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Is there any reason I shouldn't use 32mm waste pipe from basin through external wall to gulley inlet. Total run under 1.5m. Other existing wastes are 40mm minimum. Thanks

I need to extend an existing 110mm combined sewer pipe, turning it at right angles around the corner of my house in order to pick up the inputs from a new bathroom. Currently the sewer starts at the rainwater gulley trap at the corner of the house, then flows about 2 metres to inspection...

I'm not quite sure which forum is right for this question. All the room doors in our cottage are traditional, tongued and grooved, "ledged and braced" (like a garden gate and not framed). They all open inwards, hung using T-hinges screwed into the "ledges" (on the inside of the door)...

The water system in our house has been modified several times over the years, and we now want to add a bath to the downstairs shower room. The rising main (pressure about 5 bar) runs in 15mm from stopcock to the kitchen, the utility room, the upstairs bathroom, then back downstairs to feed (in...

I am installing two ventilation fans with timers in a RCD protected lighting circuit (5A MCB) covering 3 rooms (bathroom, toilet, utility room). The fans are an inline Manrose MF100T for the refitted bathroom; and a wall mounted Manrose XF100T in the new downstairs toilet. A sparky told me I...

I have to relay ceramic tiles (330mmx330mm) in a hall to correct a slight fall (15-20mm) in floor level across the room. Don't ask why, just accept I have to do it! I have removed about 20 tiles, soaked them in a water bath for a few days, and then cleaned off about 4mm of tile cement from...

Our chippy has chocked up the ends of the double beams (2 of c24; 170x47mm, bolted together) around our new stairwell with a short small softwood wedge (about 30mm wide) banged in between the middle of the beam pair and the next brick below in the supporting internal brick walk. He has now gone...

Our chippy has chocked up the ends of the double beams (2 of c24; 170x47mm, bolted together) around our new stairwell with a short small softwood wedge (about 30mm wide) banged in between the middle of the beam pair and the next brick below in the supporting internal brick walk. He has now gone...

I have only ever had vented systems, where the occasional bleeding of a radiator or two is automatically followed by the system recharging itself with water from the header tank. And with a natural convection feed to the hot water cylinder (controlled by motorised valve) but a pumped feed to the...

Hi I need to replace a bathroom basin and 2-taps, and the family want a 'modern' mixer-tap. The old plumbing has mains cold water and loft pressure hot water. Is there a suitable pressure reducing valve I could put on the cold, or do I need to provide a loft pressure cold supply? And, isn't...

Hi Can anyone help me? The above numbered motorised valve in my heating system has stuck. It is the old style valve where the head unit cannot be changed (without obtaining some extra plate?). It probably dates from around 1983, so I was quite happy to buy a complete replacement valve. I...

I'm not getting much response on the plumbing forum, so trying here instead. While replacing a bathroom suite, I've discovered there is no cross bonding in place. The house is 1990 vintage, and the consumer unit has MCBs and an RCD on just the socket circuits (lights, cooker, etc not...

Following my previous post on the check valves needed when replacing a bathroom suite, I now see there was no cross bonding in place. The house is 1990 vintage, and the consumer unit has MCBs and an RCD on just the socket circuits (lights, cooker, etc not protected). Should I cross-bond at...

I'm replacing a bath, basin and WC, with associated taps. Hot water originally came via an immersion heater (cold via a roof tank), but this was changed a few years ago to come via a Combi boiler (cold via direct feed). Neither bath nor basin has any service valves, but the bath/shower mixer...

Do I need a new cable/mcb for my new cooker? I hadn’t considered this when I bought it! The cooker seems to be rated as 12.8 kw (at least, that number with no other explanation is on a sticky label on the back of the machine, along with a second label saying main oven alone 2.7 kw). The...

The sealed units in my 20-year old wooden window frames have clouded and need replacing. I did the worst (all those on my south facing wall) maybe 5 years ago using non k-glass units. Should I now use k-glass units on the others? Relevant factors may be 1. K-glass units cost almost 30%...

I am not an electrician, but a competent DIY enthusiast – all things on the house and cars! I am sorry for the length of this post, but I have found a lot of confusion on bonding. I have tried to explain some of my misgivings in the next three paragraphs (skip if you will), but can anyone...

I am about to replace my elderly 600mm “slot-in” electric cooker, but I have seen mention somewhere that any top cupboards should be 50mm back from each side. My top cupboards match the bottom units - with the same 600mm gap. Is the 50mm a new thing, and does this mean I can only put in a...

Can I extend an unfused spur to a switched socket using a surface clipped short extension cable? The situation is this. I have an unfused spur feeding a switched socket under the kitchen worktop - behind where the dishwasher was. I want to move the dishwasher along, and put a new kitchen...

Hi Can anyone tell me how to extend the ring main into my new kitchen/utility extension. The current ring main (installed by contractors 18 years ago) is at ceiling level, and drops down to sockets above ground floor skirting boards (and goes up to sockets at first floor level). The sockets...