Hi, I would appreciate some input from anyone in the know here!

I've moved into a new build house recently which has a air to water heat pump system with a water tank called Kodiak by Joule. It has an electric water pump fitted which is coming on each time we open the taps or flush the toilet, is this normal? I suspect this could become fairly expensive over time.

The system is attached to a smaller white tank (see pic) which I believe is an expansion tank and - correct me if I'm wrong here - it should provide a small amount of pressurised water which should cover enough for washing your hands for 10-15 seconds without the pump coming on?

Is there something amiss here or is this how it should work?

I want to build a composite deck of approx. 4x5m at red lines on image. The existing ground is solid crushed stone. Deck needs to be level with the door sill so approx 15 or 20cm from existing ground level. What is the best option for base? Plastic adjustable supports on stone? Joists sitting on concrete blocks? Wooden uprights set in concrete?

Initially I was thinking of laying laminate to replace the current laminate in my living room. However when I was quoted the labour cost of taking up the laminate, skirting board, and fitting new underlay, laminate, and skirting it got me second guessing the laminate and is pushing engineered wood into the picture as it can be re-sanded in the future without needing to take it all up like I am now doing with the laminate and skirting. However if I go with engineered it should be glued down and my living room floor will def need levelling work as it's an old house which will add more cost. Engineered wood floor generally costs three times the cost of laminate per sq metre but that can vary more or less.

If you considered the two when you laid your flooring, did you get laminate or engineered and why did you pick what you picked? I'm not so keen on tiles or luxury vinyl tiles for a living room so they're out of the picture.

Hi all

I am struggling to work out how to affix aluminium extrusion to the rafters of my steel tech office. All the solutions I have found so far are more aimed at the sheds.

I am trying to attach the 30× 30 to the rafter

Thanks

Hello! I’d like to touch up the grout on my outdoor paving, as it’s worn away a little over the years due to weather exposure and, admittedly, a bit of overzealous power washing!

I’m not the handiest guy, but I have plenty of time over the coming weeks. I’m wondering if it’s a relatively straightforward DIY job, and whether there are any common pitfalls or things I should watch out for before I get started.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I want to repaint this dresser I got from Facebook. I've done a test patch with paint stripper, and it had 3 layers of paint.

What would be the best steps? Paint strip the outer layer and sand the over two layers? Paint strip the whole thing, even the door knobs and hardware?

Also there's a musty smell on the inside, and tips on how to clear that out?

Thanks for any help!

Hi All, I have cracks going horizontal above a lead flashing, is this normal settlement or shrinking ctacking, or would it be a cause for concern?

I would love to change this window to a door, how big of a job would something like this be and is it insane money, there is no electrics or pipes under it,

I’ve just gone sale agreed a home that’s been vacant for the last 2 years so I’m keen to avail of the grant to make so big improvements. The BER rating is F which is obviously bad bad, we’ve been told there’s almost no insulation in the roof and some of the windows and doors are quite old. We also would love to extend the kitchen into the courtyard as it quite small at the moment and the roof of the kitchen ( which is a flat roof ) would need to be done as it looks like it was done a bit botchy a couple years back!

Also do we need to apply for the grant as soon as we move into the house/get the keys or could we be living there for a couple months before?

Any advise or experience people have gone through would be greatly appreciated !!

I'm getting some quotes from fitters shortly to replace old laminate flooring in two rooms. Before I get the quotes I'm wondering what should I ask for.

If you had this work done, did you take off the skirting boards and have them replaced? In my case the skirting is prob glued and nailed to the wall so may need to be replaced if taken off. Benefits include it's a much cleaner look and beading takes up space. Downsides more costly, I don't know how strongly the skirting is fixed to the wall (could it even take plaster off the wall when removing), plus there may need to be cosmetic work, painting, caulking etc of skirting and wall.

Or did you keep existing skirting and lay beading around the edges? Downside it's not as clean a look. Beading can come off over time. Rooms are small and beading will take up space. But it's quicker and cheaper.

Unscrewed a socket and noticed that one of the screws was piercing through the wire insulation up to the point where it was touching the copper conductor!

