As a female how good are you at DIY?

[chickenriceorspud]

I'm very impressed at all these fabulous woman that can do their own DIY. I need to learn more.

How handy are you?

Fortunately you don't need a penis to be able to be good at these life skills.

Brilliantly said @BloodyAdultDC !

I finally got to grips with cementing last Summer, and discovered a new exterior filler that can be used in the rain, hooray! was so chuffed!

I can fill holes, paint, wall paper, lay laminate flooring, tile, build flat pack and fix a broken banister.
I can’t fit a sink (had to call a professional halfway), do electrical stuff beyond changing a fuse or fitting a plug or do anything heating related beyond bleeding a radiator or repressurising the boiler.

Don't apologise @chickenriceorspud for saying women are fabulous if they can do DIY! Some people just love to pick peoples posts apart, and berate them just for the sake of it.

As for me, I can do basic DIY stuff, and can fix broken things like ornaments and chair legs and anything that can be fixed with some gorilla glue - and I can hang pictures and so on... And I can change a bulb and fit an (electric) plug ... But putting shelves/units/flat pack furniture etc together - and heavier/sturdier stuff that involves heavy lifting/good strength; I leave to DH.

I do all the cooking, and housework and food shopping... But before anyone blows a gasket at me 'letting the side down' 🙄 I do all the gardening, (except mowing the lawns - DH Does that...) and I sometimes clean the car inside and out. I can do basic car maintenance - dad was a mechanic. I also sometimes paint (the garden fences and the sheds, and also the indoor walls and doors.)

I am also quite good at tech. Computer maintenance and the like. I also do all the home admin, and am much better than DH at English and maths and general admin. So I and deal with the household admin. Including all the bills and banking and online accounts - (GP, insurance, bank, energy supplier, council tax, our catalogue, the credit card etc etc etc...)

I'm good but not brilliant. There is nothing much apart from electrics/gas stuff/roofing that I wouldn't try. I also fix the car and the computers. Having the correct tools and access to YouTube is what's important.
Professionals do things better and quicker than I can but I'm cheaper and I enjoy it a lot.

I can tile but my tiler is a true professional who does an amazing job so I don't tile either.

I can build fences, decks, wallpaper, paint, build flatpack, replace taps, basic plumbing, basic electrics, lay a patio, tile, most stuff really.

I can sand floors, fill and paint walls and window frames but it takes me ages so I usually pay someone who’s quicker and better.

Yup that sums up me & my DH. We can both muddle along on the basics but neither of us have much confidence for the harder stuff. None of the women in my family would dream of doing DIY, they are a bit ‘ladies who lunch’. But I’ve never been like that, I’ve no time for strategic female incompetence.

Not great but I’ve surprised myself on a few occasions, figuring stuff out with YouTube videos. I think you’re more likely to take more care in your own house than some tradespeople would because you’re the one who has to live with it.__

I am literally absolutely terrible. In fact, I’d pay me not to do it.

It is a struggle tbh. Beyond basic painting, Can't do anything.

I've done a few things. Can decorate, but I struggle with ceilings. Have also tiled floors, can change electrical sockets/light switches and have replaced light fittings. I'll hang shelves, blinds and put together flat pack furniture too. I'll pretty much try my hand at most things, you just have to do your homework first.

I built a gate about ten years ago, hung it by myself and it still works. Which I was thrilled with. I feel in a job interview if I’m ever asked what my proudest achievement is I’d want to tell them I built a gate 😁

I can replace taps and I can paint. I’d give other stuff a go if I needed to but never really needed to. Dh is very good at DIY and does pretty much everything, plastering, electrics, fixes the boiler, he can do brickwork, he has built a garage before, rewired a house, good at plumbing. I don’t really get a look in.

The only thing he leaves to me is unblocking the sewer but I used to be a professional sewage operative! Oh so I can repair sewers, lay sewers, fix sewer pumps, repair rising mains, lay manholes and tarmac roads! I can also drill and tap a water main to fit a new service pipe in and repair and replace stop taps.

Yeah I do all the DIY in our house. Husband has zero interest or inclination.

Shit and so is my husband. We both ring our dads! 😂

I'm far better than dh is. These days with the Internet it's pretty easy to Google and find out how to do anything. You just need the confidence to try.

My proudest achievement is cutting paving slabs by hand with a chisel in perfectly straight lines. 😎It doesn't even take that long once you get the hang of it, I'm sure it was quicker than my neighbour spent with an angle grinder on theirs.

Building a gate is much more impressive.

I'm pretty good at DIY. I've built furniture, wallpapered, painted and sanded, laid floors, changed taps and toilet seats and door handles, replaced tiles and built sheds and low walls. None of it is particularly difficult you just have to do the prep work, take your time and be tidy

I'm in my mid-60s. I can paint and wallpaper, but not much else (never wanted to learn)

Shit. But I'm ASD and can't get a me in a lock properly. M/F doesn't impact it.

I am terrible my hands shake. Everything I do is wonky.

I'm decent enough at the basics. I won't touch electrics, gas or plumbing, but otherwise I'll have a go if I can find a YouTube tutorial and have the right tools. Growing up, we didn't have much money, so if something needed to be fixed my dad had to do it. He usually encouraged us to "help" if it wasn't too dangerous, and he wasn't too fussy if we got it a bit wrong.

DH is shockingly bad, but quite happy to admit it, and doesn't attempt anything. I do sometimes get annoyed because there are really basic things that he's clueless about, but in general he only gets involved if I need him to hold something steady.

I’m good at everything that involves attention to detail, planning, thinking ahead, measuring, patience, diligence, maths, visualisation and creativity. I’m not so great at brute force. That means I come up with all the ideas, do all the research and planning and DH hits it with a hammer and gets all the credit 🤦‍♀️

I can change basic lightbulbs but that is about it.

Pretty good actually but DH is better as he's not as half arsed/slapdash as me. We both come from families where you don't pay other people to do something you can probably do yourself, you learn as you're going along.

I can do a lot and am learning new things all the time. Come spring, I'll be renovating the garden, which will involve chainsaws, angle grinders, concrete breakers, diggers etc and I'm competent in all of those things as well as the usual basic DIY (decorating, tiling, simple electrics like changing light fittings and so on.)

In fact, I just had a single storey extension built and by doing a lot of the work myself (with DP) managed to bring it in under £30k, when the lowest of the multiple quotes I had was £60k.

Growing up we didn't have much money, certainly not enough to just replace broken things without a second thought, so we learned to mend things, or renovate, or what is now called 'upcycle'.