Gone West

I just use my scaffold tower. Wendy wheeled it along metre by metre with me sitting on top when I was working on the ceiling.

I'll let you have that accolade if you want.

Our sitting room has a 4.2m high vaulted ceiling with a glazed gable end. The window frame accentuates the height because it's grey compared to the white walls. In the main bedroom the vaulted ceiling is a similar height but the walls and ceiling are all white and the height is much less noticeable.

Welcome to the forum. Yeah, my plasterer did screeding and tiling.

I'm going to be doing that next year. @dogman did the same and kindly gave me some very useful information. It certainly seems a good idea.

Yes that's what I thought, two years will be plenty long enough. We ended up having it for seven years, mind you no one's as slow as me.

The last time I did a complete rewire of a house was in the early 90s. It was so simple, SEEBoard fitted the supply cable and meter and connected in my CU tails. I told the engineers I had done the rewire to the latest IEE regs and they said not to worry as they were still working to a much older standard. Of course all the privatisation has done no end of good. We all have so much choice and it must lower costs because that's what they tell us. I always prefer chasing round after three companies instead of one, to get a job done and it's so much better for me to trawl through endless numbers of tariffs to find the cheapest. I solved that one by going to Good Energy where I have the option of one tariff, even if it does cost me more so I'm not for ever changing suppliers. Sorry for the rant, I can tell it's going to be a bad day today.

@MikeSharp01 Our meter fitter is coming from SMS. I was told some fitters want to see the certificate, some don't. We'll probably move in when the heating oil runs out for the bungalow, if there aren't any problems with the house. Depends on the weather but we've got around two months worth left.

I've had UK Power Networks pull the cable through and fit the main fuse. The meter installer is coming next week. I've now had an email to say I will need to show the installer an ICERT before he will fit the meter. I rang them up and they said not all installers want to see an ICERT but if they do and you don't have one they will leave and still be charged. My electrician mostly works on new developments and hasn't heard of an ICERT. Has anyone been asked for an ICERT before a meter will be fitted?

Well done and don't worry my place has been 90% finished for years.

We have a ground floor utility room with all the water, electricity and ventilation equipment in it. Next to the utility room we have a wet room, the reason behind that arrangement was that if there were a flood, in theory, the water could be directed into the shower drain.

We have Western Red Cedar cladding and it extends up under overhangs. Although it appears it would be protected from the rain it's not the case. When it's windy the rain gets blown up much higher than expected and it's the rain that washes the colour out of the cedar more than the UV affecting it. It causes a large variation in colour.

I suppose it's too easy to say, just don't cook with fat, or if you do let it solidify and put it in the bin before washing up. I've never known the vegetable oils we use to clog anything.

Bull by the horns, and do it. You'll regret it later if you don't, but then I'm not the one having to do it. Plus it'll extend the thread to a definite record.

Do you suffer from the effects of decrement delay or is it always windy enough so that heat build up on the surface of the building fabric is lost to the atmosphere.

Our 90m2 Isoquick passive slab with 300mm of insulation was around £18000. This was with a 200mm thick reinforced concrete slab. It was around 50/50 materials and labour.

If it really is meant to be a VCL I would use stainless steel staples and tape over with aluminium tape. All ridiculous of course.

Parts 1 & 3 sound reasonable. I would have thought part 2 wouldn't be above £200.

Try white cement mixed with different types of soft sand.

The problem disappeared when I replaced all the Hep2O with Speedfit on the CH.

Definitely not decades. From experience it takes about three years. I plumbed a house in the early nineties with the original Hep2O pipe and it caused no end of hassle.

Back in the 90s the original Hep2O pipe didn't have an oxygen barrier which meant oxygen passed through the pipe walls and into the water. In a central heating system it resulted in corrosion on the radiators etc. even with inhibitor.

Possibly the grey Hep2O piping may not have an oxygen barrier.

There are a couple of old Hep2O fittings along with old Plumbsure fittings and a mixture of Hep2O (grey) and Speedfit (white) piping.

Possibly there could be different types of movement between the two different types of foundations of the two semis which would cause problems with party wall cracking. All depends on ground conditions.