ToughButterCup

I am not going to be able to replace all the copper with anything else, no matter how good the replacement is. So I have to acquire some copper skills. Probably no bad thing. Essential, as in cannot do without tools - a sort of Plumbers Starter Kit ? Ideas please.

Trying to get our current house ready for spring 2018. The plumbing is dire. SWMBO and I spent so much time when we were at home after formal working hours preparing for the next bit of work, that we simply ignored all sorts of DIY stuff. But now we (what do I mean 'we' - I ) need to get a grip of it all. A clanking heating system, weeping this that and the other. The end in mind? Bring the house plumbing up to a standard which would allow us to rent it out. And to do that in an affordable, and safe way. My plumbing skills are sub-prime. Nugatory. Negative. As usual I turn to YooChube for help. And, then I realise that I need to practice. A bit like @jamiehamy did here. So I need to get some bits and bobs together on which to practice I think I can guess some of the things I'll need to work on Hep2O and copper systems. And I think I'll start with joining bits of copper pipe. Any advice? Dos don'ts? Any good YT resources you've used? All help welcomed.....

That is a core skill. Holding your nerve, and developing more than normal levels of resilience. Most self builders are expert, or near experts in their own field of work. And suddenly through our self build, we are exposed to systems and people who are -nominally at least - far more expert than we are. And thats very jangling. It leads to all sorts of difficult challenges - and since many of those hit you right in the bank balance, it what the experts call a 'high stakes' sector. That's why we (BH) exist, and why you will find a highly committed audience here ready to listen to what you have to say. In my case on BH and its predecessor (2 or three years) I have already been given far more than I can ever give back (two posts saved me £17k, but I have saved much more than that overall). In holding your nerve, you might like to think about creative and wholesome ways in which you can distract yourself from the almost perma-worry. For me, I am learning (re-learning) how to fly drones and I use the BBC Radio iPlayer last thing at night to help me, through distraction, to switch off. Keep us posted, and or PM me if you need a private word. If I don't know, I'll know someone who does. Ian

Close to none if - as is the case locally - the PC persist in submitting invalid objections. Like these The Head of Planning has (reportedly) told our PC that their feedback will no longer be routinely considered This is the most concise list of valid objections that I have found Exactly - to the word - that was said of ours. And the Planners rejected that 'consideration' (that's all it is) out of hand. That said, there is no point in annoying the locals, but there is every good reason to stand your ground if the reasons given for objection are trivial, unevidenced or impressionistic. We were determined to build to a high standard in terms of current design trends - passive, to a degree, and use materials like wood rather than stone where possible. It takes a hundred years to 'turn a tree round' and a few million to make a stone. Hold your ground and your nerve. Your case feels very similar indeed to ours. Welcome by the way Ian

I recon we have a case of sludge flake - and this isn't the breakfast cereal type of flake either. Help us sort it out, please. We've drained the system down twice now, and radiator performance is at best patchy. So next weekend, we're determined to Drain down Take the rads off and flush them and do our best to flush the 'tubes'.... and that's where we'd like some help When the system is heated by the fire, and the pump is circulating hot water, you can feel the change (drop) in temperature where the wider pipe meets the narrow one. We can hear little pairs of castanets rattling in the pipe (together with entrained air from a leaky valve). Once you take the rads off and clean them out, how do you clean out the small bore pipe?

Now that the roof is on the piggery, and there's power in the building, its time to move my tools to their new home. I want ot make a set of sliding shelves, each holding a Bosch L-Boxx with its tool. Maximum weight - 25 kg The question is which sliding runner should I use for the shelves? The research I have done shows a wide range of price and complexity. I'm willing to bet you can tell me what to avoid.... And perhaps be willing to recommend one or two makes.

All part of the service mate.....

Right folks, thanks. Recommendations for dual band router?

And now that I have returned home, the sodding Chromebook and my phone connects just fine. Time for a new router?

