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Hi all, This is in my own house. I'm not panicking because it has been there years (don't know exactly how many). It's in the middle of a roughly 3m span across the room (I know...) and it's probably 40% joist depth. Just one joist is notched like this. There is already a piece of ply screwed...

Hi all, I have a consumer unit in the house but the main fuse is next to the meter which is installed on the wall in the garage. I realise that individual circuit fuses tripping normally indicates a fault on that circuit. However, my main fuse (not the one on the consumer unit but the one on...

Hello all, I need to dig a run for some 4" underground drain pipe. It's not a massive project, just draining a small paved area and the shed roof. Its going from where I stood to take the below photo, out under the gate in the picture and to a perfect spot in my front garden. After the gate...

Hi all, There is an LED lit mirror in our upstairs bathroom. It has no fused spur. I didn't wire it in. When we go on holiday I like to turn most things off, and I've noticed that this mirror has a red power indicator which is on at all times. There is no way on the unit itself to switch it...

Hi all, Just laid some ACO channel and a short concrete path in a difficult spot behind my garage. Because the concrete had "nowhere to go" I installed a 10mm foam expansion all the way around the edge. This isn't a massive area just 2.5m x 0.9m. Anyway, about the foam expansion gap, will...

Hi all, I have a cart lodge which is built on a concrete pad (which has a DPM underneath). On top of that is 6 courses of bricks, then a DPC, and then timber upwards from there. Behind the cartloddge there is a roughly 0.9M wide path which separates it from the shed base (to the right of the...

Hi all Pictures attached of a retaining wall that has failed in my garden. I believe that lack of drainage has caused the failure. There is no drainage through the front of the wall or around the sides either. It seems to have failed above the first course of bricks, which themselves are held...

Hi, Just wondered on this. I've been doing DIY project for years, always mixing by hand either in a bucket or in the wheel barrow. I feel it's finally time to treat myself and fork out for a mixer, particularly since my next project is a other shed base (and a retaining wall to hold it up) to...

Hi all, I've a small garden wall to build this summer. It's only to be 7 courses of brick high and barely 3m long. It'll retain some soil (with drainage installed behind leading around either end of it) but isn't structural for any weight on top. I've dug out my trench for the footing and I...

My roof has an issue with the tiles splintering every time there is a frost. Each spring I scoop the pieces of tile out of the gutters to stop them travelling into the drains. There are no leaks inside the building, but I am wondering how long left I've got. I did find some of the ridge tiles...

Hi all, So, my garage (left of the picture) has an issue with water soaking through the rear wall and looking on the floor inside after heavy rain. The garage is laid on a concrete pad, which has a DPM underneath. The side and rear walls are only 6 courses high (single wall, not cavity), and...

Hi all, I have a pretty large driveway that was covered in about two tonnes of loose gravel. Over the years it collected a huge amount of general filth so I decided to sweep away all the gravel and use it for backfill behind a garden wall elsewhere. Anyway, I was planning to buy clean fresh...

Hi all, Whilst I do indulge in all sorts of DIY, messing with my oil burner is not really something I want to do out of choice. However, I have a Grant Vortex Boiler, with a Reillo RBL burner (& pump). I've actually got my boiler service paid for to happen in January, pre booked...

Hi all, Just needing a sanity check please that what I'm doing here doesn't contravene any electrical (or other) regs. I DIY'd our bathroom last year. The one thing I didn't do was find a space to fit a towel holder. However, the other day when I was doing something else in our airing...

15mm gap between brickwork of extension (right of image) and of old building (left of image). Been there 15year already and isn't causing an issue. It just bothers me aesthetically. Is it likely that this gap is necessary for ventilation of the cavity perhaps, or can I fill it? Would you go...

Hi all, Not a dramatic post really. I am smartening up my garage this summer. Although 3 of the walls have thermalite blocks in addition to the brick walls, one section is just single skin (one brick). This wall has a DPC 150mm off the floor level inside. Moisture rises to this point and...

Hi all, Last two nights my CH pump has been running all night. My setup is: - Grant Vortex oil boiler, floor mounted in a protected but unheated cold area (detached garage). - Honeywell frost stat mounted directly above the boiler. - Unvented heatrae sadia megaflow cylinder. We don't call...

Hi all, I'm refitting our bathroom. Hoping someone can suggest a solution to this wiring issue I've found. Apon removing the old vanity unit, I was surprised to find a junction box screwed to the wall directly behind it, a few inches from the sink pipework. Looks to me like it was once used...

Hi, I've just installed some lovely under-the-stairs cupboards with nicely scribed trims and plinth etc. Really happy with my general carpentry effort. However, foolishly, I was focusing on the woodwork and think I may have gone for an electrical solution that was convenient rather than correct...

Hi all, Not drastically urgent but I had a new heating engineer come and serviced my HRM Wallstar today. All fine except he only had an 80deg nozzle in the van and the manual says it should be 60deg. The previous two nozzles have both been 60deg. He said it wouldn't make any difference and...