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ToughButterCup

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Everything posted by ToughButterCup

  1. ToughButterCup
    Hello Mike, Here, have a look at this, and this (the phase two study) We are on quarry spoil; and so potentially contaminated land. Which is a bit of a harumphhhh because lead was found .... 1ppm above the reporting threshold. Annoying because the core was taken just outside the shed door... and I know the old geezer who used the shed used to clean his paint brushes out exactly where the core was taken. Bummer. Cost is detailed here.... (January 2015)
  2. ToughButterCup
    Well, I think it's very nice. Don't you listen to that cruel Welshman.
  3. ToughButterCup
    The answer depends on the amount of time you have spare. Crofter (above) makes a really important point. The process sucks time out of your life like almost nothing else. Your LPA website will have many examples of the process and the outcome. And the will be many local planning agents who will give you half an hour free advice. Go to three and you'll have an hour and a half's free advice. Read widely, network widely, and maybe spend the money saved on the build.
  4. ToughButterCup
    9Kw? No problem, leave the doors open all year, open all the windows, and turn the MVHR up full. Easy
  5. ToughButterCup
    Stones, Warby. Exactly.
  6. ToughButterCup
    Well, that takes the biscuit.
  7. ToughButterCup
    I had exactly the opposite: they wanted a chocolate box hamlet. I reminded them that the street in which the Councillors all (by chance) lived had examples of design and build from every century since the 17th. I'm just too optimistic about people's ability to think.
  8. ToughButterCup
    Sitting in another Parish Committee meeting (I'm not a councillor), I regularly hear invalid reasons for objection put forward. The best of tonight's crop were; '.... the design includes a lift.... and I think it's going to be used as a care home...', and that from a Councillor So, I spent a few moments googling 'invalid reasons for objecting to planning applications' And this is what I found; Martin Goodhall's planning blog K S Law's site Clackmannashire's planning site Designing Buildings Wiki The Government's own advice (read 'What Cannot Be Considered') I spoke up, and said that I thought speculation about motive for the build was probably unwise, and might well be improper (impugning the application). Got shot at for saying that. That's absolutely fine by me. It's a privilege to be taken to task for openness. None of us is getting older are we? None of us are going to need a lift in our old age. Everyone uses stair-lifts. What's the 'worst' reason for objection you've heard?
  9. ToughButterCup
    Hi, no cover over the wood yet, but a bit of cover is planned for the winter. Not sure how yet, but I'll get that fettled soonish. Yes, it's really nice when you pick up a piece of wood which was so much heavier. That's my real damp meter. My forearm. But I do have a super-cheap Aldi Special.
  10. ToughButterCup
    Hi. I'm making my own cladding from stock oak, and larch. There are a few bits of sweet chestnut and hemlock lying about in the yard too. Wood dries out in the air naturally, even when it's raining. I have a nice little damp-meter which shows me my oak has dried from about 29% down to 18% in a few months. It hasn't rained much recently , it's true, but cutting through it when wet shows very little water penetration. And what little there is evaporates quickly. The main thing before use is to store the wood flat and distribute the weight evenly. Woods with a high tannin content; oak, sweet chestnut, larch last longer than most others
  11. ToughButterCup
    Hi, Your logic is exactly why I chose the digger I bought Weight of the trailer 480Kg (I may have remembered this wrong, but I won't be far out) Weight of digger 2000 kg (add fuel and hydraulic oil I think) Buckets (dunno) 200 kg ish Ramps 150 kg Towing vehicle Land Rover, permissible towing 3500 kg So I have a little bit spare. The key thing is to keep the all-up weight to be towed to below 2.6 tonnes: it makes the digger far more saleable. Most people who can tow, are limited by the permissible tow-weight of the towing vehicle.
  12. ToughButterCup
    No. We already own the land
  13. ToughButterCup
    I agree. Currently (as projected) the work is coming out at £2300 per square meter. I hope to shave £500 per square meter off that
  14. ToughButterCup
    Ed, have you ever tried one of those light-weight bars? I might be able to smuggle one under the SWMBO radar buried deep in an invoice.
  15. ToughButterCup
    Grind that flat with a rougher stone. Someone explained to me years ago that a set of soft pencil marks (cross-hatches) on the stone to be flattened is a big help in working out which bits of the stone need some work. And sometimes less work needs to be done than you think. Sharpening is my equivalent of the Army's bulling boots, and one Saturday morning in four I sharpen everything. More often if something's annoyed me. Soothing, satisfying, useful.
  16. ToughButterCup
    I threatened.... however, in a previous life I did an exercise somewhere in France I neither remember nor care where, Massiv Central somewhere - and got myself 'captured' (we were acting as enemy) by the Legion. Bastards hung me from a tree branch by tying my thumbs together. An hour or so of that, and I was squealing like a weaner. So embarrassing.
  17. ToughButterCup
    Big? Who cares? I've only got eight left. Q. "Wanna hand Ian?" A "Naaah thanks, a couple of fingers will do in my case"
  18. ToughButterCup
    A link would help. I've looked, but can't find one (in the online version) Ian
  19. ToughButterCup
    Well, if you will drink latte from a glass, unlike us he-men who drink it from a trough, what do you expect?
  20. ToughButterCup
    Hi Ferdinand..... yes, and a digger in the garden spoils the view and lowers house prices.... godda watch for that
  21. ToughButterCup
    Know what, Ed, I don't think it is bigger....
  22. ToughButterCup
    That image was taken in Calvi, Corsica. Where we went on honeymoon. It's taken just outside the gates of the 2nd Battalion French Foreign Legion - where I threatened to walk through the gates unless SWMBO bought me an ice cream.
  23. ToughButterCup
    I bought it to make my cladding with. I can assure you, as soon as that's done, it's going. The guy at the wood yard has already made me an offer.....
  24. ToughButterCup
    It's easier to use than the other ones I use, better balanced, easier to start, less vibration, and just a little bit frightening. It coped with the root bowl of that Hemlock tree in short order - and in that sense it's less hard work.
  25. ToughButterCup
    You are going to tell me you use it for curling now aren't ya?
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