Nickfromwales

Let the plasterer dictate that. Just for clarification...... "Get a fackin plasterer or I'll send the boys round". Seriously . Don't make me come down there.

It's just because of dust etc. It's at that stage you DO need to PVA everything with a pissy mix immediately before laying on.

I just say no these days, and I very rarely recommend anyone other than my one or two closest trade buddies. I check with them first to see if they are too busy before ever giving the customer their number. Admittedly when younger I would say I'll come and have a look, but that was largely driven by people just nagging me to death after answering the phone. When I'm busy I just leave calls go to voicemail. Anyone who doesn't leave a message, or text, is usually just a tire kicker. My favourite is when people tell me they "can't afford that" to which I reply ( now that I'm wiser and de-sensitised ) "don't have a new xxx then if you can't afford it, bye!". Sooooooo many piss-takers out there it's not true. I passed a job onto my mate the other day, and told the customer it would likely be around £60 to do a 5 min job, because it was a call-out so the travel time there and back had to be factored in. The guy asked me to wait a moment, put the phone down, and went to check with his wife if the price was ok. . If I told him £120 he'd have probably just said yes. I don't get it.

Oh, and after you ignore me, you want multi-finish and do NOT put PVA on anything.

Just pay a plasterer PLEASE ! I cannot stand it when a good room gets mutilated by a bad skim job. You've saved by doing everything else yourself, just pay a spread. They'll get 3 sets on in one good day so will be finished in one sitting. No.....just no.

Just stitch drill around with a 3mm, then 6mm HSS bit, and dremel the bits out.

I have enjoyed avoiding it, and shall continue to do so, by simply slapping on 4 coats of tanking solution over anything that's even near a wet area. Your tenacity with following every aspect of this job to the letter can only be admired. . Keep going, there's a danger of tiling this soon.

Can't water the garden or wash the car without cringing if your on a meter . Storing a load of rain water seems a no-brainer if you've got a digger there lying around.

You seem to have the newer model there, with 36 LEDs . Amazing for the price though and deffo good for bench lighting etc. Cheaper than TLC too iirc.

Fill the gaps with the tile adhesive, you'll be tanking it anyway so theres no need to blow any extra £££ on posh gap filling goop.

Same ones I used for a few. Still going strong. Used the 15mm ones here but couldn't find them in warm white. And a single 10w warm IP65 behind the bath. All on their own switches so they could just backlight the bath when having a soak. The bath spot and the main spots dimmable, and the vanity mirror lights and pockets were on dimmers.

My take would be to discharge to the pond and pump back to the plant from the pond when necessary. Maybe that could be automated ?

How did you get on ? Any update or pics ?

Reads that it's the pond drying out that's the issue to me. . How would you gauge a bit of rainfall ? It's either all of it or none? Sleep time, too tired to think anymore. .

Just run the rainwater to the pond ?

Well, for £500 you can afford to run it until it dies TBH and still not grumble.

Will you have any issues with parts becoming obsolete or can you Frankenstein other manufacturers parts in later down the line?

Your WAY over my head. I go into my merchant and look at the shelf. There's clear, black, white or grey. I grab the one that I need that day. .

I omitted the 'few other things'.

You and I are peas in a pod. My customers jobs are 100% complete, with merits, and my bath panel has been missing 5 tiles on the end for 3 years. My wife has stopped nagging now, is that good or bad. ? I guess you do what brings home the bacon........

Some folk are happy to compromise with a reliable Ford, when the budget doesn't allow for a smart Mercedes.

Keep going. "The greatest of journeys start with the smallest of steps" ( and other such inspirational nonsense ). I despise Amazon, but they're undeniably gargantuan in their presence. Use that for your own advantage.

That's the importance of sitting customers down before fitting things, and stating clearly the pros and cons, so they make the choice not you. Has saved me a thousand arguments.

100mm fixings through a 44mm soleplate will keep you safe and fixed sufficiently well. For added pazzaz you can use a D4 PU glue to bond the timber to the screed. TBH, after the glue goes off you could take the fixings back out. WC pans go down with CT1. Oh, and ffs please stop getting bogged down with what potential future occupants may do with a drill bit. .

Council guys around my neck of the woods do very well given the number of staff that have gone through budget cuts. I am very happy with them accepting photos, and wouldn't want it any other way. It helps me, it helps an already stretched but valuable resource, and keeps momentum up on the projects. Canera, and a tape measure, = satisfactory service. After a coupe of calls to a previous project the local BCO went to speak to the customer, unbeknown to me, and said he had no reason to keep checking my work in person. I guess if the BCO has no faith in what he's seen so far you'll be waiting on him, so aim higher and you'll be fine.