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Ever ever, say it’s just the skirting and architraves to do before the carpets again. Kill me, just kill me. I’ve been on it all weekend and I’ve still a few hours to go before driving to London tonight. At least we got the fire lit!

Traditionally you would be looking at cedar shingles if you wanted a timber roof. If instead of shingles you want to use cedar planks as a roof finish the timber will end up just being for 'decorative' purposes because you like the look of it. There will need to be a metal roof skin or plastic single ply membrane roof below with standing seams to which you fix timber battens to which in turn you fix your timber planks. Ive used this kind of roof build-up on several commercial builds but never with timber planking as the final finish. eg this roof system can easily be overlaid using timber planking: https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/insulated-panel-systems/roof-panel-systems/slate-tile-support-roof-panels-ks1000-ts

I'd be wary of simply refusing to pay, and getting someone else in. I think you have to offer them the opportunity to rectify. I'd be inclined to say you've inspected the work, list all the problems, give them 7 days before you get the LA roads guy out to inspect the standard of their 'approved work'. If they refuse / fail to rectify to the right standard, that's when you revert to another contractor to sort it out.

Just ignore him, give an inch and he’ll take a mile.

And so is born the 'reasonably robust man' test.

Finally!! At last there seems to be light at the end of the renovation tunnel. We had planned to have the house finished and up for sale by spring 2017 but that did not happen. Then the deadline was summer but no such luck , everything seems to take twice as long to do than planned. But at last we are nearing the finish line. The kitchen arrived at the end of October from Howdens and I thought we'd have it all fitted within a couple of weeks. Yet here we are nearing the end of November and its still not finished. Its half in but we cannot fit the breakfast bar and units till the flooring is done. We decided to keep the kitchen tiles for two reasons. A - they arent too bad - slate tiles which do clean up quite well and B - I tried taking one up and it was a nightmare. They have been concreted in, with underfloor wiring. So I agreed that we would keep them. However, that meant there were a couple of places where our new units did not match the position of the old ones and we needed some extra tiles to fill in. I found some similar tiles at Topps Tiles which should be fine. Apparently the slate tile is quite 'on trend' so it just shows that old things eventually become trendy and are worth keeping. ( I wonder if it applies to the OH??) This is the old kitchen before we took out the wall on the right hand side. That was half of the kitchen with a large range cooker taking up the other side. The breakfast bar is going where the old house wall was, which was taken out and replaced with rsj's. Once the rest of the wall was removed, we were left with a large hole as well as a lump of concrete. We worked out where the units were going and using an angle grinder, we took out the excess concrete so I could add the tiles. This was a really dusty job which the OH was not happy about doing but after covering everything up with sheets, as he cut, I hoovered up as much dust as I could and it wasnt as bad as we thought. But then when the units were placed in position, we'd got it wrong and we had to cut some more out! The OH was not impressed but in fact it only took half an hour and I had the area all cleaned up and ready for tiling. Unfortunatly that was when I came down with the flu bug which has meant no work for nearly a week, and then we are away for a few days at the weekend so its into another week before I can get the tiling done. Thats the way its been and why the renvation is taking much longer than planned. But never mind! We are getting there slowly. So here is the kitchen to date. The new sink and tap has been plumbed in and the oven (Ikea) and induction hub (Howdens) are in and working. Two sections of the Rustic Oak worktop are in place but now he is waiting for me to get back to work and get the additional tiles in place so he can add the breakfast bar units and top. The single unit on the right faces into the middle room and next to it will be a 700mm wall unit under the worktop and accessed from the main kitchen side. These units are where the wall was and it makes the kitchen much bigger. The compromise is that the breakfast bar takes space from the middle room but we think the kitchen was the important part and it does give much more storage than it ever had. The OH has been quite impressed by the Howdens units. The quality and fit have been very good and there have been some improvements made since the last kitchen we bought, ten years ago. Okay, it is not a top quality kitchen but we are very happy with it. Little things are much better. For example, the small bits of metal that support the shelves now have a little sticky up bit which locks the shelf in place so it does not slide out. And the legs were much better to fit and adjust than the old ones. The only issue occurred when he went to fit the legs onto the drawer unit (far left) and realised that the base had been put on upside down so the holes were actually inside the carcass. I rang the lcoal store and explained the problem but they did not seem to believe me (a mere woman - what would I know!!) and decided to send out a sales rep to see what the problem was. He turned up within the hour and was very good in arranging a replacement the following day once he agreed withour diagnosis. And we got to keep the old one as it was of no use to them - it would be impossible to turn the base round without damaging the unit. So all we need now are some drawer fronts and we have another drawer unit for free. In the rest of the house, the carpets and doors have been fitted to the bedrooms and stairs. The rest of the house has been plastered and I have been busy getting the garden sorted. We had pushed the garden back in front of the house to give ample room for sitting but I wanted to create a proper wall and border (I am a gardener after all). So I installed concrete foundations, then a twin wall using concrete blocks at the back and reclaimed bricks from the house. It took a lot of work but I am very pleased with the result. I did think that as the bricks were all odd sorts and colours we may have to paint the wall but it looks brilliant as it is. And we got the concrete blocks from a skip in BIcester so the only materials were the sand, cement and the coping stones for the top. I have used driveway pavers for the lawn edge and have now planted up the border. The only job now is to level the lawn and re seed where necessary. By the time we come to sell - probably in January or February now, it should all have settled in and the bulbs I have planted will be coming up - snowdrops and Narcissis. So what is left to do - finish the kitchen, clean and tile the kitchen floor, lots of odds and ends with CT1 and Filler, much painting, finish the coving in the lounge and then lay the bamboo flooring. Not much at all......

