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Hi all, I've got some 1990s vintage softwood sash windows that need attention. I have lots of experience with working with cord-and-weight windows but this is my first go at dismantling spring balance windows. I am trying to get the upper (outside) sash removed. I'm working from the inside and...

I've done resistance tests before unwinding (I'm loose wire, not mat, just because) and after laying. Both cables showed 41.8 ohms across all four measurements; so far so good. My electrician is sadly overseas until the end of the year.

When I was about 18 I had a summer job in a local supermarket. One day I was in the warehouse out the back putting away some surplus stock when one of my friends came in. I threw down a bar of chocolate - "catch!" She reached out to catch it and went out of there on a stretcher. I have no idea...

Thanks @ericmark. That latest model you've found on AliExpress is also on Amazon under about a dozen different brands and price-points! However, if it does the job it does the job (which in this case is: Does it suggest a low risk that the real test will show lower than 2M-ohms) ... I'll sleep...

Hi, Thanks for replies. I've already done a simple resistance test with my multimeter - and the cables came out within the 5%-under margin specified. I just quite fancy doing an insulation resistance test too. I don't think there's any particular complexity to it, is there, that would...

Hi all, I'm a DIY-er who is after an insulation tester. (Back story: I have - genuinely - an electrician who has worked with me before and is happy for me to do first fix then she tests at the end. However, I am fitting some electric underfloor heating and put the self levelling over it next...

Thanks Ericmark. I spoke to the supplier today (I'm using Warmup stuff - no affiliation) and they said it was fine to run multiple tails in the same conduit up the wall so long as the joint between the cold tail and the heating element was fully encapsulated in SLC or tile cement. I didn't ask...

Hi all, I'm running electric UFH. (Yes, I know opinions vary about usefulness ... let's just go with it!) It's a 16m^2 area and I'm using loose cable. I have 2 reels. This means two cold tails. I know the heating cable itself should not get closer than 50mm but is there any reason I can't...

Thanks. Strangely, it is actively listed in their plans as a private drain. Academic aside: However, they're also keen to point out that their plans may not be accurate and cannot be relied upon, so if you want to know if you have public drains nearby your only approach is to dig test trenches...

I am thinking about a new drainage run for waste water from a sink in a garden outbuilding. My house is uphill, so any drain run to it would need a pump to lift the waste water. However, behind the outbuilding there's a shared lane (owner unknown - it's the typical service lane that runs behind...

Ahh, yes, that's dripping. Ok, thanks everyone - time to call in the gas engineer, internal expansion vessel needs some love!

Thanks. No, it doesn't seem to. I was assuming expansion vessel (there are two on the system, I think - one for the unvented how water cylinder and one in the boiler; the latter would be suspect here?) but the fact that the pressure doesn't just shoot through the roof as soon as the heating...

Hi, I've got a Vaillant system boiler (ecoTec plus 637). It's around 12 years old and has been maintained. We've just been away for a couple of weeks so, keen not to burn gas unnecessarily, I set all the zone thermostats/timers (hot water, 2 x radiators, underfloor heating) to off/frost...

Thanks. We're on a combined foul/surface drain so our water company is very resistant to new connections unless it can be proven that no other solution will work; which I guess the current shenanigans are saying about the prospects of a soakaway. I just hope their next answer won't be "close the...

Well, the answer to that is that the water would simply remain in the topsoil (as it did before I dug the soakaway) and percolate away in its own good time. This means I could solve this problem from the perspective of the surrounding land simply by capping off the soakaway. The only downside...

Hi all, HNY and all that. I've installed an underground rainwater harvesting tank with an attached soakaway for any overspill. The soakaway is a bit sluggish (slighly clay soil) but the best option I had for the time being. However, over the last few days it's been noticeable that the...

Use the right length screw, which means the depth of the floor layer plus the bracket.

Thanks @flameport - so essentially, you're recommending that the concrete floor in the ouhouse is bonded? Why is this not a requirement in the main house?

Hi, I'm having a shed/home office built in my garden, about 20 metres from the house. My house has a TNC-S supply and the electrician has told me the outhouse needs a local TT earth. Fine by me, but ... The outhouse will have no incoming gas or water supplies, and has no other classic...

They may well do, but (a) We are not planning to attach the patio to the building (b) the steps that were removed were attached to the building and had been there for 110 years, were only 5 cm lower than our proposed not-attached patio and (c) Our house does not have a damp proof course in that...