Roundtuit

Just give them notice when you plan to get 'messy', so they can close their windows. Sounds like worry-arsing about what might happen without much foundation. In my experience from renovation work, any 'dust cloud events' are infrequent and short-lived.

Sorry to hear thing's haven't worked out. At times like this, I like to think that 'fate' might actually be a thing, and stuff happens for a reason. The best is yet to come!

I think upvc or anything painted might scuff-up over time. What about timber with a bit of aluminium angle trim screwed over it?

Not sure there's an easy way to achieve the 20% criteria easily, but someone electrical will surely be along shortly! Maybe 2 circuits; one set of 'ambient lighting' on a stand-alone photocell sensor on all night, then your brighter pir 'task lighting' on a stand-alone photocell/pir sensor?

Google '10mm plug cutter'. You can get a set of cutters on Amazon delivered tomorrow for £11. Bound to come in useful in the future ? And well done, Happy New Year!

Dehumidifier. In our last place (old 4 storey town house), we pretty much lived in the basement and closed off the stairs to keep the heat in during winter. With 2 adults, 2 kids, a dog and cooking etc, the windows were running with condensation every morning. We bought a dehumidifier for about £100 or so IIRC, and left it in the corner doing its thing 24/7. Its amazing how much water they take out of the air. We still use it now in the new place occasionally if we've got a lot of wet clothes to dry.

If that's a Neff combi-oven you're describing, you may be able to change the settings so that microwave becomes the primary function; one press to wake it up, one press to set it running on ours!

Coo, coo, coo! Welcome aboard!

Hi. Yes, its on their website, and page 11 of the user guide.We-Build-It-A5-Manuals.pdf

You may be correct, but that's still the manufacturers formal advice.

We've got a biopure 2; my understanding is that its important to be consistent with the inputs (no.s 1&2 taken as read) i.e same detergents etc, so you gradually build up a tank full of bugs tolerant to your lifestyle. Can't see a water softener having any significant impact tbh.

Dress the brickwork under the doors with lead to make sure any run-off from a small sill is directed below dpc?

£180 (no vat) a couple of years ago. One man for a couple of hours with a big fan and a laptop!

Probably 100mm. Assuming your builder sourced it from a local merchants, you could always have phone round and see what they stock.

The measurement is the expanded material, not when its under compression. It typically comes in 100mm/150mm/200mm sizes, but there may be other sizes available. It doesn't really matter exactly what it is from a practical point of view; you'll still really need to put another 200mm in.

If the first layer isn't laid between the joists, there's bound to be passages for cold air to circulate and negate some of the benefit of the insulation. For minimal cost, and a few unpleasant itchy-scratchy, bang-your-head, back-aching hours, I'd re-lay it to my satisfaction, and top it up to 400mm. Then you know it's right ?

Looking good! You can shelve above and use it as an airing cupboard, and its always useful to have somewhere to dry a pair of boots overnight.

Try to negotiate directly, but I believe the small claims court process is fairly straightforward, particularly with the evidence you have, if needs be.

The stuff under the lintel is doing nothing much really; it looks like the frame was fitted after the stone was rendered. Unless you want to replace the frame, just foam and repoint as already suggested. Paint with something breathable - whitewash was traditional, high opacity emulsion would do it, or maybe a masonry paint (but perhaps that's not ideal for rendering over).

OK. If the lintel is basically sound, I'd repoint the bit you've done before you rake out any more mortar, and then do a bit at a time until it's complete. I see what you mean about cleaning up the stone. I'd probably re-point and paint it white first, and then if I didn't like it, render it and re-paint. And why are the curtains closed? You working naked again?? ?

Can you not just avoid spilling loads of water on the floor? I think that's what most people do.

Electrical conduit, surely? All ready for the sparky to pull the cable tomorrow morning! ?

If the timber is secure, just point-up around the reveals to make it look neat. If there's any movement in the timber or the gaps are particularly deep, a squirt of foam should help, and save you a bit of mortar.

Thanks! Wrap-around; easy enough to fit with a hacksaw and a pair of tin snips, (and it doesn't matter if the hole you cut in the gutter is a bit rough, 'cos the outlet covers it ?). I put the gutter in position first, then dropped a plumb line down to the where the underground drainage came up; mark and fit! If you Google 'youtube zambelli' you should find some 'how to' stuff.

It's Zambelli by the looks of it (logo is on the hopper), and yes, I installed it. I got it from Drain Depot, who were cheapest at the time, so if you've got a shopping list I'd punt it out to both and see if you can squeeze a bit more cost out! I'm impressed with the system; easy to cut to size and put together, looks and feels robust, and often admired by visitors. Took a pic earlier in the year when the sun was throwing interesting shadows on the cladding; it had been up 3 and a half years at that point.