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Depends, what is the weight of a block? If it’s 4kg, then that is a good deal (cheapest I’ve found works out at 72.9p a kg from Siwasdirect (link above) including economy delivery, but you have to order 12 packs of 2x4 kg blocks, which is quite a lot to store).

Ok, I hope you are right, and I hope you don’t live in Barnet or Enfield.

@hdp i would consider speaking to a planning consultant first before getting all excited about floor plans. I too live in North London and even though I’m not in a conservation zone, we really struggled to get a rear two storey extension approved. Originally we submitted plans for three storeys, including loft conversion. This was deemed over development and not allowed, even though both of our neighbours on either side had done bigger loft conversions, our ground floor extension was only 4m deep and our first floor extension only 2.4m deep only half the width of our house. Eventually we got help from a planning consultant who advised that if we presented a planning application for just the ground and first floors, and ditched the loft (temporarily) we were more likely to get that approved and could subsequently add a loft conversion under permitted development as long as it was built as a separate structure to the first floor extension, ie entirely separate. in your case, you could not do what we did because your loft is already converted. Seems unfair and it is, but that is the stupid planning system. So I would find out what is actually possible before thinking about internal layout too much.

Was thinking of using a kit like this: https://www.gsproducts.co.uk/steel-wire-rope-catenary-kit-2-50-meters/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8pKxBhD_ARIsAPrG45nfntOg_EqiZ-SOY3Ef-CLS_p9BFRqlyxSJEsXNy7ltmJWySFTxHQcaApwjEALw_wcB But can’t think how to fix this to the ground, given my shed base is not really something you can fix to.

No, but i imagine this will dry out the atmosphere in your house. Unless you have a damp house, I wouldn’t do this.

This ismy shed: I would like to stack more firewood under the overhang of the roof (projects 60cm past the shed walls). But to do that, I need to erect a support as otherwise the wood piles collapse. I was thinking of anchoring some steel cables to the ground, and running 5 or so cables, 10cm apart up vertically, from floor anchors to the overhang, where I would fasten them to the underside of the overhanging roof. I would do this either side of the area that currently has wood stacked up, so as to give that area “side supports”. In this way I make a highly breathable side support that is also aesthetically minimalist, and will virtually be invisible from our house. Can anyone foresee any issues with this? 1) What thickness cable do I need? 2) How do I anchor it to the ground (it’s just pebbles in the plastic shed base trays, sitting on 20cm or so of compacted MOT scalping. 3) how do I fasten it neatly to the underside of the overhanging roof (made of pine I believe - so strong but certainly not hardwood strong)?

Really? I can find plenty of 90 and 120 degree beam GU10s. How wide do you like to go?

So which brands do you recommend?

If you are going to go down the UFH route, you can put down 150mm of PIR and then 30mm to 75mm of XFLO FF boards, which can be routed with your own design for loops, or can come prerouted with standard pipe routes. On top of that you can lay engineered wooden floor. Will be rock solid, no battens required: https://www.cellecta.co.uk/product/xflo-ff/ But keep in mind that if you are going to cut the concrete out at a 45 degree angle, then at the perimeter of the room you won’t have much insulation. That isn’t the end of the world, particularly if you have furniture up against most walls in any case, but not ideal. how tall are the ceilings? Maybe dig the PIR into the concrete, but float the XFLO FF boards on top of the concrete to at least get some insulation at the perimeter.

Wow, that’s barely 10 months’ use!

Sorry, I may have confused the issue with my question; how long the wall has been up is not relevant in that sense; ie longer is not necessarily better. The reason I was asking is if, for example, it was a Victorian terrace, or a 1930s semi, we could take an educated guess at its likely construction.

Depends if the pet is reptilian or mammalian.

