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I've been having some work done for ground movement on the home insurance. One of the recommendations of a drain survey was to re-bench/channel in a manhole on the driveway as the existing terracotta channel was cracked and leaking. When the insurance-appointed contractors were finished (who...

It's a bit of a funny one, because to two sides of the building, the external ground level is below the slab. To the other sides, it is level. I suspect this is a hangover from when it was actually used as a garage and cars parked inside. For the level areas, there is a bit of a slope away...

The garage in my 1936 build house has an old concrete floor with no sign of a DPM. It looks to have been extended and patched over the years, so it's a little rough and wonky in places. While I haven't ever seen any pooling water, there is a damp feel in general and anything that gets left on...

I used exactly these to batten my garage out. Each batten minimum 5mm off the wall. Also had the benefit of leaving room for existing electric cables already clipped to the walls. There were certain small areas where batten touching the wall was unavoidable, i.e., across concrete lintels sitting...

Not at this point. The (flat) roof is already insulated, built in the 1980s I believe, and looks to be standard fibreglass, can't tell how thick it is without making a big mess. Currently debating whether to go with Celotex or equivalent, minimum 50 mm, or whether to splash the cash on...

I am converting my attached garage into a gym space. The three external walls are single leaf brick. with no render or plaster on either side. Garage door has been removed/bricked up and double glazing being put in. In order to save space, I have decided to go down the treated batten route...

That's a very valid point. As somebody who has previously drilled into a hidden old asbestos flue pipe, I should've thought of that. Fortunately the sample has come back negative.

I have a little project planned to convert my garage into a gym. It is single brick construction with a flat roof. To save space, I am planning to batten foil-backed insulated plasterboard directly to brick. I am led to believe the foil stuff will act as a vapour barrier. My question is, will...

Thanks for the replies all, and apologies for the delayed response. I had to put things on the backburner for a while. Some very interesting comments and advice, on the back of which I have knocked the idea of downlights on the head as it's a flat roof and I don't want to risk compromising the...

Hi all. Getting a bit feed up with my combi boiler which keeps losing pressure. It's a Main Combi Eco 30 which is around 14 years old. When we moved into the property about 6 years ago, it would occasionally lose pressure, eventually getting to the point where a plumber discovered the expansion...

I am converting a garage into a gym space. Size wise it's somewhere between a single and double garage. It has a horrible old artex ceiling that I'm going to have skimmed. There used to be a couple of old CCFL lights, which I have replaced with temporary pendants. My question is, is there any...

I understand that installing laminate over original parquet flooring is a bad idea due to moisture coming through the floor, getting trapped and blowing the concrete/parquet. However, if there is a DPM beneath the concrete slab, would it then be OK to put laminate over parquet? The reason I...

Close up:

Thank you. I hadn't thought of wallpaper paste, as to my mind this would dry clear/opaque? As I say, I'm no expert so could be very wrong and maybe it's just yellowed with age?

Hi all, doing some decorating in our 1930's house and we've stripped the wallpaper and old polystyrene insulation off. There's a very thin layer on top of the plaster of what looks like yellowish paint which flakes off fairly easily. Doesn't look like it was for decoration. Somebody has...

Thanks Mopasgas, I raised the pressure and the problem immediately went away. Noticed the pressure gauge was reading lower AFTER I had increased pressure, so suspect the needle had been stuck on a higher reading. All working well now, much appreciated (y)

A couple of days ago we suffered a burst water main and have been without water until it was restored today via a temporary over land feed. However, the boiler will now not fire for either hot water/central heating, and the error code E119 is flashing. This seems to relate to a low pressure...

What do they do then? Does this mean I should be using the wall-mounted thermostat to control the central heating temp? i.e. turn it right down to switch central heating off? I do think there is something not right with the central heating as it comes on briefly, as I say, red hot, then...

I assume it's a combi as there is no hot water cylinder in the house.

Yes, the orange mains light stays on. There does not appear to be a viewing hole for a pilot light, just the orange light.