D.I.Y from a female view...what is the most extreme you have tackled.

Meant to mention pamdixon and say I would probably have done the very same.

Do you live near me Bikergran. I could really do with an odd job woman!

Ooh! I remembered when I was out, I mended the cistern in our downstairs loo with an elastic band! It still works. Does that count?

I just looooooove being let loose with a chainsaw and a JCB!

Biker gran... you’re my soulmate.... stuff dressmaking and knitting and cooking... give me a dirty job and it’ll get done. Yesterday while I was out taking and picking up grandkids from schools...my husband rang his friend to ask him to put his new exercise bike together ...I’d already told him I would do it,but he didn’t want to wait. All our friends know my husbands useless at anything mechanical ...so when the job was finished ... the friend handed the spanner(supplied) to my hubby and said he should put it in his toolbox as it might come in handy!!! My husband stared long and hard at his friend and said “ you mean the wife’s toolbox” ...they both burst out laughing . My hubby wouldn’t know a screwdriver from a hammer!!! Lol

Well done 'bikergran'. I have not done anything as interesting as you, but I did tile the splashbacks in the kitchen, and also fitted the new worktops, when I did a makeover. But the most daring thing I did was move a wall socket. I had it checked by an electrician at a later date and he said I'd done a grand job!

Since we're on the topic of DIY, I thought I'd share today's exciting event with you all. I hung my first washing of the season outdoors this morning. Hallelujah. I don't know if it's a 'drying wind' as my Mother would have called but there's a breeze and watery sunshine so - hey ho - and I'm seriously chuffed. I'm laughing thinking what my teenage self would have thought of such excitement. Oh dear!

I do all the painting and decorating. With DH I fitted out a van as a campervan. I've laid paving and pebble paths. You name it and I'll have go. I did a short women only
plumbing course and had great fun using a blow torch. The tutor said he loved teaching women because we not only listened but didn't think one lesson meant that we were qualified to install anything from a bathroom to drains. He said that men were always showing off whilst we helped each other.

I wish I could do a mechanics course so I could work on our van's engine but they don't do them around here.

One of my favourite shops is BandQ. I'd much rather wander around there than clothes shops.

I'm with teetime on this one, get a man in . Respect to bikergran though

I wouldn't know where to start. I did try wallpaper hanging once - never again, and sometimes do a bit of painting which seldom comes up to the required standard! Fortunately DH is a keen DIY er.

I once repaired a burst pipe by cutting out the affected section and fitting a replacement. (It worked quite well and didn’t leak.) Not sure how I did it now, but I’d fallen out with my (then) boyfriend, and there was NO WAY I was going to ask him!

My mother did all the wallpapering and painting in my parents’ house but sadly I haven’t inherited her skill in that department. I once painted a small bedroom but even I had to admit it was pretty awful.

I can wire plugs, although that never seems to be necessary these days, mainly I’m the labourer. ?

I’m in awe! I hate DIY. I can wallpaper, paint etc and have my own set of basic tools. I’ve also been roped in to help in numerous DIY/building projects.
My eldest daughter is like you Bikergran. She’s tiling my bathroom tomorrow hopefully.
I’m hiding this post from my DH!

I am not into DIY at all but some years ago when DH was working in USA I dug a pond in the garden ( a big one!!). Then I lined it, planted marginals & learnt how to mix concrete ( I asked the window cleaner), laid crazy paving all round it & had it finished bar the electrics by the time he got home. Luckily DS in an electrician so he did that bit. I wouldn't mess with electrics.
The worst bit was lugging all the paving from front of house where builder's merchant had left it to middle of back garden. I had a sore back for days.
I doubt I could do it now but I was a feisty capable woman in those days & was NOT going to wait for any man to help me. It is still a beautiful pond & I am still proud I managed it. DH is still in shock I think.

DH and I have gutted and rebuilt 3houses,back to the brick and roof rafters. Only using a few professionals such as plasterers or where legally obliged to.
My most extreme, scarey job was three flights up the scaffolding painting the ornate roof pediment on a Victorian house. It took 4 days and it didn’t get better with time!

I broke in my large garden which was overrun with brambles and had the remains of an old greenhouse where a tribe of frogs lived under the heap of metal struts, I managed to conserve the frogs's damp place under a mound of ivy.

I'm not sure if this really counts, but when my ex cleared off with the creature who shall ever be know as 'the Witch', I trashed the marital bed (all pine), an threw it out of the bedroom window. All I used was a Junior Hachsaw!! It was incredibly therapeutic.

I thought thats what husbands are for!!

In days of yore, when you had to attach a plug, I could do that, or change a fuse or a lightbulb.?I enjoy decorating, especially gloss paint.
I can assemble things from bits when required to do so ( our bathroom cabinet had so many bits it resembled Lego.)
That’s about it.
DH is always gloating over new acquisitions such as power drills and such stuff, so he does any heavy duty jobs around the house.

In a previous house, I converted an unused alcove into a kitchen cabinet; I put together kitchen units in another house and have put together various flat packs from Ikea - the large pine computer desk was the best and I'd just one screw left over! I'm not so good with the old tools nowadays as my hands and wrists aren't as strong as they once were.

I've made kitchen unit doors before. I went and bought the wood a bit at a time and caught the bus home with it. They turned out rather 'rustic' looking.
I've fitted worktops (well) and tiled my bathroom (badly)
I'm not physically strong enough these days to lug stuff around.

Since I downsized I now can afford to pay someone else for those jobs.

I always fancied a cast iron spiral staircase then when we bought this house (in France) we found that we actually needed one. I made dozens of measurements and several drawings. Then I found one on Ebay for exactly the right price in South Wales, hired a van, bought it and brought back all the bits. A good painting all over with Hammerite made it look great. I then had to weld the central pole - a first for me - get it positioned precisely, then carry each step up the old stairs to be lowered gently on a rope into its final position. It was all very exciting! Then the stanchions and the handrails went in with a little more welding. All this was entirely single handed. Everyone seeing it thinks it's beautiful and now six years later I still can't take my eyes off it, it's so elegant. Plus it's as solid as a rock!

You sound just like my sort of person, Bikergran. At the moment I am in the middle of replacing the newel posts, banisters, etc. I wanted to take out the whole staircase but DH wouldn't let me so I have clad them in oak. It takes me ages and I have to rely on my DH for any really heavy lifting but I will be pleased when it is finished. I have always been the one to do the decorating, lay the laminate flooring, etc. Before I met my DH as a single parent I refitted a kitchen and bathroom with the help of my mother. In desperation, I have fitted a new accelerator on the car when money was really tight. I remember my Mum doing the central heating when I was younger and she didn't feel there was anything a man could do that she couldn't. I guess I've picked up some of her attitude. There is nothing I like more than looking round the tool section of the DIY stores and I always have a project in mind.

The most extreme I have ever tackled has more to do with access than the job it self.

We once owned a large and tall Victorian house. We had builders in to repoint a chimney. I realised that the presence of the scaffolding was my one chance to get at the wood work round an attic skylight and paint it. DH was away on business and the scaffolding would come down on the Monday. I climbed the scaffolding, clutching paint and paint brush and holding the scaffolding with one hand with one foot braced against the tiles, the other hand stretched out with paint brush, I could just reach all the way round the window. I did this three times to make sure the wood work was thoroughly painted. Each time I got back to ground level my legs were shaking.