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My son recently bought a house, the previous owner of which did extensive renovations of the plumbing, including enclosing the WC in a Fort Knox of plywood. Water has started intermittently leaking into the pan. I have fixed a similar problem on my own WC (replaced the siamp valve) but mine has...

Thanks once again Madrab. For the first time I am starting to understand how everything hangs together.

Thanks again Madrab. So 'venting' covers both water and trapped air. I presume the water to the hot taps is also not actually pumped. Just one more uncertainty. There is a pump in the airing cupboard ('Flomasta'). Will this be the only pump in the system, or will there be another one in the...

Thanks Madrab, this is all starting to make sense. I'm going to guess there is a head of water in that vent pipe (as per MeldrewMate's post) and the weight of that column of hot water balances the upward force put on the water by the pump, so that hot water doesn't normally flow into the cold...

Thanks MeldrewsMate, that makes perfect sense and takes me back to physics classes at school many decades ago. Considering the various dodgy jobs that have been perpetrated on my house plumbing I would not be surprised to find sinusoidal or even helical piping somewhere. I think I have...

Thanks Madrab and Fixitflav. The plumbing is indeed less than optimum. The problems started when a builder friend who did plumbing (note: not a plumber friend who did building) did a major job (I can't remember what it was) after which the central heating wasn't working properly. I called in a...

Thanks Fixitflav, you don't meet many physicists on this forum! I haven't thought of inverted U traps; that could be the answer. Unfortunately my plumbing knowledge is at the same level as my knowledge of embroidery. I don't know anything about vents, but I will attach two old pictures from...

Not a DIY question but this is something I want to understand before I die. I have a gravity shower fed from the hot water cylinder and the cold water tank. Every other time I turn on the shower the water is only flowing about half as fast as it ought to. Usually I can fix this by holding the...

Thanks Old Salt, this looks like an equivalent to the original Cuprinol (and much cheaper)

I don't have the original tins but I am sure it was recommended for garden fences. My fences have quite substantial horizontal pieces as well as posts, which will certainly rot without protection.

Because I want a clear (neutral) finish

Three years ago I treated my fences with Cuprinol Clear Wood Preserver. I used seven 5 litre cans which cost around £45 each. I didn't keep any empty cans but I am pretty certain that it was a solvent based product and was sold as a self-contained five year treatment. The fences are in...

Thanks Charlie George. I took BathDIY's advice and tried Google....which wasn't terribly revealing but your £800/£1,000 figure is more or less consistent with most of the sites I looked at.

Not quite a DIY question so hope it is permissible. I intend to build a platform of 6 * 5 2 foot (60cm) square paving slabs for a shed base, i.e. 30 slabs making a 12' by 10' base. When I say 'intend to build' that is in the sense of Christopher Wren 'building' St. Paul's cathedral. When I...

Thanks denso13, that looks straightforward enough :D

Thanks denso13 but I'm nervous about the overflow pipe on that Screwfix item which looks to be integral to the plughole assembly (i.e. all one single piece). Unless it dismantles at one end or the other of the overflow pipe I don't see how it can be fitted. I also have no idea how to detach the...

When I found water was leaking from the kitchen sink into the cupboard below it I thought it would be one of the screw fittings on the U trap or pipes leading into it. But the water is coming through a dried up seal where a circular black plastic fitting sits against the the metal sink, as in...

Just back to report a happy ending. The man in the electrical shop went in to his stockroom and emerged with an identical Wylex MCB. 'It's an old one', he said, as if I cared. To my relief it worked. I will buy a few more from the internet, substitutes or originals if I can find them.

See above on the swapping. Before taking out or replacing any of the MCBs I have to switch off all the circuits (via the black switch to the right of the MCBs), so I will have to find a time which will not upset the rest of the household, particularly my son who does his IT job from one of the...

I admit it's not a great chart :D . I made it a long time ago. The 1, 2, 3, 4 represent the MCBs left to right. 'on' means the socket is live when that MCB is switched on and the others are off.