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Don't squash the insulation, this makes it less effective. It is normal to use T&G chipboard flooring in a loft. If you support it on loft legs they can be fitted without removing the existing insulation or squashing it.

It would be better to have a join where your laser line is. That will get rid of the two thin slivers of tile near the top and bottom walls in your photo. In the other direction put the centre of a tile in the centre of the gap between the two walls. You will the end up with one full tile along...

Lay out a row of tiles, with spacers in between them, on the floor in each direction to form a cross shape. Adjust the starting position in both directions so that you don't get any small slivers of tile near any wall or the door.

P5 is strong enough, OSB may be stronger but why is the extra strength needed? Your professional tradeperson prefers P5, be guided by them, that is one of the reasons for using experienced professionals.

The IET say that IPC's should not be used on consumer tails. https://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/years/2022/89-march-2022/insulation-piercing-connectors/ Their use seems particularly unnecessary since you have an isolator available to disconnect the tails. A proper fix would be to...

I would risk it for a small amount of money that I could afford to lose or which would likely be recoverable from a credit card company. They are a small, family run business with premises in Batley. They seem to have been trading for a couple of years. I have never used them. They get mixed...

We pay our money (or not) and take our choices. Smart lighting works well for me in a variety of situations. You are free to stick with lights controlled by switches if you wish, I also do that in some situations. I also use smart lighting to switch bedroom lights on at a low level in the...

Why is it worse? A smart light comes on automatically when entering a room and goes off automatically when the room is empty. When away from home smart lighting can be used to simulate the lighting activity which would happen when someone was at home. This might help to deter break ins.

The guidance quoted above contains the word "should" several times and does not contain the word "must" at all. I interpret "should" as being good practice but not compulsory and "must" as being a mandatory/legal requirement. So, in an existing building, it would be good practice to have a...

What's happening here? That pipe looks a bit kinky.

I have no problem with anyone wearing rubber gloves when doing electrical work. It is possible to buy gloves which are designed and tested for electrical safety. They are a last line of defence when working on circuits which are believed to be safely isolated. There are no circumstances where...

You have stated that you have no idea about the regulations. You intend to buy some rubber gloves for safety, PPE is an absolute last resort for safety. You haven't indicated that you know how to isolate this circuit and test that it is safe before you start work. You haven't indicated that you...

No.

You don't usually need to empty a hot water tank to change a tap washer/cartridge. If you close the valve on the cold water feed into the hot water cylinder the cylinder will stay full of hot water and none/very little will come out at the tap.

Did you get a quote for the work? Did they say how long it would take?

You need to buy enough test equipment to be absolutely certain that the cables that you are about to work on are safe. Do not rely on rubber gloves to keep yo u alive.

Loft legs are fine when installed as the manufacturers instructions. How many reports have you ever seen of loft legs collapsing? I have them, I weigh more than 16 stone and I can walk around in the loft without them moving or collapsing.

Good that you can feel airflow in the loft. Good that your insulation is working well. Normal to get some ice forming on cold surfaces like roof membrane. When it thaws it will drip onto the loft insulation and do no harm. On a warmer day it will evaporate from the loft insulation. If you have...

Our drive slopes towards the road and has an Acco drain between the drive and the footpath. The joints in the Acco drain seem to be a bit leaky. There is a pipe from the end of the Acco drain leading under the lawn, I don't know if there is a soakaway. ;) If the Acco drain fills up during heavy...

Being under the existing loft insulation is likely to be enough but the cost of pipe lagging is low and the cost of burst pipes is high. I would lag them with the thickest pipe lagging that I could get to fit.