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I had a small stump of chimney bricks left in the loft, which I have removed, so now the top layer of bricks is level with the boarded loft floor. I'm using a large SDS drill and would struggle to continue removing bricks holding the drill inside the flues. Looks like there are around two layers...

Went with Ikea in the end, as to get their custom worktops in time for our installation we pretty much had to order them now. Liked the idea of the wide plank worktop but couldn't quite take the risk of ordering it sight-unseen, and it's only a small part of their business so something inside me...

I've found a supplier that handbuilds kitchen worktops - basically wide planks (10-20cm) that make up the full length of the worktop, finger jointed and glued together, clamped and compressed, and then sanded. So a 2000mm x 620mm x 40mm worktop would be made up of 3-4 planks attached in this...

This little pipe is sticking out of our chimney breast, I'm guessing it's a capped off gas pipe for an old gas fire? If so I'll be getting a GSR to deal with it, but what are the chances of it still being live? It's on the first floor and the gas supply is downstairs in the kitchen so I'm...

Called BCO (Glasgow, think the regulations may be different in Scotland from rest of UK) and they confirmed that removal of the whole chimney breast to the loft (the stack has already gone from the roof) doesn't require a building warrant. Was expecting to have to justify it, but once I said...

Almost finished the loft section, SDS is the way to go, especially if it's concentrated on the join line between brick and mortar as it splits them apart, rather than trying to chip out the mortar itself. I'd like to continue to take the first floor and ground floor sections out, but am...

The RSJ will run parallel to the existing floor joists, so it won't (shouldn't?) come into contact with them, just the padstones and the wall above it - does that make it simpler?

How much extra would we expect to pay to get supporting-wall-removed RSJ hidden in a ceiling void and leaving a flush ceiling between two rooms? I.e. if our quote for removing the wall, fitting RSJ below ceiling level, boxing it up and making good all plaster etc was £1500, and we asked them...

We're looking at cork glue-down tiles for our kitchen/dining room, and after doing various scratch/damp/visual/barefoot tests, the one that keeps coming up the favourite is the plain untreated cork tile - it looks natural, is fairly pale and not the almost orange that varnished tiles can be, has...

Thanks for this, bought an SDS drill with chisel and took the first brick out in about ten seconds, so this could save us £s in paid labour, if not ££s or even £££s. Any tips for when I come to the ceiling void of the first floor? I presume at some point I'll have to switch from working in...

Thanks a lot for all of this, I kind of understand what's happening now. We might be okay with a 13amp hob, but wouldn't want to regret it if it turned out to be underpowered. Will keep checking the reviews. With regard to outdoor garden devices, we coincidentally went for a push lawnmower...

Okay, so in what situations would this actually be dangerous in comparison to a modern unit? i only understood half the words you wrote. :) And is it likely that the wiring in the house is from the same vintage, or would it need an inspection to find out?

Not chosen a model yet, but in a 2-minute search for best reviews came up with this: http://www.bosch-home.co.uk/our-products/cooking/hobs/hobs-range/PIA611B68B.html In the specs it says 'GB plug', so is this a hob that can be run from a normal 13amp socket? Quite a few induction hobs seem...

Hi, we're looking to get an induction hob installed (currently have gas cooker), and while some can be run on a 13amp plug it doesn't sound ideal as with two or more rings working the available power can be limited. This is our current meter/fusebox setup, which the builder seemed to think...

We're looking to get an internal wall chimney breast removed, along with the ground floor dividing wall. We have an engineer and builder lined up to spec and do the work, so it will all be done professionally to building control regulations. But there is a stack of bricks in the loft, already...

Screeds of posts on internet forums about how unreliable they are - they're cheap, but seem to be cheap for a reason, and generally people asking about them are encouraged to spend a bit more to get a better quality boiler, rather than paying for repairs further down the line.

Thanks, I'm pretty sure it does try twice but could be wrong. When we try the heating it can require a reset, but the water does not. Got an engineer coming tomorrow anyway, will see what he says. I know Vokera are not the most reliable but it was in the house when we bought it, and we'd...

It tries to ignite a few times, then stops trying and the red light stays on. It always turns off when demand is stopped though.

Our Vokera boiler shows a red light when it tries to ignite the gas - it fails to ignite, and when we turn off the hot water tap or turn down the heating thermostat the red light goes back to green/flashing green. Before we get an engineer to look at it, any ideas what could be wrong?