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Could do with some advice please. We have a kitchen island which contains a gas hob. The copper gas pipe runs in a trench dig into the floor, with screed and Amtico vinyl flooring laid on top. It’s been down for 12 years. I noticed a lump in the floor yesterday. The lump is possibly 4-5...

Hi - I have recently had a spray painter into a property to help renovate my existing kitchen. The carcasses were fine, we bought new doors and he resprayed both. He did not respray the inside of the cabinets, and unfortunately they’ve been left like this. The carcasses are vinyl wrapped. I...

We have a detached house that we renovated 3 year ago. It had all new plumbing and drains fitted. The side of the house (where the tall black 'air vent' pipe is) is about 3 metres from the boundary fence, which is bordered by our neighbour's tall ash trees (small leaves - relevant!). About...

Our neighbour rebuilt his house 2 years ago. The house isn't finished yet. He has patio doors at first floor level (his bedroom) which overlook our garden and that of our neighbours. He got permission for this on the basis that the flat roof outside was not to be used as a balcony. TO prevent...

We have a 50 year old house which we extended last year. The builder is a reputable local firm and we used a structural engineer which led to masses of very expensive steelwork. We have building regs all signed off. The extension was finished in December. The builder says he will come back...

We finished renovating our house last December and as spring is here we are starting to look at the gardens front and back. The house is built on a slight incline so the ground slopes from right down to left as you look at the front of the house. The effect of this is uneven ground at the...

We had a total renovation of our house last year and built an extension at the same time. The project began in August and ended in December - the build itself was structurally finished (roof on) by October. Part of the extension was a new garage with bedroom and two bathrooms on top. The...

We have just extended our kitchen. The 'old' part of the floor now amounts to about a quarter of the total floor space in the room and is slightly higher than the rest of the new concrete floor. The stud walls/first fix electrics are just being done at the moment. The kitchen is due to fitted...

We are renovaitng and extending a house. The finished house will have 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, plus downstairs loo, study, playroom etc. I think there are 16 radiators, 3 towel rails. The towel rails serve rooms with additional underfloor heating. We would like a recommendation for a...

We are renovating and extending a house at the moment. It is a sixties house which had some cedar cladding on the front elevation which has just been removed. It has always been our intention to render this section of the house where the wood was removed. We were pleased to find brickwork...

We are living in a 1961 house which is about to be extended and rewired/replumbed. The builder starts in 3 weeks and we are due to move into a rented house at the beginning of September while the messy stuff is done. Last night I heard a loud crackling sound when I switched off the light in...

We are looking for a new front door and want something reasonably contemporary. Lots of the engineered oak doors on the market have a pane of frosted glass - we want one of these doors with clear glass but they don't exist unless you pay £££ or go for one called the 'Oslo' which has a really...

We're in the final stages of planning permission for a large extension (two storey side, single storey rear). We've had 9 builders round to quote. In general, their quotes are ranging in price from £88k to £125k. They have all worked to the same plans/building regs/specifications, which are...

We bought a house at the end of January this year. It’s a 1961 property in a 1961 state and had been unoccupied since the owner passed away last summer, thought the heating/water had been switched on and the boiler serviced etc. When we moved in and put boxes in the attic, my husband remarked...

We submitted plans for an extension in February. We are due a decision next week (April 20th) as that's 8 weeks since we put the plans in. Our architect submitted the application as our 'agent'. When asked whether there were any trees closeby, he ticked 'no' despite there being three large...

Just that really. We bought a house in January. It's a 3 bed detached on a wide plot with a flat roofed garage. Prior to offering on the house, we visited twice with a builder and architect whoi is familar with planning rules locally to ensure that (a) the build would be possible and (b) it...

We are about to buy a 1961 house which has an external chimney. The wall in the sitting room is therefore flat and has a small electric fire which we want to remove. Our existing house has an oak fire surround, cast iron inset and living flame gas fire. It looks great but the fire doesn't...

We are in the process of buying a 1961 house. It was the prototype for the whole estate, each house being individually designed for the original purchaser. Because it was the prototype, it was built from some sort of very expensive brick - which the builder later realised wasn't cost...

We live in a 1931 semi with suspended timber floors in the living room/dining room. We have lived here for 11 years with no previous problems of this kind. Last month we detected a foul smell coming from under the floorboards in these rooms (it smelt like sewage). There are no pipes under the...

This started three weeks ago. We only noticed it once then nothing again. Yesterday and today the problem is back. We have a combi boiler in the kitchen which is four years old but the smell doesn't come from here. The smell seems to be in the corner of the room. We have a radiator on that...