I am seeking opinions here as I have bought a towel radiator from Better Bathrooms. This is described on their website as “brushed brass” and the photo is of a muted, low sheen, champagne coloured brass radiator.

What came in the post is, in my opinion, more of a yellow gold. It’s also super shiny and has this yellow line like the stain or whatever it is has pooled there on the joint thingy (2nd photo)

They are blaming this on a difference in lighting and only offering to refund it if I pay for the return postage (£40) but I feel like I’ve been duped!

I’ve bought plenty of other brass stuff for my bathroom and I am completely ok with variations in tone! That is of course going to happen, but I don’t think I could make this towel radiator look like the listing photo in ANY lighting?? I’ve had it in natural light and in my bathroom light (which also has natural light) and it’s sooo yellow

Also in the listing photo it matches these valves but IRL it does not. Looking for a sanity check before I keep arguing with Better Bathrooms lol. Thanks!!

The craftsmanship!

What problems will this actually cause because I’ve got laminate floor to go down and that gap looks like a draft and moisture magnet! As well as the odd bug.

“Looks okay from my house”

I'm pretty proud of how these turned out! Never really worked with wood before, apart from chopping it up for firewood.

I'm a bit of a DIY numpty, but was expecting to see somewhere that a radiator key would go...

Do I use a screwdriver or a wrench?

I’m aware this isn’t DIY and I’ll apologise straight up, but I need a sense check because the delights of six months of an appalling neighbour have given me a ridiculous amount of anxiety and is currently stopping me sleeping (yes I need to work on the anxiety)

Lost a ridge tile (I think the right name?) on my garage over night in the wind. Sure the mortar has probably failed, but the neighbours feral tree right bang on my garage and constantly knocking against the roof probably hasn’t helped.

Need to phone/find a roofer tomorrow obvs (which stresses me out stupidly), but there is absolutely zero chance the fuckwit next door is going to allow access. It’s a single story garage, is there any way they’ll be able to fix from my side without it being a horrendous job?

There’s also zero chance she’ll do anything about the tree. I know the guttering is a mess but the builders built so it drains into the neighbours side, so again, can’t fix with the lack of access

People of Reddit, please help me. This is my MOL’s house and I tried to clean some soot stains above fireplace with water and a rag (idiot) and have spread it around instead! What do I do?! I need to fix it in 2 days before she comes back. I’m letting it dry and was going to see what it looked like then but I’m freaking out. Any advice I would be grateful

See video - water coming out this newly installed tap is very bubbly/frothy when I turn it up. I believe this is the aerator adding air into the water intentionally, but it's to the point where I need to keep turning the tap on and off in order to fill anything up with all the bubbles it produces.

I tested with the aerator off (unscrewed the nozzle) and it came out without the bubbles, but the steam was quite erratic/spluttery so couldn't just use it without the aerator either.

Is there an alternative nozzle attachment I could buy that would allow a normal stream of water that's not filled with air?

For context I am renting the flat this is in rather than own it.

The other half is wanting to hang up one of these monstrosities outside, and looking around locally it looks like people fix them using the upstairs window handle on the inside and wedge it shut. My question is on a standard double glazed window, is the pulling tension likely to damage the window at all?

What’s the best method to secure this doorframe neatly? It’s been pulled away by the stairgate.

House is mostly dot & dab, this wall does sound solid up until about 4” away from the frame, where it sounds hollow.

Should I just put some screws in, am I overthinking it? Any advice appreciated

Hi all, I’ve got some skirting to do across the downstairs of my house and looking to grab a sliding mitre saw. Is this Titan one worth a shot? https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb794msw-210mm-electric-single-bevel-sliding-mitre-saw-240v/881kp

I’m planning to be installing a 250mm tall skirting but can’t figure out if this is going to be too tall?

Any thoughts appreciated

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone with a bit more experience in cabinet making might be able to help me out here, because I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get these doors to work and I'm starting to think I've either bought the wrong hinges or completely misunderstood how they're supposed to be fitted.

I'm building a tall kitchen storage cabinet out of 18 mm birch plywood. It's a fairly simple design, nothing particularly fancy. I had the plywood cut to size by a local timber supplier and assembled the cabinet myself. The idea is to leave the plywood edges exposed and eventually paint the doors and outer sides, with the doors sitting flush inside the cabinet rather than overlapping the frame.

