Mulberry View

We have about an acre of land and part of our boundary is shared with a local church. It just happens to be the only part of the boundary that is not properly fenced and it's true location is very unclear. Over the years it has become VERY overgrown, we have put a lot of work in to clear it. I arranged a meeting with one of the official church bods, put forward the results of my research/opinion and he agreed to discuss the matter at the upcoming church meeting. This has now taken place and they have agreed to my proposed position. Given that this may (or may not) be the 'true' boundary, how do we go about getting this 'set in stone'? I have an incomplete Topographical Survey in progress (halted while we clear certain parts of the land sufficiently). So I plan to get my surveyor back to complete his work and at the same time, get him to add some proper measurements, off-shooting into a sub plan of the church boundary, which I will submit to them and once they are happy, I'll arrange the fence. Although that part of the boundary is not my responsibility to fence, I'm going to do so as a token of appreciation to them for sorting it (it does appear to fall favourably for me). So am I right in saying that once both parties have agreed to the position and we have a plan to document, do we simply ask Land Registry to update their records?

I think I'm going to buy some of the Wolf Garten click system bits. Looks like they have a 2.2-4m extendable pole with various accessories to click onto it, including a lopper, saw and hook. Hopefully I can get most of what I want to do done with that, limiting the amount of time needed atop the ladder.

I was thinking of something like this?

You've never experienced REAL Ivy. This is the trunk of a beautiful Eastern Redbud, a tree that I've never seen until now. Its Ivy infestation is so severe that it has failed to put any low foliage on, only at the very tips of the extremely leggy branches, causing them to grow unnaturally long and in great danger of breaking. Worse though is the way it has grown into the trunk, which along with the woodlice has caused extreme rot. ...and here after removing most of it. This, believe it or not, was once 2 trees. Both died long ago and what you see is mainly Ivy, which then traveled along the ground and completely infested a large 50 ish foot Conifer. When we arrived, it was impossible to tell that it was a Conifer, none of the original foliage was visible and it was beyond saving. This is the stem of a lovely Euonymus Alatus (Burning Bush), take a look at the constriction this Ivy caused We also have a lovely large Hornbeam that once had 2 stems to it's trunk, but one has died and fallen, the other is so covered in Ivy that looking from the ground up you can't see any of the trees foliage, only Ivy. I've taken the advice of a Tree Surgeon who advised cutting all the Ivy, but sadly some of the trees are so consumed by it, that the remaining dead Ivy makes up most of the tree and also blocks a lot of light into the garden. I'm keen to give them the chance to produce their own growth as soon as possible. Furthermore, we have lots of what appears to be Hedera Canariensis, both in trees and on the ground. Google it, it's once of the most toxic strains of Ivy and is already causing contact dermatitis on my arms and legs, despite taking protective measures. It needs to go.

For example, I have a pair of fairly hefty Fir trees side-by-side that I cut the Ivy on several months ago and it is now completely dead, but the main vines are woven so tightly around the trunk that I can't see them ever letting go. It looks very unsightly. I spoke with a tree surgeon a while ago about felling a couple of other trees we can't handle doing ourselves, so I asked him if he'd remove the Ivy as a secondary job and he kinda looked at me a bit funny, but I really want it gone. I've managed to borrow a set of ladders so at least I can see if I have the confidence to climb them before I waste my money, but I'd like to be a bit safer, so what should I buy? At the very least, I'll buy a ratchet strap to attach the ladder to the tree, but how about a fall-arrest harness? Or is this overkill for 7m? Screwfix appear to do a decent one for around £40.

Or both!! LOL. I have a lot of Ivy covered trees and, whilst I could wait for it to fall on its own, much of it is highly ingrained from years of neglect, so very tightly woven and looks very unsightly.

Yes, I was saying this to my good lady. My confidence at a height on the ladder would probably be helped by a small ratchet strap to attach the ladder to the tree. Thanks.

I'm thinking of buying a new ladder. I've been struggling on with a 3m 2-section ladder, over-reaching and becoming a little more treacherous as I get a little braver. I'm using it mainly to remove Ivy from trees, of which we have plenty. Also dead and unwanted branches. I get frustrated when I can't quite reach. Any advice on what height to go for? I want to buy one that's high enough, but also conscious of my bravery having a limit, which I do not at this stage know the extent of. I had assumed 3-section would be better, but I'm now thinking 2-section might be more practical, especially since I do not need to move it off-site. I still have my 'little ladder' when I need it too. Any recommendations would be appreciated...

As a sidenote, I've never seen a Cool White LED in an installation where Warm White didn't look better. In simpler terms, I wouldn't ever recommend Cool White.

In the vein of helping someone else out in the future, we solved this using a fantastic product that I would highly recommend to anyone with the same dilemma. We found a product called Eco Prim Grip by Mapei. We bought it from Toolstation. It is designed for this purpose and is a paint on product with an added grainy aggregate that dries hard leaving it ready to accept a standard tile adhesive of your choosing. No preparation to the original tiles is needed. To validate its performance, I had to remove a couple of wrongly placed tiles after they had dried and I can confirm that the separation occurred between the tile and the adhesive, leaving the Prim Grip fully attached to the glossy surface of the old tiles. This stuff definitely solved our problem.

We used the Chainsaw on the end of our current two 30m basic leads last week, luckily no issues there. So I think an off-the-shelf cable reel will probably be OK actually, I'm just trying to be a little better.

Those sort of numbers don't terrify me. Thanks for this.

Naturally, I like the idea of a single cable for simplicity. But what tempts me to do it with 2 is that I can use a shorter reel when needed. What is the practical disadvantage of running 2 leads in line?

Not a bad suggestion, but I want to be able to use things I already have.

