ToughButterCup

The point made above about water supply is correct. No water no habitation. But the District Valuation Officer who visited us never saw our water supply. She did see a sink (through our kitchen window) and assumed we had a water supply. I asked her to substantiate her claim. Silence. As I understand it, Valuation Officers appear to be becoming more assertive. And that fits the pattern of increased pressure on Local Authority budgets.

Keep the HERAS up and secured. And if possible a time lapse camera - to evidence who has - and who says they have (but hasn't) - visited the site. The BC is irrelevant: but the District Valuation Officer is relevant . How I wish I'd known that four years ago.

Upstairs flooring laid yet? Downstairs ceilings in yet? A (Several) photo(s) of the problem would help us help you more quickly

Where did the mud come from? Its hard to tell from the image...... I ask because I'm not sure whether you have merely one problem or several. If the issue is the mud - stop that, and (one of ) the problems disappears, perhaps? Could it be that when the drive is swept, the rubbish ends up in the 'trench' ? Or do you jet wash your wheel arches and the mud gets into the trench

Morning.... you've brought the sunshine with you . Thanks Waste time on here and you'll wonder where th day(s) went.

If you have, what's the point of demanding one? Annoyance drips from almost every sentence of your post. A couple of years worth of annoyance. May I suggest you ask yourself why - after all that time - you haven't worked out how to let the annoyance go.

Yes it does. Almost Durisol is 86% air. Unlike a sponge it dries out as fast as it gets wet. Bit like my old Landover. Water leaks out as fast as it leaks in. I would not consider using Durisol underground: in fact it might well be useful as part of a soakaway design.

M6 North bound : Lancaster, just short of Lancaster North junction (34), 21:00 and later any day on a warm evening ..... The Prison staff are mostly at home You can hear from the Northbound carriageway, the inmates - many of them , not just one or two - banging on the windows with metal plates, screaming, crying - over the motorway noise. Riding my bike home on the track next to the prison after a late teaching session : I never got used to the noise - and won't forget it either. No Butlins methinks.

Oh how many times did that have to happen before someone enlightened me about shock-load? Hundreds. From hand-held hammer drivers to dumping heavy objects on shelves, or being catapulted out of a mini-digger seat, or tapping a 'locked' nut, or opening a tight jam jar.

You write about possible motive. ( fishiness). Almost always a mistake because normally nobody can evidence motive. You want to test the principle? Do so. You want to reduce the risk of doing that? Ask another Planning Consultant. Research -online- similar Applications in your LPA : know why and more importantly why NOT you should be given Planning Permission on the basis of evidence. And that's there for anyone to find.

First port of call: the LPA website. Download and pick apart any that you find..... Next : heres what ChatGTP spewed forth....

One of my early errors was to assume that self-builders got worthwhile discounts. We generally don't. Because most often we're one-off customers. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try....

Back injury makes one a God sent answer to a problem that appears when it decides to ruin a couple of days for me. Get one with a drier as well as a 'hose'. Download the app (Geberit) and tune it to your particular Botticelli. There is genuine fun to be had if a relative refuses to use the app. For example they might be sitting there with a smile of benign relief and you - using the app from elsewhere in the house - change the water temperature to cold , or the strength of flow to ArseBlast: Or both. On hearing the screams, jump in the car and off to the only pub in the area which is in a mobile signal dead spot. Flowers from the garage on the way home.

The closer you get to the full squat position , the healthier it is for anyone to drop the kids off in the pool. It reduces strain, straightens the rectum out, and stretches yer hips. The puborectalis muscle is also relaxed. A footstool helps because your knees should be higher than your hips, the old puborectalis again . So lean forwards slightly, rest your forearms on your knees, and then think of England, Harry and St George. A long way of saying Lower is Better Please don't ask me why I know so much about this particular issue.

Good start. Head down - go -go go

Here's the West Lancastrian answer to your problem Ring my nearish neighbour: outline the problem and if you can understand the reply book a holiday leave your phone at home leave for your holiday my neighbour turns up at 08:00 on Sunday morning while you are away parks so his Land Rover's number plate is not visible fells the tree if small enough, he logs it and drives away with the trunk in bits in his trailer hope his LR doesn't break down you come back from holiday and say Nowt-to-do-with-Me-Mate. I know Nuffin. Problem sorted Worst case: he gets busted by Mrs BizzyBody and he is hauled up in court pays the fine smiles smugly because you reimburse his fine and he uses the tree for next years firewood Meanwhile at the inevitable sophisticated Christmas drinks parties you tell the story of how you have no idea what happened and that you have already plans to plant several replacement trees. And everybody's happy: you all can piddle in peace and my mate keeps his feet warm for a month or two. Whas' not to like? I tell ya - West Lancs: it's the new Wild West

Which is what we did. Here's the charging schema used by our architect - easy, simple, open. More detail here.

I parged out AND in , and then wet plastered inside as well. Why - in AND out? Because I didn't know any better, and because I'm on my own - so don't (didn't) have the research time. Skim-reading is deadly sometimes.😔 PM me when the time comes -

Almost recovered from our Durisol Trauma. I'm up for looking at your build ... when do you start?

Just found this one for DeepSeek

I've read the article. Might this be another of those Lying with Statistics articles with spin and mendacity by omission interleaved in the paragraphs? For example, there's no mention of Dividends paid out - but private investment of £100 billion is. Here's some fireside reading I recommended to my U/G students. How to Lie with Statistics Been in print as long as I've been alive.

Ask a few AIs. I am finding that DeepSeek gives a more detailed answer to a question that I also asked of ChatGPT. They both gave the same answers, one answer was more detailed than the other. DeepSeek gave a more reasoned answer. Have a quick check to see if there's a public AI for Structural Engineering......

For example...

Here's a series of ideas to help ..... Find out what your Trade / Professional body is doing to support your sector Search for AIs specific to your sector / interest Search for online MOOCs about AI (Massive Open Online Courses) - many are free heres a set of examples Choose an AI (any one) . Download a Cheat Sheet for its favoured prompts : use them Open two AIs. Ask one a question. Paste its answer into the next AI ( Eg. Chat GPT > (Whats the best way to insulate a house foundation) < Answer> Paste that into DeepSeek) AI is fundamentally iterative: learn how to ask questions that illicit an appropriately deep response . And then> Focus on part of that answer and ask a further question about about a small section of the original answer (Is EPS 300 sufficiently thick to achieve an U value of 0.4 > What results would be achieved by using EPS 200 ?) The fundamental rule is Drill Down into the answers And the most important of all Play with them for a while And then remember your 'O' Level maths - check and re-check the answers ( in modern parlance Triangulate the answers)

Thanks Dave. I'll look for that on our system (Geberit). The so called flush buttons are in fact levers, and so wear out as expected from a lever .... and they charged us £76 for the privilege of buying shite...