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I'm trying to get my head around the principle of the lockshield valve when balancing radiators. All of the research and googling seems to imply that this valve controls the amount of water returning into the system, but in order to control this it suggests that those nearest the boiler...

Hi there we have a veritas alarm and a backup battery that is shot so when we have a power cut the alarm kicks off almost straight away. We live with that. Am I right in thinking that if we remove the backup battery this would not make any difference ie it would not stop it ringing. Anyway I...

We have a Beko DFN16210W dishwasher which has started to leave all items in the top rack dirty. Upon closer inspection I have found this to be due to the top arm not rotating. I have taken it off and cleaned it thoroughly, and water freely comes out of the holes but it just does not spin. The...

Hi all, we have a Mira Combiforce 415 BIV shower which we have had for a number of years. Just lately the shower head has been dripping when the control is off. I have read this is likely to be the cartridge at fault (I can't understand how it could be the washer in the hose to head connector as...

We have an old Mira Sport shower in a downstairs bathroom which we no longer use. However I've noticed there is water leaking from the bottom of the unit. We had this same problem some years ago and had a new unit fitted. I have turned the electrics off at the fuse box which supply the shower...

For some time we have had a portion of mortar cracked and come loose on the outside of the door frame where over time the door has been slammed and worked it loose. Now it has finally fallen out - see attached pic. Question is - what is the best way to repair this? I have read about using a...

Apologies in advance for what will probably turn out to be a stupid question, but today I called British Gas as we had a radiator with a leaking valve which wou k d not stop. The chap came and drained the system down and fitted a nice new one as per the picture. All good then I just went to see...

This morning just as I was leaving for work I noticed a brown stain on the living room ceiling, which is below the bathroom. Almost certainly a leak I would have thought, although the ceiling was dry. Had a very quick look under the bath - no obvious signs there although did notice the grout...

Hi we have a spotlight unit in our bathroom containing 3 bulbs. Some months ago 1, then 2 of the bulbs stopped working and replacing them did not seem to work either. We are left with 1 working bulb which always flickers. It can come on, stay on anywhere between 1 second and 5 minutes and be on...

Hi we had an upstairs conversion done a while back and one of the problems which has come to light since concerns the small ceilings above the bay windows in our downstairs rooms. In summary we had the upstairs roof removed and gable ends built front and back. I have tried to illustrate this...

I went to change the refill valve /arm in the cistern, about the limit of my diy skills. So underneath the cistern we have a flexi hose with an isolating valve attached. I turned the screw head in this a quarter turn to shut off the water in preparation for removing the arm inside, then I...

Hi - after a bit of advice. We currently have lino down in our kitchen on top of a concrete floor - it's been down for years so we have bought some vinyl self adhesive tiles which I was planning to stick directly to the concrete after pulling the old lino up. The main reason for this is there...

Hi there, today our oven was on when the electric tripped. When reset the oven would not heat up, the thermostat light stayed on although the fan worked. Classic signs of a failed element I believe. When I removed the back plate there are no visible signs of the element failing, it looks in...

Hi I noticed this morning our bathroom radiator had a small dribble of water down the side of it. On closer examination it seems to be coming from the large hexagonal nut at the top - not sure what this is called, its the opposite end to the bleed valve. It looks like there is a rubber seal...

We had an upstairs conversion done about 5 years ago, new gable ends were built and new windows put in. I noticed recently that a slight gap has appeared at one end of the window frame, between it and the inner window sill. Only about 1 - 1.5mm at most I suspect (at the moment!). I wonder what...

Hi, for some time our toilet has been hard to flush, it's a Dudley Turbo 88 syphon which when I removed I noticed the diaphragm was split and also the clear plastic stopper was missing. I cut some plastic sheeting I had to size to replace the diaphragm and cut a cork to shape to replace the...

We had some UPVC doors fitted around 10 years ago. Over probably the past year or so I've noticed a crack appearing pretty much around the whole door frame (picture attached). What do people think has happened here - would there have been some sort of sealant applied first and then plastered...

Hi there I've noticed recently our UPVC door catches slightly at the bottom when closing, it also creaks a bit too. I've attached a pic of the door and a couple of pics of the hinges, there are 4 of these but they don't look very adjustable. I've read elsewhere that the packing might need...

Hi - my wife found the attached badge on the floor yesterday, I think our new kittens had got down behind the fridge so suspect they may know something about it! To prevent frazzled kitten we've blocked off their route now but a dumb question - the badge states "do not remove" - I assume it...

Hi there I noticed our toilet overflow connector pipe at the bottom of the cistern (see attached pic) was dripping when the overflow was in action. I think this has pretty much always been the case since the chap fitted it some years ago - obviously only happens when its overflowing into the...