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.