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Everything posted by ProDave
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Building over an Access/Inspection chamber
ProDave replied to Spinny's topic in Building Regulations
Is the OP looking for a way to block his neighbours extension from being built? -
My plumber friend seems to call into TP EVERY morning, not always to buy anything, but for the free coffee on tap.
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A plug in AC unit that has a big vent pipe to get outside somehow to remove the hot air, will annoy the hell out of you. They are so noisy. I would have to be VERY overheated to put up with the noise of that. We have one from 2 houses ago. We tried running it in the bedroom when we were downstairs in the hope it would cool the room enough to turn it off when we went to bed, but it had not really cooled the fabric of the building so soon warmed up again.
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Howdens used to do a "Friday Pie Day"
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I gift this pragmatic solution to the community.
ProDave replied to saveasteading's topic in General Construction Issues
I have a Titan SDS drill not as big as the breaker mentioned, but can do light weight breaking. It is over 20 years old, had a hard life but still going strong. On it's third set of motor brushes and second mains lead (original one was pathetically short anyway) It only cost about £30 when I bought it all those years ago. -
Converting Section of Front Garden to additional driveway/ parking.
ProDave replied to Charlotte22's topic in Driveways
I hate builders that do that, give you a lot of land, then fence off just a tiny bit of land for your own private use. NOBODY benefits from the bit of land you have with a hedge and some dead space behind it. I have a relative in a similar situation. He planted a Beech hedge all around his boundary and when it reached 2 metres tall he let all his fences fall down, and now has a private and much larger garden. -
Converting Section of Front Garden to additional driveway/ parking.
ProDave replied to Charlotte22's topic in Driveways
I would just do it, take out as much of the hedge as you need and cover the area with gravel and park your car there. If you do ever got an official complaint it would be easy to re plant the hedge or other shrubs. I feel trying to get official permission would be a big hassle. -
Show us the circuit. Or just experiment. Start with 100K, measure the voltage it pulls up to when open. If that is nowhere near what it is trying to pull up to, try a bit lower.
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We are one of those with no heating upstairs. and being inland a bit in the Easy Highlands we know what cold winters are. Fair enough if your bedroom must be 21 you will need heating, but we don't. If you are to accurately calculate heat demand on a room by room basis you must allow for heat from downstairs coming up, so must calculate the U value of the ceiling / floor. And again if a 3 storey house. Intuition says your upstairs rooms will need a lot less heat than the lower floor rooms. I would stick with UFH throughout, and the fact you are more likely to have carpet upstairs does not matter as you will need less heat anyway.
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Put some dimensions on that drawing or tell us how many square metres? You will do well indeed now to build for under £1000 per square metre. We did, but it was a slow build with a LOT of DIY work and it finished about 5 years ago. But as others have said, once you have foundations in, that would be an easy timber frame built on site which is entirely DIY possible if you have some basic skills and tools. Other DIY things, buy some kwikstage or similar scaffold and do it yourself. no scaffold rental and no time pressures to get it done and scaffold down.
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I stayed on a campsite that had something similar. A very long shower tray. It had fixed glass all along the long edge and the narrow edge (in your case facing the loo) completely open. The tray was so long that nothing sprayed out beyond the end of the tray, and you had an 800mm wide entrance.
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Advice on connecting cores of SWA cable inside junction box
ProDave replied to Tim Shand's topic in Electrics - Other
Hold the gland nut inside the box with gland pliers, and tighten the outside of the fitting with a big spanner. Must be done before fitting the cable into the fitting. -
Advice on connecting cores of SWA cable inside junction box
ProDave replied to Tim Shand's topic in Electrics - Other
The gland nuts don't look tight. If you stick with those glands drill a hole through them both and put a nut and bolt through. What's the rating of the terminals supplied with the box? though not a lot of room. I would have used a larger box. -
Mansards with no soffit ovehangs
ProDave replied to jackcowdrey's topic in Lofts, Dormers & Loft Conversions
It could have been built as a proper warm roof design and would not need ventilation -
If you are on clay with a high water table you MUST concrete it in. Don't let anyone say pea shingle is adequate. I have heard most discussion this sat they prop it upright with temporary wood, and don't forget to fill it as you pour so it does not float out.
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What's this concrete box and can I remove it?
ProDave replied to Emanresu's topic in Landscaping, Decking & Patios
Don't use a crowbar, get a pair of drain cover handles. e.g. https://www.screwfix.com/p/monument-tools-115mm-manhole-keys/14087 -
Buy a shorter car (i'll get my coat)
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Gravity fed or pumped chamber to drainage field?
ProDave replied to flanagaj's topic in Waste & Sewerage
Definitely. Our past house had a pump out of necessity as the drainage field was higher than the treatment plant. The pump would last somewhere between 5 and 7 years before it burned out and needed replacing. I was SO glad when our present house was given permission to discharge to the burn, no pump, no drainage field. -
I don't drive mine daily but it is my summer runabout when the truck is being a motorhome. It never goes out on salted winter roads.
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Won't be doing that with my GT I care for it too much.
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I regularly carried 4.8M planks and 4.5M ladders on the roof of my Subaru Forrester, just with the 2 standard roof bars. The geometry of the car dictates the front overhang (in front of the bar / rack) will be greater than the rear, to prevent an illegal overhang at the back of the vehicle. Anything heavy, place at one side of the rack not in the middle to avoid bending the bars. Small things like battens, strap them together at front and back to make them more rigid and more like one item. Sometimes with things like that I would also tie down the front to the front towing eye and the towbar at the rear. Now carrying a bundle of 6M long unistrut was entertaining and possibly not entirely legal.
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Plenty of estates have covenants preventing you parking a van or caravan on the property. Whether they are enforced or not is another matter. but if the objective is to present to the world how green this development is, they really don't want people like me with a big diesel powered truck living there do they?
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I would be dead against my own battery (whether house battery or car battery) being drained at will by others. If the communal solar farm and grid scale battery wants to do that then fine. This will be a useful test of whether this grand scheme is actually viable and works, and what it actually costs the residents for their electricity overall. The cynic in me says there will be a covenant saying no ICE cars allowed and you must have an EV to live there.
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In daylight yes. But they still run at night.
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Just back from 2 weeks away. In that time everything was turned off, except mvhr, Treatment plant air blower, Fridge freezer, a sky box to record some stuff while away, Music player (Raspbery pi) and ASHP controller on standby but turned off. That standby load consumed 4kWh per day which averages at 166W. Not bad I think. It shows that almost all of what is metered (that I complain seems high) is actually stuff doing something. P.S. the biggest energy saving we have made is my daughter chose to move out.
