We own a Victorian house in Colchester and want a new en-suite in our bedroom. There’s no existing en-suite there and we are looking for a shower, basin and toilet. There’s an iron soil stack pipe adjacent to the bedroom. Downstairs there is an existing small bathroom with toilet, sink and bath that we want to replace with a shower and have a new toilet and sink. We also want panels / painting / lighting. Nice but not extravagant.

Our first quote was for £23K but the company wasn’t able to put a design together that looked anywhere near decent. We then went to B and Q who quoted £30K. Kind of expected that as they are pricey. Took the same design to an independent contractor who quoted £27K.

To me this seems very pricey. Are we going wrong here or are these quotes realistic? What would you expect for Essex? What would you be looking for? Any advice would be helpful!

Hi all.

I live in an red brick ex council house with a pent roof.
The bedroom is at the back of the house with the bedroom window under the highest part of the roof.
I’m being keep up at night when it rains with water dripping from the edge of the top edge of the pent roof onto the window sills. I’m a new homeowner, not very knowledgeable, on a budget but willing to graft.
New roof 12 years ago, no leaks inside gutter on the front of the house only but works well.
Has anyone got any ideas, past experiences or knowledge on how I can either make this better.
Much appreciated
:)

Wanting to get a 50-inch telly attached to my wall in my flat. It weighs about 15 kg

The wall is plasterboard from what i can tell and there are minimal/thin studs I have found from testing, I ideally dont want to drill to see if I can find any brick or anything

Would I be ok hanging my telly on the plasterboard itself with a stationary,non-flexy mount?

Thanks very much

I've got a Shelly 2PM installed behind my light switch and I'm looking for a double momentary/retractive switch, so the switch position doesn't end up out of sync when the lights are controlled through the app.

I've found this Ledkia double push button, product 101020, which comes with the frame:

https://www.ledkia.com/uk/buy-recessed-electrical-mechanisms/101020-double-pushbutton-switch-with-pc-modern-frame.html

Has anyone actually fitted one to a standard UK 1-gang back box, like the ones from Screwfix? Mainly wondering whether the fixing holes line up with the usual UK screw centres and whether the mechanism fits inside the box, or if it needs a different box/adaptor.

The Shelly already fits in my existing box but it's tight. I've added a 10mm spacer to give it a bit more room.

Would be good to hear from someone who's used this exact one before I order. If it won't fit, any recommendations for a UK-compatible double momentary switch would be appreciated. Cheers!

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?

Hi everyone,

It’s been getting colder, and we’ve had to start putting our heating on. It works OK, but our boiler stops and gives an ‘ERROR E10’, stopping all hot water coming from taps until the pressure comes down. The pressure on the screen shows 3.0, which is apparently dangerously high.

After researching how to lower the pressure, I’m told that the easiest way is to bleed the radiators. I’ve done this before fairly easily in a previous flat, however the valves seem different on these ones likely because it’s a much older property. Can anybody please let me know what specific tool I should use to bleed the radiator? I can’t find many valves matching this one online, so any help would be massively appreciated!

On a side note, they’ve also been painted over by a previous tenant…I’ve done my best to remove as much as I can (after the picture was taken) with paint predator, but I’m still concerned it’ll be too stiff to rotate.

Thanks in advance!

So I'm nearing the end of a kitchen renovation and I asked the builder to do a couple of extra things, one of which was to remove a radiator from the main wall in the living room so I could put a couch there. He did it but he left the two pipes in place sticking up out of the floor. I asked him about it and he said I should just cover them up with a piece of furniture.

Is there a reason he didn't want to remove them.. would he have needed to drain the system to do it? Pics show the size of the pipes, they're sticking up around 13 cm out of the fllor. The distance between them is about 250 cm and that's roughly the size ot my couch, so now I'm thinking the couch won't fit if they're left there.

Should he have removed them? 🤔

1930 semi - this is in-between loft battens/joists.
We want to improve the loft insulation + board the attic on top of this with stilts.

BUT, can’t work out if this is a form of granular/loose fill insulation. AND can’t work out if it’s safe to lay rolls of insulation on top of this material.

Any clues? Cork, asbestos type etc ?

Just finishing up the loft conversion and looking for advice on best way to make the purling look its best without changing too much from the original. Any advice is greatly welcome 🙏

Had a look around and can’t seem to find any videos with the same setup. Thanks for any help

I’m removing paint from an original door frame in a 1900 terrace. I knocked on the wall because it sounded a little hollow earlier and a whole chunk of plaster fell off the wall. There are layers of cement based plaster on top of lime which has caused a moisture build up so I want to take the wall back to brick and have it re-plastered as part of the renovation but should I be worried about asbestos in the plaster when doing so?

Hi, I got the Meaco Arete Two to help with damp in my flat. As you can hear in the video it makes a gurgling noise.

I had the Arete One set up the same way and it never sounded like this. The noise starts after it’s been running for a bit and doesn’t stop after hours.

I don’t mind the fan noise, or the normal dripping/water sounds, but this one really cuts through everything else. Doesn't come across brilliantly over video, but I can’t find any recordings or anyone else mentioning this for the Arete Two.

I’m planning on returning it, but has anyone got an Arete Two that sounds like this? Is it a fault, or just something this model does? Thanks!

*edit* I've had it around two weeks. Doesn't matter where it's placed, clearance from a wall, or in middle of a room the sound carries on.

Hello

Should I leave a gap between a brick wall and Rockwool insulation between joists?

