Has anyone actually used AI to help with DIY projects and did it work

[Brittle Ronan]

I keep seeing people claim AI assistants are useful for home improvement projects - diagnosing problems, planning work, understanding building regs. I am sceptical because my previous attempts to get useful advice from AI about specific problems have been vague and hedged. Has anyone here actually used Claude, ChatGPT or similar tools for a real DIY problem and got genuinely useful output?

[WWEPete45]

Used Claude to diagnose a condensation versus penetrating damp issue in a bedroom. Described the location, the pattern of the staining, whether it was worse in winter, and whether it appeared on internal or external walls. The response correctly identified it as condensation and explained why - cold bridging at the window reveal - and suggested the correct fix. More useful than three different YouTube videos on damp

[Pixel Mark]

ChatGPT helped me plan the order of operations for a bathroom renovation I had never done before. I described what I wanted to do and it gave me a logical sequence with explanations of why certain steps had to happen before others. The sequence was correct and matched what a local tiler later confirmed. Saved me making an expensive mistake with the sequence of floor and wall tiling

[Ruby_50]

I have used it for understanding building regulations around permitted development rights for an outbuilding. Asked very specific questions about the dimensions and positioning rules and got accurate information I could cross-reference with the Planning Portal. The caveat is that it told me to verify everything with my local planning authority which is the right advice

[Lucy05]

It is genuinely useful for identifying what type of fixing to use for different wall types. Describe the wall construction and what load you are hanging and you get specific product recommendations and the correct technique. That used to require finding an experienced person who knew the difference between a cavity wall anchor and a solid wall plug

[IronFist38]

The limitation I have found is anything that requires visual diagnosis. AI cannot see the crack in your wall and tell you whether it is structural or cosmetic. For anything where the answer depends on seeing the specific problem rather than describing it, the advice stays necessarily generic

[Router53]

Used it for calculating materials for a decking project. Gave it the dimensions and the decking board width and got an accurate calculation of how many boards, how much waste to account for, how many joists at what spacing and how many fixings. Took 30 seconds. Doing that calculation manually would have taken 20 minutes and I would probably have made an error

[Reacher Quarry]

Cut through a wire I wasn't supposed to. and broke it in half!