canalsiderenovation

We are looking at putting in some posts and rope/chain in between where we moor our boat in the garden (boat currently at the marina so not in picture). One side would be around 10.5m and the other 16.5m. This is mainly as idiot hire boats occasionally get onto the wrong side and end up stood in our garden despite 'private' signs or mistake the flagged area for somewhere they can pull up (anyone that hires a narrowboat - take note you always stop or moor on the towpath side)!! We are removing the flags as we end up with boats getting stuck and revving their engine and flooding the flags so they have moved. The most logical option is just to turf the area where the flags are and either side of the boat looking at fence posts and rope/chain. My wife was considering wooden posts and rope and had seen a website https://richthepostman.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral#posts with the posts we can push straight into the garden. She had a quote for the cheap 45 degree angled with 18mm double rope and the cost on this website is about £870 😱 but I'm worried about them being wood, the proximity to the canal and likely them getting wet etc from boats and would prefer something more weatherproof. The posts need to be about 700/800mm in height with about 1.5/2m in between each post. I've seen some plastic posts and chain but I can't seem to find them in the height we want. Pics of the area from each side; Does anyone have any suggestions please? Thanks 👍

Nope but I have about 25+ tonnes of crushed concrete we did at the weekend . . . and I fractured my finger! VID_353500824_082317_248.mp4

The one dad had is the stuff you have a licence for (he gets it via his agricultural business) so definitely mentions Glyphosate and other % of stuff.

That's it, Glyphosate that's what I have put in there! Our neighbours suggested engine oil too but if I get time today I'll just keep drilling more holes and chuck more stuff in there. The plan is to cover them and then there will be membrane and some mot going down as we are putting something on there. Hopefully they won't grow through all that!

We are close to the railway embankment, completely the opposite end and not at all near the canal thankfully.

Bl00dy sycamere stumps. In the absence of a stump grinder and the sheer size of them we have cut down as far as we can go without knackering the chainsaw blade (there is soil inside the stumps as some of them are multiple trees that have created stumps merged together)! Started to drill lots and lots of deep holes, filling full of poison, oil and anything else in can put in them and then hopefully covering and burying them and. Hopefully they don't then sprout again.

It's canvas and I think it would rip! I do have one of those scratch map thingsy which I like. @SteamyTeaheres something to get your brain working https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/

Not my strength 😁 I love the map, it was from Ikea many years ago. I've resisted temptation to stick pins in it to mark the 75ish countries we have visited.

Just incase anyone missed it probably easier to link to this thread - here is the finished office and link to the previous thread. VID_20220515_165908.mp4.ac562247315873a15cd0716b64a81a3d.mp4

The worktop is laminate and Duropal vi Diy kitchens - we got an almost identical match the for the LVT flooring and they did a 4m length (one side is just over 3.6m so we needed a longer length). The worktops were a lot cheaper than anywhere else getting them from DIY kitchens.

So thought I'd update. We went for a slightly different worktop and the cornflower blue handleless doors ordered from DIY kitchens. We are happy with the quality but hell would freeze over before I ordered from them again. Ridiculous delivery charges and delivery arrangements and almost everything was damaged and had to be replaced including both the 2m and 4m worktops and not to mention items missing (still waiting on a replacement end panel). We had shelves that couldn't be lined up inside as holes had been drilled wonky and even feet put on the top of units rather than bottom! We have ample space for us both (from laptops) to work and oodles of storage which we really needed. The joiner was great and we managed to use remains of some damage doors for shelves (brackets purchased seperately). It wasn't cheap but we were able to get exactly what we wanted storage and workspace, something we would have struggled to get from stand alone furniture. VID_20220515_165908.mp4 Just waiting for some office chairs to be delivered which match our navy Luxaflex blind and we are still sorting through things. Hope this helps. VID_20220515_165908.mp4

I have two old chimney pots that must have spent 30 odd years half buried which I've cleaned up but want to paint them in anthracite grey. Can anyone suggest a good masonry paint. I borrowed some Sandex Vermont Grey from a neighbour but it's very pale and I want something darker. Does anyone have any suggestions of a decent paint.

