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I am pretty sure that in my Victorian house a lot of the upstairs joists were ash, -very white and knot free, not douglas fir, nice browny yellow and knotty. Frank

If this is an old wall separating two houses, it is likely to be built with lime mortar. I would at least point it with sharp sand and cement to seal all cracks against fire. Actually happened to us, years ago (1958?). During a Sunday lunchtime a Fireman knocked on the door and said they were...

Switch of the circuit and try to isolate that piece of cable, starting at the fuse box. Once the cable is disconnected from the live supply, you can use a meter to find the fault. If you are "blowing" (I hope tripping) a 5 A device then the resistance between the live and the neutral or earth...

You will not get a good air seal behind the L&P and rigid board, any tiny gaps will allow air to circulate and move your heat away. I did this on a Georgian house some years ago, its a right pain, can't remember, but I did access the void. I think I put up a load of wire strings across the...

Structurely, using the chimney would be OK (except for the flue). One face of the stack now is still outside, but round the corner the brickwork becomes something else, inner wall? So some form of dampness control might be needed which would make the flue unuseable. . .All depends on the quality...

Look at whats there, Its fine concrete (6mm stones in it) not fine flour like sand. Frank

No that will look terrible. Pack up the opening with building blocks and hammer in some long thin wooden wedges. That will hold the lintel in place. Gently take the sides down and rebuild. Move the stones and perhaps use bricks behind them, so it looks "stone" but the core is brick. It would be...

I know of a soak a way that was built new in 1973 with the outlet pipe that ran down hill. Ever since then there has been a muddy patch in the field. I do not know what the "design" was. Its still in current use. This has made me very cynical about herring bone fields as the water will always...

If you use squirty foam downwards to seal the cracks it will drip out for the first half hour, so use some stuffing to support it. Frank

Thump a wall parallel to the front wall and the front door will rattle as the wooden wall will be thin and flexible and act like a drum skin. Frank

You can't fill underneath stuff with the foam cans unless you manufacture an external hose that is at least as long as the inverted can. Then dump it after one use (big pile of them by your side?). Best thing to do is to buy the smallest roll of glass fibre, you can and using a strip of...

I reckon that semi-circle infill is just sitting on the plastic frame. So the thing to do is to keep it there. Have you checked for loose plaster on the inside incase a cavity tie is pulling on the inner wall skin and it is also loose? To replace the section in brick/stone/mortar will be a...

I have heard good reports on external optical films. Unlike blinds, the heat stays on the outside. It's expensive though. Frank

I have put in/altered 8 windows in my rock and rubble cottage in Wensleydale. No need for wooden frame, hide cut edges of blocks by rendering the external window reveals. As my walls are 24" thick, I splayed all the internal reveals, lets in a lot more light. Line all the internal reveals with...

It is difficult to neatly lay slabs on a dry base, because they either are correct or are wrong, there is no scope for any adjustment. The best way to do it is to lay the slabs on a bed of proper mortar (with plasticiser in it). This way the slabs can be settled down with your rubber hammer...

So you will have a concrete floor with a 2 brick high wall sitting on it? Your feet will get very cold in winter. Frank

I guess the effect you are after is that it looks like pebbles but its solid and does not pick up dirt? My comments start with keep it cool. This is so the resin can run down into the mass and only leave a little coating on the top surfaces. In fact I would go so far as to suggest put the...

I would have thought that the decking just sitting on the washers would do. In fact thinking about it, I think that the tops of the studding will need to be chamfered, unless your drilling is exceptionally accurate. If you are worried about the decking blowing away, drill right through and...

The joist nearer the camera then the one with the level on, seems to be short of a "post". I too think there should be a lot more intermediate supports for the joists. The problem here is that just jamming a brick under the joists , is that the bottom of the brick might be sitting on an...

With my suggestion, the coping stones would be sitting in the grass, so hiding the pier tops. The timber base pads have been discussed here before, I do not like them, they do not look very robust. Frank