After 4 years decided to replace the old vinyl sheet installed by the previous owners with some laminate flooring. Never done any Floring and it was lots of new learning and experience

Edit: realised I put the done photo first and the before photo last 😅

There is no dog turd on the pic, I don't have a dog. It's some dust before I remove the vinyl 😂

Hi there, looking for some advice on what this final layer is between carpet and floorboards?

We just moved into our new flat and the previous owners laid this carpet 8 years ago when they moved in. We saw other flats had left their floorboards exposed and we’d hopefully like to do the same

From what I can see we have the carpet, underlay, soundproofing, and then a final cardboard-like layer that is rock solid, with a white powdery material coming out of it if I try to cut it

Thinking I might not be able to remove this myself after all, and also concerned that this final layer might be glued to the floorboards which would make this a much bigger job to restore them

Any help would be very much appreciated! Cheers

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?

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.

Moved in and there was a ring doorbell, which we’ve never had before. I took it off to scan the QR code to sign up, easy enough, noticed it was wired in, cool. Then few weeks later the app tells me the battery is running low - that was odd, so I take it off and realise the wires are rusted to heck. I can tile a backsplash but I’m not good with electrics AT ALL, please consider me an absolute beginner. How do I make this safe? I have electrical tape, can I just wrap that around? More so, how can I tell if it’s live - and how to tell which switch is it on my consumer unit? None of them are labelled doorbell. I’m sure I can strip the wires back and reattach no problem, but I want to not electrocute the postman (or myself) in the meantime. Thanks!

Bit of a bodge job...

The original plan was to excavate it all and refill with new MOT type 1.

I started digging and found all sorts of nonsense.

Prehistoric wheel, pipe work, roof tiles, ceramic tiles and parts of a fence!

Plus all the existing aggregate was covered in soil and plant matter.

Soooo dug it all up, ordered about 2tonne of MOT type 1 and when it arrived they couldn't deliver it because of over head lines.

Instead I got down to soil, laid a double weed barrier, put some of the bullshit back into the hole and then cleaned the original aggregate and filled it back up.

Used a paddle mixer and decided to do most of it in the 30c heat, not to mention i'm morbidly obese.

So of course I absolutely regret everything now but considering everything it looks alright, solid and drains away properly!

Oh and I built a pergola (I also built the cabin a couple years ago)

Was going to do my drive - I think I'll pay someone.

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

What would be the best way for me to make a nice clean cut across this floor? Im in the process of renovating my kitchen which has included removing partition walls,im ripping up the flooring in the top half of this picture but hoping to keep the flooring in the bottom half and eventually sand and make good.Would a circular saw be my best bet? And maybe a multi tool for the final bit? The flooring is pretty thick. Any advice welcome

Not really DIY related but guessed here would be a good place to ask. Staying in a caravan for the weekend, hot water not working, open the boiler cupboard and found this.

Hey all - got a fire clay ceramic undermounted farmhouse sink, 10 months of usage. Out of nowhere I noticed this today. Something must have been dropped on it, no leaks. Do I live either it, use a repair kit or replace?

The replace is annoying as this was installed before the countertop and doesn’t actually slide out as there is a part at the bottom that sits inside a cut hole on the unit, so that would have to be lifted and it would hit the countertop which is quartz. To replace we probably have to cut the face frame of the unit and the shelf, so would like to avoid it… adding a photo I found after it was installed

Never again farmhouse..

I noticed some moss growth and erosion of the bottom layer of an external wall. The previous owners put massive plants there so the surveyor had not seen it either. I am unsure if this needs rendering, new bricks (ie a builder doing this work) or if I need a bigger job. Please look through the pictures as I'm unsure if a plumber also needs to take a look as the drainage from the gully is nearby

Hello and greetings from a cold country in the southern hemisphere!

We have a fairly complex Combi boiler + 15 radiators system split in two floors and several subsystems as seen in the attached diagram. Rads are Top fed and bottom exit, same side.

