Ferdinand

If you rely on sand for colour, make sure that each undivided visual section uses a consistent colour and buy enough in each purchase to cover that ... because they will not necessarily be consistent over time. And buy enough ! My garden wall at the Little brown Bungalow deliberately used red sand from a particular local BM that was redder tan everybody else’s sand, and it caused a problem when we ran out at a weekend when they were closed. The render in this pic is entirely coloured by the sand, and uses normal cement. Ferdinand

Does anyone know where I can get a pair of these for one door? I reckon the chap who did our house had one too few. The result is that we have knobs not levers on the inside of both bathroom doors, and they are awkward to use. I can find equivalents without the 3 grooves, but not identical. They are 7-8 years old. The specs are: length of lever 125mm, diameter 17mm, finish I think is satin nickel, rose cover diameter is about 52mm. I would punt on them being a former B&Q range, but that does not help. Cheers Ferdinand

No, but robust shoes with thick soles have when I stood on a nail. In garden when it was being cleared out. And similarly on a previous occasion 20+ years ago. F

Thanks.

Clip it down. That is the avatar.

Irksome. A wonderful word that I had forgotten. TO be used at every opportunity. WOuld that not be the normal process. PLanning Appeal. Or Planning Officer then Line Manager then Head of Planning then Local and National Procedure and Ombudsman. Or Councillor or MP to try and short circuit it. Or Judicial Review within 3 months (also applicable to each appeal stage within 3 months of that decision?). Or High Court action. ANd much of it is disfunctional from the point of view of solving the presenting problem. AN irksome system. F

Glad all that has been considered . Good to hear. F

I thought there was an Appeal case that had overturned the single source requirement in a National Park several years ago. Lakeland to Wales? Was it mentioned on ebuild?

Wishing you well with this, and particularly wishing you cooperative neighbours. Ferdinand

Bumping this thread. A few of my solar panels have now suffered serious attention from lichen and algae. They are under a tree and have got quite a lot worse over the winter. Now that we are nearly back in the serious generation season, they need some attention. There are a couple of photos. The bottom of the array is at about 2.3m from the ground, so access is not that difficult. I may be able to reach most of them by hand with care. Questions: 1 - Is there a cleaning agent I can add to my long hose-connected solar panel cleaning pole (see start of thread)? Mild bleach? Vinegar? 2 - Is there any kind of copper tape that I can add to each panel to help keep then clean in future? I am wondering about either adhesive tape (eg the sort to control slugs) or perhaps copper wire as used on roofs. Thanks

One more question. Are there complications with a shower bath type setup, due to the branched cold supply? I guess it depends on the exact layout. Ferdinand

I was interested that the capacity is to assemble 2500 units per week, which is approx 5000 kitchens per year or a turnover of up to 5m+ per year. GIve or take that is 1% of Howdens. 2:20 in the vid. F

SO that looks to be complication-free using this with gas, then? PRovided the shower is thermostatic. F

That is inexpensive enough that I might try one in a house that is going to struggle on its EPC in a few years. Can anyone advise on what features are required in the gas or electric shower if any, and the practical difference for the user when controlling the shower? Does it make the water warmer at a lower setting on the dial compared to a system without a HR device installed? SO that the experience is the same but the shower is just turned down a little lower on the dial ? Presumably on a thermostatic controller the shower just modulates down the input power required. Assuming showers costing 28p each and a 25% energy saving the simple payback period is about 2000 showers on a cost of £140, or 3000 showers if you pay £70 to fit it. From Romania and 40ukp charge. Hmmm. Thanks for any comments. Ferdinand

I will get a quote from there next time. British, Northern, and decent quality / customer service. What is not to like? Though iirc Howdens are based in Yorkshire, so also qualify.

Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna Tumbaletaurëa Lómëanor. Quite.

Never heard any complaining...

Given that it the Indy, I predict that the Maths is probably wrong.

My first reaction to "fill a 2 fence panel" gap was "2 new fence panels, perhaps screwed to a knocker post" but I am guessing that is not what you want. I think the challenge is "what will establish and thrive in year 1" *and* grow thickly enough to be a visual block, and TBH I do not know anything that will unless it is a reasonably big plant in a big pot, and you plan to discard or transplant within a year or two, or a climber in a big pot that will go up a framework (eg trellis or even chainlink). The 2 possible ideas I have are to use in a coppice form. I have Common Bhuddlea, which goes 2m high in a year, or Eucalyptus, which can be grown as a coppice. The latter may need more time to start. I have a screening bamboo (Gigantica, I think) for next door's bathroom window, which should get to 5+ metres, but after 4 years reaches 3m+ in the summer then goes back smaller in the winter (currently at about 2.5m) whilst going a bit higher each year and thickening. Our soil is not rich, but it is in a former asparagus raised bed with lots of compost from the start so should be well fed. The other thought I have is to use a fabric backdrop and plants in front. I saw very convincing use of astroturf over site fencing around building compounds in Istanbul. Made it all look much greener. The other Other thought is to find someone with a big bush they need to move and have that with much labour. "Wants" on freecycle? Local gardening club? Ferdinand

1 My grandparents used to have Myrtle in a hedge right on the beach road in Prestatyn, which worked. The soil was almost sand. 2 Might Aucuba be better than Laurel? 3 For salt tolerance I would suggest a small tree such as Tamarisk, or Holm (Evergreen) Oak. The latter can be cut into a good hedge. Or various sorts of evergreen (eg Juniper). Tamarisk can be a bit of a bully. Ferdinand

