ToughButterCup

Thanks very much for the link. Really interesting

Re 1: I time my farts for bath time. Blowing bubbles is my one totally innocent pleasure : Debbie has had to remind me that the sound insulation between the floors is not good enough to do that when we have guests Re 2: Now that Mr Stewart has given me two brand new hips I'm back into having baths. Bath for increased blood supply to the new bits of metal and ceramic followed by a very hot shower Re 3: Bang on. The German ...luften... ( to blow the room through with clean air ) is hard-wired. My Berlin- based family is still doing it , mind you there's a massive (wood and - if you can get it- brown coal fired ) tiled furnace in the cellar. The chimney sweep signs it off every year as emissions compliant [It isn't] . Its hotter than the engine room on a Clyde Puffer. Re 5+6 , wellllll.....

Yes. I measure the CO2 levels constantly. I move the monitor around and peek at it now and then. This is in the office right now. I hardly ever look at the numbers: I look at the light. Yes, on occasion its red. Ooop North we don't fuss about stuff like that . A wide open window sorts that out during the #2 process. Saves on Fart Spray too. Large windows in each bathroom. Open for a few minutes. I've hidden the bathroom windows behind cladding (with 12mm gaps) so the windows can be wide open - so our cheeky bits are hidden . Exactly right. In any wind and rain direction we always have a down-wind window: mostly there's one window open. But, on occasion all the windows are indeed closed. When I'm away, well, I just don't care ..... But you are right, there are a couple of nights when we don't have our bedroom window wide open. Our Wintergarden roof overhangs the bedroom window by 3 meters, so our room is protected under that and some large vertical louvres. What Kevin WhatHisFace calls a Breeze Corridor. Folks, I'm just feeling mean. I know MVHR is A-Good-Thing. Well, I'm told it is😜 Call it Concerned Impecunious Old Age.

Well yes OK, for sign off I do. But Hell, after 4 years without MVHR ( first fit already done) - and now for the first time able to afford the box (second fit) .... I'm feeling like its a waste of money. Well if not a waste, then I begrudge the money. Doors and 3 meter slider open April to September. I think I might only be using it for three or at thee most 4 months of the year. Grrr. I know, I know. 😑

Mate, you need a surgeon .....😔

I've a teenager who turns up on a Saturday : picks his nose incessantly and tells me while attempting to mix mortar - straight-faced - that "This shovel doesn't work ... " So I tell him we need 2 buckets of sharp sand, and 2 of 10mm pipe bedding , and another single bucket with cement. " But you've not got enough buckets for all that " Imagine the innocent pleasure to be gained from watching him pick his nose again after putting his fingers in the cement ... "Soft stuff this cement innit ...... " I've never seen a teenager do a war-dance before. Twat. Followed by me shoving his head in a bucket of cold water. According to him, my shovel works now.

I don't think it matters much. The thing is not to allow 'dead air' in that space. Think shoes after a day's wear - no matter how clean they are, they'll still be holding moisture, and thus bacteria that tend to whiff a bit.

I'm laying a path at the moment, and because the stone varies in size and depth, it's rare for me to mix exactly the correct amount of mortar. Years ago @TerryE gave me some excellent advice about using up excess concrete. Make a 'concrete flush-pond' he suggested . Levelled off , the excess concrete flushed from the concrete pump made an excellent temporary work area. It was excellent because it gave us a small stable base outside (3 by 3). We were particularly grateful to be able to cut insulation accurately on a table saw in the open air for example. So I was wondering if anyone had a similarly bright idea about how to put left-over barrows full of mortar to good use. I've made some tie downs : plastic mayonnaise tubs filled with mortar with a dog-tether ( spiral anchor) set in it... useful as a counter weight too. I've also out of sheer badness filled a 2 liter water bottle with mortar, and when set, stripped the plastic off it, painted it and the watched the grandchildren reaction when told to...go and fetch that bottle.... Ideas anyone?

In a similar situation , this is what we did. Not exactly the same.... but bits of it might help

Two commonplace Logical Fallacies in one short sentence. Not bad. Most people use one per sentence. '...because ...' is entirely wrongly applied in this case. '... can...' needs to be explained in the context of all five people using the road. Dickheads exist. They are excellent at getting us to exercise our diplomatic muscle. You may want to be a good neighbour @qamar : my experience of two similar cases of neighbourly behaviour is that as one problem is solved, the originator develops another gripe.

It took 8 full years of building to mix exactly the correct amount of mortar for the job. 8 full years. Normally, too much - what a waste. Often too little . Oh FFS. Anyone know the trick of how to mix exactly the correct amount of mortar for any give job?

I've written a checklist about diggas here on BH somewhere...

That was not the case for us.

Network. Find out who he/she's had him work on their projects before, and who he works with (other trades folk). Listen. As written, I'd be very tempted to ask someone else to get the job finished. However, I (we) can't see the full picture - for example, who does he 'drink' with in the pub in the evenings? Are they the people you'll need to work with sometime in the future? Will you need to employ him (or someone with his skills) again? How many other (say he's a ) carpenter(s) does he work with? Will he put poison down about you, or do they all know this bloke as a bit of a [...] ? For a small amount of money, it's a finely balanced decision.

Exactly. Router, > old bit , > 20mm, > lap in, > mastic, > cover with batten, > fasten. > clean up. 1 man, half a day, 10 meters.