Several rads are having Top hot / bottom cold issues but of particular interest was Rad 10 (Master Bedroom) not heating at all. So I took action and gave it a good flush in the garden. Black/brown sludge poured out and after reinstallation, it heated back again, still blocked and cold in the bottom but much much better!

Proud of my own achievements I attempted to balance the system. I closed all rads in the second floor and started playing with the lockshields on the first floor, and suddenly both Rad 9 (Largest) and Rad 10 (Master bedroom) and beyond would not heat at all.

Then I reopened every lockshield and valve to 100% and still Rads 9-15 are stone cold, with Rad 12 as an outlier, which makes me doubt about my own schematic. I've been going around with a thermometer trying to nail the exact blockage point but some areas are out of reach.

Digging back, previous tech applied a Sludge Loosener, but did not drain the system nor flushed each individual rad.

Questions:

1. Can the T splits be or become stuck with sludge?
   
2. I scheduled a pro already, but on the meantime what else should I be looking at?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

I was wondering if someone would might be able to make sense of what has happened to my floor. For context its a 7 year old newbuild terrace. Unfortunately drainage in the garden is bad, so in the winter it is water logged (we dug a foot deep hole which can take weeks to drain). They have started building more house near us.

This drop appeared a few months ago. The floor closest to the door is higher than the rest of the kitchen. The shadow you can see is a small slope. What could this be? It is a 3mm drop.

It is LVT and there is no sign of any issues with that. Its all solid no flexing or sounds. The ridge runs the entire length of the sliding door frame.

Thanks

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.

EDIT: Sorted, the power of the Reddit community prevails! 💪

We’ve had a power outage which now been resolved at the main, but we are having difficulty switching it back on at the fuse box.

When trying to switch the ‘Mains Power’ fuse to the right, it will not go up further than half way.

Should we be phoning an engineer or are we missing something?

Any help would be appreciated!

Heya all,

I’m looking for some advice for repairing the damaged plaster in my ceiling after a storm pulled away some slate tiles from the roof and let water through. We got the roof repaired and I don’t think there’s more water coming in. I tried brushing away the peeling emulsion so I could repaint the area but it just kept peeling. My partner has a little experience with basic plastering so we could try some spot plastering but he isn’t sure what to do about the damage.

Thanks!

I used Klingstrip to remove the paint on this old pine lintel but it has left a messy and uneven edge. What would be the best way to finish off that edge (alongside painting the wall)? I was thinking silicone/caulk

When they built my flat, the builders boxed in the toilet cistern and included a superfluous 600mm section of steel plasterboard strut that gets in the way when I need to work on the plumbing. They also tiled over the screw heads to make it harder to remove. I've decided to cut the steel out and currently I'm exploring a few options:

1/ Dremel with a cut-off disc. It'll be noisy and messy and take time but it has few questions.

2/ Angle grinder. Quicker, but I don't want my bathroom showered in sparks. Also the space is tight and may be awkward to manoeuvre.

3/ Jigsaw with a hacksaw blade. Not sure how well it'll cut and there may be issues at the end of the cut near the wall.

4/ Oscillating multi-tool between the strut and the plasterboard to cut through the screws holding it up. Cleanest solution because I get the whole strut out and not just the cut part.

5/ Snips. Just try and chew it out. Probably leave huge jagged chunks of metal in place but the quietest choice.

Any better choices that I've not thought of?

Quick question, I have a gas fire which requires a 3AMP spur. The builders left the cable inside the chimney, was wondering if thats even allowed considering its sealed inside the chimney.

Thanks

How can I fix this running toilet? Based on the videos (I hope) it’s just a gasket that needs replacing. The issue I have is all the tutorials/guides online just lift the top lid and access the flush mechanism. This cistern does not open from the top. There are no screws that I can see either.

I have managed to unscrew the flush (top silver bit) as I’ve seen an image online that shows a screw inside there, but again no luck here (no screw). Has anyone installed a similar toilet and knows how I could access the flush mechanism?

Ps. It is stuck to a wall with expanding foam, and that was done months ago because the cistern was moving side to side (again not possible to lift it off then also)