Onoff

So if the 33kV line heats the ground that much it should heat the lake up a bit.....suggest a ground loop?

Good point. You can I think get safety film to help address this.

Just seen this thread. I've used Bedec Barn Paint on new fresh wood and it's perfect after 5 years (see your shed gap thread). I've not used Bedec Multi Surface Paint. However.....I recommended the barn paint to a mate who went over his "already painted with something else" fence to change the colour and the Bedec Barn Paint didn't take well and flaked.

I used black Cuprinol on the edges and ends (by standing in a bucket so the end grain sucked it up). Then 3 coats of black satin Bedec barn paint on the rest of the wood. It's superb stuff (and reassuringly expensive). New Zealand Deck Stain gets good reports too:

Bottom line is the guy who did it was a bit inexperienced. Should have done a continuous tongue and groove like I did on my gate using 6mm marine ply. Glued one side only. Been like this 5 years and perfect. The boards can expand and contract as they like and no gaps. Thinking about your situation then your boards I junk might still expand / contract. If your 50mm strip is affixed over the gap but to both boards I wonder if, over time the strips will split? I might be tempted to fit 70m strips but to one side of the gap only. Then it can slide over the adjacent board to allow for movement. Only worry there is will the boards, affixed one side, "curl"? How about, as a cheap "try": Buy a few tubes of the cheapest black silicone and put that in the gaps finishing with a decent Fugee tool.

Just fished this lot out of the heated tank. Pre rinsing but you can see how good it is: What I recall from using Deox-C was that pretty much everything came out with a black, greasy film on it, that would stain anything. It came off easy enough with a scrub. This citric acid though seems to leave a nice, clean matt grey surface for the most part. I do note the two flat wood bits are a bit black/greasy. Random bits from a tap to the old, heavily rusted coach screws off the freebie satellite dish. Of course, things like the plane blades would be further wet & dried then kept oiled. To reuse the coach screws outside they would ideally need replating. Happy with the process all in all. For now I've rinsed the tank out and dumped all the bits in an unheated plastic bucket with the solution where it'll continue to do its thing albeit at a slower pace.

At the 5.5hr mark. Both pullies spin freely. Pretty much ready to mask up and etch prime!

After 1 hour: The liquid takes on a green tinge, darkening as it loses its efficiency / gets contaminated by the rust coming off. This is just what Deox-C does. Reading the Deox-C instructions again and it contains "detergents". I'm thinking this might be to help lift oily rust. Tempted to put a squirt of Fairy in my little tank. Coming up on 3 hours in there at 70degC: I've also thrown in a few equally rusted hand plane blades, an old leather punch, a hammer head etc.

The Deox-C instructions suggest much better.

I'm treating the citric acid as Deox-C. Instructions say a strong solution 4:1, normal solution 19:1: Deox-c_Technical-1.pdf We've put 750g of citric acid in with 3L of water then added half a litre of water to cover everything. So a little over 4:1 but still a strong solution. Cylinder stat is holding everything at 70degC and it's all bubbling away nicely. H&S being paramount and to limit evaporation a cover over the top! Pulley went in at 13:00hrs.

This is the mower pulley assembly: A trip to Wilko, £1.75 a pack: And something I made 30 odd years ago. Might change the plug and check the earth...

I too have an old cylinder mower project I only rediscovered yesterday in the half of the stable I've used over the years. I'll post some pics later. (Other half of the stable collapsed a short while ago taking out the freebie solar thermal panels I got )

Out of interest, as I mentioned above, central heating system descalers contain phosphoric acid. In this case, picked at random, 8% along with citric acid: https://www.toolstation.com/central-heating-descaler-silencer/p43193? I've a 20 year old cleaner from Wickes I might try. I cannot not work. Just time will vary according to concentration.

