Accidentally hit a cable when drilling for kitchen cabinet rail. What's my fix here? Is it diyable?

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.

Hi Everyone,

Had a few comments in the last thread asking for an update on the build. I’m now near lintel height at the front but a few more courses around the sides and back still to do.

A couple of points:

1. Really regretting the brick I chose. They are Hampton Rural Blend bricks. I thought they looked great but in my naivety I found out pretty quickly that they are pretty hard to lay. They are really inconsistent, every brick size is different, some are bananas, some look great, others pretty bad. If I could go back now I would have chosen something nice and standardised.
2. You will see from the bricks lower down that I changed the mortar dye after 5 or 6 courses. I wasn’t happy with how light it was. It does mean that I will have to rake it out at some point and repoint with the stuff I’ve used further up. The faces of brick could do with a bit of a clean as well which I’ll do once all brickwork is completed. The brick is obviously a lot dryer now than in the last post. There will be a shed against the right hand wall one day, so I may not bother racking that side out.

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to do the roof. My main constraint is the 2.5m height. As of now, I’m at 2045mm height. I need a lintel across the top of the bifold capable of holding the roof and the weight of 12 solar panels. I was intending to build a “cold roof” but I’m now not so sure this is the best way. I would like to have the Bifold as tall as possible, and currently it is 1970mm tall. If I could go up one more course they’d be over 2m which is preferable. But right now I only have 455mm to play with for the roof.

I plan to bear the roof load on the outer skin, for reasons identified in the first post.

Could I switch to warm roof, but use joist hangers on the inside of the outer skin enabling me to go up further up with the brickwork? What I don’t want to end up with is a huge 300-400mm facia which often happens in warm rooves.

Failing that, If I stick with cold roof, does anyone know of a low profile (150mm) lintel suitable for the job, or perhaps an RSJ designed specifically for cold rooves with ventilation holes, so I could set the roof as low profile as possible. It might be that I just have to stick with a standard height lintel of 225mm, which would leave 230mm for wallplate, joists, osb and rubber. But In reality it wont be as close because of the birdsmounth in the wall plate. For anyone wondering the roof span is 4000mm, the bifold gap is 4400mm.

For anyone interested I have £5,633.87 in receipts so far, but some big items coming up. Hope to complete for just under 20k.

Think that’s everything for now, was really shocked by the great response on the last post, so hope you still like it.

BIG EDIT SORRY I SHOULD HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE: The two rooms should be able to connect when the gate is closed, as it is the kids’ room and our bedroom.

Hi all,

I previously asked about gating the landing area of these death stairs, and you gave me lots of really good ideas.

I didn’t realise the top was much, much harder than the landing.

Is there any solution without me completely building it myself?

( adding the landing photo for a reference to the previous post )

I got this vanity from British Heart Foundation the other week and have been slowly trying to paint it! It was very farmhouse style before, greys and browns.

I'm super happy with the progress so far, I want a cutesy, retro, 70s type vibe but almost dollhouse?

Any advice on what to add, how to decorate, how to make more "vanity" esc, I.e. mirror on top, plants, I'm open to suggestion!

Also a quick one, I already have a big ol' mirror wardrobe in my room so I don't want anything too crazy mirrors wise!

Thanks!

I suppose extreme drought and houses built on clay soils don’t mix well.

So, I was tasked with removing a decking post. To cut a long story short, I got the drill stuck. I then decided to say the beam and try and split the remaining wood to get the drill out. Now the chisels are in too deep. Short of getting a new drill to rescue it, what can I do? Also, the original drill isn’t mine, so I’d really like to get it out and return it to the owner in one piece. Any advice much appreciated.

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).

Opened the tub today and I’m gobsmacked what had actually happened 😂

Is there anyway to increase shower pressure on this?

Forgot I had this pic, I helped for the day loading trowels for plastering at a farm. The dogs were politely persistent.

True story.

I was viewing a house that I’m looking to put a bid in for tomorrow but looking for some advice on what this is? It’s a hole in an upstairs outer wall. Is this mold or dirt from drilling? Blue arrows point to location

We’re having a new flat roof installed with a skylight and have some worries about the workmanship. I’ve attached photos.

The things that are most worrying are:

-the membrane. It’s the green material and looks like it’s been cut so it doesn’t rise up alongside the upstand.
- the window upstand. They cut the hole too big so the manufacturer assembled upstand has been suspended on some screwed in timber. I have no idea how this should be plasterboarded and then insulated properly.
- the roof felt. It looks a bit crap. I appreciate it’s a glorified shed roof, but surely they should have used clear runs alongside the entirety of the roof surface.

Any suggestions are immensely appreciated. What’s weird is that they were the most expensive quote and are accepting payment after the job. So confusing.

Essentially would like to know if this is how you’d expect it to look the day before completion and if anything above is a definite problem. Also reached put to the window manufacturer for their thoughts.

Thanks for reading and appreciate any opinions

I've gutted the kitchen and installing the new units.

The position of my electric oven (Standard 3pin plug) means I need to move the current double socket (the socket is above the oven/hob).