Be very careful as buying things in an auction format can be tricky and you might end up paying more than it's worth. There are some bargains to be had, but there are as many rip-offs. That said, we just fitted out our temporary bathroom with bits we bought from a factory-seconds supplier on Ebay and was superb.

I need temporary power at the end of my garden. I know I can comfortably get there with 70-80m of cable, as I got close with the 2x30m cable reels I have. I'm thinking of buying 2 good quality cable-reel extensions, the best I can find is 1.5mm, but most are 1.25mm cable. Should I make my own up with 2.5mm cable and an empty reel? Or is that just overkill? I'd do it with 2 instead of 1 long one to make it more practical to use. A Generator is another alternative, but I think the ongoing maintenance and moving it around make that a less practical solution. I'll probably need to use a Hedge Cutter, maybe a small Electric Chainsaw and/or a lead-light.

I'm no expert, but I imagine they'd need to be climbed and stripped, then felled in 3-4 pieces. Thanks for your input.

We had a couple of tree guys round a few months ago to price up removing some trees for us. Since then, we've decided to save a couple that we were going to remove, but we're left with 2 fairly hefty lumps that need to come out. The biggest of which is a Pine/Fir (not sure which). We cut all ivy a few months ago, so that is now well and truly dead. I measured it myself using basic trig techniques and have been above it with my drone at around 24m, so I reckon it's around 80-85ft tall and with a 32" trunk at chest height. It is within a cluster of trees that we want to save, but there is now a good 'drop zone' for the branches and a good 15-17m of available length to drop the trunk sections in. There is tricky but not impossible access to the site. I have attached a couple of pics, the first is from the angle of the 'drop zone', the second is closer looking up. The second tree is a Larch, probably in the region of 60-70ft and less 'branchy' but with similar removal prospects. Any guesstimates as to what these will cost us to have removed? I would think we'll be after them leaving the wood in 2 metre lengths, which we can deal with in a few ways, but I think we'll burn the scrappy branches and sell the rest, probably for fire wood. Any help appreciated.

Why?

What's the current low-down on Smart Meters? I've always avoided, but are they still flawed? I'm looking to sort out energy supply prices. I've been with Scottish Power for a while and kinda like them because I know their system, but the Super Saver tariff appears to obligate me to a Smart Meter. I want to stay with one of the bigger companies and aren't bothered about splitting hairs over a few pounds/year

Firstly, before you flame me, I know this is not ideal but hear me out... I'm trying to put a bathroom together for a relatively low cost, it needs to do 1 year, maybe 2 (at which point the place will either be flattened or sold as a renovation project). It seems a little wasteful as it is, so I'm really trying to keep the costs down and can't contemplate getting a plasterer involved with the current restrictions. I've tried chipping the existing wall tiles off, they are SO SO hard and aren't keen to come off at all. It's against my morals, but I'd like to just go tile-on-tile for this one. I plan to key the surface up with a grinder to give the best chance. What adhesive would be best for this? Not sure if I'll be using Porcelain or Ceramic yet...

I'm not an avid follower of current affairs, but I have seen mention of a possible reform of SDLT in the March budget. What is the general feeling on this from those that have a better knowledge of such matters than I do? If a change were to appear out of the back of the budget, would this take effect immediately? Either way, I'm sure we'll miss it, but by a frustratingly narrow margin as our purchase has to complete on/before 13th March.

We appointed an Architect to design our self-build. It's a large plot (approx. 1/2 an acre), with a lot of opportunity for design and placement. We compiled our interpretation of a design brief, covering 2 A4 typed pages with bullet-pointed 'must haves' and 'do not wants', then attended a meeting to discuss our lifestyle and requirements. Some time later, our Architect delivered his 'Feasibility Study', along with a substantial invoice but it has left us very confused, even a little shocked. We did make it clear that we are keen for our ideas to be challenged, but the position and layout of the design doesn't really tick any boxes for us. It feels as though he has either not read/listened to our input or has very deliberately delivered something left-field to evoke a conversation. At this moment, there isn't really anything from the first output that we want to move forward with. Even the proposed position of the building is, in my opinion, the last place on the plot I'd have put it, my reasons for this were even covered very clearly in our brief. We have a meeting scheduled for the end of Feb to try to re-align, but our Architect believes he is close and the design just needs tweaking. We've held nothing back about how we feel. We held back payment of the invoice, but have had to pay it because he won't progress with an 'outstanding invoice', so we're caught in a 'cache 22'. I'm not expecting a 'visual design' at this stage, but surely a workable layout/position (white-box model) is necessary at this stage? Or am I expecting too much? Please kindly share your experiences/opinions.

Edit it in Photoshop. Treat it as an image. I can do it if you want?

If we don't buy it, I guess it'll go on the market and at that point we're really no different to anyone else that comes along. I suppose they could hope for a unicorn cash buyer, but what are the odds of that? I feel certain that the development potential doesn't extend past what we're anticipating, so whilst it's great for us, it's not an absolute golden egg. If we need to get the beneficiaries on side, it'll probably boil down to how quickly we think we can get our 'ducks in a row', as you said, but providing we can get a mortgage lender on side (should have an indication of that tomorrow, as we already have a mortgage agreed in principle for what we were going to do, so the broker has all our details/credit checks etc) and put ours straight on the market (we're ready to do that, all bar a few small DIY tasks), we should be in a favourable position. Of the 3 of them, one is practically silent, wasn't expecting this at all and seems grateful for whatever/whenever it settles. One is my father who I don't have much of a relationship with, he lives in Asia is keen for the easiest settlement possible. The other is my uncle, who seems to support it and is, again, looking for the easiest resolution. There is nobody else concerned.