Ferdinand

My answer to that would be a bed in 2 independently adjustable halves and 2 duvets... So she can have polar bear hide and you can have a bedsheet. I think they are called a Split King.

DId you ever meet Mrs Recovering Academic?

What is your situation on spares? My tiler said chip out the tile starting at the centre to avoid damaging adjacents when replacing tiles. But I am sure someone will have done it. This chap suggests a Multitool with the diamond faced blade, but that is in "I may be gone sometime" territory.

That's interesting. My MCS installer seemed to think it could be done. We even designed the strings etc and discussed the capacity of the Inverters, and the layout of future wiring, to facilitate it. I am all Solaredge, but do not yet have a veranda on the south side. Any move of panels for me would be large, potentially involving 12 or 16 panels. F

Have you taken the rules of your Council recycling centre into account? It is perhaps technical and honoured in the breech. In many places car + registered trailer is OK, whilst a van is not for a private person. A car version of a van or a people carrier whether 5 seater, 6 seater or 7 seater, swallows a lot of junk. Whilst 4wd tonkas have shorter load decks. On insurance I am not sure what happens for a van insured for social domestic pleasure; ie does self-build count as business? Sweet spots I would point out for secondhand are firstly a carefully selected diesel estate from between about 2015 and March 2017, which meets Euro 6 and will therefore not be banned from activist-towns In the current wave of panic, whilst being grandfathered in at £20 or £30 road tax and doing 50mpg+. Big estate would tow 2 tons. Alternatively a relative banger can be had for very little money with perhaps 100k ok life left in it. There seems to be a slight risk of govt policy treating diesels as one tax band higher. Not clear whether this would be retrospective, so I have left one band of leeway before mine will be jumping to the punishing tax levels. The way it has panned out for me is a new diesel estate - Skoda Superb - to hopefully be my long term car. The current version came in in 2015, But I have ordered options such as a fold down front seat for longer load length, which I think is quite unusual. Someone I know has bought a small diesel people carrier - Vauxhall Meriva - off eBay for under £400, with seats that vanish into the floor, vintage 2004 but only 120k on it. Miscategorised by the seller. That is now his work vehicle, with perhaps 2-3 years of life in it. Ferdinand

What sort of Franke sink is it? They are an excellent brand. Mine came with a 50 year guarantee, and I think they will still be around. On the tap, try turning the water pressure down a little.

You could potentially use something filled with air sacrificially. A couple or inner tubes from a bike with the valves forward of the edge, and snip them off afterwards? Though ice would be a cool way to do it. F

What cross-sectional area of ice cubes does one need to support half a ton?

Elephant? They are excellent for catching your sanding dust, as long as you point it out of the window before it sneezes. Credit

I have found OK people through MyBuilder, though I try to cross-check too. Our County Council has handed their entire Trusted Trader operation to CheckaTrade. CheckaTrade really clobber tradesmen - they charge getting on for £1000 per year. A hell of an overhead. Ferdinand

It would probably be useful to have some more information about your requirements. Do you mean furniture or a house? There is a thread yet with talk and some options: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/3059-need-quick-to-learn-cad-software-recommendation/ I use Sweet Home 3D, which is good for eg interiors, but not for eg plot surveys. Ferdinand

Just read your reviews - excellent. That must be a great satisfaction. Delighted that your guests all agree with the Hive Mind.

I take it those are track-articulations rather than scoop teeth. Desperately hunting for consolation, did it happen to be in a useable position when it broke?

Do I have the wrong end of the stick? Thought this was on the roof. Is it an underground garage or similar?

I have that, but it is run as 2 systems with 2 controllers fed from one boiler. My house is OK rather than superinsulated ... 2010 regs then a bit. Ferdinand

Reinstall it on a slight slope so it runs off . Patio cleaning brush? Or yardbrush?

I do not think there is a ‘best way’. You need to spend time finding out what you want / like, and develop the background to determine what that is and how to do it. Or communicate your requirements to a designer when you know what they are, and pay the appropriate. Comment here can help, but also eg studying other houses, staying in places eg Landmark Trust or AirBNB, Open House Weekend in London on 22-23 September etc can help. https://openhouselondon.org.uk/ Ferdinand

Skylights of roof windows bring in about 4-6 times as much light as the same area of window. May effect what you put where. Glazing bars can also have a significant effect ... do the calculations. If you end up needing to enhance it then things light pale surfaces near windows or mirrors in the reveals (or facing a window) can help a great deal. Ferdinand

Good piece. I would add a number on the contingency - 15-20%. 10% for the usual slings and arrows, and te rest for the things that were forgotten about or are desired gold plating.

So presumably you can get a caravan to be your haven of peace and quiet !

My T who built a conservatory was planning to repurpose *my* backdoor as the new conservatory until I stopped him with a "no" and "if you do that it will have to meet Building Regs". Got one off ebay for £30 within the hour. F

I wouldn't worry on the Topo as long as he is competent and accurate. The Council are unlikely to reject that one for lack of a qualification (unlike perhaps the Soil Survey or Bat Survey or Tree Survey or Archaeology Survey, all of which would possibly require an appropriately-lettered ologist). My reminders: - Make sure he covers all the areas you need, such as verge boundaries and street furniture and the road far enough for visibility splays etc, and also points inside your plot. - Make sure that he gives you an electronic copy that you have software to understand. - Make sure that there are no restrictions on use that are unacceptable to you. Is there an advantage in creating your reference datums first, so that these can be included? Ferdinand

Another axiom is Simplify ! Simplify ! Simplify ! I would not call it consensus, but some of us find that simpler central heating controls are appropriate in a more highly insulated house. If your whole house is so well insulated that you need minimal heating (say approaching passive), then it is more practical to keep it all warm and not have say 8 roomstats, the wiring and the fitting expenses. The financial balance of loads of gubbins vs the lifecycle saving that results can be modelled. Another example is to have no major heating upstairs in the same circs (and either put some minimal preparatory plumbing or wiring in, with nothing attacked or accept that you will have some sort of portable elecric heater as a backup just in case your calcs were optimistic. There are various strategies. Ferdinand

Just checked the price on this one from Howden's with my local branch, which to my eye looks potentially to be a little more robust due to the solid sides, and they said £175 + VAT.

@Jude1234 Been reflecting on the "getting under control and saving money" process. Trying to work towards something a little more defined, and the decisions made will be informed by how drastic the changes are you need to make. Very much a work in progress. 1 - Create a list of work packages or items still to do, alongside the stuff about what you are committed to and your estimates. We have talked about this up thread. Ideally 1 needs to be complete and in a spreadsheet so dependencies and totals can be buggered-about-with, but I guess that "must haves for the build" can be safely identified to a degree. The overall aim is to avoid spending *any* money unnecessarily, and to identify the stuff that can be not-done now. 2 - Categorise each work package as: a - Must haves for the build - stuff you have to do to build the house eg cannot leave insulation out of the walls or stub electrical wiring to things you are delaying which is going behind plasterboard. b - Must haves for your personal needs or regulatory / planning requirements. That is eg at least one bathroom, some sort of cooker etc , but also things to meet planning conditions etc when they are required. c - Things that can be delayed. What I call WIBNIs (Would It Be Nice If). Everything else, and may include "requirements" or "essentials" that can be delayed. eg you *could* leave the rendering on your garage for some time if it is still weathertight, or all the other bathrooms. 3 - Use 1-10 list to decide what to do with each work package. 4 - Review, reflect and rebudget. Ferdinand