Ferdinand

So the next job is to supply a big bottle of Bombay Sapphire to your MiL, on the understanding that she will then communicate to her other daughters that they and partners are getting a huge favour each, and are now expected to supply you with x no unreciprocated dinners or child minding sessions each.

OOoer. So you have done 135m out of 900m. Ouch and sympathy. So nearly 150 bags. So will it be loadsamulch or hutch material for 647 pet rabbits until 2035? My local merchant sells these bags of stuff from his filtration system, so much more dust and lower quality than pure shavings, for £2.00 each. https://roncurrie.co.uk/large-bag-of-mixed-wood-shavings-and-dust?search=Shavings Up until about a few years ago you just took your own bags and a shovel and a Landy and raided the filter shed. How much are these worth in Aberdeenshire? Must be £250 to somebody?

OK have resolved this. This is a self-build done by somebody before I bought it and the quality of the bathroom floor was shocking, and will need another thread. There was a whole section with minimal insulation, and the floor build up was butted up 22mm chipboard, screed incl heating Matt, then tiles straight on top. But the joists are like the Forth bridge. In placed you can see the lounge ceiling plasterboard. Some of the chipboard only had half a dozen screws. He also had not used flexible adhesive. Pic 2 is one of the pieces of subfloor. A couple of piccies. It is classic self-build later-on budget skimp as there was too little money to finish as it was started. There Is also a huge issue here about variable build quality within one project, and how to prove it for sale later. Have added a50mm layer of rock wool sound insulation, and a proper plywood subfloor screwed every 150mm, then will have tongue and groove as a base for the heating and tiles Probably needs a thread or blog article. Ferdinand

As I have it by the age of 28 or so Alexander the Great (*) had conquered most of Central Asia from Greece, as far as India. So yes it should be possible ?. According to Wikipedia it was down to a sense of ineffable personal destiny and his relationship with his mother. How do you feel about yourselves and do you get on with your parents? (These are actually important questions as you will come under stress.) But then Alexander did not have to contend with the Planning System. Yes it can be done, and yes people do do it. I would say do not constrain yourself to a self-build necessarily - there is much to be said for restoring sold houses from the pre-asbestos era, and more of these are coming on the market if you have the skills. Mr McDonnell is promising somehow to confiscate a big chunk of the pension capital anyone invests in rental, so until we know where we are the type of basically solid properties that LLs would take on are not shifting as well as usual; around here for example some decent bargains are available. Ferdinand (*) I was going to use Amy Winehouse for my quip, but came up with this gem which is quite the wrong type of example and should be in a Punch and Judy show: In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch.

There is someone on BH who has of those, albeit the in-a-mound version, near Melbourne iirc. But smaller, mind. F

I wonder if you would be better looking into a replacement built in the same spirit. The advantages of self-build will be likely to outweigh the costs of pfaffing with a refurb. (Perhaps This has been covered previously.) You need to look at lifecycle costs in terms of ££ and CO2 eg electricity bills in those 2 dimensions over 25 years. eg look at the place built by @Crofter.

I thought Leasehold had been abolished in Scotland.

Quite a few here use co at ruction trainers. Mine are by a brand called Tough Grit (someone is clearly a fan of the Two Ronnies crossword sketch), which is an own brand from a DIY shed I think. but others give theirs a harder life. F

Did not the bizarre architect bath-with-a-view house in Edinburgh that won (Architect Designed) House of the Year a couple of years ago have one of those on the corner that he opened whilst was in the bath? Perhaps discussed in the programme. F

thanks. Built In 2009 ish. PP 2008 ish. I am not clear that there is any acoustic insulation requirement between a bathroom and lounge below. He used this everywhere in internal walls. Interesting self-build syndrome ...those joists are something. Like 8.5” by 3”, yet he put normal flooring chipboard on them under a tiled bathroom floor. Running out of budget by the look of it. Ferdinand

Thanks. nothing to be done, then , in this case.

The refurbishment of my upstairs bathroom has started. Today the filter took the floor up, and the sound insulation consists of stuff like teddy-bear stuffing, and is not fitted particularly tightly: Does anyone know what this is, and can anyone suggest something better? The type of noise is general plumbing noises. I appreciate that this will just tackle one mode of noise but it is a case of every little helps, and I will not be opening this up again. I probably ave until mid morning tomorrow to source and obtain something, so it will need to be sourced locally. I am wondering about mineral or glass wool batts, pressed in quite hard. Al comments are most welcome me. Cheers Ferdinand Ferdinand

Mangled this by mistake. Should say: "Yes - talk to the Council. They will probably give you a quote OR a reason why they will not sell". Thanks for the reply @Sensus. F

I have one which I use occasionally. Usually inside,though. There are also these places called "not coastal Cornwall" ... ? F

Can your window film bloke supply you with a 10 sq cm sample of the opaque version? Out of sight... Emoticon required of lacrimose crocodilian ?.

Yes - talk to the Council. They will probably give you a quote a reason why they will not. A small number of thousands would - I guess be a target price - and if it goes well into 5 figures without a good reason they are probably trying too hard. But probably talk about Amenity Land rather than Planning Permission, and check out a few auctions to see what the prices are for random bits of council land. May be worth a check on value with a local pro. If it gets sticky, remember that they have a duty to help self-builders under the most recent NPPF, with which you can prod helpfully. You will want to talk to the Legal Team or Estates rather than Planners. There is a ditty that I just doggerelled: "The Self-Builder's coming, Oho, Oho !" "The Self-Builder's coming, Oho, Oho !" "The Self-Builder's coming to help out our budget!" "The Self-Builder's coming, Oho, Oho !" Ferdinand

There are these things called diagonal braces ... ?

Small commercial dishwashers have more sensible arrangements. The place where I volunteer has things like those plastic square bread trays that are used for deliveries to shops. And they just lift out once the drying cycle is done and sit on the worktop. eg https://adexa.co.uk/Dishwashers-Glasswashers-18/Dishwasher-Racks-62 Ferdinand

I have biscuits and crisps where the other oven used to be.

There are these things calls wheels...

I think you need to re-envision your front view. Rather than thinking a glass fronted cave, try taking inspiration from what the contents used to be and perhaps block out sections to reflect that rather than an open building. You could even do an open bit in the middle to reflect a different type of barn door. What about: 1 - Think about the texture of a stored haystack and having a section with a smaller-squared criss-cross type texture. 2 - Block out a couple of entire sections with wall, perhaps with tiny windows inserted. 3 - If you have some entirely open sections, why not have a row of wide shallow vents just below eaves level at the back - to give excellent purge ventilation. I think that a combination of whole sections if wall, in addition to 'windows', will read better - the barn use would be structured that way when it was a barn. I think there is potential advantage in a big water feature (reflecting pool) across a large chunk of the front - either at ground level or sit-on-wall level. If you so chose, you could run under slab cooling into that. Ferdinand

This has now started. The custom shower screen had a quite remarkable cutout for the hinge. F

Depends on the person and the wheelchair. My mum is currently 4'10" and shrinking, and for the last few days in a wheelchair. She cannot reach the back of a normal worktop. On the dishwasher, she can pull the tray out, and then reach the crocks from the side on our normal ground level full size dishwasher. Given that you are 30% taller, it is an interesting line to walk. How tall is your management?

Find yourself Series 9 Ep 6 of Grand Designs, and it is a build in this form. Round roofed barn conversion near Marlborough. There will be some ideas that transfer. F

problem for wheelchair users, perhaps.