How do I scribe skirting to an uneven floor?
Scribing copies the floor's shape onto the board so it sits down tight along its whole length, instead of leaving a gap you have to fill.
intermediate1 hr3 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
How do I set out floor tiles so I don't get a sliver at the doorway?
Squared centre lines, a dry-laid grid and a deliberate decision about which walls get the cuts — the planning that keeps thin cuts out of the doorway and out of the sightline.
intermediate1 hr 30 min5 min readHow do I stop a bath moving and flexing when I get in?
Why an acrylic bath flexes, the cradle and support batten that should be holding it, and why fixing this comes before any resealing.
intermediate2 hr3 min readHow do I stop a floor squeaking without taking the carpet up?
Locating a squeak through a carpet, the screw-through-the-pile method that leaves no visible mark, and when the carpet has to come up anyway.
beginner45 min3 min readHow do I stop a toilet leaking at the base?
Identifying whether it is condensation, the pan connector, the cistern seal or a cracked pan — and which of those you can fix.
intermediate1 hr 30 min3 min readHow do I stop maggots in the wheelie bin in hot weather?
Maggots appear within a couple of days in hot weather because flies lay on exposed food waste. Stopping them is about denying access and wrapping waste, not about what you clean the bin with.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I stop my bathroom mirror steaming up?
Why a mirror fogs and a tiled wall does not, the temporary tricks that work, and the heated pad that removes the problem permanently.
beginner15 min3 min readHow do I stop my house smelling of dog?
Dog smell lives in soft materials and in the oil the dog leaves on them, so the fix is a list of washable things plus ventilation — not a plug-in air freshener.
beginner1 hr 30 min4 min readHow do I stop rats, foxes and flies getting into my bins?
A bin arrangement that removes the food, the smell and the shelter, so the garden stops supporting a population in the first place.
beginner1 hr 30 min5 min readHow do I stop water pooling around my house?
Tracing where the water comes from, and the gutters, gradients and soakaways that move it away.
intermediate3 hr2 min readHow do I strengthen a wooden front door and its frame?
The four cheap additions that turn an ordinary timber door and frame into a slow one: hinge bolts, a frame reinforcing bar, a letterplate cowl and a properly fixed keep.
intermediate2 hr 30 min5 min readHow do I take a kitchen cupboard door off and put it back on?
The release lever on a clip-on hinge, the screw on a slide-on one, and the labelling that stops reassembly turning into an afternoon of adjustment.
beginner10 min4 min readHow do I tell dry rot from wet rot, and how serious is it?
The visual differences between the two decay fungi, why the moisture history matters more than the name, and an honest account of what dry rot does and does not do.
intermediate45 min4 min readHow do I tell if I have woodworm, and does it need treating?
Telling active infestation from long-dead historic damage, identifying the beetle from the hole and the dust, and deciding whether it needs treatment at all.
intermediate1 hr5 min readHow do I use a heat gun without damaging things?
Keeping the gun moving, judging distance rather than temperature, and the jobs where a heat gun is the wrong tool entirely.
beginner40 min4 min readHow do I use a staple gun and which type do I need?
Manual, electric and pneumatic compared, matching staple type to the job, and stopping staples sitting proud.
beginner20 min3 min readHow does a thermostatic shower valve work, and what can I fix myself?
The wax element, the shuttle and the filters explained — what each one does, which of the four common failures you can clear with a clean, and which need a new cartridge.
intermediate45 min6 min readHow does an immersion heater work, and what do I do if it stops heating?
What the element, the thermostat and the thermal cut-out each do, the safe checks when a cylinder stops heating electrically, and where the electrician's job starts.
beginner20 min5 min readHow is my central heating actually plumbed and controlled?
S plan, Y plan, gravity and combi. What each layout is, how to tell which you have from the airing cupboard, and why the layout decides what a given fault means.
intermediate11 min6 min readHow long does flooring need to acclimatise, and does it actually do anything?
Acclimatising works only if the room is at the conditions the floor will live in. Doing it in a cold, damp, unheated building is worse than not doing it at all.
beginner15 min3 min readHow many bricks or blocks do I need per square metre?
Sixty bricks a square metre, ten blocks a square metre, and the wastage, bond and opening adjustments that turn those two figures into an order.
beginner10 min3 min readHow much PTFE tape do I need and which way does it go?
Wrap direction, how many turns for which thread, and the joints where PTFE tape has no business at all.
beginner10 min3 min readHow should I plan the inside of a wardrobe?
Sizing the zones around real garment lengths, why double hanging nearly doubles the capacity, and the depth and rail heights that make a wardrobe work.
beginner1 hr5 min readHow thick does a concrete slab need to be?
Why the answer is governed by what is underneath rather than what is on top, the layers that matter more than thickness, and where a slab stops being a DIY calculation.
intermediate15 min5 min read
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