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Desperately need help with bathroom smell
I bought a new house with DWH in 2014 with a 5 year builders warranty. Since April, there has been a sewage smell in one bathroom (the other bathroom and downstairs toilet are fine). This smell got worse even after using drain unblocker. A plumber was eventually sent out in June and found no stagnant water under the bath…
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Crack in rendering - reported in our survey.
We just got our survey back and they noticed a crack in the rendering about the living room window, it was rated as a 2. He said on the report that it would need to be repaired or a chunk could fall off. Does anyone have an idea on how to repair it? Is it a DIY job or do we need a professional out- if so, what kind of…
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Brand for taps please.
I was going to buy cheap taps online (eg ebay) but my wife has been advised against buying cheap taps by a plumber friend. So the question is 1. Why is it bad to buy cheap taps? 2. What are good brands to buy? One of the key issues in my opinion is the speed that the bath fills up. So I'm looking for a decent bath filler…
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Microbore central heating
Ive got 6 single radiators and hot water (1 bathroom, shower & bath and kitchen sink) running off a 32kw combi. The boiler is a recent addition so uses either 15mm or 22mm. In the ceiling the central heating pipework is 22mm and then for each radiator it splits off and goes down to microbore (want to say 10mm but could…
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Patio area help
Sorry ive put it in here as it seems more DIY than greenfingered, hope thats ok? Im looking for advice for a patio area. The house is surrounded by a 3-4ft concrete path. Beyond that is grass. Im looking at installing a patio area that extends roughly 6ft beyond the concrete. The grass is pretty unlevel and varies from 1-6…
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Burnt out plug
Any idea why a plug for an immersion water heater has burnt out? The plug itself became incredibly hot and has left burn marks on the socket where the bottom two prongs were inserted.... the inside of the plug is black mostly where the neutral wire goes in, but also where the live wire goes... all wires were secure in…
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Which Range Cooker?
Hey all. I know it's been discussed a few times on here (and elsewhere) but I'm still confused as exactly which range cooker to go for. I'm a keen home cook and prepared to spend a little bit of money on one, but unfortunately don't have an unlimited budget. And yes, I know that integrated ovens are generally much better…
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Solid wood versus engineered wood - advice
Need to inform myself of relative merits of solid versus engineered wood for new hall floor (currently have carpeted original pine wood floor but lots of gaps between planks and planning new wood flooron top and rugs). I know nothing about this area at all. Do I buy the wood on line and hire someone else to lay it or do I…
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Any woodworkers on here?
Maybe not very money saving, but we treated ourselves to an expensive barbecue as a retirement treat. This has a 'Royal Mahogany' table that is intended to be used outdoors. The information says that the table may have natural blemishes. Just a few weeks after delivery, I noticed what looked like damage caused by a burn -…
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Advice on where to start
Hi all, We have just recently bought our council flat and are now in a position to make improvements, the scope of work would include new walls, flooring,doors,skirting some re routing of lights and plugs and finally decoration. Having never dealt with tradesmen of any kind been a council tenant for over 20 years, what is…
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Plumber has refurbished bathroom but left radiators not working! Advice please
We have just had our bathroom refurbished and we are happy with the works done re: tiling, fitting of sanitary ware etc. However, after the plumber left on Thursday we discovered that we had no heating or hot water. We contacted him on Friday and he came round on Saturday to solve the problem. He vented the cistern and…
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Ikea Mirakulos Oven Help Me
Hi all, We have had an Ikea kitchen and it's fabulous though we are having issues with the Ikea MIRAKULOS oven as we can not see to cook anything right. For the past 25 years our old oven was good, it cooked well and did what we want. Now with the Mikakulos Oven we are lost and having tried all the settings we just can not…
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Downstairs toilet - where?
I'm looking at possibly investing in a property that could do with some renovation work. The one thing that puts me off is that I'd really like a downstairs toiled but I'm not sure it would be possible to add one. Does any of you knowledgeable chaps have a gut-feel for where (and whether!) an extra WC could go ... If it…
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HUGE hole left over from pond. HELP
Hi, We have a huge hole left in our garden from a pond we decommissioned belonging to the previous owner. It measures 10ft by 11ft. We installed drainage at the base as it was a massive concrete bowl when it rained. We've filled most of it in by hardcore rubble. But now we would like to deck over it and was wondering what…
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Plants growing on Chimney stack
Hello All, I currently have two small plants growing in the mortar of a chimney stack. They need to go. I have a normal height 2 storey house and the chimney stack in question is in the middle of my roof. How best should I go about it? I'm loathed to get scaffolding up for such a small job -it would take me longer to climb…
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Broken guttering on conservatory
So, our guttering has finally succumbed to the elements and decided to break and fall off last night. No major issue as it is cheap And easy to replace however will not be able to do it for a week/10 days, do you think it is a concern leak wise? It is a slanted roof which you may be able to see from the pics, and really…
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sewing machine for curtain hem
I need to shorten a couple of ready made curtains and looking at the costs (£30 a curtain with lining) I reckon it would be at least worth investigating investing in a cheap sewing machine. I've seen a couple on line at £89 - £100. (Janone 2015s etc) So to have set of curtains with lining coming in at £60, it could be more…
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Sticking front door
We have a 5 year old double glazed, multipoint locking front door. When it is warm/sun is on the door - it appears to swell slightly - causing problems closing it properly (the "fingers" catch on the frame. I feel that, we should contact the fitters (still in existance) - to ask them to sort it out. My wife thinks that if…
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Dehumidifier
Hi, Blyss (B&Q own brand) dehumidifier is showing an error code E2. There is no mention of this in the manual. Anyone know what it is likely to be and is it an easy DIY fix or just buy a new one?
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Difficulty in finding a tradesman!
Hi all, as part of our housing improvements over the summer, we had a list of about 4/5 jobs that we were keen to get quotes on. With what needs to be done, we believe a carpenter/joiner would be best? However, having put up requests on mybuilder and ratedpeople, we've had just one person who came very keenly, took all…
