Had a struct wall removed in the kitchen in June/July. 30s house, original backdoor (now leads to a utility area added by prev owners) developed a crack during work in same place on both sides. 

Builder filled at the time, said was probably down to a bit of movement from pad dig just a couple of meters away. Room was obv propped during this.

As is the way have been consumed with other stuff, and just wondered if anyone had any thoughts. We're now in mid-October and ready to get kitchen fitted soon, and it doesn't seem to have changed too much. Is it something to worry about?

Pics show original crack in June. Then crack as filled in July. Then cracks as they are this week in mid October. I don't have a pic of the outside crack as it was originally, but the main part was also filled in July like the inside. The hairline crack going up to the velux was never filled at the time.

Hope that makes sense and thanks in advance

I’m trying to replace these outdoor bulkheads on the soffit. The one at the front door I’m trying to replace with this motion sensor flood light, but I noticed it has all 3 wires where as the wiring attached to the bulkhead only had blue and brown. I did notice there is an unsleaved copper wire hidden in the grey soffit wiring, is this the ground?

If so, would I be fine to just connect all 3 wires together their corresponding wire with lever wire connectors? After that should I be covering them with electrical tape and getting a weatherproof box or something to hold the wires? Am I missing anything?

Thanks!

This bay window has always been quite cold, despite having a radiator on it. There are signs of damp (peeling wallpaper), but I wasn't sure if this was something that had been fixed. The paint on the front of the house is also peeling and we had flying ant infestations during the summer.

I decided to take a look under the sill, and found this setup. I'm not sure what to do.

The gaps between the blocks only go down around six inches before I hit something solid. Above that, there's nothing between them but dust.

The internal wall is essentially against the external wall, as far as I can see. I was considering building a new internal wall with a gap that could be filled with insulation, but wanted second opinions before deciding what to do next.

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.

My combi Worcester boiler has 0 bars on the pressure indicator. I can not see where to top up the water pressure. Please help me work out this puzzle…

In my 19th century victorian terrace the pipes from below bathtub have clearly loosened the mortar and brickwork and there seems to have developed a draft from the outside coming in.

Any ideas on how to remedy this or is it normal/acceptable?

Has anyone used this stuff for brand new plaster? I'm going lots of differing opinions between doing a mist coat, undercoat then final coat, or just using this then final coat.

Hey

I am considering purchasing this bungalow property but with 2 children (under 5) I really want there to be at minimum a toilet upstairs without losing a room but I’m really struggling to make it work.

There is no plumbing upstairs, the kitchen and downstairs bathroom is below the bedroom at the top right, I had initially thought a small toilet could be fitted in the thinnest part of the 4.88x2.77m bedroom and put a new door on the right hand side of the landing but this would leave the bedroom without a widow so no go.

Any ideas? Other than the lack of upstairs wc the house is otherwise perfect for what we need

// Resolved - thank you all //

Hi you lovely people of Reddit.

I wonder if you can help settle a debate between me and the partner.

I don’t think we can widen our driveway and dropped kerb due to the fire hydrant and further along, the lamp post. We would ideally want to widen by 2m (up to green line) so wouldn’t be very near the lamppost (about half as close) but I think the hydrant would be prohibitive. My partner thinks we can and that they’ll (presumably the council) will just move it.

I know not strictly a DIY job but know there’ll be lots of knowledge in this sub!

Does anyone know if/how this is possible? I have attached a photo as reference!

TIA

//on mobile, sorry if formatting is off//

My flat roof was recently renovated with 100 mm PIR insulation and bitumen waterproofing.

However, strips 30 cm (12 inches) or wider were left uninsulated along several roof edges, as well as larger areas around the chimney and ventilation pipes. There are heated rooms directly underneath.

The contractor claims these areas are necessary for drainage.

My questions:

Is leaving such wide uninsulated strips normal practice?

Could this cause significant thermal bridging or condensation?

Could tapered or thinner PIR insulation solve the drainage issue?

Some PIR boards have relatively large gaps between them. The contractor says these were taped. Is tape sufficient, or should the gaps be filled with insulation foam?

Photos attached. I'd appreciate opinions from experienced roofers and insulation professionals.

Thanks!

