ToughButterCup

How I wish I had kept the sports bag straps I threw away. Bit of MDPE slipped over the handle?

Oh God, @JSHarris, the answer to my problem! But knowing me I'll leave it out in the rain and........ so I'll be drilling drainage hole in the bottom. It's a couple of quid cheaper here

So, in a nutshell, short-term you want to assure access for the build, and long-term you need to dissuade people from parking across your access. Right so far? Short-term, make sure you talk to the guy; a note asking for a meeting through his door? At that meeting concentrate on answering his problem (I'm going to have to park somewhere else....) and listen to how he frames the issue. Then adapt your approach. Focus on him and he will be more likely to see your point of view. Long-term, get the LA to mark the road. And make it visually clear -by design as well as marks on the road- that access might be required at any time. And good luck. Ian

And I am thinking you have more courage than I. Turning your loo into a Catherine Wheel. Takes some guts that.

I would dearly like to know the root cause of this chronic error. I slaved for many years to teach good database hygiene, and to promote the enjoyment to be had in a beautifully normalised relational database. Table 'creep' and sloppy normalisation might well lead to this kind of error. I wonder though if the answer isn't more prosaic: simple managerial paralysis, coupled with laziness and no incentive to 'get it right'

I solved the problem by routing the two ducts in a built in wardrobe -rather than the wall. Might that work for you too?

"And what precisely are the grounds for your complaint?" "Well, erm m'Lud, we, erm, don't like the look of it...." Welcome! To be sure there will be wider contexts to consider, but in the terms outlined above - just ignore unsubstantiated opinion.

For at least five years I have tried to get our DNO to update our details for our current address (1 Potters Brook): each time they say they will. Every time they don't. "Where's Salamander Cottage, then?" they ask. "Its not listed" "So how does Amazon know where to deliver stuff to Salamander Cottage?" "Errrrmmmm...." It's been on the Post Office database since the LPA put the address, two years ago. I wouldn't mind but I'm not sure if the Fire and Ambulance Service know our new house address. I blame the teachers.

Ah, those pesky decimal places, some you win, others, like this one ,deceive.

Thanks very much indeed. I'll copy that recipe. We own the land immediately to the west (left, looking north) under which the line will pass, so there's no need for a wayleave - although the lass I was dealing with tried insisting that they would need to investigate whether one was needed. Good luck with that....

Got it in one. Build a bit of our front wall, and be done with it. Like this... (lime green dot below) Is there any reason why I can't ask for the boxes to go on the back of the wall, out of sight? Contestable? All of it except the bit where they wet their fingers, twist the wire and make the joint @Triassic, my fingertips are telling me the same story: the discussion with the Electricity Northwest rep was markedly casual, uninformed even: she constantly had to ask for advice from colleagues on what I assume are standard questions. Maybe she was in training. Adding a caravan connector is almost a no brainer. Jeremy, what's 'decent strain-relief'? (ExLax?) Thanks for the tip about HO7RN-F cable - didn't know what you call that nice heavy floppy cable. Thanks. Ian

Thanks for the support. I think the operator I talked to let the cat out of the bag when she said 'Most developers round here use generators....' And yes @Triassic, I will have to pay all over again if I get a temporary connection, but wait for it, -even if the temporary connection is in exactly the same place as the temporary one. So, it's a diesel genny for me... say 6Kv?

I'm trying not to laugh, but to ensure a temporary connection, I've been told I need a brick built cubicle. These are screenshots from the quote I have just received..... and here's the object of desire.... All for the knock-down price of £4000 I've missed something haven't I? Tell me it's not true, give it me straight men, I can take it. I'm ugly enough. It's the brick-built sh1t house that gets me...... Ian

Wyre Borough charges £24.

Hello and welcome. The question you ask is exactly the one I did a few years back. And the answer is in a program called PHPP, or quicker, cheaper and just as good (probably) is a spreadsheet written by one of our stalwarts @JSHarris Damn! I've lost it.... not to worry @JSHarris will be along in a minute. And anyway, I'll try and dig it out and attach it later. The PHPP cost me £200, allowed me to play with very many variables, and enabled a common sense compromise. At the moment we are aiming for 19W per square meter rather than the passivhaus standard of 15. Long term, the PHPP program (it's a spreadsheet with a good deal of VB in it) will save me an appreciable amount of money.

That's sheer genius @Onoff. It's genius because it's also easy to take down: loosen 6 bolts and that's it.

The second time the HERAS blew over I ended up parking my Land Rover against it, and securing it with really thick zip ties. I knew roll cages were useful for something....

There were a couple of years of planning, while we were talking about generalities , that I tended to overlook the number of German and Austrian products I looked at. And then @Bitpipe wrote that post about Megabad, and someone ( @Stones ?) asked me to do a bit of translation - as did someone else. How nice, I thought, they like German stuff. Me on the other hand, I wanted to buy locally - put money into local businesses and suppliers, use British products. Got to be cheaper. Well, here's a little list; Piling company: uses a 20 year old piling rig (Zeppelin) made in Austria, powered by an 8 liter Magirus Deutz "Best in the business" says the rig driver Doors and Windows: Gaulhofer - Austrian Thresholds : Purenit - Austrian Brickslot drains: ACO - German Build: Durisol: German design, ICF 40 years old, locally produced Bathroom kit: Geberit Washing Machine: Bosch Hand tools and workroom kit: Bosch. I am proud to own a DeWalt nailer though. Build Standard: passivhaus That's most of our budget spent abroad. I suppose some of these companies might have parent companies elsewhere It occurred to me today that I might as well hang the German and Austrian flags on our HERAS. That'd go down well on our lane - really really well.

The rules have already been relaxed somewhat. I would have had to reapply for my license in May. Now that date has been postponed to December. Why? No logical or scientific justification given. Cynical? Me? Yes.

what colour for the GCNs, Pete?

Plodding through our Mechanical Services architects notes, I read; '...Generally, the contractor should use the same trenches for other services, where possible, provided they are installed to the correct depth and distances between services are achieved....' And as luck would have it, I'd quite like it if our sparks and water shared the same trench - because that way we can keep them both at the very edge of our site, and protected from delivery wagons and errant Great Crested Newts (Found a large one minding its own business inside our bedroom last night: rare they ain't. ) But thinking about it, if I am to achieve that desirable state of affairs, and since both sets of contractors are never going to be on site in the same week , I will need to maintain the trench, and drain it aren't I? Oh..... and catch bloody GCNs in it. I'm thinking it ain't worth trying? Right?

Your 600mm challenge isn't too much of an issue. Provided you follow the General Binding Rules (I assume you live in the UK, apologies if I have that wrong). @ProDave's advice (above) is the most important thing to sort out first. Given that you follow those, then my research lead me to follow @JSHarris , @Stones and other's advice: choose a digester that has the fewest moving parts. And if there are any moving parts, don't immerse them in the raw discharge. Inevitably, they need maintenance. So we choose a digester that does nothing more than blow bubbles through the liquor. And the air compressor (the only thing with moving parts) will be held in our Winter Garden, so it can be maintained in the warm and dry. Push comes to shove, I can always get Debbie to stand there and blow down the pipe

You must be so relieved. And with Storm Doris just getting ready to test your tiles and windows, you'll be battened down with a big smile on your face. Ian

It was Trumped Up from the bottom of my id, Mike. Alternative Fact at best, cods wallop at worst. But normal for across the pond eh?

People this is FAKE noos, very bad Guardian reporters. Bovis inherited a mess. Give the builders a break. #makeBOVISgreatagain