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I'm currently installing a couple of fluorescent lights in the loft and I was wondering what the recommended way of wiring in a switch is since fluorescent lights (at least all the ones I've seen) don't have loop terminals like regular ceiling roses. The way I see it I have the following options...

Sounds like the consenus is that it's not really worth it. The cheapest centrally controlled system I can find is this http://www.discountfiresupplies.co.uk/product/125/145/Premier-Elite-2-Zone-Fire-Alarm-Kit at about £220 but then I would need to add about another £70 for the cable as if I...

Hi, I'm currently rewiring our house and while I have all the floors up etc etc i was thinking I would install a fire alarm system as the house currently has very poor protection. I know that you can get smoke detectors that can be wired together but I was thinking the system we need...

Hi, I've just run a cable for some lighting through the loft and I want to double check that what I have done is safe if perhaps not ideal. A short run of the cable (about 3 meters) will, when I come to insulate the loft, be at the bottom of the insulation. The cable is 1.5mm, clipped to a...

Ok, I've read some most posts now and I have come to the conclusion that air testing central heating pipes is a bad idea. The copious amounts of pumping and explosion risk aside I would rather not be in the situation of getting a false positive due to a dry joint somewhere. So, what about...

Hi guys, We are in the process of fitting our central heating system and would like dry test it before we connect it up. We have one radiator conected at the moment which leaked the first couple of times we filled the system hence the disire to dry test before filling the next lot with water...

Hi guys, I need a couple of washers like the ones shown in the pictures below but I don't know what they are called or where I can get them. I'm hoping someone here will be able to help. I'm not sure whether they are supposed to be in imperial or metric so I've included both...

Trust me, that's not a noggin. It's a 4"x6" by about 12' solid oak beam that holds up the second floor. If it was just a noggin I'd rip it out and replace it.

Hi, I've been revonating our house for a few months now and it's turning up a treasure trove of unexpected problems and the results of exceedingly bad DIY. I've been able to fix most of the them but I need some advice on these two problems. The first is a number of missing bricks from what...

Hi, It occurred to me the other day that I didn't know how close cables and heating pipes can run as a general rule. I know about the rules in the wiring guidelines about down rating cables in higher ambient temperatures but I'm looking for a rule of thumb guide if possible. The case...

Hi, we have an old house (built around 1820) which we are currently doing up. On checking the plaster I've discovered many of the walls are blown (they sound hollow when tapped and some even move - oddly it's much worse on the internal walls than the external). I started removing the blown...

I don't have to worry about the plastering being too hard for chiselling it pretty much just falls off if you look at it too hard. I've resigned myself to having to learn to plaster. I had a look at hiring a wall chaser from HSS as the missus gets 10% off. Even with the discount it would...

Hi, I've just started the rewire of our house and I'm into cutting chases in brick walls. I've cut a few in the past using the drill lots of holes technique and this time I've tried using a disk cutter. There is no doubt both techniques work but they both have serious draw backs. The hole...

Hi, The expansion vessel on our sealed hot water system has just broken free from it's wall bracket. This wasn't due to a fault with the system just a really cheap and nasty bracket. Anyway, the expansion vessel wasn't in a very good location before so I thought I'd take this...

Hi, I'm about to embark on my first complete rewire but I was wondering about clipping the cables. I was taught that cables should be clipped every 10cm with the nail at the bottom and no clips on corners which is great but completely impractical on a rewire unless you are going to completely...