Ferdinand

At the start I would wash up as usual, then mild bleach and rinse. That is belt and braces, though. One of the problems you may get are sterility. One of my first trays grew compost mould mushrooms (last year's compost) rather than spring onions !

I overlapped an extra section, so I see no problem at all with that. Ferdinand

Welcome. A fascinating build, and next project. I have lots of questions I would love to ask, about the tech. side and the planning side and some of your interior decor (does that shower have any screen at all - how does it do if so?). I love the blue herringbone tiles on the wall. The game of Planning Poker must have been interesting. There are people here with wooden builds, and builds on stilts because they bought a bit of a hill, and maybe some potential cross-feedback from people building under 'caravan' rules in wood (which have to be movable) which may have some structural similarities. But I do not think we have any treehouses until now. All questions are welcome. Ferdinand

I think iKea have a standalone range, but I may be out of date as they have redesigned all their showrooms such that it is even harder to find things than it was before. In the meantime, a little censored from the Roy Rogers version:

Thanks - this is the sort of stuff that I do not know automatically. Some things I understand, but there are ignorance-holes everywhere too. Still have strawberries, gooseberries, a couple of wall-espaliers or fans to address. And the Himalayan Giant blackberry ?. F

Thanks. And they need tying in to a couple of new in line posts too. There are loads of things in my garden that need to be brought under control. F

That is, summer or autumn fruiting. I need to prune them back appropriately for this year, and thin a little. I think they are summer fruiting (ie July August not Sept Oct), going on the leaves on old wood. But honestly I cannot remember precisely when they fruit - all the soft fruit went by the board last year due to caring responsibilities, and raspberries were mum's not mine. Ferdinand

There is a further question about what to compost it in. I currently have a Council Dalek composter, of the freebie type, but one with no door at the bottom. My understanding of these is that you have 2, and then turn it from one into the other every so often. What is a good compost bin? F

Unfortunately I have no lawn :-). That was turned into an ornamental bed of decorative grasses and other items, which currently has mallards tiptoeing through the non-tulips !

So can I use printer shreddings as mulch? One house arrest project is to clear out many years of unnecessary paperwork, so I may have quite a lot. (I have a nasty feeling I really need to take out all the weeds - starting-out dandelions etc - to save me aggro later in the year.)

Welcome. For self-build most of the words you need have 4 letters ?.

I am about to do my garden spring clean, and I wonder if I can use the following for mulch or compost: First of all leaf sweepings And also printer shreddings - 2p for size comparison I assume I will need to add some greenery and moisture to make compost. This is not my area and comments are welcome. Cheers Ferdinand

Is that pump rate for paint or water? I have a Wagner Project Pro 119, and the thing that has caused the vast majority of my problems has been type of paint. Which paint are you using, and how many types have you tried? The main Airless Sprayer advice thread is here: I have had success with Leyland Trade contract paint, and Valspar from B&Q. Everything Dulux has been disastrous and gums it up. I have tried 2 or 3 times. Ferdinand

Update to this thread. I now have the Amazon Echo Gen 3 and two supplementary speakers from Tribit. Both are Bluetooth outdoor speakers (ie very bathroom safe) and excellent value. 1 - A MaxSound Plus 24W and about £40. Good across the range for a small speaker. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribit-MaxSound-Bluetooth-Exceptional-Waterproof/dp/B07LGKLFFW 2 - An XSound Go. 12W. About £30. Even smaller. Linear across the range. Good for treble eg Sax Jazz or Female Vocal. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Speakers-Tribit-Portable-Waterproof/dp/B078S4P3J9 I find the easiest way to use one is to keep both off, turn one on and yell "Connect my Speaker" at Alexa, even from a couple of rooms away. Next job: connect the 3 Smart TVs to Alexa. F

You could do one of these virtual choirs, as posted on the COVID thread. It seems to be an established thing.

