Basic DIY Skills?

[Witchazel]

My house has great potential, but is a scruffy and outdated mess at present. It really depresses me. Both me and DH are currently too knackered in the evenings and at weekends to do anything about it :-(
So we end up paying people to do work which, to be honest, we could probably have done ourselves.

I have recently taken the bold decision to hand in my notice and work part time only, so I can spend the next few months decorating and doing it all up. Rather than earning extra to pay others, I thought I could do it myself. However...

I am a bit scared of power tools, in part because I just have never learned to use them, but also because I had a friend who electrocuted (and died) from using a dodgy tool.

I have seen that my local college does an 8 week evening course in basic DIY skills. But it's £450.

What would you do?

Yes a bloke , harmless really just not fond of landlords and our government.

Should have read Witchazel first post more carefully . chop saw really handy , but don't go for cheap as the better models have wider/deeper cut ability, also the blades tilt as well as slide for the angles with the better models. mine has a laser and two detachable wedge things for holding long sections of wood at the same level as the cutting surface. For skirting boards or and architrave marvelous and effortless. Workmate is essential so is spirit level and t square . Couple of chisels for rebate hinges & other uses.

Another tool handy is a nail puller crowbar small one, really handy for setting up the space under a door when hanging its got a big bend on one end and you can tilt a door upwards when hanging with one and a screwdriver to help tilt upward. good for nail pulling too

It's only a flesh wound he said as his last remaining limb flew off

Lol, quite literally.

Cinnamon - my DH did manage to sand through a radiator pipe, at 10pm on a Sunday night (in hindsight - our poor bloody neighbours. We were youngish and stupid). That was fun.

I second/third YouTube. It's taught me a huge amount. I'm building myself up to a spot of light plastering.

As newlyweds we did up a whole house DIY (before the internet) from the Collins DIY manual. DH was already fairly confident with tools though from his dad/school background. I must have memorised every page - painting, wallpapering, tiling, fixing the staircase, painting and staining doors, the lot.

Sanders, jigsaws, etc I've had no problem with but I've got a bit of a fear of drilling into walls - I see where you're coming from. Angle grinders and circular saws are not such everyday tools.

I would discover Screwfix if I were you .

A hand held circular saw will take that fraction off the bottom of a door in seconds, some blades that come with them go through steel too (nails). Fence panel needs to be narrower, running with the slats downward after marking, slices to size in about a minute, refit end bits and that's it. Do that with a hand saw and it will take forever and not so neat. Yeah grinder not used much but cut through paving slabs , old rusty bolts handy tool.

A good project to cut your teeth on , take photos of wooden garden planters, wooden garden benches. Go to the wood yard for wood as it's cheaper than B&Q
I made a couple of planters out of decking with trim at the top and they look really expensive . The wood needs to be pressure treated with outside stuff
Last year I made an Arbour that would have cost best part of 3 hundred quid in a garden center , much sturdier and was about 120 for the wood and screws bolts. I took loads of photos in the garden center and was cheeky enough to measure as well.

A mitre saw is invaluable when doing woodwork of all sorts, ime.

Hassled, that does sound like fun. Our hallway floor is definitely not perfect, because the bloody sander thing just took off down the hallway with me whenever it was tilted to the floor. Nightmare.

Raisingsteam, this book was invaluable because I'm not British and the whole set up with floorboards, the plumbing, fireplaces, roof stricture etc was alien to me.

B&Q do various training courses on how to do various DIY tasks.

The library is good for DIY books too! Helped me fix a broken loo pre-google.