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We're about to get some tiling done and have got the first price, which surprised me. What's the going rate for a tiler? The job is a downstairs WC, 0.91 x 1.35 x 2.41 m, plus a niche in some boxing in. Floor and 4 walls. Tiles are 900x450 porcelain, so I know that most will need cutting...

I had a heat pump installed late last year into a house we're doing up to move into. The installer can't get it to work properly. The problem was that it wouldn't heat the house more than 12° above the outside temperature. They seem to think that the flow temperature is not what is being...

I'm refitting our downstairs WC. We want to fit large, rectified edge tiles to all the walls and the floor. The room is slightly larger than common tiles sizes though. Stripped to the concrete floor and bare plaster walls, the room is 940mm wide and 1350mm long (plus a bit for a concealed...

I've just had under floor heating installed down stairs. They used latex self levelling compound over the top, but with my 1.5m spirit level on the floor, there are hollows up to 6mm deep in the middle. How flat does the floor need to be for vinyl tiles? Will small undulations like this be a...

We're nearing the end of a heat pump installation. We've had UFH downstairs and radiators upstairs, all new. They switched it on for the first time on Wednesday (upstairs only) to test it. The sound of water running through pipes is loud. Like keep you awake at night loud. When the...

The walls in our house were originally painted then had blown vinyl wallpaper over the top. I've stripped the paper off the walls which pulled off some of the paint, and scraped away at the remainder to remove everything that is loose. Lastly, I power sanded it but there is still a lot of...

I'm having an air source heat pump fitted with underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs. I noticed today that there are no TRVs on the rads. It's not going to work for us. My son wants his radiator off except during very cold weather. We need the bedrooms at different...

What is a typical specification for a domestic drive? Our new house is in an area covered by a conservation trust. It is in the "modern zone" rather than in the conservation area but we still have to apply for all changes. We want to widen the drive and have submitted an application with...

I had a quote from Nu Heat for a supply only UFH system. There's 78m2 of castellated trays, pipes and screed for down stairs, 60m2 of polystyrene under floor trays and pipes for upstairs. Manifolds, wiring centres, the whole thing. The first red flag is that they've quoted for 12 thermostats...

I'm thinking of buying a table saw and the Evolution Rage5-s seems to fit my balance of performance vs price. Shopping around I see that the same few designs are sold by different brands, no doubt with a few changes to specification here and there. I see this is the case with the Rage5-s -...

Nu Heat claim their underfloor heating can be laid on uninsulated concrete floors without the need for insulation. Is that right? Now I get that the floor will be equally uninsulated with radiators or any other form of heating. I'm willing to believe that if a room needs 1000W of radiator...

Yesterday we had our offer accepted on a house and we're now planning what to do with it. One thing we want to do is improve the efficiency. We're going to add an air source heat pump and a 7kWp solar array, and we're considering internal wall insulation. The house was built in the 70s and...

My central heating is losing pressure over night. If I fill it in the morning, it is still at pressure in the evening, but by the following morning the pressure is zero. There's no sign of dampness in any of the walls, floors or ceilings. I've had the PRV overflow pipe off and a bowl...

I've just had some French doors delivered and I'm trying to fit them. The frame is in OK. The instructions say "drop the doors onto the hinges". They only go half way. The hinges on the frame have pins with a narrow turned bit half way up. The doors have holes that are slightly narrower in...

I'm about to build a timber framed play room in the garden. I've noticed that insulation board is always 5mm thicker than studwork timber (100/125/150mm vs 95/120/145mm). What is the usual practice to get around this? I can't see builders shaving down the insulation or building up the timber...

We occasionally get sewer smells in our little used ensuite room in our new loft conversion. I suspect it happens when the u bend under the basin dries out as it is plumbed almost straight into the top of the soil stack. We last noticed it on Christmas day when we were getting the loft bedroom...

I've recently had a Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation system fitted as part of a virtual rebuild of my house. It's great, apart from one thing. Occasionally it gives off sewer smells when it is on boost. Google has helpfully told me that it is because the condensate drain pipe is plumbed...

I'm planning to build a small porch and was considering an EPDM roof covering. But it's a slightly awkward shape, which will make it more awkward. Then I found liquid rubber roofing, which looks ideal. But is it any good?

I've been told I have to apply for planning permission to build a porch outside my front door as it will extend beyond the side of the original house. That's fine with me. Having done this, do I have to get building regs approval from the council's building inspector during the build?

Now most of the interior of our new house is done, I'm turning my attention to the outside. I want to build a porch by the front door (which is set back 3.5m from the "front" of the house). On inspection, there is no surface water drain nearby. The main roof gutters feed to a drain at the...