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How about celebrating the fact you cannot get a signal, sit back and enjoy the silence and lack of interruption?

Wow, I cannot believe its 4 months since the last blog entry. Life has just been busy, busy, busy and for a while, there didnt seem to be much to report, even though we have been busy. The bedrooms have been plastered and painted, skirting fixed and the bedrooms doors have been bought and are awaiting fixing. The best thing was finally gettitng the bathroom fitted. Its been a while since we had a working loo and while the 'portaloo' in the cellar was adequate, the new one is fab! Fist we had to rebuild the walls which was a shame as the middle room has looked great with all that space. Then we addede 9mmply (I think) which covered all the chipboard joins and gave it rigidity. Sealed with pva and screwed down. Although there are joins on the left hand side, these are going to be under the units and bath so we arent worried about them. The main part is all one for the lino to cover. The bath was one of the smallest we could find, 150cm long and we extended the side wall into the middle room to fit it in without having to dig into the exterior wall to fit it in, although fitting it was a PITA. AS always, the OH soon had it all fittd and I could start the tiling. having looked round at showrooms, we went for couple of vertical mosiacs, one opp the loo so you can see your relection!, and the other above the bath, along the shower line. They look smart although I did have some issues as they are a thinner tile than the rest and it took a bit of time to get it right. The loo was a bit of a pain as we didnt really have many options for its location due to the plumbing already in place, but then we had to get the waste through the floor avoiding the floori beams, which of course were directly where he wanted to go. So he had to use a side bendy thing to mive the waste a few inches to the left. Its not perfect but it works and once the sink was in, it was not too noticable. We're quite pleased with the final look - sorry about the photo's - its hard to get a decent picture of such a small room. But its almost finished, just a couple of little touch ups with the sealant and a glass screen. Even the radiator is up and running. still needs a door! but a curtain works for now. Upstairs the walls were plastered and painted and I'm very pleased with the look. The lounge has also been done and the ceiling repaired from the foot through it - you cant see where it happened. Am very happy with the plasterers apart from the mess they make! I spent a couple of hours cleaning the stairs, ready for painting the edge, only for the OH to paint the walls and not bother cleaning off the excess off the wood, so I had to do it all over again! But after filling and rubbing down the wood, I have undercoated the sides of the stairs ready for the final coat and the carpet. Its not briliant but as the wood is probably over a hundred years old, the buyer will have to accept the odd bump and crack that I couldnt cover. Here are before and after shots. So what else? Here's the lounge with the lights fitted and working. the skirting is cut and just needs to be fixed and I ahve the coving to put up - going for a polyeuythene one from Screwfix which had excellent reviews as its very lightweight and easy to cut. I shall let you know how it goes as i have ever done coving before. We had a chap in yesterday to come up with a plan for the kitchen. As it is such as small space, we wanted to get some ideas to add to the layout that we have come up with. We have gone for Howdens as they are very reasonably priced and they have a sale on now so hopefully we can get a really good price. But thats for the next blog post - I'll have finished the garden wall then too so more photo's. Its all coming together now but still seems to be taking ages to get to that finishing line. I guess we'll ge there, when we get there, no good rushing and making a mess.

Similar to the secretary and her lost pencil joke.

Reminds me of the old waste oil heater I had in a car workshop, years ago. That didn't have a fan, but burnt used sump oil. They were in common use in garages and workshops for years, I think, mine was already installed in the workshop when we rented it. It was a tall, cylindrical affair, that would start on paraffin (or petrol if you were brave) and then when up to temperature would just vaporise old engine oil from a drip feed. Turned up to maximum it could get the top glowing red hot............... I hate to think what the emissions must have been like. The flue was just a metal pipe out through the corrugated tin roof, and was probably kicking out every toxin known to man.

Well the Planning application went in yesterday ! (shake shake) Keep your fingers crossed for me guys! and thanks for ALL your help and examples ...If it sails through it will be 50% down to the help on here ... ...now......the wait

If you could PM me your details, I will look into the warranty for you. I know someone in KBSA through whom the warranty is set up. He might be able to help.

It may be obvious but start at the ceilings and work down. As above we put up a temporary platform over the stair well and moved it lower as we worked down. This is where every self builder needs his own scaffold of a scaffold platform. You also need a pair of dead men, or a plasterboard hoist to make life easier (we are just using the dead men)

I did both as well. BPC provided a template for MVHR balancing. For water consumption, I found an on-line calculator and just picked my equipment from the drop-down lists (or nearest equivalent). http://www.thewatercalculator.org.uk/default.asp Number of occupants is also required to drive the calculation. A tip - if you have multiple taps or showers or baths of the same type you need only enter them once, the calculation is then driven by number of occupants.

Not an option but opinion - I'd probably chip out the concrete 20mm - shouldn't be too tricky - slice with a Stihl or grinder with diamond blade (have someone vacuum as you go and possibly spray water on) and then use an SDS on hammer with a wide chisel tip to chip it all out. Presumably your frame will be around 100mm depth?

Yeah i think thats got to be the next step. I'd say a good 80% of the time it must be westerly, however we did smell it quite often last year in the front (nearest to them), so this may not necessarily be the case.

