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Hi, I have a particularly unloved area of my garden which I'd like to turn into a kids play area with swings and a trampoline. The area itself is uneven and littered with a layer of bricks and debris just under the surface where the previous owner had bonfires there. It's been strimmed in the...

I'm building a 3.5M tall climbing frame / zip wire platform in the garden and want to make sure the legs are well secured particularly given the height and leverage. I have a lot of very heavy concrete blocks from a demolished outbuilding, would it be practical to dig a larger hole, throw in a...

Just ripped up the old laminate in our porch ready for fitting a new tiled floor and found this channel containing the heating pipes. There's a mix of plastic and copper pipe, mainly joined with push fit connectors. I had planned to screed over the floor to give myself a level starting point...

The house we recently moved into is painted exclusively in this magnolia paint which has an unusual texture. There's a picture below but the easiest way to put it is that it has quite a hard and shiny finish, and areas can be peeled off whole. Any guidance on what kind of paint this is likely...

Hi All, I've got a confusing problem which has been testing me for most of the day and I'm now ready to admit defeat and ask for help! This switch in my porch controls 2 sets of lights and I assume there are some junction boxes hidden in the ceiling or in the wall somewhere but this is a new...

All, Does anybody recognise my consumer unit model and have any idea whether it has compatible RCBOs to replace the MCBs currently there? Would rather not have the board replaced so thought I'd get pre-armed with what is possible before calling a sparky. Thanks UC

Hi, Moved into a new house which has a Worcester GreenStar Danesmoor 25/32 oil boiler which is controlled by a Drayton LP522 timer panel with separate controls for hot water and heating. A Drayton Digistat SCR is paired with an RF601 room thermostat. My plan is to leave the LP522 to control...

Hi, The radiators in our new house seem to have been turned off for quite a while at the lockshield valves. I've turned all of them back on with exception of one which was very stiff and I've clearly applied too much encouragement as I'm left holding this piece. It doesn't look sheared, more...

Just about to try my hand at tiling for the first time and have set about removing our very old bathroom tiles. The result seems to be that, predictably, the tiles are pulling away the plaster with them exposing the rough wall which is made of what appears to be some sort of sandstone type...

Hi, I recently decided the time had come to do a low cost refresh the old laminate flooring which was in our bathroom when we moved in and replace with a new vinyl floor. Having ripped up some of the easier to access bits of laminate, it has transpired that the floor must have been fitted...

Have decided to use speedfit connections for replacing the taps and adding isolation valves in my new kitchen. It all looks amazingly easy, the only bit I can't quite grasp is whether I'd need any additional pipe or connectors between the following two items or whether they will just fit...

Just in the final stages of ripping out my old kitchen ready for the new one to be fitted and have a question about what to do with the supply to the taps. There will be a few days where we have to disconnect the sink completely but after following the mains pipes back to the stop cock there...

Have just started tearing down my old kitchen and when I removed the cupboards it revealed what looks like some very half hearted electrics and polyfillering. From what I can tell, whoever did this has run the flex from the back of the plug socket, carved a shallow channel up the wall and...

Hi, We are about to open our kitchen and dining room out into an open plan kitchen diner but one sticking point is the way the stairs protrude so deeply from the ceiling. Can anybody give any guidance on what work is likely to be possible to either eliminate the outcrop entirely (ideal)...

Hi, I've recently had a built in wardrobe removed and the wall plastered smooth. This has obviously left a small gap in the skirting which unfortunately is right next to a corner which has not been cut with a mitre joint I may not have explained this very well so including a photo :)...

All, I've just moved into a new place which has a couple of lights on the front of the house and a PIR sensor. Great - however, I can't for the life of me work out how they are wired or the operation. The power chord for the setup is routed into the garage where it actually plugs into a...

Hi All, I have just moved into a new property which has an Alpha CB28 boiler which is causing me some confusion. I have one main question to other owners of the CB28 or CB24 which will hopefully lead me to identifying a fault.. or not :) Should there be hot water on demand even at times...