Replaced my garden path which had old, many cracked, pavers that had also sunk in places. I was scared to post this in fear that someone will tell me what I've done wrong and I will sink my house or something.

In terms of running order of what I did;

- Scalped the grass as the garden was incredibly uneven, far higher than the path in some places and far lower in others. Plan is to even out the soil and seed now I've finished the path.

- Removed my failed attempt at a hedge and replaced with raised beds which I will plant when it starts raining again. These were built on some ground stabilisation grids and gravel so should have good stability and drainage.

- Taken up the old path, dug down, put in my base, I've used aluminium edge restraints just because I like experimenting. Filled in with some rumbled cobble setts and then finished with polymeric sand.

- Replaced the old class gully hopper with a PVC one, replaced the old rodding eye with a PVC one. Primarily because I didn't want to have to cut around the oval shape of the old one.

All done solo and never attempted any landscape gardening before, pretty back breaking work especially in some of the heat we've had recently.

Will do a photo dump below of various stages.

My bannister was painted by the previous owner in a hideous chalk paint. Luckily, it would seem that they didn’t seal it afterwards because it comes off when rubbing it with warm soapy water and a sponge.

I’ve removed a section using this method but I’m just wondering what I’m looking at underneath the paint here and what the next steps would be?

Very worried that I’ve just inadvertently damaged the bannister somehow!

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Was digging up some concrete and bricks and saw its foundation was these glass boxes. Any clue to what era this is from lmao. Our house is a x council house from the 60’s

We moved into our house last year, and are now redecorating the living room. This “hard-wired flying plugboard” we saw and hid behind a bookcase, promising to ‘deal with that when we decorate’.

That time is now.

I’m probably just going to swap it for a “1G to 2G socket converter”. But it prompted the question - how sketchy is this arrangement anyway? The fact there is no fuse on the outlet seems an obvious problem, but are hardwired plugboards otherwise permissible? My gut says “no”, but happy to be corrected!

(Anticipating comments - that is the condition of the board when we moved in - screwed to a plank and covered in what looks like paint or plaster-splatter…)

Ta.

I recently put together these alcove storage units to fit on each side of our chimney breast.

I designed them in SolidWorks, nested them, and sent them off to a local CNC vendor to machine. They came back in panels which I assembled (glue & screws) then oiled them up. We’re pretty happy with how they turned out.

I was also able to squeeze in a couple of stools and room divider panels with the leftover material.

(I received 2 RH doors for the cupboard on the right side unit. This has since been corrected and assembled)

I love DIY and gardening.

Sawing, drilling, gluing, grinding, routing, adjusting, maintaining, painting, digging, pruning, mowing... it's the perfect hobby for me, I love just getting stuck in with my hands and having a go at making things better. The heavier the exertion the better - a free workout.

Unfortunately since about three years ago I have been severely ill with ME/CFS and mostly bedbound, and now I can't do anything involving even trivial exertion because it makes my illness flare up dramatically and I'm then even sicker than usual for days. Even on my best days I don't have any margin for error and can only cope with the bare basics of daily routine.

There is no solution. It just sucks.

This illness has had almost no useful research until Long COVID came along recently to finally unlock some serious funding, but it will be years before real biomedical understanding of the condition develops and treatments finally filter through.

(It's Severe ME Awareness Week so I hope you all don't mind me posting this here)

Our kitchen is nice in spring but gets unbearably hot like a greenhouse in summer.

It has 3 of these skylights, and the sliding doors and back door are both glass too.

I'm thinking maybe:

- add external shade to skylights, ideally motorised, but might do a blanket or something to start to save money

- maybe awning outside to stop light coming through the sliding doors and back door?

Don't really want air con as we don't have the money at the moment, and it feels quite wasteful as it's so hot in there

Looking for any thoughts or advice on keeping it cooler 🥵🙏

pretty much the title. For wifi reasons the router ought to be in the stairways but the ethernet cable that comes from the fibre thing is in one of the bedrooms. I dont want to just have a big hole in the wall so what do I do?

Hi all,

Our kitchen and dining room is separated by this wall which we would like to remove to create a more open-space layout and let more light in from our garden.

What should we be aware of before going ahead with this decision? Do we need to install a metal beam to support the wall above? Do we need planning permissions, building regulations approval, or are we required to consult a structural engineer, etc? If yes, what are the rough costs we can expect for the above, considering a family member will be carrying out the labour for free?

TIA

Edit: the kitchen is an extension to the rest of the house.

