Damp, creaky floorboards and broken loo

[Greeneyesbigbottom]

I'm busy compiling another list of jobs that need to be done in my Victorian terrace.

Although I had some damp proofing work done over a year ago there is no more damp in the far corner of the house upstairs and down! I think the chimney rendering needs replacing as from what I can see, its coming loose and water is probably running behind it. Who do I call? A builder?

I also have extremely creaky floorboards all along my landing which need nailing down. This will obviously include carpet re-fit. Who do I call? A carpenter?

I also have a problem with the toilet, as it keeps constantly refilling after flushing, unless I manually pull the little scoop thing up. I cant afford to pay a plumber £50 for doing something that I can prob fix myself? How?

I'm on limited budget, where do I start?

[AMumInScotland]

Not sure about the damp, but a general builder would probably be the best person to get in to look - if it's a specialist job, he'll probably say Oh no you need to call a xxxx for that!

Best thing to do with floorboards is to screw them rather than nail them - it's not a bad DIY job if you're up for it?

Toilet - take off the cistern lid and watch while you flush it and it refills. If it keeps on filling with water, it's probably a fault with the ballcock - the big float on an arm. When the float bobs back up at the top of the water, it should be shutting off a valve, and stopping the water from coming in. It might be not floating, in which case you probably need a replacement ballcock. Or the valve may not be shutting properly - some jiggling about may help with that. Ours tends to go to a slow trickle/drip when its in a bad mood, and we've had to wedge a bit of folded plastic in to make sure it pushes the valve properly.

HTH

[moogalicious]

Damp in corners could be condensation. We have this problem in our victorian house and in the previous victorian flat we owned. Not sure how to remedy (sorry), perhaps borrow a dehumidifier to see if that sorts it before calling a builder? Ours in worse in the winter and I just ventilate the rooms and scrub the mould off the walls when it occurs.

[DilysPrice]

There are web guides to basic plumbing jobs, or you could borrow the Big Collins Book of DIY from the library - maybe a good investment to get your own copy. Loo definitely sounds like something you could fix yourself with a bit of research (DH did a similar job himself with no prob).