The reason I'm using Diet Coke? It's got phosphoric acid in! Not a lot but it does work albeit more slowly than if concentrated. It's already working on the bearing assembly here after less than a day. Pretty sure a number of descaling products have it in too. If you can afford to wait a couple of months then coat / sink panels in mollases (animal feed shop) and wait. Excellent results if a bit stinky / messy. White vinegar is good. Bilt Hamber Deox-C really is superb I can't rate it highly enough. About £15 per kilo but I've read it might just be citric acid with some additives so that's what I'm going to try. Going to nip to Wilko in a minute and grab some. Ocado do it also I believe. Big fan of good old commercial Jenolite but that might again be phosphoric acid. Electrolysis as per this thread and the tank I made works a treat but as I said is line of sight. Whack an old arc welder on and give the process like 80VDC and big amps and the process is much quicker! Can't emphasise to do it in a well vented space.

This system from the States:

Nearest I can find. Would need to connect each door to your network I guess: https://www.automatedhome.co.uk/reviews/led-door-lock-status-indicator-hack.html

Anyone used citric acid as a deruster? It "gets in places" where electrolysis, being line of sight, doesn't. Supposedly nearly as good as Bilt Hamber Deox-C which is damn good but I've run out and don't want to buy any as it's expensive. I'm going to get some citric acid from Wilko and have a go but heat in the ancient heated tank I made 35+ years back. Was meant for electroplating PCBs originally. Just found it in a clear out. Got a bearing assembly off the mower I need to loosen up. Currently pre soaking in finest McDonald's diet coke!

With strap bosses: Are they always meant to solvent weld to a 110mm soil? How well will brown PVC soil pipe solvent weld with regular solvent weld? Brown always seems a bit more 'rubbery" than black or grey pipe. When I went from grey solvent weld to brown PVC I used pvc gap filling cement after roughing up all mating surfaces with sandpaper then cleaning with IPA.

Current, slightly unusual visitors are the buzzards for the last few years. Sonetimes one, sometimes 3. I must be used to them now as this year I haven't looked up every time I hear them. They are HUGE and ride the valley thermals I guess. What I cannot get used to is the parakeets that have finally reached us in the last couple of years. The noise they make is totally alien to me. The sparrowhawks continue to take their toll on the wood pigeons. I'd rather they thinned the parakeets out tbh! Various other owls and birds of prey. Haven't had the cockchafers bouncing off the windows at night yet. We'll have 2 or 3 badgers at a time. Used to stand on the patio with my lad in my arms and scatter peanuts which they would eat at my feet. Foxes...I've had 7 within 10-20' of me some years back whilst I stood holding my daughter in my arms. Got it on video somewhere... I'd love an otter though.

Can't remember the last time I saw even a squashed hedgehog let alone a real one and we're very rural. Badgers and foxes are a daily sight though.

Can't beat a tidy site! Just knock up in timber and add 6 lockable castors. Basic structure is easy. I used I think 9"x2" for stringers and treads and knocked up a jig for repeatability, inletting the treads with a router. Treads were glued and screwed in from the side. I added three lengths of studding top, middle and bottom just as backup but it was likely uneccessary. Only got a short bit left off the flight I made.

Roof off and new trusses craned on is an option for my dormer bungalow I've thought about but tbh the ground floor layout isn't the ideal. Knock down and rebuild would be the ultimate. Still, that'll never happen so it's on with the snail's pace "room at a time"! You might be interested in this software that shows the common truss shapes you can get. (The free demo is only good up to 5m span and you can't print out with it): http://www.runet-software.com/WOODexpress.htm

Guess at the mo they're just eating & sniffing around the outside rather than venturing into the box until they're more settled about it?

Great thread. I might be able to get some Buffalo board offcuts to make one (some). Should outlast OSB.

Ref fitting the screen to the floor, @Nickfromwales says: I would add, again on Nick's advice, to leave the CT1 to set for 72 hrs. Saying that only on the basis of when I did my wall hung WC and I've CT1 there behind the pan, backing up the securing bolts.