Ferdinand

One of those silcone based lubricants from Halfords which I used to instantly repair my sticky seat belts when the garage wanted to charge me £250 for a new one to get me through the MOT? Or moving it up and down 100 times might help a little. Probably need to take care to keep off the steps themselves :-).

# Define pedestals? Do you mean "patio feet" or something else? I previously posted here and mentioned it when we were talking about ramps. I have my patio on these, and I love 'em. There is a cost vs tile size tradeoff, and if you are using porcelain tiles you will need to know about the centre bearing weight or have a substrate. Will it crack when your large friend trips over and lands bottom-first? Or if a table falls over or someone drops a breezeblock? They are 2-5 ukp each, depending if you want something like a pad or something that goes up and down 200mm. It needs a firm base - I already had a slab that was too low. My patio is just loose supported Council slabs which now have moss in all the gaps, and should Roland or Reynard take up residence I can just lift them with a bar and clean house with a jetwasher. Ferdinand

Quite like the idea of banisters as a giant glockenspiel or tubular bells. Will now leave this alone until And unless I decide to build one. Like the idea of a tunable one playing God Save the Queen:-), then the Marseillese the next week.

Practically, I would be thinking about a B-list movie: Vermin in the Void (and how to get them out again if the worst happens). I think I would look at pavers on edge to cover the gap ... they could be decorative, and perhaps a path of the same pavers round it. If it were me the paver path or edging would be laid loose on a French drain or gravel filled trench, where I could stick services running round the house or garden in future if needed, or dig out in a restorable fashion for future work. If I had some left I might even stick a duct and drawstring in it, rather than skip it. Path for future watering system or lecky? Or the path could be laid as an edging at or just below turf level. Could also be done with a narrower path. F

I need a reasonable basic loft ladder for a small space - it lands inside a 3'x4' closet from an 8' ceiling with the hatch at one side.. The plan is to create a built in storage box at one side strong enough to stand on where the ladder will land between a pair of battens to keep it steady. Does anyone have any knowledge of problems with either of these? They are not my favourites as one has to be careful with fingers but I can think of no easy alternatives. B&Q: http://www.diy.com/departments/3-section-12-tread-sliding-triple-extension-loft-ladder/1495363_BQ.prd or Screwfix: http://www.screwfix.com/p/37090-loft-ladder-aluminium-3-section-12-tread/7431p Both are 3 section sliding aluminium for use in a tight space, probably with the existing "push up and sideways" hatch. I do not have space for a wooden folding ladder. Cheers Ferdinand

Interestingly different to me. The killer application for mine is for plates. It looks as though the Neff B44S32N5GB (think that is the one I bought) Hide 'n' Slides which have been highly reduced for a couple of months have now gone back up in price. http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/ovens/neff-b44s32n5gb-slide-hide-electric-oven-stainless-steel-10143345-pdt.html When I have had waist level ovens I have used the drop down door for serving. Ferdinand

You can get closer to lift heavy things like kangaroos, and it doesn't stick out in more compact kitchens to impede circulation of people. And people seem to think they are posh. Ferdinand

There are Neff slide and hide ones around for around £360 but they are quite small. It sounds as if you need to cook a kangaroo fillet while it is still on the kangaroo, so such may not meet the spec ! How big is a full size fan oven? The ovens in our Rangemaster Kitchener 90 are 69 and 66 litres.

Quarter tones could work in an Indian Restaurant. Hmm. Tune by altering the depth of the tread? Or making them as a metal box? Or tune by using metal stair rods which can be tensioned or adjusted? Or banisters made out of pipes, which would need to be varied by diameter not length. F

Are your cameras wireless? Can you reposition? Could you use a non-surface damaging mount? I think the legal principle is that looking or recording outside your property can not be more than incidental, which would put the onus firmly on you. Can you turn it off in a timer for the couple of evening hours, or put a temporary curtain over the door if you only want the internal view? One tactful way to mention that t might be to spend an evening in the garden working then comment to the neighbour that you saw the display on that occasion, and that therefore the public in the road can too. Still perhaps jarring but less worrying than a recording device. F

Given my 7k-10k range then, that's within about 5-7%. That'll do for a guess .

