Onoff

You lucky things! Our upstairs plasterboarding of the dormer, ceilings snd walls appears to have been done in 3/8" aka 9mm pb.

Visitors? The very thought sets my pulse racing and panic sets in. Probably down to a combination of embarrassment and social awkwardness.

Bollocks! No bargains at Sevenoaks!

We were made to chant like Japanese factory workers: "Switch off Lock off Signs Test your tester on a proving unit or known source of supply Test for dead Retest your tester on a proving unit or known source of supply" And "CRIPEs Ranulph Fiennes!" was something a lecturer coined for the basic sequence of tests: Continuity Ring final tests Insulation Resistance Polarity Earth Loop Impedance RCD testing Functional testing

There's a story goes around about the outgoing head of the IET I think it was. Every year he'd give a blinding speech full of anecdotes and laughs and every year it was different. Before he began he'd unfold what appeared to be the same piece of crumpled paper year after year then launch into it. Upon his retirement somebody asked how he gave such cracking speeches every year and what was on the bit of paper to which he replied "All you need to remember is red wire live, black wire neutral!"

Just remember red wire live, black neutral.

Open the tap slower.

A shot in the dark, quite literally as the lights were off! Another "didn't think of that" The window sill is pretty wide, the window being fitted to the outer leaf of the cavity wall. With hindsight I should have maybe moved the window inboard a tad. Tbh I'm now seriously considering doing so. Of course it'd take some work with the multi tool as I foamed all the original gaps and Sikafkex EBT'd the insulated pb all round the reveal to the upvc frame. Not so clear from the photo is that having the grey sill tiles landscape as shown, will mean I have 3 thin rips up the back. Won't match the side reveal tiles that'll be full depth. Gut feel is it will just look wrong. One option is I lay the mosaics on the sill in portrait, that'll span the depth in one. Thinking maybe finish the rest and get in the good books then come back to the sill section on the "It'd look so much better (if we moved the window)..." front. If I did live with the rips on the sill at least they would tie in with the ones needed on the wall in front!

Could you get a reputable company in to do the gate in the same finish as the drive? Too soon?

Ta. Problem is that some of the corners are maybe slightly over or under 90deg. Doesn't help that the face of the tiles isn't always level! Steep learning curve this.

@Nickfromwales, Evening. To trim the pockets do I first make a frame up o/of 4 pieces mitre bonded where the 45o corners meet? I assume you mean that first THEN mitre bond the frame to the pocket? Running a miniature Stanley knife across my knuckle just now (after a 660ml bottle of Tyskie) put me off doing much tonight!

Prof Tim Spector's experiment where he fed his son nothing but fast food for 10 days is interesting. On the surface a varied menu...but the results! https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/qz.com/402918/i-made-my-son-eat-nothing-but-mcdonalds-for-ten-days-to-prove-what-fast-food-does-to-your-gut/amp/

Bought another 4 bags of the Laticrete adhesive. £11 + VAT per bag. Thinking to get SWMBO to help with the tiling. Reckon she'll make a better job.

Can the valve bodies be renovated? Thinking dunked in a tank of descaler etc.

No sh!t! SWMBO & I, only half jokingly, suggested to the two skinny as rakes kids, that they might like to "donate" so Mum & Dad could recolonise our depleted gut bacteria. I'm going to sound like a conspiracist nutter but I really believe modern "life" knocks the sh!t out of us, pun intended. Even if we're eating healthily, what we're putting in is so sanitised it's making us all out of balance.

What have you got to lose? http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/fecal-transplants-allergies-autism-and-autoimmune-disease

All will be "revealed" in due course! Shortly to trim the pockets and reveal but then I'm tiling everything.

I first make good the 3 reveal edges (top & sides) with pb trim and feather it in with filler like Easyfill 20. You have to fill all your screw holes sometime too. This after fitting the sill. Then I'd think about putting tiles on using plastic trim and a corner piece. Something like this:

As a kid we would happily use dry cow pats as frisbees, sometimes they were only dry on the outside! :) We would make camps from sticks and logs covered in leaf mould and ferns. Every year we'd collect frogspawn, collect conkers etc. Apples, walnuts, greengages, blackberries were eaten straight off the bush/tree without washing our hands. Open fires were used to cook apples. spuds and sausages etc after stripping a bit of silver birch bark off to get it going. Cats and dogs were our playmates / pillows in some cases. Not a bottle of hand sanitizer in sight! I looked like a xylophone standing on end I was that skinny. The bug count I was exposed to must have been huge. Mum had a bottle of bleach and some Dettol but the most the worktops got was probably a wipe with a rinsed out dishcloth. Vim & Ajax were the only "cleaners" I remember.

Not really a criticism and I feel desperately for them, more some musings as to the why as to the increase in allergies in the Western world. Depletion of good bugs has been shown to have a massive impact on health. Kids are being born via elective caeserean when there's no medical need just to fit in with parent's schedules. There is some evidence that that plays a part in the development of the immune system. It's great that we are able to some extent throw money at problems which may as a society in fact be of our own making.

Let's be honest some people rather than move themselves / their kids to a healthier place would seek and have the resources, to control their current environment which to an extent is what I guess they've done. It's a tad boy in the bubble. Creat a micro climate in a sea if filth type thing. We've a number of members here who've seen massive improvements in their health conditions doing the self same thing. On the other hand SWMBO & I were discussing the obsession with over cleaning and sterile houses the other day along with the lack of exposure to "good bugs" in kid's and indeed adult's lives nowadays. Our two have grown up outside playing in mud, sand pits, the pond etc and are pretty robust and both as skinny as rakes. Close exposure to family pets too I'm sure helps build a healthy immune system. We both were like them and even more outdoors orientated but a lifetime of junk food and antibiotics I reckon has somewhat depleted our gut flora. Aka we're a pair of near chubsters! Was considering having one of those gut bacteria count tests done... Our house must be super healthy if the number of spiders are an indicator. I find they make great natural dust traps!

I'll be draining down 4 times as often!

Christ, that sets REALLY quick!

Solvent or solvent free? You don't get much time to play with that stuff do you? Can't see it working for me tbh! I'd want to be doing a line of tiles along the bath edge then tamping down flush with a long level. The first will be skinning up and going off by the time I get to the last! This? https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p36863?r=googleshopping&rr=marin&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0dHdBRDEARIsAHjZYYATyrYhQYG9XJX5HrlomXB3tJuZqK0XZyciqseDyFz0BwIYvtIAkfMaAiIbEALw_wcB

You wouldn't say that if you ran your hand over the joints! Lucky I won't be cleaning it! Would have been great to have just run a squeegee over it without catching... Fingers crossed grout will help! Used x4 20kg bags so far. Reckon same again to complete!