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My Toro blower/vac power cord has failed internally through constant flexing when in use. Unfortunately it isn't available as a spare but I'm hoping to find someone with a similar machine that may have failed for a different reason, such as motor burnout, might be able to help. Super machine...

Someone trying to help me by fixing loose floorboards has punctured a 15mm plastic pipe carring hot water from combi boiler to a tap. I bought a couple of push-fit joints and some pipe but in repairing it he has omitted to put in two of the four pipe inserts I gave him. I have made sure both...

Several old conifers lining our drive but they have spread with age and are now obstructing access, the more so after the snowfalls of this last winter. I'm trying to avoid removing the lower branches and hoping I can pull them in and so widen the drive by using straps of some sort. Also got...

This is a large house with old iron CH pipework. Minimising leaks and corrosion is expensive - typically we add three F1 and three F4 bottles after a draindown and refill so we have to try to avoid this as far as possible. Last week the automatic air valve on the Vaillant 835 failed and the...

For several weeks crows have been pecking at my front lawn, tearing out the grass and moss. I've just spent two days raking it all off with a wire tine rake and can now see that there are several large patches where all grass has disappeared and the rest looks severely battered. Oddly though...

This only happens in the winter months when ambients are low, <5C. Shower/bath filling start off fine but after a few minutes the cold sometimes overcomes the hot. Overriding the HP shower valve thermostat to increase the hot flow doesn't have any effect. This is an older house with several...

My Karcher has started hunting when I release the trigger and I have to turn off its power switch until I'm ready to start again. This is the second Karcher I've had to develop exactly the same problem. It makes it pretty useless, and for this to happen to a £300 machine that has only been...

My last lot of rechargeable batteries finally gave up the ghost so I bought a pack of four AAs from Maplin. I still have the old charger and am wondering how long to give them as the pack says to observe charging time. The batteries say 1.2V replaces Alkaline 1.5V, 2000mAh, charge before use...

Our large U-shaped drive is of tarmac with edging blocks. Both sides are tree lined so every spring we get the early stages of moss forming - basically an unsightly green stain. It's possible but slow to remove most of it with a patio cleaning brush on a jet washer. If I were to use the power...

Recently had the bathroom done and had underfloor heating installed. Wife is complaining tiles don't really feel warm, which they don't, they just don't strike cold as they do in our other tiled rooms. It's an automatic system from Porcelanosa that just keeps the tiles at a preset 23C though...

In cold snaps, like the current one, our hot water starts off hot but then goes cold. Leave it running best part of a minute and it starts to run hot again. This only happens during really cold snaps, with daytime temperatures 5C or less. The boiler is having its annual service tomorrow...

We have several bits of wood furniture which are finished with a spray-on french polish and from time to time unsightly chips appear. No one of course accepts responsibility for having caused them ;) Is there any simple way to repair such damage?

After removing the old sanitaryware, and because the original plaster was in poor condition, we cleaned off our bathroom walls as best we could and employed someone to overboard and skim them. He was aggressive, did a very poor job on the separate loo we had asked him to wet plaster, caused...

I've just been reading the FAQ sticky on this - all very clear but how would I know this needed doing? My Vaillant Ecomax has been serviced regularly over its five years but I've never seen any of the guys checking the PV pressure. The boiler pressure fluctuates between 1.2 and 0.5, depending...

Should combi type boilers systems maintain pressure indefinitely when the cold supply is off? My pressure gauge is showing lower highs and lower lows than it was showing when last refilled about a month ago, so I suspect a small loss somewhere and that at some point the boiler will probably...

The rim of our white toilet bowl has been damaged by the head of one of the screws holding the rubber bushes to the underside of the seat and I would like to fill/paint the half inch scratch if possible. What to use?

1950s patio, 240 2' x 2' slabs in alternating colours. Just jetwashed it and joints are breaking up but otherwise still looks good. I will have to rake out the loose stuff but what's the best way to fill the joints again? Sand on its own is no good as rain can blow it out and sealing it is...

Vinyl floor tiles were stuck down on top of old quarry tiles using contact adhesive. I have removed the vinyl tiles and scraped off as much residue as I can. I now want to overtile the quarry tiles but have first to remove the remaining residues or the tile adhesive probably won't bond. Any...

CH system (circa 1955 and originally gravity fed) has 1" steel pipework feeding into larger diameter steel pipes in sand filled trenches under concrete floor before returning to Vaillant EcoMax 835 boiler. The system has a slow leak which went undetected during boiler installation in 2005...