Recent content by jifferz

Non cavity walls, all brick as far as I know. So in the areas where big bits have flaked off and the bare brick is exposed, I could get anything loose knocked off, but then fill in gaps. When prime say “skim” does that mean thin new plaster over existing plaster? I.e. if it’s bare brick it’s...

I stripped the wallpaper in our 1930s semi front room. This has revealed and also caused some damage to the plaster, a good chunk has come off around the fireplace surround (which I have just removed), there is a fully blown area; and a few areas that either show signs of damp or have been...

Hi all - thanks for the advice here. I double checked under the floorboards and the gas pipe is firmly capped off. Wood surround had a fixing bracket about 10cm down from the top mantle and another about 15cm up from the bottom on each side. After cutting around with a knife, it took some hard...

I should have looked after moving the furniture yesterday, but I presume that if I lift that floorboard, I should see the old pipe with a cap on it. Ref the vent - do you mean when i board over the hole with plasterboard? So a vent in the actual plasterboard? I think the chimney itself is...

So I had no idea about this, but I just moved the furniture to expose the tap, and to my surprise - it has been removed. It used to stick-up through the carpet, but now gone - with just a couple of holes in the floorboards. TBH, I don't have a clear memory of this at at all - but we did a big...

Thanks - so if I prise of, literally the top horizontal mantle (i.e. just the top-most put of wood on the top of the surround), that will expose the brackets? When you say the "fire place is 3 pieces" - is that left "tiles, central unit, right tiles" or something else? What's a reasonable...

We live in a 1930s semi, lounge still has chimney breast with a gas fire and surround as pictured below. I want to take out the gas fire and suround, and hearth; and board it over. Grateful for any advice of whether I should do this myself, or an idea of the scale/cost of getting it done. My...

Hi, I have a half finished raised patio - basically a concrete slab that we never finished when we were doing an extension a while back. The slab is 30cm high (almost level with bifold doors, but higher than grass). I want to extend it 1m further into the garden, then have it tiled with a...