Search results

I'm going to take advantage of scafflolding access to my chimney stack and plan to re-point it. Property is about 100 years old. Gaps can be seen from ground level in quite a few of the joints. I don't know what condition the flaunching is in. Does anyone have any tips/advice on...

I want to make good the external corners on a chimney breast (between the front and the two cheeks). Currently, the bottom half of the corners seem to have been done by hand,ie there is no expanded metal angle beads. The top half of both corners still has the old wooden dowel in place. I do...

My fireplace is currently ripped out. Just bare brickwork and a flue up the chimney remain. I want to install a gas fire. I consider I have two options. 1. Install an old salvaged cast iron fireplace, put some artificial coals in it and have gas flames coming up between the coals. Can this be...

I have removed old skirting board (approx 100 yrs old)and found that they were nailed to grounds (chocks of wood) which were hammered into the perp (vertical) joints of the brickwork. Obviously, this was a very labour intensive way of fixing the skirting to the wall. What is the general way of...

I am putting in new light switches and power sockets into an existing building. I am told that there are now, new bldg regs regarding dimensions for the siting of such devices. Can someone please tell me what they are. Many thanks in advance.

Background I have a two-up, two-down terraced house with reasonably sized rooms. Eventually, more than one person will be living there. There is currently no heating system in the house. I have removed the old gas fire and behind it is an infeed and an outfeed pipe. Between these is a...

I will be getting central heating installed in my house from scratch. It currently has no heating at all. The DIY books state that the rads should be placed under windows yet an article I have read states otherwise. To save cash, I want to install the radiators myself. Are there any 'official'...

I am patching a small section (1ft sq) of wall (from bare brickwork) in a 1933 built house. I do not want to use a modern gypsum type plaster, instead, I want to emmulate as much as possible what is already on the wall. The bonding coat seems to consist of a sharp sand and maybe lime as...

I'm replacing an internal concrete floor in an old house (100yrs approx). The whole floor will be coming up. (The current floor centre has a raised area and cracks radiate out to the periphery of the room). I have seen screeding done ages ago but I have forgotten what the procedure is and...