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And there's ME thinking that this was a DIY forum. I don't watch Grand Designs, and mine (and it IS my design, although I have had the plans for PP & BC professionally drawn) is really very modest, and the project is coming in on time and under budget. I'm only interested in honest and...

Thanks, but in my case there is no 'builder' undertaking coordination of the whole job, which is why I'm seeking clarification of who (ie which trade) does what and in what order. Obviously, the roof structure has to be built before it can be insulated, but is fitting the insulation normally a...

The DIY element, here, is project management & financial control. But overall, I will have put in more hours than the engaged tradesmen on practical tasks too. I asked for help: don't give it if you don't want to.

Brickwork is well advanced on my domestic extension and I'll soon be looking for a carpenter and roofer to put the top on. The design is for a tiled pitched roof with a vaulted ceiling (so preformed trusses are out of the question). Assuming that the carpenter & roofer are different...

How long should a newly skimmed wall (plasterboard) be left to dry before a first dilute paint coat? I'm having a room skimmed tomorrow, and I'd like to get on and decorate as soon as I reasonably can, but I don't want to spoil the job.

They're MUCH more expensive, and I already have the coiled pipe. Having said that, I need slightly more 22mm pipe than I have, and I will be buying a couple of lengths. I just wish you could straighten the ******* stuff!

Too late, indeed: but I'm told the warranty is invalid if mixed products are used, so I'm using polypipe stuff, throughout (and I'm over 80% finished).

I wondered whether pouring a kettle of boiling water through the lengths of pipe before use might soften them enough to straighten them a bit. Anyone tried anything similar?

I'm using 25m coils of 22mm & 15mm polypipe in the refurbishment of a house, and wonder whether anyone has any tips for getting the stuff to straighten out. The 22mm pipe, in particular, is very stiff, and looking at one or two joins, the twisting force is distorting the pipe at couplings and I...

The branch from the SVP (Bathroom/Toilet) has rodding access at the base of the SVP, and it's a short, straight run from there to the main drain, which is roddable along its entire length. The branch from the kitchen runs parallel to it, but is also roddable from a bottle gully and is also...

I'll be ready to put in the drains this weekend as long as it stops raining and my trenches don't just fill with water! The main underground drain runs across the back of the house, and I need to bring in the bathroom waste from the main stack, a downstairs toilet, the kitchen and a rainwater...

Given the cost of getting the padstones off the shelf, I wouldn't entertain casting my own. I'll leave that to people who are working on someone else's time and with someone else's money.

I don't have time (the steels arrive today). My main concern is whether I need single stones, spanning the cavity, or whether two standard sizes, such as 215x140x102mm are an acceptable alternative. There are two beams, and both the span and the loads are modest.

I need to support 2 x 127x76x13 UB (bolted @ 600 ctrs) across an opening of 2.6m in a 28cm (11") cavity wall. The designer's 'program' suggests 250x250 padstones, but I can't locate anything that size. Do the padstones need to be in one piece on each side (distributing the load across the inner...

Things are going well: the excavations did overrun, but the total came in well under the alternate fixed-price quotation. I could have done without the electricity supply cable getting accidentally severed, but it was buried at a stupid depth, and completely unprotected. Building Control said...

Any ideas for time & cost for this straightforward job?

The corner for the shower enclosure has aqua panels and the rest of the bathroom will be painted, not tiled. I'm perfectly happy to let the plasterer do the edge beads - as long as that can be done at the same time as the skim.

It's not a public sewer: it isn't even shared. No other property is served by it.

Thanks, but I've sorted out the layout now, and just wondering about testing. The underground pipe is a straight line across the back of the property, with an access chamber at the start end. All waste enters that pipe from a branch two metres along from the chamber, and the branch leads to the...

I've nearly finished working on my new bathroom. Removing the old tiles left the plaster in such a damaged state, that I hacked it all off to bare brick and I have put in new MR Plasterboard (dot & dab) apart from one wall where to allow for invisible plumbing I made a studwork frame to which...