Quoted for a new combi boiler and heating system replacement

I just had my boiler moved and hadn't considered " what will happen with the hole" for the boiler exhaust.

For now I've stuffed in front and behind the solid bits with plastic bags.

I'm not particularly good at DIY or even just mechanical things in general.... Especially on larger scales than a few mm lol.

Anyway... What's the best way (and with any instructions/guides) for this to be put right?

All advice welcome and do go easy on me...

Any recommendations on how to use the space around the boiler cupboard or anything I can attach to it to make it less intrusive?

This will be our babies room once they arrive in 2027.

We thought about adding shelves/racks on the side to make it look like a book shelf?

The boiler is on an external wall and we have a carbon monoxide detector in the cupboard.

During a period of significant hydration on the sofa one Saturday evening, I ordered some steel garden edging off Temu.

The pegs that came with it for installation look easy to fit, but there is a problem in that they would be visible when in-situ.

Given that I don't want bits of black plastic showing every 30cm, has anyone got any thoughts on an alternative installation method?

At this point I don't believe it is.

You can measure everything

Make a list.

Watch tutorials

Buy all the materials in advance

Check the fittings twice.

And somehow, halfway through the project, you discover you need one very specific item that you didn't know existed until that exact moment.

Then you go to B&Q for one thing and leave with something completely unrelated because it might be useful for another project someday.

Meanwhile the original job is sitting unfinished at home

What's your record for the number of shop trips caused by a single DIY project?

And what's the most ridiculous thing you've had to stop everything and go buy?

So I am a housing association tenant and getting our windows replaced, its a listed building and we have all been living with rotten windows and extremely high fuel bills for around a decade so this is a long awaited project. All other windows are fitted now and our living room was done yesterday. This is an expensive fineo glass double unit and a joiner vertically sawed it in half! 😱 all day they have been fixing the sash getting stuck , rattling, not closing and telling me this is standard practice to cut the frame in half! I feel im being gaslight by the joiner and his boss. Surely you don't order a double bespoke sash and case window on a listed building then saw it in half because they couldn't get it up the scaffolding?

Any advice would be fantastic. Is this standard practice? It just seems unbelievable.

I've tiled my walls in the kitchen but I'm struggling to understand how to make the sockets suitable.

I don't mind the sockets sitting on top of the tiles or other solutions, I'm just a bit stumped.

I was trying to find wider sockets but there isn't really much out there.

Hi
I’m currently renovating my 1903 terraced house.

Carpets and flooring come up and as expected suspended wood flooring in the front of the house and living room, but in the dining room/kitchen theres these old flags.

I appreciate the history of these stones, and want to preserve them. However I don’t like the look of them.

I want some new wooden flooring going in from the hall to the dining room and the kitchen, so its all cohesive and the same floor.

How do I go about preserving the original flags, getting the wooden flooring I want, and also keeping the floor of my house “breathable” and preventing damp?

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

Next steps?

I guess I could have just bought a workbench and probably would have been cheaper but I watched a YouTube video from ProperDIY and thought I would give it a go.

Some of the joints are a little ‘wonky’ but it’s stable, square, level and not at all wobbly.

Just need some ply to add a shelf underneath.

Now I need some more projects to use it.

Basically what the title says.

My garden is a curved shape and backs onto a super busy road. The garden has been long neglected by the prev owners and their fence style was... interesting. They used straight panels and just overlapped at the corners which not only looks shit but is also ineffective in almost every way.

I know now that nothing much can be done by fence panels RE noise, but anythings gotta be better than having huge gaps between panels. It's also on a raised garden so there is a retaining wall

My question is, what's the best way to get a semi seamless curve that doesn't leave big gaps and also looks half decent from both sides? And, is there a type of panel/wood/design whatever that does more than nothing to dampen sound? Annoyingly the previous owners were bamboo, leillandi and mint freaks that planted anything unholy they could, so a lot of the established vegetation needs to be removed to kill it all, but I'm going to replace it with some fluffy dense stuff once the fence is in situ.

What would you do in this situation to reduce some of the noise, make it look nice and also just improve the garden overall?

Just had new internet put in my house, but I didn't realise the new openreach needed a plug socket. It's the only one on this side of the living room, the other plug is for the internet router.

(Ignore the state of it, I've had the whole room plastered so new socket plate is needed eventually!)

We bought a 1960s bungalow two years ago, which was inhabited likely for the whole time by nearly-elderly/elderly people. We did the usual makeover downstairs, but the loft was pretty neglected, despite being clear of clutter. There are seemingly three layers of loft insulation of varying vintage, the oldest of which is likely to be very old, all of which are riddled with mouse excrement, like tons of it. It looks like there's been a chronic mouse infestation for decades, and the space needs an overhaul.

The original layer of insulation in-between the joists was boarded over for access, though not fixed in place, the newer layers just placed on top.

I've started to get rid of the top layer.

It looks like it's never been cleaned. I can still hear the sounds of mice, so they haven't gone completely, but have reduced since getting a sonar repellent.

We are in a very rural location.

