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1930's terraced house with 9" solid walls. Original DPC is a layer of tar sheet. There is a bodged 1970's injection DPC immediately above it. A plasterer recently put on bottom beading under the DPC (Yes!) and plastered accordingly. Unsurprisingly, there is now damp and lots of mould in that...

Do kitchen fitting questions go here? I'm putting in a fridge/freezer quite close to a freestanding gas cooker/oven. Not ideal, as it may make the fridge work harder, but there's really nowhere else for it to go. I can arrange it so that there's a 30-35cm gap between the two, so I thought...

I've found some woodworm in the ends of two joists under the bathroom floor. It looks old, but it has caused quite a bit of the joist to crumble. The bath also leaked a bit in the past, so there might have been some water damage too, even though everything is now absolutely tinder dry. I'm...

Had the plumbers in. They needed access under the bathroom floor near the wall, so sliced off the floorboards from the joist nearest but one to the wall. The cut lengths are about 2' long. The cut is flush with the edge of the joist. I now need to replace this little run of boards. I was...

I have one of those lightbulb in a cage on a long lead things. Very useful for looking under cars, floorboards and so on. On this occasion, I was under the leaking kitchen sink. Kneeling in water, being showered with it, and holding onto a nice wet steel sink. I ask for light, expecting wife...

If you can prove what you say (the proof had better be good though), you can say what you like.

I've just has a replacement sink plumbed in. The new tap is a mixer, previously it was separate hot and cold taps. With the new mixer tap, turning on the cold side sometimes causes the combi boiler to fire up. For some reason it seems to momentarily think that there is a hot water demand...

Afer the bad winter, I'm now getting around to redecorating where the water (11 burst pipes!) came through the ceiling. Minor ceiling stains have been killed with Everbuild aerosol stain blocker, but there's a monster stain on the kitchen ceiling that it can't cope with - it keeps showing...

I got exactly the same effect with a bench mounted belt sander. A moments inattention and next ... super smooth fingertips ...

Would vinyl going on laminate provoke sweating between them?

OK here's the scene. Modernish concrete floor with DPM underneath. Surface coated with what appears to be bituminous paint. Previous owner glued hard lino-type tiles onto that. Next owner put poly liner (dunno what it's called, looks like tissue paper or spiders web!), and then laminate...

I'm looking to build a new outside workshop. It'll be down the garden, so not attached to, or near any other structures. Size will be about 8' x 10'. Not sure whether to do the workshop itself in wood or blocks (preferred, to keep any thieves out). It'll be on quite a steep slope, so I'll...

Cue Monty Python. "Ex-pipes, no longer with us ... etc". :mrgreen: 15mm copper, cold, lagged with 10mm grey foam. 22mm copper, cold, lagged with 20mm grey foam. 22mm copper, hot, lagged with 20mm grey foam.* *Big house, several bathrooms. This one not in use so effectively another...

Okay, it was going to happen. Burst pipes in loft. Pipes were lagged with the usual grey 20mm wall bungee, but they froze just the same. The pipe runs are straight, very long and go over the joists (so they don't benefit from the rest of the loft insulation. It's as if they are outside pipes...

Thanks all. I will go for the tube heater idea and will also remove some of the fibreglass insulation under the tank platform. Burnerman - I've updated my profile - no longer in Manchester, now in Lincolnshire! Temperature here went down to -20, so no surprise that the tank froze despite...

Well, it was going to happen. :roll: Cold water tank in the loft is now a beautiful giant ice cube. Solid, all the way through. Pipes and tank well lagged, but to no avail. So, for the future, how to avoid this happening again? It has been suggested to me that one solution would be to...

Yes, a pinhole was my first guess, but I can't see anything. The pipes and underside of the floorboards are dry. I even wrapped the pipes in newspaper and checked later, but nothing! Just these weird patches of what seems to be water on the top surface of the ceiling boards. Some of the...

Ha. No dog or cat. The moisture is under the floorboards. What's so strange is that I couldn't find any moisture on the pipes themselves, and there was wet where there were no pipes at all. Is it possible for the underside of floorboards to get cold enough for condensation?

I've posted this query here first, because I think that plumbers may have come across the problem before. I've bought a small 1930's terrace. New CH and boiler gone in months ago. Most if not all pipework is new. System runs fine, no pressure loss. Heating is not run very much because the...

Thanks all. :wink: