Onoff

Understood and in that instance I was "lucky". It was more a case I was going on the neighbour's (whom I trusted), recommendation that the guy just needed a break. Conversely I've paid letting agents (a lot) to vet tenants who've come with great jobs and glowing references. They've turned into nightmares.

Slightly askew to the thread but ref "trades". After some bad tenant experience I was going to sell a rental place, I'd just had enough. A neighbour said his mate was desperate for a place but had had a few "issues". Said not interested. This guy turned up out of the blue when I was repairing the front door after an altercation the previous tenant had had. He was bigger than me (I'm 6'5"), covered in tats etc but seemed pretty small and at a low ebb. This guy proceeded tell me he was recently divorced, ex had taken everything, CCJs against him, new girlfriend with baby on the way. No bank account. He was working as a builder but his money went to the MiL who paid his bills. Produced 6 (might have been 12) months advance rent in cash there and then. He was renting for 6/7 years and paid early every month. Kept the house maintained to a phenomenal standard, painting, fencing, repointing & decorating etc. I said one time it wasn't down to him but he was a proud guy and just very grateful I'd taken a chance and helped them out. Only moved out due to having another kid/space.

There's is of course another bonus of making suspended floors in old properties like this airtight. It allows a leaky gas pipe to fill the void up long before you smell it... 💣😂 Another reason to pay close attention to cross ventilation to the outside, underneath whatever you do.

A142 mesh, fibres with removable timber boards at the designated crack lines. Remove and fill later? Unless your wanting a polished concrete floor?

Agree about the shrinkage. What about if you were to deliberately cut the boards under width by say 20mm and foam fill the 10mm gap either side with a high performance, flexible foam such as the aforementioned Illbrück FM330? Would that not allow for shrinkage?

Maybe a badger with a sore head... What I want to find is a WW2 stay behind with a stock of greased up Stens...home defence! 😉

I had to do exactly this for a pit built in the 50s. I was told it was at one time fenced off but that had long since disintegrated. Luckily I knew the line it was on. Clay pipes with a series of manholes down the garden. The exactly "where"was because it was all seriously overgrown with trees and a layer of soil from rotted undergrowth over the years plus ground ivy. There were thorny sloe trees over and around it. Tbh they'd clearly grown up due to all the "nutrients", (I wouldn't eat the sloes though)! The big danger was the fragility of the top cover. It's brick built, circular in shape with a domed brick top cover that has a cement skim. Beehive shape I think they call it. I followed the manholes, started clearing undergrowth and prodding the ground with a metal rod. I found the top cover edge and was able to lay ladders as a safety precaution to bear my weight. I then saw what looked like a dustbin lid I took the lid off and gingerly leant in with the phone. Couldn't gauge the depth exactly with drain rods at they just kept going into "sludge" but about 3m dia from memory. Just because yours is disused doesn't mean it's not full of water (plus whatever) with a fragile top. If no longer used you could collapse the top in and fill with soil. Or pump it out and make a nice man cave or kid's den a la Colin Furze 😂 If you do expose it then restrict access until it's safe. Mines covered in scaffold boards and pallets.

When I make our new post box I'm going to mount a blink camera on the outside, looking in*. Will be in direct line of sight to the router. Anything comes through the post box I'll get an alert on my phone. * CHOON!

Answers on a postcard?

??? No cable required. Just a Quinetic door switch. Doesn't need batteries. Works by magic.....or maybe the charge generated by a piezo electric crystal or something.....

Postman delivers your prescription enlargement cream, / pump, opens the box triggering the Quinetic door switch Door switch signals the receiver. Receiver brings the relay in. Far right set of normally open contacts hold the relay on and other set bring a lamp on. Lamp stays on until you hit the cancel button. Or something like that...

Because ze Germans at least realise that once the Chinese control our power infrastructure they're only a flick of the switch away from The Great Over Voltage Disaster where all their cheap mains powered wall warts etc catch fire at once...everywhere. It'll be Dresden, Cologne all over again!

This: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/QUDSW.html Quinetic receiver with an added latching relay, light stays on until you switch it off.

A piece of string tied to your willy?

A sharp chisel gets the beads out without damage: Take the long beads out first, then the short ones. Refitting, short beads in first, long ones last. Ask me how I know! Recently needed a replacement DG unit 849 x 309 x 19.5mm just over a year ago, had a "daisy" pattern. Paid £39.59 supply only.

...that they were aluminium 😂

Each to their own. I've done it successfully several times on different makes of DG unit, old and new.

You do if you are going to fit it yourself.

As well as the size. You'll need to know the thickness of the DG unit and glass shade or it'll stick out like a sore thumb against the others.

I'm only guessing mind... 😂 https://chatgpt.com/share/67915a65-72e4-8006-81ed-e756c759a288

Sh!t travels downhill, pay day's Thursday are apparently the only two things a plumber needs to know according to my pipe fitter / welder mate. Gets very upset if you call him a plumber. Edit: VERY upset.

Worth lashing in one Meanwell unit on one RCBO as a trial?

Meanwell for example do relatively cheap, 6kW inrush limiters, 2 module wide and DIN rail mounting but only 16A. Mix and matching these with whatever RCBOs are in the cu could cause you incompatibility issues and indeed invalidate insurances as going against MIs. That is even if there is space in the cu. They don't do a 20A unit but a 28A but I think that is 3 modules wide. A bfo, separately enclosed, upfront current limiter serving all the RCBOs is an option but if that fails ever you potentially lose power to all RCBOs and thus heaters. I'm thinking if this is the route taken, then an enclosure with a current limiter per heater feeding an enclosure with just the heater RCBOs. That gets over the different makes in one cu issue. Unless you can get inrush limiters the same make as the RCBOs. A conundrum for sure which is why the sparks is perhaps taking his time. Put it to him maybe. Should be cheaper than a whole new board.

Nice job. Did you get a man round to put it in for you?

Sounds like it would be sensible to install Sunamps on a wheeled dolly!