Search results

I am considering tiling our bathroom floor. Previously, for similar jobs, I have overboarded floorboards or chipboard floors with 10mm ply screwed down every 100mm, and used a flexible adhesive. So far I have had no troubles with tiles cracking or lifting when using 300 or 400mm square tiles...

Does anyone actually make a pull cord intermediate switch? I'm looking for one to control forward / reverse for a ceiling fan, so it needs to be either an intermediate or a DPDT switch.

I've been asked to look at a 2D bathroom light fitting for a friend I will be visiting over Easter. The fitting initially strikes as expected, but flickers randomly whilst lit. Changing the tube and starter have made no difference, but removing the starter once lit stops the flickering. Maybe...

I've been at the GF's house, investigating a noise she only notices in the bedroom at night... honest!... Anyways, it seems like it's coming from the neighbour's boiler. I'm more than a little concerned about the neighbour's flue installation. Both properties are 1930s bungalows, with about a...

I am considering dividing the annexe at the side of my house off from the rest of the house to let as a studio appartment. How would you recommend blocking the single doorway linking the annexe in the (originally exterior) cavity wall? Bearing in mind I may wish to restore the doorway in...

Not sure if this is a roofing or window question, but here goes..... Has anyone any experiences of using solar pipes / light pipes / whatever to get some natural light into a stairwell? It's for a 1960s house that was originally built with a flat roof, and skylight over the central...

I'm sure I saw a kitchen unit incorporating a fridge, sink, 2-ring hotplate and oven all in one unit about 1000 - 1200mm wide somewhere a while ago. I have a potential use for one now I cant remember where I saw it. Has anyone else come across these, or was I dreaming?

We have an Aquarius FDW60 dishwasher. Occasionally it stops shortly after filling with water, and starts making a noise like a wallpaper steamer blowing steam and water through a pipe. After about 20 minutes I hear the dispenser open, and then the cycle continues as normal. When this...

Has anyone any experiences, good or bad, of replacing Renault 'pencil' ignition coils with pattern parts? (set of 4 for the price of a single Renault coil) :? My thoughts are they can't be much worse than the originals, which seem to have quite a short life expectancy anyway :evil: .

I'm putting a new bath in what was a shower wet room. The house is wired to the 16th edition. All the pipework is plastic (in fact, the only metal in the whole room is two tap heads, the plughole and a couple of robe hooks). The lighting and extractor are protected by a 30 mA RCD...

We have a vented gravity 12" X 48" hot water cylinder installed, but we could do with more hot water capacity for another bathroom. Within the space restrictions of 14" deep X 35" wide X 7'6" high airing cupboard, what are the options? A second cylinder above the existing one? alongside...

Makes a change from the best way of sticking tiles to wall - has anyone got any ideas if it's possible to cut a row of already fixed tiles in half? SWMBO wants a bath in what was a wet room. It's already tiled floor to ceiling with 330 X 250 tiles. Sodds law - The bath height comes...

Can anyone recommend a source of 4 or 5 hole bath fillers with a pull-out shower handset, or a wall mounted equivalent that will work with a gravity system? I have about 0.4 - 0.5 bar available from the existing gravity system. I would like to avoid pumping the water if possible. There's...

I'm looking for a very rough ballpark figure to rewire a typical 1960's ex-council 3 bed semi. (Bridgend, if that makes much difference) to beat up an estate agent with over their asking price. What should I say? £5000? A quick look revealed most of the surface mounted double sockets were...

Can anyone recommend, or tell me what to avoid, when choosing paints for some 'traditional' wooden nursery toys I'm making for grandson? There's some odd small voids and pinholes to fill in some plywood parts, primer and undercoat. Then I'm looking for a selection of of bright primary...

Thought I would post this and see how many holes get shot in it. We have a more or less standard open vented heating system kept warm by a Potty Flamingo in a brick lean-to, with the pump, 3 port valve etc. near the centre of the house. I am considering adding a heat exchanger to heat a...

Just cleaned the filter and refilled the salt on our dishwasher, now it doesn't work :( When I turn it on I can hear it start to fill, then faint water heater sounds as usual, but instead of the cycle continuing, I can hear steam blowing through the pipework. Open the door, and there's a...

Okay, I've sorted out a problem with the 3-way valve, but now the system gurgles and splutters, probably drawing air down the vent, unless I turn the pump right down. Then the recently added furthest radiator doesn't get hot. Most of the system is piped up in imperial copper, so it's all...

System appears to be a 'Y' plan, with a Potty Flamingo RS keeping things warm. Everything appears to have been running as it should for years. A couple of years ago the room stat was changed for a more sophisticated one. The original timer was left in place to control the hot water only...

I have recently been told that bayonet lamp fittings are to be phased out over the next few years 'because they are less safe than ES fittings' according to the guy who told me. he said it's because you could touch both contacts at once in a bayonet fitting. When I pointed out the same...