Hi all, I've bought a new flat and my immersion heater wasn't working and I managed to diagnose the dual tariff timer was faulty. I bought a replacement and when I took the old one off and can see it's burnt out. I don't believe the breaker tripped and yes, it is currently off. My question is is it ok to just wire up the new one, or is there something that could cause this to happen again to the new one and really I need to call an electrician.

Cheers in advance

Due to a persistent leak from the shower, this piece of floor at my gf’s place went rotten. Her and her Dad pulled up the lino and dug out the soft wet wood, and it’s been like this since before we started going out 10 months ago.

I’ve finally got a bit of spare time away from work so I want to fix it for her.

Am I best just cutting out a square piece around the damaged wood (as illustrated on later slide) and dropping in a piece of the same sized 18mm plywood?

I don’t love that the existing chipboard is rather creaky and raised where they meet each other, resulting in it being slightly raised on the join by 1-2 mm. But pulling out all the exiting flooring turns this into a way bigger job. Maybe once it’s patched I could cover the whole thing in something like 5mm ply to kind of level it out?

As I’m sure you can tell, I’m a bit out of my depth here, any tips greatly appreciated

Ta

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.

Not sure if this is the best sub for this question or not 😅

I’m having ‘one of those days’. An unrepairable puncture in a brand new tyre and I’ve nearly burnt the house down cooking my tea. Luckily the hob is by the back door and I was able to launch the flaming pan out onto the patio.

So tomorrow along with getting another new tyre fitted and buying a new frying pan I’ve decided to invest in a fire extinguisher for the house.

I know all about the various types for different fires through work training so think a powder one would best cover a range of potential domestic incidents.

Would the pictured 1kg size be enough for a small domestic fire? Or am I better buying the size up (2kg)?

I don’t want to go OTT, and it needs to be usable by elderly relatives, but I also don’t want to buy something and then suddenly find it’s useless in an emergency.

UPDATE** **
Will invest in a fire blanket for the kitchen and likely a 2L Firexo all fires extinguisher after reading about the mess and visibility issues powder ones can create.

Already have multiple decent smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms.

I only threw the pan out the door as the hob is right next to the door, the door was already open and I momentarily panicked. I’m well aware about smothering with a wet towel etc but in the heat of the moment all I saw were flames 🔥 😅

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

Hi all, I've tried YouTube'ing the answer however for the life of me cannot seem to close our front door properly. Please see video attached and at this point praying it is an easy fix? Any help, would be grateful <3

Got some carpets from Tapi carpets and had this landing taped around the edge but the result is atrocious. The edges are not straight and if they are straight, the taping has been squished or patched up. The customer service from Tapi has been awful, they've sent the carpet fitter back to look at it and he's said the people doing the taping is another party subcontracted/under Tapi and the machine doesn't do angles and to take the carpet back to get the taping redone will cost him £50 and if he gets a poor review Tapi will stop giving him jobs so he will just forfeit the fitting cost (more than £50)? Who is responsible here? Is the carpet fitter brushing us off? Are we better off trying to fix this ourselves/finding a different carpet fitter? Just seems like it's such a faff to deal with Tapi as it seems like no one wants to take responsibility

I've gone from "toilet won't flush" to "replace everything, except you, you worthless piece of sh*t" and I am so close to DIY glory.

Like, if I get this sorted then the wife will give me at least 15mins of kudos...

I need to replace the overflow pipe in my cistern - got this because it' pretty much what is in there before, just without the 20+ yrs of lime scale and general neglect.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/flomasta-overflow-stand-pipe-3-4-/341pw?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=837555045&gbraid=0AAAAAD8IdPwzieYFTD1ip1BUUSCGhIHJO&gclid=CjwKCAjw_9bWBhBGEiwAomyTImp-Qyg98_fFwJ7qzBrdx7ytJDk8NsGsIKqj7simtE0zu_6xWF_71RoCrWwQAvD_BwE

It comes with a "compression" fitting - but it doesn't seem to have the right stuff to connect to my 21.5m waste pipe - I think I am missing the compression ring, and the rubber sealing ring.

The fitting before was literally hanging in the air with neither of those present so part of me, after a long battle, is thinking I should just flush the two together, chuck some Plumbers Mate / Caulk / Whatever I have available and be done with it.. but I'd like to do things reasonably right!

