if you could master 1 diy skill what would it be?

Mine would be the ability to do the right thing at the right time

The ability to cut and drill everything perfectly at 90, 45,whatever degrees - coupled with perfect measurement so it all fits together tightly at the end.

The consistent mental state or process to always be checking or thinking through stages to come to see the mistake I'm about to make before I make it while not realising it at the time. Even when you plan something there's so often unseen problems that come up. I think that's called experience aka learning from your mistakes, but ideally make fewer mistakes so you can make more progress.

I've certainly been a victim of what I think of as amateur's flow state .. you get really into what you're doing but don't have the experience to realise when you're well on the way to making a mess of something : ) 

Right now it’s finding water leaks

"mine would be car/motorcycle body repair,"

maybe you should master driving?  Then you wouldn't need to repair...

Patience.

I’m lucky in that I can turn my hand to most things and make a passable job, either projects or repairs, but I do get impatient and rush steps sometimes with associated consequences.

Most of the time it’s only me that notices, but it then bugs me that something isn’t quite right.

Case in point: the patio I laid recently, took AGES to get all the slabs down, the last 10 or so square meters I must have been rushing and not checked the mortar underneath, there are 4 slabs with voids under them, they sound hollow when I tapped them when I was pointing them. Nobody else has noticed, but I know….

Plastering. Having seen the devastation I can wreak with Polyfilla, I can't imagine the skill needed to cover a wall or ceiling perfectly.

The ability to remember where I left whichever tool I put down 30 seconds ago.

there are 4 slabs with voids under them

That's just future-proofing in case the need arises... 😉

Measuring accurately the first time (or even second and third)!

fettlin
Full Member
Patience.

I’m lucky in that I can turn my hand to most things and make a passable job,

Username checks out.

Plastering. Having seen the devastation I can wreak with Polyfilla, I can’t imagine the skill needed to cover a wall or ceiling perfectly.

I was taught plastering forever ago by an old boy who could get a surface like glass. I can't do it, I'll get 99% of the way there and then I'll have my wrist Just So to scour a gouge through it, then it turns into Father Ted tapping out a dint.

Nobody else has noticed, but I know….

That's another one - the ability to forget all the little mistakes and bodges I did during a job once it's done so they aren't the first things I always notice for ever more afterwards.

The ability to remember where I left whichever tool I put down 30 seconds ago.

So much this.

Welding and or machining.

Right now it would be foam carving and carbon fibre layup for all the reasons shown in the recent episodes.

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/are-you-bored-enough-to-watch-project-ds911/page/2/

Woodworking / furniture making, I love working with wood it's so tactile but don't have the skill/patience to make it look wonderful rather than lashed together

Sealant.

Tried all the tools, all the techniques, watched all the videos, had all the advice.

Still end up sobbing and covered head to toe in sealant.

I dunno, I can do just about anything - everything I do is sound and properly done, but it's not perfect, so consequently my entire house looks a little bit shoddy because there are slight gaps, paint where it's not meant to be (my wife paints, mind, I'd do a better job but I don't because it seems like a lot of work, precisely because I'd spent about 5x longer over it than she does) etc etc.  My car body repairs are ok, they don't rust, but in the right light you can certainly tell.

But yeah, being able to seamlessly repair metallic paint on a car would be great.  However, that's more a question of equipment than it is talent.

Sealant.

Ah, this is something I am ok at even cosmetically. The trick is to get the bead almost right to begin with.  At first, I thought you just gobbed it on and then used the spudger to sort it, but the first lay is critical.  Also, if you want a top tip: before you use the spudger, spray everything with soapy water.  Then your spudger glides over everything and nothing sticks.

The ability to remember how I did something before, thinking back 20 years to something I did and having no clue, as if someone else had done it

Recognising when I should just call a professional in...

jimfrandisco

Sealant.

Tried all the tools, all the techniques, watched all the videos, had all the advice.

Still end up sobbing and covered head to toe in sealant.

+1. It makes me anxious before I even start a job because I know I'm so shit at it.

To just get it all done a bit quicker.

I will build/hang/mend most things at home but I know full well it will be a long job.  Fitted some odd shaped shelves into an odd shaped gap last year, fit perfect, but took AGES.

I know there are things that I want to get done around the house (she has a list!) but knowing that I will procrastinate and overthink/measure/play safe with it all puts me off just getting it done.

I would like the ability to pay some other ****er to do it. I’ve done a bit of nearly everything but only because I had to

Still end up sobbing and covered head to toe in sealant.

Badger, is that you?

if you could master 1 diy skill what would it be?

...the ability to go more than 5 rungs up a ladder without shitting myself! 🙂

Plumbing.

Tightening that thing enough it doesn't leak, but not enough to smash it.

Being able to get a spanner on the nut.

Being able to wedge myself where I can get at the thing

Remembering to do the things that appear to be not that important to me...

Saw this thread title and thought caulking/silicone sealant. I'm not the worst at it but hate doing it.

Happy to do electrics, plumbing, knocking walls down, putting walls up, drilling bloody big holes, shelves, creating functional storage out of MDF etc. Just hate caulking.

My BIL is a cabinet maker by trade, and he makes me laugh. Does something in half the time to twice the standard compared to me. But he does it day in day out, whereas I do it every six months or so.

Plastering 

actually finishing a job to a full finished, filled, painted condition. I have a habit of getting things functional and then moving on to something else. Things like filling and painting skirting boards rather than just leaving them with the primed finish for 2 years.

