Cliffpope

You said you would like to retain it? That's a bit big for digging up and moving, but it can be done. There are specialists who can excavate a giant root ball and transport it to a new hole, but I'd imagine that would be pricey. It would be cheaper to buy a new one - you can buy quite large trees in pots.

Why do you need posts? Why not just bolt hinges to the concrete walls?

What do you mean "waterproof the duct"? The duct is a convoluted plastic pipe about 2" diameter. Do you mean seal the join where it connects to the manhole? Just knock a hole and seal it with mortar .

We have recently had a borehole installed, and the wellhead is in a manhole looking very like yours. The installers included a length of ducting from one corner of the hole and we were advised to dig a trench to lead the duct away downhill to somewhere it could soak away, obviously at a lower level, just in case any water got in.

That's what I'm saying - sealants are not designed for warm high humidity damp environments. So what is? Is anything?

You know the standard white sealer used round showers, sinks etc? Why does it discolour and go mouldy so quickly? It's supposed to be waterproof, yet it seems to become impregnated with mould that won't clean off. I did a nice job round our Belfast sink set in a worktop, but now 3 months later it's blackened and looking tatty. Is there anything better to use?

We have only a house name . It is an isolated house with no neighbours. The lane has no name, and we are not in a village or even a hamlet. The locality name is a mansion 2 miles away, and the "city" is a small village 5 miles away. The county postal address is not the same as the geographical one, and the sorting office is in a third county 10 miles away. I have lived here for 40 years, and in that time the Post Office have changed the address and the post code 3 times. Only the house name has remained constant, since at least 1780. No insurance problems.

The excess rain flooding your neighbour's borehole is run-off, not groundwater. Groundwater means water underground, not water on the ground. Boreholes are designed to extract groundwater.

When starting any hole, but especially into something unpredictable like masonry, drill a very small hole with a hand drill first, just to mark the spot securely so the real drill can't skid about.