So, apparently this is very flammable and useless as insulation. What should my plan of action be to get rid of it?

Yes that's an asbestos water tank in the background, joy. This will be wrapped up in the appropriate stuff before working up here.

Hi! I need some help please! Trying to put up some curtains at my new flat and when I drill using my McGregor Combi drill, it only goes in about one inch, when I’m trying to drill about 2 inches, this is about 10cm above the window, I’ve tried 4 holes a few cms each side and none let the drill go any further☹️ I’m using a HSS drill bit. Anyone got any advice? It looks like metal is what I’m hitting. I’m going mad over here! Appreciate any and all help please!🙏

Edit: forgot to ask, could it be something electrical? I’ve asked the landlord but he says he’s clueless about what’s on that wall as he’s actually never even been to the flat he says. Trying to make sure I don’t get a shock or something?

I bought my maisonette a couple of years ago and I’ve decided to board out the attic, so I finally got up there to measure it and found two apparently plumbed in radiators, four double-gang plug sockets and four what appears to be vents which have been poorly taped over. Could anyone shed some light on what it could be?

Extra background on what I know about the previous owner. He was an elderly man previously involved in the commercial fishing business and sold up when he couldn’t live independently. Just in case anyone thinks it might be the remnants of a grow house.

Spent yesterday carefully taking down a mature tree in our back garden. I used my scaffold and reciprocating saw to slowly cut each branch into manageable sections and then attacked the trunk in chunks. Top of the tree was almost at roofline, so knew I needed to take my time. Great sense of accomplishment once it was down and stump treatment was applied.

I then got over confident…

Went to tidy up some leylandii trunks that were around 2.5m tall and had been too big for my old saw blade to get through. A chunky 1m section ended up toppling down uncontrolled and obliterated my food waste bin. Very glad it went that direction instead of straight onto my head.

Remember, wood can be really heavy and can cause serious injuries if it hits you, or equipment that you are using. Thank you food caddy for your sacrifice 🫡

My other tip for anyone contemplating a similar task: branches tend to look quite a smaller than they actually are when you are looking up at them!

Hi all,

I'm looking for some external advice after being left unhappy with the position of the toilet in our newly refurbished small bathroom.

To my mind the toilet sits very close to the wall- it is 9cm away. If I sit on the toilet naturally my shoulder rubs the wall, and I'm not a large person. Seems uncomfortable not just odd. The gap the toilet sits in is wide enough for a 20cm gap on either side (which I think is the recommended clearance).

The external soil pipe is cast iron (into the wall rather than the floor) and I guess a real pita to move. My question is whether the fitter could (should?) have used diagonal pipe/offset/Flexi connectors within the wall (which was rebuilt for the renovation) to gain the extra 10cm? Or if even a 5cm gain would make a substantial difference to feel? And what can we do in retrospect now that it's been done this way- any options?

The fitter is holding firm on this being what I requested and there's no flaw in the installation (though I feel we should have been warned). So I guess we'll probably have to lump it. I'm looking for a sanity check here and any pragmatic options.

Anyway, I know it may be impossible to tell without hands on inspection, but I've attached photographs any thoughts much appreciated.

I'm about 3mm out, must I move the brackets or?

The flat above us has a water waste pipe facing the brick that’s just flooding the shared yard. Surely this can’t be right?

Seen on amazon, apparently the price history has it at £650 before. I was looking at batteries for a DeWalt tool I bought recently but for the same price I can return the DeWalt tool and get four Makita tools plus three 5Ah batteries. Is there any reason not to go for this?

EDIT: Okay yeah, it's got to be fake. Seller has just joined and has no reviews. Sad times </3 Thanks everyone

We are adding insulation between the joists under our suspended timber floor. We have started taking the floorboards up and found this wire for a socket pinned to the joist nearest the wall. We think with electrical building regulations (we are in Scotland), it should be fine for use to move it to be attached under the joist instead so that there is not a long length contained within the insulation. Is this correct and what would be the most appropriate way to attach it?

EDIT - To confirm, I know how condensation works, I just thought it was not that common to see so much of it on double glazed windows. I've always had single glazed windows in the past - The other reason I was surprised by it is that nobody sleeps in this bedroom, we sleep in another room with the door shut so it's not moisture from our breath - Also other double glazed windows in the house like the kitchen are fine

- Victorian terrace house in North-west England

- Temperature dropped to around 4 degrees last night outside, around 17 inside

- Generally we take measures to avoid damp (regularly open windows, extractor fan and window open when using shower, extractor in kitchen)

- Had some windows replaced last year: Swapped single glazed windows for double glazed in 2 bedrooms, the bathroom and the lounge bay window.

- Currently the only single glazed windows are the patio door and one upstairs bedroom

- Kitchen had already been double glazed for years

With all this, I am surprised we are seeing quite a lot of condensation on the new double glazed windows? Is this normal?

In the photo, the water across the bottom is on the inside.

The water that goes higher up is on the outside.

There doesn't seem to be any water in between the two panes.

Should I even try as it doesn't leak, although I guess if one next to it goes it will. I fear breaking many trying to sort one.

Can I even buy a single tile? Where from? How do I find out which one I need? Are there standard types?

I’m guessing I need to undo one of the top couplings - is that correct? Thanks in advance

This shower install is a year or so old, I'm going to redo the sealant this weekend. How can I prevent the mouldy corners from happening again?

