Home DIY

It's usually not worth the time it would take to track one down for a professional plumber. Unless you've fitted a big brand, they will support the parts. It's one reason to spend £300+ on a Hans Grohe mixer tap.

Yeah, ceramic tap valves are a pain in the arse. My go-to is own brand taps from nationwide plumbing merchants as they will have the spares.

Problem is that they are generally designed for commercial use and don't look very 'trendy'.

I am after a recommendation for someone who is happy to take on the task of removing a built in cabinet and then modifying the pipework behind it to replace the existing stopcock.

A chap did come out to look at it, and we agreed he'd come to do it around now - but he's not responding to messages which leads me to believe that it's a bit more of a hassle than he wants to take on.

The rubbers in the valve were fine. Put some grease on the discs and it’s still got a slight drip but nowhere near as bad.

Always pleased when I’ve learned something new.

When I say grease, I mean Vaseline as I don’t wish to die or pay a fortune for non toxic silicone grease.

A while ago the old toaster seemed to be tripping the circuit so got a new one.
New one now does the same.
Also does it in a different socket on the same ring.
Seems intermittent, could be due to it overloading the circuit when lights or other appliances are also on?

If it's on a kitchen ring that would be quite a load for a toaster. It's not sitting in any water is it? Sometimes you see that with kettles getting water in the base. Also have you established if it's the breaker tripping for an overload or rcd tripping which would suggest some internal fault or water etc.

if it's the breaker tripping for an overload or rcd tripping

No idea. The electricity box is an utter mystery to me.

Potentially having a lot of internal work done around the whole house, including removal of walls and inserting of RSJs, completely new kitchen, new radiators around the house, new skirting-board in every room etc. Estimate was 3-4 weeks, which I think is fairly optimistic, but what do I know.

Builder asked if we'd be living there during the works, and seemed to suggest we'd be ok for most of it, but I'm wondering if it is better for everyone (me, wife, 3 year old) if we put as much stuff as we can into storage and go on holiday with relatives for some of it and stay in a local airbnb for the rest and just let them get on with it and not try and live through it.

If someone has done this and has any useful learnings, please do share.

How old is the RCD?

How much of a draw is the toaster?

I haven't done anything so extensive but my experience from similar stuff is that:

a) It's a bit grim living somewhere that is part building site. There's dust everywhere, various stuff isn't working, if you're home during the day it can be noisy, etc

b) Things can move quicker if there's less concern about someone living there. A room can be used as a bit of a workshop, the property doesn't need to be made habitable each day (e.g. you can leave the water turned off for a few days), etc

I'm not sure if you need to go as far as putting stuff into storage but not living there may make it a bit more pleasant. Although whether the cost of an Airbnb is worth it is probably something you need to consider yourself.

@J0nathan to add to this. If you do go on holiday, make sure you're still contactable by the contractors for any decisions that need to be made, odd things that come up etc. Nothing worse than returning to your spanking refurbished home to see a radiator in the wrong place or something because you weren't available to consult.

Yes, we'd just stay with family in or around London, so would be contactable.

I think the best course of action might be to see if they can front load with the dusty/ disruptive work for ten days or so while we stay with relatives then move back in and grin and bear it for the rest of it.

@aggi - I think the stuff that I def need to store is a few bikes! Can't see them fitting out of the way otherwise. Might see if there's a self storage locally for literally just my bikes I won't be using. Then get as much stuff as possible into storage tubs in one or two rooms and tape them up with plastic sheeting. Just thinking out loud here.

We lived in during an extensive downstairs remodel. Put basically everything downstairs in storage, builders did their best with the dust, but it was grim. Microwave meals eaten in bed for what felt like forever. Not really much fun and next time I'd go somewhere else (local) for the duration. I did a lot of wfh though (office oasis, good headphones on) and did enjoy being on site for the fussier details as I was sort of making it up as I went along. Builder appreciated the contact.

I have done boss level of this, well my partner more than me; heavily pregnant; whole house a building site etc. Do-able, painful and tbf not even worth it but houses are social currency and i am lower middle class.

Did similar amount of work but it dragged on a bit due to the rear wall of the house having no footings. If we do similar again we would get a short term rental. The dirt, disruption, cold and lack of decent cooking facilities gets wearisome very quickly.

No idea. The electricity box is an utter mystery to me.

If you take a picture of the device that trips and post it we can figure it out a bit more.

@J0nathan
We've been living with no real downstairs since November.

The living room hold-up was my own doing, but since we were able to move back in that's made a big difference.

We got a mini cooker after getting really sick of microwaving and that made a difference.

In the last place we did even worse - we had one room only and a bathroom with only joists on the floor for a few weeks.

It's doable but I think you can underestimate how stressful it is to have to walk up and downstairs to fill a kettle up, and having no room other than a bedroom to read or relax in (total first world problems obviously).

This is a wall light in our bedroom.

It is, I think, made of plaster. I don't hate it but I don't like that it's painted the same minty green as the rest of the room.

Would I repaint it with normal emulsion, or do I need something more especially heat proof?

When I was still living at home my parents had a side return/new kitchen extension and it was an absolutely miserable time. The resulting room is amazing, but it took months and went over. I remember that there were just constant arguments between the five of us, sat around a tiny table in a make-shift, windowless kitchen in the dining room. I will be doing my best to mitigate a repeat of that, and will see any cost incurred as a worthwhile investment.

That sounds grim.

We're lucky that we've moved to a bigger place and had a good builder who hasn't stressed us out as much as the previous ones did. Getting a whole room done myself has given us a boost as well.

Yeah it is grim, we have building stuff in the flat temp sink, as going to a bathroom to fill a kettle is a pain. With two induction hobs and an oven so bad...

Someone kicked in my girlfriend's flat door. Locksmith said they cant do it and after having spoken to a joiner we've been quoted £250 for a new frame/materials and £250 for labour.

Does this seem legit as thought the materials seemed high. He did say they might be able to splice the wood into the side where the locks went, the door and rest of the frame is fine as it is just where the frame is made of chipboard popped.

This is Brixton Hill for reference on location

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That looks to me to be a standard door frame, no intumescent strips etc. They are not expensive. Is the quote for replacing the door as well? Its hard to see exactly what is needed from the photo you've supplied.

For reference for fitting a standard frame I would charge £80 and £80 for hanging a new door (labour only) £20 to £40 for rehanging an existing door depending on the amount of work needed. But I don't work in Brixton so couldn't help you there.

Sounds like you're an easy target for a hiked up cost

Check https://www.mybuilder.com/ (or similar sites) for someone local with good reviews

Also, might be worth reconsidering that chip board construction if you own the flat