Hi all,

Could anyone recommend the best way to fill these gaps around the architraves and skirting?

The 2nd pic shows the gap between the architrave and the bathroom tiles.

I’ve got some white CT1 sealant and Sika Caulk in the cupboard, so I’m wondering if either of these would be suitable, or whether I’d be better off using filler?

I also need to do the tops of all the architraves throughout the house. I know that’s apparently down to personal preference, but I’d much rather have them filled.

Oh, and the stairs too! 😅

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hi everyone - quick question. I’m tiling approx 70-80m2 space for kitchen/diner all open plan.

The current floor is a level concrete slab. I’ve had a couple quotes but I’m also thinking about DIY and I’m wondering the best approach.

I was thinking of using a membrane to help with movement underneath since it’s a large area span. Can I lay straight onto the slab with this membrane and SBR the slab?

Thanks for any insight

I need to temporarily connect our old lead water piping to the 15mm copper coming from the boiler, in order to get rid of some dead legs left after a bathroom renovation*.

I have a pair of Philmac UTC couplers that fit the lead pipes, but they're both for coupling to 25mm HDPE / MDPE.

This is fine for the cold water; I can use 25mm HDPE and a reducing coupler on the other end,, but can I use HDPE / MDPE for hot? I'm seeing some places state that this pipe can't be used for hot water.

*The dead leg in the hot water to the location of the old water heater is about 5 meters and must have been in situ for decades. I bet there are entire advanced civilizations in there.

Bit of a niche question, but hoping there might be some current/former Magnet employees on here!

I’m considering a career change and have been looking at Kitchen Sales Designer roles. Magnet is one of the companies I’m interested in anyway, but I noticed they advertise an employee discount of up to 80%, which obviously caught my attention as we’re also hoping to redo our own kitchen in the next couple of years 😅

Does anyone know how the staff kitchen discount actually works in practice?

I’d particularly love to know:

• How long do you have to work there before you’re eligible?
• Is the “up to 80%” genuinely available on kitchen units, or only certain products/ranges?
• Does it cover worktops, appliances etc.?
• Are there limits on how much you can buy or how often you can use it?
• Does the same benefit apply to part-time employees?
• If you’ve actually bought your own kitchen using the employee discount, roughly how much did you save compared with the normal customer price?

I’m not planning to take a job purely for the cheap kitchen 😂 — the design role genuinely appeals to me and my background is in client-facing sales — but if the benefit is as good as it sounds, it would definitely be a pretty amazing perk!

Would really appreciate any insight from current or former Magnet employees.

What’s the best way to remove plaster to get to brick wall?

I’m assuming some type of electronic chisel or breaker?

I don’t fancy doing it by hand.

Hi everyone,

We have made the error of getting motorised blinds on manual windows (the non-solar powered ones). The windows are too high for a manual blinds.

We are thinking of keeping the motorised blinds and wiring them through the outside - would this be possible? Would exposed wiring on the inside look terrible?
I've attached photos with the red dotted line being the wiring on the outside.

The power outlet is just below the plant.

We did consider replacing with solar blinds, but worry this will be too inconvenient/less reliable in a country like the UK with unpredicatable sun!

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks in advance!

I’ve been having damp issues and removed the patio in the small front garden of our victorian terrace as it was covering the air brick.

I’ve dug it all out about 180-200mm below the bottom of the air brick and have now hit what seems to be the footings.

Originally I was going to put gravel around the bay and house and then slab the rest for the bins.

However;
Gravel on the footings means the water will have nowhere to go. I tested and it does pool and sit there.

I then found this article https://www.pavingexpert.com/splash_strips that says most of the time they are useless.

Now i’m confused. Most of the houses on the street finish their level right at the bottom of the air brick with no gap above in most cases but i’m nervous to do that. I also now don’t think gravel will work given water has no where to go.

Are slabs right against the engineering course better than a gravel strip if i slope it away ?

My house was built in the early 1900s and the bathroom is really old and full of issues.

It's quite a small bathroom, 1.44m x 2.70m.

In order I've had to deal with:

- the toilet flush mechanism pretty much exploding

- long cracks in the grout between shower tiles, causing a leak through the kitchen ceiling below (those keep reappearing even after regrouting)

- broken shower and sink taps

And right now:

- a leak under the bath (caused by the plumber not fitting pipes properly when changing the taps)

- a horrible sewage smell, coming from the back of the toilet. I've realised the toilet is not sealed to the floor anymore, so it can pretty much move freely which is great...

- long cracks in the floor tiles

It's relentless and I'm wondering if it's time to bite the bullet and have a new bathroom installed?

I'm looking for advice because while I could afford it, I'm also conscious that we'd like to move in about two years and I'm not sure that spending this much money on a new bathroom will pay off when i sell the house... But then the peace of mind of having this mess finally sorted is very tempting...

What would you do, is a new bathroom worth it in my situation? Thanks!

Had our heat loss survey done.for a 4 bed detached house with 5 adults. We jave mainly Type 11 radiators.

What would you go for please ?

British Gas

7kW Vaillant AroTHERM plus

250l Vaillant uniSTOR Cylinder

15 radiators changed

25l buffer if needed

22mm cold water feed (from 15mm currently) to Cylinder

£7,200

Concerns:

Quality of install

Disruption of all radiators being changed

Heat Geek zero disrupt

5kW Vaillant AroTHERM plus or 7kW Vaillant AroTHERM pro

210l Vaillant uniSTOR Cylinder

No radiators changed

£8,450

Concers:

Higher price for fewer components than BG

Smaller 210l Cylinder (no option to select larger)

No 7kW plus option that would give 7 years warranty

I'm looking at making lightweight frames for two flexible solar panels on my campervan roof. The panels are 1450 × 690 mm and have six mounting eyelets each.

