Hi, I'm looking for a bit of advice. Our current render is badly cracked in numerous places and boss in some but mostly sound. Our house was built in 1960 and has a cavity that has been insulated with the polystyrene ball type of insulation. There seems to be some water ingress particularly round the windows near where the cracks in the roughcast are. I've had a few quotes. 2 suggested either rendering or roughcasting over the top of existing roughcast and one suggested complete removal... Render or Roughcast ..read more

Hi need to get a gully replaced where rainwater downpipe goes to. When I look online they all look like cheap plastic ones and also they the grates all seem flush flat. The traditional ones are sort of recessed, so water stays in there. Can anyone direct me to some that are decent quality and which are shaped with the grate lower down than the edges. Lastly, want it to have trap for smells. Thanks ..read more

Hi I'm looking for some advice I was building a base for a hot tub out of concrete but as I dug down I came across water pipes they are about 80cm down and the base was only going to be 30cm but I presume it's not a good idea to concrete over them. Would it be ok to put 3/4 of the hot tub on the concrete base that I have level the area off put decking down to the area I was going to add concrete to and place the rest of the hot tub on decking Thank you for your advice ..read more

Hi What does everyone think does this come under permitted development? Need to build the corner of a house up to support over hang of first floor. See pic attached. This most likely was an old doorway. The only thing I think there could be a problem with its close to the road. Cheers ..read more

Hi there, not much to add beyond the question in the thread title other than context currently building out the stud framework for a new understairs WC (toilet and basin only). Tight for space on the width and trying to claw back every cm I can. We are planning tongue and groove panelling all the way around about a metre high and then the top half of the room a paintable skimcoat. question is if the wood panelling NEEDS plasterboard underneath it or can it be placed directly... wood panelling (T&G) plasteboard/drywall behind it yes or no ..read more

Background: 25 years ago Rydon Homes redeveloped a delapidated Georgian manor-house into five independent properties and built five new mews cottages onto the end. I bought one of the new-builds 18 years ago, the one that abuts the end of the five Georgian properties. Rumour has it that towards the end of the redevelopment Rydons’ profit-margin was disappearing because they hadn’t reckoned on the grand stone staircase of the central old property almost falling down. So then they brought in... Remove redundant timber beam in loft ..read more

We have a rear extension constructed about 20 years ago. On one side, wall is completely exposed whereas the opposite side is partially exposed - there is the neighbor's rear extension sharing most of the wall apart from about a meter of it being exposed. The walls were constructed using thermalite blocks rendered and finished in pebbledash. The upper parts of the walls near the front corners show signs of rainwater ingress. The coping on top of the walls are single concrete with drip... Rainwater ingress ..read more

Greetings everyone, I have a basement flat of a terraced property with sizeable crack on internal wall (please see pictures). Looks like whatever behind had pushed the plaster out. Does this look fixable and no great problem or does it look like a structural issue with the building? Any help would be most appreciated ..read more

Hello, 2 weeks ago I laid a sand and cement screed at 75mm thick. On the whole it is okay however there is one corner section where the screed is noticeably higher by 15mm. is there a way I was grind/sand this down without having to take up the whole floor! Any advice would be much appreciated ..read more

Hi all, I'm having a log burner fitted, paying a local company to supply + fit, they're also cutting/laying hearth. I need to open it up, which involves fitting a lintel. The width + height of the opening is to their requirements for the stove I've picked, it seems like a large opening compared to most I see that are finished, but I'm not that bothered. Just wanted to check on here before I crack on to make sure what I'm doing is ok, I ran it by the fireplace fitters, but always worth a... Reopening Old Fireplace ..read more