Search results

Hi, Tried to replace a badly tarnished brass door handle (interior porch door with mortice lock), but the spindle on the old handle is 7.6mm, and the new handle has a spindle which on my calipers measures as 7.8mm. From what I can figure out from reading online, the modern standard is 8mm, so...

Hoping for some advice/opinions on the stone staircase in the picture. Coming towards the end of decorating this hallway, and the last thing to do is decide what to do with the stairs. It was previously covered with the same (I suspect thirty year old) wall to wall carpet that was also upstairs...

Hi, Recently sprayed upstairs trim/doors etc in my house with Wagner W950 HVLP, using Leyland fast drying satin, straight onto previous white paint. It was thoroughly keyed and cleaned, but while it worked well and gave a great finish in the bedrooms, the paint on the doors and trim in the...

Hi, Context is that I am spraying the wood doors, skirting and other trim in a hallway with leyland water based satin. Its an old house and there is a lot of wood detail, hence the spray to speed things up and get a good finish. There will be a lot of spray getting on the cornice and ceiling...

Hi, I am looking for a specific moulding to finish T&G Engineered wood floor, that I am sure I have seen somewhere before but don't know what it would be called. I've tried searching for end profile nose or edge profile etc, but no luck. The best way to describe what I am after is a T&G stair...

To explain... I am in the process of putting lining paper up and have already rubbed down all of the woodwork. Its a big room and a lot of wood (shutters and panels in bay area and I am going to use a Wagner HVLP sprayer that I have recently bought. I am thinking of spraying the ceiling and...

Hi, My question relates to an open fire, installed long ago, probably before there were any building regulations to speak of. House is around 200 years old, but most of the 'original' features are Victorian, from about 1885 when it appears to have undergone some serious renovation. From the...

Ok, so I know that wood floors, and to a slightly lesser extent, engineered wood floors need to have an expansion gap. I also understand that this is because wood contracts and expands depending on temp/humidity and this is particularly evident across the grain. The expansion gap is sometimes...

Hi, Took this old metal ceiling light off while decorating, but noticed that while there is an earth wire terminated to the rose section of the lamp, it wasn't actually connected to anything. The plastic terminal block in the ceiling does have an earth wire in it, but it wasn't connected to the...

Hi, Got a bit of a leak coming in at the gable end wall upstairs. There was dampness in an old Edinburgh Press (shallow cupboard set into stone wall) which I thought was condensation and I ripped the wooden lining out to find a leak coming in from above. No dampness or water ingress at all in...

Hi, Hoping someone might have some advice on this. I am planning on doing a floating engineered wood floor in an upstairs in an old (200 years) house. I know that you would normally fit the engineered wood floor over the original floorboards, at an adjacent angle to the existing floorboards...

Hi, I installed these timber construction, triple glazed, sliding doors a couple of years ago, made by a company called Russell Timber. They have always been very difficult to open, but when I called the company after fitting them, they were not very helpful and just said they would ease off...

I’ve got a shower tray to fit (Goodhome Linkski 800x800) and considering that the last shower tray I fitted was about 20 years ago, and was on an upstand so was relatively easy to do, I would really appreciate some advice! First question is re the bedding of the tray. The previous shower tray...

Hi all, I've tiled a little before, and though I am not great at it I am going to tile a shower area soon, which should be relatively straightforward. I know that the standard advice is to start with a batten less than one tile height from the tray and work up, then remove the batten and cut...

I need to fit an extractor fan in an upstairs bathroom which doesn't currently have one. It is going to be very difficult to get to the unswitched live from the bathroom light without ripping the place apart, and a timer run on is desired. In any case, the preference is for the fan operation to...

Hi all, Hoping someone could advise me on what kind of wood this is? The floor was down when we moved in and I am about to sand the severely scratched varnish off and replace with hard wax oil, but thought I should know what kind of wood it is first before I start in case there is anything I...

Hi, Working on a living room where I have floors lifted, cables being run, small area plastering and all sorts. Once all of the uproar and messiest stuff is done I will be left with floor sanding and varnishing and painting. Just wondering from people who have done both together which they would...

Being doing some decorating/running speaker cables behind walls, and in the process have noticed that the wall lights are powered from a switch which is part of the the ring circuit for the sockets in that room. This is effectively just an unfused switch with the cable for the light connected...

Hi there, I wonder of one of the electricians could comment on whether it is allowable to run a power, cable, terminated with a plug through a wall? Context is, a 13amp socket near ground level, and a projector on a shelf about one metre above, and amp about 0.5 metre up, so that both cables...

Hi, I'm fitting Wallrock lining paper, for a painted finish, in my old house with a fairly odd curved feature. Due to the competing angles, I will have no chance in getting a close butt join in certain places and the joins will be at different, non vertical angles. I've noticed a number of...