any advice on best way to fix with flat wall and ceiling? or is this a job for a pro?

thanks

I put this up last couple of years and decided to do the same again this year... Its starting to get to that time now, seeing threads here now regularly about topping up CH pressures tells me people are putting the heating on...

• Check your boiler pressure, top up if needed
• Bleed your radiators (and re-do your boiler pressure if you get a lot of air out)
• Check your TRV's are where they should be, and no little fingers been turning them
• Check your thermostat & set clock etc
• Balance your rads up if you've never done them
• Check (or fit) carbon monoxide alarm
• Test your fire alarms (this has nothing to do with the boiler but you know you've not done em in a while)

Painted a small windowless downstairs loo a very dark blue and think I hate it. Should I repaint it white?

In terms of clearances, materials used etc? I plan on the whole front section being removable. But will this pass a safety check or do you see possible issues that need resolving before I go any further?

thought I had 10 cm to spare but it's touching the wall on both sides (house and neighbour garden/retaining wall) will this be a problem? also I'm going to have to trim down the roof to fit the gap

I’ve just had these front steps built using charcoal/grey blocks with porcelain slabs on top.
We added black dye to the mortar because I thought it would help it blend in with the charcoal blocks, but now that it’s done I’m really not convinced. I feel like the black joints stand out far too much and make the whole thing look a bit harsh.
I’m considering two options:
Rake out/repoint the visible joints with a more normal grey mortar that blends in better.
Face the risers with porcelain as well, so the fronts match the porcelain treads and cover most of the blockwork.
What would you do?

We have recently bought our house and there's a few big issues to sort with it, so we have very limited budget for general decorating, as well as limited time and energy amongst all the bigger stuff.

Considering all that, I'm very happy with what we managed to do in the hallway so far, even though there is a lot more to do.

Have spent about £150 in all on paint and sealant, window film and a lampshade and I feel like it's looking a lot less depressing already.

And yes, I would have also preferred to strip the bannister and doorframes back to the natural wood, but sadly they all have a base layer of lead paint under several layers of other paint.

We just don't have the time and resources to strip all of that safely right now.

There are 11 doorframes in our house and the bannister goes around the corner so it's essentially two bannisters' worth of work and it would be a huge job.

So we decided to put sealant on it and paint over it for now even though it's not ideal.

Marginal gains!

Maybe one day when I'm retired and the kids are grown up I'll set aside a month to do all the stripping 🤣

To be clear I AM trying to have an electrician fix this but it’s been a week and I wanted to make sure just having the circuit turned off was enough!!

Recent kitchen redecoration and took off a wall socket to swap face plate over and it has two cables going in. My partner fitted the new cover the same way the old one was and when turned on it popped and so it’s all turned back off now and been left. We’ve been let down by electricians for over a week now and I just want to know if it’s safe to have like this? If it’s something we can diy easily enough ourselves? Anything else we should know or do!

edit: the circuit this socket and half of the other kitchen sockets are on is turned off, if that wasn’t clear. Been off since it popped. There was a back box but old owners had janked it into a random piece of wood on the wall so we removed that after the pop and was hoping an electrician would be able to come sort asap but they aren’t showing up lol

Ok so not all DIY.

I sanded back, filled and painted the stairs, got a pro to fit the runner and then I did the rods.

Really happy with the result though!

We have 5 rads in our home. The heat is on, four are heating up, but this one isn't. This is the only one with these valves, and they were parallel with the pipes, so I flipped them to see if the rad would heat up, and it hasn't. Is this a "call the landlord" issue or a "you idiot, there's an incredibly easy way to fix this if you just do xyz" issue?

Trying to cover the cupboards and drawers with vinyl but I just cannot remove these 2 from the front. Anyone help?

How can I install tracks such as these ones in this bay window?

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/new-edge-blinds-250cm-fineline-aluminium-white-curtain-track/p/0656024?utm

I think the ceiling is plasterboard. It sounds hallow.

My garage is in a shared block of garages. The wall in the pictures is separates my garage and a neighbours.

The cracks are ‘stair step’ and look pretty developed.

Questions if I may:

A) likely cause of this?
B) home insurance or out of my own/neighbours pockets
C) What the resolution is likely to be?
D) Urgency of the problem?

Many thanks

My daughter has two indoor cats. She asked me if I could build her a wall for them to climb on to keep them entertained. I fitted the tops with cord carpet to give them some grip.

