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Hi all, For a new consumer unit with RCD, in a bungalow in the South East with 13 sockets - including 3 new ones (wire not chased into wall and getting there via loft)- we've been quoted £300. Is this reasonable?

We need a new socket in the kitchen for a new washer-dryer. The electrician wants to put it inside the adjacent unit. Apart from the fact of having a plug socket next to plates and dishes in the unit, that'd require making a hole in the unit big enough for the plug to pass through should it be...

A CORGI registered company sent and engineer to fix our instantaneous water heater. I couldn't check what boxes were ticked on the back of his card (as I'd gathered you're supposed to) because it was in a see-through wallet with something else behind it. I said "shouldn't it have something on...

I've read on the net (so it must be true) that an easy solution to vibration in a mains pipe supplying the loft tank that occurs when water is removed, is to dangle a yoghurt carton on stainless steel or galvanized wire from the float arm. Presumably this dampens any fast oscillating movement of...

I've just noticed that my two sections of laminated kitchen worktop that are to be joined at 90 degres are each bowed (probably about 10mm per 6ft.) I've cut the mitre so I can't send it back. Any strategies for making the best of this? Bearing in mind the wortop's 40mm thick and the wickes...

Due to long term leakage from a badly installed sink in a bungalow kitchen, the main external wall's sill plate is badly rotted in the corner area - probably for about 4 feet on each side of the corner. Does anyone know if it's possible to replace small sections of the sill plate as a diy job...

Just had a 4ft chain link with metal posts installed in garden. Company said "Postcrete" would be used. Whatever it was it said 15 mins on bag. I take it no ballast is required because it wasn't used? One post turned out to be loose, I told company and contractor returned next day. He didn't...

Around the kitchen sink we have a tiled area that's built up about 20 mm from the wall with some very hard material - no idea what. I need to chisel off some of this to make way for the end of a worktop, and the result isn't going to be neat. After fitting the worktop, I'll need to build the...

I want to join two sections of worktop at right angles with a masons mitre. But the section of worktop with the female joint has a sink, and there's only 70 mm of wood between the post formed edge and the edge of the cut-out for the drainer. Consequently, there's not enough room for the...

When you guys talk about sealing a mason's mitre joint with silicone sealant, do you mean the same stuff that's used to seal the edge of a bath/sink? I'm imagining that stuff as having no real mechanical strength(?) But the joint is supposed to be, in effect, glued as well as bolted, is it not...

Hi, Sorry if this has been done before... I want to 'bolt' a new piece of floor joist to an old joist which is rotten in the middle. Do the bolt holes need to be horizontal? I don't want to hire/buy a 90 degree drill if it doesn't really matter. Also, what to use: M10 studding, coach...

I want to install some new base units under a kitchen window, but the plaster behind the units is totally shot; it comes off in sheets exposing a grey material (render?) covering the brickwork. Is there any need for plaster there? I don't know if there's any damp in the wall particularly, but...

Hi, I want to replace some sections of broken floor board. When we had a builder do it previously, instead of cutting the boards infront of the joists and attaching battens to the joists to support the new boards, he used a circular saw to cut through the boards on the centre line of the...

Hi, I want to replace my kitchen bib taps with a mixer unit. The bibs screw into some kind of connector in the wall that I can't see. What is the name of the connector that I need (preferably an elbow) to connect to whatever's in the wall, and thereby extend the pipe work? ...Male elbow...

Hi all, The instructions for my 240v/20 watt bathroom extractor fan say that it *has* to be connected to a double pole spur. Why is this? (It’s a very cheap model - no timer, operated by a pullcord and has no earth btw. ) And since I actually want to use it in a bedroom instead, could I...

Hi all, I've just had a builder/comedian doing some work in the our bathroom. Our bath is installed against walls at the foot and head. The frame that's been made for the bath front panel to be screwed to consists of a strip of wood nailed to the floor along the length of the bath, to...