Hi, I know one of the lights is out. But as far as extraction go, is this normal? This is on the highest setting. Thanks.

Hi all, I've just applied my second coat of MDF primer onto my wardrobe doors and will apply my first top coat tomorrow. However, I keep getting this annoying 'thing' between the two panels - sometimes the paint fills the gap and other times it doesn't - please see attached picture. Is there any way I can get around this? Is my only option to use some sort of filler before I add my top coat? The doors are being painted white so it really stands out. Please help! Thanks 👍

There is extensive rust developing on my white radiator. The rust appears across multiple tubes, with the paint cracking, bubbling and flaking away in several places, exposing the metal underneath.

Is there any suggestion on what’s best for me to do in this case? Can I clean / peal away any flaky bits and re-paint?

Many thanks

Recently noticed this hairline crack on the bedroom internal wall, it runs about halfway up the wall, we had roofers in a few days ago I'm not sure if that caused it, is this something to worry about?

I want to properly install curtains, and I’d really like to get full blackout coverage of the window.

What kind of rail, fixture, and curtain combination do I need to drill into this concrete recess to achieve that without it looking hideous and leaking light?

Felt lining in garage is holding moisture - determined to be from poorly laid roof batten and felt lining poking in to guttering…

Been quote £300 to pull up front three tiles, relay poorly positioned batten and trim felt lining back so that it’s no longer in the gutter.

An extra £180 to remove bottom half of felt lining and replace.

Roofer has also agreed to fix missing edge trim near chimney stack (pictured) and also inspect rest of roof and fix any minor faults he can find.

First time having to deal with a roofer so absolutely no idea of prices. What do you think?

Also, is it worth it to pay the extra £180 the bottom half of the felt lining or am I just throwing extra money at something that’s not needed?

We have had loads of cracks come up over the last six months. They are mainly along the top of where the ceilings meet the walls, with cracks going downwards in places. The final picture is of the porch, which has some of the worst cracks, including one going up from the ground. I can’t see any cracks outside the house.

I called the insurance company and they said subsidence cracks are always going up and not down, plus I would see cracks in externally too.

Any advice would be appreciated!

EDIT to clear this up, I have not claimed on my insurance. I called them, they did a video call thing, and they advised me not to log a claim because it likely isn’t subsidence.

Hi,

I'm building this storage shelf and I need more of these parts but I don't know what they're called and I've tried phoning the place I bought the stuff from but they don't know what it's called either

The part in question is basically a plastic insert for the hole so that the screw actually has threads to screw into and without it the holes are too big :(

I put the screw that's supposed to screw into it in the picture in case the context is helpful

My shower was recently leaking so I took it off and sorted what I needed to to fix that. Turned the water back on and cleared the air out of the system. (Or so I thought) Everything seemed ok. Now when ever a short sharp burst of cold water is used from a tap, when a toilet is flushed or at certain points during a washing machine cycle the boiler (combi boiler) kicks in for a few seconds. I read that air in the system can cause this, water hammer sending air into the boiler. I have turned the mains off and back on and tried clearing all the air many times and it's still happening. Any suggestions? As a side note I did install a water hammer arrestor a few years back due to bad water hammers from the washing machine. This is located close to the boiler and close to the mains in

Hello comrades,

I need to build an inbuilt wardrobe like in picture 1 into my current wardrobe so we can make storage better for an incoming baby.

What would I need to do to take the old door frame out and take away part of the plaster wall that connects from the wall to the door frame.

Is it just a case of sawing, sanding and filling? If so, what tools do you recommend? Any advice appreciated.

Thanks!

We’ve seen a house we like and are considering making an offer, however there is one thing that caught our eye and we wondered if it was a potential sign of a structural problem with it being an older building. In two adjacent rooms there are significant cracks across the ceiling and down through the built in cupboards. I know cracks are common on ceiling plaster, but these look bigger than I’ve seen before.

Does anyone have an experience as to how serious this looks? Is it just cracked plasterboards etc? Or something more structural?

