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Ah, okay. That's really helpful.

Thanks for all the advice. Really helpful.

I'm not sure how long I can expect to string out the life of the roof in its current state. You can probably see in the pictures it's letting in daylight in a few places. If the worst comes to the worst, I think I might be able sort it out with the freeholder but I'd rather avoid that if I...

I'll try to get a roofer to come and have a look at it. It sounds like maybe it could be better just to support it and not try to push it back into place. I've only recently had access to the roof space but I've lived in the building for 23 years (it's a terrace house divided into 2 flats and I...

The purlin is there. There should just be one on each side, shouldn't there? I think it might just be the angle I took those pictures - the section of the rafters you can see in the original pics is below the purlin. I've taken some wider angle ones.

I live in a Victorian terrace house. The roof needs replacing but I want to wait until I've bought the freehold before getting that done. In the meantime I just want to keep it repaired as best I can. One of the rafters has almost broken in two, causing the roof to dip. I was planning to lift...

That's great. Thank you.

I watched a few of those. But perhaps I'm making it too complicated by trying to cast it in melamine? The picture I posted is from a blog post where they explain how they did it: https://www.themodernhouse.com/journal/how-to-create-a-concrete-fireplace-hearth/ Could I do something a bit like...

This is the sort of finish I wanted: IMG_4346-950x1425.jpg I was going to use cement dye to get it a bit darker.

Thanks for your replies. Really helpful. The main reason I was hoping to make it in a mould was so I'd get a smooth surface. Could it work if I poured concrete as a base layer - so I dig out the front hearth first, lay a dpm and put down a first layer of concrete to get it level, then cast the...

Hi. I'm getting a multi-fuel stove installed in about 3 weeks. It's going into a fireplace that I've stripped back to the builder's opening. I need to build the hearth. I think I'm going to make it out of concrete. One option would be to fix batons around the front of where the hearth needs to...

Thanks. I'll be careful about that.

It's not too bad. There are mortar stains (mainly cement mortar) here and there. I'm just keen to get them off before I get the scaffolding taken down.

Thanks. The lime stains aren't too bad. It's more the cement mortar I need to remove. I'll have a go at it with acid.

Hi. I've recently had my house repointed. It's been a bit of a saga - they pointed it with cement mortar first so I got them to rake it out and do it again with lime mortar. It's done now. But there are quite a few stains on the faces of the bricks - both from the cement mortar and the lime...

Hi. I'm getting my house repointed. It's a terraced house in East London, built around 1888 and the front is all soft red bricks. The bricks aren't in great condition. The faces aren't perfect rectangles - they're quite bashed and chipped. I need to decide between weather struck pointing and...

Thanks. That's a really useful tip.

@big-all Thanks for your advice about the letterbox. I see what you mean - they've completely cut out the joint between the middle rail and the mullion. Where would you position the letterbox? Just lower down? Or would you avoid having a letterbox in the door altogether?

@JobAndKnock Thanks. That's very helpful advice. It's not as hopeless as I thought then! So on those 2 lower panels, I assumed there was originally more to those panels but the raised parts are all that's left . Could I just fill the space between raised centre and the surrounding frame with...

I live in a Victorian terrace. My front door has been covered up with sheets of fibreboard on both sides for as long as I've lived here. Years ago a decorator had a look under the fibreboard and said he thought it was the original front door. I've recently removed the fibreboard on the inside...