Ferdinand

Hmmm. So what is it? There's one at TLC, which says 250V and says Light Switch. https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/VLXDR93S.html Am I about to be educated?

The pressure point would be to guarantee that a self-install is safe for grid isolation in powercuts for engineer safety, surely?

Is that a lido with the sort of diving boards we don't build any more?

I'd say storage shed, coal house, or loo for short people. But I have seen air raid shelters from the 1940s in approx that pattern. If I recall correctly a bomb shelter is the one type of permanent outbuilding you can still create where you can spend the night without Planning Permission. Under 30 sqm and no Building Regs either.

Thanks. £36.00 hmmm. But I did say Schneider. Need to reflect on this and grid switches for a day. Cheers

Here's an example of a retro flick switch in that format from SF in about 10 finishes. Lots around afaics, but seem mainly for Felicity to install in her antique house in West Hampstead: https://www.screwfix.com/search?search=3+gang+lghtswitch&numberofgangs=3_gang&switchoperation=toggle&switchproducttype=light And here's the only rocker on I can find, which looks cheap: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Varilight-3-Gang-Rocker-Switch-Rockers/dp/B01DM43X4K/ F

On the date, the concrete looks like nobbly that was aiui most commonly done in the 50s/60s. But white bricks would perhaps be unusual then, so I'd punt for late 60s early 70s.

I am replacing a 3 gang 15cm x 8cm dimmer switch in my kitchen with normal switches. Something has gone pop on one of my lighting circuits, and since I have non-dimming LEDs installed since 2013 this is one suggestion after a few years. I seem to have found a hole in the market with noting between cheap & perhaps nasty (<£15) and stupidly expensive (£75-100 + likely to have click switches like my primary school in 197x). I'm looking at approximately Schneider / MK level with a brushed metallic finish or brushed metal front plate roughly to match the rest of the room. Can anyone recommend - an hour looking has found nothing suitable? Plan B will be a 4 gang with one left unconnected. Chees Ferdinand

I think that means I can put it on the same spot using the same connecting wires when I have removed the old one (and labelled the wires 😁). Is that correct? Thanks.

I need to replace one of the above where the screen has gone blotto. Can anyone recommend a corresponding or alternative model? At present it is in the hall. I guess a carry-around one linked to the boiler is one alternative. Cheers Ferdinand

Both are threads I posted early in the life of the forum. They are quite long now ! Still worth some time, as there is a lot of useful info - an example is that self-builders can usually get the 10% trade discount at Wickes, plus a further 10% (ie 9% since it compounds on top of the Trade Discount) by using a membership scheme discount card available via various memberships etc (I get mine via a Health Cashplan, but employers, trade unions etc do similar). The latter schemes operate by you loading cash onto a reusable cash card eg before you go to the shop, and you get 5-10% more value than you load up. Another one is the potentential value of points Credit Cards (spend a few 10s of K and you get a nice holiday bonus at the end), or Interest Free Period Credit Cards. HTH. Watch the detail. My two threads mentioned are here: and here:

Actually no - I had 3 weeks in hospital which started very suddenly around 19 May - straight from the GP so no time to turn anything off. For some reason my Smart Dehumidifier went beserk at the start of week 3 and stayed on until I got home. Why? I know nothing.

For non-sagging shelves I use something more like varnished, or painted, 18mm OSB. 18mm has the advantage that it is the most common standard size, so less expensive per standard amount. Or even similar strength MDF. But that is more moisture-vulnerable.

We could have some fun with these. This is mine for the same period. Single occupancy in a 205sqm house. My heating is gas, but I hardly used any in the period, and I use a heat pump for cooling. Solar generating about 5MWh per annum, exporting about 3MWh. What do you think happened 5-11th June? And the air fryer arrived 4 weeks ago...

Interesting thread. My comments. 1 - I would not do two 90 degree bends, as you may end up with standing moisture in the horizontal run. Plus sweeping may be more difficult. 2 - I don't see any way of reconstructing that without comprehensively removing the hood. Though taking out the arch and the triangle of 3 central bricks may work structurally (self-supporting - maybe) I think it would look clunky. 3 - Can you replace your stove with a rear entry one and bring it forward to the edge of the existing brick platform? I think there are regs around heat proof material needing to be X mm wide around the stove, but you do have those pavers there afaics. 4 - If you are redoing the fireplace, consider insulation behind the stove to stop heat escaping directly to outside (if it is outside). Probably rockwool to be heat tolerant. 5 - One of those infrared point-and-shoot thermometers may be a useful tool for investigations first top explore just where heat is going - they cost from about a tenner. That would make a large difference to the amount of heat radiating directly into the room. ATB F

You may be able to have an effect depending on what your surface is to be, depending how far you have gone so far with your structure. Practically it needs the structure to be dampened or stiffened, or something else stiff being put on top. But it's difficult, and far more fun to suggest alternative strategies: 1 - Use a Segway or in-line skates. 2 - Learn to love it. Wishing you the best. F

So where does one buy a half gallon of vinegar, and do they call it "non-brewed condiment? I seem to recall that one of my local chipshops - if a bottle of n.b.c. (threatening acronym that) is purchased from them, offer free refills.