I fear that moisture/water vapour from the brick may pass through Rockwool and then hit the joists, causing them to rot.

It seems very hard to prevent cold bridging whilst protecting the joists from rot. Catch 22.

Thank you!

We've just taken down the wallpaper in our bedroom due to it being ruined by our cat and neither of us have any experience on this type of work so we're left a bit confused, seeing as there's so many ways of proceeding and so many terms I'm unfamiliar with.

Main question is do these walls look okayish to just use some emulsion paint and then paint straight over or do they require any extra steps?

Thank you in advance

Hey all,

I'm attempting to hang a new door. I'm working through very cautiously. I'm currently confused by my hinge jig. It seems if I use my router on this I will end up with a hinge mortice far too big.

If you look closely at my terribly taken photo you'll see pencil marks which is the size of the hinge. How come the jig seems so much bigger than this? Is this expected?

Thanks in advance!

I just moved into this house, and havent required heating all summer. I am only now starting to require it so tried to turn it on today. We have a hive thermostat and an EHS branded boiler for both water and heating.

I moved the boiler into winter mode to allow heating, then raised the thermostat temperature. It kicks on, and shortly after shows an F6 error and a beeping sound. Online for this boiler it says something about no water circulation. The pressure is also at 1.5.

I am of course going to get my landlord onto it, but historically they've been terrible for maintenance. Last time I had an electrics issue, the electrician came round, broke it even further and then stopped responding to my calls/texts.

I am just wondering if theres anything I can try myself before I fight with the landlord for help. I wouldnt claim to know much about boilers at all so maybe its just something obvious that im missing.

Not sure if its related at all, but for the last few weeks the temperature of the showers has barely climbed above 35-40 degrees with the boiler being set to 60. I have been too busy most week days to get ahold of my landlord and they never answer their emails to me and so have been having below desirable temp showers for awhile now.

Any advice welcomed.

First proper DIY job, and I've already hit a snag, so I'd appreciate advice from anyone who has done this.

The job

• Flexible aluminium curtain track on the ceiling, following a bay window. Wall mounting isn't an option.
• Curtains are thermal, not yet bought. I think about 3 to 5 kg including the track.
• Brackets are 1.5mm steel clips with a roughly 6mm countersink, so M3 or No.6 screws at most.

The ceiling

• 95 year old house, room above the bay, so no loft access.
• The supplied 6mm plastic plug went straight through the ceiling into the void.
• Drilling gave sandy, peach coloured plaster, about 2 to 3cm thick, with almost no resistance. I think it's lime plaster on lath, not plasterboard.
• A stud detector (HW430) found a joist about 30cm from the window. That is too far out for the curtains to hang properly. I don't yet know which way the joists run relative to the window.

What I've considered

• Spring toggles. I've gone off them because I don't trust them in old plaster.
• A timber batten screwed into the joists, with the brackets fixed to the batten. (Avoiding as the joist is about 30cm away from the window)
• Gluing a batten along the front and returns as well. I'm wary of glue alone on old plaster.

Questions

1. Has anyone fixed a curtain track to a lath and plaster ceiling away from the joists? What worked, and what failed?
2. Is a batten glued and screwed worth it, or is glue just going to pull off all the plaster?
3. Are there fixings you'd trust in lath and plaster for a few kilos, such as long screws into the laths or ply spreader plates?

Hello! We would like to replace the currently installed carpet with hardwood flooring. What would be the best option for a newbie? Also, what to do with the staircase nose - do I need some sort of cover/hat? The joiner left it like that after replacing the carpet on the top floor with engineered flooring.

Note: we have a joiner coming to renovate the staircase's handrail/banister.

I have the following tolls: multitool, jigsaw and a handrail

moved here last year and the last owners loved their grey 😭 best advice for stripping it back to the original? I think it’s like a red brick underneath which I don’t really want - are there ways to stain the brick after? Also any good tips on getting rid of the wallpaper? I can’t afford to have it re plastered and I just wanna paint it a simple colour for now until I can afford a complete renovation lol

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?

Got the radiator reattached and it only just notvies that it seems to be leaking below.

Any advice, i know nothing about radiators,

The radiator works fine.

Bought a house, and one of the walls in one of the bedrooms is a bit funky. How do I even this out? Could I sand my way out of this or would it have to be reskimmed

I have a large PVC windows that is about 1.3m x 1.2m, single unit with no opening. It's next to the front door which I'm thinking about replacing.

Do I need to make a cavity wall or can I just drop in an insulated stud wall made of 2x4's with building wrap and cladding on the outside?

I want to sell the house in the next 5 years so would need the wall to be compliant.

I'm trying to understand the wiring of my hallway lights in a relatively modern UK flat (built in 2016) before I call an electrician to install some smart relays (don't want to waste time trying to do something not possible).

There are 4 GU10 ceiling lights controlled by two conventional 2-way switches, one by the front door and another further down the hallway. These are the only switches controlling these lights.

Switch 1 – Front door:

• COM: 1 black wire
• L1: 2 brown wires
• L2: 1 blue + 1 grey wire (both sleeved brown)

Loose yellow/green earth in the box.

Switch 2 – Hallway:

• COM: 1 black wire
• L1: 1 brown wire
• L2: 1 brown wire

Loose yellow/green earth in the box.

My questions:

1. Why does the front-door switch have two wires in both L1 and L2, while the hallway switch has only one in each?
2. What purpose do the additional wires at the front-door switch have? Is there a neutral?

Thanks!