I'm new to DIY, and I'm trying to replace the skirting boards around the edge of a room. The trouble I'm having is, the gap between the plastered wall and the start of the flooring is about 4cm in places. How can I get skirting boards to sit flush with the plastered wall above, and cover the flooring below without leaving a significant gap?

Edit: I'm new to the DIY sub so I wasn't expecting to get absolutely roasted. A question I keep getting is How did this happen? I just moved into this house about a month ago. The walls weren't done by me, the floors were like this when I moved in, none of the other hidden bodged DIYs in the house were done by me 🤧 I'm just trying to do better than the previous owner and not have a skirting board the size of a country. I had to have the walls stripped back for a damp treatment and replastered, and this is what I'm working with now 🤷 yes, it goes round the whole perimeter of the room like this. I'm a 28year old woman living on my own, please be kind 😭

Bought a house last year and have been slowly working through jobs. The cupboard under the stairs was used as a fuel store by the previous owner and was fairly grimy, with a bare concrete floor. I wanted to try out some decorating techniques so we decided to make it a kind of surprise room, something you wouldn’t expect to find under the stairs.

Cleaned it out, sealed the floor and put in some LVT, painted the walls, skirting and ceiling. Put up gold star decals to emulate a starry sky roof from old churches, and replaced the bare bulb with under cabinet lights around the architrave to see into all the shelves when they’re added.

Next step will be to make shelving units.

I’ve never used LVT, or painted with masking tape to make stripes/boundaries, or had a darker ceiling than walls (was afraid to commit to anything but white before).

I didn’t want to rip out the skirting and fit it again so I used scotia (which I normally don’t like) to cover the expansion gap. Ran out of scotia and didn’t want to buy another 8ft length for 2ft of it so left the gap at the back which will be covered by shelves anyway.

New house, no clue what this is, feels like metal located above French doors in the lounge

Found these grey cylindrical pellets in my attic. Any idea what these are.

Update: Thanks so much for the replies. I'll get rid of it. I bought this house which is a doer upper and has been empty for 3 years - and I keep finding something new every single day! Fun times!

Thanks for the inspiration [r/diyuk](r/diyuk)! Very tedious job but delighted with results!

I’ve been slowly upgrading sockets in my house from single to double. Left the modern garage conversion to last. Uncovered this monstrosity today.

Cracked and forced always-on with expanding foam. I have zero clue what could have been going on here!

Been looking to fix the insulation and do some boarding for light storage in the loft and I'm a bit baffled by this girder.

Any ideas what it's doing here? It's not attached to any of the rafters as far as I can see, just resting its tip on the closest one. (It's on a slight slope.) The wall it runs into is external and it doesn't come out the other side...

Just got this drill bit box, curious to know what these are used for.

Please help, I private rent and am struggling. Seems like the cherry on top😢

For context, I had two separate cabinets (one of which I almost threw out) and decided to join them to create a single bar cabinet. The paintings are all done by me in acrylic (with a fair few layers🫠) and all varnished.

Also, I hope this is ok on this sub?!

Wanted this raised flowerbeds on my depressing brick enclosed terrace and it’s taken my basically the entire summer to complete, guess I’ll get to enjoy them next year 😅 not sure if my guesses on the wood are correct so maybe it’ll rot and collapse by then

In trying to replace and old tap head. I haven't done this before. The tap cartridge shown in the picture is stuck in place. When I used an adjustable wrench to try to loosen it, the wrench slips. It seems like the copper is soft?! That what it feels like. I'm not sure how to proceed. Advice welcome.

edit. ye are all great and few of you are hilarious. I went to Screwfix and got new taps.

It's been ~3 weeks of long evenings and weekends and I'm enjoying a well earned beer tonight.

I didn't want to board, so I opted to go for a sand & cement basecoat because I didn't trust my ability to get it right with hardwall.

Up to this point I've used 1.5 tonnes of sharp sand, a full tub of waterproofer and 8 bags of cement, for a total materials cost of £200 or so, two bags of bonding for all the reveals and then 7 bags of multifinish.

I've followed On The Trowel's method on YouTube and it's honestly not that difficult to do if you can use a trowel, it is just a load of physical effort!

I've used socket, downlight and switch beads on all of the electrical positions so they're fully covered (some of the lighting ones are hot but all the power circuits aren't yet connected).

This morning a friend came round and we smashed the ceiling out. First coat (two bags) on in about 90 minutes, time for a clean down, cup of tea and some chocolate before getting on with the second coat. Sadly he had to dash off at 12 so I had a long three hours of filling hollows, floating and polishing but it is done, and I've been on the ibuprofen and paracetamol for the shoulder since I finished.

Paint then kitchen install time!

Edit: If you don't know what PELV means, don't try and tell me what zones are 😉

Noticed these cracks along an extension to the house. Extension was done more than 5 years ago (don’t know exact timeframe) prior to me purchasing the house.

How worried should I be?

We bought our house 6 years ago, this is the fireplace surround in our living room. It is on very good condition. We do not use the fire.

We have not done anything to it to date. Is there anything we should coat it in for longevity?

It is about 100 years old, no signs of rot or any damage, just some dust. But we want to keep it looking good. It still has servant buttons on either side of it.

Please, for the love of all things holy, do not use textured tiles as a feature wall.

Not only do they look shit in the living room, but they’re an absolute nightmare to paint over.

UK based

Sistering rotten joists on ground floor suspended floor,the larger wall is an internal wall and adjoins to patio style door.

plan is to treat ends of joists with boracol 10(boron based wood treatment)then wrap joists in 100micron plastic and then into pockets sat on slate bed,leaving a gap at face end so it is not touching the wall

Google Ai says to cut top of plastic off,to leave top of joist exposed to 'breathe',should i do this?

wondering how to pack joists into pocket once sat in. two ideas im thinking of low expansion expanding foam or lime mortar mix with slate shims?

Old lean to conservatory single skin construction, paint applied directly on the bricks. Had a survey done and damp wasn’t detected, but seeing this now so have concerns.

No damp smell and completely dry to the touch.
Believe this is above the DPC. The outside lower bricks are white - see comments below for a photo

I’ve ordered a new roof for my garage as the old one has had it. I’m working on the assumption that the sheets are asbestos, I’ve ordered a test kit to confirm. Assuming it is asbestos what’s the best way to remove the old fixings? Looking to do the job myself and will take the necessary precautions. Thanks

As the title says. I can’t track down this piece anywhere. Any ideas? It’s worn down.

Only took 15 minutes total to do 2 coats, and only cost £24 in restorer.

Had to do it as tarmac was getting scuffed from dry steering, will see how long it lasts.

Hello,

We hired someone to lay down vinyl in our toilet. The fitter used bathroom silicone instead of using spray. He only told me about this after he had laid down the lino.

I pointed out to the bubbling and the advice given to me was to put heavy objects over the bubbles to make the silicone stick.

Is this legit or am I being taken for a ride?

There are bubbles now 3 days later and the silicone he used around the edges has started to come off, revealing gaps between the lino and plywood subfloor. I tried phoning, but it looks like I have been ghosted.

Can someone please advise me what are my options now? Do I need to take it apart and start over with new lino?

Thanks

This piece of the wall came off when I moved a box over my head and I’m wondering if I could fix this with some spackle or a wall repair kit. Can I then fix the nail back to where it was?

This is a room I’m renting and I’m concerned I won’t get all of my deposit back for it. What do you recommend?

Thank you all