Ferdinand

Can you get a LED type of broad spot bulb (would it be called a flood?) if it is 3m high that would work? Or with LEDs can we be slightly more relaxed about the rating, since they run cool or cold? Years ago I sometimes used bulbs that were half-silvered behind. I have also sometimes used ones that I call "cluster spots" from Screwfix with 2, 3 or 4 fittings, like this (for one example), which are inexpensive. But this may be a return to your previous setup. https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/spotlights/cat840842 Plan X could be a mirror on the ceiling !

I'm having a couple of trees out - they are the last two from a beach hedge I put in in the late 1990s. They were left for good reasons which are now over, and the larger is slightly taller than a normal house roof (so about 10-11m). The two trees are arrowed in one of the photos. There is a route for them to fall when cut onto paving, but it would need someone maintaining tension on a rope. I'd welcome comments, is this tree man (for which I reckon two for half a day) or "competent with trees handyman" (probably with me pulling the end of the rope to guide the fall)? In all honesty, I think this is one for a tree man and his mate, and beyond even a competent handyman due to the items around such as sheds, other trees and substation. And I think I am probably looking at £600-800 for a decent price. Access is OK. Thanks for comments, and I would welcome any recommendations for a tree man in this area - which is Notts / Derbyshire border around Mansfield / Chesterfield. If needed I can get better photos (eg from inside the garden) later today.

I'd bed some drainage into the steps coming out beneath the bottom one. You could treat it like a mini French drain (ie gravel wrapped in weed membrane), with a pipe laid through one or more of the mortar joints. If that is your only way up, I'd also be thinking about a wheelbarrow ramp up the middle (one or two rows of angled bricked would do it). There are lots of examples out there. Buit it may be a bit late for the latter !

Great stuff Ben. I very much like the printed wall panels in the shower; I've always wanted to have some with my own photographs but then I looked at the custom prices 8 years ago ! And I love the lack of clutter / junk. If you could put a pin in the diary for an update at Easter 2027 after "one year living in it", that would be really appreciated here - especially I think running costs and how the solar has worked; I think you will be in a running profit. My nerd interest is whether the running costs will change after the structure all dries out. This looks like a forever house, sort of a move to Tracy Island.

I think it is perhaps Ed Miliband really knowing his subject and pushing the detail. And prices about to go bonkers for a bit, thanks to Humpty Trumpty. Every £1 saved by consumers buying one of these reduces the need for demanded subsidies (cf: Liz Truss's £90bn energy help in Covid). And hence help with the national debt.

I got it off the internet !

Checking Germany, it seems to be 800W maximum, and they have 1+ million plus systems installed. I'd say it will take off if approved quickly. Potential might be to double out domestic solar capacity if it does well. The benefit is like the unexpected results that can be obtained from knocking 50-100W of baseload 24x7 sometimes being 10-20% of the lecky bill, but from the other end. I'd say watch Ikea for this one - they were very early with LED light bulbs and did solar systems for a time. I swapped all my GU10 60+ halogens for LEDs in 2013 at a notable cost, but it paid for itself in 2-3 years, and eg half of them are still running in the kitchen.

Can somebody do me a quick 101 on Plug-in Solar? In particular, what happens to the excess power generated if the house is not using it all? Does it export (which I would not expect as that would then need the same "isolation" to prevent potential damage to network engineers that we get with conventional solar PV systems), or is there a sink-load, or does it do something else such as tripping out (which would make it more complicated)? Thanks F

This morning I quite like "adumbrated", but have yet to find a reason to use it.

We could put them at the top of Sky Scrapers. Oooops.

We know what happened. Mr Cameron turned out to be something of a dilettante "what is detail?" man.

You have a greater faith in human nature than I do. Remember Cameron's wind turbine on his Notting Hill house.

The problem I see here is that we will just get bigger white elephants installed where there is no change of them working. And if it is one of those limited areas where such do work, we want 2 or 10, not one. So this feels to me to be a gimmick.

When I looked into that iirc it had to have space to fall flat in any direction and land within the boundary. That is, there had to be a 11.6m (say) radius round the mast all within the garden. How many UK gardens have that? That is a circle of 4500 sqm area ie One Acre.

Prices in London are undergoing a low multi-year correction aiui. Basically I think that is a good, necessary thing. Those flats will presumably be sold at low enough prices to cover the work, or go bankrupt and be fixed. That's capitalism. Interest rates are coming back down at quite a rate. Developments I keep an eye on where I would love to have a flat should I get he spondulics one day are showing falls of 10% to 25% over several years, which for central London has to be a healthy development.

Hmmmm. Highways confirm - with a single phone call remarkably and handled by the first contact at the County Council - that the road is not adopted at this point, and confirm that it may involve a decade of nitpicking negotiations to get it adopted. A chat with a Groundworks company suggests that - this being the case - they think they can rock up and JFDI. Interesting.

For a house on an estate which is built and sold off but not yet adopted, how does one go about creating a crop kerb for a second driveway? Would I need to ask the developer who is no longer on the estate, or is it: 1 - Check with the Highways Authority that it is not adopted. 2 - Do it. (The standard approach round here is just to remove the fence and drive over the kerb, going back 30 or 40 years. And the LHA just sit on their butt, as is their habit. This is not Lambeth or seomwhere where any attention is paid.) Thanks. Ferdinand

Probably. New ones will probably be in the 1.5% infrastructure part of the Defence Budget. (Ironically going to Poland !!)

Some roads are very thick; others are not. This from an American living in Germany, a Youtuber - comparing German and Usonian roads. (German Autobahnn is twice as thick. UK motorway is halfway between at 18" thick.) Video:

The Dutch redo their streets on roughly a 30 year cycle. But they plan ahead, and invest, and have decent design standards, all of which are anathema in the UK. Here's a video an online friend made when his was done. 12 minutes.

It depends if anyone notices. Horse stiles need "repairing" by removal of the pieces that block wheelchairs. Sometimes.

I'm not sure what records you have - thermal photos etc - but I'd be wanting to make sure that the cavity is sound if such exists. That depends on construction method, but that means that it is properly sealed to the window. Key indicator - cold bridges and detectible drafts around the edges. A smoke pencil may help detect drafts. At this time of year a thermal camera from outside may be helpful. if it were me, I would be thinking about plasterboard backed with PIR, even 10 mm, but I think your window openings make that impossible. F

Ben I'm interested if you learnt anything about "accessible" windows, designed for wheelchair users, and have any comments. Whilst you were looking into the design, did you come across anything with the handles at the bottom (rather than half way up) to be easier to reach?

Just on this point, get 2 or 3 of these cheap £10 min/max things to measure temperature and humidity. They cost little, and can be used anywhere. I use one to keep an eye on the drying of my washing for example, which I do in the shower cubicle with a dehumidifier in winter. The only thing is do not put them where they may fall on the floor; they do not bounce very well. There are lots of different sorts. This is an example not a recommendation. I buy several then gradually break them over 4 or 5 years. https://www.amazon.co.uk/HOTUT-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Temperature-Humidity/dp/B0DS25WWL8/

"The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast' "