Doing It Themselves; Women are buying more power tools than ever before. And they know how to use them.

Byline: Silvia Spring

Donna Payet, a single mom of three living just outside Liverpool, didn't want to spend a lot of money fixing up her dining room. So rather than hire someone, she did it herself. "I watched some TV programs," she says. "I looked in books, asked some people." Soon she was stripping the walls and repairing holes in the plaster around the window frames. When they still leaked, she went to her local hardware store and asked about waterproofing techniques. "I bought one of those guns, and I sealed the outside so the rain couldn't get in." She pauses and laughs. "Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?"

You'd be surprised how many women think so. Over the past few years, interest among women in home-improvement courses and tools has grown steadily across the United States and Europe. According to the British business consultancy Proficiency Group, women now make 80 percent of home-improvement decisions and 60 percent of do-it-yourself (DIY) purchases. The business-trend watcher Springwise.com points to the increase in female homeowners and the rise in the number of divorced women. Indeed, according to Halifax, Britain's largest mortgage lender, the number of single women applying for new mortgages has doubled in the past 20 years, to roughly 25 percent of the market.

Many hardware and DIY stores are taking heed. B&Q, the largest home-improvement retailer in Europe, has seen a 50 percent increase since 1996 in the number of women buying power tools. It now hosts women's clubs that offer lessons and general advice on home ...