How do I get rid of a new furniture or new carpet smell?
New furniture smell is solvent and adhesive off-gassing, and it goes with time and air — which means ventilation and patience rather than any product.
beginner30 min3 min read
Household Problems
Damp, draughts, smells, noise and the other slow annoyances.
284 guides in Home & DIY
How do I stop birds nesting in the soffits?
Finding the gap, the legal timing that governs when you can close it, and the repairs and proofing that keep birds out permanently.
beginner1 hr 30 min4 min readHow do I tell if my ground floor is suspended timber or solid concrete?
Four quick tests that identify the floor construction, and why the answer changes what you do about damp, cold, insulation and ventilation underneath.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I whiten uPVC that has gone yellow?
What actually causes yellowing, which of the three usual remedies work, and why abrasive cleaning makes it permanently worse.
beginner1 hr3 min readIs my woodworm active or is it old damage?
The tests that separate a live infestation from decades-old flight holes, why moisture is the real question, and when treatment is genuinely warranted.
beginner30 min4 min readShould I let a damp company replaster my wall in sand and cement?
What a waterproof render specification actually does to a wall, when it is the right answer, and why lime is the correct choice in most older solid-walled houses.
intermediate45 min4 min readWhat are all the wires in my ceiling rose for?
Why a UK ceiling rose usually has three cables and six or more cores, what each terminal does, and which one stays live when the switch is off.
beginner12 min4 min readWhat is an interceptor trap, and why does my old drain keep blocking there?
The U bend built into the last chamber of a Victorian drain, the rodding arm beside it, and the missing stopper that explains recurring blockages, drain smells and rats in equal measure.
intermediate9 min5 min readWhat should I do if a water main bursts in my street?
A burst main in the street is the water company's job to fix and yours to report, protect against and claim for. The useful actions are in the first ten minutes.
beginner20 min6 min readWhy does my RCD trip at the same time every night?
How to use the clock to identify a timed load that nobody is switching on, and the small set of appliances that cause almost every trip at a fixed hour.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy has my new brickwork gone white?
Efflorescence brushes off and goes away on its own. Lime bloom does not, and needs completely different treatment. Telling them apart takes about ten seconds.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy is the surface of my concrete dusty and powdery?
Concrete dusting is a thin weak layer at the very top, and the four things that cause it all happened on the day it was poured — plus what can honestly be done about it now.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy is there a dark stripe along the joists on my ceiling?
Ghosting, or thermal tracking — dark bands that map the structure behind the plaster — what causes it, and why cleaning is the wrong response.
beginner30 min4 min readWhy is there damp where my extension joins the house?
What a cavity tray does at an abutment, why a missing one produces damp on the wall above a lean-to or a flat roof, and why this is one of the few damp faults that is genuinely a building defect.
intermediate40 min4 min readWhy is there standing water in my inspection chamber?
Reading a full chamber against the ones upstream and downstream to locate a blockage, and knowing when it stops being your pipe.
beginner1 hr5 min readWhat is the difference between a cooker hood and a venting hob?
A venting hob extracts downwards through the hob surface instead of upwards into a canopy. What that buys, what it costs, and where it genuinely wins.
beginner25 min5 min readWhat should I do about subsidence cracks in a dry summer?
Cracks appearing in a hot dry summer are usually clay shrinkage, and most are cosmetic. Knowing which are not, and what to record before ringing anyone, is what decides the outcome.
beginner1 hr6 min readWhy has my wood floor got gaps between the boards in winter?
Seasonal gapping is wood doing what wood does, and the question is whether the gaps close again in summer — because permanent gaps mean something else.
beginner20 min4 min readWhat IP rating do I need for outdoor electrics?
How to read the two digits of an IP rating, the ratings that matter for a British garden, and why the rating on the box is only half the protection.
beginner10 min4 min readWhat should I do if snow builds up on a roof or conservatory?
Most UK roofs carry snow easily, and the real risks are conservatories, flat roofs, carports and ice dams at the eaves. Almost nothing about it is a job you should be doing from a ladder.
beginner30 min6 min readWhy does my stud wall flex when I push it?
A partition that moves under hand pressure has one of five causes, from board that is simply thin to a wall that was never fixed at the head — and one of them is worth taking seriously.
intermediate1 hr 30 min4 min readWhy does one downlight keep failing when the others are fine?
Why a single downlight in a row kills lamps, the four causes ranked by likelihood, and the loft check that identifies most of them in five minutes.
beginner20 min5 min readHow do I stop water running off my drive onto the road or next door?
Why a drive sheds water where it does, the four interventions that change it, and the legal position on water leaving your land.
intermediate1 hr6 min readWhy does my bath go cold so quickly?
Where the heat in a bath actually goes, why the material matters less than people think, and the changes that genuinely extend a soak.
beginner15 min3 min read
Going deeper: MaterialWorld
Material properties, comparisons and suitability — paints, fillers, sealants, timber, tile, insulation.