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Hi. I'm trying to restore a Victorian front door that has cricket bat panels. It's supposed to look like this: https://www.doorsie.com/external-doors/islington.html The top 2 panels are missing. In order to replace them, I need to either make or buy the raised moulding in the centre of each...

Hi. Does anybody know where to get those black metal security gates you see in porches of terraced houses? I wanted one with an integrated lock so I don't need to use a padlock, and a letterbox - or a gap to allow access to the letterbox in my front door. I'd expected them to be easy to get...

Hi. I need to replace my front door because I was burgled a couple of days ago. I'd like to get it done quickly. There's a company in London that does next day door replacements. They advertise what they describe as a solid hardwood security door. I asked them what type of wood they use and...

I need to get a plasterboard ceiling taken down. I'm reconfiguring the rooms so covering it up isn't an option. Part of it is Artex, which has been covered over with plasterboard, now exposed in places where internal walls have been removed. I expected the Artex to be positive for asbestos, as...

I'm decorating an upstairs bedroom in my house, which is a 1890 Victorian terrace. I've had to remove the damaged old ceiling, exposing the joists. I'm getting the ceiling plasterboarded and the walls and ceiling skimmed. I haven't had any problems with damp. I'm wondering whether the plasterer...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Hi. I'm getting the brickwork on my Victorian terrace house repointed. Before the builders started, I asked what type of mortar they use. They told me lime mortar. But they're using Portland cement. A couple of people have told me cement mortar is fine for brick. But I thought that's what you...

Hi. I'm trying to plumb in a period radiator. I've used 3/4" x 1/2" reducers to make modern valves fit. It leaks around the reducers, where they screw into the radiator. I used PTFE tape around the threads but perhaps that's not enough. Would a good helping of jointing compound do it? Or should...

I've got a small, old-fashioned cast iron radiator that I want to fit. It's only 55cm wide by 40cm tall. So it's too short to stand on feet on the floor – but it's still very heavy. What would you use to fix it to the wall?

Hi. I wanted to install an old cast iron radiator in my flat. I haven't bought the radiator yet but it looks like the fittings are 22mm. The pipework in my flat is 15mm. That works fine with my combi boiler. Can I install the radiator on 15mm pipework? It looks like it's physically possible...

Hi. I'm based in London. A 2.5 m sq section of my kitchen ceiling collapsed a couple of months ago, thanks to an unattended leak in the flat above me. The whole ceiling is about 8 m sq. I put in a claim on my buildings insurance, which I'm beginning to regret now. Two months later, nothing...

Hi. I need to get some windows in my flat replaced and I'd like to have double glazing put in. I had an estimate from Anglian - which was sky-high - and I'd like to ask a few smaller, local firms to quote. I'm in London. I've been looking on mybuilder. Does anybody have any other...

Hi. I've got a bay window in my kitchen that needs replacing. The original single-glazed wooden frame is quite rotten and I'd like to have it replaced with new double-glazed windows. Over the winter, there was a leak in the ceiling of the bay window, caused by a damaged gutter. The leak is...