Recent content by diynige

I've just discovered that during second fixing, fixing skirting boards in specific, my chippie friend, when in a rush, had accidentally drilled a neat hole through my recently boxed-in new plastic soil pipe. Having discovered the hole (soaking plaster was the clue) I've cut the plaster away...

Yes, that's right, there will be two separate feeds, one for each immersion (one from the off-peak supply and one from the normal supply). So two 2.5mm cables, one for each element. Thanks for all the replies, they've put my mind at rest.

My electrician, during the house rewiring, has made provision for my immersion elements with 2.5mm cable. However, the cylinder is a megaflo and both immersion heaters (an economy 7 setup) are rated 3kW. In the case of both daytime and nighttime supply there shouldn't be anything else on the...

I'm installing a direct hot water cylinder (economy 7 immersion powered), fed by a 200L water tank in the loft (gravity-fed system) into a 3-bedroom house, where typical daily usage would be one bath, and two leisurely pumped power-shower sessions. All of these will be drawing hot water from the...

I appreciate the comments, really I do, and I agree with you, that it wasn't done well. My problem is that I'm finding it difficult to keep a lid on my annoyance over the job that was done, and I couldn't help but vent. I do appreciate the advice, and want to get the job done as well as...

Not only did a chippie do that, but a chippie with 40 years experience - as he repeatedly pointed out to me, in-between moaning about the doorway, and telling me how much he was looking forward to retirement. He had to make up the liner from a single plank of wood because the standard door...

Hi all, I've had a door liner installed by a chippie into a wonky doorway, and I intend to fill the gap between liner and brickwork with something - can anyone recommend an appropriate material, preferably something that will dampen noise, to use for this? Here's what it looks like...

Many thanks for the reply - I also read elsewhere that PVA should be used to seal the area before bonding. Is it good practice to liberally paint a coat of PVA over the chased area to seal it before applying the bonding coat?

I've just had the leckies in and they obviously hate cutting chases because the top of plastic capping that they've used is virtually flush with the existing plaster in most places. The depth of the capping below the plaster surface varies from about 0.5mm to about 3mm. How deep does the...

I'm a bit confused now... If I get a bag of 'plastering sand' is that a fine sharp sand then? Or would I be using sharp sand for the 4:1 and the plastering sand for the 5:1? Sorry, I've never mixed my own cement/mortar/render before...

The hole in the brickwork is about 3cm diameter, with the hole in the render spreading out to about 80mm on the outside wall. As an alternative, would some ready-mixed mortar do the trick? Wickes do a 'mix and go mortar repair' bag that looks just the ticket if it's appropriate.

Hi there My house is brick-built, with a layer of external cement render covering the bricks up to a depth of about an inch. During recent bathroom works I've had to push some now-defunct pipes out through the external wall. This has pulled off the external render, which I want to repair...

Having removed the floor coverings I've found that some board parts are missing at edges (where there was boxing), and the floorboards in general are in a varying condition, so I want to replace floorboards in some places, and add floorboards in others. A wide variety of different nails were...