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I have plain double doors between my lounge and dining room in a fifties chalet bungalow. I've acquired a pair of doors with glass panels from an identical house opposite of similar vintage to my doors (ie, probably original) that I wish to use instead. However the hinge positions are different...

Several years ago, I discarded my bell transformer with associated wiring and went for a wireless door chime, the bell unit itself being plugged into the mains. I've had no end of trouble since! At random intervals, say every week, the plug-in unit decides to stop working. However if I flick the...

I'm on my third macdee siphon and they all fail the same way. Half flush is always fine, full flush (a few months after purchase) and it jams. I have to remove the thing, shake it loose and refit (not easy as I'm working blind from the side beneath the fixed worktop or whatever it's called in a...

I have a battery-operated wireless-controlled clock on my garden shed, a present from five years ago. Two weeks ago, it suddenly stopped. I've changed the battery twice but still hands don't move. The battery terminals in the case are quite clean. The hands, glass and electronics are all in a...

I had a Trafalgar bathroom unit fitted some years ago and it came with a Macdee cable-operated dual flush siphon. There was a problem with the siphon leaking into the bowl a few weeks after installation and the installer eventually (and reluctantly!) came round to have a look. He couldn't...

My girlfriend lives in a 70's semi where the fusebox and meter are in the garage (part of the house, not detached). When the house was built, the builder put the fusebox high up on the garage wall next to the roof and the meter is just below it. To reach the fusebox you need a ladder and whilst...

My upstairs lavatory is continually flushing. It's a dual flush cable operated one with (according to the bathroom installer's invoice of two years ago) a Macdee Kayla flush unit. I understand that to remove the siphon and clean the sealing washer, I have to turn it an eighth of a turn and lift...

In the girlfriend's seventies house with gas C/H, the thermostat in the hallway is malfunctioning. It's behaving these days just like an on/off switch [when the heating has come on, it just stays on] rather than clicking off when the pre-set temperature is reached as she says it used to. From...

Last year I bought some Ronseal Harvest Gold paint to do my sheds with but never got round to it. Today, a year later, I started. However I find that the paint is much too watery, like orange water and it has virtually no staining power. (Yes, I stirred it well!) The Cuprinol paint and B&Q...

The spindle on the hot water tap of my monobloc bathroom mixer tap is loose (though only two years old!!), but there are no drips. If I unscrew the casing (see attached photo--the tap is in front of a mirror, by the way), I can see a large nut (about 18mm A/F). Is this what needs to be...

The reason I had to tighten up a monobloc tap in a previous post is that the mixer spout is rather stiff in the housing and continually moving it out of the way of the plug and then back again caused the whole unit to loosen! Yes, I know now to hold the the unit in place with one hand before...

Two years ago I had a TC Bathroom suite installed in my upstairs bathroom. It includes a Trafalgar basin and Serie 4 monoblock basin tap. The tap unit has worked a little loose and I seek to tighten it up. By removing the drawer fronts I can look up underneath and with a mirror, I see the...

I've removed the beading from some attic doors because I wanted a clean flush look before I painted them. However some old paint came away with them. Although I've rubbed down the doors ready for the new gloss paint, I can still see where the beading was because the paint layers on either side...

I recently had a new kitchen fitted. It links up with a hallway. There was previously wallpaper on all walls. The whole ceiling was replastered. The wallpaper was stripped off and the plasterer who did the ceiling put new plaster on the kitchen walls (where extra sockets had been fitted)...

I am thinking of having a new kitchen. The existing boiler (Ideal Mexico, annually serviced) which sits beside the kitchen sink is ten years old. Although I have no problems with it, the new kitchen will need a new boiler position, therefore perhaps a new boiler because of space restrictions. I...

Ten years ago I had a UPVC kitchen door fitted--it was made by Coastal. Although I was satisfied with it at the time, I am not so happy these days, especially in winter, because of the draught around the outside edge of it. In fact the rubber seal on the frame doesn't quite touch the outside...

I've recently had vinyl sheet flooring (Avenue Expressions) installed in my upstairs bathroom. (The installer laid plywood sheet down first.) When he'd finished and called me to inspect, I saw some small air bubbles in the middle. He said not to worry, they'd disappear in a couple of hours as...

Can any plumbers or installers reading this suggest how I get the following problem solved? I won’t mention names. Seven months ago I had an upstairs bathroom installation done by a one-man business with a shop (ie showroom) in the nearest town. He gave me a “Guild of Master Craftsmen”...