The only recent updates have been the (massive) Windows update. All on, all off, many times, all hardware inspected for continuity and eejit errors. What's most curious is that the Chromebook and the phones simply spit the password out of their prams. And I'm writing this post from Debbie's office in Lancaster University on the Chromebook - the very same one that spits out the password for our WiFi at home. WiFi works perfectly on our phones at Lancaster University as well. Cant take a joke? Shouldn'a installed WiFi at home should I?

Auto Both our PCs are fine, its just the 2 Android's and a chromebook

We have two PCs, two phones and a couple of laptops. The PCs manage to keep their connection with our WiFi. But both our phones and a Chromebook lose their WiFi connections. Trying to re-establish the connection, the connection dialogue box asks for the (long-saved) password. We enter it and the dialogue box immediately rejects it. Not much hair left at the moment. Ideas?

So, how do I know it's you - or at least the owner of the bath? You are in the bath with no shoes. How often have we seen trades in a bath with shoes on ("Dinna worry, hen, it'll be reet!")

Welcome And welcome to perma-worry, perma-change, perma-you're-charging-how-much? Get lost!

I am almost sure you will not be refunded your VAT.

Is that what the orange smudge is.... Commonly seen on slow flowing water courses ?

Learn to love it man! Won't be long before they've flown the nest and you'll miss it. That deep visceral retching; only matched by a decent case of necrosis

Digit trouble. Worse for me than many, now that I have only eight left.

Phone call to Tanner's Structural Design the other day........ 0 0 3 5 3 2 5 5 1 0 0 0 (Tanner's number) Brr Brr Brrr Brrrr "Hallo Luxemburg Post Office" Ermmmm, is that Tanner's Structural Design? "No, .... Its Luxemburg Post Office" Yeah right , Hilliard, stop messin' about ..... , now about our steels design.. "This is Luxembourg Post Office, Sir" It was the 'Sir' that brought me up short . I'd dearly love to know which digit among the correct ones listed above that I had mis-dialled. I've done a brief search, but...

They are currently using the ' space ' provided between the notion of a ' building start' and the twelve year rule. The Enforcement Officer told me that " There is no significant difference in law between residence in a caravan (with in this case a partner) and the occupation of a site hut for the purposes of building a stables. " So, thats OK then.

Here's a wheeze that works very locally to me... very locally indeed... you can even see it on Google Earth Make an application to put a stables on the land. While that application is being considered, put a caravan on it (in anticipation of a successful outcome) , and call it a site hut : then just live in it. To date, that's worked for 4 years. The application process started in 2009. You think I'm joking? No I am not. Not one little bit.

There ya go! That sentence alone will save me a hundred quid I bet. Thanks. (PS, some little toe-rag has nicked my artery forceps. Any chance you could bring some with on the next visit? )

Professional indemnity Insurance is expensive. Let us know what happens. Ian

Incursions I think. AKA .......annoying inconsistencies ......... One of which nearly caused the piling company to have to cut the probe off at 2 meters (out of a four meter probe) - at a cost of a thousand or so quid, (cut off, replace, re-weld, re-pile) while driving the last pile

It is possible and it isn't folly. @Construction Channel and @Mrs Construction Channel are too modest to point out that they have done a series of videos on how they did it here The Devil is in the detail (says the guy who's never slated a roof). But I have built a roof, and felted it. And I will be slating that roof when I know I can afford the slates. There are lots of videos about slating on YooChube. I found the videos by this guy particularly good because he takes care to explain a little more than the average Monkey-See-Monkey-Do approach to skills-based teaching and learning. What is clear to me after a few years in touch with online self-builders is that there is a generosity here which often provides enough moral support to get started. Once that happens, we also enjoy unpicking the inevitable cock-ups. All that's needed is a bit more courage than average. Self builders have enough of a push to Just Bloody Do It. And a poor bank balance is a real help . Just think of it if you had too much. You'd miss the buzz of Just Bloody Doing it. Make your own mistakes: don't pay someone else to make them for you