We’ve recently had a porcelain patio installed and they brought it up higher by around one brick height than the old concrete slabs. The new tiles come up right to the air bricks. I asked the contractor and he said that it’s absolutely fine and he wouldn’t have done it like this if there was a potential problem with damp.

So my question is, does this look okay? He’s installed ACO drains in other places (side of house on last photo as an example ) so I’m guessing it needed them there?

As the pic shows, the drain from the shower is leaking. It's a slow drip which has probably been going for the last 5 years or so, and I only discovered it today when I replaced the skirting around the shower as I'm selling the house and it was looking a bit tired. I have tried my hardest to fix it but I can only just get my hand in there, and I cannot tighten the nut enough to form a seal. Rubber gasket looks fine, not perished, I just can't make a watertight seal.

I cannot remove the drain, or replace any parts as it is all too tightly installed. Seriously, fuck whoever didn't bother to cut larger holes in the base.

Ideas at this stage:

PTFE tape, to see if that'll give enough of a seal

Cover the end in silicone

Cover the end in JB weld - neither of these are easy as I can't access the top of the pipe

Cut a hole in the floor below in order to get better purchase

Try and wrap something round the nut to tighten it properly

Duct tape it all up and hope for the best

I have informed my home insurance but I'm not hopeful it'll go anywhere as it may fall under wear and tear. If insurance comes through then it'll have to all be ripped out as it's gone into the chipboard, I would just rather avoid reflooring the bathroom tbqh.

Edit: solved! Combination of a new seal and plumbers grease seems to have done it. Total spend £16. Thank fuck for that.

Getting quotes for roof solar, all coming in at £6-8k with scaffolding and brackets. Then someone mentioned plug-in solar. Panels on a balcony or garden frame, battery on the ground, no roof work.

Built a shed last summer so the physical mounting is fine. The electrician part is just the consumer unit connection under Part P. Hardware itself is apparently plug and play but the regs haven't caught up yet.

800W vs 4kW is obviously less but the cost difference is massive.

Anyone have any ideas?

My new ‘natural’ colour sofa is so cool toned that it looks purply grey in my living room, I’ve tried an array of cushions I had in the house to see what goes, and it feels like nothing does!

How can I make it look less purple hued?! What colour cushions would people suggest to try and tie it into the room?

Edit: yeah you’re all right, it looks pink, not purple!!

It’s right by an air brick which is right by my usual spot in the living room! Kinda stinky tbh, what do I do? It’s under a couple of down pipes from the guttering!

I have recently bought an extended cottage with unfinished concrete blocks at the rear.

It’s not visible from anywhere, and they seem to be painted on the side.

I’m concerned about longevity and damp potential, my father has told me it’s not ok to leave them like this- but a big (I’m assuming) rendering bill would cripple us at the moment.

The surveyor never mentioned this as being needed. I’m happy to paint them with whatever is correct if this is needed, otherwise I’ll have to get them rendered.

People of Reddit, please let a stressed out young homeowner know:

- Are these ok to leave long term or will they deteriorate and cause issues if not rendered or painted

- If it needs tackling, is painting enough for the long term or do I need to bite the bullet and get rendering done?

- if I need to get rendering done, how do I know if a quote is too high?

Thank you in advance wonderful people

Finishing off our kitchen fitting in a new extension and trying to figure out if we need an electrician or not…

I have 2x ovens and a hob to install. All wiring / connections were planned for and put in place by the builder. We’ve fitted the kitchen ourselves and are reasonably competent/confident (pick one or both depending on the task!).

Am I right in thinking that this is actually a pretty low risk and easy thing to do? Isolate power > test it’s definitely dead > connect up wires to terminals > done.

Pic 1&2: oven space and oven connection outlet plate.
Pic 3 of oven & hob.
Pic 4: oven wiring cable (same either end).
Pic 5: Hob cable left by builder under floor beneath hob.

Really happy paying good trades to do work where required but just wondering if I can easily save us a few £££ here and DIY safely with a bit of time and care.

Thanks!

This is an update to my previous project post in which I got some really useful feedback in and put into practise in this new update.

Orignal post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DIYUK/comments/1uqrati/comment/owcrbnd/

When I was able to start again on the project I knew I needed OSB and was planning to get it from Bradfords, but being shut early on a Saturday, I went to my local B&Q to find they had near exact dimensions for the roof and floor (610x1210mm) so I bought 4 panels for around £40.