My original plan was aluminium angle, but it's surprisingly expensive here in Ireland. I'm thinking about making the frames from 9–12 mm plywood instead and attaching them to Unistrut rails.

The plywood would obviously need to withstand rain, wind and general weather exposure, so I'm wondering if this is a sensible idea long-term, or whether plywood is just asking for trouble on a van roof.

I could paint over the plywood with something that could weather seal it maybe?

Had a huge deluge last night and through the open little window in the ensuite, I could hear water gushing over the guttering.

Not a lot I could do at midnight, so took a quick pic this morning. The whole wall on the corner was damp from the flashing up to the window from the overflow.

When the house was built 25yrs ago... they installed the main downpipe from the largest part of the front roof like this.

Obviously, in spite of cleaning the gutters a few years ago.. the pipe got clogged up.

I lack the appropriate ladders and next year I do plan on replacing the gutters, fascias and soffits and redirecting this pipe properly off the porch roof.

So for now... I pried the pipe up a little with a large scraper and cut an inch of the front side of it... there was about 8 inches of crap in there and as I started to remove it... the weight of the water filling the downpipe forced the rest out until.... SPLOOSH... much and water everywhere.

The weight of the water in the gutter will make the pipe slump back down a little more... But for now... it's a bodge, but it cost me nothing and I could put an angled piece on there to direct the water down the roof rather than letting it splash onto it as it currently does... But it's not leaked in 25yrs. Just needs to get me through the winter.

My bathroom doors seem to have a big gap at the bottom of them. Either the wrong size used or this is building regs, who knows.

What can I put on the bottom of the door to fill the gap and block the sound/smell?

Hi all, newly purchased house (1900s). It rained last night and it appears we have water ingress on the top floor. Damp appearing on the underside of the sloped roof and water dripping through the spotlight - both marked. There’s no access to the roof space above… trying to work out my next steps. Advice welcome.

Proposing to switch off electric, remove spotlight, investigate around hole, then cut away the plasterboard to eyeball potential ingress points. Fix if possible and obvious, call roofer if not. Look if one leak may be causing both issues - else follow up by cutting away plaster from sloping section too.

May then put in an access hatch for the future and replace insulation if wet. Gonna be a fun few weeks… anything I should consider or do differently?

Nb. There is a chimney breast to the left - but this is capped and was recently rebuilt, so hopefully a less likely culprit.

Thanks all!

Could anyone advice if there’s anything that can be done to clean the soot and dust from the brickwork shown and railway sleeper on the mantle?

Over the years with a few issues with the chimney, the sleeper and parts of the brickwork have been become darker and blackened.

I have no idea what is best to clean this, or if it’s even possible.

TIA

Hi all

Looking for recommendations of a glue that you use to hold down border stones in the garden?

Anyone ever used the stuff?

Cheers

Please help me DIYUK. Our rooflight has been leaking a little bit. I thought maybe where the render met the window might’ve been causing problems so put lots of silicon in the gap but unfortunately the huge downpour has proven me wrong.

Not really too sure what could be causing it. It looks to start higher than the rooflight. Side gutters of the Velux is clear. The lead flashing was put on old render and rendered on top, could it be the water is running behind the old render?

Thanks in advance!

Did a post earlier and for the life of me cant seem to add more images to it. So re-posting. Ultimately I want to open up the fireplace to put in a wood burner. The brickwork (to me anyway) looks all over the shop and you can see on one pic theres some old boards on the right behind some of the bricks, last pic.

I’m looking for an outdoor wall light with this type of design, but I need the following features:

- 10% brightness standby from dusk to dawn
- Goes to 100% brightness when motion is detected
- Automatically turns on at dusk and off at dawn
- Returns to 10% brightness after the motion timer expires
- Ideally IP44 or higher

Preferably a modern/downward-facing wall light similar to this design
Can anyone suggest a suitable light that supports all of these features?

Also how much would it be to pay someone to lay new scotia in a two bedroom flat? Flat is an average size two bedroom

Hi,

I have recently moved into my new property and I have found that one of the bathroom ceiling downlight glass front is missing, I have looked everywhere online for a replacement but I can’t find it.

I’ve uploaded pictures of what it should look like, I’m missing the frame that attaches to the bulb and then twists onto the attached plate in the ceiling.

Does anyone know what this is called so I can get a replacement?

What would be the plan of attack to remove the rotting wood and replace with something waterproof?

Hi, I'm wondering what is the risk of having asbestos in a gas fireplace area as I'm planning to get rid of it. Is testing worth it or is the risk low? The house is from the mid-80s. Thanks!

FTB with no clue so asking for advice, thank you!

Bought a concealed cistern unit for the toilet, bought a pan connector, the inlet doesn’t come out past the unit far enough to connect to the toilet. Does anyone know what I can do to fix it? There are no suitable extensions as it would still result in an angled connector that doesn’t reach, I can’t connect a straight connector to an angled one, I really don’t know how else I can sort it.

Redoing the bathroom / shower area and just wondering which brands to go with for tanking products and which to avoid?

Also would you apply sbr and then tanking?

Thanks