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Knocking down half of a semi detached garage
A bit of a random question but I am interested on seeing if anyone has done anything similar. Between our house and the house next door we have semi detached garages. We are considering whether we could knock our side of the garage down to extend the garden (you cannot actually get cars down the drive to it as it is too…
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Boiler quandry
can anyone offer any advice. I have a 25 year old boiler currently on its last legs. I know I have to have a condensing boiler but not sure whether to go for a combi. I have 4 bed house with bathroom and downstairs cloakroom, 9 rads, will shortly be just myself and husband. Plumber has said I will need to replace radiators…
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Advice Re: Granite worktops
I'm considering Granite counter tops for my kitchen and having found what were looking for, I'm come across warnings about the possible radiation risks with them. Does anyone know if this is a realistic risk - should I be concerned?
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Wales Help Req'd - Double Glazing - South Wales
My house is 18 years old now and the wooden double glazing has seen better days. In fact I had to replace a few "misted" units a few years ago. Also I notice the gap between panes is nothing like I see in newer houses. It has been so cold this winter and the front and back doors would definitely need to be replaced this…
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Cavity wall insulation & loft insulation
Just a recommendation for anyone considering this. I had loft and cavity wall insulation done recently. This was all free through the Warm Streets grant. I think it has made a tremendous difference. We have electric wall heaters (I know, I know), and only turn them on at night once to heat the bedroom. The biggest…
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Spray fence paint - can you use it with a brush?
My local Focus DIY had Ronseal Sprayable One Coat Fence Life for half price (down £6.49 I think). I was just wondering if anyone has ever used it with a brush rather than a sprayer or is the consistency of the paint too runny?
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Do radiator covers cut down the heat?
Question as title, really. Our radiators look their age (10 years) and although I've tried to paint them (using proper radiator paint, not emulsion), they really don't look good. We've just totally refurbished our lounge/dining area and now the radiators are sticking out like sore thumbs. I'm assuming it would be cheaper…
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Broken toilet pan.
Hi, The wee lad has just thrown a jar of bath salts into toilet breaking the inside rim, so a new toilet pan will have to be bought. The current one is 10 years old and I can get a pan for £30 +vat from local builders supplies (as they have one without a cistern) I have spoken to a plumber and it seems that cistern's come…
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Updating Bathrooms - retailer advice?
Hi all, I am currently looking at updating the bathrooms in my house. I was looking at buying from Bathstore, but then on a friend's advise checked out online reviews of their products and am now very glad I didn't spend any money with them! Can anyone advise around a good place to buy good quality (and reasonably priced!)…
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Pricing up an 'bulk' of a few diy jobs in my home
İ am away from the uk at the moment but have my family home in the uk but it is need of a few jobs doing --i am in contact with someone from who comes from another part of the uk who needs work and is willing to travel--accommodation for him and his wife will be a part of the deal(in my flat) because they have children…
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nightmare loft conversion
Just a quick overview before my question... In July last year we arranged for a reputable building firm with 29 years history to build us a loft convesion. Work was due to start, scaffolding went up and a deposit for materials was paid. One week later we heard they had been declared bankrupt by the VAT man. We found…
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gas boiler annual service query
just had my 2nd gas boiler annual service by a major company which we pay a contract for service for. . chap spent an hour but one thing he did was very strange,....he left hot water tap open on full. them went out to gas meter to measure the time for 1cubic foot to pass on the meter, and timed this on his watch. He then…
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Help finding studs for shelving uprights.
I'm fitting shelves at my Dad's using Newtech (Spur twinslot compatible) system in a room on a lath and plaster partition wall. House ie pre-war. Found the first stud, strung a chalk line for the top holes. The studs aren't at 400mm centres but somewhere near it so the first three are in the stud . Stud finder doesn;t work…
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Need interiors helps!
So...what do you do once you've splashed out a whole load of money on decor, realised you are completely talentless at things like colour matching and furniture choice and don't want to make such an expensive mistake ever again (when your entire house still looks like a tired rental and needs a makeover?) I'm pretty gutted…
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Identify cable size?
Hi all, I`m replacing a shower and wondered how you identify the ##mm size of the cable? The original shower was rated at 8kw and the replacement is 8.5kw. There were no probs with the cable and the original shower been installed for years with no probs but I would still like to be sure the cable is capable to carry the…
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Shared entry issue with keys
Hi all, We moved into a mid-terrace nearly a year ago and things have been going fairly well. The property as mentioned previous is mid-terrace with a share entry between the two houses. ie. between our front door and neighbours front door there is another door which leads, through a tunnel, to the rear of the properties.…
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Fireplace help
Hello all, we are in the process of doing up our home a room at a time and have completed refurbishment of upstairs. We are now moving down into the living room and we can't decide on what to do with our fireplace. It is a brick fireplace with a fairly new gas fire with pebbles (fairly new as in around 3 years old). Happy…
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Urgent help please!
I have just come home from work and found that one of the storage heaters in my flat has fallen off the wall :eek:. It is in the corridor directly behind front door. The heater was on overnight and is still warm now. I've turned it off at the plug and tidied up all the mess (it knocked over a glass photo frame). I've rung…
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Project is to up date a dated flat!
i live in turkey but own a fast dating flat in the uk which i keep for security and summer holidays. i bought it 8 years ago and have done a few minor improvements but it is basically as the oap previous owner had it--1970s bedrooms and embossed wallpaper--a lot of it is 70s so i am looking for the first suggestion of what…
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Dated 70s flat needs new doors!
i am looking to do some cosmetic updating and looking about my holiday home the thing which dates it most is the 70s style dated doors--they are opaque and glass--i want to go contemporary but retain the light aspect due to the hallway needing light.--can anyone recommend where to go to buy doors and the kind of…
