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?

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

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.

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).