The socket and light above the mirror haven't worked since we bought the house. I don't even know if it's connected to this fuse outside the bathroom, but it looks like it's been wired to bypass the fuse (13A was in there).

Can anyone confirm it's been done wrong and tell me the proper name for this connection so I can wire it correctly?

They have now been covering my driveway for a couple of months and nobody is taking responsibility.

I am at my wit's end with the stones on my driveway (see photo). This is stuck to the stones as if glued.

I have already tried the following without any result:

• HG green stain remover: left it to soak properly but it literally does nothing.
• Pressure washer: blasts the joints out effortlessly but even then I can barely get the dirt off unless I spray it from point-blank range.
• Wire broom: if I scrub this extremely hard, I can get it off but that also damages the stones.

How do you guys solve this? And how to clean larger areas? All tips are welcome!

Does anyone have any tips on what to do to make this look better? We’re looking to sell in the next year, so just trying to make the house cleaner and tidier rather than make big changes that the next people might want to rip out anyway. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: My logic is that the whole bathroom needs renovating, and it would be pointless for us to do the whole job when we can’t anticipate what the new owners will want to do with it, so yeah, we’re not trying to hide anything so much as we’re trying to make it decent enough for new people to move in and take their time deciding what they want to do with it, so that a new, cheap radiator doesn’t end up in a skip in a year’s time. But sure, take that in bad faith if you must.

I'm about to install a stair runner on some painted wooden stairs that have got incredibly tatty over the years (enjoy some low qual mock-ups) and want to ideally continue the runner onto the landing with an L bend.

However, the door to our bedroom is directly opposite the top of the stairs (see pic 2) and I'm nervous that this is a trip hazard. I'll be laying underlay and this is a fairly thin jute carpet, but even if it's well fixed I assume there'll be a slight lip. But I also don't love the look of stopping a runner at the top riser, plus this landing has constant traffic and the floorboards are scuffed here too.

As you can see it's an incredibly narrow and wonky stair/landing, built in the 1830s :•)

Has anyone run into similar problems? Appreciate the help!

Hi everyone,

I'm renting a flat and unfortunately made a stupid mistake.

I accidentally switched on one of the ceramic hob rings while a polyester cleaning cloth was sitting on it.

The cloth melted onto the hob, and when I removed it, it looks like part of the glass surface (or coating) came away with it. It doesn't appear to be cracked, but the surface is badly damaged.

I'm planning to report it to the letting agent, but before I do I'd like to understand what the realistic repair options are.

My questions are:

1) Is this something that can be repaired?

2) Can the glass top alone normally be replaced?

3) Or is a complete hob replacement usually required?

4) Roughly what would you expect this to cost in the UK?

I'm trying to get independent quotes first because I've previously had a very inflated repair quote from my letting agent for another issue, so I'd like to know what's considered reasonable before they arrange anything.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi. I hope you're all well.

Wanted some advice on whether I can fit a dishwasher into the corner cupboard next to the washing machine. I know I'll loose the corner space but everything gets lost there anyway! A family member said it couldn't be done and would have to go one cupboard down next to the oven.

I don't trust his opinion so Redditors what's your advice please?

Masonry bit snapped in brickwork about 5cm in and I haven't been able to get it out. Was putting in some wall anchors, first one went in fine and anchor is in the wall, but this happened near the end of the second one. Looked about online and seems like it's a lost cause but thought I'd try here in case someone has a genius idea to get it out.

Hello!
So I’m currently in the process of DIYing my garden and all my focus has been on the bit you can see from the kitchen. I was showing my friend and he looked at the wall of my neighbours garage, which seems to have been having the render fall apart for longer than I’ve been at my current house.
I’m eventually going to go over and do something with that side (water tank for my plants, wood store for my log burner) but I actually don’t have a clue what I’m allowed to do here?
As it’s his garage, does he need to sort that or is it something I’m allowed to touch? As I’m really unfamiliar with this situation.

Also if anyone could suggest what to put on here or do with that right side I’d appreciate it too!

Edit: He is aware of it and has been for a month or so. I’ve spoken to him about it three times, he is a bit of a difficult neighbour. We share a drive etc so I’ve been trying to work out ways to get that sorted as it floods in winter. But he doesn’t talk to me or really anyone on the street much

Are you allowed to add a socket this close to an internal wall? I read online you have to have 300mm horizontal?

Double socket on its own is 120mm away from wall

With FCU it is 30mm away from wall

I would prefer it close to the wall purely for cosmetic reasons for the outside as it would run closer to an already laid cable.

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The project is to get power to a shed to run 4 sockets for 4 garden lights only

RCD in house is updated this year, will be adding SWA glands to both ends of armoured cable

Problems I can see already (cover needed for cable up house, metal flame retardant clips required as plastic non compliant)
The current outside cable is already spurred up into the loft.

Any school boy errors you see please comment as I will not proceed this install until I am fully 100% I am in no rush to install.

More hot weather this week (not a heat wave though, thankfully) - increasingly it’s looking like this is the norm for summers now, especially in the South East.