I posted this video of a "Distributed Bolero" by the l'Orchestre national de France to the COVID Thread, and it seems to be worth posting here, especially as there is an established method of making these videos. Here's one from a couple of years ago: And here is a short tutorial (2 minutes): And a longer tutorial - 40 minutes: And a place where you can find a template for Garageband

How are you settling in? That’s an area full of interesting traditions, but they may not be clypping the church in Wirkswirth this year. ? Ferdinand

I am still very cross with TFL. An acquaintance working for them in a homeable job was travelling in on the tube right up until I think the 19th March, when they collected laptop and so on for home working. My last real trip out was the 18th, when I briefly went to see a couple of people I had been trying to get to for months. To be fair on the actual topic, I do have a big solar array in place, which will cover the next 8 months to at least a degree. Ferdinand

Ok. Will give it a bit more thought, then go back to the next bit of garden.

The general scepticism is quite encouraging ?. Perhaps you are right and I am over-worrying. We generally have a high reliability power supply here, but I'm sensitised on this as someone in the high risk (not very high risk - next layer out) group advised to socially isolate for 3 months, currently under investigation for a low-octane immune system. At present I'm also living alone - not ideal for a Type I D where your final support system is always somebody else. Several of my Ts are taking this *really* seriously. One 70+ year old even had her son request the garage to keep her car so she can't be tempted to go out in it ?. I've got most of the stuff squared away, time on my hands, and I wondered about a genny before. Seems to be an opportunity to think it through.

On holiday lets, I suggest this forum and videos over at Property Tribes as a good resource. https://www.propertytribes.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25&action=latest_posts https://www.propertytribes.com/videos/25/latest And in particular this "top tips" post that covers a lot of ground: https://www.propertytribes.com/holiday-let-every-portfolio-should-have-one-t-127628186.html These are all by Vanessa Warwick, who is excellent. F

Johnny Cash has the answer to that, though he was going in the other direction :-). There's a blog about it here, with photographs of different stages. I think "dismantle" is a better word than demolish, depending how much you want to salvage and sell rather than skip, followed by careful storage, and disposing of over an period of a couple of years.

Warnings about potential power cuts: Does anyone have any views or guidance on this? At present I do not have a generator, nor anywhere (I think) to plug it in. But I am willing to do a little rapid investment now in advance of possible more widespread purchasing by the general populace in a few weeks, as it is something that could be beneficial anyway. I certainly do not want to be forced out in search of solutions at the same time as everybody else, being on 3 month advised social caution for vulnerability reasons. What strategies do any BHers have in place? Ideally I need a pre-written quick reference. Cheers Ferdinand

This is coming out next week - Tuesday 7 April. This is the one where architects redesign existing houses within a genuinely reasonable budget, presented via immersive Virtual Reality. IMO this is the best series of all of them for learning about the design process, and with the best involvement of the client in the discussion with the architect. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h3m8 My thread about Series 1: Ferdinand

This analysis, and bits of the OP, are making me itch that it doesn't all quite hang together, and I can't quite put my finger on why. It may be that I want to see more information about details and consequences. It may be that you have thought about these aspects, but it is always better to ask. - Can you explain the statement "we have achieved an A99 rating". Does that mean calculated with the new additions, or where you are with just Solar Thermal? If the latter, then why do you think the bills are £932 a year. Mine is a 2000 sqft C75 ish rating ignoring the solar PV (ie I have not had it redone), and my bills are around the same (before the adjustment for the solar PV). - Where is that RHI / FIT coming from - breakdown into PV / RHi for Solar thermal / PV would be useful? (£1356 seems a heck of a lot, and I didn't know that you got RHI for Solar Thermal you had self-installed. A recent PV setup will have very little FIT payments, and after you go to Octopus Agile I think you are auto-switched to the Export Tariff Scheme instead at approx. 5p / unit. I have a 10kWp solar installation and at 11p per generated unit ish I get between £500 and £600 a year benefit plus self--use. TBH to me that is not realistic as a real world number.) - What assumptions are you making about how much of the solar you will use yourselves? - Are you comfortable going for the Agile Tariff which is subject to short term change, instead of FIT with a 20 year guarantee? How do you know you won't be shafted next year? - On a like for like basis on these calcs your "profit" is actually 427 + 1356 = £1783 pa. Seems a lot. - Have you done calculations for each sub-project to see whether they are all worthwile? - I think some ROI numbers would help, which could be as simple as Payback if you make appropriate assumptions on inflation etc. Although NPV would be better. Ferdinand