Instructional DVDs

[AndersonC]

Here's a question for you enthusiastic DIYer's:-

Who's tried these DVDs which are all over the place at the moment, on such topics as plastering, plumbing, bricklaying, coving etc?

I have tried a plastering one, and to be honest it is OK but not brilliant.

In short, all they cover is boarding and then plastering (bond and finish) onto the board. Of course this is a nice flat surface with uniform suction so of course it looks like a piece of p*ss! They then render a nice smooth brick wall.

What they do not show is how to plaster a 100 year old brick wall which has the brick faces all over the shop, what quantity of PVA to use to size this surface, how to get your screed battens level etc, what to do if the plaster cracks due to drying too fast, how "stiff" to mix your render etc.

It is only the basics and merely touches the surface of a what I am learning to be a fairly complex job. (Oh and the camera work is awful - my mobile 'phone would get a better picture).

I'd be interested to see what other people think of these DVDs before shelling out £'s for others. Ta.

 

[eggplant]

I'd be interested as well. I have just ordered some "1000 woodwork project" type cd's off ebay as I'm moving house soon and want to make some garden furniture and was looking for some general diy stuff, which one did you get?

 

[JohnD]

Instructional DVDs

Getting married, are we?

 

[garyo]

eggplant, let me know how you get on - I like the look of some of these myself, but as you say, if the plans are unintelligable then it's just a waste of 3 quid.

I'm about to have a go at one of these hexagonal picnic tables : http://www.buildeazy.com/hex_table.html

 

[eggplant]

I will, no probs, I havent recieved them yet, I ordered 2 dfferent ones, I'll post back once they arrive and I have checked them out.

 

[AndersonC]

I suppose it might break the forum rules to go into too many details (such as the company etc), but this was a video'd 5 day intensive plastering course taught by a very competent Londoner.

I have since found out that the providers of the actual course reckon that this DVD is a pirate job and that they do not endorse it's contents. They have since released their own DVD sets.

Given the simplistic nature of the content I was wondering what such a DVD about plumbing might contain, e.g. how to cut a copper pipe, how to apply flux etc!

 

[eggplant]

Well I've recieved 2 cd's, the content of both is very similar, quite a few of the plans are the same. One of the cd's is a printed cd, rather like you can make on a lot of printers these days, has a nice autorun feature whick pops up a nice (ish) web based menu based system which navigates through various sections then to the plans themselves. The other is a traxdata cdr with MM1 scribbled on it. Whilest the first has the menu system, its actually easier to navigate the other cd, basically the plans are categorised and put in folder s(most are pdf's on both cd's) but the first cd its difficult to find anthing if you dont go though the menu.
The quality of the plans is basically the same on both cd's, some are a simple 1 page affair which gives an exploded view with dimensions of the finished product, some go into more detail giving step by step directions.
Whilst I havnt checked, I am pretty certain that most of these plans can be found on the interenet, that said, for a few quid its worth the time and hassle searching (assuming no copyright infringment etc).
I wont say which ones I got, if anyone wants to know please feel free to drop me a PM

Regards

edit, does this board has a private message feature ? if so where is it !!