MikeSharp01

Sorry - sorted now.

Curious, don't you think, that HMG allow this to happen - still, anybody would think 'the people' were not important or that they do not understand that real wealth comes from creating 'stuff' rather than servicing 'stuff'.

Sorry @recoveringacademic I am confident it was not. But having read a lot of such research it seems that its very contradictory, it all too often relies on definitions of expertise that are to say the least debatable and sometimes try to encompass the idea that anyone can become an Olympic champion and / or that such a champion is the height of expertise. Given that 50000 hours is nearly 6 years and you can only practice for 12 hours a day you would need 12 years of very solid work to make 50000 hours. Then given that the youngest Gold medal winner (female) was just 13 she would have had to start her regime at the age of 3! Furthermore, just getting into my stride, I think we might be able to conjecture that not everyone has the attributes required to be an Olympic champion which follows on from @JSHarris's post above. I guess this all means that I am happy to accept research conclusions but only in the scope of the head of the pin they attempt to dance upon and I still think you can learn 'a' skill in 3 months assuming you were ever capable of learning it - IE you have the attributes needed, in 3 months of dedicated effort.

Beware large gifts as they can come with tax implications if you fail to keep breathing for a further 7 years. See HERE PS Welcome to the FORUM.

Here we go again..... to close this 'how many hours does it take to be an expert issue' off I think we can rely on the 'some people never learn' and the 'how long is a piece of string' sayings of yaw that sum it up well and add "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." Eleanor Roosevelt and remember that experienced people spend most of their energy avoiding doing, or carefully managing, anything dangerous.

That's odd. The geometry of the sag seems to limit the possible outcomes either: 1. as the ridge sags the ends of the rafters must move out, or 2. They slide up the ridge board or 3. they get shorter or 4. they buckle longitudinally to shorten the end to end distance. As 3 seems implausible only 1, 2 or 4 remain, 1 is ruled out by your observations so 2 and 4 are left. If it is neither of them then the only other explanation, 5., is that it was built that way! Intriguing or what?

That sounds too hash as sociopaths exist in all walks of life in my experiance.

For it to sag like that the rafters must be moving over the perlins and / or the wall plate are the perlins / wall plate bulging out at the 100mm sag point? If they are then the problem might be bigger than you think.

Yes and I guess we both know plenty of academics with the same mindset.

This is it I think.

I feel a Lawry Taylor moment coming on... Yep I was right.... Seems like you are confusing your professionalism code with their professionalsm code and perhaps not being open enough to the nature of difference between professional codes and the sometimes conflicting ethical standpoints they take. In his article on professoonal codes of practice and ethical conduct of 1994 Angus Dawson set out a cognatavist theory endevouring to show how codes and professionalsm can be mixed up. ( Well my reading anyway )

Thanks I have ordered the stainless version from screwfix for tomorrow. Touch wood it will be there tomorrow and I can get it into the loft. @Nickfromwales how do you patch up the copper ones? When I tried years ago I could not get it hot enough to get a good solder joint even with my big gas touch and there was so much collateral damage of the insulation.

Need it today once we have moved daughter into her new flat then had a shower at her place, none of ours are working. So thanks @Onoff if I cannot get the SS from screwfix might take yours in exchange for money.

About the same as copper £170 ish. We are pumped so if that is OK we can go with the SS as it has 10 year guarantee.

Our copper cylinder at Millstone manor has sprung a leak and so I need to replace it. It is an RM 1040 x 450 and they do an AQUASTEL (Stainless Steel) equivalent. Should I go for the SS? The only issue is 28mm pipework as the copper cold feed and only 22mm on the Stainless version, which I could restrict for just the last few mm. I have to get this for tomorrow and Screwfix can get me either. Any thoughts from the pipe wizards?

IS there another possible connection point the other side of the new plot, this may be cheaper if closer, although I would have thought the surveyor would have spotted that one.

I disagree, there is almost no skill you cannot learn in 3 months - its a 1000+ hours (at 12 hours a day). The average school year is only 1150 hours and if you take a look at the contact time you get at some Universities 1000 hours is almost a degree! That said, if I were @epsilonGreedy, I would do what I did in those developing ideas months and learn to bake bread - you are never short of a sandwich, its always fresh and the smell is wonderful.

Hi and welcome to THE forum. Sounds like fun we look forward to learning more as you go along.

My reading, and only cursory - so could be way out, is that they choose depending on the ratio of stuff to sevices. The predominant rate for the bigger proportion applies so if it is mainly sevices then VAT is charged if mainly stuff then not. You can claim it back anyway if it is charged providing you are within the window of time once the completion cert is issued.

It doesnt burn but it can explode shattering dust all over the place and any loose dust is transported in the smoke. Essentially if you own a building with aspestos or the suspicion of it you are under the control of Aspestos regulations 2012 and it is am offence not to take the correct steps

Burning Aspestos is the VERY worSt thing you can do to it short of gringing it into a powder then dispersing it in the air and trying to breath in as much dust as you can.

Take care and not just the health and safety! You need a demolition order from the council and unless you are careful this will trigger the start of your build so you need to tell them it is just prep work and not the actual start unless you want it to be. If you do start and you then want to use an independant BC company the council may insist you use them as the work has started. You probably do need an aspestos survey for piece of mind as you cannot knock down a building containing it and it is an offence to dump the stuff and there is one blend of the stuff that even the removal company won't touch without breathing apperatus and walk through shower units. Our survey was £560 showed up loads of the stuff and removal cost a £5kand that was without the really serious stuff!

What's the black flashing round the base of the house @lizzie? Looks realy crisp.

Yes @TerryE perhaps secondhand mid century pieces might compliment the style and have them recovered. If you choose carefully you can have an appreciating asset rather than a depreciating one.

We went to Heals, Tottenham court road, for our main sofa's in 1985 and they are both still great although they have been recovered and cushioned a few times. For the difficult corner sofa we commissioned a local furniture maker and that is now in its 15th year and still wonderful. And the rule of thumb is: Spend a bit more now to get quality and long life.