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Yes its 120 years old, but no lintel in sight, taken chimney breast back to brick, see pic

Hi all In process of removing gas fire, and opening up fireplace to have a woodburner down the line. Pulled it all out, and a bit surprised to find no lintel! All I can see is a very small metal bar spanning brickwork, and also the mantel piece goes back about 3 inches into the brickwork, could...

Hi all Considering ripping out a horrible 1970s fireplace. There are quarry tiles on the hearth on what could be an asbestos cement underlay. Any suggestions on how to handle? Perhaps tile over? Thanks

Hi guys Doing some decorating on a late 1800s property, Victorian red brick and concerned over absestos. Chimney breast in dining room is boxed in with plasterboard so pulling this down. Behind skirting, noticed dark matetial between brick work that looks like it has some big fibres in it -...

Hi all I'm getting the back of my house (1890s terrace) re-rendered in a lime/cement mix, so it is more breathable than cement render I need to get a breathable paint, but also need to colour match it against adjacent wall Anyone know of any breathable paints that can colour match? All seem to...

Chaps I'm needing to lay some solid wood flooring and as such I will need to make long straight cuts on boards a few feet long. Never seem to get a straight cut with a handsaw, what would be the best electric tool to use - a circular saw perhaps? Also needing to do a bit of skirting - assuming...

Or could use something like this and skip the underlay? http://www.directwoodflooring.co.uk/elka-bond-trowel-flex.html

I think the floor is level enough, but I'm fitting it myself so thinking gluing would be easier. It wouldn't be floating as boards would be glued directly to ply through slats in the underlay using a flexible adhesive - but would the underlay just be a waste of time/money? Thinking it might...

Mixture of ply and floorboards, joists have been relevelled but it's still not 100%

Hi all I am laying solid oak flooring onto ply (with some floorboards at edges), and am torn between secret nailing, and gluing over a slatted underlay like this one: http://www.screwfix.com/p/acoustalay-slatted-glue-through-foam-underlay-5mm-16-5m-16-5m/62862 Does anyone have any experience...

Thanks for the very detailed reply Pic 1 shows floor sloping towards TV. This is an internal wall that contains chimney breast (to right of pic). Floorboards run in same direction apart from the other side of the room in pic 2. The different directions are because there used to be a corridor...

As in the plan I've been quoted £2.5k for - to cut down some of the joists to make level, and then add in additional joists to support. Trimming was referring to cutting the joists down to make level - not best choice of word! Pics attached - thanks for your help, out my depth somewhat with...

Thanks for the reply - I think the plan was to provide additional support to the trimmed joists. The concern over raising was interfering with door frames. Can't see to bearing ends atm unfortunately, but joists from where I can see are in v good condition Skirting already needs replacing so...

Hi all - some help would be greatly appreciated! We have a raised timber floor which is out of level - a drop of about 3 inches across a 4m wide room, perpendicular to the joist direction. Ripped up floorboards and joists are in good nick, but I want the floor levelled (not sure why it's out...

Hi all I'm replacing the original Victorian floorboards (not tongue and groove) in my living room as they're in bad nick. How can I best preserve the character when replacing - I'm assuming nailing to joists would be best as opposed to using screws? Found some reclaimed floorboards but they...

Yeah the laminate bounced a lot, because padding was used to fill in uneven floor which didn't really work very well

Hi all, I recently moved into a 1900 terrace with raised timber floors. Upon pulling back the laminate in the front room, looks like floorboards are in bad nick - different styles and direction, and a big slope. We had planned to sand and varnish the floorboards but they won't look good...

Thanks for the reply, Frank. House is 1880s terrace, but was converted to a shop a long time ago hence the bresummer (I did another post about this which resulted in me getting the structural engineer in!). Can't tell if it's live woodworm or not - there are a few exit holes and the edge is a...

Hi all, I have a timber bresummer beam supporting the front elevation of my house, which has sagged in the past causing some structural movement (upstairs windows lean inwards) - there is some evidence of woodworm in the beam but it's 'not too bad' apparently. Had a structural engineer round...

Hi - did you ever buy the house with the failing beam (windows leaning inwards)? I've got a similar issue so be interested to hear if you had it fixed. Cheers Luke