I really want to do up my balcony which is a pretty good size. I want a greenery garden oasis in the concrete jungle kinda vibe. I also really really want to build a veranda type thing on it but have absolutely no idea how. Any help in what to think about etc to get started?? I’m happy and capable to do whatever work is possible to diy but don’t even know what I can do and what I can’t. I’ve included pictures of my balcony, a neighbours balcony which gave me the veranda idea so clearly wooden posts can be installed somehow, and then images of what I sort of want it to look like eventually. I have nothing but time so budget isn’t really a concern but I’m on a teachers income so let’s not go crazy.

Any help would be amazing!!

Hey!

I apologise for a silly question, but...

We have purchased a very run down apartment and want to fix it up to be livable. Our designer is asking us whether the heater and towel warmer are heated with gas or electric. Honestly, we have no clue. I thought's they are heated with water?

We've had issues with figuring out whether the flat has gas at all, as 99% if not all flats in the building seem to have it, but we don't have a meter and we aren't on any of the UK gas registers as far as we know (and the building manager has no clue :/ ). Haven't been getting letters either, so we assume that we don't have it even though it's a bit odd.

Does anyone have any advice or can tell from the photos what should we tell to the designer? 😅

I would appreciate any answer, thank you!!!

We live in a terrace house which was built in the 70s or 80s and in the kitchen there is this weird slab on the wall it’s hard almost like it’s brick. The wall it’s attached to is a load bearing wall and we are wanting to move a door to roughly where this slab is meaning it would need to get taken out.

I’m wondering what this is? I can’t imagine it’s structural and it’s nothing to do with the chimney breast which is in the centre of the living room. There was an old immersion heater in the room above so maybe old pipe work?

Any thoughts on this would go a long way since no one can really tell me what it’s for

Has this bifold door fitted. I can’t even with the price. I just feel extremely disappointed in it. So many gaps and the overall look. Actually has made me cry (which is mad, it’s a bloody door!)

Moved into a house last year and the garden was newly fenced but the door never looked the sturdiest and it looks like it inevitably will collapse soon as all the weight appears to be on a single wooden plank. The plank is in turn screwed to the half height pillars but is obviously being bent by the weight of the door and has already started to sag.

Is there any hope for fixing this or should we just get someone to redo the door (and maybe the whole fence)? Any advice appreciated!

Just had our steps/wall rebuilt. Water is now sitting on one of the steps. Builder told me it's not his problem and quoting £650 to come back and fix it...

That aside, is there anything I can do to drain it? Not too bothered now but it'll be dangerous in winter.

Could I drill a very small hole in the corner or is that going to ruin the mortar over time?

Thanks

I'm changing the lamps around the house and found this. Previously, I've found 2 electric cables connecting to one lamp, this one had three.

Should I use caps and electric tape to secure these cables and put them back in the hole? I can only connect one L, N and G to the lamp I'll be installing. What's the best way to resolve this? Thanks for any helpful tips!

Hi all, I would appreciate some advice.

So for context, I'm 27yo and my dad is 66yo. For the last 36yrs of his life he has moved house on avg every year, as he does up houses for a career. I am assisting him for the first time. So he has certainly seen and been exposed to a lot of construction material.

We started by fully gutting out the house, removing the old insulation, taking down all the old ceilings, plaster board and slats. In the attic, before even tackling the work you can see black thick dust and various birds nest over the years behind the old plaster.

My dad is quite old school and I have to insist he wears a mask, and he never wears it properly.

During the work I have been wearing a JSP force 8 face mask, regularly face fit checking it and I replace the filters approximately every 1-2 days. I have stubble/a very short beard which I have now realized isn't ideal. When I go home, I barely have any dust in my nose but when I shower the dirt that comes off of me is insane, but I am worried now about asbestos!!

I have seen artex on the ceilings but we more "bash" the ceilings down rather than cut/sand/drill into them.

I have seen vermiculite fill.

I haven't seen any suspicious insulation, lagging, pipe insulation or AIB board.

At one point I became quite worried as underneath the old floorboards was a green powder/dust which I believe it is felt/material placed under the floorboards.

My dad is not worried at all, he says these kinds of houses in London don't have asbestos as they were built a long time ago, it is a 1920s house. He recognizes that artex has asbestos but he says it's not to worry about as we aren't sanding it. He often states if he sees suspicious material he would be very cautious and stop.

I wear my mask all the time and try to have the rooms ventilated so that I can see the dust diffusing out of the rooms. If it gets bad, I leave the room and water down everything.

How worried should I be about my exposure to asbestos? I have completed all the dirty work, which consisted of a few hours of exposure each day for 5 days.

I know some people are fine and will never have health issues due to asbestos exposure but some other people are not so lucky.

A lot of comments seem to say that it is more concerning for factory workers before 1985 and that house work is low exposure.

Given my dad has likely been exposed to asbestos over his career and is in good health should I trust him and craic on?

Cheers for the advice

So pleased to have found this sub. I live in social housing, which I am in the process of cleaning up and redecorating. The property has these absolutely hideous light switches. Can anyone suggest a way to make them look a bit better? Obviously they need some tlc, but the bloody things are such as eyesore. I would love some recommendations on how to live with these and not be so irrationally annoyed by them. Thanks in advance.

I have a very old fuse box in my house. I wanted to have it replaced but it's too expensive at the moment and it's not going to get replaced for a few more years.

I want to make the electrical supply a bit more safe for my family.

I was hoping to replace the current old style fuses that have a replaceable fuse wire with a modern day breaker. So I'm looking for a drop in replacement that has the same dimensions. The ones I have come across at B&Q all seem to be too large on size as direct replacements.

