Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

home repairs, how much do you do yourself?

I'll give most things a try except serious electrical and any gas, hate bodges tho so if its beyond me I go elsewhere.

So I have a rangemaster oven with a cracked glass top, and the replacement top, but can find nothing on the internet about swapping it over.

What would you do?
«1345

Comments

  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,034
    Nothing - I'm dreadful. Is there a course you can go on that teaches you the basics?
  • razil
    razil Posts: 15,041
    not sure it would be worth doing that :)
  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,842
    Get somebody in!

    When we bought our first house I did most things as money was tight way back then. But as soon as I could afford to pay tradesmen I did - and it made my wife very happy as she never wanted to tell me how crap I really was at DIY!
  • Badger
    Badger Posts: 4,842
    I'd give rangemaster a call and ask them.
  • am in the trade all be it plumbing and heating and no longer on the tools ill tackle most things, as op said steer clear of gas as its actually illegal to tamper with and as with electrics can be fatal.
  • If I have the money I get an expert in. I work hard at my job to earn money so I can enjoy my leisure time. If finances don't allow I can do most things - not well - but I can do them... :smiley:
  • cafcfan
    cafcfan Posts: 11,198
    No idea if they've got one for this but a website called espares.co.uk (obviously they mainly sell spare parts) also has around 500 how to fix it yourself videos which I've found useful in the past.
  • Riviera
    Riviera Posts: 8,167
    I just changed a light switch that had blown, got a spark in last time it happened. Feeling rather clever atm...
  • Swisdom
    Swisdom Posts: 14,977
    None of it. I'm fucking terrible

    Luckily we employ sparks, an awesome carpenter that can do anything with bits of wood and/or paintbrushes and plumbers so I get them to come and do it.

    I simply can't be arsed because I know I will bodge it and my wife will give me earache
  • razil said:

    I'll give most things a try except serious electrical and any gas, hate bodges tho so if its beyond me I go elsewhere.

    So I have a rangemaster oven with a cracked glass top, and the replacement top, but can find nothing on the internet about swapping it over.

    What would you do?

    Like this?
    http://www.espares.co.uk/product/es1607949?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=google+shopping&mkwid=sq0GjqWbV&pcrid=174075661093&kword=&match=&plid=&pdv=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxprb4q-f1gIVxrftCh0BygjcEAYYASABEgIGq_D_BwE

    Must worth having a go yourself, can only be a few fixings.

    I always have attempted a fix myself. By the time I've finished its either ok to use or we pop out buy a new one convinced the old one had had its life.
  • Sponsored links:



  • Have in the past, rewired my house, new bathrooms, new kitchens, new windows and doors. Learnt a lot of it form my dad, who was in the trade.
  • Is it covered by your insurance ?
  • se9addick said:

    Nothing - I'm dreadful. Is there a course you can go on that teaches you the basics?

    This. Lived until the last couple of years in rented places or a new build under warranty, so any issues were sorted out.

    I can change lightbulbs and paint stuff, tgat's about it.
  • Badger
    Badger Posts: 4,842
    Call rangemaster on 01244 402975
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,846
    I don't do any of it.
  • cafcfan
    cafcfan Posts: 11,198

    razil said:

    I'll give most things a try except serious electrical and any gas, hate bodges tho so if its beyond me I go elsewhere.

    So I have a rangemaster oven with a cracked glass top, and the replacement top, but can find nothing on the internet about swapping it over.

    What would you do?

    Like this?
    http://www.espares.co.uk/product/es1607949?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=google+shopping&mkwid=sq0GjqWbV&pcrid=174075661093&kword=&match=&plid=&pdv=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxprb4q-f1gIVxrftCh0BygjcEAYYASABEgIGq_D_BwE

    Must worth having a go yourself, can only be a few fixings.

    I always have attempted a fix myself. By the time I've finished its either ok to use or we pop out buy a new one convinced the old one had had its life.
    That's the way I tend to play it too. For example replacing the detergent dispenser on a Bosch dishwasher. A bit fiddly but for a few quid saved having to get a new machine for some years.
  • SE10Addick
    SE10Addick Posts: 2,963
    hate paying people for something i can do myself.

    I'm often better than some of the trades people.

    Some things are super skilled though like plastering. Wont touch gas, or complex electrics.
  • se9addick said:

    Nothing - I'm dreadful. Is there a course you can go on that teaches you the basics?