@Barney12 I wonder about the less expensive Everbuild product in their ASBO range eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-Anti-Graffiti-Coating-Protect-Concrete/dp/B01N902A0J/ I think that is a sacrificial one that you repaint with the same stuff after spraying off the graffiti. My wall has only had 2 lots of graffiti that I can remember,and the current one has been there a year or so with no further additions, so I perhaps do not need a top top top product. The other question is how breathable are these ... this is a house wall, though I will be improving ventilation there this summer anyway. Ferdinand

Ladders More ladders

I have a wall facing a public right of way that needs protecting from the graffiti which appears very occasionally. Here is an old piccy from Google Streetview, though the wall is currently painted with white masonry paint. I need something that will let be: 1 - Go over masonry paint after anything loose has been removed via wire brush. 2 - Is coloured to cover a bit of graffiti that has recently appeared. I think I am looking for white, brick red, or brown. 3 - Allows future graffiti to be washed off with a bucket and cloth or power washer. I may therefore need a 2 part system. 4 - Does not come off on people's clothes. The area I have to cover is about 50sqm. Any thoughts will be most welcome. Ferdinand

Lordy. So the ones I bought first at Wickes yesterday are S1P (composite toecap plus reinforced midsole). Do I need to take them back? Cheers. F

This is a fascinating project, @Juj. I may be guilty of looking too hard for problems in this post. I've been thinking about this a little, and I think you are perhaps too focused at this stage on what we in IT call implementation-technology (building materials, heating systems etc), and that it may be beneficial to step back and explore the context and purpose a bit more. Implementation is about how you create something, and is only meaningful once you have decided why you want to create it, and what you want to create. Apols if you have done this sufficiently, but let me ask some questions to test that. I can think of at least 4 areas deserving thought - What are you building and why, Planning, Legal / Financial / Tax Setup, and How you plan to live in it. I hope I can express this clearly enough. Is this 3 dwellings, or 1 large dwelling you intend to live in as 3 socially conjoined households? Looking at the plans (no internal link between you and your brother's sections), it looks like a pair of posh semis, one of which has a detached parent-annexe, in a joint garden, behind a single wall, with a shared entrance. That is possibly neither one thing nor t'other. Which could make it complicated when trying to make it fit into Planning and Legal systems. Examples of possible complications - How will this be assessed by planning when you apply? How will it be assessed for Council Tax? What happens if one family breaks up and one of the former Mrs @Juj's suddenly becomes entitled to half the assets of her marriage, which include half of one-third of your joint forever-house? Could you potentially trigger HMO regulations? As presented, I think it is a "compound" not a dwelling, and that is something which likely cuts across the grain of UK Planning and other Law, which is oriented around the concept of the nuclear family. The consequence of that is that you may hit obstacles at every point. Compounds are more characteristic in general of Africa, Asia or Latin America afaik. The only areas where I am aware of separate-but-joint family dwellings together in the UK are: - localised family businesses such as farms and possibly Estates - within immigrant communities where extended families are the norm (*) - in legally separate but socially associated dwellings (eg 3 houses next to each other) - in single dwellings with related families (nuclear family Brits reverting to earlier social forms), - in communities with somewhat different institutional or planning arrangements (eg traveller communities or intentional communities such as the Bruderhof). - perhaps in some areas outside England / Wales where there are fewer restrictions on some forms of planning (crofting or - in Eire - small townships) There may be lessons to learn from all of these, especially as to how and what should be set up legally, and what socially, and how to mix the two. And you need to think about social interactions ... eg there need to be indoor and outdoor places for privacy and interaction for each person, each family, and all the extended family together. I am sure it can be done, and be done successfully, but you need a planning, legal, financial, and social routemap, and the flexibility for whatever you build to fit in, and be adjusted, for whatever might happen in the future. Specific comments - I would probably build it such that it can be split into 2, if not 3, separate dwellings, fairly painlessly. - My gut feel is that building your 2 zones with a gap to be filled in with a link later (either officially or JFDI behind a visual block) that can be removed to make 2 detached houses may be a good and tax-efficient way, either by sale of plot or by sale of finished house. If you go for a single dwelling then you need to think carefully about ownership setup and implications. - If you do not have residential PP for the front-annexe already, it may be tricky to get due to closeness to road and relation to the building line. Perhaps lessons to be learnt from city infills - visual intrusion may be a key consideration (grow a big hedge?). - Building of the Year was a multi-related-family thing on an Estate last year, but they seemed to be as rich as Croesus. - I hope the whole thing so far is one PP, or if not that you can prove that development of your extra foundations started within 3 years. - I would go for a sweep driveway, or careful layout, to facilitate a later split. - I think that pre-Planning advice from the LPA would be advantageous here, and perhaps relevant consultation with experts and planning consultants. @Calvinmiddle's Planning Saga may have relevant insights on how to navigate the system - see his blog. @Construction Channel's experience with Planning may be pertinent. I think he is the only Buildhubber doing his development on his family's own property (redeveloping a barn on a farm). Lots of similar on Grand Designs over the years. - Strongly recommend a book called "A Pattern Language", which has much insight about the social functioning of buildings, and a set of concepts for design / test. In addition there are many international insights and examples. Website: https://www.patternlanguage.com/ Ferdinand