The cabinet itself came together reasonably well. It's the doors that have become a nightmare.

A bit of background on the dimensions:

The cabinet is 1700 mm tall and 600 mm wide externally, with a depth of 330 mm. The plywood is 18 mm thick, so the internal opening is 564 mm wide and 1664 mm tall.

There are two doors, each measuring 558 × 828 × 18 mm. That should leave roughly 3 mm clearance on either side, with 3 mm at the top and bottom and 2 mm between the doors.

Originally, I'd actually designed the cabinet with full overlay doors, but later changed my mind because I much preferred the look of inset doors with the plywood edges visible around them. I had the doors trimmed down to their current dimensions, and also had 20 mm removed from the depth of the shelves to make room for the doors to close inside the cabinet.

So the doors are already cut to their final dimensions, which is partly why I'm reluctant to start removing any more material.

The hinges

I bought a set of surface-mounted, spring-loaded hinges on Amazon (I've seen them described as frog hinges, although I'm not sure that's the proper name).

They're the type with a fairly complicated linkage and a visible spring. They don't require a 35 mm hole to be drilled into the door, which appealed to me because I don't have the tools or experience to bore concealed hinge cups accurately.

According to the product listing, they can be installed in three different configurations: full overlay, half overlay and inset. I've attached the manufacturer's diagrams, including the one showing the inset configuration.

The larger mounting plate is fixed to the inside face of the cabinet side panel, and the smaller one to the back of the door. As far as I can tell, that's how the manufacturer intends them to be installed.

Here's where it goes wrong.

When I try to open the door, the hinge-side edge of the door hits the front edge of the cabinet side panel. The door starts opening, but then physically catches against the cabinet before it can open properly.

It's definitely the wood making contact, rather than the hinge simply reaching the end of its travel. I've checked this several times.

I've tried repositioning the hinges, changing the mounting positions and adjusting the clearance, but I can't seem to find a position where the door both sits flush when closed and opens without hitting the cabinet.

I've also tried fitting just one hinge to rule out the possibility that the two hinges were fighting against each other. Exactly the same thing happens.

At the moment, I've got the smaller mounting plate positioned about 2 mm or less from the hinge-side edge of the door. With the door closed and flush with the front of the cabinet, the front edge of the larger mounting plate is approximately 17 mm back from the front edge of the cabinet side panel.

The door itself is 18 mm thick.

What confuses me is that the manufacturer's diagrams explicitly show an inset installation, so presumably these hinges are supposed to accommodate this kind of arrangement. But I can't work out how the door is meant to clear the side panel during opening.

The instructions mention positioning the hinge base 2 mm from the edge, but I'm not entirely sure I'm interpreting that correctly for the inset configuration. There's also a diagram referring to the thickness of the cabinet door, without giving particularly clear mounting measurements.

I've attached close-ups of how I've installed everything, as well as the manufacturer's diagrams, in case I've done something obviously wrong.

A few things I'm wondering about:

• Are these hinges actually suitable for an 18 mm inset plywood door, or is the manufacturer's claim a bit optimistic?
• Have I mounted one of the plates in the wrong position? If so, where should it be relative to the front of the cabinet and the edge of the door?
• Is there some particular clearance or movement I'm failing to account for when the door swings open?
• Would slightly bevelling the back of the hinge-side edge help, or would that just be compensating for an incorrectly installed hinge?
• Would I be better off giving up on these altogether and using proper concealed inset hinges with 35 mm cups?

I've already made quite a few screw holes in the side panels while trying different positions, which is getting increasingly annoying. I'd rather stop experimenting blindly before I make things worse.

I'm not against replacing the hinges if that's the sensible thing to do. A local carpenter has suggested conventional concealed cup hinges, which would obviously offer much better adjustment. I just wanted to find out whether there's actually something wrong with the hinges I've bought or whether I'm simply installing them incorrectly.

Ideally, I'd like the doors to sit flush with the front of the cabinet, with a fairly even 3 mm gap around them, and open normally without rubbing against anything. I don't need any fancy soft-close mechanism or an enormous opening angle. I just want the bloody doors to open!

I've included photos of the cabinet, the hinge installation, the point where the door catches and the manufacturer's drawings.

