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I’ve been decorating my daughter’s room so removed the rads for painting. The tails have got blanking caps and the TRV and lockshield valve are closed. Before the room is carpeted I wanted to change the TRV to reduce any issues in the future with stuck pins and to have a more modern looking...

I have a 1930s semi-detached property with a curved bay window in the living room. I calculated the amount of skirting required for the room and ordered it online. 18mm thick MDF 150mm tall. Had a carpenter round today to quote for fitting it and he was very honest and said he'd had no luck...

I had a stud wall put up in a bedroom of a new house I moved into. I had the walls plastered and then sealed the plaster with some watered down Dulux matt paint. I then proceeded to paint the room with Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt. On the 2 walls that were recently plastered the paint went on like...

Hi, I am building a partition wall in a 1934 property between 2 bedrooms to create a built-in wardrobe for each bedroom. There is a brick pillar at each end that has been finished with dot-and-dab plasterboard and skim or plaster direct to the brick. The pillar is 165mm face to face. My...

Hey all. I have a stud wall made using metal framing. I have taken it down as it was built on top of floor boards that I’m replacing with t&g chipboard. Given the cost of timber I plan on reusing it when I put the wall up again however I want to put a socket in the wall. I plan on getting an...

I've filled some holes with Easifill 60 and looked to see how soon I could paint it and it says 24-hours. Had a google for a filler than can be painted the same day (for the next time) and apparently Toupret Quick Dry Filler is ready to paint in 3-hours. Any one used it? Any good? Thinking of...

The 1934 house I live in is rendered with pebbledash. I hate it but can't afford to pay someone to pull it all off and render it smooth. Anyway, these photos are from the top of the kitchen window. The gap you see above the white plastic ledge was rendered but it had blown so I pulled it out to...

Hi All I've had my gable end wall rendered with sand & cement. I want to paint it white. I've not done any external painting before. Do I treat it like fresh plaster and use a watered down coat first followed by 2 coats of undiluted paint? Can anyone advise on choice of paint? There's paint...

I need some FD30 doors to satisfy LABC. It's a 1934 property and the doorways vary in size from 1955 x 718 to 1975-715 mm The doors online all seem to state that a max of 2-3mm (depending on supplier) can be trimmed from any single edge. My understanding is that doors are fitted with 3mm gaps...

Hi All, I've been let down by a number of tilers. I guess they've got a lot of work on but it's disappointing when people don't attend to quote as agreed. Anyway, the work still needs doing. I've done a bit of tiling before but I'm so slow and have few tools that it is not the most economical...

Hi, I'm investigating replacing all the internal doors with FD30 fire doors but want to find out if the door frames will need replacing. My understanding is that the thickness of FD30 doors is 44mm compared with the thickness of a standard door of 35mm. Is it acceptable to remove the doorjam...

Hi All, I'm purchasing some internal fire doors after having the loft converted. We've decided we want to replace all the doors to a similar style so I need some advice on measuring up for ordering as I don't want to call a chippie until the doors are on-site as lead times during the conversion...

I need to chase 2 plastered brick walls in order to run some 8-core CQR cable. I'm a DIYer so don't have all the professional gear. Previously I have used an angle grinder for chases and the dust was horrendous. It's a 1930s property and the bricks were super hard. I still have the angle...

Hi, I'm speccing out a new bathroom for the loft conversion. Found a toilet the missus likes, Ideal Standard Back to Wall Aquablade Pan (E050901) and now I need to get a concealed cistern for it. The cisterns comes in either mechanical or pneumatic flavours. As long as the flush button is...

Hi, We're in the middle of a loft build and need to make certain decisions during the 1st fix to help things later on. Our current bathroom had an extractor fan wired to the lights which came on with the lights. This could be annoying as we only really need the extractor fan while we are...

I’m looking for a shower tray for my bathroom, 1000 x 800 with 2 upstands but can only find trays with 0 or 4 upstands. My understanding is that you tile over the upstands for additional protection against leaks. My tray will be against 2 walls so the additional upstands are redundant and may...

Hi, I'm having a loft conversion done and I'm considering replacing the cast iron waste pipe while the scaffolding is up as this will allow it to be taken down from the top which should make the weight more manageable. The cast iron waste is only connected to a single toilet currently and then...

Hi, I live in a 1934 semi-detached house with bay windows (5 windows per bay). The 1st floor bay wall is single-skinned, presumably to reduce the weight on the window opening below. Below is a photo of a similar property from the internet. Unfortunately I have pebble-dashing rather than bare...

Hi All, I'm after advice on decorating the window boards for my living room bay window. I will acknowledge now that had I known earlier what I know now, I would have opted to just remove and replace them with some MDF boards. I didn't think I had the requisite carpentry skills and was trying...

I phoned our buildings insurer to notify them that we're intending to have builders on site for a loft conversion. They've added some endorsements to our policy. 1 - increased the excess by £100 2 - Theft & damage is only covered if force or violence used. 3 - No storm damage cover for the...