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How on earth can I have been "brainwashed", and who exactly was responsible for doing this? I was prohibited from membership of, or supporting, any political party for 35 years. I've remained staunchly apolitical. IIRC I'm still prohibited from any political activity until later this year, 10 years after my retirement date, although I've no intention of ever being associated with any political party, anyway. Just like anyone else, I have opinions, largely based on experience of working within government for most of my working life, but frankly I don't have much time for politicians of any flavour. In my view they are all pretty much as self-centred and bad as each other. I've only known one politician in my life who was a decent, caring, human being, who genuinely cared about his constituents, and that was David Penhaligon.

Change your target. NOTHING has to be "finished" to move in. We moved in with: Kitchen diner functioning with cheap temporary worktop and sink (later moved to the utility room) Floor laid, walls plastered and painted, no finishings, no skirting etc. Rest of downstairs just bare OSB floor and walls. Utility room washing machine and tumble dryer connected but room just bare OSB Stairs in but temporary hand rails Upstairs bedrooms plastered and painted, no carpets, no skirtings. Bathroom just about finished, en-sute not even started. NO DOORS or even door frames on ANY rooms. Bathroom and bedrooms had very temporary cardboard doors to give a little privacy. Heating and hot water functioning, but only the kitchen / diner had the UFH pipes laid. We then carried on building it around us.

I always use clear CT1 to do the fundamental sealing, for waterproofing etc, wiped back to the point it’s not noticeable, and then apply the most minimal bead of silicone I can get away with. Silicone doesn’t last much more than 5 years or so, after being wiped / cleaned etc, so I treat silicone as a sacrificial, cosmetic seal rather than the fundamental and cosmetic seal this chap seems intent on creating in one go. A good video for ‘DIY / daily drivers’ but not what I do. The last thing you want is for silicone to get a hairline gap and start letting water in constantly, whilst you carry on bathing / showering x times a day and the water is merrily soaking into the house structure for the duration, undetected. I’ve done loads of insurance jobs where the room looks immaculate but the studwork and plasterboard are completely turned to mulch. That’s been solely down to tiny amounts of water being absorbed by the fabric of the house, day in day out, over a number of years. One job where I could literally just squeeze the 4x2 and wring it like a sponge. Two bathrooms back to back so the bath hid the leak from the en-suite shower until the downstairs ceiling eventually gave up the fault. Finished that job on a new years eve, ( just as their guests were arriving I was getting shown out via the ‘staff exit’ ), and not even a cold beer or king prawn in breadcrumbs made it in my direction. ?

Make sure she can walk from the car to the house in her favourite shoes. And not scowl at you.

You can't keep blaming Mrs T. How come the labour governments after her did not stop right to buy and did not build more council houses?

Using some quality cable made all the difference to the poor signal from my loft aerial.....WF100 / CT100 grade of cable and not the standard stuff sold in DIY stores:- (other colours also available) https://www.aerialsandtv.com/product/black-cable https://www.aerialsandtv.com/knowledge/cable-connectors-and-leads/the-three-main-types-of-coax-cable#copper-foil-satellite-grade-cable

+1 on aerialsandtv. I went with a specific Band A Yagi here in the end. Vastly superior to the "WB", wideband tat you get from the DIY sheds. If you're in a weak or fringe area I'd go band specific everytime. Just check what your transmitter puts out. Mind I've made a few aerials along the way. My favourite is the corner reflector/ trough antenna. Still got 2 neighbours running on these that I made, one in sheet ali and one in galv mesh. Can integrate well on a gable end with just the top and bottom "wings" and dipole visible. Windage can be a problem. The ones I've done are horizontally polarized to suit the transmitter. I'm unfortunate being at the lowest elevation of all of us. My Yagi is on a pole about 100' from the house if not more.

Agreed, but I was more than impressed by these Quinetic stuff. Utterly faultless and a fantastic solution. I use them to put light switches inside bathrooms ( like on the reverse of a free-standing bath ) to switch between main and feature ‘relaxation’ lighting whilst taking a dip. Last place I used one was behind 300mm of waterproof reinforced concrete ( so a bit of a cage ) and it was on the inside of the garage wall. Transmitter ( switch ) was about 25-30m away at the carport and it works flawlessly. I really didn’t expect it to work so well in such an adverse s situation, but work it did, and still does. Connect up the receivers and take a walk with the switch. You’ll be surprised how far away they’ll still work.

Ultimately you can do whatever your building inspector will sign off... However we have already experienced they'll approve one thing on paper then change their mind after you've installed it, so better safe than sorry. Our plans put AVV in the loft and an external open vent from the drain routed from the end of the main drain, up the outside of the house to the eves next to a drain pipe. My own simplified interpretation is that the regs require all horizontal drains to have a free flow of air through them, but this doesn't necessarily have to be through a stack pipe used internally in the house (or otherwise).

You mentioned bamboo flooring in the bedroom, but will you need flooring in the kitchen and lounge? You will need some kind of door frames to hang the doors as well as hinges, handles etc. You can just put in a simple hanging pendant light which can always be replaced by a nicer light later. A pendant light will light a way larger area than downlighters. Consumer units are pretty cheap so get one big enough for the whole house, it might only be an extra £20 or 30, just don't put all the MCBs in it. So you don't have to pay to have it rewired later. Sounds like you plan to put the ducting in but not connect the MVHR. Will you need an extractor for the bathroom? Good luck, it's hard when your other half isn't enjoying it.