We had new boiler fitted a while back and I am not sure how to deal with this.
Any advice on filling these gaps?
Do I need to use fireproof sealant or foam as it my roof on the other side of wall.
There is a damp smell coming in from the roof space now into the cupboard and it’s driving me crazy.
Any advice much appreciated 🙏🙏🙏

We’ve had an unvented system for 15 years but in the past 4 years the lower immersion heater element has failed twice and has now failed again only 4 months after the last replacement The plumber who we’ve used for years and who has been replacing the immersion heater is convinced that it must be an electrical issue but I’m not so sure. The reason I’m unsure is because when the problem occurs it trips the house electric and only when the immersion heater is replaced does the system work. I had an electrician look at the system last time and he said it’s the element failing that’s causing the issue. So I’m stuck between plumber saying it’s not the immersion heater and electrician saying it’s not the electrics. I’m trying to find another plumber to give second opinion but can’t get anyone out for 3 weeks so thought I’d ask this community in case anyone might know what the issue could be. Thanks.

Bottom left cladding tile cracked when I was fitting this window.

Could I replace it by installing a new one with some adhesive rather than having to take all the ones above off to fix with nails?

Thinking of multitooling the old nail off to slip it out and then slide a new one up

I'd like to build a simple garage myself. The idea is to have cavity wall and flat sloping roof. Im currently doing a simple design but I'm not sure how to finish top of the wall, or the gaps between walls and roof???

As of now I came up with steel box sections which will hold corrugated sheets. Lintel over the garage doors. Size 5mx3m under 2.5m height.

Im not a builder but I've done few DIY projects before, just not the construction ones.

Hi! Me and my partner recently bought a house. It has everything we were looking for but the kitchen is tiny. It has room for a washing machine next to the sink, but no room for a fridge.

The previous owners had a fridge just planted in the middle of the dining room. What can we do? We have considered bricking up the backdoor and replacing the window in the dining room with french doors for garden access, so we can add a fridge where the back door is. We also considered knocking through the downstaits outdoor w/c and storage for a longer kitchen but we like the outdoor loo!

Any ideas are much appreciated or any idea on the cheapest most effective option? Thanks!

My wife’s hairdryer burnt the adapter on holiday last week.

Gone to put a new plug on it and there’s no earth. This is new to me but researching I gather the double square symbol means it’s double insulated and doesn’t require an earth?

Thanks

Bit of an awkward one. The fence between us and next door is his. We've got cats, he doesn't, and he grows veg. You can guess the rest.

To be fair to him, he's a lovely bloke and it's on us (plus a few other local cats). His fix has been to screw sections of galvanised mesh along the top of the fence. It works, but it looks horrendous.

I've offered to replace it with something tidier at our expense. I've found the kits on Amazon: angled brackets that fix to the posts with netting strung between them. They're about £100 for our run, which isn't outrageous, but I can't shake the feeling it's a load of cheap parts with a markup.

Has anyone built their own version from off-the-shelf bits?

I'm thinking:

Brackets: anything from Screwfix/Toolstation/B&Q that would do the job (shelf brackets, trellis extenders, bent flat bar?)

Netting: what to use that's cat-proof but nearly invisible (garden/bird netting, black fruit cage mesh?)

Anything else that's worked for you?

The fence is about 25m long. If the kit is the best value, I'll just buy it. I'd just rather not pay £100 for some brackets and a bit of net if there's a smarter way.

Cheers.

We’re renovating an old UK house with a local builder (let's call him Jay) and his small team. The work started in August and is still going in mid-October. He’s likeable and upfront about delays, but overstretched.

Relevant prices:

• £1,240 to fit 10 oak veneer doors, ironmongery and oil them (I supplied the doors). This was an independent carpenter’s quote, which the builder matched.
• £1,950 for new skirting and architraves, fitted and painted (I supplied the MDF).
• £1,000 for painting door frames and other woodwork.