I've had a session using normal descaler. and both shower heads (including the Mira one pointed out by a tenant that had been in situ since I think 1994 which I *did* by a replacement for) are much improved and still suitable for my showers. I spent the £20 saved on a bottle of gin. One interesting little recommendation was to go for a smaller head as that would be more likely to keep flow due to the smaller space with the same pressure. Not sure about the scientific logic of that, since imo most more concentrated shower patterns should be advantaged through mass of water and bigger holes therefore greater concentrated force not higher pressure.

Having read all the above, I'd say rather than try to separate it from the wire: 1 - Cut it out with the attached wire. 2 - Do a repair using ~£2 worth of chain link. 3 - Put feet up for the time you have saved, drinking gin.

Can you hire a relevant tool? Or I wonder if a bow saw to cut by hand 3-4" off the ground is he way?

TBH invest £50 in a bloke to grind it out in 30 minutes. By the time you have pfaffed for an afternoon it is worth it. Then leave the gap at the bottom of the fence for perambulating hedgehogs.

If done properly, there will be a special 90%+ Planning Gain tax as part of the package, which is needed to boost Local Authority funding which has been cut by 1/3 to a 1/2 nearly everywhere by the existing Governments.

I'm interested how much account Octopus take of different EPC values to give an appropriately sized ASHP. 6kW at 1600 sqft or so seems quite modest, so I assume they do actually notice it rather than install a behemoth by default. My advice to anyone thinking about taking advantage of the Octopus offer (which to me seems very good) is to move quite quickly, as the last few years have been an everchanging kaleidoscope as schemes on offer have been driven by politics not long-term planning. This particular £7500 increased from £5000 grant looks like a smokescreen to distract from all the other green policies being wrecked or cancelled by Rishi Sunak to create money to try and buy the next election with tax cuts. I am also not clear if they have specified how many will be available, as the UK ASHP market is roughly doubling year on year, so I can see it being withdrawn in a year or so because it is "expensive green crap", or if the Conservative Party gives us yet another "last Captain of the Titanic" who has a need for Potemkin policies to feed red meat to his Neanderthal wing. My main now semi-retirement income is a portfolio of rentals, and I would be jumping on the offer but I only have one boiler that is older than 'recent' - having invested, or taken advantage of a couple of "free replacement boiler" opportunities over recent years (which also reappear then vanish). So for me the probably better strategy is to wait for prices to fall, unless it will help me meet needs for a big EPC boost. But Rishi Sunak is such a self-serving political coward that he has also killed the excellent regulation of rentals by EPC, and just run away from any attempt to encourage owner-occupiers of old housing stock (which is the biggest problem) to invest in their properties. So - having gone round the houses - suggest that the Octopus offer deserves a very serious look at this time. Details of offer, which includes hot water cylinder, radiator work as necessary etc. https://octopus.energy/get-a-heat-pump/ F

If you've got a trench open, put in a couple of conduits with drawstrings rather than extra naked cables. The house to the gate is exactly the tope of place you will have need for a new run at least once in the next decade eg if something like a phone cable or an old data cable breaks, or if you need a new one. The prices of bigger rolls of conduit falls so sharply that the extra cost is minimal.

An anonymised map would help us comment. Speak to the Rights of Way team at your Local Highways Authority, which is likely to be Borough or County or Unitary Council. Processes do exist but they can get involved and take time (at least several years). If you find the Minutes of your "Local Access Forum" or "Rights of Way Committee" it may help you understand how it works from ongoing business. Equally, have a look at any material from the Ramblers Association or the Open Spaces Society, who promote public access. If it is a Public Right of Way it is by definition a Public Footpath or similar - even if it goes nowhere. Also check if it is on a thing called the "Definitive Map", which is also managed by the Highways Authority and is in general terms the authoritative definition. The Definiitive Map may or may not be online - eg Somerset is online, Notts (where I live) is not (bugger). Each RoW has a name and number attached to it, eg "Tunbridge Wells Path 78", which makes it far easier to discuss precisely. There may be notes or agreements etc attached to the RoW Record for that location on the Definitive Map, which will give you more background. Here is an FOI Request I did about one recently which a 'develop' (ie shyster in this case) has blocked up, and is trying to keep the public off the Public Right of Way illegally by gates, fences, loose dogs, "beware of the dog" signs, threatening behaviour etc, which I am working on getting reopened. Feel free to use it as a template if that helps. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/please_supply_information_held_a#outgoing-1518500 In this case as it is such a recent build, also consider phoning up the developer and asking them what they know. When discussing these things with your LHA or whoever, What3Words is very useful for talking about geographical locations rather than eg postcodes (which are too big) or Grid References (which are also big) or Lat Long from Google which are things like (52.95333546548519, -1.1495320509882963) . HTH F