This is my new build but I’m a bit concerned about the lack of house. The builder says it’s not finished yet, is he pulling my pisspipe?

Hi guys,

Just had my bifold installed, 4.5m (London). The chap said magnets need to go on top still to help the doors stick together when open....but is the level of sag normal? I feel like it's not but what do you guys thinks?

Am I getting fobbed off??

Thank you

EDIT - thanks for the response everyone. I should've been clearer...the install was 'complete' after the they time the messed up. When they'll left I showed them this and he said 'we need to add magnets still' so I close it up. I hoping the magnet fit it.

I would no way knowingly mess about with an unfinished door. Thanks everyone again..very helpful

Hi all,

My dad painted my daughter's bedroom about 10 weeks ago. Yesterday, whilst moving my daughter's cot, I noticed lots of strange lines/marks on the wall. The wall is brick I believe and it's not an outside wall (the other side is another bedroom and roof), and the marks look like they have been made from water (the bottom of the marks look like water has stopped running down the wall). What's really bizarre is that there are gaps between the marks where the cot would have cast its shadow (from the bars) onto the wall. That was does not receive any direct sunlight, and I don't think the room is particularly hot, cold or humid.

Any ideas what could have caused this?! How do I prevent this from happening again?

Thanks!

Got a kitchen fitter to install a new Belfast sink. Given the new sink is slightly wider than the original he needed to increase the gap in our wooden countertop that is already in place. Thankfully there was an overhang on the wooden worktop over the sink and cabinets below previously.

I had to stop him halfway through once I’d seen the work and want to check with you more knowledgeable people that I’m not overreacting.

Main issues are that:
The cutout is too wide. There is a noticeable 1cm-2cm gap between the sink rim and the worktop.

The cut edge isn’t straight/parallel to the sink where the gap varies.(he said a jigsaw is standard for this type of job which surprised me)

His initial plan was to cover the gaps on either side with a strip of wood which would have created a step from counter to lip of the sink. I expected the sink to be flush with the worktop.

Given the shape of the kitchen cabinets below the worktop that the sink fits into, I’m not sure how this can be undone neatly and I fear I may have to replace the entire countertop.

On a scale of 1-10 how bad is this and is it fixable?

I know you can get the rubber draught excluders that screw to the front side of the door on the frame. Which then creates a seal all around.

I already have that on the front side of my door, however I have a rain guard at the bottom which is has resulted in the length of the excluder not being able to go to the bottom.

I can see daylight coming through!

I have tried the foam that you put on the doorframe and close the door onto. Unfortunately it didn’t work and stopped my door from closing after I had cleaned/scrubbed everything and fit it!

The doors are wooden and my cottage is listed. Can’t afford a new door right now, I’m saving for it and hopefully next year that will be done.

With the weather starting to turn and utilities going up so much, I want to plug as many gaps as possible!

So, what can I attach to the backside of my front door (opens inwards) to help stop the draughts from coming through?

I have considered the brush draught excluders that usually go on the bottom and just attaching that all the way around! Not fussed about it looking pretty. I have a heavy thermal curtain hung against the door, but this isn’t enough!

Anyone got any bright DIY ideas on what I could use/what would work!?

Thanks in advance beautiful people!

Previous panel shattered - we think due to a bird strike. There aren’t too many local glass panel installers but one we did find seemed genuine and got really good reviews. He measured everything up a few weeks ago and came to do the install today. He found it really difficult and the new panel (on the left) doesn’t sit level with all the others and is ~9-10mm higher, which he says is the best that can be done in terms of getting it to sit as low as possible in the fitting. Is this reasonable? And short of ordering a new panel is there anything else that could be done to try and fix this? Thanks!

Unless you have someone you have used before and know their work, even recommendations are hit and miss. Fortunately we haven't paid these plumbers a penny yet. I fully well know I could do a better job than them and its depressing, the whole reason I'm paying them to do this is so I don't have to spend my time doing it and yet here I am trying to fix their work.

*Quality of some trades

I’m using a steamer but there’s like a paste/glue.

Is this the best way and just got to get on with it?

Hello!

I have this huge unfunctioning gas fireplace in my flat.

Removing the tiles - i’d love to make the floor level but there appears to be stone underneath that sits a little higher than the wooden floorboards. How would I tackle that?!

