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I have to fit a new door in my porch and want to know where to put the mortice. Any advice gratefully received. Don't flame me if I have just asked the most stupid question. I have searched and there is conflicting information. So almost every door I can think of has the mortice lock of a front...

Just went to lock the door for the night and it felt a bit strange. Then I realised it was jammed. Managed to unjam it with wd40 and curses, but I dare not lock again. I want to get a new mortice lock tomorrow but it appears to be a 40mm backset which seems to be an odd and expensive size. Also...

I am at the groundwork stage of building a workshop. It will be 3x4m with a concrete base, a course of blocks and then 2x4 timber framed and waney edge cladding. I have had an inspection dig and it is approx 350mm down to the hard stony ground. I have had two opinion on how much soil I need to...

So I am still planning my shed. I will be restricted to 2.5m high so I want to make the most of the available headroom by digging down to make the shed base. The size of the shed will be 3x4m. Is it ok to dig down so that the floor of the shed would be level with 'ground level'. This would...

2017 is going to be the year of the shed for me. I shall be building a 3x4 m workshop/bike store. I have looked at the cost of getting either regularised or rough sawn timber. The cost of rough sawn is much less than the regularised stuff. Acutally it is half the cost. Can anyone tell me if I...

I started on a fun project yesterday that was going to be easy and cost no money. I am removing the plaster and opening the fireplace in my cottage. It had previously been bricked up and plastered over. I now realise that it was probably bricked up because the lintel has cracked. The lintel...

I am mid way through ripping up square edge boards insulating and relaying with the aim to have sanded boards. I have bought cut clasp nails to reattach the boards. The question is do I use the old holes that have had a nail ripped through it or make a new hole for the nail. If the nails had...

I am planning on replacing the felt with membrane on my kitchen roof. It is approx 4*3m and is battoned with 19*38mm battons. The tiles are double roman clay tiles. Rafter spacing is about 40cm. The kitchen is a lean to at the back of the house and is joined to next door as a continious roof...

I have replaced an old manual programmer with a new (second hand) Drayton LP522. I have a mid position valve system and I have wired the programmer up as; hw off pin 1 > 8, hw on pin 3 >7 and ch on pin 4 > 4 However the hotwater is always on no matter what state the programmer is in. The...

I want to install a flue down the chimney for a woodburner. Before I invest hundreds in an expensive bit of flue I would like to try and fit a short bit of 6" flue down to check that it will fit. I thought I had struck gold when I found a bit of gas flue in a skip but alas it is 5". Does...

Hi all I am going to renew the membrane the roof of our kitchen which is a single storey lean to with an old and rotted non breathable membrane. The room is about 3x3. Is there anywhere where I can get a smaller amount of quality membrane than 50m. I think that I would need about 10-15m...

My back door and frame are rotten so I want to replace them. The current door hole (from brick to brick) is 810mm wide. Does this mean that a standard door frame kit for a 762mm door will not fit? Wickes recons that their frame is 850mm. The door hole is made of thick stone so is not really...

I have searched but it has been a while since one of these threads I want a saw for general DIY duities. I am looking for a budget of around £60-75. I have seen that the evolution saws would fit that price but I am put off by having to buy specific blades. Erbauer does one for a similar...

I was wondering why my kitchen was so cold in the winter. I looked under a couple of tiles and I now know why. No insulation (unless dead insects and dust count) and also the felt has rotted away. The kitchen is at the back of the house and would originally have been an outbuilding or privy...

I am looking at these strip lights as under cabinet lights. I want to know what lenght I would need to illuminate the worksurface either side of the cooker. The cabinets are 90cm each side. I can get them in 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80cm which are 10, 16, 20, 25, 30watts. I dont want it to be...

I am going to diy fit a kitchen this weekend but want to have the gas cooker moved. I will of course get a gas safe plumber to do it but I am hoping to fit the kitchen before the plumber fits the pipe as they are all busy at the moment. Time scales are a bit tight becuase we are expecting a baby...