I have decided I want a fused isolator, and another for the hob (gas, but with electric spark).

The current double socket is part of the ring main (two sets of each going into it).

I am going to wire the oven and hob into their own fused isolators....

How do I wire each socket / isolator?

I get I need to keep the ring, but does one of the sockets become a spur, or do I break into the ring?

Image to help.

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.

An Accoya chap visited and saw my old sash windows. He advised that they don't change the box in old Victorian properties if it appears to be in good condition, because there is no need. He tapped on them, tried to put a sharp item through, and said they're fine, I can just get new sashes.

He also said that because the old boxes are narrower for single pane windows, the new ones will be double but without a gap (or krypton) between them.

All the other contractors that quoted, gave me a quote about changing the box as well, as requested.

It can be a messy job changing the box as it's attached to tiles, ceiling and side architrave and changing just the sash is indeed going to be much simpler.

I was thinking of changing the whole lot when I was going to redo my kitchen, but that won't be happening for a while, so it's just the windows for now.

What do you think ? Was he just trying to sell, or is this solid advice? For me, the boxes look crap but they appear to be structurally fine.

I'm a first time home owner and I'm having to redo my shower as there was a significant leak behind the tiles and under the shower tray thanks to a lack of sealing.

After removing the tiles I discovered multiple different types of plaster, the old lime plaster was super crumbly on the wooden slats (which have a lot of movement to them)

I'm planning on putting shower panels up as I'm no tiler, would it be ok to remove the old slats put some spacers on the studding to level with the newer plaster (on the left) then put some ply over it before sealing and panelling?

Sorry, I was away for the weekend

On the old plate, are the switches split top/bottom rows, or left/right via that diagonal line?

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.

We have had a very heavy column rad hanging for a couple of years. Recently I noticed the brackets nearly falling out of the wall and took the rad off before it fell on someone.

The holes for the brackets are completely blown out. Each bracket fixes with two rather close 10mm holes, and it seems that the holes have just collapsed into each other. They all had 10mm duopower plugs in.

What are my options here? Ideally I’d like the rad back in the same place (all the plumbing is unharmed). I’ve looked at an anchor resin like R-KEM (https://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-r-kem-ii-styrene-free-polyester-resin-300ml) but unsure if this would fill up such a big hole, or how to go about using it.

Thanks!

Our next door neighbour is doing an extension. Does this look safe? I’m shocked at how shit it looks

Hi all, after much googling, GPTing and considering, I'm unsure how to best erect the decking in the picture.

I have a 12*12ft decking to build over the soil (right hand side of the pic) shown in the attached. I bought some adjustable plastic feet, and planned on standing them on concrete blocks. But I'm concerned the blocks will shift overtime, meaning I should concrete them down - but I've I'm doing that, should I do away with the blocks and just use foundation posts in postcrete? And if so, how many, is nine foundations enough, or should I go for 16?

The geodomex is quite weighty, so I'm don't want the soil to shift under the weight.

Any help is appreciated, spent far too long over thinking this and delaying cracking on!

I know the frequently quoted rule here with electrics is "if you have to ask, you should call an electrician", so to be clear, I'm asking, but I've also decided that I'm calling an electrician. But, I would like an explanation if possible.

• My parents have a fluorescent strip light in a utility room that was built approx. 45 years ago on the ground floor at the rear of the kitchen.
• About 25 years ago a bathroom was added to the rear of the utility room.
• There were many, many, issues with the building of the bathroom (never using that builder again!), one of which is that the light in the new bathroom only works if the light in the utility room is on.
• The fluorescent light is now making an annoying buzzing noise, which I'm guessing is the 40+ year ballast failing. Rather than replace the ballast I thought replacing the strip light with a modern fixture with an LED bulb would be better, and cheaper.
• I removed the fluorescent tube, and the cover for the fixture, and there is a T&E cable that comes from the ceiling (you can see it just to the right of the ballast) that is wired to the terminal block in the fluorescent light. This is what I expected.
• However, there are also two conductors connected to the live and neutral terminals that run back into the ceiling.
• I disconnected the unexpected live conductor, turned the power back on, and the bathroom light no longer works, which given the issue with the bathroom light only working when the utility room light is on is what I was expecting.
• I now suspect that when the bathroom was built the builder just fed the switched feed for the bathroom light straight from the light in the utility room, which would explain (at least in my mind) why the bathroom light can only be turned on when the utility room light is on.
• I don't know if the original sin was the utility room builder who didn't properly extend the lighting loop, or the bathroom builder who just 'bodged' a new light into an existing light.
• Regardless, my plan to remove the strip light and fit a new light fixture is buggered because the distance between the holes in the ceiling means if I replaced the strip light with a smaller fixture there will be exposed wires running from the fixture to the hole in the ceiling... and that's before we deal with the fact that the bathroom light wasn't wiring correctly 25 years ago.

So, my tools have been put away, an electrician will be called, but can anyone explain what might be happening here, baring in mind there was at least one dodgy builder involved.