Cutting in.

I can do it but I hate it.

Sealant.

Tried all the tools, all the techniques, watched all the videos, had all the advice.

Still end up sobbing and covered head to toe in

Yep, I get through an entire roll of kitchen roll every time I do any sealant or caulking.

Learning to replace stuff rather than renovate/refurbish.

Skirting board is cheap, why have I wasted so many weekend of my life sanding old skirting back to bare wood when for less than a large round of drinks in London I could rip it all off and put fresh stuff on?

That’s another one – the ability to forget all the little mistakes and bodges I did during a job once it’s done so they aren’t the first things I always notice for ever more afterwards.

+1

The OH complains that the living room walls aren't perfect.

So I swapped the single point LED to a more diffused one that makes the problem disappear.

OTOH the new summer house, which cost ...... ermmmm ..... a lot, is sat on a concrete base (fine), with treated timber joists for the base above that (fine), and is all fine. Except the timber base is enclosed on all 4 sides. Which means water runs under it and is then trapped, which evaporated through the floorboards, making anything on the floor like impermeable gym flooring, or the underside of furniture soaking wet. I've ripped the flor up and put super quilt down with taped seams, but I question how long that treated wood under it will really last if it's damp. Short of either dismantling the entire thing (not going to happen) I can't figure out a better way to fix it though. In the future I'll have to figure out some way to jack it up and replace the base, if I raised if from the current ~60mm to 100mm with blocks laid with decent gaps between them for airflow, then 100mm joist resting on the floor as currently, with 80mm blocks to allow airflow under them along the length of the floor. I'm hoping I've overthought this 😅.

I'd be an electrician so it wouldn't cost me a week's wages every time I need one for two hours work.

I would like to have the ability to work in a spacious, warm, dry, brightly lit shed.
I can already swear fluently while trying to work on a fiddly job outside in hailstones with a torch held in my teeth

Enthusiasm.

For decorating especially, but many DIY tasks that are going to take more than an hour I really just cannot be arsed.

Doing any job without bleeding. I'm on blood thinners and its a right pain.

Applying silicone sealant

I can do it but it's not as nice we when someone professional does it and doesn't last as long

Electrical stuff! I'd like to be more confident doing wiring. I can add spurs or redo say the wiring in the shed but I'd love to be able to just go and do it and not have to think too long about it. I was going to be a sparkie as well as my dad was one but got diverted at the last minute!

Enthusiasm.

For decorating especially, but many DIY tasks that are going to take more than an hour I really just cannot be arsed.

Absolutely that.

I've tried to tell her that DIY is her hobby and cycling is mine, but she's having none of it.

I'm quite happy and competent doing a task, or even a fairly large project. Plumbing and electrics can be fun challenges.

But I don't understand why I'm supposed to enjoy spend my free time cosplaying as decorator?

We're still talking about ripping half the back of the house off and building an outrageously expensive extension, yet she's talking about saving money by doing the flooring and decorating ourselves. Why? I've seen her attempt at laying a laminate floor, it was terrible, I hate decorating. If we're going to spend the value of a decent terraced house in other parts on the country on basically a bigger kitchen then why wouldn't I pay someone to at least finish it nicely while I go for a bike ride. It'll probably be the cheapest of the bills anyway.

Same applies to gardening, I'm not a medieval peasant farmer, why am I digging up the earth, Tescos exists, Smith and Durkheim wrote their thesi over a century ago.

Can do most of the wet trades (plastering, bricklaying etc) but wouldn't mind knowing how to rewire a house without hanging as a cindered corpse from a ceiling.

@thisisnotaspoon Completely with you. I’d far rather go and do an extra session at work and pay someone who knows what they’re doing. I’ve been putting off re-hanging the back gate that blew off in a storm as I’m scared I’m going to cock up drilling the wall. Doesn’t help that I’ve inherited my father’s skill and enthusiasm for DIY when my FiL was both good at it and enjoyed it.

On the other hand, I’d love to be able to chop onions properly, or build wheels Edit oh yes, and run Cat 5

I'm reasonably competent at many DIY tasks but putting a simple rawl plug in a plasterboard wall often/always ends in misery and some foul language from me.

putting a simple rawl plug in a plasterboard wall often/always ends in misery

I've learned from bitter experience that it's worth spending a few extra pence for branded fittings. If you're using "rawl plugs" then use actual Rawlplugs rather than whatever Home Bargains are kicking out for a fiver a hundredweight. Cheap plugs are always either slightly too big or slightly too small (or hilariously, sometimes both) so unless you've got a 3.87mm drill bit it's just not worth the aggro.

i can do most stuff to a reasonable (often better than the 'pros' i get in)

plastering is still beyond me, though im getting better. still have to sand back though.

main one though is to be able to plan / decide what to do quickly. often the reason i dont start a job is i cant decide what im doing. sadly my wife is only able to tell me what she doesnt want...

oh and be organised with my stuff so it doesnt take half a day to find all the bits i need

re. caulking i splashed out on a ryobi caulking gun. game changer, well for me anyways. still struggle with a perfect finish in a corner where vertical and horizontals meet

I've been getting more ambitious with the things I make out of wood since having a shed to do stuff in. I'd like to be able to make close fitting joints. I suspect pine and cheap tools may play a small role in the difficulty. I haven't gone to any effort to learn specific techniques. Started making some cross lap joints for some frame work but they'll be hidden and are nowhere near good enough to be on show. Also need to learn how to sharpen chisels.