saveasteading

I have 2 beans that are 100mm high and have planted them in the ground.....3 snails and 4 slugs were lurking but have gone away. Also a clump of sweet peas to attract insects. The adjacent courgette is growing leaves slightly faster than they are being eaten. I only have 2 more beans growing, very slowly. Most have rotted in the pots, either through being old stock or too much water. So I have also planted some more beans direct in the ground. If they grow that will look like clever succession planting for a longer season. Headline news. The shallots are bolting, which isn't perfect, as that is the biggest they will grow.

If it says non-combustible then it is.... and it does. You should wrap / squeeze it in tight and make sure there are no gaps. For fun, try setting light to a small offcut. It should neither burn nor melt. Once the stove is working throw another small offcut onto the fully heated fire....and it will likely melt and revert to sand, but not burn, but that is a higher temperature than in the flue.

Judging by BH suggestions (for which thanks) when I asked, there doesn't seem to be a recognised solution. I want a seal that will stay sealed permanently, whereas most mastics become hard and brittle in fairly short time. Also there are inevitable variations in gap in placing a timber against blockwork. Draughts and spiders are to stay outside. I think I have decided to go for this product. It goes on thickly enough to fill gaps, then will squidge when the sole plate is fixed, and stays permanently flexible. I think a bead to each side, plus perhaps another in the middle or a squiggly line. I was surprised and pleased to see this is a Sika product. I asked the rep if it was appropriate or if there was another product more commonly used, but he didn't know. I suspect people mostly use expanding foam but I don't like it. Sika mentioned EB25 as an option....it seems to do everything, but is perhaps not the best at any of these purposes. 145 is costing £36 for 12 too....so not a big risk to try it. Comments welcome of course. Footings being dug, timber starts in 3 weeks!

This has happened before and been thought of I think. I got a standard one and fitted it to a sloping ceiling, at about half your slope, and it just worked somehow. It was not a solid circle but had a break in it, and then a nut and bolt connector. If there is any gap it is too small to see.

As above. I got good advice on here, and we chose not to upgrade from single to 3 phase. Our floor area will be about 400m2, and our immediate thought was to upgrade, which needed the transformer upgrade and about £10k When you do the sums it is surprisingly little power. LED lights, ASHP for heating, and nothing is running all the time. If it was, just imagine the electric bill. Car charging too, will be slow charging in a domestic situation. Just to avoid any confusion, I have seen several instances of people using ashp output as if that was an electric need. You would have about 15kVA output, but 4kVA input. The electric company (SSEN) were really helpful, esp on the phone once there was a contact, and we are now only diverting from overhead to underground to the new plant room (I think £1,200 in our trench.

Good tiles seem to cost 2 to 4 times as much here as in Spanish DIY centres. I was thinking of filling the car (limit E350 per person at uk customs). So there must be plenty of margin if you can contrive it. Topps seem to offer a better price on the phone than in person (computer asks the salesperson, is the customer in the store?)

Warning. Never lay aluminium on an oak worktop. It goes black for a good mm into the wood Oil hasn't stopped this happening. Standing water is bad for it too. To get ours back to normal required scraping for 2 days by a proper joiner, and removal & refit of sink. Now there are round black circles from new damage.

I would fill the hole with a paste of wood glue and sawdust. Then fix as originally.

They know which way is up and these pots are meant to disintegrate with roots through. But it should be OK. It was simply their time to emerge not due to the rain. But hoorah for you and your beans. Let them grow to 4 inches and harden them off before planting. The slugs will be lining up.

Used in bridges and dams at the top end of the range. So dense that it needs a machine to compress it and takes hours to expand back. So don't choose that spec. It is addictive to compress offcuts and watch the thing expanding again.

welcome. As an Estimator you have the analytical skills, and the ability to see past the obvious to the underlying work required, but also to look at the opportunities. As said above, get to know your own house, but read and ask to find out the structure and challenges. And we are here for what we can help with. Have you looked up old maps to find when it was built and any background? Is it a big enough and posh enough to have a maid's area at the back?

we have a 2hp compressor, so perhaps worth a try. Do the £50 tools from Draper or Erbauer do the job, or does it need something fancier? We don't have any concerns about damaging the granite masonry. Getting the cement mortar unstuck (10mm thick, and more in the joints is the issue.

Thanks both. we have started on the deWalt trail so should try to continue that for battery consistency, all other aspects being equal. 2.5kg seems the lightest and that is before battery. They also have one that looks smaller but must be very long as it is 3kg+......but I wonder if that could be supported on a shoulder strap. Air was my first thought some months ago but I have never used one. The kit is cheap and light and we have a cylinder already (can't think why). If they are that light then they will also be easier to use at an angle and get behind the render. I'm sure a 75mm chisel is plenty....perhaps a thinner one will be better for getting into the joint between stones, ie behind the face a bit.

Yes read that now, thanks. a belated heart from me.