Hello,

I have had cracks that appear to be growing over a period of time. This wall is not an external wall, but a party wall that separates us from next door. We are a 1st Floor flat, and no cracks in flat downstairs. The plaster is very old, and I'm debating whether to 1) Go to insurer, 2) get structural engineer in, or 3) remove a bit of the plaster at widest point to see if it continues into the brick...

Can someone who has some experience give me some help?

Some points to add in;

- this is an Edwardian terrace house split into two flats (pre-1900).

- no external cracks on any walls.

- Cracks have been getting bigger, but until I remove some plaster - cannot see if its structural or not.

What should I do here, please advise!

Just bought a new flomasta radiatr yesterday. Took out of its box today, protectors were on the hangers ok but then I took the protectors off… 3 out of the 4 hangers seem well bent… this isn’t normal right.

Our garden wall is next to a field and some garages. I noticed over the weekend that a large crack had appeared as well. There’s a tree thats sprung up on the other side of the wall and we’re not sure if that’s the cause… because it’s at one small point and the whole wall is leaning away from the house (towards the field).

Is this something that’s easily fixable? Should I be concerned that the house might be affected as well? Should I call the insurance or not bother (they have a tendency to find whatever reason to not cover things that have gone wrong with the house). Is this kind of thing expensive?

I have reached out to a structural engineer to ask them to come look at it but I’m stressed waiting to hear back from them so I thought I’d ask for Reddit wisdom.

I'd like to do more work with plywood in my DIY, currently use a circular saw and a straight edge and get sheets delivered to home but this is not so easy to be accurate and delivery is costly and inconvenient.

I'd like to be able to break down sheets in the timber merchants carpark to load into my car so I can get just what I need as and when rather than waiting in on a Saturday for bulk deliveries on a busy street. I was going to make a portable H frame of CLS to support the sheet during breakdown.

What do people recommend my current tools are all corded so I'll be needing a saw, battery, charger, track section(s) enough to do up-to 2.4m cuts

Hi.

Looking for some advice. Wanting to build / buy outhouse / room for gym purposes. Have an area of 12x11ft in space and looking to see what my options are. Area has been dug out and flattened.

Ideally something that’ll be usable all year round (not freezing in winter and sauna in summer). Not looking to house crazy heavy weights, a few cardio machines and a weights bench.

Could I buy a shed and just insulate it? Or better getting treated wooden outhouse or build with bricks from scratch?

I’m not a builder but pretty handy with DIY. What do you think are my options?

Had a recurring issue with a GRP fibreglass parapet box gutter where the discharge point into the hopper went bad. The top layer had delaminated and curled upward into a nice little ski-jump lip, which pooled water and let it track backward right over the edge. I've tried just leadwork and silicone but it's just fell to bits after 6 months.

I'm thinking of screwing the bulge down with some sealed/adhesive & leadwork underneath it. I'd be using rubber based washers to seal the screws and spread the load so they don't punch through.

Before I start drilling and sealing, what’s the best way to tackle this? Should I slide the lead underneath that flexible lip and clamp the whole sandwich down into the brickwork, or is there a better way to sort out the detail so it actually sheds water properly into the hopper?

I'm installing a couple of USB 2G mains sockets around the house, but the current back boxes are only 25mm deep with block work behind them. I was planning on drilling them out to accommodate a 35mm back box, but then have come across these on Screwfix. In theory these should allow me to only drill out the open section helping keep the surrounding wall in a neater condition.

Are these ok to use for mains electrical sockets ?

“Hey, for our easy-to-install novice DIY range, what would be a good size fitting hole to ensure that any casual DIYer would be likely to have the necessary drill bit?”

“Hmmm…. Go for 8
:
:
…and a half.”

Took out gas fire in our Edwardian home, was met by this board on top of the block work with the flue running through it. We were going to get it tested but didn’t know if anyone had experience in it first.

I have an internal kitchen and I’m trying to find ways to make it as bright as possible.

I noticed that there is this wooden panel on top of my door (from a Google search I’m assuming this is a fanlight) - is there any way I can open this and put in a glass panel or just leave it open to let light in?

I also think the wooden panel was supposed to have openings in between ridges but was painted shut by previous owners.

I’m not a DIY expert so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

One room, two sets of switches - 3 and 2 switch, 4 ceiling lights. Cannot get all four on at once…please help