Course description

Do you wince every time a tap drips, a shelf needs putting up or a room needs painting, and wonder whether you could do it yourself? This course teaches you the everyday DIY jobs around your home, step by step and safely, from finding your stopcock to painting a room and fixing a running toilet.

It's a full course, not a list of quick tips. There are 10 sections and 52 step-by-step written lessons, and every lesson ends with a practical task. Every section has a practice pack of checklists, step cards, safety cards and planners. Throughout the course you follow a school librarian in Preston through her first year in a 1930s house, including the jobs that went wrong.

What you'll learn

• Know your home and stay safe: stopcock, consumer unit, ladders, dust, asbestos and hidden cables.
• Tools and fixings: using a drill, choosing wall plugs and hanging shelves, pictures and mirrors.
• Walls: filling cracks, repairing plasterboard, condensation and sealing gaps.
• Painting and decorating: preparing, cutting in, woodwork and wallpaper.
• Plumbing basics: dripping taps, blockages, running toilets, radiators and emergencies.
• Doors, floors and furniture: sticking doors, draughts, click flooring, regrouting, flat-pack and simple woodwork.
• Looking after your home: seasonal maintenance, saving energy, renting rules and hiring tradespeople.

Two final projects

You'll plan and paint a room from start to finish, then make a home maintenance plan and put together your own repair kit.

Who this course is for

• First-time buyers and anyone in a new home.
• Renters who want to know what they can do and what to ask the landlord.
• People living on their own for the first time.
• Anyone who wants to stop paying for small jobs they could do safely themselves.

How the course works

Read each lesson, then do the Try it task. Safety comes first in every lesson, and the course is clear about the jobs to leave to a professional, such as gas work and most electrical work. You keep lifetime access, so you can come back whenever a new job comes up.

What will i learn?

• Find your stopcock, consumer unit and meters and know which jobs to leave to professionals
• Work safely with ladders, dust, hidden pipes and cables, and suspected asbestos
• Choose the right tools and fixings and hang shelves, pictures and mirrors securely
• Fill cracks, repair plasterboard, deal with condensation and seal gaps
• Prepare and paint a room, including woodwork, and hang wallpaper
• Fix a dripping tap, a running toilet and blocked drains, and bleed radiators
• Sort sticking doors and draughts, lay click flooring, regrout tiles and build flat-pack safely
• Plan seasonal maintenance, save energy and hire tradespeople with confidence

Frequently asked question