Are We Seeing The Demise Of Diy Stores?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-6063617/Stricken-Homebase-raids-B-Q-new-directors-mounts-survival-bid.html

Could this be down to our young who cannot afford to buy their own homes, so live in rented accommodation?

People nowadays being able to afford to employ professionals to carry out their home improvements?

Or simply the lack of DIY skills amongst our young?

[rowanwitch]

I love diy and have the whole flat to do, I did it quickly when I moved in and didn't redo anything as Dave was ill. I have been to John Lewis to look through their books chosen what I want but will source it online. Paint I have picked up some shade cards and am at the planning stage. I used to like getting plants from garden centres but even the nearest is nearly an hour away on public transport. It's one thing where delivery costs make online shopping far too expensive except for the sort of treasure plants you can't get elsewhere, for everything else there is wilko/Wilkinsons.

[anotheoldgit]

woofgang

/// Togo I get my fence posts on Amazon! ///

That's where the Amazonian rain forest is going, is it? :0)

[anotheoldgit]

I remember a time when one could purchase something that was simply raw asbestos fibres that when wet could be bunged into holes in the wall, that could then take a screw, something like a rawplug.

Anyone remember the name, it would be a complete no, no today.

[sunny-dave]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/22963204@N00/5650712996

[sanmac]

AOG, was it "Artex"?

[anotheoldgit]

Thank you sunny-dave.

[rowanwitch]

Dave's got it, my grandad used it all the time. A really good alternative is cat hair mixed in pva glue, don't ask how I came to try it

[anotheoldgit]

sanmac
/// AOG, was it "Artex"? ///

No, you put that on ceilings.

[rowanwitch]

And walls, it was on the walls of the hall in one house I lived in, it was so textured if you stumbled against it you needed stitches. Cost a bomb to get sorted

[anotheoldgit]

rowanwitch

/// 'cat' hair mixed in pva glue ///
No, no, we are better than that, moves quickly on.

[rowanwitch]

Useful when you messed up taking the old rawl plug out and you want to rehang a mirror on a Sunday evening.

[anotheoldgit]

Who still have chained mirrors hanging on the wall?

[Zacs-Master]

Only in the 'playroom'.

[rowanwitch]

In an Edwardian house in the 1980s they were very desirable. Nowadays you can pick them up in charity shops

[woofgang]

Togo I do use Screwfix and Toolstation but i have got prime so get free delivery from amazon

[jno]

as jim says, Homebase was hopelessly mismanaged by the Aussies. Not that it was in great shape when they bought it, but they made it worse; though some customers said they'd improved it in many ways.

But I don't know that the younger generation just isn't interested. jno jnr bought and totally renovated an old flat - ripped out all the walls and everything. He did a beautiful job. He got the time wrong - he thought it would take a few monhs, it took a year; and maybe not everyone wants to spend that much time, but I don't suppose most people ever did.

[jno]

PS loved the Amazon joke.