Ferdinand

Knock a small piece of the existing out and take that with you. Or take a printout of a photo with you, and see if the BM chappie recognises it. Check the printout against the fireplace itself in daylight. Colour matching printing is a black art. Make the BM look at the printout in daylight. Or repoint the whole fireplace. Or take it out completely ;-) . Ferdinand

Do a Tom Sawyer. "Yes I have got one and it is so precious it is in the safe, so unfortunately you can't see it." Then charge a pint per view. Paid beforehand.

@MikeGrahamT21 I think that is the difficult solution. Get the neighbour to turn the sensor down, or repoint it lower. They should comply (send @Onoff in in a Borg costume if necessary), since technically it could a nuisance and reported to the Council. I just redirected one at the Little Brown Bungalow that was being triggered by cars driving past. Or go downstairs naked at 2am, then complain about the Voyeurs Next Door . F

Still in print, I think. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

@Hecateh I put the postcode into Google. The thing about preserving the *opportunity* for further access to potential plots is to keep options open, which is often easy, and that it actually uses far less space than most people imagine - I have a modern (less than 20 yeas old) development nearby where the access cul de sac is less than 5m wide for about 5 houses. If allowed, I think the minimum width for emergency services access is around 3.5m at a narrow point for up to 5 houses (varies by County Authority - it is I think a building regs matter not planning). Looking briefly at your PP before I forget where it is I think you have room for such an access through the new front parking space, but I would take perhaps 1-1.2m extra off the back garden of the existing house in that corridor when you sell it compared to the plans just to be sure. Boundaries are not a Material Planning Consideration, so the Planning Authority are very unlikely to do a thing about it and once in place it will not be expedient to do so. You will lose nothing, and will have kept the option open for the future. IMO in 15 or 25 years that site (ie next doors' gardens) will be crying out for a small retirement development of 3 or 4 bungalows walkable to town. Personally I think that - given the lack of housing land and ageing population we have - access to future potential plots inside community boundaries should be a material planning consideration, but currently it is not the case. Ferdinand

I have found the books illuminating, having inherited them from my dad who was leant them by a lady who had spent her life doing interesting things in Africa which included building her own huts, but died before her zero-cost windmill conversion project came off. This is quite a good, but slightly lengthy, summary, from the Wiki piece. The best observation is that the 'patterns' are experience-based hypotheses - good servant, poor master, definitely not a pattern-book in the Georgian/Victorian sense, but can help your designs be more 'human'. The book uses words to describe patterns, supported by drawings, photographs and charts. It describes exact methods for constructing practical, safe, and attractive designs at every scale, from entire regions, through cities, neighborhoods, gardens, buildings, rooms, built-in furniture, and fixtures down to the level of doorknobs. The patterns are regarded by the authors not as infallible, but as hypotheses: Some patterns focus on materials, noting that some ancient systems, such as concrete, when adapted by modern technology, may become one of the best future materials: Other patterns focus on life experiences such as the Street Cafe (Pattern 88): When these patterns are taken together, the authors say, they begin to form a kind of language, each pattern forming a word or thought of a true language rather than being a prescriptive way to design or solve a problem." F

Will remember that for when I need some. I am sure there is a "Robin Hood in the Fens" legend . Or perhaps not.

I would think that choosing planks of something which lasts 60 years as shingles or cladding would be in the ballpark. Or what about whatever it is that wooden windowsills are made from? You may need your deal making skills, however, to make it affordable !

Is there not a local supplier who will sell you just one piece as a test? Freefoam are everywhere. If necessary cut it up in the car park?

What is the look of your finished building? Can you use a resinous hardwood to make the reveals plus span the cavity, and leave them little treated or untreated? I am not able to recommend a particular wood, though. I am myself reflecting on what Timbers could support a canopy untreated. I even own a jousts-through-wall cantilevered canopy that has been there since 1970 and I do not know the timber type. Alternatively can can you use one of the no maintenance cladding products such as Cedral or Thermowood? Sorry .. missed the white plastic windows. Will leave post here. Ferdinand

Have you bought your wooden floor yet? Sometimes they will throw underlay in free to clinch the deal or at their input price. F

@Hecateh Consider the opportunity to make sure your design allows room for a suitable access cul de sac that will not disturb the new or old bungalow, so that you can give access to the next 2 or 3 gardens at some point in the future. ANd the ones that face you back to back. An access route for 3 similar bungalows may be worth nearly as much as your whole plot with pp. It needs to be able to cater for access by fire engines and potentially dust carts etc. That town centre location looks to me to have potential for backlands development at some stage.

