Hecateh

Today is the day, I am moving my body! I have been taking car loads of stuff down every day this week and today some friends are coming to carry the beds and sofas down so tonight I will be sleeping under my new roof for the first time. Not even excited any more, I am just so fed up of it all. Electrician and Plumbers were both supposed to be coming this week to do a few bits - surprise, surprise, neither has turned up. The UFH has air in the system; I have had to top the water up twice already. It is running way too hot and doesn't seem to be controlled by the thermostat, with thermostat set at 15 degrees, the temp was up at 24 degrees, so I have just been putting it on for an hour or two each day whilst I have not been living there. Oh and my 'smart' meter says I have used £1.20 of fuel today, that is with nothing running at all and the boiler switched off.

Another thought on addresses Where I live now was built for my grandparents in 1951 (early self builders LOL) It was always called 'The Bungalow' Xxx Croft, etc etc. When it was built it was at the end of a cul de sac which had terraced houses on each side, down to 'The Bungalow' at the end. Over time the terraces were demolished and further 3 houses were built at the end, these were given numbers 42, 46 and 48 (opposite side to the 'The Bungalow'). My new house has been given the number 45. BUT, since I have been here The Bungalow is on all postal databases as 'Xxx Croft Bungalow' . Post addressed to 'The Bungalow' (mostly from family, generally still gets here. It is still on the council's database and electoral register as 'The Bungalow' and my credit rating is affected by this. It hasn't caused me any issues, I can't get credit in general because I don't have an income and other than the address my rating is high but 'Clearscore' tells me every month that 'registering for the electoral roll at my current address' will benefit my credit score. As I said it isn't really affecting me but for anyone borderline for a loan or credit card it could make a difference I guess. I have asked them to change it and they said they would but it hasn't happened - surprise surprise

I have 4 oversized bins. (All for a one off delivery charge of £20) 1 grey - general rubbish 2 brown - bottles, tins and plastic 3 blue - cardboard and paper 4 green - garden waste - only collected between spring and autumn equinox. Despite the fact there is only me all the bins are the largest domestic size. My old house and my neighbours have only the garden bin at that size, the generall rubbish a size small and bottle etc and card etc smaller still. If my neighbours hadn't been so arsey I would have offered them a swap as they regularly overfill both the bottle bin (lots of beer cans, wine bottles and pop bottles) and the paper and cardboard bin (takeaways many nights a week) and they are a family with 2 kids and a baby. Since they don't even have the decency to be polite they can get stuffed.

I didn't contest it but Barnsley Council charge £50 and I thought that was hefty. I had to pay for bin delivery too but that was £20 for 4 bins so not excessive (would have been £20 even if there had only been one bin - glat rate delivery charge)

PIRs are adjustable, mine were staying on for all of 6 seconds to start with and the hall ones were set to come on even in daylight. It was so annoying with the click click click happening every 6 seconds even when I switched them on override (even worse if were switched off) ?? No one is likely to see me lol Would those work outside too? The inside one works fine. My electrician was one of the better trades I had but he didn't have a great imagination. It took him ages to work out how to give me the voice/alexa operated lighting I wanted and I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be nearly as effective as I wanted. I don't know yet though as it isn't yet operational as the Sonos controller came inoperative and I'm waiting for the replacement to be fitted. I have battery operated ones in the hall and bathroom now and that is why I knew I wanted them. Will probably end up with a back up battery one in my bathroom as well as the other toilets and cupboards.

My hall lights are on a pir, light comes on as soon as I go through the door, great when hands fully of shopping I have done that too, bed side wall lights, on an adjustable arm (thanks Newhome) plus can control the main bedroom light from there too Yes and Yes Plus remember that common sense isn't common and someone else's common sense is not yours. Don't just agree something and think it will get done that way, make sure it is marked on a plan that you have given them, and where possible on the place itself as well. So many things are in not quite the right place because 'someone' decided without asking me - or even after asking me still doing it the way they had already decided. For example I have a pir in my dressing room/ensuite for a low night light (got some ultra bright LEDs in there that would blind me at night). Pir put just inside the door, the room is U shaped, when I go round to the loo I am out of range of the pir, tough if I am longer than 2 minutes I'll be plunged into darkness. No big deal now but as I get older. Pir for the outside lights is out of range of the front door, gets the drive great, but step outside and it doesn't come on until a couple of steps away. Luckily the door is reasonable lit from a street light but so frustrating.

Thanks - will have a look at hotpoint in general. That one is no good for me as I'm not going integrated.

Yeah, I kind of remember learning something about sound levels in physics. Isn't 10 decibels louder, 10 x as loud or something.

Which dishwasher did you find to be the quietest. I've been doing some research and they all seem much of a muchness according to spec

Years ago a neighbour planted a row of conifers right up to the boundary between us. Needless to say they all 'died'.

I'm certainly no boffin but could find a definite use for a state of charge indicator. EG first thing in the morning in winter, today; is forecast to be sunny; I need to do some washing but am unsure whether to do it now or later in the day. Check indicator - level very low - leave the washing until later. level just above half - wash now so that it can utilise the sun to fully recharge.

