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Hi. I have an old house with a number of old taps I am hoping to replace with newer designs. None of the taps currently have flexi tails or isolation valves, but I can turn the water off upstream. I haven't changed a tap before (though have done some plumbing), so for each I am looking for...

Hi. I have just removed an old single wall socket. I am considering how best to blank off the wires - they are quite thick, and a fridge-freezer will now be backed up to the wall, so I guess it needs to be well-protected from the grill on the back of the fridge, and also as flat as possible as...

I recently replaced the glands and heads of two very old (20 years?) traditional sink basin taps using https://www.toolstation.com/lever-basin-tap-reviver-kit/p70902 - so they are now quarter-turn. However, they now make a loud whooshing/screeching noise - particularly on the cold side as it is...

Hi, I have an old kitchen mixer tap which has gradually deteriorated - it is now quite clunky and takes a lot of force to fully close it. I want to leave the plumbing alone if possible (so not replace the whole tap). However, firstly I can't see how to open it up - I can't see a cap to pop...

A few weeks back, there was some rattling coming from my Hyundai i10. Checked the muffler and it was very loose, so figured that was the noise. It snapped off at one of the pipes on the way to the garage (had rusted through), so removed it, and there was no noise for the rest of the journey...

Will be decorating the bathroom, so figured I should take the radiator off. And it's an eyesore (paint is flaking all over, and some areas of rust), so shouldn't just put it back as is. It's an old central heating system with a back boiler, and don't think rads have ever been changed, or at...

I have a scaffold tower on rent for 2 more days from which I can (just about) reach this tile, so would like to fix it/pay some roofer to use my tower to fix it in the next 2 days. As pictured, the bottom one of the large roof tiles between mine and my neighbour's house slipped down a bit a few...

The front and back patios were neglected for many years, and were full of weeds. A few months back, I had a maintenance guy come round to work on them. Back patio - he pressure washed and nothing more. This knocked out a load of the existing pointing, leaving it a crumbly mess of empty channels...

With all the energy price rises, I am reviewing my energy wastage. The CH in my house is a (very) old Baxi Bermuda back boiler. The heat exchanger was replaced around 5 years ago. It hasn't been serviced since, and occasionally the pilot light has gone out and I've had to relight it a few times...

I am preparing to hire a scaffold tower to paint my upstairs wooden window frames. While I'm at it, I figured it would be a good idea to clean the gutters and whatever else needs doing. I noticed this flaky black paint - touching it, it's wood. The white part looks fine, but the black is all...

Several years ago, a plumber set my hot water temperature to be very high to stop the (small) cylinder from running out of water. I now want to reduce the temperature to save on bills. It is electric immersion only. I located the thermostat under the jacket. I used a screwdriver to move the...

Last autumn, I cleaned out the central heating system (old back boiler with F&E) with X400, and dosed with X100. It hadn't been touched for a good few years prior to that. A few months later, I find this gunge in the tank (stringy/white stuff) which Google tells me is probably bacterial and...

The bathroom is half-tiled, half-wallpapered. However, it's been maybe 30 years, and the wallpaper is in bad shape. I would like to sort it out myself. I think painting would be easier than papering or tiling. However, I'm not sure exactly what I need to do to get it into a paintable state. As...

Upstairs window frames really need painting. Will require sanding and putting on a few coats. I haven't painted upstairs windows before (DIYer) and get the impression hiring a scaffold tower is the best way to go. However, I can see two problems: 1) How do those with semi-detached/terraced...

I would like to add a dishwasher to the kitchen for the first time. I can't put it near the sink without removing cupboards, but there is space next to the washing machine. Are there any obvious problems with this choice of placement? I am hoping it is an easy job to use the existing water...

I have a very old system with a back boiler, and a header tank in the loft. It has a TF1 filter, fitted 5 years ago, but has largely been neglected over the years. In September I tried the heating and it wouldn't come on. Also, the header tank was full of brown sludge, which I cleared out...

I've had X400 in for 2 weeks now. It seems to be working, and I've run the heating hot at times during cold snaps, including with one radiator at a time. However, at this time of year the heating is off during the day and not that much at night either. I could drain it now, but want to get the...

A month ago, my door and window frames needed repainting. Three parts of the frames had started to rot (2 bad-ish, 1 not so bad spot). In these places, I dug out the rot and some surrounding wood, used a lot of Ronseal wet rot wood hardener, gave it ages to dry, gave it a rub down with a metal...

Upstairs window frames really need painting. Haven't done it before, but hiring a scaffold tower seems to be a reasonable compromise between cost and safety. E.g. https://www.hss.com/hire/p/mitower-plus However, the problem is one of the upstairs windows is directly above the front door, which...

Screwfix, Wickes and Toolstation only sell 1/2" glands. My old shower mixer tap is dripping, but it's 3/4". Why does nobody sell them, and what should I do? The only ones I can find from a big retailer are at City plumbing, but they're expensive and it doesn't say whether they have a 20-tooth...