ProDave

That's because he has what we know as a "stink pot" rather than a raggie (rag and stick) boat.

The cheapest DIY 4KW system I have yet seen was on ebay for £2000 I haven't looked lately. Best to run the DC cabling over the 12M run, in conduit. Provision for four 4mm square individual cables. There are less issues with volt drop on the DC side. Long runs on the ac side can give tripping issue due to volt rise when generating at full power if your grid voltage is high to start with.

Yes, but I doubt they will be doing a visual. On my own build the last BC inspection was when they checked the completed timber frame. I asked what was the next inspection they wanted to make and they said "completion" About the only thing they are ionterested in with drainage is a pressure test.

Top tip. do NOT connect a PRV to newly installed plumbing. I did that when our water to site was first installed and I wanted to reduce the pressure to the static 'van. The PRV did not work. With no flow, the pressure slowly crept up. I stripped it down and it was full of grit from the new, unpurged pipework. Cleaned it out, re assembled and it now works. so I guess what I am saying is on a new install make provision to fit it but fit a bypass until everything has been purged and is nice and clean.

Sounds like the clutch. First time the drill jammed when I was drilling a stone wall with my SDS, the racket the drill made I thought I had stripped the gears in the gerarbox, but it was the clutch slipping, as said so it didn't break my wrist. Up to that point I didn't even know my SDS drill had a clutch.

This is the new build I have been wiring this week. That work of art feeds two bathrooms, so 2 toilets, 2 showers and 2 basins. What you see is under the main bathroom, one 4" branch being for the toilet, the other for the vent pipe. It then passes through a joist at the back of the picture for the en'suite. So by the time it reaches the furthest toilet, that's about 10 metres of pipe with hardly any fall, and 6 90 degree bends. Not a rodding point to be seen!!!!. And how will 2 toilets on the same run work with the vent pipe in the middle? Did I mention this house is being built by a plumber....

I have just taken my IR thermometer up to my new build. It's timber framed with a suspended floor and the under floor solum is finished in concrete. That is currently measuring as a surface temperature of 8.9 degrees. So not far from the estimate. It will be interesting to see just how much colder it gets in winter.

It's here, it arrived today. First impressions are it's reasonably well made. The trickle ventilator is an opening strip across the whole top of the window. I suspect when it's closed it's not a brilliant seal. Fitting the window itself looks straightforward. The flashing kit looks very complicated, however I am not convinced I have the right flashing kit so I'm discussing that with the supplier at the moment.

I fitted the very bottom of the range flat pack Howdens kitchen when refurbishing the kitchen in a rental house we were tidying up to sell. It was pretty basic but is what I expected from a cheap flat pack and it did the job. For my own kitchen I would spend more and get one of the rigid kitchens instead. I am not sure what they are offering. "supplied built" does that mean it's the flat pack basic range and someone has put it together? or it's one of the rigid unit range? The Lamona appliances are Howsens own brand but they seem okay. If you don't want them for this project then Gumtree is your friend.

This is just planning nonsense. I would press ahead with the application and make it know to your planning officer if they refuse it then you will appeal. Ask them to show you the written planning policy that prevents you having a brick garage.

When I lived down south and had a "proper job" the unit I worked at was being extended. Mostly a metal clad industrial unit it had a brick facade above the entrance. the shiny new brickwork looked very nicely done. Next day they took it all down, brick by brick and started building it again. Aparently building control had failed it because the width of the cavity was wrong. As you say, in this case someone wasn't looking.

Make sure there are no windows in the house when he comes and deny all knowledge of any windows ever being there.

How about roll it up rolling a length of rope into it. Throw the rope over the roof, pull from the other side and it will unroll the ladder up the roof.

Enjoy, I was out on mine on Thursday.

No, but SWMBO does have to make sure the wheels are pointing straight ahead, otherwise it "confuses" her. Me, if I have just parallel parked, I leave the wheels at whatever angle they end up at, on the basis that's the way I will need them pointing to get out again.

The Screwheads all lining up was an old British Rail thing on old trains with wooden interiors.

From my recent short holiday on the Isle of Mull A young Sea Eagle: Fingals cave on Staffa Puffins on Lunga (Treshnish Isles)

+1 to hardwood flooring. Ours is Maple and 13 years on is looking like new. We chose the laquered maintenance free sort and would do again. In our previous house we had oiled wooden flooring and found the task of emptying the room to re oil it a tedious job we didn't want to repeat. We have real slate tiles in the hall and they are also as good as new. Ceramic tiles in the kitchen are starting to look tired and scratched we would not choose that again.

Our problem of course is poor mobile coverage. SWMBO has a 4G phone put it only ever gets 2G here so from a data point of view worthless.

The regulations on switch and socket heights are for "general purpose" accessories. You can have a dedicated socket for a special function at any height, e.g one high up for a wall mounted tv or projector. So if there is any question, stick a label on the floor socket "table lamp only" and it's no longer a general purpose socket. Or just put a rug over it when the BC inspector comes to look.

Re this mobile phone Vs fixed line. I pay about £500 pa for landline, calls and unlimited broadband. So can you REALLY show me a 3G or 4G mobile phone package that gives unlimited internet and inclusive calls for £200 p.a (to achieve a £300 p.a. saving)? and one that allows the phone to connect to my computer as well for it's internet? As to signal inside vs outside, a cheap Chinese mobile phone repeater from ebay will solve that one.

Commercial offices have raised flor tiles sitting about 6" above the real floor. Along the real floor are sockets every few metres. the floor sockets fit into the carpeted floor tiles and plug into the fixed sockets and give you the flexibility to move the floor sockets about if you change the office layout. I can't think of anything like that for fixed flooring, so you really are going to have to decide and comit to their locations.

To add to Crofter's post above, at the end of the day it is not YOUR choice, but what building control will accept. We tried the Puraflow system as it seemed to tick all the boxes but for some reason (they didn't say) our building control rejected it.

Should have bought a caravan.

Personally I see nothing wrong with old fashioned ice cube moulds that you put in a tray in a freezer. If you look at the "works" of an automated one, that's all it does, is freeze a tray full at a time them tip them out into a bucket. We rarely use the cold water dispenser (the mains water from a mountain loch is plenty cold enough) but again, what's wrong with a bottle of water in the fridge?