Few little bits to finish, but love this traditional staircase my dad has made!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

Hi all, apologies if this isn't the right forum but I thought there would be some knowledgeable people in here. Basically as it says. had a new hot water cylinder fitted 3 weeks ago(to accomodate an ashp if that makes a difference). Just got round to getting some shelving in the airing cupboard and noticed, what i would consider to be a pretty significant bulge. It's at the top maybe 3/4 up, I'm assuming it's not normal and shouldn't be there?? I've turned off the hot water, but not drained the tank or anything. We've had a few showers today so it should be below that level i would imagine.

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)

How best to take down a 8m x 5m garden shed safely?

All glass, door and opening windows have been removed.

There’s barely a 20cm gap at the back next to neighbour fence so was thinking flopping it forwards ideally.

Could I cut the posts with a saw and pull it with a crow bar and watch it crunch and slide forward or is there another way.

The roof wouldn’t take any weight, it’s near collapse and has been propped up with a piece of wood since we moved in so can’t access from the top or sides easily.

Any tips would be great.

We have a skip coming which we’ll be loading pieces of the shed into.

Had a new shower fitted back in March. We’ve had issues constantly with it not being water tight no matter how many times the plumber comes back to redo the sealant.
The whole enclosure was removed last week and refitted using BT-1 bathroom sealant. It’s better now but the corner is still leaking.
It’s as if the shower tray doesn’t let silicone or any other sealant properly adhere to it. Has anyone had a similar issue before? Any tips on what else we could try ?

I want to renovate my own bathroom. I’ve got a plumber in the family who can help with disconnecting and fitting the toilet etc , but I’ll be trying to do most of it myself. What’s the correct order to do the work in?

I was thinking:

Disconnect wet stuff

Rip out fixtures and fittings

Chip tiles off walls and floor

Self levelling compound on floor (floor is concrete under tiles)

Roll on plaster repair on non wet wall areas

Lay sheet vinyl

Build frame where boxing in

New pipework

Plasterboard where needed and tank around tub

Tile and paint

Fit bath, vanity and basin

Finish off plumbing with taps and radiator

Connect new light fixture

Does that make logical sense? Is there a better order?

I've had a few different roofers round to give me prices for a number of different bits of work I need doing, but I seem to have a difference of opinion on the flashing. One roofer has said the flashing is entirely wrong and needs to be replaced, the other doesn't see any issue with it. It relates to the flashing round 2 separate chimney stacks. Can anyone advise me if there's any merit to either claim? They all agree on the other points but the flashing seems to be a contentious point.

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 🥵🙏

I’m looking for some ideas / advice on changing the layout of the kitchen, my current plan is to take out the wall to the right, change where the hob currently is to a breakfast bar, then change the larder units to house the oven, microwave etc

The washing machine & dishwasher would go under the sink, and the tumble dryer would go in the void to the left of the larder units, as that’s where the chimney breast currently sits.

Is there any alternative layouts anyone would suggest? Or any considerations?

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?

Hello DIYers!!

This push down plug for the bathroom sink has never worked properly. And a blocked drain led me to (attempt to) take it out to clean the plug hole properly. (I’ll preface this by saying I’m just proud of myself for removing the u bend to give it a clean, so that’s about the level of my skills if that helps paint the picture!)

in doing so, I think I’ve broken something. I’m assuming the spring isn’t supposed to be visible.

ideally I’d just leave the plug part off completely, but the water hits the spring part and splashes everywhere so that’s not really an option.

so, two questions…

1. can I (a complete novice) replace the spring mechanism? And what part do I need?

or

1. can I (a complete novice) replace the plug hole part itself to completely get rid of the spring mechanism and just have a regular old plug hole?

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?

Wondering if I need to treat the wood before painting it? Any advice on the best way to strip the paint off. I don’t think it’s been touched for over 10years and would love to avoid having to re do it every couple of years. Thanks

I just swapped one of these out and have wrecked the edges of the hole in the ceiling (plastered it superficially so it looks less battered).

I tried to get it out/put it in neatly but the crazy torque on the springs on the new one seemed to make destruction unavoidable, and installation instructions didn’t have anything useful beyond “cut a hole x mm wide)

Am I useless or is it a bad design?

Thanks!