    Quite frankly there's nothing worth attending that you couldn't get from YouTube.

    If you are that bad don't even think about electricity or plumbing. Anything else just need having a go. Buy a decent set of tools and have a bash. Wear protection. What's the worst that can happen ;0)

  • Carter
    Carter Posts: 14,241
    In the past due to finances and thinking it was what blokes do I've done most of a bathroom and kitchen, some bits I paid mates or called in favours for like plastering, electrical trickery beyond simple stuffand and resented every second of it. I will always try and fix stuff but some things have professional people doing them for a reason.

    Now I work long enough hours as it is, I'd rather earn money doing what I do and pay a mate to do specific things properly, helps me get stuff done and is money for them.

  • Everything except, gas, electrics, car and plastering.

    Secret is to have good tools, the best you can afford.

  • Sponsored links:



  • always get professionals in (even for just decorating now) work far too long hours to spend time at home doing DIY.

    very lucky that my father-in-law and brother-in-law have a building firm that can turn their hands to most things.
  • Rob7Lee
    Rob7Lee Posts: 9,594
    Depends what it is, in years gone by I'd have done everything predominantly to save money. 95% i'll now get someone in, although that said I did put up a shed the other week and run electrics but that's about the most I've done the last 5 years.
  • razil
    razil Posts: 15,041
    I tend to get a bit wary when there is no specific video for that job, however I saw a generic one

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qphg4Z_wHlg

    although its concerned with an element, it may also apply and I am following that just to have a preliminary look.
  • I detest DIY with a passion and, if made to do it, I invariably cock up.

    Not helped by the fact that my wife comes from an immensely practical family who all look at me as if I've come from Mars when I describe some of the things I don't do myself.

    We've just moved to Greenwich and there are a number of things that need doing but not urgently. My brother in law was round and couldn't believe that I was going out to play golf when there was 'stuff in the house to be done'.
  • eaststandmike
    eaststandmike Posts: 14,956
    edited September 2017
    I will take care of anything electrical as I am an electrician and I am quite handy with plumbing. However I do not lay bricks, plaster, or touch any serious carpentry work.

    Funnily enough I had a big range-master double over in my last house and the fan packed up in the main fan oven. Sent off for a replacement and took the back off and replaced it no problem.
  • razil
    razil Posts: 15,041

    I will take care of anything electrical as I am an electrician and I am quite handy with plumbing. However I do not lay bricks, plaster, or touch any serious carpentry work.

    Funnily enough I had a big range-master double over in my last house and the fan packed up in the main fan oven. Sent off for a replacement and took the back off and replaced it no problem.

    I may inbox you later..

  • 3blokes
    3blokes Posts: 4,610
    Well, in the past, I've rewired a house (got a 240 volt handshake in the process) fitted kitchens and bathrooms ( various leaks, exploding cans of expanding foam, and impossible tight spots where you are supposed to get a wrench) tiled floors ( said exploding can of expanding foam going over tiles just after I'd finished the floor and was admiring my handiwork. This caused a vicious outbreak of unrelenting swearing and the smacking of a wall.)
    Luckily, some of these can now only be done by professionally qualified people which has given me a brilliant excuse to limit the DIY to an occasional bit of painting and putting up a shelf.
    In the end, everything has worked perfectly well, and I almost enjoyed it at times, but I would now just rather someone else did it :smile:
  • I do most diy jobs myself, but like others leave complicated electrics to the professionals. One mishap I had a long time ago when I was fitting a new bathroom suite, I needed a short piece of 22mm pipe to finish connecting the bath tap. I remembered seeing a piece in the shed that had been there since we bought the house, so I used that, it wasn't until I turned the water back on that I realised it was the old 3/4 inch diameter. Bloody water everywhere.
  • jamiebcool
    jamiebcool Posts: 592
    edited September 2017
    The lids on top of a cooker should be connected to a safety shut-off valve (SSOV). You don't have to have a lid and they can be removed, but you need to be gas safe in order to work on it.

  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,842
    A common theme coming through here - either everything is done by somebody else (that's my approach) or everything is tackled as DIY with some exceptions, predominately plastering!

    I understand how things are done in terms of carpentry, bricklaying and the circuit theory for electrics and plumbing - but I'm just no good at it. It is, however, mostly common sense applied with knowledge.

    Plastering on the other hand is a dark, mystical art - how the hell do they do that???