There hasn't been any change, I think our fix must have been for longer as we seem to have stayed on the same one I signed up for last February and it now says it's fixed again until March next year which is a relief.

I booked the cheapest EPC I could find on the Internet. Less than £40 as I recall. I don't think he had ever done one before as he asked me for all the info and was in the house less than 30 mins. Our RHI is £11203.08 and we are a couple of years now into receiving payments. Our plumber did everything so his price included all the ASHP and all the plumbing of kitchen, bathrooms etc but the (less said about that the better) but our RHI covered a very significant sum and worked out cheaper than what we would have paid for the equipment alone.

Hi After receiving our Octopus statement I thought I'd report back on our energy use with our ASHP and Octopus Go Faster. As anyone knows it took me a long time to get settings that worked well and our external insulation definitely helped. I can now give figures of our electricity use from 3 July 2021 until 3 March 2022. In total we have used 5,215.80kWh over the 200 days of which 2469.70kWh has been at our cheap Octopus Go Faster rate of 5.5p between the hours of 20:30-01:30, the remaining is at 14.63p. The Standing Charge is 25p a day. We found in summer our use was very little, between 3-4 units a day. We completely programmed the DHW off on the ASHP as our solar was diverting excess to our large tank. Our heating is controlled by the thermostats. Rooms are set as a minimum of 21 degrees (our bedroom is the exception at 20.5 degrees as I don't like to sleep too warm) with the whole house consistently heated even rooms we aren't consistently using like bedroom/ensuite. During the Octopus cheap times the temperature raises up to about 22-23 degrees in some rooms (those we use often) which means they generally stay warm, tripping in early morning on some cold days. The hot water is similarly programmed in to trip in at 8:30pm during the cheap tarrif for a couple of hours if it isn't at 48 degrees although the solar has generally got this way over, particular recently. On days we had temperatures go below freezing with some very cold days we were using around 35-40 units just on our heating and hot water but in the main this has been in the cheap times. We also have a wood burner and the free wood we have been storing from CRT cutting down trees in the storms definitely comes in useful. With us still experiencing some frosts we have had heating kicking in again recently overnight though days have been fine. Overall we have made the Octopus Go Faster Tarrif work for us and the heat pump is programmed to suit this. Had we not got specific times of cheap electricity I may use the ASHP slightly differently but either way we are warm and generally pleased with things.

I can't see your pictures but we ordered today from DIY kitchens. Minor adjustment to the wood laminate colour of the worktop but we are sorted and looking forward to having the storage too. It wasn't cheap but it does give us all the space we need. I'll update at the end of April when it's all in.

Only a laminate, we weren't set specifically on worktops from DIY kitchens but we had lots of samples from different places as we needed a 4m worktop on one side to avoid a join so that limited options. In the end this one was a close match to our flooring https://www.hcsupplies.co.uk/product/laminate-worktops/duropal-wellington-oak-2050mm-x-600mm-x-40mm We then realised it was cheaper and also available at DIY kitchens. We may have an od bits left about 500mm so perhaps a shelf for a plant or something.... We are trying to avoid it looking too kitcheny. I think we may go for Option 2.

I think so, to be honest our current desk is 800mm and it's a pain as our plugs are on the wall (we had them put high rather than lower for practical reasons of having things on the desk) and I hate having to stretch over to try and reach them and both of us being small in height the 800mm does our head in! Working with kitchen units has its limitations in the availability of unit designs but DIY kitchens have been amazing. Things like the corner one aren't available online at the reduced height but they are doing it for us. The units on the desk are dressers with the single drawer at the bottom and 300mm in depth but good for what we need and books etc.

