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While you can get narrow wood burners, the thing to remember is that the logs have to be significantly shorter. I would recomend getting the widest one that you can get to fit. Gas flues are the lowest quality stainless steel, coal/multi fuel the highest. Do a google search on type 1 or type 2...

Uncontrolled ventilation is a big no,no at the moment. If you have wooden floors then the space under them will need ventilation to stop them rotting. As for the main house, extract fans for the cooker and bathroom. Also the tumble drier will need its own permanent vent. For general...

I would just lay the block and beam to slope of 20mm/m . The grass can't be absolutely flat and you expect it to drain to one edge. So the question is how much of a slope can you put on it before it becomes noticable? and also not to flood during a cloudburst. It might make croquet a little...

As said, if the ground floor bay is moving the the first floor one, which is sitting on it, will also move. So look very carefully at the side of the ground floor bay for any cracks. If it seems OK, then it because the original wooden downstairs window frames that were supporting the upstairs...

In my previous house the down pipe was exactly on the boundary between the two semis, so was the underground clay pipe. This had caused a lot of problems with my new fence posts!! The clay pipe just ran 3m meters under the boundary then stopped. I just rerouted the pipe to my side of the...

So figure out how you are going to support the roof, like a long piece of timber or some concrete lintels., then how you are going to support that set up, wooden posts/brick piers. Then spread your equally height windows along underneath and make the widths of the posts/piers to take up the...

use :- http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Cavity-Closer-2-5m-Pack-6/p/190543 ? Frank

The hole through the cavity wall should be lined. this is so the warm damp air is not being blown into the cavity and causing condensation on the inner skin of your walls. One day you may wish to insulate the cavities and the holes would need lining at this stage anyway. At installation time...

I would start off by trying to fix the higher damp spot. Its just below and to the left of the original brick lintel. Does the arch stick out a bit? If you have a Victorian sash window, their construction is very complex, and you don't know what has been left inside the wall especially as the...

Our cottage is at least 212 years old, rock and rubble construction. No rising damp, loads of penetrating damp. Just get the outside soil level below the floor level. Frank

Stuff we all do because we found out about it 20 years ago are being imparted in a 10 minute burst to DIYalot. Interestingly I have met some old timer type builders, who do not bother to gauge materials. One who used 1/2 a bottle of plasticisier for a one wheelbarrow mix. I noticed this because...

Something like this:- http://www.spear-and-jackson.com/product/fibrelite/fibrelite-taper-mouth-shovel, a large "contractors" shovel for shoveling not digging. My brother once told me that their capacity is measured in pecks, giving " bushels" of mix. I can't find any references in Wiki to back...

If the drain has always been there then its the original builders who did not fit the extra bricks. FWIW Victorian salt glaze angle at this position are extremely tight, they do the 90* in about 5" of overall length, slow bends they ain't. Frank

I had one similar to that. I would not recomend them to anyone. That "missing" bit rougthly a 45 degree triangle will pour out water when in use. Use a longer one or a full length curtain. Frank

We have a large airing cupboard in a very old house. The airing cupboard has always smelt musty. I have been doing some plumbing in the cupboard and found that the cold feed pipes are sweating very heavily. I know that insulation will cure this BUT, there is a multitude of bends and Ts so I know...

A plastic dustbin full of water is handy. 14 slightly heaped shovelfuls and 1/2 bag of cement for 4:1. Put bag on scrap board and cut with trowel. Or for smaller amounts bag of ballast and 3 1/2 l of cement. Frank

So is the moral always start off with the screw attachment until you have an idea whats what? I have never used my rubber plunger end, I can see that it wont pass old fashioned mortared joints and might get caught in plastic couplers as there is a gap between the pipes and the pipes have dead...

Just try opening a kitchen floor cupboard and have a grovel in the back of it. I think 1m is too narrow. Frank

Providing the sill fixings go right through the top block and into the full block, there should be no problems. Frank

He is a builder not an electrician, he will get an electrician in, as this little job needs to be certified. Frank