Is your man any good at DIY?

[Chouxs]

I an a man, but completely useless at it.
I get a professional in!

Yes, he’s annoyingly good. If I see something in a shop, like a bird table or a storage box he will pipe up “I’ll make you one…” FIL was the same but he can’t do it anymore, sadly.

DS2 has inherited the same gene. He’s renovating his house atm. When he was teenager he’d watch endless videos about replacing skirting boards, tiling etc. He’s really good to be fair to him and he finds it relaxing and therapeutic.

I don’t have a clue.

Pretty good for a non tradesman.

No. But we have a fantastic handyman

Mine is great at diy. It's very attractive.

Yes! Though he is an electrician

Bloody terrible.

Just as bad at assembling furniture. The closest we’ve ever come to divorce is over flat pack furniture, so he just leaves me to it now.

He is the same As me in that if he sets his mind to figuring out a task, he can generally figure out how to do it. He is better than me at actually doing the task in that he is stronger and more importantly much less clumsy. I tend to injure myself easily. The problem is that he is very unlikely to sit down to figure out a diy task. He will do something fun like rebuild a car, but necessary projects do not motivate him.

No I do it

Yes he's excellent, even though it's not related to his job at all.

Yes, he's brilliant

• minor electrics
• installation of washing machines etc.
• some plumbing, heating etc.
• loft insulation
• general mending things (shed roof etc.)
• wallpapering
• laid an engineered wood floor
• generally, he can figure out what is causing a problem in the house and have a go at fixing it

Probably lots more that I've forgotten. I'm better than him at painting and that's about it.

My Dh is like Frank Spencer tbh- he tries but it leads to all sorts of calamities! His dad (who is sadly no longer with us) was amazing and could turn his hand to anything DIY (or car repair related) but did not pass his skills on to DH.
DH's brothers are all skilled at many things DIY though- they are all older and taught by their dad- DH was the baby of the family so everyone looked after him! I'm pretty good though- eg I can drill holes and fix a curtain pole up/ unblock washer pipes etc/ good at painting and decorating.
Dh saving grace is he works hard at his office job and earns enough to get professionals in these days. He is also very strong and has lots of stamina so if you need heavy lifting/unskilled labour he does OK at that
We can't all be good at everything can we!

He’s not bad, takes him ages to get round to it but can figure out even big tasks. I would say I am better 😆 I am quick and good at managing projects.. we are 3 years into a very old house renovation; doing it ourselves. I do wish we had more specialist skills like carpentry or plastering- we can do it but not as well as someone who is a pro obviously. Xo

Well, he's better than me. But that's not saying much! He is a fussy bugger perfectionist, so everything takes a looooong time, but I'm often surprised and impressed at how he figures stuff out that he previously knew nothing about.

Let's just say that spatial awareness wouldn't feature particularly highly in his profile if he were to take a CAT4.

I think my DH can do more than he's prepared to admit. He has zero enthusiasm for doing any jobs around the house and needs nagging (and me to look up what needs to be bought to do the job) before he will do anything.
He doesn't hesitate to do DIY work elsewhere when it involves his hobby/voluntary work though which causes quite a few arguments!

Yes, there isn't much he can't do and he's meticulous about the end result. The downside of this is that he spends a fortune getting the perfect tool for a job he might do once or twice in a lifetime, and we have a garage full of beautifully maintained gadgets.

Mine is good at flat pack, minor electrics and plumbing. He's crap at anything cosmetic or that requires precision and patience. He's also lazy and anything he does do is under duress.

He thinks he is!
But can be ok-ish…if….he listens to me, researches how to do it properly and takes his time. But that very rarely happens!

He has a very “gung-ho” approach to everything, I.e. getting it done as quickly as possible without putting too much logic or common sense into it and 9 times out of ten, cocks it up completely. But he thinks he’s done a fantastic job!🤔
I usually have to redo or patch up everything he touches!

No. I do far more than him. I hang pictures, shelves, wallpaper, decorate, seal the bath etc
His DF also is useless. And always got someone to do it. So he never had the example growing up.
Where as I watched DF do it. Always was at family members helping them.

I love it. And it doesn't bother me that he can't. He's tried and honesty it's a disaster.

It doesn't bother me because I enjoy it.

I gave taught him how to build furniture though as he'd never done that when I met him either

@LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow

DS1 aged about four asked DH "what are you doing with Mummy's drill?? Are you allowed to touch it?"

So I'll let you all draw your own conclusions.

I cannot say how much I adore this.

Far better than me at DIY and all things in the Domestic realm (cooking, cleaning, etc).

I'm good at... er... not worrying about stupid shit.

My DP is much better than me at joinery, and I make her do all the drilling as I hate it. But (I'm sensing a pattern here) she's much quicker to say she'll do something than to do it. I'm less ambitious but I teach myself what I need to know and I know my limitations.

I can lay a path or paper a room, or re-fit skirting or sand and finish floorboards, and I can do an ok job of puttying in windows or plastering/skimming bits of wall, though I am helped out by the fact our walls aren't straight to start with, so it doesn't have to be perfect. I'm currently doing lime plaster repairs, and I am crossing my fingers I can manage lime plaster repointing next summer.

I think the only things I wouldn't tackle would be electrics (because it makes it harder to sell a house if you do DIY, though DP can) or fitting a fireplace. I really want to, and I googled and it seems quite easy, but again it's something it's not really worth doing yourself as it needs to be certified if you want to sell the house as having a working fireplace.

Yes. He's self taught and will have a go at most things, but he knows his limits and when to call in a tradesperson.

I'm not bad either, but he has more patience than me so I let him at it.

@TheCreamCaker

My husband has done several things in our house, over the course of 30 years:

knocked out the downstairs bathroom.
Created a bathroom upstairs by using part of a walk-in cupboard and part of our bedroom. Fitted complete bathroom suite and shower.
Knocked 2 rooms into one, giving us a lounge/diner with an archway
laid laminate flooring in lounge/diner and 2 bedrooms.
Built a porch at the front door.
Built a patio with a wall around and steps down to the garden, out the back.
Dug up conifers, made a path all along the side and back of the house.
Dug out some of the garden at the front and cemented it to make a car-parking space.
Fitted new skirtings throughout.
Painted & wallpapered throughout.
Fitted a new upvc back door.
Fitted a new toilet in the utility area.
Hung new internal doors throughout.

He's done all plumbing/electrical work on all the jobs he did.
He's a qualified electrician (although doesn't do that as an employment.

Are you saying he's bad or good? Digging up plants is not DIY, and My 70 year old dyspraxic mother hang doors and make paths - who can't?

My DP is useless. If you want computer help or analysis he is your man. However both our sons are electricians with great spacial awareness. They can tackle anything including building their own houses.