Guides
Home improvement guides
Practical, reviewed advice for planning repairs and projects, choosing the right pro and knowing what to ask before you hire.
All guides
494 guides
- Guide
Sump Pump Repair guide
A sump and pump is not standard equipment in a British house. Most homes here sit on a ground-bearing or suspended floor with no basement at all, and the pump only appears where someone has deliberately created or kept…
13 min read21 September 2026 - Guide
Water Heater Installation guide
A water heater in a British home is rarely a standalone tank in a basement. Hot water here usually comes from a combi boiler heating it on demand, from a cylinder in an airing cupboard fed by a system or regular boiler,…
11 min read14 September 2026 - Guide
Water Heater Repair guide
Most hot water complaints in British homes come down to one of four things: a combi boiler that has stopped producing hot water while the radiators still work, a cylinder that no longer gets properly hot, an immersion…
10 min read14 September 2026 - Guide
Tankless Water Heaters guide
Tankless water heater is the American name for an appliance that heats water as it flows instead of storing it. Britain sells the same idea under different names: a combi boiler, which heats the radiators and makes hot…
11 min read14 September 2026 - Guide
Tap Repair guide
Faucet repair is the American name for what Britain calls tap repair. The fittings are the same — a dripping pillar tap on a basin, a kitchen monobloc mixer that has gone stiff, a bib tap on an outside wall — and so are…
11 min read14 September 2026 - Guide
Toilet Repair guide
A British WC is a small system with a surprising amount of law attached to it. The cistern, the flush valve or siphon, the float valve, the pan, the pan connector and the soil pipe each fail in their own way, and the…
10 min read14 September 2026 - Guide
Sink Installation guide
Fitting a sink looks like one job and is really three: the bowl and its worktop cut-out, the taps and their supply, and the waste and its trap.
10 min read14 September 2026 - Guide
Shower Plumbing guide
Shower plumbing covers everything between the incoming water and the outlet: the valve, the supply arrangement that feeds it, the pump where one is fitted, the tray or enclosure waste, and the branch pipe that carries…
11 min read21 September 2026 - Guide
Bathtub Plumbing guide
Bath plumbing is the hot and cold supplies to the taps or filler, the waste and overflow assembly, the trap beneath, and the branch pipe that connects to the stack or gully.
11 min read21 September 2026 - Guide
Water Leak Detection guide
Leak detection is the job of finding water that is escaping somewhere you cannot see, before anyone starts lifting floors.
10 min read21 September 2026 - Guide
Pipe Repair guide
Pipe repair covers the water that is supposed to stay inside the pipework: a burst under a floor, a weeping joint above a ceiling, a damp patch on a wall that dries and comes back, or a supply pipe leaking somewhere…
11 min read14 September 2026 - Guide
Frozen Pipes guide
British winters are mild and then, for a fortnight, they are not. That pattern is exactly what freezes pipes here: a housing stock built on the assumption of moderate cold, with cold water storage cisterns in unheated…
12 min read21 September 2026
Ready to get started?
Tell us what you need and we’ll help you find local pros who serve your area.