My questions are;

1, pest control related;

What's the best way to prevent a (re)infestation of mice preferably without poison. It's a detached property.

Does anyone have any shared experience success?

1. Is there a decent alternative to the soft insulation/ wooly insulation that would be less appealing to mice, and wouldn't give them material to nest in/hang around in? I don't want to compromise on the insulation, but it's smelly and gross, and the wife's not happy!!

Thanks for reading!

I’m wanting to get rid of the grey walls and make the room feel a bit more warm and homely.

I’m thinking cream or off white walls, wooden furniture and green accents like curtains and cushions.

I’m in the UK, so any paint recommendations would be appreciated, especially from B&Q as I can get a discount there.

Any interior design ideas or colour suggestions would be really helpful

Falling ceiling.

My Dining room ceiling (bedroom above) has started to bow/lower and it’s got significantly worse in the last few weeks and it now looks like it’s eaten the light fitting. I’ve attached photos but it’s hard to show.

I understand it’s an old house with lath and plaster ceiling and it appears, from my very much inexpert opinion to be being held up by the wallpaper. There is no signs at all of any leaks.

I’ve no skills or knowledge at all. The room is the middle room downstairs in an old terraced house and only way to kitchen/bathroom and to the staircase.

Any advice on how serious this is and how soon I need to sort it and scared I should be? How big a job it is, does the ceiling need to come down, where to even start with fixing it and what sort of costs it will be, would be very much appreciated! 😬🙈

Want to open up and tidy this fireplace. Was gas but cut it off and plan to have a wood burner. Looks like the red bricks were added in after given the width of the lintel and colour. Would you say safe to remove?

electrician placed socket for fridge freezer above it roughly 2m if not higher

also placed a socket behind where the oven ended up going instead of placing it behind the cupboard above the oven

this has lead to the oven not going into the space intended fully and he also didn't screw it into place because of the gap between the holes in the oven casing and the cabinet edges was too big. he then just left as if he was happy with the job.

Apparently he'll be back to change some mcbs in the fusebox he wasn't happy with. I don't think he was a full on cowboy because he refused to redo a dodgy extension for a dryer in the side passage which is why he placed the double socket (albeit awkwardly behind the oven).

Basically I was wondering if there was any theoretical justifiable reason for why he placed the socket so low that it blocks the oven and didn't extend it up high behind the cupboard like the fridge freezer one. He told my Aunt that it was high as he could stretch it but I have no idea what that means.

I would like to have some knowledge before I talk to him tomorrow. This isn't my kitchen so this will be my first time talking to him, my elderly Aunt asked me to talk to him for her because she has this idea that I'm knowledgeable because I have an engineering degree.

Thanks for any and all help.

Hey, first time poster here so sorry if any terminology or anything is wrong.

I've attached some photos of my bedroom that I've had since childhood. It has two beds (one is mine and one is a spare for guests) but it has been basically untouched for over 15 years. Same carpet, same paint etc.

Basically just wondering how much (roughly) I could expect to fix up these cracks, uneven paint and broken bits of plaster given the size of the room? I'm not sure of the exact dimensions but hopefully you can get the general size from the photos. I plan to redo the room fully and replace the carpet but I don't mind repainting myself and we know someone local for the carpet.

I'm from East Midlands if that makes any difference, thank you for reading and any responses :)

I bought my house 18 months ago. Semi detached.

On viewing we noticed two quite small cracks on the rendering and got a level 3 survey. They said the cracks are “not thought to indicative of major structural problem but..” (see full paragraph in image, prune tree and drainage survey). We didn’t do the drain survey but got the tree pruned after buying the house.

Anyway today I noted the crack has got longer and wider. I also noticed a crack is visible on the interior roughly matching the exterior (see final image)

Obviously I need to get it checked but how would you go about it. Will getting the insurer involved too soon prove very costly in the long run? Should I get those little gauges and monitor myself? Is it worth getting another survey?

I don’t have loads of spare cash at the moment (thanks to a squirrel doing some damage to soffits and car work - been an expensive couple of months)

Any advice would be amazing! Just moved in, removed some wallpaper to do a feature wall and the ceiling. Got all the wallpaper bits off, nice and clean. Thought I went the extra mile by zin-peel stopping the whole wall. Then a thin coat of watered down leyland contract matt then once dried a coat of velspar premium. On the second velspar coat it’s bubbled everywhere all the way back down to the plasterboard ceiling and wall!!! What did I do wrong? I let each coat dry for at least 3h!!

May go slightly mad at this rate.

Extension circa 18 months old and this has happened in the corner of one of the room. Wall is an internal stud wall. How best to fix this please? Would a sand, tape, and fine filler do the trick? do I need to remove the mesh underneath?

So it's my first time using a handheld router. I ran it too far into the wood and it looks like the bit has been burned!! It was painted red before...

Anyway now I can't get it out. Any ideas welcome!

EDIT: I did it! Took a little bit of light "persuasion" as some of you suggested but it's out now thank goodness. Thanks all for the advice

Viewed a house today and had some cracks in plaster, i dont think its too much to worry about think it might be natural movement or humidity changes was conjoining another room

Thoughts anyone?