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Hi I have automated a fair bit of my lighting with smart switches which I also control with Alexa. The majority of my smart stuff is the Quinetic switches and they all work fine but I have kids who keep turning stuff on but never get round to turning things off and not all my lamps are LED...

Hi I have a 10 x 8 feet concrete slab built on very tough to dig soil. It has 4.5" of compacted Mot1 base and 4.5" of concrete with a rebar grid in it. I want to build a block wall shed (not sure what blocks I would need to use) laid around the edge of the slab up to a height of about 7 feet and...

Hi, I have Drayton TRV4 valves on my radiators and I am finding the heads get broken too often, especially as we have young grand children round all the time. I notice that often the white plastic heads go a bit brown near the tightening ring part which seems to indicate that the plastic has...

How do you remove that brush pile sealing strip from double glazed doors? I have some Bi fold doors that are a few years old and letting in the draughty cold and I’ve noticed that the brush pile strips have become quite flat and so don’t work as well. I see you can buy replacements strips with...

Hi I am making a concrete shed base and I was told to put a Geotextile membrane down on the soil as it will stop the hardcore/mot1 migrating into the subsoil, but if I put that down first and then start smashing my leftover hardcore on it and adding some mot1 and then using a wacker plate on the...

Hi I want to make a base for a block work shed that will house tools and a workbench and wanted to stop damp coming through concrete base I am making. I was thinking of using MOT1 layer on top of my very hard soil, about 2" thick and then a membrane and then 4" of cement with one of those grid...

Hi looking at adding a drain myself as we are changing the sink position from the side of the house to the back and just making sure I understand everything. I have one simple question, it seems I will need to install a Bottle gully but there P Trap gullies too. Every explanation explains that...

I want to build a feature wall in our back garden to replace the current 2m fence. As it will be about 2 meters high I think I am right in thinking that it has to be double skin, is that right? I want to build it out of London Stocks, preferably genuine old ones but still toying with “new made...

I had a wall built with old London Stock bricks that had been cleaned of mortar etc, some with a tiny bit of paint on or black on them and I have a load left over but not enough so I want to buy more to match for another project but I'm struggling. I thought when it said hand made they would be...

Hi, I have several Quinetic bits installed already but I am now thinking of moving onto my staircase where my boy is always leaving the lights on so that I can turn them off with my Alexa or by my phone. I also have Alexa controlling my Quinetic lights downstairs so I know how to do a lot of the...

Hi my meter is faulty, its actually completely stopped, so I can’t take any regular readings. It’s the typical wheel meter type (wheel stopped moving now) the only difference is it has a LOW and NORMAL readings feature with a little arrow that moves to show which one we are on. Next to it is a...

Hi I have fitted some electric Warmup heated floor loose lay cable/DPM system and positioned it as per the manufacturer’s instructions to have the potential to achieve the maximum heating effect of 230W/m2. I fitted 10mm insulation/backer boards and then the special red sheet with...

Hi trying to decide pro's and con's of what is best way forward. Our Economy 7 meter got damaged (a bit cracked and glass broken) several years ago by a meter reader who tripped and lent on the hoover hose pushing it into the meter to stop himself falling. The meter remained working and the guy...

I want to run large tiles from concrete floor to suspended timber floor without using an expansion joint. To explain the layout first we have a house with an existing single storey extension across the width of the back of the house, which is about 5.5m wide internally and 3.8m deep towards the...

Hi, I have tiled our extension/kitchen diner with 600mm x 900mm Porcelain tiles on top of a Warmup heated floor on top of 10mm Prowarm Backer-Pro tile backer board which is on top of a latex leveller on concrete but from the extension I now have to continue laying tiles on to the narrower...

Hi I am not a mechanic but I have done a fair share of work on cars in my younger years and I always thought it fairly simple to check the wear on brake pads but recently something happened that made me completely doubt myself. My 82 year old mother took her car to her regular mechanic who does...

Can anybody help me progress with this, I am totally stuck? I have bought and set up a Quinetic wireless Wifi receiver with a switch. I can control it from anywhere, even miles away via my phone, so that part is working well, but I received an Echo Dot Alexa for Christmas and I have tried...

Hi can somebody guide me to best humidity extractor to buy please? It’s for our kitchen/dining room which is L-shaped. Kitchen is about 6m long and 2.6m wide with dinning bit being end part of that and about 5.6m x 3.8m. We are hoping to renew the kitchen in the next couple of years but for the...

Hi I need some advice please on insulation. I am a retired electrician so I have some technical background when it comes to the makeup of house construction and I am quite hands on with doing stuff to the house. I recently had a warm roof put on my leaking flat roof extension at the back of my...

Hi Can you help me with this quote guys, is it about right or excessively expensive? My reaction was its excessively expensive but then I am not the builder pricing things up. I have some understanding coming from a Building Services background as a qualified electrician now retired. I have a...