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All outputs from my cooker panel (Cooker and 13 amp socket) are dead. The circuit is: Consumer Unit to the original Cooker Panel location in kitchen, which is now a standard wall box from which a 30amp cable has been extended to a new Cooker Panel where the cooker is now located. This has...

Its OK, I made my kitchen worktops from it 25 years ago, but two timber merchants in my locality (Basildon) said "Whats that then? Another two didnt stock it saying that people have moved towards MDF. Well I believe its better than MDF for shelving (more rigid) and I hear of health issues...

I have an external porch light with a filament bulb controlled by a mechanical timer. I want to use a low energy bulb (spiral/flourescent type) instead and upgrade the timer (possibly to electronic). I read from some timer specs that they wont switch the new type of bulbs yet they work...

I need to box in a PVC soil pipe in my semi integral garage to prevent fire ingress into the bathroom room above, as I can't fit an intumescent collar due to space restrictions. The maximum constructed panel size would be 80 inches by 30 inches I imagine plasterboard would meet the...

I am getting dampness rising from the bottom of an interior wall of my 60 year old house which has a concrete floor. At this stage I can only guess that the problem is either: A leak in the central heating pipes which run alongside the wall just below the surface of the floor, Or...

With my new door frame came six 100mm x 10mm fixing screws and plastic wall plugs. I have the plugs in place but I am having difficulty in tightening the screws up fully (hard to turn) Is this usual or is there a lubricant I can use that won't rot the plastic over time? Thank you

I would be grateful if someone will advise me how I can deal with securely fitting a tile threshold on top of an uneven 50 year old DPM (a bit like roofing felt.) A DIY enthusiast, I have just cut a doorway through a 9 inch solid internal wall from my garage into the house and am fitting a...

I am new to fire doors and am a little concerned whether it is contra to Health and Safety legislation to fit intumescent seals to the door of an occupied room? I was just thinking, as I fit my first such door, that if I or any of my family was in the room and a fire started just OUTSIDE and...

I am fitting my first fire door and the frame kit came with strips of intumescent seal and with the frame grooved to take the strips. Wishing to get it right first time, could I ask how the strip is fixed in the groove - pins or adhesive? and also, where the hinges are screwed to the frame...

I bought a can of Polycell expanding foam to fill a large hole in a wall and the can said "Produces up to 15 litres of foam" Well, 15 litres is about 3 gallons so I envisaged 3 x 1 gallon cans side by side and that was nearly double what I required. However I could only complete half the...

My bathroom is above my garage and the soil pipe runs down through the garage. I had a building inspector in for a separate matter and he recommended an intumescent fire collar round the soil pipe to prevent fire getting into the bathroom should a fire in the garage melt the soil pipe. Could...

May I have the benefit of your experience please? Once I have cut through a 9 inch solid brick wall to make a doorway, l will have to fit the supplied 130mm x 29mm door frame kit to the brickwork opening which will obviously be a little rough. What should I use to fix the frame, nails...

Belated thanks to the Expert Regulars who assisted me recently with advice concerning a fire door installation. I am now running through what I need to do to put the lintels in place. I propose to insert two 65 x 100 x 1200 reinforced concrete lintels side by side into the space left by...

I am planning to put a door through a 9inch solid internal wall into an integral garage thus I will require a 30 min fire door and frame. Life would be a lot sweeter if I could have a door to my sizes rather than a "stock" size (mainly so its height would fit just under a course of bricks)...

I have been running a Potterton Kingfisher 2 (cast iron, floor mounted) for about twenty years and so far it has needed no attention. (£480 including labour to fit at the time.) If I eventually decide to change this boiler, I am going to have to have a condensing boiler with all the built...

I am planning to put a single door through an internal loadbearing wall in my house and need to calculate the size of lintel required to satisfy the Building Inspector. I was referred to BS 5977 to do this but when I Googled this document the web site wanted £90 for a copy! Is this the...

I am wishing to convert my garage into a store room which will store my paper documents, electronic and photographic equipment. Consequently it needs to be heated and most importantly insulated to reduce heat loss (and electric bills) The garage walls are constructed of single thickness...

I have had a couple of quotes from builders to put a door through a wall from my hall into the back of my garage. On both occasions the builder wrote on the quotation - "Building Inspection to be arranged by customer" Is this usual? surely you pay for the job and the builder deals with...

I have a semi-integral garage, the walls within the house being two thicknesses of standard house bricks. I would like to make a door of standard width through this wall from the hallway to the garage. This brick wall stops at ceiling height and there are wooden joists for the first floor...

I have just aquired a stand-alone external PIR sensor which came with no instructions and I find the internal wiring colours confusing: There is a is a three way terminal block inside the unit with red, blue and brown wires going in one side of the block. Could anyone tell me which is...