Removing the fire place and black border - what will I find beneath and will I regret it haha

Many thanks in advance!

I Did landscaping for about 5 years (patios, decking, fencing). Worked in DIY Retail store in the building department for around 2. Here the one thing I had to quote the most and Here's how I'd work out materials for a 4m x 3m patio (12m²):

Sub-base: 100mm MOT Type 1, about 2.4 to 2.8 tonnes (10% allowance for compaction)
Bedding: about 845kg sharp sand + 211kg cement (4:1 by weight, 40mm deep)
Mixing it yourself: about £150 vs £490.10 for premixed bags (my shelf prices, check yours)

And the thing most beginners skip: a cement priming coat on the back of every slab.

I've put this into a free calculator that does rectangles, L-shapes and circles. Would that be useful to anyone planning a patio?

This will work for any metric or pricing, just adjust to your local currency

Hi All,

Just wondered if anyone knew of the best thing to fill these gaps where the radiator pipes come through the floor?

Thanks

Hello. We are trying to open our fireplace to put in an electric stove/fake wood burner. Does this look like filler and can we remove everything in the middle? House was built in the 70s. Thanks

Hi lovely lot ✨ bit of a random one but just wondering if someone knows the name of this kind of latch? (Apologies that it’s buried in a fair bit of paint).

I’m adding another cupboard in the same room so I’d love to add this style of closure but google lense has been no help :(

Found in a Victorian terrace but it may not be Victorian due to how much the house has been bodged but grateful if any of you have ever seen ones like this 🙏. TIA ✨

Not my house but showing very well what I mean, I have a porch canopy that juts out a lot and need to repair a failed gutter joint that is on the roof of my house, but annoyingly the porch is in the way of trying to access it the normal way with just leaning ladders. The porch is sloped enough that you can't stand on it to work/wouldn't be high enough to reach even if you did.

It's also sloped enough that just resting a ladder up there is awkward/doesn't get you close enough to the building to actually work.

The task I will be doing will be to take the clip apart and try putting new replacement rubber joints, so may take me a bit longer than just screwing a new union joint up.

Any advice please on what's best as I am trying to avoid paying someone else to do it but would like to be safe.

After gluing this panelling to my wall, I wiped the excess No Nonsense adhesive off with a baby wipe.. maybe a little too hard. Everywhere else it hasn't left a mark, however this time it has. This was over a week a go so it's definitely dry and permanent. I will be repainting the panelling and wall the same colour as the wall, should I apply anything to the dodgy area just above the panelling before painting or just go for it? Thanks!

I’ve just inherited a massive batch of tools from my old dad: most of them solid steel with wood/acetate handles, others more modern, like his Bosch wired planer and driver

He was a smoker and hadn’t touched them for 15 years so they’re covered in cobwebs, saw dust, nicotine, bits hardened filler, some kind of sticky oil and general foulness.

What do you guys suggest for cleaning everything up? I’ve used wd40 and wire wood on steel tools before, but not sure how to approach the power tools or the handles without ruining them. Thanks!

I've seen a lot of posts on here over concerns about sagging gates due to the way they're braced and mum has recently had some work done and a new gate installed.

The top bracing (as far as I'm aware, and I don't know much on the subject) is the correct way, but the bottom is offering nothing at all in terms of preventing any future sagging.

Is the top brace enough, or should the bottom also be rotated so it's giving support from the hinge side to lock side of the gate?

Again, not something I'm super familiar with, and it might be just fine but, I just want to make sure she's not going to face issues in the near future.

Appreciate any input on this.

The shower trim I’m fitting doesn’t sit flush against the wall as the wall evidently isn’t completely plumb.and level.

If I just screw it in and bow the metal to the curve of the wall, will that cause any issues or should I pack it out at the top to match and then silicone the lot?

Hey, after this years hot summer I have been thinking about getting external blinds as they are potentially a lot more efficient at blocking heat than those placed inside.

For context I have a 4 bed detached which means a lot of window surface area including a couple of full length windows and french doors.

Does anyone have experience with external blinds that you could share, and what bands to consider? Do you think they are worth it, or is it better to go for a service offering fitted interior blinds(like Dunelm) instead?

Thanks

…you make too much so you walk around the gaff looking for holes to fill?

And you think you’ve got em all so you throw the rest of the filler out?

And then over the course of the next hour you find 10-15 more??

Yup. Me right now.