Cpd

I keep looking at the glass door on an old cooker and wondering if the glass is heat rated enough......... probably not but will look into it.

Fitting a small stove ..... and while I was up on the roof wiggling the flexi pipe my helper accidentally smashed the glass....... such is life. It measures 336mm x 285mm, a quick look online and it’s going to cost about £50___ bit of a bugger as the stove only cost me £30 ! Anyway does anyone have a recommendation for glass replacement as there are multiple choices and recommendations are often best. Thanks

I once priced a job for a large sum of money can’t remember now but in excess of 100k and accidentally added an extra zero....... it was a government contract and luckily the guy in charge new me and of my dyslexia...... gave me a call from the room where the tenders were being opened by the group of evaluators and asked me to clarify..... I said I did not think they would notice ! We all had a laugh, they deleted a zero and I got the contract. It happens so maybe it’s just an extra zero......

Agree, I don’t think poking a tired overworked negative planning officer would do any good...... plenty of time for that later

@Hobbiniho By looking at your house photo I could take a guess that we gave similar vintage houses, my one was built in 1903 I think..... I am going to go down the self install on a mega budget route a bit like @ProDave I have the ASHP in storage and when I eventually.....; get round to installation it will run the UFH, out of interest can you tell me what radiators you are going to use as I have not discounted using some upstairs.

I have BT WiFi extenders that you just plug into the ring main in whichever room you need a signal, works great. However my cabin is on a different power supply so I ran a length of armoured cable out along the hillside from the main house and made a WiFi box that beams into the cabin from 40 feet away, works great.

I will join you in the cave of philistines....... I’m still in the old wood and worn leather club.....

Wowzers thats a big old roofing job ! The style is very different from how I did my roof, I think because so many of your slates are wider than they are longer or laid in “landscape” rather than “portrait” it kind of goes against what I am comfortable with..... it also looks like they are diminishing slightly to quickly but this may be just the angle of the photo. My problem is I have a very specific (and limited) concept of what works visually for me....... having spent nearly my whole life being both the designer and builder it’s sometimes hard to grasp there are other ways of doing a job ! ....... I am sure when it’s all done it will look a million dollars and I will be wishing I had done my roof the same as yours. I look forward to seeing it as it progresses. I have included a couple of pics of my roof to show how regional styles vary dramatically, I do honestly think that regional style variation is a good thing but admit to being a bit short sighted or somewhat biased towards what I am familiar with...... anyway great stuff well done old fruit !

A few weeks ago I harvested loads of wild garlic put it in The food processor with olive oil, blasted it down to a good paste and froze it in large ice cube containers...... after processing it all I realised I need to eat two portions a week for a year to get through it all......... think I may be well seasoned by this time next year as well......

I was not aware of the background on this as I only read this thread..... and assumed it was just a standalone job..... assume nothing ! If it’s a major renovation then I would agree with Russell and say the roof needs to be a priority.

My existing roof is slate with no membrane and straight onto sarking, it’s over 100 years old and the timber is still serviceable. I got the house with at least 100 missing slates and no ridge..... but cash was and still is tight so I just replaced all the missing slates and checked the roof really carefully for any other damaged or misaligned slates and repaired as needed. I then put on a new tin ridge and it was back in action. Yes I need to check it and replace slates every year but that’s just life when money is tight. However when the time comes I will rip the whole roof of and start from scratch and there WILL be a high quality membrane included ! So If funds are tight do a really good survey of the roof and fix it up the best you can, but understand it’s a stop gap measure until the time / money becomes available to do a proper job.

Depends on various factors, if you have the spare head room then building on top of existing floor may be possible, remember you want as much insulation as possible in the floor and then possibly screed with ufh pipes in it and then final floor coverings it all ads up very quickly and suddenly all your windows and doors are to low...... you also need to be sure you have good drainage in the wet season.... again it would probably be easier to rip up the old floor, dig down to footing depth instal any required drainage and start a new floor build up. I am going to do this in my shed, it’s got an old concrete floor that I am going to rip up and redo. The house also had a shite concrete floor but due to factors outside my control i will be just bodging this up for the time being.......

Been there done / doing that.....3 times.....never again I keep saying..... for me it’s so frustrating not having the money to knock down and start again, I know you want to keep the “look” and do the right thing but having done 3 renovations of buildings very much like yours I am now fully convinced that in the end it cost me to much time and money and I would have been better of starting from as close to scratch as possible. The effort involved to get these old buildings up to spec while trying to work around all the damp and rot is mind boggling...... however it’s your life and your money (I hope) and in the end all we can do is warn you to be carful and consider other options, we want you to succeed! It looks like a great place and a great project and I look forward to following your progress and will put in my tuppence worth when I can. Col (pic) of one of the 3 money pits I am currently still trying to get under control.....jaded... noooooooo

Totally love the white look, I painted my house white after it had been abandoned for decades and it really brought it back to life.

