Search results

I want to slightly modify the outside waste pipe from my sink which discharges to the drain surround that is less than ideal in that over time it has corroded away the concrete surround. I thought it was 40mm solvent weld and just want to angle it away with a 130 deg bend attached. I thought it...

I want my unstable chimney stack (redundant) lowered by about 20 courses of bricks and capped. Would i go to a builder, roofer or a general handyman for quotes?

This is my first winter of using my new and first condensing boiler - model 18 kW as above. Now I suspect the heating engineer has over sized it a bit to be "on the safe side" as my old Potterton was only 15 kW and fine for my 3 bedroom semi. Generally have the following radiators on - hall...

I have been ripping out the old basic sixties skirting in our spare bedroom. Of course it was fixed with an excess of those hefty great cut clasp nails. I have found the best way to remove it is to cut either side of them with my multitool saw and then remove the skirting then the nails. But it...

Having lived in it for 45 years I've seen a number of floor coverings come and go but until now have never been able to either afford or want the disruption of many options. I still don't really want the disruption. So time to renew again with latest technology or not as the case may be. The...

I'm removing an existing low flower bed retaining wall and replacing it with a smaller one. It will be quadrant shaped with the existing footings used for the straight part and new footings for the curve, which is a 5m curve. Total new brickwork is 13m long and 4 courses high with 300mm block...

I am about to get a low retaining wall around a soil filled flower bed replaced. Probably use similar Marshall faced blocks with some rustic effect. My old wall has been there for about 40 years. It has bowed out a bit in places. Is it ok to have a single skinned wall? It will be only 3, maybe 4...

I know it is generally thought a bad idea to have a new surface over an existing driveway but some of the explanations as to why i don't quite follow. Most revolve around the condition of the existing with thickness, cracks etc, what it was layed on originally and settling problems. My concrete...

I have an ageing but fully functional CH system. I like planning ahead so am thinking I would like at some point replace my conventional boiler (gravity h/w pumped ch) with a modern conventional condensing boiler. Apparently there are new regulations that say the new system must be fully pumped...

You'd think professional tradesmen would be able to give you a consistent answer! No. So I have a concrete sideway 2.5m wide 30 sqm just footfall. Then a frontage 35sqm, crazy paving and concrete for car. Been there 45 years, drains naturally to road. Question is if I replace it do I need a...

Next Spring I am planning on a new front hardstanding for two small cars, replacement of the side concrete"driveway" (now no longer wide enough for a car so just decorative and foot fall) and a rear patio. There is plenty of info out there on all of the different materials and techniques but...

I have an approximately 50 year old house (seemed quite new when I bought it 43 years ago!) which has the original concrete driveway down the side (now too narrow for a modern car) and a hardstanding of crazy paving as frontage. (Total 50sqm). I plan to upgrade this next year. The question is...

My daughter (always the kids isn't it!) discovered the wall paper and plaster falling off her kitchen wall. Like most things in her house it is due to a previous botched job. This looks like the painted brick wall (internal partition wall between under the stairs and extended kitchen) was...

I have a painted feature wall and at right angles a wallpapered wall. The corner isn't square and true and isn't smooth either so the edge of the wall paper doesn't make a nice straight line. I wondered what I might put down the corner, presumably painted the same colour as the wall, to make a...

The Panasonic split system I am proposing for an upstairs bedroom is 2.5kw. I have had three quotes so far. Two want to take the supply from a spare mcb on the (new)consumer unit. I have one 6 amp and one 16 amp spare. The other one says it is no problem plugging in to upstairs socket and taking...

I know this is a common question but a search finds quite old threads. What is the modern thinking on the best method. Ideally I would like a plasterer to skim directly over it after correct preparation - which would be what? It probably is late 80's and not containing asbestos but I don't...

This seems to be a regular question on here over the last ten years or more. It is not surprising as there are still plenty of pre-1970's houses about and flashy light fittings, often metal, are much more in vogue than the standard plastic ones of the fifties and sixties. I have just read a ten...

Most of my house lighting circuits are mid-sixties and just missed out on an earth conductor. Not a problem originally with basic plastic fittings but as decor and fashions have changed better looking fittings have become available, mostly involving metal. Up till now I have managed with more...

The power to my summer house is supplied by an underground SWA cable. (Pre-part P). I'm thinking of having whole system checked out and wondered whether this bit would comply to modern regs. They don't seem to specify a depth but sufficiently protected, although 500mm is often mentioned. The...

I have started to review and consider the wiring in my late sixties built house that I have lived in for a few years. The wiring is pvc and not rubber and appears pretty sound but has had various additions before my time ( and a couple since) and no doubt before the 2003 regs as some wires are...