You may be right but we initially had Equitone as the cladding and the scheme was specified with UV facade underneath it. The build up came from a design of a house in Guildford although we also look at an EPDM undersheet. So anybody thinking of using it should check.

? If you find your shoulders start to ache and your backs getting stiffer by the minute, "your doing it right" Crack on !

Am sure you won't be standing on the truss doing it using your ninja skills so if any falls it will hit the planks/sheets you will be standing on.

The Tata steel one is a square profile that we are using via Catnic

My BIL in Queensland is called Bruce. The first time we went, he met us as the airport. I had never met him before. My nightmare was going up to the person I thought was him and asking "are you Bruce?" in my English accent.

I pay 1.75 per tube

Another mate had to in the last few years re-dig his long drop w/c. No mains water either just a bfo catch tank on stilts, pump and rudimentary filter. Think I posted pics back on eBuild. How about making into two "sheds" in different positions on the plot? You really can't keep "as is"?

Catching up, this is the Makita Stealth Holdall. About £20 for the holdall and £4 for the vinyl spray. Turquoise no longer.

Mmmmmmm......sausage. ?

Now why did you choose this system Ian

Correct. As suggested by my chippy. And total cost was just under my £100/metre budget

Up to date photos with the protective films off :-) The lights are collingwood led lytes centred on the doors to add texture when the main lights are off.

Do not be tempted to use the softwood sleepers sold in most BM or garden centres they will rot away as soon as your back is turned.

I agree with the above comments. And add; do be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling them. I'll explain why if you like: just trust me.

We opted for a packaged ASHP and pre-plumbed cylinder. I let the ASHP heat all our DHW (to 50C), stored in a 300 litre cylinder. Over the 9 months that it has been operating, we have returned a CoP of 2.4 for DHW and just under (sometimes over) 4 for heating. I initially considered preheating DHW using the ASHP and topping up via immersion, but after working it out, concluded there wasn't any financial saving doing so - what you save on ASHP running costs, you spend on direct electric. Living in a coastal climate, we experience our fair share of damp and wet conditions. Our ASHP does occasionally go into defrost if it's trying to recharge the whole cylinder, but doesn't seem to have to when only recharging a partial draw off (say after a single shower). Our pattern of use is such that there is generally a fair gap between DHW being drawn off. I also let our DHW recharge according to a set DHW thermistor temperature drop of 9C rather than a timed early morning / evening schedule. Using an ASHP can work.

Are you sure it's dead? I often fall asleep in the bath .

You're telling this to a man who drilled thru his footings with one for the new water main! Never thought it would end! Even with the home made extension bar:

@Russell griffiths A couple of extra thoughts with regard to metal roof sheets is to - make sure you design the roof so that you can span from ridge to eaves using a single sheet to avoid the potential corrosion and leak issue inherent in trying to joint the roof sheets mid-span. - penetrations through the metal roof sheets for things like flues and vents can be awkward to detail and construct properly so best avoided if at all possible.

Just sell your Marita one on eBay. Then buy one of these. People will walk straight past it http://cpc.farnell.com/ryobi/utb02/tool-bag/dp/SG33210?CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-GEN-SHOPPING-RYOBI-SG33210&gross_price=true&mckv=sGsLwpB8p_dt|pcrid|72935623697|kword||match||plid||pid|SG33210|&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuZ3rp6GQ1wIVwZ0bCh0kVwVbEAQYAiABEgJjBfD_BwE

Well that took a LOT longer than expected. I shan't bore you with writing the details of all the balls ups I had with getting the rest of the slates I needed but finally the back is slated. Now It's just the little mono pitch to slate, lead work, ridge, cast the cils, fit the windows and doors and I will be officially watertight ?