16x16mm hardwood quadrant 60p / metre. My local timber merchant Ron Currys have a decent amount (it says 30+ bundles) of this they are selling off at £15 for a bundle of 10 x 2.4m lengths ie 24m. https://roncurrie.co.uk/timber/planed-decorative/decorative-mouldings/dark-hardwood-16mm-quadrant-mould-decorative-trim-moulding-2.4m-bead-wood-timber I had one bundle and this is a piccy. They say it is probably stained meranti wood. Probably of interest to people near Notts / Derbys or driving up the M1 or A38 past M1 J28, as it will be expensive to courier. .

Of course she'll be interested! Mine is - she says "That's interesting, dear" in exactly the same tone used to discuss earwigs and spiders with the very young Ferdinand.

Worth a note that you can usually import and export blog posts between platforms en masse, but there may be a few nips and tucks needed. So eg you could start on say Wordpress.com and move self-hosted. But you are obviously well-organised so may want to plan in advance.

For this purpose I would suggest free Wordpress i.e. Wordpress.com. Second best would be Blogger. I think the differing policies on allowing ads - WP No Blogger Yes - do not matter here since you will make about thruppenceer year. I would stick with a free one for this project because it will stay up in the future as a record for you and your family without a continuing need to pay some money every year. If you were to want eg redoctobersdacha.com as a domain while you are actually building then you can have that while still using the free Wordpress, and you would pay £3 per month, and you would get free support and Wordpress advertising removed. Then after the domain falls away you would I think still keep the free Wordpress site address. https://wordpress.com/pricing/ Construction blogs are technically simple, so you do not need the extra facilities of standalone Wordpress imo. When you post an article get into the habit of posting to an update thread on Bh to let us know. Ferdinand

Roughly how much of the Screwfix adhesive (decided to change rather than risk other for the sake if a few ££) would you estimate I should get in @JSHarris. I have about 70m of 94mm skirtinG to fit. Cheers F

I suppose the cat was a living demonstration of the principle of staying active.

There are a couple of excellent blog posts about this. The one I remember was @Stones, which includes some cost information.

I need to choose threshold strips in doorways for transitions between laminate to carpet, and laminate to vinyl. The laminate is 10mm - 2mm underlay plus 8mm tile. The vinyl will probably be 4mm, and the carpet 7-10mm including underlay. I am looking at these from Tile RIte, respectively, rather than simple Z-strips, to give me some adjustment: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017DLKJ2M/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017DLKNIC/ For this application I am not keen on wooden strips - I have managed to break two at home by tripping over them and this will be in a tenanted property. I do not think we have covered topic this so far. Any comments would be welcome. Ferdinand

@HerbJ @JSHarris @Onoff @vivienz @mikalscad The ones we have talked to all attach to the stairs, too. So thanks for all the comments - if mum needs one it will be a stairlift for simplicity. We would have one high enough up the range to not look institutional and have extra convenience as needed. We would consider a leased stairlift. However, the Doctor has now advised her not to have one, as it risks increasing deterioration as going up the stairs is good for you while you can. So all the useful thoughts have been read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested for the future. Thanks all. The stairs are now slightly easier since the cat has just popped his clogs (aged 18 and 3/4), so the anti-cat-upstairs stair gate has been removed. Cheers Ferdinand

Yep. That is the plan - this is adhesive with which the MDF skirting boards will be attached, and we have decorators caulk separately. The whole house has been skimmed so fit should be fairly good. Does anyone have any knowledge of serious issues with this adhesive as an adhesive? The skirting is pre-primed MDF; the wall is spray painted plaster (aqueous based paint). Cheers Ferdinand

Should be OK on that ... has been skimmed. But I have some caulk already.

There can be value in preparing a concise brief for the valuer (depending on how personal the service is), highlighting what you have done and perhaps a couple of local comparables closer to your type of changes than more obvious local comparables. This thread - though aimed at LLs - may have some relevant tips. https://www.property118.com/low-re-valuation-refurb-project/ Also, it is a black art and +/-10% is probably not unusual. Extracted from the thread above (TMW = The Mortgage Works):

I am trying this Instant Nails adhesive from Toolstation at ..er .. £1 a tube, which seems ridiculously cheap. https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Adhesives+%26+Sealants/d180/Grab+Adhesive/sd3199/Instant+Nails+Solvent+Free+Grab+Adhesive+310ml/p51064 A couple of the reviews recommend it for skirting, and it generaly reviews well at 4* or 5*.