All Activity

First thing out of the box is the trusty laser. Saved my arse soooooooooo many times. Hopefully the return coving will be perfectly acceptable, and you'll need to fast-forward to a year from now when you (actually) no longer even look at it. Too many people get utterly lost in these micro-details, and then come 12 months later, life has returned to normal, and these things are of zero consequence anymore.

Oil and water. You should see my streaky doors where I did not manage to fully remove all the old, oil based, paint. I love the modern water based glosses, but hate the sanding down to bare wood, and then a bit more, before application.

You shouldn't be mixing water based and oil based products. Have you sought professional advice before proceeding?

Sorry to be a stick in the mud, but your electrician will not thank you for doing this, and it may deter some. You will need to size the appliances, so for my current client I have pulled 1x 10mm T&E for the hob, 1x 6mm T&E for the large double oven, 1x 4mm T&E for the smaller oven, 1x 2,5mm T&E for the fixed microwave (you cannot plug a fixed microwave into a socket, it must have its own cable and its own RCBO), 2x 2.5mm T&E for kitchen ring, and have sized the CU according to the total number of circuits required for the whole house. PLEASE get input from your chosen electrician, as you're just flying blind and will likely just waste time and money vs saving it. They should be happy to let you do some of the 'donkey work' especially if they are busy, but THEY must tell you what to run as you are quite a far way off with what you're typing out here....sorry again.

The amount of debris you can generate per sqM is insane. I did the vaulted side to gain back the space as it was curved top and bottom and like 80mm thick and filled with rusted mesh. Whole thing was brutal, won't be doing that again.

I'm painting my kitchen cupboard doors using a Wagner 250M airless sprayer. I used an oil based primer and sanded down before painting. I'm using a water based paint: Zinsser All Coat Satin (watered down 5%). I'm finding the face of the cupboards adhere nicely, but the paint is separating on the edges (see pics). Any ideas what could be causing this?

I can't see any reason it would be a problem on the back, but the front is usually taped (with foil tape) across boards and timbers to create the vapour barrier; this negates installing a dedicated VB. Working in a lath and plaster filled house currently (for my sins methinks) and I wholeheartedly agree.

i think your letter at the moment is still too open and almost offering them an immediate route out by them simply replying to say the foundations will be shallower than yours. I would simply say in the letter that the Party Wall Act applies as their planning approval shows they intend to build at or adjacent to the boundary between your properties. Your letter is to put them on notice that complying with the Party Wall Act is a legal requirement. Including the link to the act is excellent because it shows you are trying to be helpful. (Presumably you have the planning application with planning drawings and approval documents which LA's usually publish online. You can also normally check online to see whether they have registered a Building Notice which is required before works begin. Sometimes people are very ignorant, sometimes they may be aware but have decided to rail road their way through. Sometimes people may have looked for builders, found the work more expensive than expected, or had builders ask if they have a Party Wall Agreement in place, etc, then gravitated to a cheaper builder offering to just get it done, no questions asked etc. Our neighbours didn't even understand that you can't build over a gas supply pipe. You are doing the right thing in thinking about the issues and what you will or will not accept. I would also recommend sounding out local Party Wall Surveyors now in case you need to appoint one. When you receive the Party Wall Notices from the neighbour there is only a 14 day period to agree or appoint a Party Wall Surveyor and 14 days is a short period to find a PWS from scratch when you are busy working during the week and they are closed at weekends. Our neighbour completely ducked the route of agreeing something with us using standard letters etc and went straight to a PWS and then we got notices through the post out of the blue. In our rush we made the mistake of appointing a PWS that turned out to be quite young - 30ish. The neighbours PWS knew him, actually told us he was still learning the job and that he was 'training him', and effectively bulldozed him on some issues. Look for an experienced PWS that shows he can act assertively in your interest. All PWS costs have to be paid by the neighbour including yours.

SSE used to fit them by default so for a while it was more likely you would find one of these than no isolator. The smart meter killed that, as short sightedness means no isolator built in.

