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Not exposed wire, no. All the old grey tails had odd bits of coloured tape/sleeve over the cable - red on the lives and an either blue or black on the neutrals. All the cables before the main switch/isolator thing were replaced with the new blue/brown cables and plastic L N tabs. The wires...

Update on my smart meter installation following my 7 Oct question. This is the 'after' picture. Work done by SMS, working on behalf of Octopus. They had to put a new bit of backing board behind the meter and main switch, so the tight fit wasn't an issue in the end, everything got spaced out a...

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a question about smart meter sizes and fitting them into an existing installation without unnecessary interference. We're currently in a lengthy debate with Octopus who seem unable to answer a simple question about whether they can assure us a smart meter will...

When we moved into our 1930s house 12 years ago we had a fair amount of electrical work done, including a new supply fuse, main switch and consumer unit. See picture. According to the certificate the set-up is TN-C-S, earthed on the 'distributor's facility' and you can see the earth wire...

After 12 years of faultless service our old Honeywell CM927 wireless thermostat/controller finally gave out. The display failed and although the trick with bulldog clips and hairdryer worked for a while, even that stopped working eventually. Without really checking we went along with our...

I've had a similar issue with E15 errors over time on my Bosch d/w. Water is getting into the base somehow - you can keep tipping it out or try the fix that worked for me. There are 4 torq screws that hold the whole pump assembly into the base of the dishwasher - these had worked loose and...

Where can I buy one of these? - the rotating mechanism that sits between the base and the stem - without having to buy a whole new expensive garden parasol and base. The pic is on a b&q product, but there are other variants out there.... Any ideas...? Cheers Mark

We have three flat panel radiators in our kitchen, two mounted vertically and one mounted horizontally - supplied and fitted by our builder when the kitchen extension was done a few years back. The horizontal radiator has never really heated up properly and my occasional half hearted attempts...

I want to change the regular light switch in my dark under-stairs cupboard for door-operated switch so that the light comes on when I open the door. Simple really. There is a single bayonet light fitting in the cupboard which is currently fitted with an 18W CFL bulb. Even if I were to put a...

In my 5 year old kitchen (Benchmarx units) a good few of the hinge screws on the doors are starting to strip their threads in the chipboard cupboard carcasses, esp on the cupboards with the highest usage. My Step 1 repair has already been lashings of PVA and matchsticks/cocktail sticks jammed...

The alcove shelves which a local cabinet maker did for us are made of 2 x sheets of 18mm ply fully bonded together, giving a chunky looking 32mm thick shelf. The bottom piece of this sandwich is smaller than the top by the width of the battens which are screwed into the wall along each side...

I have a set of those sliding wardrobe doors in our bedroom of the type that is sold widely in B&Q, Wickes and various other home and Dept Stores under a variety of names. They are all fundamentally the same. Mine have been in about 3-4 years and the top sliders have all started to fail...

If the earths (the unsheathed bare wires) really are involved in this I can't help you, but while putting a new pair of wall lights in our living room onto existing wiring & switch I found a very similar arrangement. In my case the wall lights weren't wired with T&E but there were three single...

This is actually for my bike, but the 'car repair' thread is the closest. I am trying to find an aluminium welder in Bristol who is happy to undertake a one-off repair job on my bike frame - It's a pretty tiny job - a bit of prep and about 2 inches of welding (but important to me!) I have...

Feeding the output from a TV aerial into an FM or DAB radio is one of those things that shouldn't work well in theory, but I bet you there are many people out there who have done this and it might work fine, or it might not - there are just too many variables - blame the black art of RF. I...

Any wi-fi security experts out there? I have some of those LED strip lights and want to change the 24 button IR remote (because my TV remote interferes with it) for a wi-fi one. The product at the links below is sold everywhere by many different vendors... Amazon ASIN: B00GN2D556...

My electricity supplier has recently been bombarding me with letters and leaflets about getting a 'smart' meter fitted - which is for my benefit apparently.....! I like to think I'm reasonably intelligent, but there are a couple of obvious things I can't work out from reading all the guff...

I had similar problem and was faced with miriad of conflicting innterweb advice on best way to cut stainless steel. This is a one-shot job with an expensive downside, so in the end I found a local sheet metal fabricators, a small family business, whose palm I crossed with modest amounts of...

Hanging a heavy mirror on a piece of wire over a single screw in the wall is asking for trouble IMHO. Why not use a pair of made-for-the-job interlocking flush picture/mirror mounting brackets. See image...

Not really a DIY question, but I am mid dispute with a sofa company over my new sofa - it's a local indepedent firm not a big chain. We order the sofa having had lenghty conversation in the shop on the option for a 'coil sprung' system (£300 extra) as opposed to standard serpentine springs...