How do I lay laminate or click flooring?
Acclimatising the boards, leaving the expansion gap, and staggering the joints — the three things that decide whether it lasts.
intermediate8 hr3 min read
Maintenance
The jobs that stop problems happening in the first place.
353 guides in Home & DIY
How do I protect the rest of the house during building work?
The barrier, the airflow that makes it work, and the protection that goes down before anything else. Plus what to do about the vents, the flue and the carpets you are keeping.
intermediate10 min5 min readHow do I re-felt a shed roof?
Stripping the old covering, checking the boards underneath, and laying new felt with the laps, the ridge and the edges detailed so it does not lift.
intermediate4 hr6 min readHow do I re-oil a wooden floor that has gone dull and patchy?
An oiled floor is maintained rather than refinished — but only if you catch it before the timber is exposed. How to tell which you have and what each needs.
intermediate4 hr5 min readHow do I replace a bath tap without taking the bath out?
Getting access behind a bath, dealing with backnuts you cannot see, and why flexible tails and isolating valves are what make this possible.
intermediate2 hr3 min readHow do I tell if my soffits or fascias are rotten?
The signs of rot in eaves timber, what to check and from where, and the difference between a repairable board and a full replacement.
beginner45 min4 min readHow do I tell if roof flashing has failed?
Where flashings are and what failure looks like, how to inspect from the ground, and matching the internal leak to the external cause.
beginner45 min4 min readHow long before I can use a shower after applying silicone?
The difference between skinning over and curing right through, why 24 hours is the honest answer, and what happens if you shower too soon.
beginner5 min3 min readHow long should an oven, hob or countertop appliance last?
Realistic service lives for each cooking appliance, the part that usually fails first on each, and what that means for whether a fault is early or expected.
beginner15 min4 min readHow many fence panels and posts do I need?
Turning a measured boundary into a materials list — panels, posts, gravel boards, concrete and fixings — without the classic one-post-short error.
beginner30 min3 min readIs my guttering big enough for my roof?
Capacity depends on the roof area draining into the run, the profile of the gutter and how many outlets it has — and the commonest fix is another downpipe rather than a bigger gutter.
intermediate20 min2 min readWhat are the parts of a staircase called?
Tread, riser, nosing, string, newel, baluster, handrail, apron. What each part does, which ones are structural, and which ones are the usual source of a creak or a wobble.
beginner8 min5 min readWhat can I do about security in a rented home?
Where the tenancy line actually falls on locks and drilling, what to ask the landlord for in writing, and the measures that need no permission at all.
beginner1 hr5 min readWhat is a cavity tray, and why do so many damp problems come back to one?
An impervious tray sloping across the cavity that catches water and sends it back out. Where they belong, the stepped trays at a roof abutment, and why a missing one produces damp that appears years later.
intermediate9 min5 min readWhat is an EICR, do I need one and what does it cost?
What an electrician actually does during an EICR, what the C1, C2, C3 and FI codes mean, when you genuinely need one, and roughly what it costs in the UK.
beginner12 min5 min readWhat is under a suspended timber ground floor?
The oversite, the ventilated void, the sleeper walls, the wall plate and its damp proof course, and why every single one of those exists to keep the timber dry.
intermediate10 min5 min readWhat maintenance does a garden fence need?
Posts are what fail, not panels — the annual check and the repairs that extend a fence by years.
beginner3 hr2 min readWhat should I check on my house each season to keep it dry?
A year of short inspections organised around water rather than around tidiness, including the one check that can only be done in heavy rain.
beginner2 hr4 min readWhat types of glass are in a house, and how do I tell them apart?
Float, toughened, laminated and wired, what each does when it breaks, how to identify them from the mark in the corner, and the positions in a house that are required to have safety glass.
intermediate9 min5 min readWhere should I put a security camera so it is actually useful?
Height, angle and framing that produce identifiable footage rather than a distant shape, plus the two or three positions that cover a normal house.
beginner1 hr4 min readWhich paint should I use on a concrete or garage floor?
Why floor paint fails on concrete far more often than on any other substrate, the moisture test that comes first, and how to choose between acrylic, single-pack polyurethane and two-pack epoxy.
intermediate30 min5 min readWhich sealant should I use around a kitchen worktop and splashback?
A kitchen joint moves, gets hot, gets wet and gets scrubbed — which rules out most of the obvious answers and makes the substrate the deciding factor.
beginner30 min5 min readWhich side of the insulation does the vapour barrier go?
The warm side rule, why getting it wrong soaks the insulation, and how a vapour barrier differs from a breather membrane.
intermediate20 min4 min readCan I stack a tumble dryer on top of a washing machine?
Yes, with a stacking kit made for the pairing — and the dryer always goes on top, because the washing machine is heavier and is the one that vibrates.
intermediate1 hr6 min read
Going deeper: MaterialWorld
Material properties, comparisons and suitability — paints, fillers, sealants, timber, tile, insulation.