Even if Mac unified memory and iPhone RAM aren’t identical final packages, they come from the same constrained LPDDR supply chain. Apple then has to allocate that supply across products, and iPhone will obviously take priority over niche high-memory Mac configs.

Sure, I just thought it was interesting to highlight.

TSMC doesn’t make RAM, no one said they do. TSMC is the SoC bottleneck. The RAM shortage is a separate bottleneck, and Apple clearly isn’t immune. Other manufacturers have openly said memory shortages are affecting them, and Cook has said Mac mini / Mac Studio supply-demand balance will take several months. High-memory Mac mini / Studio configs are also exactly where the worst delays and unavailable options have shown up. There are also multiple reports suggesting the memory shortage could last well into 2027 and possibly beyond, especially as AI demand keeps soaking up supply. So pointing out that TSMC doesn’t make RAM doesn’t disprove the RAM issue; it just identifies a different bottleneck.

id have to take the plaster and lath off in places. I took it all off in the vaulted section and quite frankly im never doing that again in my life. Ive tested cutting the 50mm between 2 lengths of timber and i can reduce the depth, but the question is should i, as id be losing the foil on the "inner" side.

Thanks very much for the replies. The house has been refurbished and this is where the garage was, so imagine the ceiling is following some of the original joists when boarding. We're on a very tight timeline now so could have done without this. Wardrobes are dead level. Thanks for the detail on the return for the coving - that is what we plan to do; It is working out who can actually cut the coving away, as we are on a very tight timeline. The coving guy says he can finish the end with the return detail and that will look more intentional. Agree with Mr Punter about the infill to the ceiling. I think that is what they will do. Frustrating with all planning involved.

And measurements.

It's very tempting to avoid any friction, but you di have to deal with it. The formal letter could be simpler I think.. if they are hard of reading it might just be binned. I believe your proposed works come under the PWA and you could cease all works and commence the PWA process up to you, but certainly get formal now. The friendliness, if you must, can be that you say your insurer requires that you send them this letter. They are liable for all PWA costs and the surveyor is impartial. You pay nothing and do not have to concede land, access, anything. The letter needs to be addressed really to them and dated. And you need proof of delivery so probably recorded delivery. You'll never be friends with them, but they will know not to mess with you. The consequences of not doing this would be much worse. Ohhh. And take lots of photos ASAP of the existing situation. I'm talking of 30 not 3.. from all angles and with closeups.

Some suppliers rolled them out I recall but then stopped due to cost. Less money for the shareholders I guess.

Omg! Far too many years dealing with heavy power and never seen one of those meters with a disconnect - would have saved me countless hours with insulated drivers and juggling live tails - then again it’s all been industrial stuff so most work was done live.

are you in a hard water area ? with no softening treatment on the supply something else to consider -as it could scale up your boiler over time ask your heating engineer

The white thing with a screwdriver slot. Push in with a flat blade screwdriver and turn 90 degrees to the right. the "1" in the window should change to a "0" It is then safe to remove the terminal cover by unscrewing the flat head screw. You usually find under the first cover is a second cover protecting the still live incoming terminals. I think it is a real shame this isolator switch facility was mot included with the design of smart meters.

Time to drop anchor and grind them to a halt. Sounds like they need a bit of bringing down to earth, along with the boisterous builder. If this is how they begin, christ knows how difficult / arrogant they'll be as they get comfortable.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/apple-may-take-several-months-to-catch-up-to-mac-mini-and-studio-demand/ Interestingly it mentions TSMC being a bottleneck. TSMC doesn't make RAM.

Cant you get the 50mm in there? Recess it where necessary etc.

In that case, all guns blazing!

I tried to start the conversation with them and they didn’t want to know. I was eyeballed by the owner just asking simple questions about what’s taking place and when speaking with the builder. They said nothing. She pulled him away, he was ready to start. ( how dare me ask questions) I didn’t bite but friendly and less formal is out the window already 👍🏻