Just on the mower front...... I only have a walk behind standard mower, I need to make sure it’s got sharp blades because to cut all my lawn you need to push it for 13 kilometres ! One of my volunteers measured it with some gadget as he was stunned at just how long it takes to cut...... one day when I can afford a ride on mower it will be the best thing EVER ! Until then I look at the positive as it helps me get my fitness back. Well that’s what I keep telling myself.

Looking fantastic ! Clean sharp detailing. The rough casting looks really well done. Nice work all round.

Ok so I have been out with the laser and it’s pretty good over most of the floor but there is a variation from 0-40mm , Do you know of the top of your head what the minimum depth is for Grano ? Also can I then paint the finished grano surface or should I be looking to level it with grano and then pour a fancy product over that to create a hard surface which I can then paint..... cheap seats on this job but anything will be better than what’s there at the moment. Thanks for all the advice so far chaps. Col

Due to some work I am undertaking in the house I have the opportunity to sort the kitchen floor, well not really sort it as it’s an uninsulated lump of crappy concrete straight onto the earth bellow....... digging it up and doing a proper job is just NOT possible at this time as i am getting a free insulation upgrade and am working triple time to get ready for them arriving...... however the place is empty and stripped back so I want to make a shine over shite improvement. I will put a laser on the floor tomorrow but it’s probable up to 30mm out max with lots of unevenness..... it’s painted with floor paint and has about 5 layers of this on..... keeps the moisture on the other side of the paint..... I want to level this floor up with a self levelling compound that I can then paint. I think @PeterW suggested one once but I have lost the link..... can I just go into the local builders merchant and buy what they have or is it more complicated than this. Any help would be great. Thanks col

Show and tell. As mentioned this one goes into a jack hammer which has a drill function so NOT sds but large hex, not suitable for anything but drilling into bedrock or other solid stone and it’s a beast and would more than likely take down your wall before drilling a nice hole.....

We are having a crazy long drought at the moment and my green roof is 99% dead ! Rain is due at the weekend so it should bounce back to life, it’s not a pro roof but it does work well as a noice reducer and keeps the cabin nice and cool in the summer heat.

I have a 55mm masonry bit and it’s 600mmm long ! One of my jackhammers has a drilling function..... it’s a beast and one of the more dangerous pieces of kit I own....... used it before I purchased a core drill for drilling holes in bedrock to secure metal fence posts.

Hay Stuart, yes I used off the shelf flashing kits that did not need any alterations, I am not sure of the flashing kit code but it’s the one designed for wriggly / corrugated tin, I will see if I can track it down..... I’m pretty sure it’s not the slate flashing kit as I have used that on another roof and the skirt is very different. (Photo included) I am also pretty sure that like your tin my tin has a high edge on one side and a low edge on the opposite side, you want the low edges to go into the velux gutter not the high edge as this will not be as effective... I think I just turned the sheets around to get a high edge to fall into each gutter, you should lay the sheets in a specific way to so that the exposed edges are not facing the prevailing wind, but to get them to fit into the gutter on both sides of the velux you need to break this rule..... my roof FACES the prevailing wind so it did not matter as the wind NEVER blows from either side as I am in a narrow glen facing the prevailing wind. But it may be something you need to consider. I can’t think of why the flashings I used would not work with box profile, but I would need to see the exposed flashing again to be sure that it would work 100% No you need to get the edge of the tin to line up with the middle of the inner gutter, remember that the tin has two different edges, a high edge and a low edge, you want the LOW edge to fall into the gutter, depending on the spacing between the box profiles, (wriggly tin is better as it gives you more options ) you then want the the next sheet of tin to fall with its edge exactly in the centre of the gutter on the other side of the velux......... this is where it may get tricky because you are using box profile and there is NO GUARANTEE that the pre set spacing of the box profile will match the width of your windows....... if it does not match then it’s not going to work FULL STOP. Ok have a think about what I have said and come back to me if you have more questions. I think your your going to need a bit if luck as it will be pretty unlikely that the box profile will match your existing window widths but here’s hoping...... photo of slate flashing kit, note the skirt is rigid and you want the flexible one as shown in my earlier photos.

Nice little documentary, really enjoyed watching it. I can definitely relate to it.......

Looking good, thanks for the reference.

Where did you get your baskets from @nod ? I have got some BIG projects in a few years with Gabions and am just wondering what they cost, those look very good quality. I have endless free stone ! So i want to buy some good cages, preferably with a green plastic coating but that may be a bit expensive.