Fixing the things that break — taps, handles, holes, hinges.
553 guides in Home & DIY
Choosing the position on a rail rather than a joint, setting out an aperture that is not the same size as the plate, and the finishing that stops a letterplate becoming the coldest hole in the house.
The difference between a hole that needs mortar and one that needs a brick, cutting back to a sound square opening, and getting a patch that does not read as a patch.
Getting the rail long enough and high enough, fixing into tile properly, and the two habits that stop a curtain letting water past at the ends.
Getting runners parallel and at matching heights, why a square carcass decides everything, and how to set drawer fronts with even gaps.
Cutting the paint line first, levering against the frame rather than the wall, and dealing with pins that stay behind in the timber.
The order beads come out in, where to lever, and why the short beads always go first.
Cleaning off a century of paint, patching small losses by hand, and taking a mould from a sound section to reproduce a missing run — plus when to hand it to a fibrous plasterer.
Eight ways to hold a nut, a captive fitting or a carriage bolt that has started to turn — from the simple to the last resort.
What a runner's rating actually means, why a pan drawer full of cast iron is closer to the limit than it looks, and which part gives way first.
The three panels that turn a row of boxes into a fitted kitchen, how to scribe one to a wall, and why the gap you are filling is not a mistake.
A plug that vanishes means the drill has broken into a void — a cavity, a dry lining gap, a perforated brick or a hollow block. How to work out which, and what to do next.
The weight lined curtains actually apply, why the centre bracket is not optional, and which pole materials bow permanently and which recover.
Uneven grout colour is nearly always uneven water content while it cured — from mixing, from sponging, or from joints of different depths.
The weight that pulls the hose back, the four things that stop it doing so, and how to get the spray head off when it will not seat.
An unsupported board joint cracks however often it is filled — the answer is a noggin behind it, and the details that make the joint disappear afterwards.
Slip is a race between the adhesive's grab and the tile's weight, and four things tip it the wrong way — bed too thick, tile too heavy, no support, or a non-absorbent substrate.
Why panes creep down a slope, whether the fault is clips, glazing bars or a frame that is out of square, and what fixes each.
Which is which, why the mitres are the whole job, and the order of cutting that stops you eating a three-metre length one wrong cut at a time.
What each of the three pieces at the bottom of an external door actually does, in which order water meets them, and why a weather bar fitted the wrong way round makes the problem worse.
The real load a hall coat rack carries, why the pull is downwards and outwards at once, and fixing into studs or a batten so it stays up.
The four things that stop a corner carousel rotating, how to get the shelves out without breaking them, and when the mechanism is worth replacing.
One batten ripped at forty-five degrees gives the strongest, most forgiving way to hang a cabinet, a mirror or a tool board — and the angle does the work.
Why internal window boards fail at the same places every time, when a repair is worthwhile, and how to replace one without damaging the plaster.
Telling a rotten post from a failed foundation from a frame that was never braced, and the retrofit fix for each.
Material properties, comparisons and suitability — paints, fillers, sealants, timber, tile, insulation.