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Hi all, I hope this is the right place to post, the other categories didn't seem to fit. I recently fitted a curtain rail in my back bedroom and in sort - it's no good. It's 3.6m long, from B&Q, with a beaded drawstring in channels inside it. basically, it just gets stuck. I think the...

OK, new question. The electrics in my place are old. Not black-rubber-cable old, but Wylex fuse board old. There isn't anything "obviously" wrong with the electrics, but the wiring is old, there are no MCBs and no RCD protection. That in itself is a cause for concern. I have now decided on...

Hi all, I've got an old style lighting cable in a wall, with a metal sleeving around it, which acts as the earth. There is no earth cable on the inside. My question is, how do I connect to this?! The only ways I can think of to get an earth connection would be to solder or clamp something...

Hi all, I'm sure I've seen these before, a mounting box that allows you to mount a double socket (or whatever) next to a single socket/switch/whatever. Has anyone got a link to where I can find one? Idealy a flush one. I could always use a "double" right next to a "single", but this is just...

Hi all, I've just had a go at skimming the ceiling and walls in a room. The result is OK, but not great. I reckon if I fill and sand a few bits, then use thick lining paper it will look fine. My question is, how long do I need to wait before wallpapering? I have googled this and have seen...

Hi, I've got a light switch (without earth terminal) on a plastic (drywall) mounting box, which also has no earth terminal. Is it OK to connect the earth cable to a single connector, connected to nothing?

Hi all, I am planning to extend my main ring into a new "box room" home office. As there are no existing electrics in the room and the new sockets aren't physically between 2 sockets in a circuit I need to break into the nearest socket in an adjoining room instead. This will necessarily...

Hello again. As you might have guessed from all my posts, there is a lot of questionable electrics in my place that I'm checking over at the moment. another thing I have noticed is that the feed for the (no longer present) electric shower is now used for the top-up (rather than night-time)...

Hi all, Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, I can't find it mentioned. A lot of posts here say to go for a quality telephone wire, rather than a cheap one, but is there a recognised quality standard for telephone wire and if so, what is it? Thanks in advance?

Hello again, Is there any way of telling if a socket is on the main ring or a spur without following the cable all the way? Several sockets in my place have single cables going in, so are obviously spurs. Most of the others have two cables going in, suggesting they are probably on the main...

Hi all, I am planning to run a 2.5mm cable behind a plasterboard wall. The route follows safe zones, but I need the cable to turn 90 degrees. I can't find any joins for oval PVC conduit, how should I do it? I can't find anything in the wiki or forum pages. Thanks

Hi all, I'm no expert plumber, so excuse the stupid questions/comments. I've got a shower pump that is fed from a hot water cylinder and the cold water tank above it (i.e. hot and cold have the same head of pressure). There is a gradual build up of air on the hot water side which doesn't...

Hi all, I am planning to replace my kitchen in the near future and was wondering about the rules for electrical work in kitchens. I realise that much of the work comes under Part P, but how about moving existing appliances, sockets, cookers etc.? No additional spurs or load required. Is...

Hi all, in my kitchen I've got an old worktop which is narrower, but also deeper than the standard size (1640 x 800 mm). It seems to be an old DIY job and is tiled with smallish wall tiles which have cracked and broken over the years. We are going to do the whole kitchen in about a year's...

Hi all, I've had a dual, negative head (salamander) shower pump installed for a while. The hot is fed from the hot water cylinder, the cold from the same cold water tank that feeds it i.e. they have the same head of pressure. The cold water tank has plenty of capacity BTW. This has run just...

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice on installing two new storage heaters in my split level, 2 bed flat. I'm on economy 7 and have a sotarage heater in the 1st bedroom (upstairs) already which is fine. I'm installing another storage heater in the 2nd bedroom (also upstairs) and a third in the...

Hi all, while I was tiling, I dropped a tile into my nice new white acrylic bath. I had filled it with water to minimise any damage something like that would cause, but it still left a small red dent in the bottom of the bath. The red is from the colour of the ceramic (not the colour of the tile...

Hi all, I have installed a "behind the wall" shower valve in my bathroom and made the stupid mistake of not leaving enough space for the valve to stick out with the adhesive, tile and face plate taken into account. Now it's far too much work to take it all apart, what I have done is cut a much...

Hi all, I’ve just installed a Salamander ESP 50 CPV twin pump to go to a new shower (and nothing else). The pump is configured as negative head and is fed from the cold water tank and hot water cylinder respectively. I’ve fitted an auxiliary CW tank to make sure I have enough hot and cold...

Hi all, I'm in the middle of re-doing my bathroom. Amongst other things I am fitting a shower bath. Now my brief (from the other half) says the wall should be tiled with the shower valve and head protruding from the wall. It's a fake wall and removal of old tiles suggests that it need...