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DIY shy Britain

53 per cent of us are scared of DIY*, it was revealed today (24 March 2011). The figures which emerged in a poll of 2,000 people also show that four out of ten of us even go so far as to say we hate DIY with 83 per cent of us currently viewing DIY as a solitary rather than social activity.

The news comes as B&Q launches its new advertising campaign in the run up to Easter which showcases hilarious and unfortunate DIY mishaps whilst underlining what B&Q is trying to do to encourage DIY shy Brits to overcome their fears and start doing it together with a little help from celebrity experts, qualified in store experts, in store demos and products designed to make it easier.

Meanwhile, 29 per cent of respondents to the B&Q survey claim to be absolutely terrible at DIY whilst one in ten think their partner should take more responsibility for the upkeep of the house and despite arguing with a partner over the state of their house, 39 per cent of people claim the last thing they want to do after working long hours are household tasks and chores. A third of those polled would much prefer to spend their leisure time relaxing and enjoying themselves.

66 per cent of homeowners have unfinished DIY jobs around the house, with over half saying they don't know how to complete them. The following jobs are most commonly left ‘undone' in British households:

Chipped paint (43 per cent)
Marks on the wall need painting over (42 per cent)
Gardening (38 per cent)
Grout needs re-doing (26 per cent)
Cracks in the wall need filling in (26 per cent)
Shelves need putting up (21 per cent)
Wallpapering (15 per cent)
Broken door handles (15 per cent)
Carpet or flooring coming lose (13 per cent)
Fixing fence panels (12 per cent)

The same survey shows that despite 62 per cent of us seeing DIY as a chore rather than a hobby a third of us are set to do more DIY this year than in previous years but almost 60 per cent of us just don't believe we have the skills we need to do it. Given a little confidence, however, most of us would like to have a go at gardening, painting a room, putting up wallpaper, putting up a shelf and even have a go at tiling or laying a floor but we draw the line at plastering, plumbing and laying a patio preferring to delegate this to other family members or a tradesman.

Katherine Paterson, B&Q's Marketing Director says; "B&Q is on a mission to make DIY easier and part of this is the admission that most of us are scared of or just don't like DIY. And that's the key. We want to give the nation the skills and confidence to DIY like our Grand Parents did so from online forums, to in store project demonstrations, DIY classes, kids classes and products and project packs designed to make jobs easier, we want to teach the nation to DIY again.

She goes on to say; "In recent years encouraged by celebrity chefs, cookery books and programmes we've all gone back to the kitchen and learnt cooking from scratch again and more of us than ever now get tremendous satisfaction in baking for Britain so with the help of our celebrity ambassadors Alan Titchmarsh, Kirstie Allsopp and George Clarke and our army of City & Guilds qualified employees we're all on a mission to turn DIY into something we do together - DIT is the new DIY."

B&Q's celebrity ambassador, Kirstie Allsopp echoes this sentiment; ""Reuse, recycle, redecorate! We can all have a go. If I can retile a bathroom then anyone can, and that's the great thing about my B&Q partnership - inspiring and exciting everyone; boys and girls, kids and Grannies, to have a go at doing it."

N.B. The information contained in this story is provided by the supplier and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of lets-do-diy.com.

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