Ok, a bit tongue in cheek, however I'm currently renovating our house and have had numerous trades coming in to look at jobs. Without fail, every single one (at least 7 so far) has given a "cash price" and a "non cash price".

Off the top of my head:

Roofer

Joiner

Plumber

Electrician

Window Fitter

Stove Fitter

Removal Company

I've never once asked to pay cash (apart from the cheaper rate, it's a PITA having to go and get it out!) but it has really highlighted to me the absolute vast scale of tax fraud which goes on within the trades. Looks like it's only us PAYE idiots who are actually paying their taxes these days!

I'm pretty proud of how these turned out! Never really worked with wood before, apart from chopping it up for firewood.

Something has gone badly wrong with this relatively recently installed French door (maybe 4 years old or so). The door is very hard to open, and has daylight coming through the top when "closed".

Looking from outside (actually an ancient conservatory) the brickwork above the centre of the door is showing cracks. The rest of the brickwork around the door appears OK.

Door installer says the brickwork is nothing to do with him, as it is above the Lintel. Could the lintel somehow have broken and so the door has weight on it?

Just moved into our first house. I was checking the plug sockets because our lighting circuits don’t have earth wires so I wanted to see what the sockets were like. I thought it was fine until I looked at the back and saw all this exposed copper. Are we in trouble? 😬 I am going to be booking an EICR test soon but would like to have some idea in the meantime.

Quick question to the floor - I live in an old Victorian house with an oak front panel door which leaks air and heat very much. Luckily we have an inner porch door and thick insulated curtains to stop the draughts. Without replacing the door itself, is there anything I can do or use to insulate the door? Air is coming in through the panel gaps. The white stripe on the photo is tape Ive used to try to seal the tiny gaps but it doesn't work well.

helping out a friend fix these tiles that have blown around the bath

i know how to tile but the issue I’ve got is that they have blown because the bath warps when they stand inside to shower

surely this will just happen again or am I being paranoid

Any clever ideas you lot?

In the past I've had an electric shower removed and although not ideal, I filled the holes with silicone. I've got some more holes now I've removed a cabinet and also need to fill these however I'd really like to try some tile paint so looking for something that will dry hard, waterproof and can be painted over.

Any thoughts or experiences?

I’m aware this isn’t DIY and I’ll apologise straight up, but I need a sense check because the delights of six months of an appalling neighbour have given me a ridiculous amount of anxiety and is currently stopping me sleeping (yes I need to work on the anxiety)

Lost a ridge tile (I think the right name?) on my garage over night in the wind. Sure the mortar has probably failed, but the neighbours feral tree right bang on my garage and constantly knocking against the roof probably hasn’t helped.

Need to phone/find a roofer tomorrow obvs (which stresses me out stupidly), but there is absolutely zero chance the fuckwit next door is going to allow access. It’s a single story garage, is there any way they’ll be able to fix from my side without it being a horrendous job?

There’s also zero chance she’ll do anything about the tree. I know the guttering is a mess but the builders built so it drains into the neighbours side, so again, can’t fix with the lack of access

Without it shattering? Saws seem no good, a utility knife will not go through it. What's the best tool? Thanks.

These are regular swing out sort of windows in a bedroom, and of the pair, one closes almost properly, and the other leaves a big gap at the top left near the left hinge. I've added a pen to to show the size of the gap (no banana available). The gap obviously extends all of the way down, but it's widest at the top so I think that's where the issue is. I've tried to show the mechanism in the second image, but apart from being a bit grubby, there doesn't seem to be anything loose our out of place. The final image is from the other size - where the window closes and leaves a tiny gap. I can't see any difference in the two sides.

What's likely to be preventing this from closing properly? Is it something I can fix or do I need to get someone in to look at it?

edit: thanks everyone. I'll get onto the landlord as I'm not comfortable changing the hinges on someone else's window! The pen is a marvelous Pilot disposable fountain pen (you can actually refill them). It was not harmed.

How to fix/ plaster this area behind old dishwasher. Old plaster is a flaking away maybe old leak but no leak now.

