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My conservatory (4 years old) has only had the UFH on for 2 days at a Christmas when the grandchildren were racing about. I found that it gave me itchy ankles. My tilled kitchen 16 sq.m has tiles and rads, no problems. On the other hand our bathroom on the ground floor is tiled on an old solid...

Building regs are to provide a habitable and safe enviroment to live in. If you want to work in your office wearing a great coat and hat, or if you want to spend £1 an hour on heating , ignore them. Having said that, its best to call the change an insulated workshop, then you can officially...

It looks problematic, do you have enough uprights to fix the new Hardy stuff on? I suspect that the roof beam(plate) at the front would have been nailed downwards into the corner posts, how do you intend to deal with this? Again you will have to support the roof as the wooden window frames would...

Wood lathes only weigh a few hundred weight, metal lathes as much as you like but typically a ton for a 6" Harrison or Colchester, Myfords on the other hand go at 1 1/2 hundred weight. I have a one ton mill (30" square base) sitting on a 4mm spreader plate , on OSB, on wooden joists, but they...

If your joists are 4" X 2"* then 4' should do, its the domestic floor support (also depends on what you want to put in it). If the joist are smaller then you should decrease the gap between the blocks. * 4" = vertical height Frank

It says on the container, 50% cement from memory. It goes along way, 5 sq m /litre? I use a small stiff polypropolylene brush because you have to work it into the surface of rough material. It has a fast initial set so don't mix up too much and have a bucket of water handy to clean the brush. If...

Lucas the car electrical people used to use the motto " The King of the road", because of the unreliability of their kit, some wag renamed them " the Prince of darkness" . :-) I think it was used to describe Machaivelli, in earlier years Frank

Wow, here be dragons, never heard of or seen those, are they graded for not being shaped like a dog's leg. Structural timber uses the " C" system. Can't see a C in their number. Frank

The first question is:- do you want a vaulted roof (clear of obstructions) or a trussed roof, cheaper but needs cross pieces running across from the bottom of opposing joists. This can be compromised into "collared" joists where the horizontal beam is not right at the bottom of the joists, but...

If its the normal tanalising or such like it will go grey in a year. Frank P.S. "graded" timber is tested for its strength and is not specially coloured, it will have " C16 " or "C24" stamped on it.

It should be at least 6", yours looks marginal (short). The problem is that a big percentage of the weight of the roof will be taken via the RSJ on to that last bit of the wall, so the loading on the soil will be greater then on the rest of the house, so you get differential settlement. Frank

So how many joists or bearers have you got? 16' width then you need about 5 per joist (across the width). Frank

You don't say how thick the wall is or if it has got piers, I presume the soil level is the same both sides of the wall. That 200mm is to the top of the foundations?, if its to the bottom of the concrete then the foundations are far too thin and I would not build a shed within 12' of it. Frank

Could this RSJ, which now is not doing anything be a load spreader for the original strut sitting under the roof purlin. Son in law had such an arrangement in his bungalow loft. In his case the builder removed it when putting in the loft conversion. Frank

It looks like the right hand internal wall has also moved to the left (crack around the ceiling). What can you see on the outside? I would think its just settlement, though it could still be moving due to tree roots etc. Frank

One way of joining worksurface sections is to use three biscuits glued in the edges and two inserted screw clamps. So look at the underneath of any joints and remove the clamps by undoing the long hexagonal nuts. Then try wiggling thhe joints if you are lucky the biscuits will crack or at least...

I would not pour any concrete over the floor as it will make any further remedial work impossible. Wait until the floor dries out a bit (August?) Then tank the lower inside with a SBR/cement slurry. Use 4 coats. Then keep your fingers crossed. The SBR finish is rugged enough to walk on but...

Because its a dangerous and sppecialised job and the correct spares are required, a garage door firm should be used. I doubt if anyone else would be interested so they have you over a barrel, If you have change from £200 you will be lucky. Frank

I think that's your problem, the base inside the box seems to be at a lower level then the surrounding concrete, so it will always fill with water after rainfall. But it seems to be under the DPC so should not put damp into the house. The new rendering is bridging the damp course as the "wall"...

Those straps are very OTT. Most of the material will be wasted, unless you beat up the waste into the shape you want. This is actually quite good. Using the bit with the bent right angle, you will have to drill and plug at an angle so the leg that runs towards your wood is 1/2" (?) higher on...