DIY Unknowns: UK Most Googled Questions During The Home Renovation Boom

Lockdown gave us more time at home than ever before. For many, this caused us to get home-renovation happy- from building a large-scale extension to redecorating or switching up our home décor.

In fact, DIY-related searches on Google increased by a total of 14% between the years of 2019-21. This not only shows an increase in demand, but it also shows that no matter how handy we think we are, we’re still relying on Google to solve our DIY problems for us.

Toolstation looked at search data across the years of 2019-21 to uncover the most popular home DIY queries that we asked Google.

The top 15 most searched for DIY queries of 2020-21

First on the list, is how to bleed a radiator with a total of 503,730 searches between 2020-21. While this task is something that experts advise you to do annually, it seems that many took last year’s winter lockdown as a chance to catch up on those annual radiator bleeds.

With autumn and winter just around the corner, searches for how to bleed a radiator are expected to increase further in the coming months.

Keyword Aug 2019 – Jul 2021 Aug 2019 – Jul 2021
1 how to bleed a radiator 503,730 378,790
2 how to fix a dripping tap 216,720 198,890
3 how to unblock shower drain 170,580 169,610
4 how to read electric meter 163,920 112,140
5 how to unblock a drain 129,500 119,700
6 how to read gas meter 123,470 98,190
7 laying laminate flooring 84,530 70,390
8 how to hang a door 51,340 48,410
9 how to put up a curtain pole 50,620 42,640
10 how to change a light bulb 48,880 39,220
11 how to read a smart electric meter 40,740 30,160
12 how to hang pictures without nails 27,580 25,360
13 how to put up wallpaper 15,380 16,770
14 how to read a smart gas meter 6,268 24,800
15 how to change a tap washer 2,843 32,200

Other seemingly simple queries also made the list with ‘how to read an electric meter’ taking the fourth spot with close to 164,000 searches. This is something that many of us do per quarter and yet searches for how to do this increased by 25,280 from 2019.

Close to 50,000 people also searched Google for ‘how to change a lightbulb’ in 2021- an increase of 25% of searches from that seen in 2019.

Toolstation spoke to Mark Biles, Operations Director at M & M Mechanical Services, who provides his top tips for bleeding a radiator:

“When filling the system make sure all bleed valves are closed. Some people forget to close the valve when draining the system and this can be very messy if one is left open when filling the system and can cause potential damage.

One by one, start at the lowest radiator and gently open the bleed valve, using a cup and bleed key. Have a paper towel to hand to wipe off any excess drips. Continue opening until water is present and all air has left the radiator. Then close valve. Repeat process on each radiator in the house.”

He also says, “You should look to bleed your radiator every few weeks in the winter because cold spots can appear at the top of the radiator which is evident of air lock in the radiator. If you don’t bleed them then air can travel round the system and cause issues with flow rates and potentially lead to rust over time.”

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