Ferdinand

Agreed there - one of my favourite September things is the wild damsons in the hedges near Bradwell Power Station. You could fill a wheelbarrow with them. (Not Kent, but still South of Birmingham.)

Can I ask the ABO (*) question? Your roof and drainpipes and gutters are all sound and not contributing, aren't they? I'm sure they are, but one saying on BH is that the only stupid question is the one we did not ask. F * Absolutely Bloody Obvious.

There are also reasonable prices available online. eg £250 with the Car Wash bundle https://www.cleanstore.co.uk/products/Product.asp?ID=16583 That one comes with the Carwash thing, and the "mid-patio" thing (which would presumably clear the middle of my patio), and the drain-cleaning thing, and a thing called a "Handgun". The only missing thing is a "soak the 18 neighbourhood cats at 30m" thing. My super squirter (£3 from the £3 Shop) only has a 10m reliable range. Hmm. Might be worth the difference for the long guarantee. F

(Hoicks thread back from the Underworld) I am looking at a Nilfisk Excellent E-145 refurbished at £170 here: https://www.nilfiskoutlet.co.uk/products/product.asp?id=5576 I have a certain amount of concrete slabbery, so could probably use one. Can anyone comment on whether the rather short 9m hose is much of a limitation? I would have to run a hose from the back through the garage as I currently have no water at the front (other than 400l rainwater in 2 water butts for the garden). My front garden is very roughly 13m x 15m, and I have paths at the extemity both ways ?. If anyone is familiar with the site, do the "bundles" eg with car washing and patio brush come up very often? Cheers Ferdinand

People who live in the tropics ... ?. My bicycling friend in Deal (who is in her 60s) spent most of August on the beach or in the sea.

To be fair, when I lived in South Hampstead my landlord used to jog across the Heath for a swim every morning, then come back and take a cold shower in the nud in the back garden afterwards for most of the year. If a 60 year old willow-thin Londoner can do it, you lot must really be pampering your doggos. Have anyone got a hot air dryer to make them extra comfy? (But I'm the one who installed the catflap into the shed to keep the cat in its correct place.)

How long do the leaves stay? I have a corner that needs a bit more gentle windbreak.

That's interesting. Do you get any sloes from it? (PS I quoted this in the sloe thread over at Gardeners World https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1045988/sloe-picking/p1)

The only issue I have seen flagged up is that they put out suckers, so need to be kept an eye on.

This blog post is just to note the possibility of using Blackthorn (also known as sloe) as a hedge - which was not one I had thought about. Blackthorn will grow into a small tree, but can also be made into a hedge; personally I think it might be attractive as one species in an informal hedge. The fruit can be made into jams, jellies or flavoured gin. Unlike many gin flavourings, it is far more than a tinge - you *know* that it has sloes in it. It also has white flowers between March and June, and is hardy throughout the UK. Do any buildhubbers have blackthorn in their hedges? Are there any problems? My garden is entirely walled or fenced, but I think I might find room for a bush to grow to perhaps 2.5 or 3m high. For the birds, you understand. And the gin.

If you are the client, you should perhaps be instructing not lobbying.

I'm being slightly lazy, as we have been round this one about once a year sometimes for taps not showers, and I did not want to go digging. One of the lessons is to use plastic pipe for the outside bit. Another is to run the pipe so that that the outside pipe will tend to drain if you switch off the supply and leave the outside turned on. For a shower I guess that a handheld shower and a hook on the wall may be a good option, combined with a locker it can be coiled back into. You'll also want to think about all your outside water and services including rainwater collection for the garden. IIRC Jeremy Harris being Jeremy Harris has about 3 taps and electric sockets distributed around his plot like the Bristol Botanical Gardens. I think he also has an appropriate ornamental well above his borehole too, and I didn't manage to persuade him to put a Jeremy-lookalike garden gnome with a fishing rod sitting on the wall; I'd have bought him one, too. F Here are a couple of threads:

Or you could have one of those taps with the valve on the inside, and the handle on the outside. Tend to be an American thing, but I think they are on ebay. There are lots of possibilities out there.

Freezing there are lots of ways to do it, but you could have a master tap on the inside and remove the shower head fro Nov - Jan for example.

But dogs love shower tarys of water to play in - just has to be a very deep shower tray. Or a pond. I got rid of such to a T and the small terrier went beserk.

An architect with a personal supply of curved books. Cool ?.

Does anybody have a Butter Wouldn't Melt emoticon? I find myself in desperate need of one.

I did not comment on Internal or External. Shower? This is not a shed. I'll give you "Garden Building" or "Cabin" or "Tiny House" or "Garden Retreat". Shed? - no. This is a shed like Rod Hull's Emu is a Pedigree Albatross.

If it has a door like that it isn't a shed.

Yes - my parents did that, but I think they just *did* it. It was during the 3 decades of absence of Conservation Officers ?.

Welcome.

Listed Building Consent. It's the Listed version of Planning Permission, that you are not charged for. Sorry for not being clear.

I can't particularly help with specifics. Try about 20% of episodes of Grand Designs ? . And the rear elevations of things in National Parks, where they have the potemkin heritage facade at the front. So country walking "round the houses" required. Here is a piece from Build-it with examples and links to suppliers, which may be more useful. https://www.self-build.co.uk/design-details-glazed-gables/

As a first cut that looks to me to be *extremely* competent. I make it about 300 sqm including garage, based on a 16ft garage length - is that about right? My main thoughts would be: 1 - Overheating in those south facade rooms especially the "Reading" Room - quite shallow and will overheat if not thought through. Think about a sitting / eating veranda across the bottom of the "U". (Why has the reading room got what looks like a very very very large curved Samsung Television at one end ? One might think it was a disguised cinema room. Does SWMBO know? ????) If you want a projection / cinema room then I would make that end without big windows - it should be fine without lightwise. 2 - Storage space and maybe workshop type area downstairs. 3 - Adequate cooking faciities in the Annexe. 4 - Not entirely sure what the "link" is for. Can that space be used more effectively? 5 - Why not give bed three a tall narrow window to the "void", just for fun. Need to think through how to clean the other side. 6 - I think two things you need to consider are integration garden / house, and heat management. 7 - I wonder about a separate door where the cpd is (what's cpd?), which gives the annexe a separate entrance should you ever need it, and lets the interior being essentially divided. eg to rent out 8 - The aesthetic reminds me of the way my dad used to design some years ago, which some people may not like, but it may be the drawing style of your architect which feels old school. Dad used to work on graphed tracing paper then use big felt tips to block in. When he was at Uni he used to actually use watercolours, and I posted some a couple of years ago here. I like the style; others may not. So far so good imo. Ferdinand

Strange values ... Aiui the current owners are responsible for correcting past problems, unless the dodgy stuff was there at the time of listing when it is also listed and corrections are a criminal offence without LBC.