Brits’ biggest property bugbears
Home annoyances include dirty and worn out carpets, cracks in the walls and cramped rooms
Brits’ biggest home bugbears are dirty and worn-out carpets, cracks in the walls and cramped rooms, according to research.
A poll of 2,000 adults who do odd jobs found other home annoyances include creaking floorboards, paint colour in certain rooms and patchy, unattractive lawns.
While 26 per cent are bothered by overly worn carpet that is long past its use-by-date.
As many as one in five have also got problems with damp to deal with or are pondering how to get more natural light into their spaces.
Ahead of the bank holiday weekend, typically one of the most popular times to carry out improvements, six in 10 adults plan to tackle some of their home’s imperfections.
To help, a DIY expert has revealed her top hacks to help handle home improvement tasks like a professional.
Jo Behari, the author of The Girls Guide to DIY, worked with tool hire firm Speedy to offer tips on removing old gloss paint, the best way to give outdoor surfaces some TLC and how to get hardwood floors looking their best.
She said: “DIY can be daunting at first, and the temptation is to give up before you’ve even started.
“My main tip, beyond advice on specific jobs, is to plan, plan and plan - watch YouTube videos and read tutorials so you’re not surprised when anything happens.
“It’s the fear of the unknown that can put you off, whether it’s grouting or gardening, so forewarned is definitely forearmed.”
The study also found the average adult will let a DIY job sit undone for a whopping 19 weeks nearly five months - before finally getting around to sorting it.
Painting walls and ceilings are the tasks that get put off most often, along with deep cleaning carpets and clearing out guttering.
Almost a third (32 per cent) think their kitchen is the room in the house that’s most in need of improvement, followed by the bathroom and the garden.
But 64 per cent have reached the point where they have simply ‘learned to live’ with their home’s imperfections instead of sorting them out.
It also emerged 54 per cent think bank holidays are the perfect time to finally get around to sorting out DIY tasks, according to the OnePoll.com data.
More than half (55 per cent) feel a deep sense of satisfaction when they finally get a home improvement job done although for one in four, it’s more a feeling of pure relief.
However, 31 per cent put tasks off because they lack confidence in their DIY abilities, while 54 per cent don’t even know if they’ve got the right tools for the project before starting it.
Matthew Clague, retail operations director at Speedy, [www.speedyservices.com/diy/skills-projects] said: “The bank holiday weekends are popular among DIYers for a reason. It gives people time to build up the confidence to start jobs that have been bugging them for a while.
“A large proportion of Brits are discouraged from even trying as they don’t have the right tools and equipment, which is where hiring those better quality or specialist tools can be perfect to undertake the tasks at hand.
“We hope to see more people taking on DIY tasks over the long weekend, before working up to more ambitious projects once they have a few DIY successes under their belt.”
BRITS’ BIGGEST HOME DIY BUGBEARS:
1. Worn out carpets
2. Cracked plaster
3. Cramped rooms
4. Dirty carpets
5. Paint colour in certain rooms
6. Not enough light
7. Dampness
8. Mould in bathrooms
9. Leaking taps
10. Not enough plug sockets
11. Creaky floorboards
12. Draughty windows
13. Patchy and unattractive lawn
14. Lighting too bright
15. Small driveway
16. No driveway
17. Limescale in the shower
18. Poor water pressure
19. Tatty garden fencing
20. Cracked tiling