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I would like to reduce solar heating of the south-side of the house but only during summer (most of the time solar heating is an asset) so I was thinking the easiest thing to do would be to apply some of that solar reflective film to the inside and remove it once summer ends. Obviously...

I was wondering whether solid insulation board could be cut to fit into a window and then removed and replaced every day (to insulate a window overnight) or would it fall apart after a few weeks/months from being handled so often? I realise they're only intended to be put somewhere and then left...

A pipe in our house just burst! Remembering my training, I ran downstairs and turned off the main stop cock under the sink. We were lucky that it was caught so quickly or it could have done a lot of damage. The linoleum has been pulled up and the area is being dried (it didn't spread very far -...

Our washing machine needs to be replaced but in order to do that, we need to disconnect the water inlet hose of the old one. The deliverers of our new washing machine were meant to do that today but could not because they reckon that the valve is broken and although in the closed position, they...

My mum's washing machine (Beko WM5100W) stops early on in the cycle and pressing the pause button twice (to pause and immediately unpause it) gets it going again. It does this two or three times about five minutes after starting and then functions normally for the rest of the wash. Does this...

I would like to mount a lamp on a rail underneath a loft-bed so that lamp can slide on the rail. What hardware would allow me to mount a lamp like this and move it back and forth on the rail? Thanks.

Regarding those big industrial round plugs, are 16 A plugs/outlets the same size as 32 A plugs/outlets (i.e. would it be possible to plug a 32 A machine into a 16 A socket or are they incompatible)?

I want to build a sound-proof box for a loud computer (a cryptocurrency ASIC). The box will be lined with 30 mm closed-cell sound-deadening foam marketed for use in vehicles. I've built one already from 25 mm MDF (£36 for 1220 mm x 2440 mm at B&Q) but I would like to know whether there's a...

I live in an apartment building which I guess was built around 1980 and I'm wondering what the total rated power draw is for the circuits. When I was at school, I thought that I was taught that every socket could provide 3000 W but at some point I think I read that each circuit only needs to...

We've used rat poison in the past but it seems it's no longer effective (possibly not being eaten). My mum says that the pest control guy from the council says that this is normal but it costs £10 for this guy to come out and put down some of his special (irresistable?) poison. Is it not...

The combi boiler in my mum's house outputs hot water which is not hot enough (despite being set to maximum) unless you close the tap a bit to reduce the water flow. This is fine upstairs but in the kitchen, the flow reduces on its own, perhaps due to expansion of the tap parts which means the...

Is there a rotary tool that can reverse direction? The problem is that when I use my rotary tool with wire brushes, all the wires end up pointing away from the direction of travel and therefore are ineffective at abrading the surface. Frequently reversing the direction of rotation would solve...

My mum has some red metal scales that she would like to be green. Can I just paint over the top or is some preparation needed? Are there a number of different types of paint that could be used? Thanks!

Over the past hour in Edinburgh lights have dimmed at mine and friend's homes and one of the ASDA supermarkets I happened to be in. According to SP Energy Networks (apparently they're responsible for this part of the UK grid?) website there are no faults detected in my area and some websites...

I keep seeing shades with ratings on for the lights used in power/watts but they give different ratings for incandescents and energy-saving forms which to me makes no sense. If the lamp shade can handle 42 watts of halogen, why not 42 watts of any other bulb type.

Mum isn't happy about storing stuff on top of a cupboard but we're not exactly rolling in storage space (if we were we'd stand up and put stuff in the vacated space). I think it would be neat to put some panels up there and I see some decorative stuff by searching for "ornate CNC panel". Can any...

I have a drill press vice that looks very similar to the one below. When the clamp experiences resistance (i.e. when tightening something into the vice), the quick release mechanism slips preventing the clamp from being tightened. How can this be fixed? Thanks.

We have some cables coming into the house which may no longer be needed but I don't know whether they might be useful in the future to either my mum or someone she might conceivably sell the house too? One cable might be an old telephone line and a separate pair of cables might be an old...

Why is it difficult to find "backing rod" for purchase except online? Is preferred to use expanding foam or something else instead?

I have an old not very good Draper drill at some point it started to struggle. It was no longer possible to start the drill slowly but only at maximum speed and now it tends to just struggle and barely move and only sometimes spins properly. Does this sound like a common fault? Can it possibly...