No, we won't have stools DIY kitchens put them on as an asthetic finish! They are using reduced height base units of 575 plus 100 legs (adjustable) so the joiner can shave down the 150 plinth and 40 worktop = 71.5cm. Actually 75cm is more for people of 6ft + high. We'd be more like 66cm ideally as we are both lacking in the height department! https://ergodesks.co.uk/blogs/news/what-height-should-my-desk-be I measured the current desk (a cheap Argos one) and it's 71 high which is what we currently use (or the dining table which is marginally higher) so I think the base units will be fine. Here's the plan. The desk alcove for each will be more as we are changing the middle unit from 400 to 300 so I'd guess 900ish each. The middle one is for support of the worktop really. We would prefer not to have it but I think the 3630 worktop will need some sort of support. We both work from laptops and we will have the other length under the window of worktop if needed (my other half has long sheets of A4 plans paper so she frequently moves from a desk and lays them out along the kitchen worktop instead so that's why the extra worktop space under the window is useful)! We also need the storage below....

Not really, like kitchen cupboards but you will see inside those tall ones on the right and left as they are open shelves with no doors. Whatever is on there will be the same for all carcasses.

Me again! Soooo, office design. We have looked at IKEA, Wickes, B&Q, DIY Homefit, Lark & Larks and DIY Kitchens and have got designs for all. The quality and price for DIY kitchens is cheaper than all of the others and Howdens, even with my dad's trade account won't budge a penny! They have used base units and some dresser units to come up with something that works well for us and reduced height units. And now, colours. The dresser has some open shelves so the carcass colour will be visible on these open shelves (bookcase like). The design is based on a dark blue and we were sort of set on that but the carcass colour can't be blue and they recommended the graphite (very dark grey). The room isn't that big (2180*3630) and the floor is pretty close to the worktop colour (a grey/brown wood LVT). The walls are and will be staying white. (There is another base cupboard on the left hand of the plan and window you just can't see it) as it's hard for me to rotate and crop it). And to now throw two options into mix: Option 2: Wood worktop, darker grey carcass and open shelves, cornflower blue doors. Option 3: Wood worktop, lighter grey carcass and open shelves, cornflower blue doors. I don't know if this is a bit wishy washy with the light grey especially as our walls are white so if the open shelves will look a bit dirty.

We have the showerwall panels in the bathrooms (the ones backed onto the wood) and like them but we disregarded them for two reasons - we couldn't find a colour we liked which went with the patterned worktop we have. The majority of panels we saw are patterned like marble or stone effect which we have which disguise any joins and the plain colour ones are awful and the joins are far more noticeable and secondly, they are so expensive especially if they were to go on the wall opposite floor to ceiling and we want the same thing behind the sink as we do on the wall opposite! I'm not a huge fan of grout but I've never had issues keeping it clean in the last house. Bit of bicarb works a treat That's a really good idea @dpmiller and @Tempand gets away from using edging.

As the sink is silver as are taps and door handles I think it will end up being silver.....

Yes we have been looking into layout and like the brick type of layout. The places we have been to said 2mm spacers.

Thanks @Temp I'll look into the links. I actually like them @Russell griffithsand we have a tiler to do them properly! We have been to quite a few tile places and looked at budget options as it's not a room we want to spend a lot to be honest! Trying to find the shade of green we liked (pale sage) was generally with the smaller tiles (we have found one similar to Topps but Johnson's outlet as they are half the price and offer Blue Light discount). The corner is more a side, I was probably unclear. It's more of two sides. At the back of the sink the tiles will go to the top of the wall units then come round the two sides so it will be the top of the sides that will need edging and the sides of the side tiles if that makes sense, excuse the mess. See pic (oh wow look at that I got it to flash don't ask me how)!! It's not a large room and more of a walk through, cleaning etc and not somewhere we spend lots of time if we can help it because I'd we are in there we are cleaning, handwashing stuff, cleaning grubby things in the big sink etc. It's more something practical. With pale sage colour I don't think a dark grout will go well, most pictures seem to have them with white grout but a protector definitely sounds like a good plan! Any particular recommendations of grout or adhesive and protector as I'll get them all from Screwfix/Toolstation.