We are finding that the removal of hard render is proving very slow and hard work. Most is lime, some of that is rather hard and may have some cement in it, and some is clearly cement and has to come off. Then we can repoint and repair as necessary. It is a job up on a scaffold and tiring with arms up. The breaking tools we have are very heavy and more appropriate to downwards work. Also they create a lot of judder and noise , whereas a better tool will put the power more efficiently into the scabbling/breaking job. A borrowed Hilti is performing better than the owned 'Wickes' one, as would be expected, but has to go back. But even that is quite heavy for prolonged periods. Any recommendations please? Ignore cost if necessary, if it is good enough to save many days of torture. Another query. We are well aware of the need to use lime in old masonry walls, and now also of the ' breathing' reason for this. However does the logic apply in any way to an internal face, which will be hidden behind an inner insulated and vapour barriered, stud panel. There are relatively small areas of patch repair in cement mortar, but still some hours of bashing and perhaps masonry repair afterwards. i.e, the outer granite wall gets wet and then breathes it back through the lime. It is unlikely to be wet past the first thickness of stone (200 or so, of 600). Even then, the evaporation should be outwards not inwards.

The Scottish Standards appear to accept an air admittance valve at the end of the sewer run. This is so much tidier and easier than an open stack, that I would like to alter our design to suit. Currently a very visible pipe is intended either outside the last installation (up the wall, client says too ugly), or in the room and through the roof (I say even uglier, and why put a hole through a good roof)). I ask because the regulations appear to allow a Durgo (or eq), but I have seen comments suggesting the opposite. Second question. Is there an AAV that can be located outside, by extending the pipe run to a discrete position? I guess we could alternatively have the open stack in such a location. Air admittance valves are another method of ventilating a drainage system as they allow air to enter the drainage system, but not to escape, thus limiting pressure fluctuations within the system. Care should be taken when installing these valves that they are located where they will operate effectively. Air admittance valves should be installed: in accordance with the recommendations in BS EN 12380: 2002, or in compliance with the conditions of certification of a notified body.

One supplier is favourite. News once completed. We called the engineer to report that they were specifying special sections, and they reduced the size, saving us some cost of course. Which they shoud have done at design. The longest beam is having to by replaced by 2 beams side by side. More cost. What with the glulams and multiple hangers this will cost many £k more than the A framed option we asked for. The simpson hangers are listed at £22 each. Any suggestions fof z supplier at nearer £10, as there are 70 of them? Re the very awkward connections of valleys. I know we can't premake them accurately. Plan is to fix them temporarily, then make ply or tin plate templates for local manufacture. I note that the scarfe joints are rather simple, which will at least save a lot of joint overlap timber. Joiner favours full 12m lengths to allow measure/cut on site. Good thinking...i don't fancy cutting errors on this stuff. If only we could get an artic down thd track.

We (Highland) have a natural spring, and mdpe running on the ground and over a burn, for about 600m. It doesn't freeze as long as it is running. I must have been responsible for 50+ new water mains into new buildings, never put them deeper than -450 and no issues. That is mostly in SE, but it can can be horribly cold sometimes.

No I understand. My worry would be in getting the opinions of several Architects who are not in your employ. Will they love it or have their own opinions which you /your Architect may not like, for you to live in and pay for. But perhaps, as the LA are suggesting this process, it is all quite normal and sensible. As there is probably a large number of architects on the panel, you could get any combination of them. The busy ones will be too busy. I agree, as above suggested, that you must sell the scheme hard and have responses ready.

I wouldn't worry: it is not a structural wall and nobody should be throwing themselves at it. To make sure (as once specified this section, this way round for another reason). To check, I had our 16st site manager shouldercharge a single stud with a board on it while we filmed it. It deflected and returned without a problem.

Can you explain why you are submitting to them? Is it a planning requirement or does it perhaps help your application, or is it simply to get the opinion of some architects? The DRP I met, were a commercial setup of an architects'' panel, giving their opinions on what was good design. It was a bit of a closed shop (in my opinion).

Before and after of pointing to an area of masonry. Done by son in law, after studying masons doing other areas, and then some practice on less prominent areas. I'm seriously impressed. He has years ahead of satisfying craftsmanship ahead. Warrant received. Work starts next week.

Apologies before I start as I will give an opinion with the benefit of ignorance, which is always easier. Hydraulics yes I know a bit , turbines no, I leave it to you. And there seem to be mill experts on BH. Might it be possible to dangle a turbine into the fastest flowing part, that flows reliable all year? Create a channel if necessary. Perhaps on a float so that it follows the water level. Then you could have multiples of that if wanted, and they can all be different using various salvaged motors. It would (or could) be fairly discrete and keep the charm of the burn.

Just make sure that the water pipe can never be damaged, and has no joints in case they leak. presumably the electric company are laying in your prepared trench and then go away, then you backfill with the water and electricity warning tapes in the trench.

But have the beans shown signs of life yet? Pictures requires (time lapse preferred).