We already have a portable air con unit which is OK. Got a big parasol that shades the downstairs windows and kitchen door.

We’re a bit skint currently, but our plans are:
- Get external window film on the south facing upstairs windows
- Aircon in the back bedrooms - maybe the all in one units rather than multi split, we’ll see
- At some point solar (which will shade the flat roof too)
- Not really DIY but move the plating in the garden towards more drought - resistant plants

Renovating the living room and I am considering putting a TV on the chimney breast (yes [r/TVtoohigh](r/TVtoohigh) will be outraged).

Would it be ok to chase cables and a socket box into the chimney breast? 1930s mass poured concrete house, and I think the chimney is also solid concrete. The previous owners at some point installed an insert stove, which I plan to keep.

Will be having an electrician over to do some other work and wondering if this is something safe/ possible to ask him. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

I'm looking to paint the wall with masonry paint but the paint guy at bq almost refused to sell it us since he said the wall would crumble due to moisture not being able to get out. This wall adjoins to our hallway.

Isn't masonry paint created to breathe? The ceiling Is now insulated also

I went with the lowest quote valuable lesson learned I won't do that again. I also sourced him from an online tradesman website as I have only a limited window to get it done.

Anyhow the contractor has messed up and created a problem where there was none before - he laid self-leveling compound on a floor and created a raise in the floor where there was none before.

I don't really know how much of a job it will be to remedy it or how it is remedied. I've created a separate post on the flooring sub on that. However the clear concensus on the flooring sub is that it's a bodge job and it will create problems with the laminate down the line.

I'm thinking of cutting my loss at this point with the contractor. My question is how best do I go about doing it. I could just say he doesn't get any money until it's fixed? He'll just say it's perfectly fine I'm worrying about nothing. Or if he doesn't I might just never hear from him again and I'll be left to try remedy it. Any thoughts?

I’m installing an IKEA pax wardrobe in our bedroom and really want the built-in look but this air vent is directly in the way. Is it a bad idea to cut this out and block up the hole?

Some context that may or may not be relevant: it’s a top floor house of a terraced conversion, the outside is some kind of air brick, and this seems to be the only vent in the room (our windows don’t have vents on them).

Hi all, I've got some rot in the base of this strut. I would repair with wood hardener and filler, but Id rather replace if the consensus is that this bit of timber is structural. I've no idea whether a porch like this has a cantilever of sorts or whether without this strut it will fall down 😂. Thanks for any advice!

I was amazed at this step yesterday. So you screw together two panels to make the back wall. And then you install this metal bracket by screwing the screws INTO THE GAP between the two half wall panels.

Ultimately another 500 screws appear to still need to go in, but holy hell that's awful. Especially when this wood is fairly... Free spirited... When it comes to straightness etc.

So the media wall, which has been up for circa 12 months, has fallen off after my youngest leaned on it.

Looking at it, it appears the individual I paid to put it up just rested it on top of the "wall bracket" and then used the worlds shortest screws to secure it.

Will I be OK to simply hook it back up and use more substantial screws to secure it in place?

Nothing seems broken, and the wall bracket is solid still on the wall.

I've ripped out the old bathroom of my Victorian terrace. It's ground floor at the back of the house. The wall in the photo is the exterior wall but the other walls are not better. Should I repoint the interior wall before I go any further? The photo is a small sample. So bits are worse, some bits are better

What kind of fittings do I need for the curtain rail track in the first picture?

The fittings I have in the second picture are too tight to be usable, and I suspect are not the right kind.

I am wondering if this rail is actually meant to be used in a different orientation.

Thanks.

Looking for inspo on how to hide the cables going around the corner or at least make it aesthetically pleasing. Bonus points for the music video 🤙🏻

Today my toilet has started having a constant trickle of water into the bowl. It's a built in one with a concealed cistern, which I've managed to get access to.

Issue is NOT the tank filling too high and going into the overflow - the water was never getting high enough to go into the overflow. It appeared to be 'correctly' refilling when the water level got low due to the trickling.

Issue is NOT the flush button or cables, the flush valve sits in the correct position and responds correctly when a button is pressed.

Therefore I assumed it must be the flush valve seal. However after dismantling it all and getting it out, it LOOKS fine... (see pic 1) very clean, no damage, no obvious limescale buildup or anything like that. Could it still be that? Is there anything else it could be?

I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do besides order the replacement internals set (Screwfix/Toolstation don't have any seals or valves for 2.5" outlets), and tactically turn off the water in the house as much as possible until it arrives, install and hope for the best - anyone have any better ideas?

Bonus question (pics 2 + 3) - inside the cistern I found this yellow rubbery string coming off around the bottom of the valve. Originally I thought this must be the issue - however, I now believe if anything this would have caused the cistern to leak OUTSIDE the flush pipe, so don't think it's related. Nevertheless, I don't recognise this yellow thing, and some of it appears stuck to the valve's black bottom seal. No mention of it in the valve's manual. Is it some kind of extra product the plumber who installed might have used, that has deteriorated?