advice needed

Hi, I've just uncovered the third fireplace in my 1860s terrace. The first two I uncovered are lovely stone fireplaces, all straightforward and easy to clear out and fix up, with nice even slabs of York stone as their lintels. The third one is unlike any lintel I've ever seen as it's got the...

Hello everyone, I am looking at building a timber lean to veranda / patio cover down the side of my house and was hoping that I could get a bit of advice on how to do it. The span is going to be roughly 2.7m wide by 6m long with a roof at 15 degrees. The whole thing will be painted with...

Hi, We've been looking at moving house and due to budget, we've been mostly looking at houses that need a bit of updating. One of the houses we really like has a long, horizontal crack in the lintel above the downstairs living room window. It looks like the stone that's cracked might just be a...

Hi, We've had our chimney breast opening widened (probably a brick wider than the builders opening) and the lintel replaced with a stronger one and moved higher up at the front. Some of the brickwork needed to be cut out. Is our chimney flue and the second/third row of bricks supported by the...

We have removed two 1000l underground water tanks from under the rotten decking in our garden. We are now stuck on how to fill them. My partner wants to break up a pile of bricks we have in the garden and use with sand that was under a brick patio we removed, however this appears to be just...

I own a 1930s house and am in the process of renovating a room where some kind soul has wallpapered the ceiling, whats more, its on lathe and plaster. My intention is to put some spotlights in and I am wondering, if time isn't an issue, should I just rip the lot out? Are there any benefits...

First time posting, but would like some tips and ideas. We have recently purchased our first house, the whole thing needs work but the garden is where we are stuck and complete novices. It's full of pebbles that my two year old loves to throw and is just too much work. We want something we can...

Hi All, once again turning to you for some advice. I am building a 3 x 3 m corner summer house, which has a diagonal of about 4m I need to stay below 2.5m to avoid planning restrictions and struggling The option I'm looking at at the moment is.... Base - 3" (3 x 2 on concrete with a membrane)...

Hi guys I'm boarding out my loft with new supporting floor, I just wondered if anyone knows if there is anything I can do about moving or removing the cross beams in the roof (or find a way to work with them). I had assumed not but just thought I ask in case anyone had any ideas. I can't do a...

Rather than replace these windows, i'm going to have a crack at restoring them myself. I want to paint the metal and wooden parts of the frame back, in a non gloss finish, maybe a satin. I'll use Nitromors, a scraper and sandpaper to strip the existing paint - maybe wet and dry paper on the...

We recently found a large patch of wet rot on one of our outdoor frames, which has been looked at and we've been told the whole frame probably needs replacing because of where it is... so that's fine. We also found some smaller patches on our other window frames, of soft, flaky wood. These...

I’m looking for a little advice re; the construction of mine and my neighbours terrace of houses. In the last year or so we’ve started to suspect that rats have accessed our cavity walls and are moving between the properties. We have each noticed burrow holes coming out from close to the...

Does anyone have experience and advise on a good and cheap home insurance to use while house under renovation and vacant. tried few quotes online on gocompare etc.etc. but when selecting home under some work the website go mad and does not allow for any quote. I understand they are some...

Hi, looking for some advice or ideas to make a project I have in mind come to life. I am looking to add clear acrylic covers to the shelving I have attached an image of below. Purpose: cover the fronts of my shelving to stop dust gathering on my ornaments, while also looking aesthetically like a...

My loft is insulated and boarded out (between the rafters isn't insulated, but I might come back to that one day), but I have question regarding the gable ends of the loft. The boarding and insulation doesn't quite meet the wall, meaning there is a void that drops to the lower floor...

Hi, I've had an offer accepted on an old (1900) terraced property in probate. Spotted a few large cracks over windows at the rear of the house and similar ones in the bay of the front rooms (first and second floor). There is a tree in the neighbors garden fairly close to the back of the house...

HI Does anyone have any idea how easy (or hard) it would be to install Hive on a Worcester 28 SI? I don't have any kind of wireless thermostat at the moment, just the digital timer on the boiler itself. Just trying to gauge if I should just shell out for the paid install or not. I've had a...

Hi, I'm new to the forum but hoping you can offer some help. We're currently coming towards the end of our kitchen refurb and about to have our worktop installed. The worktop is not being fitted by the same company as who installed our kitchen units and appliances. The worktop fitters have...

Ive recently gone self employed and just looking for some advice for the best places to advertise. Im currently signed up with Skillhouse directory and ive had 2 jobs from it this month, it cost me 35 pound to join for a month with no contract and choose my own working mile radius so im happy...

Please can some one help! A while back I had a cooker hood put in by a electrician. This is how my wall was left behind my hob. He said the wall could be tiled over. Since then another electrician has looked at it. (related to a different job.) He said as a blank switch had been attached to the...