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!

I posted about these loose stones in my foundation before and I was going to pack everything with lime mortar. But on attempting that some other things have come to light.

This area is about 3-4 foot long and the loose stones go down about a foot. The part that is worrying me is the stones bulge out 2-3" compared to the rest of the wall.

Back story - there decking here and it was attached to the wall with a ledger board. You can make out the line of where it was. The decking was badly designed and water gathered in this corner so the ledger board rotted out here. This then washed out the lime mortar. Along the rest of the wall the stones were cement rendered and the render seems solid (so I'm guessing the mortar is ok behind it - fingers crossed)

There is very little other clues to indicate big movement other than a hairline crack up to the bottom corner of the window. Looking back at the photos of when we bought the house 2 years ago that crack hasn't changed in size.

Do I need to get a structural engineer or can I go straight to hiring a stone mason or someone else to fix it? What should i be looking for when I hire them?

This is taking forever to dig out with hand tools. Would an SDS drill manage to break up the postcrete?

During some recent work one of my window sills got damaged. Replacing the sill is likely to cause more mess and damage so I’m exploring ideas to repair it in-situ. The bit that’s throwing me is that it appears to be made of clay or maybe a dark ceramic tile. Any ideas, experience or suggestions for repairing this?

Hi. I wonder if someone could offer me some advice please.

The short version is, I’d like to relocate where these aerial and satellite cables come through the floorboards because they currently sit exactly where a leg of a new bookcase would be.

The longer version. There used to be a corner TV unit here but I’ve relocated that and now would like to put a bookcase in this alcove. The problem, as above, is that the front leg would be right where these cables appear through the boards. For some reason, I appear to have four or five aerial cables here, two satellite cables and a phone cable for an old Sky box. The satellite cables are in use for Freesat and one of the leads is definitely connected to my aerial because I’ve used it recently. As for the others though, I’ve no idea. One of them may be a NTL/Virgin cable which may be useful in the future. I intended to tape the currently unused leads together and push them down with something attached so that I could retrieve them in the future.

So, I think my options are to either make a channel of a few inches from the existing hole leading away from the wall so that this would be more central underneath the bookcase where I could hopefully disguise or cover the cables but am unsure if that would be detrimental to the strength of the board. Perhaps better would be to drill a new hole in the middle of the next floorboard closer to the back wall. The first option means I could just slide the cables into the groove and somehow cover the old hole. The second option means I have to figure out a way of fishing the cables from their current position into the new hole. There is a crawl space below but it means crawling the length of the house and through a small hole in the foundations to get to this point. Oh, and I’m arachnophobe! 😂

Once the leads are relocated, I will be having laminate installed. Hopefully these cables sprouting up through the boards won’t cause the installers an issue?

Any advice on this would really be appreciated. Any other good options? Can I just use wood filler on the current hole or should I try and make a plug? Any good tips for how to fish the cables from one hole to the other? Finally, I’m assuming there are no concerns with pushing the unused aerial/telephone cables down through the hole?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

I have come downstairs to my window like this. Only the outer pane is broken. I can’t see any blood, feathers, balls or projectiles. I also did not hear any loud sounds. Does anyone have any ideas?

Hi all, when we moved into our first home last year our survey noted that one of the purlin joints had been installed upside down (house is a 1960s semi) and needed strengthening.

We didn't immediately get this sorted as we figured that it'd been that way for 50 years so unlikely to change dramatically in the short term, and we could save up before dealing with it.

Went into the loft for the first time in ages and noticed that the joint has separated about 1-2cm since the survey was done, so now obviously we want to get it sorted before any damage occurs/it gets any worse. Feeling like idiots for not doing it sooner.

Is this something that can be done DIY, or are we best off finding a carpenter/roofer(?) to sort? I assume the latter, but not sure if anyone has any experience with this sort of thing.

Thank you!!!

Pics attached of survey photo and recent photo.

I need to stop being surprised by the things I find in our Victorian terrace...

We have started stripping the lining paper in our spare bedroom with the intention of plastering/skimming the walls before painting.

What we have found behind the lining paper on one wall are two substantial timber pillars on the edge of the wall closest to the door. I'm going to assume they are structural, but don't know for certain. The previous owners have slapped filler on the timber in an attempt to blend it with the wall, but predictably this has cracked and broken off. I'm aware that plastering directly onto timber is a big no-no due to differences in moisture absorption and expansion/contraction from temperature change.

What are my options here? Some ideas which spring to mind:

1. Plasterboard the whole wall with a hybrid dot-and-dab / drywall screw arrangement.
2. Apply expanded metal lath across the timber section to bridge the gap, and plaster like normal.
3. Apply a thinner (4mm) Wedi backing board to the timber section to avoid having to plasterboard the entire wall, and build up with Multifinish on the normal section of wall.
4. Something else?

I've attached an annotated photo. Thanks in advance.

I have a manhole in one of our rooms. Previously it had a separate trim around it so the flooring could be lifted up separately. Does anyone know of a solution where it could sit flush with the flooring. I've had a look at recessed manhole but decided that it would mean digging up part of the foundation to fit which I'm not comfortable doing. Maybe some sort of access hatch?

Any ideas would be very helpful