vivienz

It's the good weather.

I have a couple of holes in our EDPM flat roof - one over the garage, the other on one of the balconies (caused by roof tiles coming off during the storms). As I understand it, I need some of the EDPM itself, as well as primer and adhesive, then a roller to squash the repair patch down to get a good seal. Or do I need to do something else entirely? Can anyone advise?

Congratulations, you must be thrilled! You've had a harder journey than many of us but it must be wonderful to be in at last. And the place does look wonderful.

Sorry, not me.

Do you know anyone with a Bradfords trade account? They're still delivering, but not sure what quantities.

I'd hang on a few months to be certain. Summer ones fruit on last year's new growth, autumn ones on this year's growth. If they haven't flowered by June/July, then they're autumn ones and you can take appropriate action once you know. Agree with @PeterW's comment about the 1 in 3.

Just at the time we finally manage to get one of our greenhouses up, compost is taking a while to get here and fairly expensive, plus I need to save it for the raised beds as topsoil is impossible to get hold of. All's not lost, however, as I've got 4 bales of barley straw on the way early next week (hopefully), each about 5 ft long, so that will give plenty of growing space. They get started off with a daily regime of fertilizing and watering and that starts the process of breaking down, having the benefit of kicking out plenty of heat into the cold greenhouse. One the internal temperature has dropped to 38C, they can be planted up and then it's a case of the usual routine for greenhouse crops. I'll be putting tomotoes, aubergines, peppers and cucumbers into mine, maybe with some other bits and pieces. The equivalent volume of compost would cost a fair old bit, but the straw bales come in at around £5 each. Once everything is over at the end of the season, the spent bales can be used as a mulch on the raised beds (or anywhere else in the garden).

Our ground worker will be back tomorrow. As before, working on his own in the open and with his own hand wash and drinks facilities in the garage.

That will be a male body, then. The evidence of female bodies disagrees.

I had a good finish on my slab but I wouldn't have described it as dust free.

Ours would want to know if it came nicely prepared in a plastic wrapper and had been kept at the right temperature in the fridge.

If your wife doesn't do it already, you can put an app on a smart phone or laptop to borrow ebooks and e audiobooks from the library, as well as read digital issues of many magazines. The app can go onto a Kindle fire, but not an older style kindle as the format is different. Re. the battery charging, this is something that is prior to the power cut, which didn't seem to change anything. I will get back with some more details later - time to do the VAT before the accountant breaks quarantine to chase me for the figures, then into the factory for work-related stuff. Essential, of course.

We're already isolated due to our location, so not much will change in that respect. My best friends live some distance away and we only get to see each other every couple of months or so, so that shan't be so different to usual. My greatest concern is how the elderly MIL and SIL will manage if one or both become ill, as they are in Bournemouth and both vulnerable. I think, as with so much at the moment, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Other than that, I have plenty of books and need to figure out why my battery system isn't charging as I expect it to. They'll have found a vaccine for corona virus before I figure that one out!

Minimum things turned on included sewage treatment and MVHR.

As I said, the power went off at 5.30pm yesterday and The batteries ran out at 8am this morning. Use per hour varies as we made hot drinks at different times, had showers and had lights on last night but not during the night. Feel free to do the maths, if you wish!

I have 6 x 2.4 kWh batteries.

The fault was found and is fixed, tge DNO guys are backfilling where they dug out the cable now. It appears that a groundworker caught the cable when they were putting the rainwater drain in and just squidged it back in without telling anyone. The cable had a small split and has worsened over time. On the plus side, it's the first time I've had a lengthy power cut situation, so it was interesting. The power cut started at about 5.30 yesterday evening. I switched off all non-essentials, leaving lights, some sockets and fridges and freezers running before switching over to battery power. The Sunamp was full and I had 50% charge in my batteries. There was no need for heating as the house is at a toasty 23C downstairs with the milder weather. We were frugal with lights and had no tv on. I charged my phone and we had tea and coffee this morning. The batteries finally ran out of juice at 8am this morning. Overall, aside from the inconvenience of the power cut itself, the sunamp and battery backup system have worked out really well.

The power isn't back on yet. My choice was to have the DNO digging outside at gone midnight or manage till this morning, so I chose the latter. I was unaware of needing to lock back to the grid - that seems logical so I shall wait and see. Thanks, all.

We had a major power cut here yesterday evening. The DNO will be nack this morning to locate and fix the fault. We have battery backup that finally ran out this morning. The sun is shining so the PV should be kicking in now but there is negligible generation. In the absence of a timely response from the supplier/installer, does anyone have any suggestions?

Worktop Express have a nice range.

The bathroom will always smell of wet plaster every time you use it if it's not sealed.

Sorry the Fermacell won't work for you, but you can move on now and you have a plasterer on hand, so all's not lost. I used a commercial dehumidifier in my place to assist with drying, but that was in the very early months of the year. Worth considering, perhaps.

A huge amount of progress reflecting, no doubt, what must have been a huge amount of work to get to this stage. The delayed start may not be such a bad thing given the biblical weather we've been having as many projects have stalled over the last couple of months due to the storms.

Might something have shifted in the recent storms, or the membrane have been pierced somehow? Our garage roof (thankfully, not insulated) was damaged by a slate that blew off the main roof in one of the (many) recent storms and water leaked through inside the garage roof. Good luck with the inspection and repair.

It was a verbal confirmation, but from their specialist team that deals with the DIY/self build area of VAT. I had to book the call and wait for a few days for a specialist to get back to me, so it wasn't one of the generalists who confirmed it.