Ferdinand

It sounds like you need a flexible system not a rigid grid. This was done on one the very first Grand Designs, back in 1999, with Kevin being introduced to landscaping mesh as used on embankments, which comes as a folded concertina of large hexagonal cells. This was when he was still an interior decorator and had hair. Series One Episode 4. Probably there are now "biodegradable over X years" products made of organic materials. The Amersham Water Tower. Lovely background music. Here's the C4 link. You'll need to tolerate some adverts. The first GD with application of "commercial architecture" techniques. They have done a couple of revisits since. The bit you want is at about 37 minutes, but the whole thing is worth a rewatch. https://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/on-demand/26262-004 Look under "soil erosion prevention" or "gravel retention" or "GEO grid" categories.

I follow the two methods mentioned. I normally run a bypass paywalls extension, and use archive.ph. Incidentally I find that Adblock Plus and Adblock Pro together (think it is mainly the latter) are quite effective at skipping Youtube ads.

I live in the North Notts / Derbys coalfield. It is possible to build on subsidence liable land - eg the entire CLASP system used for schools, public buildings and stations was designed with that in mind. You will need to use sufficient outside advice and eg pre-purchase reports to satisfy yourself that it is OK. But it is certainly possible to build there without excessive extra expense - the main things will be to understand you site and choose appropriate building methods.

I think the best hope here is that interest rates will be going back down again soon, but maybe not as far.

I haven't needed to try so far - not very prominent foxes to date. And even Roland has been less common - I think because of warmer winters and nearby housing estates having done with the fields some time ago. But tbf I've had an entire year and a half out of being able to pay attention to anything but absolute basics. Coming out now, but I'm still regularly sleeping half the day.

@Onoff's is probably made in Scotland. From Girders. On a more serious note, no one has mentioned Amazon Man who will give you 3.45s then chuck whatever-it-is over the top. I'll be looking at an electric sliding gate, but I have no answer to Amazon Man, short of putting the open-to-1m code in the parcel instructions. Currently I say "in the porch out of sight if one answers", and since I can't get to the front door in 3.45s that is what happens. Which has worked so far.

Door height may well be your physical issue, and sealing a space you need as much attention to ventilation as insulation. Try the forum's heat calculator as a place to start written by a member which many have found helpful - including me. 20mm XPS in a floor (unless maybe you control the flat below as well and treat them effectively as s ingle unit) seems ridiculously low. The last one I did (bungalow) was 100mm Rockwool under the existing floor (~equivalent to EPS) + 25mm of PIR on top - and that is less than ideal. Rather than 0.7 R-value, normally for a floor we would be looking at 0.12 to 0.25, depending on the conditions beneath. There may be a minimum value building regulations require you to meet. Have you thought through what you will be doing with the walls (my suggestion from rental renovation experience 50mm->75mm PIR)? Ferdinand

Not having done that very much, though I regularly measure road corridor widths etc arguing that there is space for mobility tracks, how is this Google Earth technique affected by overhanging trees?

This is the sort of thing I am out to measure. This is a 1969 ish vintage footbridge over the M1 where it cuts through communities, which is the only non-motor-vehicle route for several miles. That slope in the middle is about 1 in 12 and 60m long.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I think my Android Phone has a facility (guessing a mercury bubble or something) in the hardware but not the software, but then I am about 4 versions of Android behind, so it may have one by now. Straight edges are fairly doable tactically - eg lay it on a fence rail since rails are parallel to the ground and posts to the vertical to within a couple of degrees. Alternatively I have things like a lightweight monopod or a walking pole I can take around with me to be a straight edge. Cheers.

Can anyone recommend an inclinometer app for my phone to help me measure gradients of pathways? My application is not building as such, but measuring the accessibility of local footpaths, greenways for wheelchair and mobility aid access etc. Some are diabolical - I came across one recently in the middle of the new Greenways around Salford / RHS Bridgewater which is an 8% slope down to a road, with a grit-over-base skiddy surface that means that progress in eg a wheelchair is difficutlt to control, and any attempt tp stop turns into an instant skid. I was able to measure this one via a photo of the fence rails and counting pixels, as they had a datum on the fenceposts when they built it. Accuracy I am after is not that great - I'm thinking +/- a degree or two. I need to be able to tell the difference confidently between say 1 in 8, 1 in 10, 1 in 12, 1 in 15 and 1 in 20. Since I tend to survey such things using a cycle, I'm not up for a 1m or 2m long sprit level. Thanks for any suggestions. I'm on Android at present. Ferdinand * Photos

For that if I recall I just used a normal clear roll, perhaps something like this, which is 4m wide when unfolded so it will do many rooms and lap up at the sides in one piece if you need that: https://www.screwfix.com/p/capital-valley-plastics-ltd-general-purpose-sheeting-clear-150ga-25m-x-4m/71880 I'd suggest going down to Screwfix and having a look to make sure you think it is strong enough. If not there are thicker ones available. If you need to overlap, then you can do it by say 0.5m and tape along the join if you think that matters. One rough check that your subfloor is properly dry is to tape a square of sheet to the surface, leave it for a couple of days and see if any moisture which has been evaportating into the atmosphere has collected underneath. One thing to remember is that if you have one lapped up at the sides, the first lot of water from any leak you have isn't going anywhere unless you have slits - which may be good or bad depending. But leaks are very rare. I get less than one per 50 years of house occupancy in my small set of rentals.

If you need more space around it, one possibly acceptable way may be to have a set of modern hearth rails at a suitable height. In concept think of the altar rails in churches, but made out of eg wrought iron or something shiny. Or a traditional fender if that is permissible. I think the only difference I might have done with the cast concrete would have been to use shiny sheet for the mould to make it very smooth - but that might have shown imperfections.

Is there a high build (eg crack filling) or premixed filler you can dilute that would do it? TBH I think you are forked, and will need to skim.

That's a shocker; they have been a fixture of the North of Scotland for half a century. For those not familiar, they are (were) a major regional timber frame building company, with a turnover of around £200m. Devastating for Stuart Milne himself, who had delayed retirement to try and pull them through the post-Covid trading environment, and for the employees. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-67918029