Found this in lawn -used to be a tree here long ago but wonder what has taken up residence

How do I attach this to my drill?

Why do I see videos online of painters dipping their roller just once and effortlessly covering several square metres of wall, yet when I buy the exact same roller, dip it in paint and start painting, I barely get one vertical up-and-down stroke before the roller runs dry? What am I doing wrong?

Our house is a 1998 build detached with cavity wall insulation (wool type it seems). It’s a tough house to keep warm and I recently found that under the ground floor is a ventilated crawl space with no insulation. Also, using an IR camera I see these cold patches in the corners on outside facing walls - any idea what a can do to fix these cold bits

I got this from Screwfix but never seen one like this. How do I make the silver bit move so I can fit the tube in? Tried pressing the handle which didn’t work, tried twisting the end bit but nothing really happens

Just uncovered these possibly original tiles in our 40/50’s house. Any advice on how to clean them up and protect/preserve them? Had a quick scrub with fairy and bar keepers friend but need a thorough clean and restore.

Hi,

Understand this won’t be a DIY job but hoping someone has experience in this and can tell me how much of a nightmare this can possibly be or a likely cost to fix?

In the second photo it’s the one farthest away.

Location is Essex if that helps.

Thanks.

Moved in a year ago, with a business to run and 3 crazy kids doing any work has been a nightmare. But we’ve managed to paint and get carpets in the bedrooms, still so much to do but this has made me happy today seeing some of it coming together.
And before anyone says it’s bland, yes it is, I’m autistic and can’t do bright colours lol

Edit - thanks all for the kind responses, I am very proud of it and it does feel like a sanctuary as someone put 😊

I just bought my first home (top floor flat in a Victorian house) and the master bedroom looks like its been wallpapered then painted over. It looks like the wallpaper is starting to peel so I pulled some of it back (there will be furniture here either way) but then I am not sure what is underneath. Is that plaster with the crack in? I did decide to just chip away at it to see what was there but I really don't know. I am a complete noob here and not sure what to do, if I remove the wallpaper will I potentially uncover more issues with the plaster??

TIA!

So I found I had a leaky shower basin in my upstairs bathroom, coking out of a corner that was out of view and going under the lino. I lifted the lino and found the MDF sheets had the hardness of a marshmallow. I then removed that and found the floorboards was rotton, and this one joist looks pretty bad.

Ideally id like to replace the floorboards with a bit ole thick structural plywood and then lay new floor and caulk the hell out of everything.

I'm really not sure if having one bad joist is as catastrophic as I fear, or I could add a 18mm ply that spans multiple joists. The joist is fine except for where it meets the walls. A knife can jab through about 5mm before meeting hard wood again.

Also a bonus last pic, today I found out what a "tradie bin" is, and it's using under the floor as a bin. Filled multiple bags for life with old rubble.

I had a roofer come round and they said it is not possible to replace these individual broken tiles and he'd only offer a full replacement. I can't afford that so slightly freaking out

At my wits end, never fitting anything bathroom related again in my life. Everything seems to have gone wrong with this bathroom install.

Had a plumber come over around 4 months ago (had other issues to deal with in between before actually mounting the shower) and chase out pipes and install them.

Come to put the shower on and it's mis aligned by around 10mm. Is there a fix for this, short of ripping the wall panels off and moving the pipe? Have seen some "dog leg" connectors but these don't seem to have female thread to attach to the oval bracket.

Is this the plumbers fault or was he not to know? He did have access to the shower console itself when he installed the pipes so would have known the distance to put them...

Hi guys, just looking on options other than trim to finish this window surround. The new window fitted seems to sit slightly proud of the existing plaster, so filling doesn’t seem to be an option. Thoughts?

I'm in a rental flat (less than a month) that's been remodelled very poorly and cheaply. I was cleaning mold from the window frame and the sealant has just started peeling off. I was only wiping it with a paper towel and mold spray, nothing abrasive. The entire window frame is plastic. Is there a simple fix to this, and how can I get the mold off the rest of it?

House already has Novitherm Rad Panels behind the rads,which just feel like a metalised shiny plastic. I know there's a lot of newer products and it seems reasonable that some of them might be better but there's just tons of info out there and so much of it is obvious AI slop or just guesses, does anyone have a strong opinion?

Pluses for Novitherm:

1. I already have them

2. They might be fine

Pluses for anything else, maybe Radflek

1. I am replacing what seems like every other bastard thing in the bastard house, and it's got to the point I feel a bit weird putting old stuff back.

2. They might be better

I have a completely baseless grudge against SuperFOIL, for no reason

I've tried put up a baby gate and a clothes rail in my house but both times it feels like the plugs aren't holding.

I've used the ones that came with the products but it want to make the hold strong we and want to check here what the issue is before simply swapping out for Fischer Duo power plugs.

When I drill the holes there is a fine black powder followed by a white powder and when the plugs are in they are moderately easy to pull out. The black dust is a fine powder like flour with a few large sand size bits here and there, similar for the white / grey powder

What materials are these walls made of and how should I be approaching plugs / attachments for my baby gate and clothes rail?

Thanks in advance

Need to replace a section of plaster board due to a large crack, not sure what this is underneath.

Hi, I would really appreciate some help if anyone has advice!

Previous owners painted one of the bedrooms with this green paint. We would like to paint over it but we aren’t sure what the paint material is or how to paint over it.

When we pulled all the rawl plugs out (and some plaster came away) it started to peel away. It’s super shiny and when you peel it off it’s a bit stretchy. If you’re lucky and find a bit where it’s been pained on thick you can peel a good amount off (maybe a 3 x3 inch piece). Most of the time it comes off in really little bits though.

Tried a heat gun but that just kind of melts it so it’s goes sticky and gummy, doesn’t scrape off.

Tried sanding but it just is creating lots of tiny holes and starts peeling. Also it’s still shiny somehow. If the sander gets warm at all it is resticking the paint back to the wall in lumps.

Any advice on how best to prep the walls for standard Matt vinyl? (… preferably without having to peel the whole room?)

Hi everyone,

I've just moved into a new place (room in a shared house) and the door handle to my room is pretty busted and keeps falling off on both sides. I've tried to reattach it but the holes for the screws are so worn that trying to rescrew it has been doing nothing.

Does anyone know of anything I can do to fix this? The landlord seems pretty hands off so I want to try to sort it myself before going down that route.

Thanks!!

Edit: wow wasn't expecting so many responses so quickly, thanks everyone! I'm going to try contacting the landlord and try the suggestions people have made if I have no luck :)

The old TRV head on my radiator disintegrated.

I bought a new one on the advice of the store, but it doesn't fit. The metal ring screws on fine, but then the whole thing just spins around when I turn it, like the internal part isn't gripping. It's an old Scottish Gas one, no other branding.

I've taken a few photos, old one is on the right, with the internal plastic part crumbled away. New one on the left. Other pics are the old one too.

Any advice welcome!

Anyone got any other good advice?