Online DIY instruction is huge, and hugely effective. It combines the detail of books with the hands-on, let-me-show-you expertise of real tradespeople. And while video is not always the best way to learn, for DIY it really is: it is the next best thing to an actual apprenticeship. If you want interior design tips, head for Instagram. If you want aspiring homeware or home décor, or even fancy retro-industrial glazing ideas, think about Pinterest.

On YouTube, though, you need video. You can see exactly how deep to drive that screw, where to clamp that joint, how to wind that tape round the thread of the pipe, what the mortar should look like when you squeeze it in your hand. You can even, if that’s what you need to learn, see exactly how to hold that lump of flint before hitting it with a lump hammer in just such a way so as to break off a perfect Stone Age arrowhead. (And if that’s not DIY I don’t know what is.)

The genius of YouTube is that it’s searchable by very specific tasks. You need to remove rusted barn bolts with an angle-grinder? Mix home-made lime plaster for building an adobe fire pit? Construct a long-drop toilet for going off-grid? YouTube has it all covered. The below-the-line comments can be useful too: if someone has bothered to share a highly specific bit of advice, it might be worth listening to, and making your own judgement. Isn’t that the spirit of DIY anyway?

The traditional YouTube channel is just some guy sharing his knowledge, and there are still wonderful examples out there. Steve Ramsey, of Woodworking for Mere Mortals, is a classic, with his top videos including “what kind of screw should I use” and “6 common things you might be doing wrong with your table saw”. You do have to be careful to judge whether or not the person in the video really knows what he or she is doing. The number of views is one useful measure, and the number of subscribers is another – the top sites have upwards of a million subscribers. Otherwise, you have to trust the same instincts you’d use when assessing a tradesperson. If they mention safety early on, it’s a good sign.

Inevitably, the biggest players are American. I Like To Make Stuff has nearly 3 million followers – and he likes to make his stuff in Savannah Georgia. Household Hacker has almost 5 million people watching him “solve your common everyday problems and create things utilizing items you find around your house” – but some people might find the advice strays quite far from conventional DIY. (Think “strange ways to cook eggs” as much as “home security life hacks”.)

American sites pose problems for UK users. There seems to be an extraordinary number of young American men building survival shelters for the apocalypse, and young American women doing DIY cutely in very small shorts – and “DIY” over there seems to shade into matters much more, well fluffy: DIY bath bubbles, for instance, or bedroom murals made out of wool. You also need to master American construction language. For a start, they don’t have “builders” at all but only “construction workers”. If you’re wondering why you don’t have a wrench, it’s just because you call it a spanner. Sheetrock is plasterboard, lumber is timber and – my favourite – Polyfilla is spackling paste. And crucially, if you’re searching for garden DIY tips, look under “yard”. A “garden” in the US is more like an allotment.

Many DIY YouTube videos are in not themselves DIY at all. Nowadays, most of the big tool and DIY shops run their own, well-stocked channels. Homebaseuk offers help with everything from painting window sills to creating a DIY rust-effect wall, whatever that is. Bandq’s videos include “how to upcycle a table” and “how to lay a patio”. You’ll still see the traditional man-at-work but he’ll be wearing a corporate log on his sweatshirt, all the safety gear, and the video will have a professional narrator. You can trust the safety advice, which is a big plus, but of course they’re trying to sell you something – sometimes you wonder if there might be a simpler way. Maybe if you just bodge it, it’ll be OK…