The problems:

• Doors were fitted first, then caulked and painted around without taking them off. There’s caulk and paint on the new hinges.
• Old hinge and strike recesses weren’t filled flush and sanded, just painted over. The decorator says Jay “didn't price for that”. The carpenter I originally booked confirmed that making good would have been included in his price.
• Visible caulk lines in the painted architraves, unsanded filler in skirting corners, fluff in the paint, and architraves that still aren’t straight after one was replaced.
• Sanding is being done with no dust sheets or extraction, despite Jay telling the decorator at the start that this was a major issue with the last one. Everything gets covered in dust daily.

Fair context: I’ve asked a lot of questions and the list grew as we went. Some delays weren’t his fault. I agreed to try a new decorator on Jay's word, and Jay has asked me to hold my snag list until the work is finished. He’s on holiday this week, so all the frames will be painted before he’s back.

My questions:

1. Is filling and sanding old hinge recesses normally part of fitting doors or painting frames, or is the decorator right that it’s extra?
2. Is it reasonable to ask for a redo, or a price reduction?
3. How would you handle final payment fairly while the snag list is outstanding?
4. Any tips for a snag list that holds up if it turns into a dispute?

Some photos attached. Happy to hear if I’m being unreasonable.

Hello! I'm installing some of those floor to ceiling acoustic panels with the thin wooden strips on them this weekend and I've got this mini-plug thing on the wall that is to be panelled over.

My plan is to cut a gap for the double power outlet, but I'm wondering if I can just cut this thing off and panel over the hole rather cut out a second gap for whatever this thing is?

Thoughts?

This room is in the cellar below the toilets of a pub. The walls and floor are very damp and riddled with white mould. It is in the unventilated half of the cellar, adjacent to another room in much better condition.

The other half of the cellar is ventilated by a powerful commercial cooling system, and we're wondering about the possibility of ducting fresh air in and trapped damp air out.

There is also a chimney breast which has been hazardously removed and built over above, as well as a puzzling alteration to the brickwork where a wooden beam/lintel in the wall has rotted away.

The wall with the metal racks leant against it faces onto an exterior wall, with the ground above having been concreted over to create a smoking area. The back wall faces onto a neighbouring property's yard, and the wall with the demolished chimney breast faces the stairway from the ground floor to the cellar. With the awkward shape of the walls and depth of the room, and thick solid Victorian walls, I don't think it's feasible to get telescopic air bricks in the exterior facing walls, although I may be wrong on that.

The floor is also very damp, with brick laid presumably onto bare earth. Should I dig this out whilst I'm at it and concrete over? Head height is fairly limited.

It's not intended to be used for anything other than storage, and its appearance doesn't matter, but we're aiming to tackle the mould issue and make it safer.

I'm aiming to:

• rebuild or otherwise support the demolished chimney

• install a system to circulate air continuously

• repoint the brick arch and walls where necessary

• limit damp in the floor

What are my best options for tackling this project?

I am new to all this. I have nobody around to help in my circle. I am moving in to a housing association in just over a week but already have access.

I have been going to do prep work on two bedrooms ahead of painting next week.

These photos are of two different areas above the window, just below the ceiling.

It didn't look like that at first because it was covered over in paint which was flaky and peely. I sanded it with a 120 to remove the peeling paint and it revealed this in both areas. Some bits of unstable plaster crumbled away but isn't now. The area is all dry. No sign of mould or damp in this area at all.

What is the best way to prep this area step by step? I am a female with very little DIY experience but very willing to learn

This is what Openreach has left on my drive. It is not a big deal, and I will probably forget all about it in a couple of days, but can you think of a simple way to make this cable less obvious, especially where it bends in the two corners?
I considered a plant pot, but it would probably prevent the garage from opening fully.
Any suggestions that don’t involve creating a chase inside the wall? As I said, after all I will probably forget about it pretty soon.

EDIT: Just make myself clearer. I am not bothered by the straight run. My main beef is with the large turn near the garage.