Search results

Thanks - what you say makes sense and is what we thought. Don't want easy verge, it will look horrible, we would need to do the other side to match and it's not necessary!

Hi there, we got some great advice and help with a roofing problem a few years ago so here goes with another...... We finished an extension 3 years ago with rendering being the last job. little bits of the top coat started to come off fairly soon after so earlier this year we got the bloke who...

How far apart do the bolt centres need to be when bolting timber into the web? There are 2 rsj's 3.5m and 4.5m long.

Hi We are building a 2 storey extension to a mid 1800's house, blockwork to be rendered. Approaching roof where we have to match existing dentilled brickwork - at this stage we are not planning on touching existing roof so can't really see the bones of it. mad as it sounds, we are living in...

HI I'm no expert but live (like you) in a house with some damp bits. The best thing for drying our house out was when we opened up our chimney, capped it and put 2 ventilation bricks in. I'm not saying your problem is caused by a chimney but I think ventilation is the key. Our walls are...

I don't think they did drill all the way through but there are slug trails coming out of some of the holes so I would rather fill them in - and should they not have been filled in the first place? S

Hi Back in July we started to tackle the problem by looking at the roof. We took off everything and found............... evidence of more than one bodge which could have dated back years! Where to start? The wall plates had rotted so much that there was less than 1" support in THAT...

Hi We have always shared our home with slugs who only come out at night - I must itterate that they are NOT invited guests! 10 years ago when we moved in the Building Society put a retainer on our mortgage until we had a damp proof course done (injection). We knew no better then and did as...

Hi Are there any regs which prevent you from having sockets in a hallway or landing? We are having some work done on existing wiring and 'while we are there' could we add sockets in these locations? There are none as of now and they would be really useful then we could get rid of the...

New guttering has been ordered, should be here in a couple of days. Had some good advice about how to make it better. What I can't get my head around is why everything is still so wet after no rain for so long - the soil outside is wet but up the garden is bone dry!! I'll post pics when we...

I think we have 2 problems and there is definately something going on in the ground - why is it still wet when we have not had rain for weeks??

Hi An update on the mystery damp patch! After having had next to no rain for the past 6 weeks or so, we conclude that it is probably not a rainwater problem! I think we may be under attack from below - water is coming up through the floor and not the brickwork. It looks like there may be a...

Hi After posting about (a relatively paultry) damp problem, I got loads of helpful comments!! So how about this one..... We are preparing a chimney for use in a kitchen so we can put the cooker in the gap between the jambs. Steel lintels are in at the bottom and this week we got a...

erm thanks investigator - just a small job then......perhaps one for the summer! JohnD - no sign of funny colours coming through but what was your feeling? We replaced the lead under advice from a building inspector, he said it was worth a try. Water runs off the lead straight into the...

Water wash may have come from when the mortar was drying out - the lead goes all the way under the stone and overlaps the other side by 2" so water 'shouldn't' be able to get through? Waiting for funny colours to appear on the inside - might take a few days......

It's raining at the minute - I'll have a go later :D

Sorry JohnD - about the surroundings! We use it as a lounge. Multifuel burner and 1 radiator. We open windows. Floor level is 3" below rest of house which is 2 storey this one room is only 1. The only pipe we know of used to lead to a well round the back - this has been disconnected...

Looking under the wallpaper - wet flaky plaster. When we took it off before - wet bricks underneath. It has only started making the floor wet in the last year. Under the carpet you see the damp starts in the corner and radiates out following the carpet runners. There are a couple of random...

I hope these work - the walls are red brick, double skin with no cavity. The outer wall was rendered 1920's and rendered again 1980's.