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I am looking for a 230v, 7-day programmable thermostat. I have wired a 3-core-and-earth to where the thermostat will be, so want a mains voltage one, to prevent having to have batteries. Why then when I search for 230v programmers, do they say in the specs "battery powered?" Do they have...

I am building a stud wall to cut my bathroom in half. The room has a flat roof. Between the roof joists I am fitting 100mm deep of rigid foam insulation; beneath this 25mm deep continuous layer of foil-backed rigid foam insulation, with the joints foil-taped to act as an airtightness layer and...

I'm thinking of getting this door from Wickes: http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/205897?w=205897 but I only have a softwood frame, not a hardwood one. Will it be strong enough?

Hi I am building an extension which is subject to all the usual Building Regs. It has a loft, so I need to put in a hatch, but the building has a very traditional, lime plaster/oak finish, and I hate the appearance of the plastic loft hatches that you can buy which are guaranteed to comply...

I am renovating a cottage which has a large flat roofed extension on the south side. I don't have the funds right now to install solar PV, but while I am rewiring the house and have the floorboards up, would it be a good idea to run any cabling which would allow me to install solar PV in the...

I am wondering which type of boiler to have. There is currently no central heating or water heating system in an old cottage which I am renovating. It's a tiny place and my hot water requirements are minimal. I am intending to install radiators, but am wondering about how to create hot water...

I am having an inch thick solid oak tongue and groove flooring laid onto joists, over insulated concrete on the whole of the ground floor. First I must lay central heating pipes. It's an entirely new system. Is it best to use plastic or copper for central heating? What size? Should they be...

I have just had a new flat roof, with new joists, and firrings which significantly are positioned perpendicular to the joists, over which is 18mm OSB and a fibreglass roof. When temperature changes occur, in the morning and evening, the roof goes "doink!" over and over, until the temperature...

I'm buying a considerable quantity of stainless stop beads, drip beads and movement joints for external lime render on a very old house which has some modern extensions, therefore different substrates. I see that there are stop beads and drip beads available with either a mesh wing or a...

My new roof finishes inside a gable wall with an upstand. The roofer will be doing the lead work to bring the rainwater round inside that upstand, and the builder tells me that the lead will have to be "stitched" to make it one piece, rather than simply overlapping several pieces of lead. Can...

I'v'e fitted U-PVC windows before but am having new timber windows made for my house and would like to fit them myself. Is there anything I should know which makes fitting timber windows more complicated than fitting UPVC ones? Is there any more to it than marking where the fixings will be...

Hi. I have had to lower external ground levels on my 18th century house, so that they are lower than internal ground levels. There is a narrow sideway where I have removed the concrete slab, but this leaves an adjacent garden wall with no foundations. It was sitting on top of the slab. The wall...

Hi, I have a 16th Century timber framed house. It has been previously rendered with a cement render, onto expanded metal lath attached directly to the frame. Clearly, a timber frame ought to be ventilated, and this cement render does not allow the frame to breathe. Moreover, where the...