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Hi All We had our old 1970s slab concrete drive replaced with a shiny block paving drive about 2 months ago, but because of the wet weather the pavers have never dried enough to sweep in the final kiln dry sand and actually finish the drive. The company that laid the drive initially told me...

Hi All I have had a lean to kitchen extension built. Inside the ceiling has been left "vaulted" with a velux window. To comply with the BCOs wishes I have put 130mm of PIR insulation in the rafters. However the electrician, who has sucked his teeth over just about everything I have...

Hi A bit of a rambling rant and not really a tech question - Just looking for some advice and opinions. I am just finishing a "self-managed" extension and refurb of my house. A few weeks ago the surveyor from the window company I had chosen came out to measure for the windows. He...

Hi All Just had the shell of the extension built and I am thinking about the next phases. I have no idea of screeding in terms of how much it costs or what is involved, but as you can see from the photo it looks like I have a lot of height to make up. The concrete base of the extension...

Hi All I am putting in a new soil pipe to service a couple of bathrooms and a utility room in an extension. The house already has a single soil pipe and I am planning on joining the new pipework into the first manhole that the existing pipe runs into. I have started to cut the existing...

Hi All Quick question; I am rebuilding the internals of a built in wardrobe - nothing complicated, just a large straight shelf with some other compartments underneath. The shelf will be 175cm x 60cm and can be supported on the three internal sides. I was looking at 18mm conti board but...

Hi All I have taken down an internal doorway and frame. I checked first to make sure it wasn't loadbearing - both ceilings are down either side, so it was easy to see the beams. On top of the structure was a couple of blocks that easily came off, then I hit a large concrete lintel that...

Hi All Started digging out the foundations for a single rear extension of my house. The ground is a bit tough but was going ok until we hit an unused manhole - see pics. There wasn't any metal cover on the hole, it was full of earth. I dug away through this and hit a thin cement plug about...

Hi All I know this is a favoutite topic and I have looked through all the past posts, but would still appreciate some opinions. My CU is a Wylex split load NHRS9SL, with a 80A/30mA WRS 80/2 RCD. The unit is about 5 to 6 years old - fitted just before we moved in I believe. The RCD...

Hi All Just finishing off my bathroom refurb but I have a couple of issues. Firstly the close coupled toilet I have fitted hasn't got any fixings for the cistern to fit it to the wall, so it is loose. it is not flopping around but I am concerned if the kids knock it it will break. I tried...

Hi All I have built some panelling in my bathroom out of 18mm marine ply. Top half will be tiled and the bottom half painted to match the matt walls. What's the best way to finish the painting on the ply? cheers

Quick question - are the various makes of pushfit compatible? Or is it best practice to stick to one range?

Hi All I am really at a lost at what to do next. I have moved out of my house so i am able to finish renovating it. i had just got to the stage where living in it with a family and doing work was impossible. i have spent the last 12 weekends prepping, stripping paper etc. A family members...

Hi All I am replacing the door architrave as part of a house renovation. The new stuff is about 2cm wider than the old which is ok for the most part, but some of the doors are too close to the wall for the new stuff to fit without cutting down. So my question is what is the easiest way...

Hi All, Desparately trying to source some floor tiles. These tiles are terracotta/brown in colour and 15cmx15cmx12mm, some have a rounded front edge. They are currently being used for the floor in the porch, by the front door, and i need to replace some damaged ones. The...

Hi I have a relatively new lav that has just started to constantly overflow. I have tried adjusting the water level but the water still overflows down the internal pipe. The only way I can stop it is to push down on the black "button" that sits on top of the filling pipe. However...

Hi, I am just about to rip out the old rads in my front room and hall. The two rads are on the same pipe run that splits to feed both. This picture shows the pipework coming down from the bedrooms to the hallway rad via the front door surround. The next picture shows the pipe...

Hi All, I need to get some cables (power, co-ax and phone) across a fireplace. I am going to put a gas fire, hearth etc back into the gap. What is the best way to do this? I was thinking either chase through the wall above the opening or deepen the gap where the hearth floor meets...

Hi All, I have removed the lining paper and woodchip paper from the ceiling in the front room of my house. Most of the ceiling appears to be sound, but there are obvious cracks in the plaster along the plasterboard joins. If you click the thumbnail photos you may be able to see what i...

Hi All, I knocked out an old 70s brick fireplace and want to replace it with a new surround and gas fireplace. The photos should click for larger ones. My house was built in the 50s. The previous fire was gas with a grate that stood directly in the fireback. Obviously I will...