Ralph

I think we import the majority of our timber. They problem is going to be getting it out of the woods, those single grip harvester machines are amazing and I would think the operators are going to be on double bubble for a while. Those almond farms are insane. People are always surprised at how sterile the Sitka plantations are when you walk through them, you don't see whole lot of wildlife. There's about 30 acres of mixed forest at the back of our house and it's teaming by comparison, roe deer, red squirrel, foxes, badgers and loads of birds.

This is what I would like to see, more mixed and less sitka.

They normally fell a section at a time once the trees get over 40 years depending on what they are goign to use them for. Clear, plant, fell repeat. Last I read Scotland had lost 8 to 10 million trees and that was just after storm Arwen. I doubt there is the processing capacity to deal with that kind of volume in any timely manner. I'm sure they will get to them but I would imagine a lot will go for paper and firewood.

Down in the space of a few hours, it's about 400 acres in that woods alone.

Not that I’m obsessed by the scale of the damage around here but this before and after of the woods along the road (taken by the company in the photo) really shows how many trees are down. .

Knackered but getting there. New gutters, ridges, roof panels and some cedral required. Still a lot of tree to cut.

We thought they were a bit to fussy so got rid of them all together. I do like our fancy stair balustrade though.

Thanks, like a lot of things when building a house it seemed like a big issue and a compromise at the time but it pales into insignificance with all the other stuff you end up dealing with.

We had the same issue, we did not realise there was a flat piece until it was up. It was to accommodate the steal. What we ended up doing is using it for lights. It does not bother me but it bugs my wife.

Entire plantations of sitka spruce went down in no time at all around here, massive processing job and I think a lot will end up as fire would. It was sad to see a massive Monkey Puzzle tree down along the road. Driving about the area it looks so different.

If I can get it processed on site and store it it might make some nice furniture in 3 or 4 years. I see a lot of oak smoked venison and pheasant in my future.

You can get a chainsaw or a generator locally at the moment. Mine was knackered so I've just ordered a new Stihl online. I'm going to try and do something with the trunk, everyone tells me it's worth some money but I suspect I would be dissapointed. The neighbours are coming round on Saturday morning with chainsaws to access but I think we may need some machinery to lift. The Cairnwell weather station which is at the back of us had a 10min gust that hit 122mph.

We got absolutely scudded on Sunday night / Monday morning by storm Corrie. I have never experienced anything like it. 100mph plus winds. Thousands of trees down including our big old oak that clipped the garage but luckily missed the house and any people. Power has just come back on this morning. Trying to get roofers and tree surgeons at the moment but everyone is flat out. Just having a moan really but here are some photos.

Our last couple of houses have been old and badly insulated, the winters would have been very cold without the woodburners. We had been planning on one in the new house but have decided to wait and see how warm the house is with just the ASHP. The power outages after storm Arwen have got me thinking about it again. And I have to say there is nothing like sitting in front of a roaring log stove with a whisky and a book while the weather rages outside.

It's low down on the priority list but our white Daikin ASHP stands out like a sore thumb against our nearly black house. In general I don’t think there has been much thought on the aesthetics of any of them, they all look like commercial air con systems. Daikin do a “low sound” cover in what looks like black aluminium that I may go for. There is also someone on Etsy who does them in composite aluminium, prices seem decent. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ASGAbdeckungen?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1058466884

It's a really cheap Apeman trail cam It's been outside for years and just keeps going.

Yes this one obviously got in before and keeps trying so I think he may have to go. I'm a bit wary of poison as we have had Wildcats wandering through and I would not want them eating a poisoned mouse. Might have to use a snap trap or .22.

Anyone else has this? We managed to ger rid of the mice that came into the house through the hole for the ASHP pipes (not properly sealed). Then they started nesting in the actual ASHP itself. We evicted them and put rodent wire wool in the gaps but every night for the last two or three weeks the little sods have been coming back and tyring to get in. I've reduced the quality of the video to be able to upload it. Mouse_2.mp4

We are in the same position regarding the trees so went for these https://royalestones.co.uk/eclipse-mid-grey-virtue-vitrified-porcelain-paving-slabs-1200x600-pack.html We are really happy with then but I would not want to lay them without a concrete or mortor base

Karcher do an extension pole for their window vac. I don't think it's massively long but I'm sure you could rig something up with it.

We had this in our warrant application and plans "High level windows to be clean via water fed pole system to be ratained with the property or by a professional window cleaning company (this does not remove the requirement for the water fed pole system). Water fed pole system will allow for the windows to be cleaned from a solid load bearing surface. Any openable windows are to be fully reversible in order to be cleaned from inside the property. Rooflights 1800mm above ground or floor level need not be designed to be safety cleaned."

I'll have a look a those, cheers.

Thanks for the offer but unfortunately yes, it's the back of drawer hitting the hob. I guess we could lower the back of the drawer.

So we went for a really thin worktop, it's only 12mm. Now we have come to the point of fitting an induction hob we have hit a bit of a snag. Typically, induction hobs seem to need 50mm plus from surface of worktop. We can add some blocks for the fitting clips However, there is a pan drawer underneath with a hidden cutlerly drawer at the top. I do have 40mm clearance from the top of the worktop to the edge of the drawer. I might be able to drop that cutlery drawer down, closer to the top of the pan drawer but I don't think I'll get the 10mm plus I need. Other option is to remove the cutlery drawer altogether or get a shallower induction hob (if they exist) anyone have any thoughts or experience of this? Thanks in advance Ralph

Our first architect seemed to think we were joking about the budget and designed a really nice house that would have cost double what we had to spend. Instead of holding his hands up he blamed all the builders for trying to gouge us. We then had a good young architect who was enthuisiastic and was backed up by older hands in the practice. Once we had the design all buttoned up it was passed to an architectural technician who knew a lot of the local trades and had good practical knowledge.