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Our downstairs cloakroom/toilet has an extractor fan which isn't connected to the lighting circuit (as far as I know). It's got a pull cord and there isn't an isolator anywhere, so I presume it's either wired into the socket ring or the lighting circuit and permanently live. I haven't traced...

I'm trying to get my head around our CH system and while I think I get most of it, I'm a bit stumped by one or two features. I've labelled the pipes and the bits I'm curious about. Hopefully, someone can explain. 1) Is the expansion for the hot water? Lower down is a T which goes up and...

I've recently pulled up the carpet in my daughter's bedroom to redecorate. Before I put down laminate, I need to lift the floor to sort out a badly installed cabling. The floor aleady has a few odd shapes which look like cutouts? I have found about five, all of which look like they've been...

I'm running CAT6 cable from the ground floor of my house up into the loft, so my kids can have very fast Internet connectivity in their bedrooms, and so I can make the wi-fi super quick. The best route for the cable takes me through a stud wall and up the stairwell into the loft. I've opened...

I'd like to put power in our loft, but I'm not sure of the best way, or what regulations might cover it. There's a spur that a previous owner of the house put in, but tracing that lead back to a ceiling rose in a bedroom, so I don't want to go anywhere near that. What should I be considering...

A while ago the tap on our kitchen sink broke. I decided to take the opportunity to change out the whole sink, which was grotty and old. So, I removed the waste pipes, cut the feeds, and installed iso valves. So far so good. I knew there wasn't going to be a lot of overlap with the...

I'm in the process of replacing my kitchen sink. Unfortunately the previous owner of the house was a bit of a bodger, and he didn't bother with things like isolators, which means, in order to replace the tap, I have to turn off the supply to the entire house. Obviously, as I replace the sink /...

I need to replace the sink in my kitchen. I've bought one to install, and a mixer tap to fit the sink which came with 400mm flexible tails. The existing pipework is copper all the way to the tap, but the installation is in a different place on this sink (50mm to the right), so flexible tails...

I need to replace the sink in my kitchen as it's old and grotty, and the tap broke last night. I've looked online and seen a few that appear to meet my requirement, but I'm not sure about sizes. The existing sink measures 1010mm from end to end (including the drainer), however, the one I like...

We've lived in our house for three and a half years. In that time the water pressure's been just about adequate in our bathroom and ensuite. We have a hot water tank in the airing cupboard on the landing (close to both showers) and cold water is fed from a large plastic tank in the loft. In...

Out kitchen is served by a single fitting in the centre of the room, with a switch at either end of room. One near the doorway into the hall, and one near the doorway to the utility room. The one at the utility room end is obscured by the fridge and can't be used. Over time the fridge moves...

In my garage there was originally one double socket on an RCD. The previous owner of the house has T'd in to this to add a single socket elsewhere in the garage. The T was done in a very haphazard way which I need to soft out anyway, however, a friend recently pointed out to me that it really...

A previous owner of our house installed an exterior light under the porch. Unfortunately he didn't do a terribly good job of it. The light is wired into the hall lighting circuit, meaning when you turn on the hall lights, on comes the one outside too. Not really what we want, and I'm guessing...

I recently installed a light in our loft. I didn't want there to be a chance of the lights being left on, so I installed a switch near the hatch rather than in the loft. I selected an 20A MK one with a red neon above the switch. I broke into the lighting ring from the bedroom nearest the...

In our hallway we have a double switch. One switch operates the lights in the hall, and the light outside the front door. The other does nothing at all. I'd like to change it so one does the internal lights and the other does the outside light. I assume that's how it's supposed to be wired...

I'm planning to build a lean-to in an awkward space at the side of my house. It's too small for a shed and at the moment is just acts as a giant litter tray for the neighbourhood cats. It's 6m from front to back and 2.7m wide at the front, narrowing to 1.3m at the rear of the property. Once...

I recently had to replace a badly installed back box for a light switch. The switch had been moved when the door was 'flipped' to open to the right, not the left, and had been done really badly, with glue, silicon sealant and bits of wood wedging it in place. I decided to do it properly. The...

Recently bought a house and having a few plumbing issues. Water pressure is good and nothing appears to be leaking, but the pipework leading from the bathroom to the tank in the loft has a strange quirk. Sometimes, when you flush the toilet or run water in the sink, the pipework under the...

I'm planning to build a lean to at the side of our garage. It's an annoyingly shaped piece of land which isn't much use, and it too small for a shed, so I plan to cover the whole are to maximise the storage space for wheelie-bins, bikes, recycling, etc. The space is 6.6m long, and 2.7m at the...

I'm considering building a lean to at the side of our garage. At the moment it's just an open space with a fence and gate at the front leading down to the back garden. It's a really annoying shape, and not really wide enough for a shed, so thinking about just covering the whole space to the...