Why does my shower have no hot water?
Narrowing down whether it is the boiler, the shower, the thermostat or the tank, before calling anyone out.
beginner40 min3 min read
Home & DIY
Practical answers for repairs, cleaning, decorating and the household problems that turn up whether you planned for them or not. Written so you can start with what you already own.
2,154 guides
Why has my varnish gone cloudy or milky?
Cloudiness in varnish is trapped moisture or trapped air, and which one it is decides whether it will clear on its own or has to come off.
beginner30 min3 min readWhy is my ceiling sagging or bulging?
Telling a water problem from failed plaster keys from a structural one, what to do in the first hour, and when a ceiling has to come down.
beginner30 min4 min readWhy is my garage floor wet when it has not rained?
A garage floor that goes wet in mild damp weather is usually condensing moisture out of the air, not letting damp up from below. The two need opposite responses.
beginner25 min2 min readWhy is my paint bubbling or blistering?
A blister is either water pushing from behind or solvent trapped in front. Burst one and look underneath — the answer decides whether this is a repaint or a building repair.
intermediate30 min5 min readWhy is my plug getting hot?
The three causes of heat at a plug — resistance at a poor connection, an overloaded lead and an undersized adaptor — and why every one of them is a stop-using-it answer.
beginner10 min4 min readWhy is my radiator hot even with the valve turned off?
A valve that will not shut, a pin that will not extend, and the gravity circulation that heats a radiator nobody asked for.
beginner30 min3 min readWhy is my washing machine door locked and will not open?
The lock is doing its job in almost every case: it holds for a cooling or safety delay, it holds while there is water in the tub, and it holds if the drum has not fully stopped.
beginner30 min5 min readWhy is my water cloudy, discoloured or smelly?
Separating harmless aeration from mains disturbance from a problem in your own pipework, using which taps are affected and how it behaves in a glass.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy is there ice on the back wall of my fridge?
A film of frost that comes and goes on the back wall is normal — a permanent sheet of ice means the fridge is over-cooling, a seal is leaking, or the drain behind it has blocked.
beginner40 min4 min readWill my shelf actually hold what I want to put on it?
The real weight of what goes on shelves, the five-link chain the load travels through, and which link actually breaks.
intermediate20 min5 min readDoes it matter if my loft insulation is squashed?
Mineral wool works because of the air trapped in it. Compress it and you remove the air, so squashed insulation performs closer to its compressed thickness than its original one.
beginner15 min2 min readHow do I clean a dishwasher?
Why a dishwasher stops cleaning properly or starts to smell, and the filter, arms and seals that need attention.
beginner45 min2 min readHow do I declutter a room?
A method for decluttering that works on a normal weekend, including what to do with the things you can't decide about.
beginner4 hr2 min readHow do I fix a draughty window?
Finding and sealing draughts around windows, and what to do when the seal or the hinge adjustment is the problem.
beginner1 hr2 min readShould I buy a ducted or recirculating extractor hood?
Ducted removes moisture, heat, grease and smell from the house; recirculating removes grease and smell only. That single difference decides almost every case.
beginner30 min5 min readWhat is a motorised valve and why is my heating stuck on?
Heating that will not switch off, or hot water that never comes on, is very often one small valve. What it does, the three ways it fails, and the safe check that identifies which.
intermediate25 min5 min readWhat maintenance does a washing machine need, and how often?
Five jobs on four different intervals, and the two nobody does — the pump filter and the fill hoses — are the ones that cause the flood and the sudden mid-cycle failure.
beginner45 min6 min readWhy do my plasterboard screws just spin?
A screw that spins has stripped the material around it. In plasterboard that means the board has crumbled; on a stud it means the timber has been over-driven or the hole is too big.
beginner20 min2 min readWhy does my microwave spark inside?
Four causes, three of which are things in the cavity rather than the appliance — and the one that means the microwave is finished.
beginner15 min3 min readWhy does my wooden door only stick in damp weather?
Timber takes up moisture from the air and expands across its width. A door that binds only when it is damp is behaving normally, and the durable fix is sealing rather than planing.
beginner45 min3 min readWhy is my ceiling paint patchy?
Patchy ceilings come from lap marks, uneven porosity or stains bleeding through — three different faults that look similar from the floor and need different fixes.
beginner30 min3 min readWhy is my concrete floor wet, and is it rising damp or condensation?
A wet concrete floor has two completely different causes with opposite cures. The taped polythene test separates them in a few days, and the answer decides what can be laid.
beginner30 min4 min readWhy is my extractor fan's outside vent the problem?
A fan can be working perfectly and still extract nothing if the outside end is blocked, painted over, or fitted with a grille that restricts it.
beginner30 min2 min read
Going deeper: MaterialWorld
Material properties, comparisons and suitability — paints, fillers, sealants, timber, tile, insulation.
MaterialWorld is in development — GuideHQ covers the practical answers in the meantime.