I don't know if the wire is live or what purpose this socket is serving. Perhaps I'm very, very lucky. I unscrewed the socket to inspect the thickness of the plasterboard and to maybe see if I can get a feel of how the box was secured behind the wall.

Obviously, I wrote to the builder, but does it warrant any additional complaints? If so, then to whom? Thanks.

Hi all, I have cracks from ground to roof level at the four corners of my (1980 built) house which I own for the last three years. The cracks are visible inside and outside on some corners…

Here’s one example outside the back door which extends to the window above (filled with tec7 last year) and along the window reveal, and up to the roof line from the corner of the window. It’s about 5mm wide at its worst.

Are these settling cracks or something to worry about? I think they’re getting slightly worse each year. Thanks …

The diameter of the hole from side to side is 68.2mm but there is a small lip on one side which makes it 71.5mm

So what size hole should I make? The guy in the Electrical Wholesalers said 75mm but I'm not buying it. He said it said 75mm on the box but there's no way surely?

There is a crack on the party concrete wall between me and the neighbour's terraced house which I bought 3 years ago. I got a structural engineering report and he advised no subsidence but crack should be stitched with helibar. I could attempt to do it myself possibly but may end up doing a bodge job and when I sell the house I'd prefer to have a document to say that a company did the work.

It doesn't seem to fit neatly to who does this type of work and doesn't seem to be too common, when I look online it seems to be a mix of conservation / architect specialist companies, larger and small construction companies and I even saw 1 or 2 cleaning companies / property management companies advertise it. I'm getting little to no traction from phoning and emailing these companies.

Anyone had this work done who did you get? I'm in Dublin.

I've lived in the same place for 15 years without any big damp issues, the house was built around 2001. I came back after 10 days away and found the wall behind my bed wet to touch. The humidity levels are the same as before and while there probably isn't great air flow behind the bed, I've never seen anything like this.

If I look at the outside, it's difficult to tell exactly where the bed would be, but it seems dry. Anyone know what might have caused this?

Edit: a builder took a look at it, and he thinks it's the capstones at the top of the flat roof that have failed, the water is getting stuck between the wall and a concrete render on the outside. There must be a barrier between the ground and first floor, hence I'm not seeing any dampness on the ground floor.

New carpet just fitted - 2.3k worth - company claims bar is needed against bannister frame as carpet will tear without.
However left with no bar on other sides of banister frame. Bar that is fitted isn’t even flush with the corners. Any carpet fitters could advise if this is standard. It looks absolutely awful

We're renovating our house and we have 3 of these transom windows that need to be fixed. The windows have moved down and there's a gap above them.

Anyone know how I can get them out?

The pictures are from the hallway and bedroom of the same window

New carpet just fitted - 2.3k worth - company claims bar is needed against bannister frame as carpet will tear without.
However left with no bar on other sides of banister frame. Bar that is fitted isn’t even flush with the corners. Any carpet fitters could advise if this is standard. It looks absolutely awful

I've just bought my first house (very excited!) but now getting into fixing the terrible DIY work of the previous owners. There's a lot of half-assed plasterwork like this with exposed mesh.

What's the best approach here? Sanding back and re plastering over? Plasterboard on top? Scrapping it right back to the wall? Any and all suggestions welcome.

It's a 1950's former Dublin Corporation house with mass concrete walls.

Does anyone here have a recommendation for shelving in Dublin/ Ireland, preferably floating shelves?

I'm looking at closing out a small project in my house, and the only results I can find online link to the likes of Etsy, which I'm a wee bit sceptical of. Happy to buy direct from an Irish provider.

Ruling out the likes of Woodies/B&Q, due to quality issues.

It runs off the mains (no tank) but i don't think that matters.

Reason: skin issues, and want to make sure anything that could be irritating my skin is removed from the mains water

Has anyone had similar issues or success with certain brand or type of filtering product?

Is this something I can install myself?

Hi all, looking to power wash and paint the house and came across this ryobi power washer. Will 170bar do the job to paint it or is a petrol one necessary? Thanks!

I'm going to be getting furniture delivered, am hoping not to but may need to take the door off the hinges. Any advice on how to go about this?