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We have a stair rail with painted spindles, and what we think is varnished handrails. What can we do to keep the natural colour of the handrail but have a clear glossy finish? I was thinking of sanding and then using varnish? But which varnishes are good for a decent long lasting finish? Not...

I can't seem to find anything solid that clearly states whether or not unprotected copper pipes will be corroded by gypsum based plaster, in my case bonding plaster. Some say it does (most), some say it doesn't. If it does how long are we talking before the copper pipes fail and leak?

Are these okay to use? It would certainly make it more straightforward to connect my bathroom basin to the waste pipe running up the wall from the floor, but is it the best option?

First time tiling - going rather well, though trowelling tile adhesive on to walls is a nightmare. 'ALL' the videos show bucket trowel in most cases a couple of lumps on to the notched trowel, then wiping it all over the wall with the straight edge, then using the notched side to spread. When I...

I need to get the bath waste pipe from the pipe popping up through the floor boards, across to roughly where the red box of rawl plugs is (for the bath waste connection). How do you plan/go about this? I know I need to know where the bath feet are going and have nothing clashing. Is it best to...

Am fitting a bath (single ended) which will fit in to the corner of the bathroom. What's a workable order to 'do things' in terms of - Fit the bathwaste and overflow (first), fit the trap to the waste (second), then levelling, positioning etc - how do you measure and cut/fit the pipe (I'm using...

Mortar joint:

Here’s up close after rain stopped.

Okay, it’s rained and there’s still some dampness inside. I repointed, angle grinding the old mortar off, mixed up 3:1 and applied. Added drip channel, also put a bead of silicone as an ‘enhanced’ drip channel. Pictures showing that the mortar joint is damp at the bottom, but not above it. As...

Mapei Super flexible (standard set) - you then use plastic dowels, screwed through dabs and wall to mechanically fix them in place.

Okay, another potential issue. As per the photo there is a bead of sealant of some kind and it partially bridges/covers the drip channel. It doesn’t push back when pressed either. Is this going to be an issue?

I’m soon to be tiling our bathroom and it seems that anything less than 3mm is ill advised for non rectified tiles. My father in law used 2mm spacers, but the grout line is closer to 4-5mm. We want the thinnest we can have for cleaning reasons. Also with a standard set adhesive, when do you...

Okay it's raining, and there's a string of water ruinning down the front middle, and the mortar underneath the middle and right hand joint (from the front) looks dark/wet. What could this be? Is it the mortar joints between them allowing water, which then hits the DPC and then it leaks either...

Thank you. I've now continued the drip channel (by scratching it in with a nail) - there was even evidence that just where the mortar meets the wall it was darker than the rest, implying it may be getting wet due to missing channel. Did it to the rear of the capping stones too. Will see how it...

Like wedi yes, but Marmox in my case.

Will the voids behind dot and dabbed backer boards cause any problems or cosmetic issues once tiled and used in a bathroom? Will the dabs be cold bridges to the masonary wall for example? Is there any solution, or is this not an issue?

There's some 'leaky marks' which I thought was caused by the mortar between the coping stones having failed - the mortar has been chiseled out and replaced. The roof is moist on the inside of garage, after rain fall on the inside underneath and behind the parapet wall, on the right hand side...

The bathroom is completely ripped out back to basics. The plan is to have plumber 1st fix, chase in walls, hide in between floor boards where possible all plumbing and waste. I am going to be using a Hansgrohe concealed 2 outlet shower valve. The iBox part will be installed by the plumber...

What's best practice. I've noticed some patios and pathways have a few mm gap - filled with sand/cement. Some have the slabs butted up to each other with no gap. Advantages of one way vs the other? From experience our old patio which we inherited has 4-5mm gaps filled with cement/sand and it's...

What about a filter? Something like this? https://www.uk-water-filters.co.uk/products/no-salt-softener-single-unit-20l-min?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=9f9b38eb6&pr_rec_pid=8000777322790&pr_ref_pid=8000776208678&pr_seq=uniform