Wouldn't suit everyone but my washing machine is going in the dressing room/ensuite area. It's clothes I wash mostly, then sheets and towels, and didn't see the point of taking them downstairs to wash only to have to bring them back up to put away.

Modern leccy blankets can be washed in the washing machine so I doubt a bit of pee is going to hurt it - or you. Especially if you get an over blanket rather than an under one. Plus Pissing yourself is far more a symptom of getting older than using a leccy blanket is.

me too - probably with me inside it

They haven't said I had to have tarmac they said it has to be a semi permeable hard surface. Road edge to gate line is zero. I'm off to the side at the end of a cul de sac that slopes down towards me and my garden continues the slope down. So my property is right up to the road edge. I'm not going to stir the pot. If they do pick up on it and try to enforce it that will be the time to say to get it removed on the grounds that it is unreasonable

Was only thinking of a 5 minute blast first thing on a cold morning LOL

Will make sure that doesn't happen. The concern is a none material change in design. I have no doubt it would have been passed but after asking the architect to put it in to planning I never heard any more so suspect it wasn't done . Yeah! considering tarmac as what I wanted was bound gravel but that too is very expensive. I don't really like blockwork but I do have a pallet and a half of bricks left over so it could be an option for a border, including a strip at the beginning of the drive

Thanks Dave. Yeah - am not remotely worried about the internal stuff, there's only me there most of the time. It is only the driveway that is my real concern. Luckily planning condition were never added to the planning portal so my neighbours are not aware of the condition - if they were they would report me continually lol

When I got planning permission the following condition didn't worry me as I was going to be finished and moved in by May and had plenty of money to pay for a drive - if not the drive I really wanted. However, things have changed, and 'sometime in December' I am moving in with no internal doors, no skirting or architraves and crucially, currently only a hardcore drive. The drive will be made more 'permanent' once the sale of this house has gone through and I have a lump sum in my account. This house is sold subject to contract and, if all goes according to plan, completion date should be mid January The lump sum will be considerable smaller than originally expected and has to provide most of my living expenses for the next 2 years until I can claim my state pension. Questions 1. Would a hardcore drive that is quite packed at the entrance so is not actually 'loose' stone meet the planning condition? 2. If not, what is the minimum I can do to meet the condition? (I seem to remember someone saying on here that the council could only enforce the 'not loose stone' for a certain length between the road and the drive.) 3. What is the cheapest, half decent, driveway I can have constructed once I have access to some money? 4. If I leave it as is, for now, what, if anything, is the council likely to do about it? 5. Do the council actually come out and inspect the property to see if the everything conforms with plans?

Certainly not a full heating system, but has anyone any experience of something like this mini heater I haven't installed heating in my bedroom. I like to sleep cold and have a separate dressing room/en suite which does have heating so with rising heat I am not expecting to regularly need heating in the bedroom but need options for the extra cold nights that may occur. I already have a portable fan heater and a small oil filled plug in radiator which I could use for extra cold nights if it became necessary but these look like a really neat and unobtrusive option. There are loads of different ones but it does seem as though the majority come from China. Daewoo do a version but that is only 400w whereas this one is 1000w.

I was first contacted by the rates department in March, before everything went pear shaped, and said I hoped to move in in the summer and she just asked me to let her know. I had a call again this morning from a different person asking (nicely) for an update and had I moved in. I (very briefly) explained the situation, told him that I had services but no internal doors yet and that I hoped to move in before Christmas. 'OK' he said cheerfully, 'shall I put it down for the last Friday before Christmas, that's errrrrr the 21st Dec.' Yes that's fine I said. I then told him that I had sold this house but that the sale was unlikely to go through before Christmas. He told me I have a months grace and will only be charged rates on both premises if the sale hadn't gone through by 21 Jan. He said it's unlikely the valuer will actually visit the property and that they have 90. days to do the valuation but that whenever it is done rates will be charged from the official moving in day. I said that as it was in the garden I would be moving in gradually but wouldn't actually live there until 21st December and he said 'no problem'. He then gave me his direct line number in case I needed it. The building inspector for my insurance company (CRL) came round for his final inspection this week. So somehow they are still trading. He was happy with the house, also (as many have) he praised the brickwork, so at least something good came out of my original builder. He has just asked me to send pictures when the final details are completed (mainly the driveway) so all is well there.

Wilko's own 50p per pack

Looking good

We don't want any London 'up north' - Harrogate is far more refined - The only real similarity I can see is that there are tremendous traffic problems in the area especially during the Yorkshire Show or any half popular event at the Harrogate Convention Centre. The roads routes in and out of Harrogate are not fit for purpose

I am now on my 3rd plumber and this one does seem a decent plumber and gas engineer (and genuine person/tradesperson) in general BUT even they have only installed one ufh previously and have happily heated my previously unused system to way above the 27 degrees that is the max for the installed flooring. One also said he couldn't understand why I had opted for UFH as radiators were very efficient now.