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

I put this up last couple of years and decided to do the same again this year... Its starting to get to that time now, seeing threads here now regularly about topping up CH pressures tells me people are putting the heating on...

• Check your boiler pressure, top up if needed
• Bleed your radiators (and re-do your boiler pressure if you get a lot of air out)
• Check your TRV's are where they should be, and no little fingers been turning them
• Check your thermostat & set clock etc
• Balance your rads up if you've never done them
• Check (or fit) carbon monoxide alarm
• Test your fire alarms (this has nothing to do with the boiler but you know you've not done em in a while)

any advice on best way to fix with flat wall and ceiling? or is this a job for a pro?

thanks

Painted a small windowless downstairs loo a very dark blue and think I hate it. Should I repaint it white?

In terms of clearances, materials used etc? I plan on the whole front section being removable. But will this pass a safety check or do you see possible issues that need resolving before I go any further?

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 🔥 😅

We have a small bedroom that has the bulkhead from the stairs below. I need to get a 'high sleeper' bed fitted over it. Essentially I need to shorten one of the legs at the back and make it work, but not sure of the best way to achieve it so that its secure, doesnt cause any damage to the bulkhead or walls and so that its not going to end up coming through the ceiling.

I was thinking about adding a triangular bearer to the wall, securing it into the blockwork on the back wall, and also screwed into the bulkhead. Then I can cut the leg square and let it rest on top. The legs of the bed are about 60mm square.

Am i missing anything obvious, or is there a better way??

I've tried to sketch out he rough position of the bed and where the legs would go.

cheers

Edit:

Should have posted a link for the bed so you can see what I am working with.

https://amzn.eu/d/01ZugrrS

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

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 everyone! We’re renovating our house and are considering installing tiles across multiple rooms downstairs. Various friends and family have suggested we install electric underfloor heating under the tiles, but I’d love to hear from people who have done this themselves or had it installed.

Our existing floor is uneven, so we need to level it before tiling. I’m trying to work out whether underfloor heating is worth the extra cost and effort, and what the best installation method would be.

A few questions:
Is electric underfloor heating worth it? Do you actually use it regularly, and how much does it add to your electricity bills?

Which type would you recommend? I’m looking at electric heating mats, but are there other options worth considering?

Any recommended brands? I’ve come across Warmup, but would love to hear about other brands you’ve used and whether you’d recommend them.

What did you do about levelling? Once the floor is level, if you install a mesh electric heating mat, do you need to cover it with a layer of self-levelling compound before tiling, or can you tile directly over the mat using flexible tile adhesive?

How difficult is it to DIY? Is this a reasonable job to do ourselves, or is it worth paying someone to install the heating system?

Thanks in advance!

We have 5 rads in our home. The heat is on, four are heating up, but this one isn't. This is the only one with these valves, and they were parallel with the pipes, so I flipped them to see if the rad would heat up, and it hasn't. Is this a "call the landlord" issue or a "you idiot, there's an incredibly easy way to fix this if you just do xyz" issue?

How can I install tracks such as these ones in this bay window?

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/new-edge-blinds-250cm-fineline-aluminium-white-curtain-track/p/0656024?utm

I think the ceiling is plasterboard. It sounds hallow.

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

My garage is in a shared block of garages. The wall in the pictures is separates my garage and a neighbours.

The cracks are ‘stair step’ and look pretty developed.

Questions if I may:

A) likely cause of this?
B) home insurance or out of my own/neighbours pockets
C) What the resolution is likely to be?
D) Urgency of the problem?

Many thanks

Trying to cover the cupboards and drawers with vinyl but I just cannot remove these 2 from the front. Anyone help?

I have an internal kitchen and I’m trying to find ways to make it as bright as possible.

I noticed that there is this wooden panel on top of my door (from a Google search I’m assuming this is a fanlight) - is there any way I can open this and put in a glass panel or just leave it open to let light in?

I also think the wooden panel was supposed to have openings in between ridges but was painted shut by previous owners.

I’m not a DIY expert so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all. I’ve been living in a wimpey no fines home for the past 2 years. It’s my first home and I’m new to this.

I have a few questions here so please bear with my potentially silly questions. I’m a first time home buyer with no DIY experience. I posted similar on a different group but it was USA based and they didn’t have any understanding of what I meant by wimpey no fines / concrete. As a consequence I was mocked and downvoted.

It’s a concrete house built in 1955 north east of England. It has a concrete slab with a brick base.

1: I’m trying to redecorate the house, however I’ve noticed the previous owners left it in a somewhat sorry state and did jobs to hide defects. I’ve tried to paint the wall only to find thin wallpaper bubbling and peeling off. I then steamed the wallpaper so I could remove it then paint on the plaster. This resulted in plasterwork coming off. I’ve also noticed some loose plasterwork inside the wallpaper. Please see photos 1 and 2 in comment. My question is can this wall be professionally replastered on top and would it cause damp issues? I want to be able to paint my home.

2: An annoyance if anything. I keep finding woodlice and insects crawling on upstairs bathroom floor. I suspect they are coming from under the sink cupboard. However I’ve been outside and I can’t see any cracks or holes outside where bathroom is. The kitchen below bathroom is not affected. I also keep finding them crawling in living room floor. Again, I can’t find entry points. Would this indicate there is issues with the foundation? Or are they crawling via the voids in the concrete? I don’t have a damp issue. Has anyone had similar issues and what did they do?

Thank you 🙏

Downstairs rads have them, but up do not. Doesn't look like a traditional drain off to me.

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

Took out gas fire in our Edwardian home, was met by this board on top of the block work with the flue running through it. We were going to get it tested but didn’t know if anyone had experience in it first.

Anyone have any ideas how I can adjust this window to stop a draft? I replaced the seals with chunkier ones but there’s still about a 1-2mm gap along one edge

I’ve read a number of guides about radiator balancing and the steps you take to do this.

The one part of the process which I find hard is the walking around the house feeling the radiators to find out the order in which they heat up. I understand why you do this and what it achieves but, for me, I find it quite difficult. By the time I’ve walked to the next radiator I’ve forgotten how hot it was in comparison to the previous one.

Is there a more scientific way to measure the order in which the radiators heat up that doesn’t rely on my poor judgement? - or a better process altogether for balancing them?

I woke up this morning to find 3 wet stripes on the cieling in the kitchen it's above a bathroom and bedroom the wet stripes are below both rooms so not just a bathroom nothing seems to be wet upstairs.

It did rain really heavy last night so my guess is a leaking roof any suggestions?

I have an extension permanently on in my bedroom for the WiFi router and the cable runs along by my bed, by a wood bedding box and to the socket. Just had a weird experience where I felt a vibration when I touched a booklet on the bedding box. I thought it was some odd sensory thing til I turned off the extension and no vibration.

Obviously I will ditch the extension but how does this happen? How is it causing a vibration through wood? Both the box and paper? And how dangerous is it?