Ferdinand

Perhaps rashly I have agreed to trim an NHS neighbour's hedge this year (below), so I need a hedge trimmer - which I just about arguably needed anyway as my garden is maturing. I am now a Makita shop by default. Can anyone advise what sort of weapon is required. The was laid about 5 years ago. It is hawthorn. I can just about touch the security mirror shown standing on the ground so I am guessing the hedge is perhaps 8ft, and only a single garden width. The lane is quiet if I choose my time, and I do have a scaffold tower and ladders available if required. The last time I bought a hedge trimmer it was 12" or 14", powered and very expensive for cordless. They now seem to have one handed grass trimmers which convert (eg Makita DUM604ZX), something cordless, and ones with blades up to 2 feet long (eg Makita DUH523Z) which looks like a sawfish. It may be that a good option is a small trimmer plus secateurs. Or one of the longer ones. TBH for my own use I would struggle to justify the 2ft long one. Thanks. Ferdinand

Sounds good. When I do stuff at home (currently just doing cycling and a bit of yoga) I only have a wall ball and a skipping rope. But I need to work mainly on mobility, so when I am stronger after my winter illness I will start doing just the warmups.

Not sure how much feedback you want suggesting potential issues with this given that it is finished ? . But ... writing as part owner of a Crossfit Gym (about which there are a few threads) there are a few things it may be useful to say. I hope everything has been considered and this is unnecessary. What is the floor surface under the rubber matting? If you or anybody start dropping kettlebells or weights on it, I do not think that 8mm will be enough and it may well die if it is at all delicate. Even porcelain tiles may get chipped. One issue is that sometimes the reason for dropping weights is safety, so you cannot say you will never do it. And I am not sure that 8mm will be enough for your comfort or to protect your joints if you are doing stretching or eg burpees on it or things that involve knees such as types of scaled pressups and so on. Depends on how hard the floor surface underneath is. Though rowing, assault bike and the torture machine on the right will be fine. The normal floor of a Crossfit Gym would be more like 18mm dimpled horse matting over a concrete slab. (Last lot I bought cost about £45 each for 10 6x4s delivered, 2 years ago - we have about 5000 sqft of it, and yes it does feel expensive when you are the one stumping up.) We also do our weights on inserts made from 8x4 18mm plywood. But that has to cope with people throwing 100kg+ barbels down from shoulder height, which is perhaps not you (or me). You could loose lay a sacrificial tongue and groove click-fit under the matting if you have problems. We use the thinner stuff on rolls where we walk around the weights area, but not where we do things on the floor. I think you could probably make your stretching etc more comfortable by using some of the jigsaw foam mats they make eg for putting on the floor of child playpens. Or a yoga mat. I find it helps my sit bones. If you need a weights area with heavier mats then one option might be a gazebo or veranda outside. My best suggestion would be to review it with your distant trainer, so that he is aware what you have so you do not end up doing anything that is unsuitable or may cause problems, and take the advice on what is most appropriate. And see how you go. @jack may have some useful comments, as a Crossfitter. Nice project. Ferdinand

It lets you see your movements and how well they are working if there is no one training you. An alternative or supplement is a video setup say using your iPhone and a tripod. if you are doing particularly weights it may be important because bad technique can cause nasty injuries if you have not been well trained. But am sure you know that. It also lets you judge the elegance of your plié when you are practicing Swan Lake. (For non-ballet-dancers Plié is a ballet dancing version of Dixon of Dock Green’s Allo Allo Allo. In a tutu. ?)

Could you do something like eg copper or checkerplate. Or presumably oak would do it, or there must be others. There are a whole range of boat timbers including Ash and Cedar, which would survive a short flood. If you really want timber you could ask the coastal engineers what they use for piers and groynes, and get some planks cut. Or can you use things made for fascia?

It would be useful to know more what you mean by "cottage", and which part of the market you consider your target? (ie for last bit basically a description of your imagined customer). F

You could buy a new one with Help-to-Buy and bungalow-gobble it. ??? *innocent face*

My bathrooms have tiled upstands. I like them.

I think Building Regs, insulation standards etc would be a real issue. Depending on whether you are going for just the look, or the whole lifestyle. In this country you cannot hunt with a bow and arrow . There may be lessons from eg straw bale specialists, or the chap who built the cob palace (Grand Designs episode).

