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I am in the process of building a 3m extension at the back of the house and as luck would have it a sewer serving 6 houses is running 3m behind the house, right where the back wall of the extension is planned. The minor sewer runs around 1.2m below ground. I have obtained a build over agreement...

I was wondering if someone could advise me what I should do. I have an en-block garage, built in 1968 which is situated behind the grounds of a school. The school has been re-building its sports hall and have dug out the soil about 3 feet deep behind my garage with a huge digger and concreted...

I wonder if someone can help me identify what type of plastic liner I have between my roof joists and roof tiles, in the loft. My house was built in 1968 with a pitched slate roof, there's a flexible black plastic type lining between the slates and the joists supporting the roof, but it's...

Hi, I wonder if anyone can advise me how best to stop a small leak from my plastic Astracast Springflow water filter catridge housing. There's a little bit of water seeping out between the lid and the housing body. The lid screws onto the body and there's a gasket recessed into the filter...

I need some advice about increasing bathroom ventilation. I've got a bit of a mould problem in the bathroom, caused by lack of ventilation. Patches of mould are appearing on the ceiling around the edges of the bathroom. Generally, the bathroom is not mouldy, so it's not a big issue, looks...

I've got a problem with my Bosch washing machine, which is about 3 years old and hasn't had that much use. On some programs (like 40 degrees cottons) it finishes the program before the spin stage, so the clothes is all wet and the door will not open. No error codes come up. If I select the...

I wonder if someone could give me a bit of advice about a mould problem I have in the bedroom. I live in a 2 storey end of terrace house, which was built in the late 1960's, it has cavity walls and efficient double glazing. It's generally in very good condition and I haven't seen any issues...

A few years ago I re-wired most of the house an bought a load of matching new light switches and sockets, some in brushed steel and some in iridium black. In the last few weeks one side of the double switch in the living room has started buzzing, when switching the light on. There's also a...

Hi, I recently had my bathroom radiator replaced with a tall spiral type towel rail. The problem is, the top couple of rungs are cooler than the rest. This is cured by bleeding the radiator, but a few weeks later re-occurs. This did not happen with the old radiator. The way the...

I had my real oak wooden floor re-varnished a few months ago, but since then had to move a sofa which was really hard to get through the door and ended up scratching the varnish in a couple of places. What's the best way to repair the scratches? I still have the tin of varnish which was...

Hi, I have recently replaced some switches in my house and now seem to have a problem with the 2-way switches on the stairs. The switches light two lamps at the top of the stairs and it used to be possible to turn the lights on and off with either switch. Now the lamps can only be...

I have a Vaillant Turbomax vuw GB 242 and it's been fine until yesterday, when the hot water stopped working. If I turn on the central heating, then the hot water works just fine, but if the central heating is switched off then the boiler does not fire when the hot tap is switched on. The...

Hi, I'm about to varnish my wooden floor downstairs - lounge and hallway and need advice as to which varnish to use. The choices I have are: Industrial grade varnish with seperate hardner £90 per 5 litres Johnstones floor varnish £45 per 5 litres I want to do a proper job and make...

I'm planning to run electricity to my garage and have been speaking to an electrician about it today. I just want to confirm my understanding of what I've been told and also think about the most cost effective way of doing it. I've been told I need a MCB circuit breaker and also a seperate...

I know this is a very open ended question (and perhaps one that has been asked quite frequently).....but could anyone recommend a good combi boiler suitable for a 3 bedroom house. There are a total of 8 radiators to heat. There's a bewildering choice on the market and I'm just a bit...

Hi, I need to run some SWA cable from a domestic consumer unit to a garage about 10 meters away and am wondering thickness of cable I would need. The consumer unit in the garage is a 2 way MCB unit and runs a 32A and an 10A output. It will run a couple of sockets and some overhead...

Hi, I want to install a shaver socket in the bathroom, but have hit a bit of a snag due to the transformer at the back of the shaver socket sticking out too much to fit in the dry wall box I have got. The box is 34mm deep and the transformer sticks out about 50mm. Is it possible to buy...

I've fitted some new stainless steel double sockets in my kitchen and just yeserday I had a high wattage wallpaper stripping steam machine plugged in. The machine has no on/off switch, so needs to be controlled by the switch on the socket. When I flicked the switch to off, it made a loud-ish...

I'm trying to replace an old double socket with a nice stainless steel one, but the L and N terminals on the new socket are on the opposite ends to the old socket and the wires won't reach. What can I do to get around this problem? I can't take the socket back unfortunately. Any help...

Hi, I'm re-doing the bathroom in my house at the moment and am wondering if it's the done thing to tile the ceiling, or shall I leave well alone? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Nick