vivienz

They don't have to be render. We went for slate and stone as coverings.

Well done, nice to get it sorted without disagreements.

Caffeine anxiety is nothing compared to self build anxiety!

Purely from a taste point of view, my vote goes to cafetière coffee made with freshly ground beans. I understand the attraction of a good crema on the coffee for the aesthetics but the pressure needed to achieve this always seems to add a sour note to the flavour of the coffee. I opened a new bag of Columbian arabica beans this morning. First mug was made in a cafetière/French press - delightful. All those nutty, chocolately volatile oils coming up strongly and nice and hot, too. I've just made another one but this time in my Krups machine (I've had 3 Gaggias in the past) and much of the delicate volatiles are gone and there is that sour note again. The beans were freshly ground in a dedicated Iberital grinder on an espresso setting. I drink my coffee at what sounds like a similar strength to you, Lizzie. Can't be doing with Americanos - barely coffee at all, really. I never adulterate good coffee with milk either, it seems a terrible abuse of good beans. FWIW, a close friend had a Jura - very pricey (he wouldn't tell me how much) and it wasn't a good long term buy, it dies within about 3 years. Another good friend seems to get through a nespresso machine every 2 years! As I type, in the interest of science and decent coffee (of equal importance in my humble but correct opinion) I've just made another small cafetière of coffee. The brew is by far superior to the machine one for my tastes. Still, each to their own. I'm happy to recommend the little Krups machine but it's not a bean to cup I'm afraid, Lizzie.

That would be a terrible shame.

You do still have rights regarding overflying cables, as they are known. I have power cables over flying our land and had a to-do with SSE over these. They can't put cables wherever they choose without permission, regardless of whether there are poles on your land. The cables cross your land subject to your granting permission, agreed in advance.

Not the best of photos, but this is my Harvey water softener, boxed up and shortly to be installed in the garage. The void is for a standard 600mm kitchen cabinet where my dishwasher will go.

Coke/cola is also really good for softening denim in the wash, too.

Isn't this something along the lines of 'plan for the worst, hope for the best'?

Beautiful.

I've had reasonable success with contacting ebay sellers for VAT receipts, so it's worth asking.

No, it's Tier System by CED Stone, via Sydenhams. Very easy to apply, no specialist labour needed. Almost like giant tiling. I have used Autumn from their range of Contemporary Panels

For those interested, I sourced the brise soleil from Contrasol Ltd. Up until recently, they only did commercial work but they are now setting up a domestic branch. Very nice people, I would use them again. Richard Hunt is the man to speak to.

It blocks out plenty but you can stil see easily to the outside. That face of the building is almost due south, so the brise is to reduce solar gain from that window as much as anything. The other windows on that face will either have blinds or, in due course, plants in front of them.

Pending a blog update, here's a picture of my new brise soleil that had the rails and fins fitted today. Details will follow, but it's too pretty not to post a picture.

I looked at Danwood when we first started. As with plenty of other similar offerings, you have to get all the groundworks done (yes, paid for up front by you) and there is a really tight tolerance on how level the slab must be to receive the subsequent building.

I've bought plenty of lights via aliexpress which allows smaller quantities than Alibaba. Delivery can take a while but the goods are fine and much cheaper than UK prices.

Wishful thinking, I'm afraid. If you've never built a house before it's astonishing how much there is to do once you have a house-shaped object. I'm finally coming towards the end of second fix and decorating and feel like I haven't stopped for months, and that's just with the PM and decorating on my plate.

Www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk I bought all my door handles and hinges from them, as well as screws when I have time to order. Good products, good value.

All cheaper than I paid 12 months ago for equivalent jobs on my site in Dorset.

We have sarnafil on our garage roof, a section of flat roof over the stairwell and the parapets around the balconies. I can't speak for its longevity as it was only completed at the back end of last year. On the face of it, it looks very similar to @lizzie's. The main problem I'm having with it at the moment is connecting the rainwater outlets that the contractor installed into gutters, as the outlets are all 90mm and don't fit into any standard size guttering/downpipe available over here. The contractor was singularly useless and said that he could supply elbows but of the same diameter, and these would need to feed into hoppers, which we don't want. Anyhow, I think I've found a solution from a French supplier. The installation of the roof was okay, apart from the vagaries of the installers not coming when they were supposed to, etc. but in general the standard of the work is fine.

Our architect did a nice job of the design of our house, but failed spectacularly to grasp the concept of low energy requirements. He was arguing in favour of a log burner almost until the timber frame went up!

All the ones in my house were cut with a multitool.

What's your ground like? If it's clay, beware of muckaway costs - they can be prohibitively expensive.

The council will put them up once your applicatipn has been received.