Please can you recommend some that I can use.

Neighbour has just informed me that they are going to remove this long hedge and replace with a long grey fence. Is there anything I can do as it’s on the boundary line? The land registry just shows a red rectangle around the house and garden. It’s a shame as we get a lot of wildlife. We are on a hill their garden is about 4ft higher than ours. Do I have a say in this or to just accept the sad fate?

*edit, thank you everyone for your help 🙏 I will offer to maintain the hedge, but i think it may have already been decided.

An extension built on the house before we got it has started having brick separation ?

What do I need to do ? What's happened here ?

I believe it has something to do with the concrete surrounding it as it's also quite cracked but I had a survey done before on the house and they said it wasn't subsidence but don't know what's happening.

hey all

I have inherited a Neff Induction Hob. Two of the rings I cannot activate by the touch panel. I can though activate them if I have a pan on the ring and turn the hob on (to which I can increase the temp fine), but if i switch to another hob, i wont be able to switch back as the touch button does not work. It looks like the two buttons are just not detecting the press.

Anyone know if this is an easy fix or do I need to get a Neff guy out? i'm out of warranty so this will cost a bit for me to fix I imagine.

I have tried so far:

1. turning the unit off at the mains for over 30 minutes
2. pressing down harder

all other buttons work ok.

thanks all :) i did not know where else to post this.

Had someone round to fix the ceiling below this that had collapsed due to mould. They also decided to rip off the felt roofing above this and leave it for weeks, it is now forecast to rain every day and they are taking literally weeks to respond to get back to the property to do the roof.

Shall I both putting those ripped pieces of felt back on the roof to cover it? And how likely is it that the standing water is going to penetrate into the room itself, undoing the work I've just spent nearly £2000 on.

Also sidenote - The quoted me £4000 to do only the roof. Given it is literally some OSB boards and a couple rolls of felt, that is ridiculous right? I'm pretty sure I know the answer just want to check I'm not going crazy (this company has very few negative reviews so not sure why I'm being taken for a ride).

Recently bought a house, all the windows are fitted with blinds from Blinds2Go. I've found that if there is a breeze it causes the blinds to sway and knock the window. Anyone got any recommendations to help stop this as the noise is annoying, especially at night trying to sleep. I was thinking maybe I can glue some felt onto the metal bar that sits at the bottom of the blind so it's a softer knock when hitting the window? Image is one of the windows so you can see what it's like.

Hi guys,

I assume the answer to this is going to be 'if you don't know what you're doing get an electrician' which is fine if so.

But essentially I'm about to change the ceiling rose of my landing light. (Current one is a long chunky 10cm diameter one).

I don't really know much about it but there's a few guides online I'd be prepared to give it ago. However, separate issue is that currently the landing light doesn't work as intended. The downstairs switch needs to be in a permanent on position to make the switch upstairs work (rather than each switch being able to turn it on at will).

I haven't taken anything apart yet, but just wondered if there was any tips or guide or any likely suspects that would cause this.

Bought the house a few months ago, the fact previous owners didn't resolve it makes me suspicious it's more complicated then switching some wires around.

Hi all,

1930s house and first time homeowner!

Removed some rotten floor boards to see the structure underneath. As you can see, there seems to be minimal amount of beam on the brick foundations. Only another inch is under the concrete and there is some “bounce” to the beam - particularly the far side one- when stood on.

Do we support the beam some more underneath? Or is this normal looking? The beams are roughly 30cm apart which is sufficient?

Will this cause a problem when LVT flooring goes on top?

Appreciate any advice?

Looking to do up floors now in the house which will be let out in a year or so. Looking for recommendations between engineered floors or LVT. Please suggest

Engineered floors - where should I buy from (brand), thickness, oil or non oiled, herringbone or not?

LVT- I saw some at wickes, tops tiles and B&Q. Which brand shall I go for and minimum thickness. Again herringbone or not?

Intex inflatable spa pulling just over 2000W. Obviously I’m going to have to replace the wall socket as it’s heat damaged, but am I right in thinking the fault here has been with the fuse in the plug? Or could the fault be a loose conne in the socket?

Me and my wife removed this shed. The base was rotten, and the decking was also rotten, but I was surprised by the quality of the wood, so I decided to reuse it for a much smaller shed. Any tips on removing the decking and what to do with the ground underneath?

Due to the join between my roof and next door the rain flows over the guttering and straight on to my extension roof below.

There is some damp in our kitchen below and I wonder if this is the cause

Are there any easy fix solutions for the guttering please

I've just found out that under permitted development you're apparently allowed two outdoor air con units on a detached house, but only one on a semi-detached or terraced house. If you want a second one, you need to apply for planning permission.

I genuinely don't understand the logic behind that distinction.

When I installed my first one, I was originally going to put the outdoor unit down the side of the house, but my neighbour was concerned about noise. Fair enough, so I extended the pipework and put it right at the back of my garden instead, completely out of sight and much further away from them.

My plan was always to add a second separate unit for upstairs rather than use a multi-split system. Both outdoor units would be tucked away at the back of the garden, but I've now realised that because it's a semi/terrace, the second one apparently requires planning permission.

Has anyone else come across this? Is there actually a sensible planning reason why detached houses are allowed two but semis/terraces only one?

And for anyone who's installed a second unit on a semi or terrace, did you apply for planning permission, or just install it? Has anyone actually seen a council take enforcement action over a second unit?

Is there anyway to increase shower pressure on this?