How do I check and clean an air vent or airbrick?
Finding the ones you have, why blocking them causes damp rather than preventing it, and clearing them safely.
beginner1 hr4 min read
Maintenance
The jobs that stop problems happening in the first place.
353 guides in Home & DIY
How do I check the lead flashing round a chimney?
The four separate flashings around a chimney, what failure looks like from the ground, and how chimney damp shows up inside.
beginner40 min4 min readHow do I choose a loft ladder, and will it fit my hatch?
The hatch decides the ladder, not the other way round. Measuring what you have, the four types and what each one needs, and why enlarging the opening is a bigger job than it looks.
intermediate9 min5 min readHow do I fit or replace a garage side door?
Replacing a garage side door frame and all in a masonry opening — measuring, fixing the frame square and plumb, and the threshold and weather details that decide whether it rots.
advanced8 hr7 min readHow do I fit window film for heat or privacy?
Choosing the right film for the actual problem, the water-and-detergent method, and why nearly every failure is preparation.
beginner1 hr 30 min5 min readHow do I insulate between rafters without causing condensation?
The ventilated air gap, where the insulation and the vapour barrier each sit, and why the rafter depth usually dictates the whole design.
advanced4 hr4 min readHow do I keep a garage dry and usable?
Telling condensation from a leak, ventilation before dehumidification, and what to store where.
beginner3 hr4 min readHow do I level a shed that has sunk on one side?
Finding out whether the ground settled or the bearers rotted, jacking a shed back to level safely, and packing it so it does not sink again.
intermediate4 hr6 min readHow do I look after a water softener, and how much salt does it use?
Salt, a periodic clean of the brine tank, a hardness check and one specific failure — a salt bridge — that makes a working softener quietly stop softening while the tank still looks full.
beginner30 min7 min readHow do I look after cast iron guttering?
Cast iron guttering lasts for a century if the paint is maintained and fails quickly once it is not. Most of the work is painting and clearing, not repairing.
intermediate2 hr2 min readHow do I match an existing brick?
The four properties that have to match, why colour is the least important of them, and the two routes that get closer than a merchant's colour chart.
beginner30 min4 min readHow do I safely store chemicals and paint at home?
What must never be stored together, where each thing actually belongs, and the container rule that matters most.
beginner45 min3 min readHow do I stop moss growing on a roof or path?
Why moss grows where it does, removing it without damaging the surface, and the treatments that keep it away.
intermediate3 hr4 min readHow do I tell if my roof space is properly ventilated?
Where the air is supposed to come in and go out of a cold roof, how to check each path is open, and the retrofit vents that restore it when it is not.
beginner35 min4 min readHow do I tell whether my wall is pointed in lime or cement mortar?
Five checks you can do with a key and your eyes that establish what the wall is actually built in — the question that decides every repair decision that follows.
beginner15 min3 min readHow is a floor joist supported at its ends?
Built into the wall, sitting on a wall plate, or hung in a steel hanger — the three details, what each one implies for damp and rot, and why the bearing is where floors usually fail.
intermediate9 min5 min readUp and over, roller or sectional — which garage door do I have?
Four mechanisms, each defined by how the leaf moves and what space it needs. How to tell yours apart, what each is good and bad at, and why the type is the first thing a supplier asks.
intermediate9 min5 min readWhat actually drives the cost of a new bathroom?
Why two bathrooms with identical fittings cost wildly different amounts — the four decisions that dominate the figure, and how to get quotes that can be compared.
beginner25 min4 min readWhat are the parts of a window called?
Frame, sash, mullion, transom, cill and bead, plus the ironmongery — stay, fastener, friction hinge and trickle vent. What each part is and which ones you can actually replace.
beginner8 min5 min readWhat does "making good" mean, and who is supposed to do it?
The most argued-about phrase in domestic building work. What it usually covers, what it usually does not, and how to settle it before the work rather than after.
beginner8 min4 min readWhat is fire-rated sealant, and where do I have to use it?
The difference between intumescent, fire-resistant and acoustic products, why fire-stopping is a tested system rather than a tube, and where the boundary of DIY sits.
advanced20 min4 min readWhen do I need to change the filters in an air purifier?
Three filter stages with three different intervals, why the indicator light on most machines is only a timer, and how to tell a spent carbon filter from a spent HEPA one when neither looks any different.
beginner15 min6 min readWhich sealant sticks to uPVC, and why does it keep peeling off?
uPVC is smooth, non-porous, full of migrating plasticiser and moves several millimetres with temperature — four separate reasons an ordinary bead does not last.
beginner25 min4 min readWhich type of render should I use?
Four render systems compared on what wall each belongs on — because the correct render is decided by the background, not by the finish you want.
intermediate15 min5 min read
Going deeper: MaterialWorld
Material properties, comparisons and suitability — paints, fillers, sealants, timber, tile, insulation.