Money tools in your language
11 guides
Drains, toilets, walls, stuck things. The repeat offenders that cost you a call-out fee if you let them win.
The black layer on a scorched pan is not dirt — it is oil that polymerised into varnish and then carbonised, which is why washing-up liquid does nothing. Here is what actually removes it, and what will destroy your pan.
5 animated steps
A dishwasher recirculates the same water all cycle. When the filter blocks, it stops washing food away and starts painting it back on. Ten minutes with no tools fixes most cases.
5 animated steps
A tap that drips when it is turned off has a worn seal, not a loose handle. Here is the ten-minute washer swap, animated — plus the one check that stops it dripping again a month later.
5 animated steps
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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