Do you DIY? Research findings by E.ON and Jewson

DIY. We've all been there and done that right? I think it's fair to say that perhaps we've done more than our fair share in the M household over the past few years having practically rebuilt the house we live in. E.ON and Jewson have recently conducted some research into the nations attitudes towards DIY to help promote the "Buy 1 Get 3 Free" insulation offer at Jewson stores, which is subsidised by E.ON. You can find out more about the promotion by visiting the Whats In Your Loft website.

E.ON and Jewson asked a series of questions about DIY to try and find out people's attitudes and experiences to DIY, including their reasons for not doing any and whether their trust their partners.

It seems from the research that there is a gender divide on the perception of DIY skills. Almost half of women (43%) think that their DIY skills are above average, yet 20% of men do not trust their partner with even the simplest of home improvement tasks such as painting (53%) or assembling furniture (74%). Just 14% of men would trust their partner to insulate a loft properly. Just under a third of men think they're amazing at DIY (I'm surprised it's not higher!) and 32% of men admit to cheekily passing off a professionals handiwork as their own.

We've all heard of the classic bad DIY experiences - falling off ladders, foot through a ceiling, putting a nail through a pipe or shelves falling on heads and 21% admitted to having had a bad experience. The biggest reason for not doing DIY seems to be that we aren't sure what we're doing (52%), closely followed by thinking it will be too difficult (33%) and then there are those who really just can't summon up the energy (15%).  It seems that women are more likely to say they don't know what they are doing and a third of women would rather buy the materials and get someone in to do the work! Lazy, or just smart?

According to the research almost half the UK population spent a week or more on DIY last year. I think we've definitely be doing someone else's quota! I'll admit right now that I am one of those women who shies away from DIY. I wouldn't know where to start and I wouldn't trust myself not to make an absolute mess of it. Luckily, I have Mr M who is handier than a handy thing and can turn his hand to pretty much anything which means I don't need to work out which end of the hammer to hold. My DIY avoidance does also mean that my poor husband has single-handedly transformed our house. 

When we moved into this house I had a 3 month old baby and a 20 month old toddler and there was ice on the inside of the windows that winter. During the course of the renovations we re-insulated every nook and cranny we could and I'm pleased to report it's a whole lot warmer and the heat is no longer escaping through the eaves!

We're extremely fortunate that through the course of our extensive renovations we've not had any bad experiences. My dad however recently tried to screw a toilet roll holder on the wall at his house, went straight through to a water pipe and flooded the downstairs toilet. Whilst I implicitly trust Mr M with a screwdriver, my dad should not be left unattended near an open toolbox.

How about you? As the majority of my readers are female I'd be very interested to hear if you shy away from DIY or jump in with both feet? Leave a comment and let me know.

This is a sponsored post.