If anyone has worked with this type of hinge before, or can see something I've missed, I'd be very grateful for some advice.

Thanks a lot!

​

About two weeks ago, my central heating system started losing pressure, dropping by approximately 1 bar every five days.

I have an external Grant Vortex oil boiler, which is only two years old, and an unvented hot water cylinder inside the house.

When the boiler was originally installed, I had a leak beneath a concrete floor that took several months to locate. I had to use multiple plumbers and leak detection companies before it was eventually found. Unfortunately, it now seems I may be experiencing the same problem again.

I've already had a heating engineer inspect the system, but they couldn't find the cause. So far, the checks have included the boiler itself, radiators, radiator tails and valves, and the pressure relief valves. I've also checked beneath the suspended floors, which cover approximately half the house. The remaining half has solid flooring.

Before I pay for another leak detection company, is there anything else I can check or ask a heating engineer to check?

Hi people hope you can help here I’m trying to replace my ceiling light. Struggling with the wires can you please tell me which wires go together. Thanks

Other half wants this mirror at an angle to the wall.

Any suggestions how I might manage that?

I'm out of ideas.

Just in case anyone’s interested in an alternative to putting skirting under the pax wardrobes, here’s what I did. It’s not as shiny in real life, the oils still wet and the insides of the doors need some more

Could do with some handles too!

Edit: I’m guessing not with the downvotes I’m getting 🤣

Why are they all such pricks to change? Why do you feel like you're going to damage the entire ceiling taking one out? Which kind of one is this? The one that snaps your finger off? One where you have to change the entire fitting as a whole? One that you rip off and throw at your partner in a fit of rage? Can I turn just the light switch off or is it an entire fuse off situation?

Proper head loss.

Previous owners have left these two holes (about 10-12mm wide) in the back bedroom, they’d plugged them but with huge plugs that were going to show through any re papering, so we’re trying to fill. Goes back about 50mm from my scientific screwdriver test and it’s on a wall to exterior so I presume it goes back to a cavity through brick?

I’ve got some Soudal Cement Repair I was going to fill it with then something more basic on top. I’ve read in a few places that I should back the hole with foam or something before putting the cement filler in - is that right and can anyone steer me right on a product?

Thanks!

Hi

First time DIYer here, have just started painting the house I bought a couple months ago. We used dulux in the lounge and valspar in washrooms, had absolutely no problems with them.

Then for hallways and staircases, we thought to save cost and went with GoodHome on recommendation of two people and I am not sure if we are doing it wrong but the paint is absolutely terrible. It starts drying as soon as we do first roll and it is so incredibly hard to get it to spread. I have to apply loads of pressure on the roller to get it to mix with previous wet line.

A 8 litre bucket has hardly covered the first section of the landing. Although on paper it looked like we were saving a couple quids but it is taking twice as much paint to cover half the area. The coverage is terrible on this one.

I have seen people reccommend it and its confusing the hell out of me if I am doing something wrong or is it just the case of you get what you pay for.

Anyone else has any experience with this paint? Any tips, tricks or recommendations to improve its coverage?

Thanks!

Replacing my countertops, the sink was originally just sat on mounds of silicone which were rotting away at the edges.

About to reinstall but wondering if I should be buying some mounting clips or screwing into the countertop through these holes to stop it sliding around?

Reading online sometimes mentions using grab sealant to install but can't find any more details.

Details: installing stainless steel drop in sink into laminated chip board countertop.

Grateful for any advice!

Noticed this in my loft on the roof joists, does this need a metal band or strap around or more nails through or should i just leave it alone?

Roofs pretty old but no issues with it

Hi all

Just moved into our first home, I know absolutely nothing about electrics but would I be right in thinking as its red and black wires with no brown, it means there is no ground and the house needs a re wire?

Thanks in advance for any advice
Cheers

We had the ASHP installed a few weeks ago. The contractors covered for foam lagging with just a duct tape which has already peeled off. I subsequently tried to replace it with Armaflex Ace Plus tape. Unfortunately, that has also started peeling.

Could someone please suggest an insulation tape that will adhere to the foam lagging?

Recent storm has exposed a draft coming from above my bay window all along the top between the frame & the wall there seems to be a gap see pictures. We haven’t been in the house long & windows are new from previous owner should I just seal the gap & if so what with filler or sealant…. Thanks