I have been watching this web site along with many other DIY sources for years now. I always detect an unexplained "Fear" by the DIY community that some huge monster will descend on them if their DIY project fails to meet some "unspecified" level of quality or fails to meet some obscure regulation that may be in a builders manual somewhere. Is it the "nanny state" mentality that generates this "Fear" or does it actually happen. I am on my
6th (and last) house reconstruction now and I could load you up with tales of seriously bad things I have repaired by DIY that was created by certified engineers. I am not a builder or anything but I have average ability and several well worn "Collins" manuals which have almost always answered the questions. When they did not answer my question, I got a certified engineer in to do it and that was not always successful.I would like to thank those like Andy, Ed, and the other serious professionals who give excellent advice here without berating the poor sod who has never heard of Part P or whatever. You guys don't know it but I read and remember your comments on problems that I haven't had yet. It will occur someday.
As a final comment--I still have the "Fear" of whoever this great monster who devours DIY'ers. For future reference I would suggest a lot of your answers to the lesser qualified DIY'ers could be to go out and buy a good DIY Manual. Sorry for all the "waffle". You could also leave a few examples of cases where the monster has actually prosecuted a person for faulty DIY.