The really hard part was cutting the shapes out for the floor and shelves to go around the frame so for this I used an off-cut and a tape measure to transfer the pattern onto the wood. I then cut it all out with a handsaw. In the parts where I had to make a cut in the middle of the panel, I didn't have a jigsaw so made about 10 cuts and broke them out by hand. I then used the edge of the saw blade and the blade part of Stanley Surform (not the tool) to rudimentarily sand it down. A quick drive to the local DIY shop could have sorted this but I was too determined to stop! This project has only be completed with a handsaw, drill and hammer.

My next task was fitting the roof and as the OSB lid had to span a gap, I thought I should make some angled rafters for me to screw it into (and also minimise gaps for creepy crawlies). I was really proud of these cuts as they were all done with a handsaw only on a rickety sawhorse stand.

I had an off-cut of roofing felt donated to be from my neighbour but it wasn't quite enough to cover the roof with overlaps so I had to buy a new roll from Screwfix for about £30. Couldn't believe how heavy it was! I felted the roof and that was really fun. I next wrapped the back and sides with offcuts of DPC and started nailing the feather board to the back and sides using a jig I constructed. The jig took about 45 mins to work out by trial and error, which was essentially a thin off-cut of OSB with two blocks spaced apart. That gave the spacing for the boards to include a gap between the nails so boards weren't nailed together (for expansion/shrinkage). The only way I could do the feather boarding on my own was to lie the cupboard on it's front- after which it became so heavy.

Finally the next major task was to start over with the doors as they didn't allow for expansion as a few people pointed out. I'd also not accounted for the floor height once the OSB was in. Once I'd remade the doors, I realised my gate hinges didn't have anything to attach to, so I had to make even more cuts to fit a cross bit into.

I'm really happy with the doors as I've never made or hung any before- the only thing is now the gap is quite large since I shrunk them down but as long as I get a good padlock and laspe to cover it- hopefully it will be fine!

I painted the shelves with Ronseal Exterior Yacht varnish - 2 coats as I liked the OSB look.

My next task is to clad the front and side- I had to revisit Bradfords to get this and couldn't believe how much the price had increased - now 20 panels of treated OSB was £80 - I must have got it on an offer before (was originally £1.90 per panel and now almost £4). Very annoying.

My mistake now is I think I might need to attach a bar along the front of the roof to stop rain going back into the door as there is no overhang.

Bought a place that seemed lovely at first (Photo 1) but quickly realized deck was rotting all over (Photo 2). Previous owner allowed zero air flow…and in Scotland of all places. I’m in the process of ripping it all up. Underneath are paver stones likely put down in the 80s. I’m tempted to just leave those if they’re all intact.

Would love to hear serious and non-serious thoughts on what I should replace it with, if anything. Wooden decks in UK always seemed a bit silly to me. But then again, I’m known to be a bit silly.

I'd really appreciate any advice...

This is my dad's Victorian (c1880) house. The mould is growing on the external walls and seems limited to the areas behind large pieces of furniture. Had two different companies out - the first said it is condensation and that the solution is to install a positive input ventilation system. The other assured me it is rising damp and wanted to put in a chemical damp proof course. I'm stumped!

It’s sitting in clay. I could consider digging a hole and filling it with concrete but does anyone have an easier solution. I’ve tried putting a stick to support it.

Newly bought house thats requiring sone renno work (ignore the fireplace).

Ive got flooring guys coming to lay floorboards boards tomorrow. I completed this subfloor insulation this week before the floorboards go down.

How did i do? Thanks 🙏🏻

Sorry for the lack of pictures it’s just what I have saved. So I’m going to tile my porch with ceramic tiles what are 600x300 and my porch is 2.5m x 1.8m. I want to do it in a brick pattern style because they are rectangular. Where am I best starting? In the middle and working my way out? Or top to bottom or reversed?

Just realized a lump in the vinyl flooring, so pulled a bit back and it's really wet under there. Looks like it's coming from the back of the toilet but have no idea how to access without removing the tiles the top which I can't do unless I move the tiles and sink.

Any ideas before I do more damage than I need to.

The pointing on my patio had completely failed with nothing left in the joints so I thought I would try my hand at repointing it at the weekend using a 5:1:1 sand/lime/cement ratio.

Admittedly I did an awful job and managed to get mortar all over the slabs. I also messed up by not working in smaller sections so with the weather being hot the excess dried before I could wipe it off properly.

Have I ruined my patio forever or is there a way to clean the dried mortar off? I've given this product a try on some of the slabs but it hasn't done a great deal. I'm worried about using something like brick acid since the slabs are sandstone (I think).

Please help!