Where do I get the bits I am missing, and what do I Google?!

Would appreciate any advice in this situation

Have moved into a new house and want to change the bulbs, however cannot do so without the ceiling literally crumbling.

Please see attached photos:

1 - the current set up, you can already see where the ceiling is crumbling from previous owners (have already painted the ceiling when we moved in 😢)

2 - the retaining ring (struggling to take it out of some of the bulbs)

3 - once I finally get the bulb out the fitting for the bulb is too high up and I cannot fit my hand with the bulb in, it also not fixed and keeps moving when trying to put the bulb in and twist

4 - having to take out the entire fixture where the springs cause the ceiling to crumble

Very much missing the spotlights in my old house which could just twist and come out/in.

I’m considering getting an electrician to put in new fixtures everywhere to mask the crumbling ceiling but worried that won’t fix the actual issue of changing the bulbs

Any suggestions?

Potentially a stupid question but I'm currently replacing all smoke/heat alarms in my house. I have a boiler in my garage. Should I put a heat/carbon monoxide alarm in there as well?

The garage itself is attached and forms part of a detached property. I can spur off to create a hardwired alarm however I would have to go off radio interlink, probably a good 15 to 20 meters through two bricks walls so I don't know if it would even reach that far?

I'm fairly new to the UK and don't know much about UK plumbing and heating systems but I'm 99% sure these noises aren't normal or good.

I recently had the system refilled and balanced after having some radiators off of their walls and the system was partially drained beforehand. The ball valve in the attic tank was also replaced (it's a gravity fed open-loop S-type system from the 70's).

I bled both the radiator heating and hot water loops by isolating one after the other and running the boiler continuously and bleeding some upstairs radiators right next to the water heater closet. Thought I'd gotten everything out. The technician who re-attached my radiators and refilled my system said the motorized divider valves and my circulating water pump seemed fine.

These noises only seem to happen during the normal programmed morning and evening water heater cycles and stop immediately after I turn the hot water function off on my boiler wall control.

My 14 months old BIWMHG91485UK_WH Built In Washing Machine, bought from AO.com, is faulty.

I put a 60C Bed and Bathroom wash on last night (which takes approx. 3 hours) to wash some towels.

There was excess suds generated for some reason, which has happened before on this setting, even though I only added 1 capsule as normal and a very small amount of fabric softener.

Water started leaking from the door before I switched it off and drained it.

After this I put a quick 10 mins rinse and spin cycle on in order to allow me to open the door.

Since then a very small amount of water leaks from the bottom of the door. Approx a £1 coin size amount on the same 3 hour cycle.

Is this likely to need a new seal and/or door fitted?

Would AO or Hotpoint likely cover this or would I need to try to fix myself?

Been going back and forth over and over on this so some fresh eye would be appreciated.

Notes:

Have about 1100/1150 between island and the other units.

Area with sofa and table sits about 300mm lower so kitchen really needs to be in one end or the other.
We have stunning views to the left (dining room end - Wall J) which is why dining / sofa is that end.

Double doors to the right come in from hall.
Double doors below go to playroom.
Single door bottom left goes to living room.
That makes the bottom "empty" part of this space a bit of a thoroughfare, hence wanting to keep it reasonably clear.

We're moving the kitchen from another part of the house, so all plumbing / electrical is being re-run.

Considered sink to the left of the cooker, but then you'd be looking into a wall. I know island sinks are a bit marmite... I do like the Bin - Sink - Dishwasher - Drawers layout though (planning on using the island drawers for main everyday crockey / cutlery).

Single fridge freezer in here, but have a utility which will have a 2nd fridge / freezer.

Microwave / airfryer / toaster etc in the butler pantry thing.

And yes... those cupboards under the islands are going to be "fun" to get stuff out of!
Considering some pull out trays, or liberal use of storage tubs.

Any thoughts / comments welcome.

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

I'm trying to replace a metal dimmer light switch with a regular plastic one way switch. I noticed that the earth cable has become disconnected. I assume it was connected to the back of the metal dimmer switch due to it being metal? Question is, where should it connect to now that the new light switch is plastic? Should it connect to something in the metal back box? Do I need to get an electrician in? I've attached as many pictures as possible so you can hopefully see what I mean. Thanks!