No, it is in a down lighter, but the down lighter is surface mounted. There doesn’t seem to be any ventilation to the base of the down lighter. It’s basically this: https://www.commerciallightingbyrightlights.co.uk/one-light-12105mbbs-brushed-brass-gu10-10w-dark-light.html?utm_term=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT75xTxg5FDhWUFUgLOexHikOUfwUMHcnyLNH1MxIbpJOgs0kCf-4B-xoCMl0QAvD_BwE as you can see, that is designed for up to 10w GU10 bulb, and I was only using 6w. The replacement I fitted is only 4.3w, so let’s see if that lasts any longer. Just a bit pissed of because the original light bulb was quite expensive, £10 or so. Not all of the ones I’ve fitted are that expensive, but for some fittings we used what we thought were high end bulbs with high CRi index and particular beam angles (I a this one was 25 degrees, which is what bumped up the price).

On your first question, I wouldn’t make any changes. All your roof tiling is at a sufficient pitch that this won’t cause any of the issues you are suggesting. If you render is silicone based, water will just run off it, you shouldn’t really get any staining. In fact, I can’t even see that the render is going to get wet, the discharge area is separated from the render by the flashing/membrane you have. Unless you went to the expense of designing in concealed gutters (which have their own problems) the guttering solution you’ve got installed already looks pretty standard to me. In the second question, yes, definitely move that to the opposite side of your sliding doors, very unsightly to have it there. You could even put in an angled drain piece to take it around the corner of the house and have it discharge 30cm away from the rear elevation so that you can’t even see it from your rear garden.

After 25 months in the new house, we’ve had our first lightbulb fail, a GU10 6W non-dimmable. It was fitted in our understair loo, so no window to provide natural light. It probably gets switched on and off at least 5 times a day, some days more. Let’s say 6 in/offs on average, over 760 days (ignoring holidays when we are away). So 4560 on/offs and then it’s failed. In terms of hours on, the kids sometimes forget to turn it off, so maybe it’s running at most 4hr a day, so 3040 hours total. Should I feel conned that the bulb was marketed as lasting “up to 20,000 hours” or is the multiple on/offs a day the limiting factor here?

My gas boiler is virtually silent. All 35kw of it, but perhaps that’s because it only ever fires up to a maximum of 60% of its modulation, on amount of the fact that the bloody installer oversized it by so much!

I would be surprised if you could take that much depth out of your existing concrete floor, without negatively impacting the structure in some way. Surely the concrete is doing something structurally. Do you have a cross sectional drawing of your construction or at least a year of construction and style/type of house?

Sorry, I’m perhaps not being clear. The tap has a chrome plated 4 way splitter that creates 4 male connectors. That is working fine. To one of those splitters, I normally have a brass female connector. It is that female connector which has failed, in that when I connect the hose, the water doesn’t get through it.

Our concealed gutter is powder coated aluminium U shaped channel. 4.2m long from memory, not had any issues.

I shall be returning for a refund given they are marketed as being more durable and frost resistant (as opposed to plastic which often say they need to be stored in a frost free environment during winter). Any recommendations for replacement brands and/or offers much appreciated.

It’s definitely the connector, not the hose. Prior to posting this, I treated the hose with a different connector because I thought the hose might be blocked.

Yeah, I took it off to inspect it. Haven’t checked blowing through. Not sure what that would tell me.

yes. Not sure how tapping it will fix it. When I shake the connector, I can hear the valve opening and closing, which is why this is so confusing…

Thanks @joe90 but that is not the issue here. I’m using the female water stop connector to connect a hose to a compatible male valve attached to my garden tap. It’s not working.

I bought some brass hose end connectors in May last year asi thought they would be much more durable than plastic. They have failed just under a year later. By “failed” I mean water is not getting through them. No blockage in the hose itself, so must be the connector. I left them outside during the winter, but they were marketed as weather and rust resistant, so I’m not sure what’s gone on. At a fiver each, this has pissed me off, though given its lies than a year I should be able to get my money back. What brass connectors do people use and how long do they last you?