Search results

Swimming pool renovation has included replacing the deck box that connects to a (new) LED light in the pool. The light is - as before - 12v, fed from a transformer in the plant shed. As you'd expect, the cable from the light to the deck box is two core, ie no earth. Surprisingly (to me) the...

Feeling a bit warm yesterday evening, checked the radiators and they're all fierce hot - checked the wireless thermostat and it was reading 25 deg, and rising, even though it was set to 21 deg. The display on the wireless thermostat (Honeywell DT92E) was showing the flame symbol (calling for...

Hoping someone can give me some clues on how to resolve a damp problem in my tool shed. The shed itself is timber frame clad in thick waney edge, with a concrete base. It's pretty substantial for a shed and very old, certainly it's on the plans from long before the house was built (1970s). It...

Hoping someone can give me some guidance, or bit of a sense check, re teeing off the mains water supply pipe running up the front garden, to provide an outside tap. The back story: Our mains supply pipe has been cut through inadvertently (not by me!!). The original pipe was black plastic (house...

Hello folks. So our mains water supply pipe got severed (not by me) and temporarily replaced so working fine but lying on the surface. Now have the new trench dug and new MDPE supply pipe and correct fittings all ready to go. I've been out to the street (new-ish square plastic box with meter...

I wonder if I can once again get some advice from you good people. We have a bathroom with 50w 12v MR16 halogen downlights, including one directly over the bath and one above the shower. Each downlight is connected to its own transformer, rated 35w-120w. A couple of bulbs went, and while it's...

So we have a brick garage that's structurally unsound and needs to come down, but it's attached to the neighbour's garage. Originally, there was a semi-detached bungalow, over time each owner has knocked down their half and built a detached house behind, and built a garage where their half of...

We have a large garden shed, it's a substantial timber framed thing and one end has a glazed door in the middle and glazed panels either side, all mounted on top of a hardwood threshold/step that's actually part of the structure. i.e. the whole end wall structure seems to have been built on top...

So we’ve woken up this morning thinking it’s really hot (obvs it’s been 30 deg plus outside every day lately) but then noticed that all the rads are all on full blast! The (wireless) thermostat is set to 17 deg and reading 30 deg (indoors at 9am!). Programmer was on (timed, as normal) so have...

Hello, we had our bathroom done a few years ago with 40cmx40cm tiles on both walls and floor (different colour but same make and format of tiles). It was a decent job and the grout lines/tiles lined up everywhere from floor to wall in every direction (if you know what I mean). We've had to...

We have a large (8.2m x 2.6m) shed in the back garden, it has a monopitch roof with the highest point right on the boundary with the neighbours. The neighbours have at some point (before we moved here) built their own shed as a kind of 'lean-to' onto the back of ours. The roof as it stands is...

My Dad has an engineered wood floating floor in his kitchen that's worn and damaged, and I've offered to help him take it up and lay a new one. The existing floor is a pretty standard 15mm 3-strip oak board on a 3mm underlay. I've a fair bit of experience laying these, but there's an issue I...

In the process of hanging new internal doors. One of them is the tank cupboard which opens out into a narrow hallway, so have bought a flush-fitting "squash court door" handle (was fed up catching my elbow on the previous doorknob). It needs to be recessed 18mm into the door, which is fine...

Noticed yesterday when water heating was boosted that there was water trickling through the tundish - we have a megaflo-type setup and pressure gauge remains at the 3 bar mark as before. I'm no expert, but I gather water coming through the tundish indicates a problem that needs attention -...

So, I'm about to lay a new engineered wood floor over a suspended timber (chip) floor which is reasonably solid and flat. Unfortunately, there's a small section of concrete (that supported the original hearth) that is flush with the chip at one end but about 8mm proud at the other. It looks as...

Had all the rads replaced last year, keeping the existing boiler and (mostly) the existing plumbing. Took a rad off to decorate, then put it back (and taken another one off in the next room, which is still off). A couple of weeks after putting the rad back, it's started making a kind of...

We have a fireplace opening that's only 62cm high. The top of the opening is formed by a massive concrete lintel, into which is set a socketed clay flue that runs up the chimney. The flue has been swept and certificated by a local sweep. We've spoken to a few local HETAS registered wood...

Firstly - hopefully this doesn't count as DIY gas work as I'm talking about a fire running off a propane cylinder rather than mains gas? Anyway, we bought this house that has an LPG 'coal effect' fireplace hooked up to a propane cylinder outside the back door. The cylinder seems to be empty...

I've previously stripped paper from a quite a few plasterboard walls with no problem, using a steamer and scraper and being careful. Unfortunately, in the hallway here it's been a nightmare. There was layer upon layer of wallpaper, paint, and plaster (various swathes of plaster having been...

Have read through some of the similar threads but couldn't find a solution. We've just had the bathroom redone (c. 2 months ago) with a Geberit Duofix concealed frame and cistern with Kappa dual flush plate and wall hung WC. All worked fine until last week, when we noticed an overflow...