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Perhaps Birds have smaller mouths than i realised - could this be such a joint, with a nail straight through it?

Hi, Is it likely that the lower ends of roof rafters have been simply nailed to the wall-plate? Picture A shows the general appearance, Picture B the nail. I was expecting something like a Bird’s Mouth joint, as I can’t see anything else serving the function of a tie-beam. The room is 2.5...

A half-height dishwasher? As in the mini-counter-top sort? Or is there something else out there?!

Hi, How much space is needed for plumbing under a kitchen sink? I ask because I have a space 143cm wide - and want to cram in three things: the sink, a fridge and a dishwasher. Would it be possible to get extra cupboard space by mounting the sink on the work-surface itself, rather than in a...

Who's Tony? I did these myself!

Hi, Reckon i'll get criticized for this, but how should i go about roofing this extension? I was thinking of an RSJ along the long dimension, with perpendicular exposed timbers - then I realised how heavy that would be. The window means that i'd prefer to avoid a pitched roof. The house...

Hi, How many drain pipes can connect through a single p trap? I was planning on a single drain pipe carrying the waste from three toilets and two showers, passing through a p trap before the inspection chamber. The trap suddenly looks pretty small, and likely to get blocked by toilet...

Hi, How thick should the marine ply be on a bathroom floor fixed at 400mm centres? I was thinking that 25mm would be more than enough...... However, a wet-room supplier tells me i will need also 6mm cement board on top of this too to prevent bending. This seems excessive to me. We only had...

Hi, I currently have a ceramic pipe leading into my main drain inspection chamber. It is fed by a combined soil pipe and waste water inlet which includes some sort of old P trap/bottle gully. As part of fitting new toilets, I am adding a new soil stack. I want to connect this to the existing...

To explain a bit more, I am intending to remove the gully, and was thinking that i then could simply connect the remaining part of the straight connection ("A") to the stack. That is what the green pipe is meant to show. To do this, if i point the rest-bend in the right direction, it seems to...

And another

And another attempt....

Hmmm, not sure what happened there! Hopefully this one works......

Hi, Looking for some advice on how best to add a new connection to my existing 1960s drains - and where best to put the waste stack. I've tried to draw the layout below. Essentially, there is a manhole cover and inspection chamber about 1.5 metres from the house. This is currently fed by two...

Hi, Looking for some advice on fittings for vented hot water cylinders…… For the coil, 1” male seems standard – would changing this for either a 22mm or 28mm compression fitting be £20 well-spent?! Similarly, I can change the gender of the cold-feed and the hot-water draw-off from female to...

Hi, Not quite sure if this is the right section to ask in, but here goes....... We are just about to order a stove and, before the installer arrives, i want to sort out the constructional hearth. This raises a couple of questions..... 1. Our chosen stove, the Contura i5, requires an "air...

Wondering if the lack of scale if putting folks off from commenting - or the generally crappy pictures! The numbers are length x height x width - so, 1000mm long, 200mm high, 50mm wide. The two squares at the bottom of the picture represent beams that run perpendicular to the "problem beam"...

Hi, I am renovating a cob cottage, and would like to increase the head-height over the first part of the main staircase. Removing the plaster has revealed a beam, which crosses between two internal walls, which is the problem. The first question is why is the beam there? The second question...

Hi, (Not sure if this is a building thread or a wood-work one - apologies if it's in the wrong place!) I want to reinforce an existing timber beam by sistering it to another piece of timber. Having searched the forum, and elsewhere online, i still have a few questions. First, I can only...

Hi, Thanks for replying so fast. Not at the house now, but will get some photos up tomorrow..... In the meantime, i do indeed mean that after 00.30 there is 240v going into the small fuseboard - but nothing detectable anywhere "downstream". Does this suggest that the contactor/other...