We have started renovating our spare room. We have steamed off the old wallpaper and this is what it looks like now.

Our end goal is to get this painted. What should we do about the massive crack going across the plaster? Is this salvageable? If so, what next steps do we need to do to carry on the project?

Looking to renovate the kitchen and want to do a polished concrete floor.

Anyone tried this approach DIY and what do I need to keep in mind?

Currently have some gloss tiles down, could I concrete over them? Or is it best to remove them first?

Hi all!

Mammy dearest's house project has been in purgatory after some bad luck with builders, so I'm trying to work through a few things on a shoestring budget.

Current task is flooring for the 45sqm attic room. We found a good deal on some lvt/underlay (with the downside of a 10 hour drive), but even through we have decent plywood for the floor it's super uneven and I don't see a good way to set the boards straight.

Plan is to get some plastic self levelling pins, set out a grid with a laser guide, mask off, wait for a cool/damp day, and then self level with floats and the fancy roller.

From what I see online a lot of people run in to trouble with the set time and finding it doesn't flow as much as they'd hoped. This probably goes double for me given that it's one big space, and I'm gonna have to make it happen solo with no experience & limited containers.

If anyone has a recommendation for a high flow / slow set time product which doesn't cost a kidney, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading!

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?

My Oven has just broke it’s a Bosch HBG634BB1B which is a 16amp I’m looking to replace it with a Bosch hqa574bb3b which is 13amp. The oven is wired to a junction box that then has a thick wire to a red rocker switch and that is then wired to the consumer unit which has a dedicated oven circuit that uses a Hager ada323g b32.
Will I need to alter anything or can I just wire it into the junction box?
Or should I get a like for like replacement and stick with 16 amp?

Any help appreciated.

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I'm currently stripping old wallpaper in my flat, with the intention of preparing the walls for painting.

Along the edge of what I believe is a plasterboard wall, next to a cupboard door frame, I've uncovered a long, thin metal strip.

A few things I've noticed:

The metal strip sits flat against the wall, right along the edge, rather than wrapping around the corner.

It only appears to be present on one side of the corner, not both walls.

As I've removed the wallpaper, the strip has started coming away from the wall. This section of wallpaper was much thicker than other parts.

If I press the strip back into place, it springs out again.

I'm wondering whether the wallpaper was effectively helping to hold it in place.

I'm concerned that continuing to strip the wallpaper around it will cause the whole strip to come loose, turning what was supposed to be a straightforward decorating job into something much bigger!

A few questions:

Does anyone know what this strip is? Could it be a plaster stop bead, some sort of plasterboard edging, or something else?

Should I continue removing the wallpaper around it, even if that causes it to come loose?

Can the existing strip be resecured and filled over, or would it need replacing?

Is this a manageable DIY repair for someone relatively inexperienced, or something best left to a plasterer?

I'm keen to get a reasonably smooth finish before painting, but don't want to make things worse unnecessarily.

Any advice would be appreciated. Photos attached!

Hi everyone!

I’m doing some panelling on my staircase which is still in progress. I’m in a dilemma of whether I should panel the left wall or not and have it symmetrical or just keep it to the right side. Any advice would be appreciated!

I’ve generated an AI image of what the left side would look like if i were to get it panelled…

I just got a new kitchen mixer tap fitted by a plumber a couple of weeks ago.

I asked him to fit it as it's really tight and awkward trying to get access under the sink.

Since then it spurts out about a tablespoon worth of water in one fast motion every so often. Possibly just once within an hour of it last being used.

Is this likely to be a fault with the tap or possibly a problem from installation?

I noticed that the hot water tap handle (on the left in the photo) doesnt seem to align in the same position as the cold water tap when switched off.

Could this be an issue?

Is it worth paying for this to be reinstalled with a replacement tap, or is it fine to live with it assuming it doesnt get much worse over time?

If left, is it likely to get worse and if so, how bad?

The same plumber is coming back to do some other work including fixing a leaking hot water isolator valve feeding the same tap. Could this be related to the issue above?

This is the tap bought from B&Q (DIY.com)

https://www.diy.com/departments/enki-alpha-kt123-brown-brass-construction-dual-flow-kitchen-sink-mixer-tap-for-basin-with-twin-levers-swivel-spout/5056487006344_BQ.prd?&&&&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=24364164700&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxeq2qsvBlwMVmoBQBh14-RwvEAQYASABEgI_PfD_BwE

Any advice appreciated on this.

Some of the sandstone on our house is fucked. Been left for years by previous owner so keen to restore what we can. Any temp fixes for some of this to stop more issues or case of getting an expert in? Anyone dealt with similar? Thanks.

We have just moved to a house which has underfloor wet heating downstairs. It has continuous hard flooring throughout but split into rooms with doors and each room has its own wireless thermostat to control the heating in that section.

