Unclog a slow bathroom sink
A bathroom sink that drains slowly is almost always a hair-and-soap plug sitting just below the stopper. Here is the ten-minute fix, animated, using a £2 plastic tool instead of drain cleaner.
5 animated steps
8 guides
Around the house
Drains, toilets, walls, stuck things. The repeat offenders that cost you a call-out fee if you let them win.
Fix a toilet that keeps running
A toilet that hisses all night is wasting hundreds of litres a day, and the cause is one of only two parts. Here is the dye test and the fix, animated, in under fifteen minutes.
5 animated steps
Get a stuck ring off
The string-wrap method removes a ring that will not come off past a swollen knuckle — without cutting it. Here is the technique, animated, plus the signs that mean you should go straight to a clinic instead.
5 animated steps
Hang a picture level, first try
Stop guessing where the nail goes. The paper template trick transfers the hanger position exactly, so you drill once, in the right place, and the frame hangs straight.
5 animated steps
Bleed a cold radiator
A radiator that is hot at the bottom and cold at the top has air trapped inside. Five minutes with a small key gets the heat back — and here is the step nearly everyone forgets afterwards.
5 animated steps
Reset a tripped breaker
Half the lights are out and one switch in the box is out of line. Resetting it takes ten seconds — but resetting it the wrong way is why it trips again, and why you never find the cause.
5 animated steps
Stop a door hinge squeaking
Spraying oil at the outside of a hinge quietens it for a week. The squeak comes from the pin inside the knuckles — reach that, and it stays quiet for years.
5 animated steps
Descale a kettle
The white crust on the element is not dirt — it is rock, and it is why your kettle takes longer and longer. Vinegar dissolves it in half an hour for almost nothing.
5 animated steps