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Re: 1934 bungalow - rear bedroom decorated, walls skimmed and new skirts. Waiting for scotia to be fitted to seal gap between floor (10mm gap left) and skirts. When looking through this gap at floor level realised I could see daylight coming straight through from the external air brick in the outer leaf of the cavity wall. This is causing a draught into that corner of the bedroom which might be ok now but won't be in winter (and could explain why thermal imaging shows this as a cold spot). The same applies to the airbrick 2 meters along. Had raised moisture level readings in these corners of the bedroom walls but eventually gave up trying to find the cause. The airbricks appear to be venting into the cavity wall (no insulation currently) gap and below - possibly sub floor (i.e. timber frame bungalow). Can't move the airbricks but is there anything I can get to duct/redirect the air (coming in from the airbricks) to under the floorboards and between the joists ? Am I right that the air flow should be going below the floorboards? Am I right to be worried in that this could cause serious damp issues. Although the gaps will seen be sealed, due to the constant hammering with winter draughts it is just a temporary fix and I will soon be faced with a more serious damp problem. Is this right? And if so what can I do? Would be glad of any advice at all and thanks a lot in advance.

Good day sir/Madam, I made a complaint about a trader (Alexander buildings Ltd) who did a job for me and left me with a faulty underfloor heating. I have arranged with him for a partial refund of £3.500 which he promised he was going to pay up by the end of April. End of April came and went and not a penny from him. He texted and asked for a week of grace which has come and gone, still hasn't paid. We are at the end of the month of May and have not heard from him. Can you please act as a mediator between us please. First of foremost, could you please suspend his account as you did the last time. Attached to this email is the agreement made by both of us which he hasn't honourned. I will also file a claim at a small claims court now. Please could you let me know your next line of action. Thanks for your assistance. Kind regards Emeka Ezekude

An internal wall seems to have holes in it. Access is difficult because it's above the boiler in the cupboard under the stairs. Do I need to repair it?

We have a fire pit made of concrete and the top has delaminated. We live near the coast and the weather in winter is not harsh. We also have a concrete water feature that has remained unaffected. What causes concrete to delaminate?

Hi i need a fether edge fence at the back, looking for the best quote

The homeowner completely ignored me

I have used a rated people builder and want to leave a review

I would like to request a general all round experienced builder with his own team of qualified and experienced tradesmen.

I need to reassess my figures but cannot find the edit job button.

Hi, I have recently had a garage built within permitted development guidelines, but it was built very close to the maximum size allowed under permitted development. I understand this means I cannot build anything else, as I have used up my "allowance" of permitted development, so to speak. But my garden shed (left by the previous owners) is rotting away and ideally needs replacing. In my garden there is still the foundation of the old outdoor toilet, so now I am wondering if I would be able to rebuild the walls and put on a new roof. The permitted development guidelines don't make this very clear. I understand for definite, that if the toilet walls had never been knocked down, I would still have been allowed to build my garage to the maximum size, as allowance is based on everything built after the original building(s) but seeing as they have been taken down (though two courses remain) does this change anything? Would rebuilding need planning permission, even if I used the original foundation to build it to its original dimensions? The toilet outbuilding shows on the plans/paperwork I received when buying the house if that changes anything. Thanks.

Hi Everyone, I'm looking for some advice on how best to fill these external cracks / gaps on the front of my 1950's Semi-Detached property. There is an 8 inch vertical crack in the top corner of the concrete / cement (?) around the window. There is also a much thinner vertical crack in the pebble dashing render; and a gap between the two sections of the concrete / cement (?) window sill directly above this. I do have pictures of these which would probably provide more clarity... if I can work out how to post them on here. I'm reasonably competent with DIY when I have clear instructions but don't often know the right terminology. Someone recommended using epoxy cement but I've got a bit lost looking at the array of products and ended up down a rabbit hole on You Tube. Any advice would be very gratefully received.

A company on your site is about to be struck off, can you remove their reviews please

Our neighbour has drilled a vent through the cavity wall in his kitchen and now we are getting a toxic smell in our small bedroom. My question is could the smell travel right round the cavity wall from his kitchen, which is at the back of the house, into our bedroom which is at the front of our house. The houses are ex council built in the 1950's

We would like to know how much a downstairs toilet cost please we live I the coronation style building

Less than a year ago I had 3 rooms knocked into 1. The floors were different levels and mostly tiled. Part of the job was to level the floors. The builder did this and found a concreted over manhole. During works they had to move the waste pipe so uncovered the manhole. They concreted the whole floor then put a latex floor over the top and vinyl flooring. A few months after the flooring started to bubble up, significantly concentrated over the area where the manhole is. The bubbling got bigger and has spread and the floor needs replacing. I’ve been asking my builder and the floor supplier to come and remedy it for months to no avail. In my hours of googling I have learnt that when you latex over concrete the concrete should be left to dry before the latex for 7-14 days. Looking back at photos of the build they only left 4 days inbetween. I can’t find what the consequences are of not letting the concrete dry properly are? Could it have caused cracks in the concrete & now gases are leaking up from the manhole and warping the flooring? I’ve put a methane detector under the flooring but didn’t get a reading. Also the problem is very much concentrated in 1 quadrant of the floor though it is gradually spreading outwards. There is one quadrant that is wooden underneath the rest concrete, 2 of the concrete quadrants are what the builder did whilst levelling the floors, 1 was pre-existing concrete. If anyone can offer advice or recommendations for how I can get what’s gone wrong clarified & remedied I’d be very grateful!