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Hi all, This isn’t a question so much as advice for anyone google searching for 3/8 inch stop cock key problems. In 15 years as a builder I’ve not come across a 3/8 inch square end on a mains stop cock before. They are always 1/2inch, 5/8inch or have a handle. I started working on a 1970s...

Hi, Struggling to find the smaller size Canterbury Spar (3-6mm) for some dash repairs. Selco do bags but it's all 8-10mm, similarly Travis Perkins is 8mm. I'm in Lee, SE London. Cheers Steve

Hi all I have the BCO coming over on Monday to discuss the drainage for moving the bathroom downstairs. As I'm new to this, I just want to do some homework and gather some advice so I don't look like a total plonker. The house is a standard Victorian end of terrace; current arrangement has...

Keeping this very basic and ignoring sizes, spans, loads etc which have all been agreed by an SE and BCO. I have one simple question that is bugging me ..... should a padstone be square? If you look at the picture below, the padstone when used in diagram A is fine even though it is not square...

Hi I've cut an asbestos soil pipe off at ground level and I'm struggling to find an adaptor to fit the internal diameter which is 3.5 inches/ 89mm. The outside diameter is 4 1/4" (107mm) but as I've cut it so low I would need an adaptor to fit inside. Any ideas, or am I going to have to take...

Hi all A friend of mine is purchasing a Victorian era cottage with a pitched slate roof. He has sent me pictures and the comments from the surveyor. The surveyor commented that the roof slates, particularly at the front elevation, need some remedial work and that the whole roof is likely to...

Hi I've recently got rid of an old cast iron soil pipe and had my wall rendered. I left a length of 110mm plastic soil pipe coming out of the wall (see pic 1) so that I could connect the tee branch directly onto it after rendering. Problem is that I've now come to fit the push fit tee branch...

Hi all I've failed big time on this one! I've tiled leaving two 15mm pipes coming horizontally out of the wall at 150mm centres for my bar mixer shower. I've only ever fitted electric showers before and so I've never used the offset elbows before, but it dawned on me today when I came to...

Hi all Sorry if this is a bit long winded but I want to describe exactly what I've done so that I can get the best advice. I've then put some questions at the end: I've renovated a few properties in my time and the usual M.O. in regards the walls is to steam off the old paper and skim...

Happy New Year all, I was in the loft earlier today, stashing all the pointless junk that my family have bought me over Christmas and got a bit of a shock when I saw the rafter closest to the party wall (Vic terrace) was soaked, as were the first 2 courses of bricks as you moved down the...

Hi all Whenever I see wall hung basins or back to wall toilets with concealed pipe work, I see that the plumber must have left a piece of copper pipe or perhaps a male threaded end poking out of the wall, the tiler has then tiled around this, a nice chrome collar has then been put on the...

Hi all, me again I have a couple of small corrosion holes in an old 60mm iron(?) waste pipe in my bathroom. Anyone have experience of fixing holes like this with an epoxy or alternatively any thoughts/experience of using a clamp such as this one...

Hi all Fitting a new bathroom today in my new flat. It was all going well, I got the bath in and filled it up and then pulled the plug to check the waste connections were good. I couldn't believe my luck when everything seemed fine and I moved onto fitting the basin. However ...

Hi all I recently bought a flat in a London block, which has communal (some call it district) hot water and heating. I'm refurbing the bathroom and currently the towel radiator is just a hefty bit of copper pipe. It runs from the main hot water pipe located in the airing cupboard, goes...

Hello all. I have a stop cock that's leaking. Just my luck, the stopcock lurks beneath my newly plastered wall. It is one of those old stopcocks that has a removable handle and just the spindle part lurks just at the surface. It's the main stopcock just inside my front door. So I've cut out a...

Hi all, This should be an easy one for a pro. I need to connect the washing machine, dishwasher and boiler overflow waste pipes to a kitchen sink trap. All the off the shelf traps seem to have a double connection only. How would I go about getting three in? Cheers Steve

Hi I've read the wiring diagram thread and tried a few variations but I'm still puzzled. I have a kitchen/dining room as one room with one light fitting over each area. Currently one switch turns these lights on and off. I would like to replace this one switch for a 2 switch plate and have...

Hi all, I'm having a 'mare and would appreciate some advice. I had a problem with my cold water feed from the tank and traced it to a dodgy stopcock just below my tank. The stopcock was part of the vertical steel (i assume) pipe that ran from the tank and it has threaded joins. I cut it...

Hi I hope someone with a trained eye can give some advice on the cracks in the exterior wall of my rented house that have been filled, rather badly, with a non colour matching mortar. Just a quick bit of background, I have lived in the house for just under a year and I'm thinking of buying...

Hi all I would greatly appreciate any advice on the following problem. I have just moved into a new home, which has had a newly installed Ferroli Optimax HE Plus 31C combi and a Timeguard TRT035 Battery Powered Programmable Room Thermostat. The problem seems to be that the thermostat...