We are unsure how to run the heating as I’ve heard it should be tested differently to normal radiators. Should we just enable every room and leave it running continuously? Should we disable it in rooms not used much? Should we program it to go off/lower overnight?

Very confused what the most efficient method is given the huge gas price hikes.

anyone got any idea what’s going on with these skirting boards? I started lightly sanding the glass in prep for repainting but it’s all chipped away to reveal this black stuff underneath and then possibly the wood underneath that. worried I should stop sanding or sand more…not sure..first time renovating and it’s an old Victorian house. any advice appreciated!

I can’t work out if this a terrible idea, I think it is but not sure why? Just moved in and wanted to take up the tiles from the kitchen area and floorboard so the whole area matches. Ended up taking up all the floorboards anyway as there was some rot and a crazy drop in one corner. Where I’ve got the joists to a rough level now is perfectly in line with the top of the tiles… can I just drill, rawl plug and screw directly on top of tile? Or remove tiles, bit of ply and then screw in?

Woke up today to find one of the glass panels on my cabin completely shattered, but there doesn't seem to be any obvious impact.

Any ideas on what can cause this?

Wanted some opinions

I’m working on a render job (I’m new ish to the render game)

I’ve hit the stage of priming and 1.5mm top coating the wall.

The weather is horrific for weeks. I’ve only got one day left.

Forecast shows it’s raining in the morning but past 10am it’s dry up until midnight.

Assume I’ve done the job by 5pm. Would the 7 hour window be enough for the light rain not to ruin the final top coat?

I’m worried as scaffolding costs are rising week by week and weather won’t stop raining for another two weeks and who knows what’s waiting ahead of that.

I know this is a poor job of chasing into the wall. I now need to rectify it - please may I get some advice on how best to fill, as there’s a quite a deep hole in the brick in places, is bonding and filler enough?

I'm thinking heat must be escaping through somewhere. I had a chimney which has been removed and boxed up. It's the biggest room in the house but has X2 radiators to compensate for that. It's north west facing. When I go in there in the morning if feels like a window has been cracked open all night. I had brand new windows fitted, double glazing.

No damp issues.

Any advice on how I can find out the cause? We did have the loft insulated last year which helped a lot but it still feels like it's bleeding heat.

Are there any companies that might help me invest what the issue is for free? I'm wondering whether purchasing a heat gun may be an option.

Any suggestions?

Toilet seat has been fixed down with what looks like a wall anchor. How can I easily remove this? It's very tight to get behind the toilet.

We've recently renovated including a full rewire and replumb. We've been left with this in the corner of the upstairs hallway— a rough hole where the ceiling meets the cornice, with three cables coming out of it. One is in trunking, two are loose, and the dado rail has been cut around them.

Getting the original tradesmen back isn't really an option, so I'm looking to fix this or get a new tradesperson in for any part that needs one.

What I know: - The cables in trunking are electrical and they run down into the consumer box downstairs in the living room. The other pipes are plumbing. We have the same mess in the downstairs room. - House is early 1900s, walls are rock solid. Ceilings are lathe and plaster.

Should the pipes and cables be boxed in together or kept separate? And how can I make this look better?

I want to add shelves that are in the area above the radiator in the first pic and just above the monitor in the second. The one above the radiator is 75cm and the monitor one is 80cm

3rd pic is to show crap ton of plugs below monitor

4th pic is shelves

Wanted any advice on if I should worry about cables and good cable/pipe detectors?

Been considering either the draper 13818, hilka 3 in 1 or bosch truvo detector

I have a dumb wired thermostat. I wanted to swap it out for a smart one but keep my original programmer.

My thinking was to set the programmer to always on, and use the smart thermostat to call for heat as needed.

I've been doing a lot of Googling but can't find a clear answer if this is possible.

Ideally I'd like something which is Home Assistant compatible (and as a huge bonus, doesn't require yet another hub). I have a SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus | ZBDongle-P but haven't found anything which would be able to leverage this.

It looks like this _might_ work:

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/tado-x-wireless-heating-hot-water-boiler-programmer-smart-thermostat-starter-kit-white/408ee?ref=SFAppShare

Anyone have experience doing something like this?

This is my current programmer:

https://www.ephcontrols.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20180621_R27-HW_OpIns_JW.pdf

As the title states, we are dealing with some old screws (20+ years) holding a wooden frame in our kitchen that we need to remove. We are struggling to remove one in particular that holds it to the wall - we suspect that the people who put it there pushed it too far and the bloody screw is completely stuck. We tried with a hand screwdriver, and then with an electric one, with no success - the screw head is damaged a bit and it won't move. Picture of the one screw that we were able to remove in case that helps.

Any advice on this? We badly need to remove that frame so we can remove that antic dishwasher. We're trying to do a clean job instead of breaking everything but will do what is needed.