ProDave

Done that. I would love to take the other 75% but that would just be a gift to hmrc if I did that.

The tax treatment of pensions p****s me off. I have the money sat there that would finish the house. It would be lovely to just draw it out and get the damned house finished. Spending a chunk of my pension like that in one go would not be financial suicide, it would be made up later from the eventual sale of the old house. But the tax implications of drawing a big lump in one go like that make it not realistic.

It does take some re thinking of pensions, and how and when they pay out. My AEA pension starts at 60 (though now it has the flexibility to draw it early if I want to) That and my state pension will be enough, add my wifes state pension as well and we will have an income not far short of what we are earning now. So the "issue" is how to fill that gap between when I want to retire (60) and SP age. I am "solving" that with another pension from another company I worked for. That was a defined contribution scheme (the only DC pension I have). I have placed that into a flexible drawdown account. The plan being to start drawing it when I reach 60 and draw it at such a rate that it will run dry on the day my state pension starts. I do like having that flexibility rather than be forced to just buy an annuity with it.

I have the Dewalt. TIP: If you are not using it for a while, take the batteries out. Even when "off" it drains the batteries. I only found this out after the second set of wasted flat batteries.

One of my sailing partners, 2 weeks before her 60th birthday, she got the letter saying her state pension age had gone up to 65.

That's an EICR, Electrical Installation Condition Report. That report makes it clear you are NOT inspecting hidden cables etc, only what you can see or test. Part P is about cable routes, sticking to safe zones etc. You can't check for that in an EICR. Just to show how stupid the "rules" are, a couple of years ago the Scottish Government decreed that rental properties MUST have a valid EICR, ANDD that the EICR must be performed by a member of a scam. So I am in the even more ridiculous situation that I can do an EICR for someone wanting to know the state of the wiring, perhaps pre purchase, I can do an EICR for a commercial customer, I can wire new builds and issue an EIC. But unless I stump up £00's and jump through the hoops to join a scam, I cannot do an EICR if it's purpose is rental. The rules get sillier and sillier. Never mind 3 1/2 years and I won't have to bother any more.

I am in an even more ridiculous situation. Because there is no part P in Scotland I am obviously not signed up with any scheme. All BC want here is a complete EIC. I have done new builds in Highland, Invernessshire and Moray and all have just accepted my EIC's. But the daft bit is I can't come down to England and fit a new circuit for anyone. The last job I did in England was a new CU for my sister, the day before Part P came into farce.

1: the foundations for my TF cost £10K 2: It is quite normal to build with TF and use brick or block as the outer wall so your particular bricks would be no problem. 3: The TF should not get digested by microbes, not sure where you got that from. West coast of Scotland has plenty of TF houses, I think that qualifies as "damp" 4: not for this thread. 5: My TF sat the first winter bare, I wrapped in DPM over the west facing wall that gets most weather. 6: You can build TF yourself. A guy near here stick built his frame over 2 years himself. See 3: P.S I am not saying you should all build with TF. I am just saying there is nothing wrong with it. You can build good and bad houses with just about any construction method.

When you agreed to "empty the loft" I am sure that means remove all your clutter and don't leave bags of old kids toys etc. I would just push the tank into a corner and leave it. If they argue, point out it won't go through the hatch.

Why do you need to remove it? As far as I know the old similar tank in our previous 1930's house is still there, disconnected and disused, just pushed right into the eaves out of the way.

What @MrSniff is taliking about is Part P of the building regs. This is over and above the IEE wiring regs. Part P only applies (differently) in England and Wales and requires that certain wiring needs part P sign off. In theory building control should be able to offer that service to inspect and test your wiring, but in practice a lot of BC departments don't. You couls always ask yours and see what they say. Otherwise it is a case of find an electrician who has signed up to one of the self certification schemes who will let you do some of the work and then test and certify it for you. Again in theory it should be possible to find an electrician just to test it and certify it, that is allowed under the rules, but again very few are interested in doing that. they don't like the responsibility of signing off other people's work.

I have added a poll. If there are any build methods I did not include let us know and we can add them.

And if you cover them with something, how are you then going to remove that? If i was the scaffolder and found the windows boarded up I might ask why. I would be insulted if the answer was in case you damage them.

If you take out the bleed screw it will let out air or water, but it won't give you access to turn the propeller. Not even sure why you think you need to do that. Follow the pipes from the boiler to see what is getting hot and what is not, i.e. at some point, perhaps that motorised valve you will find no heat. I assume the boiler is firing? Is the hot water working?

Building regs basically say a banister must be 1100 high, but then goes on to say it can be only 900 high in a domestic stair and on a "landing" So a lot of the domestic stair part manufacturers only make 900mm high components. This caused us an issue and several months delay getting our completion certificate in the last house, as our building inspector tried to argue the galleried landing going round 3 sides of the stairwell was not a "landing" and came under "other" which required 1100mm. That was only solved when we refused to accept his verdict so he sought clarification from the Scottish Government, who agree ours only needed to be 900mm. 1 metre high is irelevant to building regs. It will either have to be a minimum of 900, or a minimum of 1100. So if your BC says 900 is no good, then neither is 1M

Choose the best sub section from here https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/42-electrics-lighting-home-security/

Am I the only one that had to google that?

They are not quite the ones I usually see, e.g a double socket is usually two of the single socket symbols joined together. But as long as you include a key for all the symbols used I cannot see it will matter.

But you only get paid the export on what you actually export. So far I would have earned less than £10 this summer if I had been able to sign up for that. To do so, you have to sign away your principles and get a smart meter, and you have to have paid over the top to have it installed my an MCS company. It is not even worth working out how many years my £10 would take to repay the extra costs involved before you can actually sign up to this export payment scheme.

Move to Scotland. We don't have this part P nonsense.

So does the weather bar on my Rationel doors, but don't under estimate for force of a Westerly Highland gale. The water blows straight round the weather bar, into the gap and occasionally when it's really blowing a hoolie, a little gets past the seal.

Have you seen the price of a prescription in England?

Re the outward opening design and "the problem" shown above. Swapping to inward opening solves that problem at the top, but then shifts 100% reliance on the seal to that very same problem at the bottom.

Perhaps you might describe what the "issues" are? And the usual question, has it ever worked properly, or is it a new install that has some problems?

Aldi Caravan cleaner does it for me.