Sounds good! Plaster boarding is pretty rewarding as you say, you really start to get a feel for rooms. We got a bit inventive for our lightwell and staircase and built out a temporary platform. Might be an option?

So sorry to hear about this mate. Always put atleast £100 on a card and you are protected. If you have paid by debit card, you may still have some recourse. Check with your bank. As I understand it, you can notify the insolvency practitioners of your purchase. There should be signage on their doors with information. If you cant find it, I will get it off the local Intoto studio and send it to you. PM me. You will become a creditor to the company but what you may some of your money back but this could take months or even years. The German kitchen industry suffers from overcapacity and the writing has been on the wall for Alno for some years. Dont shy away from German kitchens. There are still a lot of very very solid companies out there. If you need more info PM me.

That's absolutely rotten. It might not necessarily make a huge difference, but worth contacting your MP to see if they can do anything when it comes to paying creditors even if just raise the profile of your case with 'someone'? We bought from Wren - I'd highly recommend - and ended up taking their finance deal which is interest free until next year - suited us as it keeps this years cash for other things. I quizzed them a lot on it - aside from deposit (Which we put on credit card), the finance doesn't kick in until the kitchen is delivered and we've signed to say we were happy. It worked like clockwork (as did everything with Wren tbh), and two days after taking delivery, we got a note through from the finance company that the finance had started. We ordered in March and finance didn't start until mid-May. Hope that maybe helps in terms of a possible option? For any other future self builders, it's something worth starting well in advance of anything - build up a portfolio of credit cards and get decent credit limits on them - can prove very useful.

If you can get the paint off it then give it a coat of Jenolite to convert the rust. Decent metal primer over the top and a coat of masonry paint should be ok. Don’t use Hammerite as nothing sticks to it so you’ll end up with a stripe on each piece that will make it look worse. This normally happens where external scuffing has occurred so just make sure the render and corner bead aren’t damaged.

Rockwell Firepro does what it says on the tin...well tube at any rate! It's cheap too. You can also get it in gallon tubs for trowelling in. I've used this commercially. Most "names" offer 4/5 hour fire resistance but some claim better flexibility than others, different expansion rates or failure temperatures. See what it claims to stick too as well in relation to what you are doing. Some double up as acoustic sealants - all good for complying with Part E! Have a look too at Everbuild / Sika stuff. Firemate or Tecnic 300. (Don't think they come in tubs though). Don't think I've used a bad Everbuild product yet as an aside. With whatever check the BS & ISO numbers, the more the merrier but after Grenfell??? These 3 specifically state for use on "cables" - some don't and you're left guessing. But...most of them state a limitation that it shouldn't be used where it might come into contact with plasticisers that have leeched (out of the cables). To be fair that's not the problem it was with modern cables but be aware of old stuff.

Yes. you would not believe the number of pencils I have lost carefully distributed around the house for use later. I suffer just as much as anyone else with forgetting where I put a tool. Often I will walk off to get something, not realising something is already in my hand, and that something gets put down where I collect the item I have gone for, but of course I forget that. What I find does help is to actually say to yourself (out loud if needed) "I am putting the tape measure on the window cill" etc. Then you have a slightly better chance of remembering where it is.

Let me help the relevant official at the relevant department draft a response to the very sensible question posed by the member above. We are working with our partners and others towards a resolution of this complex problem. We are mindful that many people derive a good deal of wheezy pleasure staring into their log-burners at the end of a long hard day chopping wood and scavenging skips. It is our contention , based on scientific evidence provided to us by Quinetic and the Association of Log Burning Fanatics, that it is not the burning of the wood that causes the problem, rather the burning of the volatile compounds such as paint and asbestos adhering to the wood that cause the problem. Given this complex mix of claim and counter-claim, we intend to proceed on an evidence-lite basis. Accordingly we intend to examine this matter in Royal Commission which is tasked to report in January 2100. Until then, we advise caution in this matter. It is therefore imperative that people who own wood burners in inner cities should put aside at least one bedroom in which they should hoard any wood that they find, keeping it as wet as possible to dampen volatility.

I've never 'lost' any tools from site, but I have gained some and hundreds of nails and screws.

Well we are one of the unlucky customers who it would seem have lost everything. No Kitchen & No Deposit back as this was transferred to Alno U.K. and not done via credit card. We didn't have a £10,000 limit on a card !! I understand a few in-toto studio franchise owners are helping clients and maybe switching to new suppliers but ours in Oadby, Leicester simply shut shop, no notification, no email or phone call to explain, Nothing ! I have contacted the Administrators and as usual nothing back from them !! Have been here before so we are expecting nothing!! Alno Germany are in the toilet and Alno UK have ceased (which is in-toto HQ in Leeds) so good luck to those customers who are getting some help from other studio outlets but overall the whole of in-toto is finished. We will have to source an alternative but I will stick to a UK manufacturer as there are so many German Kitchen companies going to the wall at the moment. (Plus it will have to be slightly less in quality as we simply don't have the budget anymore!!). Now looking for a high limit credit card as we will only put deposits down with that source of payment. We have learnt a very expensive lesson and to be quite honest have lost faith in self build suppliers. We do hope others get help as this has knocked us for six !!!!!