Let me rephrase that for you: “a ring final (also widely but incorrectly called a ring main)”, though why we don't just call them “rings” or “ring circuits”, as we do with radials, escapes me; a house will likely only contain final circuits and maybe the odd sub-main. Right. I'd go as far as say they're universally called Ring Mains by Joe public, so I intentionally kept with that terminology as it what was used in the OP

Never tried one. However Aerial theory was one of my courses at university some 40 years ago (which means I've forgotten most of it!). An awful lot depends on where you are in relation to the transmitter and if there are any local conditions that need special measures. If the transmitter is close and in line of sight a small conventional (cheaper) aerial might be all you need. First thing I noticed is that it has a built in amplifier/booster. That's not necessarily a good thing because amplifiers not only amplify the wanted signal but they add noise and amplify unwanted signals. It probably needs an amplifier to make up for its small size. The normal rules of aerial selection... Right type and size of aerial. Pointed in the right direction. As high as necessary/possible. Then if that doesn't work perfectly then address the reason why. For example if the signal is weak a bigger or higher aerial is the first thing to try. Only if you cannot fit a bigger/higher aerial should you use an amplifier. If the problem is interference from another transmitter then you might need a more directional aerial (high gain in the direction of the wanted transmitter and low gain in the direction of the unwanted transmitter. There is a lot to be said for finding a local aerial installer with a lot of experience.

I keep a running cost of spending, and looking back it looks like about £25,000 from bare shell to when we moved in. Re the VAT, I am getting a little nervous of the time it is taking so this spring intend to get a temporary habitation certificate and do my VAT claim then, buying as much as I can think of first. I don't think we will have an issue as the council tax valuer is still of the opinion the house is not "ready" so still has not valued it so we are still paying council tax on the caravan.

Shave a bit off the bedroom door and it will come in from the landing. Being an old house it may permeate through the gaps in the wall, the skirting, through the ceiling or the floor, or round the windows etc. F

‘yes I would try to avoid using any lead as it’s gets very expensive very quickly, I like the idea of either doing it well or spending as little as possible and not worry what it looks like as long as it’s waterproof. If flashband or another product will stick to the roof and glass then possibly strip the lead off, clean it all up and do a good temporary fix with some flash band or equivalent.

A warm welcome. Looking forward to hearing more about your project.

There's also a potential problem with using lead above a window, as the glass will end up being stained by the lead salts that wash out over time. As a general rule it's best to try and arrange things so that there isn't much possibility of water running off lead flashing on to glass.

This is the problem imho. That lead at the top should be much longer and tuck UNDER the roof sheet above the window. At the moment at best it buts up to the joint between the roof sheets and has a tube of sealant trying to stop water getting under the lead. So start with replacing that with a larger strip of leas that really tucks under the roof sheet above the window. Because the rest of the window is also a bit dubious, I would try and form a bit of an upstand in the leadwork so instead of allowing water down onto the glass, it encouraged it to run off the sides above the window and down the roofing sheets While you are at it, the lad down the sides should be wider so they at least lap down into the first valley of the roofing sheets. At the moment water on that flat section can blow under the lead.

Cost verses value. My main philosophy is that if I feel getting a better product is beneficial to the long term quality of the house then the cost is immaterial. Lets say you can spec a better floor and the price goes up £500, so what that is a tiny price to pay. I would rather spec the fabric of the building as best I can and buy a cheaper kitchen, you can upgrade kitchens and bathrooms, but that bouncy floor will annoy you till the day you move.

Let me rephrase that for you: “a ring final (also widely but incorrectly called a ring main)”, though why we don't just call them “rings” or “ring circuits”, as we do with radials, escapes me; a house will likely only contain final circuits and maybe the odd sub-main. PS: a “lighting ring” is almost never a ring. It's usually a branching radial.

temp the screed is 30 mm total

Pretty sure the angled cover on the top of your Clearview stove has a flat plate under it - you may be able to get it removed if you wanted the flat version.

Not sure, I would worry it would become misspelt as Corpse Corner!

The last job is finally getting done, putting in the gates. They are up but still have to be centred and the electric connected. We think they look great. Then the builders have to come back for snagging. There isn't too much to do. Probably around a week's work. I need to jet wash the garden walls.

Thinking laterally about this, I am reminded of a column by a characterful writer of pungent (provocative?) opinions called LJK Setright who wrote for Car Magazine for 30+ years, and was right often enough that disagreeing was slightly perilous. I remember him noting that he had kept a TV out of his house for years until one came in non-negotiably with the wife. In one column he pointed out the full width "touring" screen option for a sports car, then aero screens, then that windscreens could become so small that they could just be driving goggles. If you proposed that the boss embrace ear plugs and a sleep mask, rather than windows and curtains, it would make your ventilation problem much simpler, in that you could use a small jet engine should you wish. If an intermediate solution were required, you could propose that she follow the Buffy the Vampire playbook, and make like Dracula (lid down option). However, either of those may be more perilous than disagreeing with LJK Setright. Ferdinand ————————————— Found a bit. LJKS on how the proliferation of car safety equipment also threatens safety: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/comment/ljk-setright-safety-features-can-be-downright-dangerous-486124.html

I am very impressed. How do you manage it? The psychology of it I mean. Every person of the female persuasion I know or have known simply wouldn't put up with it. And I don't care if it costs another £1000 or more a year , I'd rather have a happy mate. The psychology of warmth is just as important as the delivery system. If it weren't we would not need to bother. Now then, where's my thermal knickers?