Home Design Guides: Plumbing, Maintenance

Need some help with plumbing? Got a leak and not sure what to do? Don't panic - here's some quick how to handle various different sorts of plumbing emergencies.

A gas leak is serious business - and is extremely dangerous anywhere in your home. Find out what steps to take if you suspect there is a gas leak inside your home.

Most of the time, if a tap in your home is leaky, dripping or hard to close it's the result of a broken washer. While it's possible that your leaking tap's a 'washerless' tap (i.e. one with a ball, cartridge or ceramic disc mechanism - see the 'Types of taps' article linked below), it's a lot less likely that these taps will be leaking like this. You can usually tell if you have a ceramic disc type tap because it'll only need a quarter or half turn to fully open the tap.

Blocked drains in your kitchen are no fun - but thankfully they're not too difficult to deal with. Read our guide on how to unblock a drain and save yourself from a watery disaster.

A blocked toilet can be an awful thing, and knowing the right way to unblock one can prevent a bad situation from becoming much, much worse...

There are few things that will ruin a barbecue as quickly as an exploding gas tank... Find out how to ensure that your barbecue is safe and properly maintained.

While it normally takes a licensed plumber to fix more serious issues with your pipes and plumbing, there are a few things you can do to fix minor issues and keep things running the way they should. Maintaining your plumbing system means looking a