Home DIY

If there's a cold water tank it might be the washer in the filling valve. They can wear out and fluctuate instead of shutting off.

Common for it to follow someone flushing the loo at night for example.

The boiler’s on sideways, turn it the right way round and that should sort it

I think easifill is the contractor answer.
Then sand and paint over, job done.

If it’s not too visible, you could screw a larger sheet of ply.

I'm trying to make our flat warmer in advance of winter, and the coldest room last year was our living room which is on the gable end of the block. The exterior wall has floating stud with a closed-up fireplace on it, but it's super drafty. And the draft doesn't just come out of the fireplace vent, it comes from the alcove cupboards too. So I suspect that the space behind the stud wall is open to the fireplace and all the air behind the wall is subject to drafts coming down the chimney.

I don't want to seal the chimney, as I think this would cause some condensation problems. But would I cause any problems if I cut into the plaster covering the fireplace and sealed around it between the two walls (exterior and floating) so that the chimney air only circulates in the fireplace and out the one vent? Then effectively the rest of the space behind the wall would become dead air and in theory the room would retain heat better/be less drafty. Or would I cause other issues by this approach?

Brown line is exterior wall with chimney, black line is stud wall. I'm thinking of joining the two around the edge of the fireplace (red line) then plastering the fireplace up again.

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Surely if you’re getting drafts, it’s not just because you have cold walls?
Gaps under the stud wall and not sealed off behind skirting boards?

If you sealed everything and added a vent, you’d just be concentrating the draft to one spot?

I recently sealed up some gaps in our room above the garage, I could feel a draft through the gap between flooring and skirting boards. As I was sealing it up, the draft got stronger and stronger until it felt like a jet of cold air.

I currently have a metod IKEA cabinet with four drawers (2 low, 2 medium).(the low drawers are hidden when the bigger drawers close)

One of the runners on one of the medium drawers is being a twat.

Is it possible to keep the low profile drawers take the two mediums out, put a shelf in, and then a door on the front and have the door close?

And if so, who and how do I cut the circular holes where the hinges pop in?

Or should I just go to IKEA hackers?

Wouldn’t metod cabinets already have the holes there ready for a door? Thought that’d have been one of the normal options.

Yes you can do this. There are drill bits for cutting the pockets out of doors for kitchens.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-tct-hinge-cutter-35mm/4977v

If you had a door to line up with then great if not then you can just use the hinges attached to the unit to line up.

I figure there's not much to do about the draft coming down the chimney, and there's already a vent in the fireplace - I'll also replace it with one that can be closed, and then close it when it's particularly cold. I just want to be able to open it when it's not breezy, and for the draft to not cause the whole air space behind the wall to become cold.

And @rj
Yep they do have precut holes. Was just looking at the one on the boiler.
Was hoping to keep the low drawers where they were, but I can move them down a bit I suppose.

Great. I'll try and rescue the twatty drawer runner and go from there.

I am currently in the middle of botching a plaster job (ceiling). My prep was A+, but I mixed the first batch a little too thick and the finish is poor (first coat). Ridges that are worse than I'd like and a couple of spot cracks already. Can someone with experience suggest whether persevering is likely to make the situation worse, rather than better?

I think easifill is the contractor answer.

Then sand and paint over, job done.

If it’s not too visible, you could screw a larger sheet of ply.

Cheers!

Another option is I think drawer runners are a spare part and you can just request a new one from them

It's a heat only boiler by the looks of it, unless its been pressurised you'll not have to top it up with pressure and thats a weird fault.

There must be a hot water tank somewhere, it could be pipes vibrating together causing the noise, if it was me going to look at it. Id start at the pump, could be old and making the noise. Theres a million things and sometimes its easier to fix when its actually broken down than daft things like that.

Seal the drafts and put in a bigger radiator for cheap upgrades, thats what I would do. I wouldnt seal the chimney as that can cause problems like you've said.

True. Just looking at options....

As far as my learning goes (not very far), vibrating pipes are normally a sign of a valve issue. If the house is unoccupied often, do they shut the water off every time they leave? Is there a half closed valve somewhere that needs to be fully open?

Thanks, we've actually got a plumber booked in to change the rads too. Good to know we're on the right track.

Thanks, I'll check. Not sure they know tbh. I did turn off the hot water boost while I was round and we had no noise yesterday or last night. Could be he was being overly careful with using the taps though!

Honest answer: you're in the wrong thread. If your house is waking up/keeping up your neighbours, you need to get it fixed. They should get a plumber in.

I’m shed building next week - can anyone recommend an epdm roof supplier or are they all much of a muchness?

All much of a muchness, in my recent experience - They are resellers / importers rather than manufacturers.

rubber4roofs has good post-sales service and how-to videos

roofingoutlet has rubbish post-sales service

Ebay is a good source for uncured tape & glues

Taken!

Want to pass this on - barely used - have replaced with a pillar drill. Free, collection SE15.

Amazon listing: Tooltime® New Bench Mountable..

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As TW says, Rubber4roofs are good.
Care of Ali Dymock you can get 10% off with the code ALI10

A faux hearth in two parts. Poured just enough to cover the existing hearth to begin with (as we hadn't decided on the border tiles so weren't sure how wide/deep it needed to be). That was a good idea as I learnt how much self levelling compound loves to fuck off down any sized gap. Even sealing with expanding foam and caulk wasn't enough to stop one sink hole from forming. A final pass with a thin mix seems to have done the job.

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