I have been watching this web site along with many other DIY sources for
years now. I always detect an unexplained "Fear" by the DIY community that
some huge monster will descend on them if their DIY project fails to meet
some "unspecified" level of quality or fails to meet some obscure regulation
that may be in a builders manual somewhere. Is it the "nanny state"
mentality that generates this "Fear" or does it actually happen. I am on my

Interesting observation.... The amount of "nanny" legislation does seem
to be increasing, particularly in recent years. Most of it is pointless
since the people who would be best served by paying attention to it are
also the ones least likely to be aware of it, or even care for that matter.

When you are doing work that will be inspected by a BCO, then obviously
the need to be aware of the fine detail of regulatory requirements is
greater. The aforementioned nanny legislation seems to be pushing the
BCOs into ever more areas. There is also a growing trend during the
house conveyancing process for more verification that any modifications
done were done in a competent and certified way.

There seems to be many agenda at work here, mostly political, rarely
anything to do with the stated aim.

6th (and last) house reconstruction now and I could load you up with tales
of seriously bad things I have repaired by DIY that was created by certified
engineers. I am not a builder or anything but I have average ability and
several well worn "Collins" manuals which have almost always answered the
questions. When they did not answer my question, I got a certified engineer
in to do it and that was not always successful.

I think many people associate "professional" with "higher quality" in
some way. The reality is all it means is they get paid to do it, its not
a guarantee of a good outcome. Things like the DIY manual, may well give
you the knowledge that you need, but perhaps not the confidence and
reassurance that you can gain from being able to communicate with people
who have "been there and done that".

I would like to thank those like Andy, Ed, and the other serious
professionals who give excellent advice here without berating the poor sod
who has never heard of Part P or whatever. You guys don't know it but I read

Good point and well made! I would go along with that - thanks guys.

and remember your comments on problems that I haven't had yet. It will occur
someday.

I wonder if there is such a thing as DIY hypochondria?

As a final comment--I still have the "Fear" of whoever this great monster
who devours DIY'ers. For future reference I would suggest a lot of your
answers to the lesser qualified DIY'ers could be to go out and buy a good

True you could, but see my point above about confidence and reassurance.
One also wants to avoid the "Your Stupid, RTFM" response you get in many
"techie" newsgroups. The strength of uk.d-i-y seems to be not only the
wealth of knowledge, but also the relaxed attitude to most things that
make it an easy place to come for information.

DIY Manual. Sorry for all the "waffle". You could also leave a few examples
of cases where the monster has actually prosecuted a person for faulty DIY.

I don't think there are many cases where this does occur. A couple of
high profile cases make the news from time to time, but compared to the
amount of DIY going on, that is a drop in the ocean.

I have no data to back this up, but I would expect that you will
probably find the percentage of DIYers required to do rework at the
behest of BCOs, is probably no worse than for professional builders etc.
(My logic being that if it is not your full time job, and its your own
home, you are more likely to ask questions first and not cut corners on
the work since you need to live with the result)



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

You could also leave a few examples
of cases where the monster has actually prosecuted a person for faulty DIY.

Or maybe a few examples of where someone has been killed or injured by a
botched DIY job where the perpetrator has failed to do his homework properly?

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 23:36:50 +0000 (UTC), "Jimbo"
(remove $ ) wrote:

I have been watching this web site along with many other DIY sources for
years now. I always detect an unexplained "Fear" by the DIY community that
some huge monster will descend on them if their DIY project fails to meet
some "unspecified" level of quality

DIYers are afraid that if they do a botch job the wife will get
Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen and the Changing Rooms team to redecorate!

sPoNiX

On 14 Oct 2004 08:08:58 GMT, (Paper2002AD) wrote:

You could also leave a few examples
of cases where the monster has actually prosecuted a person for faulty DIY.

Or maybe a few examples of where someone has been killed or injured by a
botched DIY job where the perpetrator has failed to do his homework properly?
I know of one gas where someone was killed by defective wiring. He was
a workman who went to a house to do an unrelated job,he touched the
metal sink/drainer whilst at the same time touching a gas pipe and was
electrocuted. I know of another man who received a severe electric
shock as a result of dodgy diy wiring in a house. The house owner was
prosecuted and sued for damages.

In article ,
sPoNiX wrote:
DIYers are afraid that if they do a botch job the wife will get
Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen and the Changing Rooms team to redecorate!

Frying pan and fire comes into mind...

--
*If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?

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

Jimbo (remove $ ) wrote:
I have been watching this web site along with many other DIY sources for

What "web site"?

--
Chris Green

"Jimbo" (remove $ ) wrote in message
...


Is it the "nanny state" mentality that generates this
"Fear" or does it actually happen.

I don't know what the nanny sate is.

I would like to thank those like Andy,
Ed, and the other serious
professionals

Andy is a DIYer, not a professional.

"IMM" wrote in message
...

"Jimbo" (remove $ ) wrote in message
...


Is it the "nanny state" mentality that generates this
"Fear" or does it actually happen.

I don't know what the nanny sate is.

I would like to thank those like Andy,
Ed, and the other serious
professionals

Andy is a DIYer, not a professional.

Perhaps he is but he doesn't "snipe" at people like you do.

In article ,
IMM wrote:
I would like to thank those like Andy,
Ed, and the other serious
professionals

Andy is a DIYer, not a professional.

And like many skilled amateurs, not only knows more about that subject
than some self styled professionals, but also knows how put that knowledge
across to others.

--
*Stable Relationships Are For Horses.

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

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
IMM wrote:
I would like to thank those like Andy,
Ed, and the other serious
professionals

Andy is a DIYer, not a professional.

And like many skilled amateurs, not only knows more about that subject
than some self styled professionals, but also knows how put that
knowledge across to others.

What's the saying?
Amateurs built the ark, professionals the Titanic.

--
James...
www.jameshart.co.uk

In message , IMM writes

"Jimbo" (remove $ ) wrote in message
...


Is it the "nanny state" mentality that generates this
"Fear" or does it actually happen.

I don't know what the nanny sate is.

Bits of old women onna stick?

What's your point


I would like to thank those like Andy,
Ed, and the other serious
professionals

Andy is a DIYer, not a professional.

And you are?

Quick ... rename the thread

--
geoff