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I am planning on removing my standard up-and-over garage door and replacing it with a new timber wall. I don't know where to start in terms of how to construct the wall, or any regulations/specifications that need to be met. I've googled but it gets quite technical pretty quickly. Any starters...

Any advice on how to fill garden steps? I am building them out of concrete blocks and paving the top, but what material(s) will be best for filling the void inside them? The biggest void will be approx. 0.75m3. I have looked at fine blinding and compacting this down - is this the way to go...

My roofspaces are floored with standard loft boards, with only 100mm insulation underneath. I want to up the insulation to 300mm. The boards have heating pipes running over the top of them so I can't lift the boards without a whole lot of hassle. Can I lay insulation over the top of the...

Some closure for you all: The electrician came out and the underlying problem was a break in the earth in the cable feeding the garage consumer unit (under a concrete path). He fitted an earth to the consumer unit - attaching to an existing earth for the gas meter outside. Thanks for the help!

How can it be if: I didn't test for an earth on the lights...

I've been turning the power off at the main house fuse box before touching anything. I connected a garage socket directly from another source in the house, and it had an earth. Then I connected a socket directly from the garage power feed (skipping the garage consumer unit) and it had no...

The unit in the garage was there when I moved in (along with all the messy wiring). The house fuse box is on the other side of the house and a cable runs underneath the floor, under a concrete path and up into the garage. A further update on the original issue: I took everything out of the...

A few updates - I think I might have a few problems contributing to all this! 1. You're right - the earth from this (right-hand) cable was not connected at all. I've removed this whole section of cable for now so it is no longer connected at all (I'll replace later - just want to rule it out...

I've got a plug in tester which has three lights to show live/neutral/earth connections, and one of those screwdrivers which you touch the top of which lights up to show a live connection. All the sockets and junction boxes earth wires are wired into the proper places. As far as I can see...

Out in my garage I have a consumer unit with two trip switches. The unit is fed from the main fuse-box in the house. Out of this unit, I have three double-sockets, an indoor light and outdoor light. My problem is; when I plug a tester into any of the sockets, it tells me there is no earth...

Thanks for the advice so far. I'd actually been thinking of 4 steps: riser 150mm tread 300mm with the top step at the top ground level as you say (the lawn level is actually 65cm, the wall goes above it currently). That was based on recommended measurements I'd seen elsewhere. Not decided as...

Hoping to get a bit of advice about the best way cut out steps in my garden. See attached photo: the lawn is raised with a retaining wall. I want to cut out part of the wall and build 3 or 4 steps going up onto the lawn. Img: showing approx. area for steps - H70cm, W200cm, D120cm Cutting...

Cheers - appreciate the advice :)

Could you expand a bit more on exactly what you mean? (I'm at the novice end of DIY!). Are you saying I won't need to put in a Dryrod style damp-proof-course, just fix a damp-proof-membrane to cover the whole wall? Just fix that to the battens? I was looking at using Thermawrap insulation...

I'm planning to convert the garage into a utility room / office, so battening, insulating and plasterboarding the walls, and putting in a laminate floor. Not sure if there is a DPM on the concrete floor - no damp comes through - and I was looking at laminate underlay with in-built DPM.

I'm working on damp-proofing my garage. The problem is that the previous owner laid a concrete path outside the garage wall which is 8cm higher than the damp-proof-course. This is causing damp to come in from the concrete and the DPC I have is too low down to stop it. I am wondering if this...

I don't have a grinder or similar, so I'll try drilling. There's eight of the damn things each attached with three of the nails!

Can anyone suggest how I can remove self-driving rivets from a brick wall? I think that's what they're called anyway! I've attached a couple of photos - one where I have tried a hammer and crowbar without much success :)