Could I diy or get a professional

This is the ceiling in my living room and dining room. Looking on Google images I didn’t see any similar ones

Edit : Is it popcorn ceiling 😬

Edit2: well the consensus seems to be anaglypta (never heard of that 😂) and tbh googling that it does seem very similar. Thank you to everyone who answered so quickly

I have a leaky mixer tap. Tried to change the cartridge, found this thing which will not budge.

Google hasn't helped me. I'm clueless and don't want to break anything.

Help?

Cat flap is in use but cat gets locked in the house on a night time. Have realised tonight that flies are entering the house through the cat flap through a gap where the lock is, temporary solution overnight just putting cling film over it to stop them getting in but will need to take off tomorrow when my cat goes out.

I can see the cling film is ‘breathing’ so there is obviously a gap letting a draft in too. How can I seal this up?

Hi All,

TLDR; any ideas how to fit a nightlatch on door with metal rim between it and wooden doorframe?

Front door currently has an - apparently decent quality - mortice lock in place but my partner is keen to also have a nightlatch installed for ease so ordered a basic Yale latch kit. From what I can see, the latch itself would fit easily into the door and I have the necessary drill bits etc ready to do this. However, it looks as though the doorframe has a thin recessed metal rim holding a ?weather proofing rubber strip and brush, which runs between the door and the wooden frame. The part of the latch that the staple sits in when closed needs to be screwed into the doorframe, but this metal rim is in the way. Would I be an idiot to remove a small portion, and replace with an appropriate sized block of wood that I could then screw the staple holder onto?

Happy to be berated, advice a bonus. Thank you!

I have a 10 year old house. Built by Bovis. I moved in nearly 4 years ago.

Under the stairs there's a socket on the wall (high up nearing the roof) with a 13A fuse. It doesn't do anything though. I tested it a while ago by removing the fuse and sure enough nothing goes off. Removing the faceplate shows the load terminals are empty so power is going in but nothing is connected. This has a single cable going into the faceplate.

Likewise there is a switched fused spur at the bottom of the staircase. This one though has two cables going in, which is what is normal for a socket no? Cable in and out effectively?

Do you think these are just normal spurs off the main socket ring? I was thinking about buying a single socket faceplate and wiring it up. Plugging in a light and then turning off the sockets to see if it goes off.

Given the height of the spur under the stairs maybe this is off the lighting circuit and meant for a light (we don't have a light under there)? Again would my theory of adding a socket to this and plugging in a LED lamp and turning off the lighting circuit confirm my theory?

The downstairs toilet has this vent that connects to the outside with a straight pipe through the wall and outside utility shed. It's pretty much straight entry of cold air in winter. Are there some generic ways of stopping it cooling down the whole front of the house?

Embarrassing moment

My old man bought a gas bottle and I he snapped the plastic screw and it’s hard to get out

Any advice on how to tackle this issue!

I have a tree in my front garden, the top of the branches are around the height of my upstairs windows in a standard UK house.

I've had a quote from a tree surgeon to trim it back for £150 including removing all waste, I'm thinking is it worth it to buy a pole saw/ telescopic chainsaw and cut it from the ground, while stood on a work platform once all the leaves have fallen off. Outside the boundary of my garden is a footpath and the end of a cul de sac.

Which would be the recommended option in my case?

Thanks

Hey guys, I have a heat loss problem. I’ve attached my loft as you can see it’s not in the best shape. It’s insulation then directly under its plasterboard with joists running along.

My heat loss is bad, here is a recording I took:

Entry 1
time: 16:43
temperature: 23

Entry 2
time: 16:54
temp: 22

Entry 3
Time: 16:59
temperature: 21.5

Entry 4
time: 17:12
temperature: 20.5

Entry 5
time: 17:17
temperature: 20

These recordings are all from a single room. Upstairs is where it’s really cold so I do think it’s related to the loft insulation.

Windows are double glazed and I can’t feel any air coming out of gaps (that’s I’m aware of)