If you look around, there will still be people involved in this - who you could track down. This is a retrospective. (I am sure that at least 3 of those are Jeremy)

Wood effect porcelain tiles.

They are usually contactable. Usually you just contact the Duty Planner. The issue I would think is being taken seriously. For something whacky like this I would start with a relevant voluntary organisation, such as a relevant museum or recreation society, which will probably have had interesting people at least fantasise about it before. Or perhaps a University. Is this permanent? What did the BBC do in the 1970s TV series? Planning existed then. I think there may be more opportunity if it was in the grounds of eg a small holding, and perhaps done as 'glamping', or an annexe with the main house rented out.

This is another arrangement. This is a setback I have on a rental. The road here is the old A38 with lots of traffic - could be 5-10k per day. That's only about 13-14ft long, so my new estate sticks out. At the time it was to let the T pull off and open the gate afterwards, and for ease with visitors so callers for the home business did not need to pull in. I think the only reason I can see for doing the big gate now (if you are unsure) would be to protect materials or privacy. I would probably just say not to make a premature decision that might be wrong, unless it is cheap or can be reused (eg front gate now and carport gate later) ? . F

With that pipe and angle you could make a supersoaker howitzer.

Strange not to be in the deeds, but by now they will very likely have the right by 20 (?) years usage, anyway. I quite like the 'increase width on your side' option. Personally, as an LL I would stump up 1/3, or a share, and it something I do quite often.

Tricky question. I think other relevant questions are how secure is your hedge? (Can somebody push through it easily to avoid going through the gate, in which case there may not be too much point). And how much does the hedge down the side of the drive stop you spotting anything going on in the parking area? I live on an old lane into town which is a cut through for bikes, walkers, and also cars / vans, which means that my front is surveilled a little. I have essentially no gate, and 5'6" high stone walls. I think I had a spade nicked when I left it out, but things like building materials waiting to be used have not vanished. I have no gate (but a power supply) because the bloke doing the conversion ran out of "getting his money back" when he would come to sell it. I am really in two minds in my situation. I have two neighbours with powered tall wooden gates, intercoms and external post boxes etc, and they are not sure of the benefit - it keeps people out of the front, but also is a bit of a flag as to when people are in or out, as they rest open when at home. In yours if I put a big enclosing gate on it I would look at that dividing hedge, as I can see "garden" uses for the paved area - kids paying ball, BBQ etc. Do you need it for a garden (my front faces South - so I entertain outside there). I would also want to consider things like whether visitors can park on the street, how busy the road is (will it be an advantage to pull off the road first, or can you sit in the car for 30s while your blipper opens the gate?), will it reduce interaction with neighbours or is there a walking gate etc. Hope a bit of that is useful. F

More likely here

@AliG I think wrote a full and detailed account of his pool project; it may be here In any case you need to read it. F

It all looks rather expensive. If you replaced your farm gate with a metal farm gate .. say 6 bar ... it would cost about £100, and be surveilled from the road. Is it worth doing that this to see if it s good enough before you lay out oodles?

Lilac wheelbarrow .... trendy.

If he has a right of way over your half of the path (95% likely I would say), then if you build on it he can remove the obstruction.

Have you checked the deeds for the other house, and what rights that gives them over your land? eg Right to walk on your half of the path.

I am not at all sure that "Greenbelt" qualifies as suitable for Para 79 - I thought it was for "in the open countryside", whilst greenbelt is a corset for urban areas. The one thing about Para 79 is that you do not get what you want, you get something somewhere between what you want and what umpteen planners and experts think is suitable for the site. And it usually takes a lot of time. And usually costs a lot of money. Allow 100k budget for planning expenses. I am not going to even try and answer, but: Read through the articles on here: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Abuildhub.org.uk+pararaph+79&oq=site%3Abuildhub.org.uk+pararaph+79&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.13037j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 And watch the Grand Designs episodes that have them (there are several). And talk to the Council in general terms. And read the few reports that are around. Then take a view using your skill and judgement. Ferdinand

They cost a couple of £.

The last one I did was a little different - I pur a leanto conservatory over a Victorian brick wall, but it was a lounge space not a kitchen. With that it was wire brush to remove the dust plus a couple of coats of diluted PVA to keep the dust down. That has been fine for 6-7 years now. In your case, I would look at the external clear waterproofers. Ferdinand