Triassic

Today demolition of our 1935 timber dormer bungalow commenced in earnest. Having done a soft strip in the dormers, removing doors, carpets and internal walls, I then moved outside and onto the roof. Being a timber bungalow everything is made of a wood product of one sort or another, so he internal walls and ceilings are constructed using fibre board and the roof is cedar shingles. Once on the roof it soon became clear that it's been re-covered, so I now have two layers of shingles to hack through. My first thought was to use a spade under the layers and prise then off, I soon gave up on that idea, due to the shear number of nails. Next I tried a long handled three pronged weeding fork, worked a treat, thrust it under the shingles and they splinter and fly off. Mind you, it's dusty laborious work and the pile of shattered shingle is growing .

Could you extract the hot air and replace it with cooler air?

I've started demolishing my wooden house. I was wondering if the wood fibre boards, used an the interior wall coverings, could these by composted. The roof is made of cedar shingles, these are very are in very poor condition, could these be chipped and used as mulch on the garden?

An update on our IKEA bathroom sink unit problem. Having been told that there was no way IKEA would send the new unit out without collecting the old unit at the same time. I had a call this morning to inform me that the customer service rep was wrong and that a new unit would be dispatched today and once the defective unit had been removed, could I call to arrange for its collection. Excellent news !

I'll throw my hat in the ring here, having had six SAP assessments done in the last four years, Added nothing, saved me nothing, complete waste of time. SAP is a worthless piece of paper. It is the conformance with building Regs that should be tightened. I'd rather assessors were retrained to carry out audits during the build process to ensure compliance. Just to be clear, my SAP assessor was a first rate person. Prior to being a SAP assessor she was a Green Deal Assessor and prior to that a BSc educated researcher in environmental science.

I'd do the SAP assessment first. If you look at Jeremy Harris's blog he has a spread sheet, you could do your own.

Flamco make Expansion vessels, so yes something to do with the expansion vessel. the red capped valve is a pressure relief valve, so yes It needs connecting to a tundish, but in case it blows!!

In the small bathroom in our cabin we fitted an IKEA bathroom unit, white painted wood, possibly MDF, with sink that sits on top of it. Thee months after fitting the paintwork is all split on the front legs and the cross members. So I called IKEA and they sent out a bod to inspect it and do a report. Conclusion, manufacturing fault, so they will replace it. Great! BUT!!! They will send out a new unit, but want the person bringing the new unit to take the old unit back. I point out that it's not really possible, as we would be without a working bathroom and I would need the new unit to be delivered first, so that it's a straight swop, no plumber standing around all day waiting for a delivery driver to turn up. Once the old unit was out I'd phone them when the old unit was ready for collection. After a lot of back and forth on the phone they dig their heals and said no, they would only guarantee deliver If the old unit is ready for collection at the same time. Well isn't that great!!

So I'm ready to buy a NAS box, I was wondering if I could take the 1TB hard drive out of my old PC and slot it into a NAS box. Would it slot straight in or would I need to re-format it in some way? Thinking about it, I have three perfectly good hard drives, could I buy a three bay box and slot them in?

I was thinking of buying the stuff from the big Insulation suppliers as flat sheets and gluing up the L shaped pieces myself. Interestingly I'm told that in Europe the L shaped sections can be purchased from builders merchants. Not so here! Not sure who is the cheapest supplier at the mement.

I've just got my insulated foundation drawings back from Hilliard Tanner. As I don't have the luxury of the MBC boys doing the work I'm rather on my own. No doubt it's a bit like Lego and should all go together easily, however I'm wondering where you get those U shaped clips they use to connect the ring beam sections of EPS together? Any thoughts and tips on going down the DIY route greatfully received. Is there a guide to such things?

Buy a storage container, our two are stuffed, mainly with her stuff !!

Ah right, I'm have to do a bit more searching. The one thing which is clear is that the current version of Thunderbird will only transfer mail from Outlook Express, the Outlook 2003 box is greyed out. I also used the export function in Outlook and am only able to create a .pst backup file, which, from what I've read can ony be opened by Outlook. Why is nothing IT ever simple!?

I've tried a number of ways (via Thunderbird and other software off the net) of moving my Outlook 2003 .pst files into Thunderbird and all have failed. Has anyone got any suggestions as to how to move my mail off Outlook 2003 and on to something more modern?

Just out of interest, would you poker concrete going into formwork? If so, when?

Ah right, so we're talking about Planning Department Conditions. As you suggest, the three conditions can only be met by actually building the house! No doubt others have conditions that need to be met before commencement!

Im a bit confused. I'm looking at my Notice of Grant of Planning Permission and it contained three conditions - 1. start within three years, 2. house to be built in accordance with the approved drawings and 3 colour of roof covering. Then in I have a a Plan Cerificare Schedule of Comments from the private building control company. This list eight items, six dealing with the structure and two drainage. I'm assuming it's only the second list I need to get signed off and this is done directly with the private BC company?

Well I tried the Nick Knuckle test and I must have the wrong sort of knuckle!

Trying to narrow the choice would you go for magnetic or electronic?

I need a stud finder, but having never owned one and looking online, prices range from a tenner up to fifty quid, I'm wondering if anyone could recommend one which is good value for money.

Having moved into our temporary cabin in preparation for demolition, the sad thing is we can no longer hear the birds tweeting, the sheep, rural life, or people and cars coming up the drive. So what's im looking at technology to help. Having done a quick search I came across this thread and wondered how @Mikey_1980 had gone on with his new system.

I've gone for the easy option and fitted halogen bulbs. Sorted!

I've fitted a new bedroom light along with three GU9 corn bulbs. The problem is, they glow in the dark after it's switched off and they glow all night. The power goes to the ceiling rose and then to the light switch. It's two way switched, with a switch by the door and a second by the bed. Looking at these, they appear to be wired correctly and the earth is fitted. Any thoughts on a solution.

Just a quick update. I applied for the Demolition Notice, over eight weeks ago and on Friday the Building Control guy turned up on site to ask questions regarding the disconnection of services, electric, gas, phone, water an sewer. Once the demolition is done He wants to come back to see that the sewer has been capped off. We move into the new cabin in the garden today, so demolition starts very soon.

You'll be seeing them in IKEA very soon, cheap as chips.