Moira Niedzwiecka

It was just starting to grey slightly, it looked faded & had lost the lovely variation of colours it had when new. I think if we had left it any longer it would have silvered quickly in certain places and looked patchy. Our site is quite exposed to both sun & rain Our render is a soft sand colour & grey would not look good with it or the ironstone. Osmo advised me that the clear oil would need treating every couple of years and the stained one about 5 years. It has only had one coat of the oak stain oil. I would give the technical department at osmo a call for advice or the cedar supplier. If you have any spare pieces that have greyed try it on them without sanding initially. We were nervous that it would look really false but it looks quite smart. Happy!

We have used exterior Osmo oil with the oak stain as we did not want the cedar to silver. We used the clear osmo to start with but found out it doesn't have great UV protection. The cedar started to lose its colour & grey quite quickly. The new stain looks good & is showing no signs of weathering yet. We tried the other colours available but the oak was nearest to the original colour of the cedar. As it is translucent it there is still a variation between the cedar planks. The cedar stain is too orangey red. I would get a sample sachet & try it in a discreet place.

http://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/userfiles/documents/resources/Discharge_and_Modification_of_Restrictive_Covenants_under_s_84_-_Toby_Watkin.pdf This is a really useful article.

Enforcing the covenant is not the issue really. All the party with the benefit needs to do is write to you informing you that they have the covenant & indemnity insurance will not then be possible. They have the covenant, it is as simple as that. You would then have to take action to deal with it. Don't forget the aspect of neighbourhood dispute as well. £125 sounds about right for an indemnity to cover this. In the scheme of things it is not much money to resolve an issue. Your buyers solicitor would need to approve the wording of the policy.

The whole idea of the indemnity insurance is to protect your buyers and their successors in title in case someone should try to enforce the covenant. Whilst the covenant may not be able to be enforced it is still recorded & registered on the title. It could incur the owners in legal costs defending the action. It is possible to have covenants removed in some cases via The Lands Tribunal, but this is a very expensive & time consuming process. How much is the indemnity policy?

20 years ago indemnity insurances were hardly ever heard of. Now they are on everything. They can useful in cases of defective title. You may also find that restrictive covenants are not always mentioned on the burdened property title but are mentioned on the title of the benefitting property. If it doesn't cost much but facilitates the sale may be worth just providing it. If your buyer is having a mortgage their solicitor may require it to include in the report on title to the mortgage lender.

Thank you @newhome I missed it on your excellent post about VAT refunds. I suspected they would be eligible because to the lighting element & one has a shaver socket too.?

Does anyone know if it is possible to reclaim VAT on LED mirrors for bathrooms?

I found out about 2 weeks ago that Andy had retired as I had been in discussion with him about a UniQ 9. Since then I have called Sunamp 4 times now to be told that someone is looking at it & would call me back & no one ever has. I just tried chasing again to be told that he is now on holiday. If that is the kind of service on offer I have decided to forget it & go with something else.

Grand Designs is more of a shopping experience these days for kitchen utensils & patio furniture. Home Building & Renovating Show in March is much better. I think you can get far more out of a couple of hours on pinterest or houzz for design ideas. UK Construction week is on at the same time as Grand Designs & has some interesting stuff. Combining both exhibitions may make the trip worthwhile.

Thanks guys. It is just a quote at the moment. He is a nice guy & comes from a recommendation. It was just to check before & I go back to him & ask him to re quote minus the VAT. I do not think it will be a problem.

Thank you.

Does anyone know if you can claim the VAT back for a TV aerial for supply & fix?

Thanks for the reassurance guys. Quick few mins with the window vac in the mornings then. I can live with that.

Nipped up to site this morning before going to work & there was condensation on the outside of our sliding patio doors, the kitchen window & glazed back door. These windows are all south or west facing & quite sheltered. There was no condensation at all on the north & east facing ones where the early morning sun was shining. Has anyone else had this?

Just some info that may be useful to someone. Went up to the new house. It was absolutely bucketing down, torrential. It was the first real test of the floor to ceiling velux windows in the bedrooms. I couldn't believe how quiet it was. We have a velux windows in our cottage, they are very noisy in heavy rain. Well worth the extra for triple glazing & noise reduction. Very pleased.

I am so sorry Jeremy. At least you have other buyers waiting in the wings. Covenants are nothing to do with searches. It will be something on the title. Ask your conveyance to send you the office copy entries from the Land Registry.

That would be a purchasers costs not a sellers.

We used Finish Architectural from Birmingham 0121 327 0523. They were recommended by our window supplier. Really good quality. Only thing is I think there is a minimum order.

Wow Lizzie! What a beautiful setting. Don't think I had seen pics of the views before. Love the planters, very crisp. I have always had blousey cottage style gardens but want something low maintenance & contemporary for the new house.

@David B Hi David, Try Peter Cox Ltd. Damp & Timber specialists. They are Nationwide, & have been around a long time (used to be Terminex Ltd)

This is completely wrong. We have ideal combi windows that are almost the same as Velfac. As above they should be fitted using straps. Velfac will have an installation detail that should be followed to get the guarantee. Have the installers not taken any notice of this? I would get your project manager to deal with this immediately. I know how long it takes to get replacement frames from Denmark. We had a disaster with our first installers. Had to have windows removed & refitted by ideal combis registered installers. Took another 6 weeks to get the replacement frames for 2 damaged windows.

Pigeons have decided our new roof ridge is the perfect perch. Problem is we now have white streaks of bird doodoo all over the slates. All the bird spikes I can find will be really noticeable. Has anyone used them or have any suggestions?

The main combined sewer for our whole village showed it stopping about 100m from Severn Trent's own water treatment works. We needed to connect to the part that wasn't on their maps. They swore blind stopped where they had it mapped to in spite of us lifting the existing manhole & sending them photos. In the end they sent out a 'sewer investigation team'. It then took several weeks before they acknowledged that it existed.

@Vijay I used ARP from Leicester. Really helpful. Provided a sample & came out to measure up & spec. They do all different types if you need a different look. It was very expensive but worth it. We used some of the budget we have saved on buying ex display for the interior. @Ed_MK There is a 50mm cavity between the timber frame & the stonework. There is a DPC 150mm above the level of the blue bricks that slopes to form a cavity tray with weep holes where the stonework meets the blues. The external ground level will be up to the top of the first course of blues. Not sure if this is what you asked or if I have explained it very well.