ToughButterCup

Wallplates are nearly all up now. ?? Can I screw the joists to the wallplate before I attach the joist hanger? I ask because I'm doing it on my own and I think I may be able to fix the joists more accurately by screwing them first and fitting the joist hanger after I am satisfied with the position of the joist.

Finish the bathroom ..........?

Locally I regularly pass a few properties which have been scaffolded for well over 2 months. A couple have been up since the summer. No work is going on on any of them. And if my guess is correct, then there won't be be much happening this month either. Knowing local prices, each is being charged £300 a month, in two cases twice that. A good few thousand spent, and no work completed. What's it like round your place?

Hello , good afternoon and welcome. I am sure a bit of networking will find you a manager. Start with @Nickfromwales, if he doesn't know, he'll know someone who does.

When I'm feeling sorry for myself, I remember folk like you

Naah mate, its " JSHarris switch da lights on bruuuv "

I bought Bosch: weeeellll, no imagination innit? The Bluetooth ones are nice because we can switch them on and off from our bed (line of sight), or you can program them to switch off and on whenever. Key issue for us is that we're already in the Bosch ecosystem - batteries and chargers.... : like I say, no imagination innit

What does your Planning Consultant say?

Are we allowed to choose between methods?

As I understand it, ' start ' is defined differently in different areas. The most common ' start' I've seen is clear evidence of digging. Breaking ground in other words. How about an exploratory hole to investigate something?

There be dragons. Lots of them. And they bite you right in the bank balance. Gold dust.

To you son, a fivver each. Welcome Cherished New Member. In relation to the GCN issue (May their presence be blessed and sanctified in the annals of ecology) here is a reading list. I would not wish to be seen to be advocating illegal behaviour. Let me, however, describe common local practice, witnessed by me. At least one, preferably two full years before you are likely to apply for permission, tip pig manure into the offending pond(s). Problem sorted. Cost £0. Or do what I did last century (1980s) - not object to your children bringing GCNs to 'our' ponds. And then look after them. Leave a few random areas of land around the place completely undisturbed. Lots of cover, no disturbance. Apply for PP. Get shafted (see reading list) And then pay a good few thousand. In our case to an incompetent but qualified ecologist. It took him several months to tell me about an email he had telling us that it was OK to start work. Dont misunderstand that tale of woe. I have observed the terms of our license to the letter. We have taken more care of them than needed. We were asked to put in 1 hibernacular (shelter). We have already made 4, one or two more to go..... We encourage them at every level. They sometimes walk over our kitchen floor, and get growled at by the cat. They are beautiful. Baby newts are like walking flecks of jade: rarely seen, delightful things.

Patience, reading, networking, reading and more reading. The emphasis in networking is on the work bit. It's not easy. Welcome, by the way Ian

I bumped into an article about Bluetooth 5. It seems the standard has significant improvements over 4.2. Hype?

Funny old world. Wyre Borough Planning turned up this afternoon. Because of my post above? Parked on my frontage. And there was bitter old me hoping an artic would come down our single track Lane and scrape the side of his car and do about £5000 worth of damage. No such luck.

Hmmm - well, good batteries or not, it always takes a sincere Hail Mary or five to start it.

I wasn't aware that you could get non-branded batteries to fit...... Thanks @Pete and @Barney12

@AliMcLeod, the issue of IP and our report - that ship sailed long ago. Its the several thousand quid and airy disregard for standards that angers me. Why should one person pay full whack on the say so of some minor eejit in a Planning Department, and others all round not pay anything at all? I mean we are talking of a distance here where its possible to have a shouted conversation with all concerend. The law applies to one of us and none of the others.

I'll keep this short and sweet. Judge for yourself whether my anger is justified. In order to obtain planning permission, we had to have an ecology desk study , a phase one and two ecology survey. That study found that, within National Guidelines, great crested newts were in danger. Finding that out cost a couple of thousand. After planning permission was awarded we needed to implement the Action Plan under the terms set out in our permission. Cost? a further several thousand. I'm so angry, I can't bear to look it up. In the blizzard of local applications for planning permission - and by local I mean 400 meters - the following occurred; Applicant No 1 took our survey (published online - not by us, but the LPA, (Wyre Borough) and used it as their own. No permission was asked. In response to Applicant No 1' Wyre Borough's ecologist suggested that instead of the measures we had to take, No1 merely needed to put up a sign saying the equivalent of Seen a newt? Kiss it and put it in the grass Applicant No 2. No need for a survey Applicant No 2's second application, no need for a survey Applicant No 2's third application, no need for a survey Applicant No 3: - application for permission to build within spitting distance of a pond which I had to have surveyed - so I know for rock bottom certain contains newts (GCNs), was told to put up a sign saying Seen a newt? Kiss it and put it in the grass The system is sick. Ecology has not got its act together. National laws are disregarded. Applicants for Planning permission need to know that before applying for permission - in West Lancashire - Wyre Borough to be specific - you can tip a load of pig manure in a pond and then wait a bit before applying. In addition you can rip your neighbours off by using their survey instead of paying for your own. And finally, Wyre Borough Planning Department does not appear to check any of the advice given by its ecologists. Why would they? Anyone with an ecology degree can set up as an ecologist, and so be recognised as a competent person. Full documentation is available online, and if you wish to PM me, I will gladly supply every reference. I could add the Iinks in this post, but I do not wish to embarrass my neighbours. I do not feel anything like so coy when exposing Wyre Borough to the most severe critique of their practice. How is it that two ecologists can read the same guidelines and come to completely different conclusions? The cost for me several thousand quid. For others, zero. Shame on you Wyre Borough, shame on you.

I suspect not, because simple framing screws (i.e screws not intended for use in concrete) don't have groove in the thread do they? Like this These are the ones for concrete aren't they? (apologies for the blatant copyright rip off) Yet there are plenty of adverts for screws to go into concrete that don't have the grooved thread. These for example are advertised as '... High quality Concrete Anchor External Screws that cuts its own thread directly into pre-drilled 6mm pilot hole, no anchor or plug is needed. Masonry screws are an excellent way to fasten any material to masonry...' I need some hefty Torx concrete screws (M10, 120mm) to fix my wallplate (for the first floor) to the wall. Please would you help Confused of Lancaster?

The bottom of our piles are 4 meters down. Our survey went down a little deeper than that. 20 meters in your case seems sensible.

Welcome. You're welcome to your clay too. I learned to love ours. It took me ages to work out that I needed to work with it rather than fight and so curse it. That's what's good about this forum: it teaches you so much. Ian

Make yourself a scrap book with images of things you like. Online with Pintrest or old fashioned paper, cut and paste. Doing both of those things helped us feel less concerned about whether our opinion was right or wrong. What does 'wrong' mean?

@Pete, don't worry, if they don't give you the VAT back, I'll crash into it in my Landrover...

I'm glad you replied. And glad I asked.... I haven't ever seen (edited to 'noticed') guidance from either source recommending that the vcl be sealed to the waterproof membrane. Another steep learning curve ahead of me then. But I have now. (10 minutes later) Thanks @ADLIan, very much.