The glass and rails seem to be careful use of a standard system. Shall I take a Ferdi Flyer :-) and pin a tail on the donkey? 1-1.5k for the 13 treads which will be a standard element or process. 1-1.5k for the metalwork which may be a standard process. 1.5k for approx 10m of glass and balustrade at 150 per metre. .5k to get it here. .75k for 2 men one day to install and travel etc. .5k for the project for bits and pieces. 1k profit element for different people. 1.5k give or take for VAT. = 7-10k plus or minus a tolerance, and ignoring currency fluctuations. To front up, 8.5k. Suspect NSS has sweated the costs. IT would be tempting to find out if they had a standard model, and size my hall and landing to match. Or I could be talking out of my bottom, having not bought any similar staircase. The only element I may know are glass balustrades.

My next one will either be another Keter, or an ex-demo from a Shed Manufacturer.

That is cheating.

From me on the other thread: So how would you do it? I am thinking metal or thinnish wooden treads quite isolated from each other, and tuned to resonate at each frequency in the musical scale.

I still don't see what a straight one would not do :-), unless it is an anti-torque / rigidity thing unique to open well type staircases ! Perhaps I am as thick as the two short planks it is supporting. From my youth I recall a house in St Ives (the flat one near Cambridge with the new Guided Busway, and cheapskate cycletrack alongside that has parts below winter floods - b*st*rds) with an open well open tread staircase built on a spiral of metal, and how it used to go bung-bung-bung like a single string base guitar as the 10 year old Ferdinand bounced up or down each step. Cool. Do you suppose a staircase can be tuned to play Doh-Re-Mi as you climb it? How would you build it - an ever decreasing spiral?

I still do not see why it needed that bent piece of steel - one support for 2 treads? What is wrong with one straight support per tread? F

@Shah If you have a 2k budget for a Rangemaster 90cm range cooker you are sitting pretty ... in Currys the most expensive (a 5 zone induction thing in a pretty colour) is only £2300, and it is childsplay to get another 20% or more off that in cash or kind if you are careful, which would bring your pots and pans and buttons and bows, and possibly a small dog to turn the spit, in at under the 2k, or let you get a nice coffee machine as well or a weekend away. At Currys you just wait for a 10% sale or voucher code, then put it through a Benefit Programme for another 8-10%, and buy the Benefit Programme cashcard with a Reward Debit Card for the last 1%. If you do not have an Employee Benefit Programme then enroll in Westfield Health cash grant programme (optical and dental grants alone cover the entire premium) which has a Reward Programme attached (Westfield Rewards) and get 8% off when you top up the Currys giftcard. The same programme gives you an extra 10% off at Wickes on everything - saves me £4-500 a year or so extra. Or as you say use TCB or Quidco for 3% rather than 8-10%. Compare John Lewis prices - but I do not know how to save another 20% easily there. You may get lucky and do better. I currently have a new Rangemaster Professional+ Dual Fuel 110cm Range Cooker in storage waiting for a project. That is a £1600-1700 range which came up for £800+VAT new as I happened to be in the right place at the right time for once. We find that our Rangemaster tall side oven heats up *very* quickly. Ferdinand

Picture of the finished shed. That front is 8'6" wide. it is not leaning; I was rushing in the rain.

I've never really looked into the difficulties of building in a National Park, but I think there may be some commonalities with building in nearly-central London - there can be little or no notice from outside and you need oodles of either money or time, but it can be done. There are certain architectural practices that specialise in particular National Parks. If I put my mind to it, I could perhaps come up with a couple of long-established ones in the Peak District. F

Why do you need the offset crosspiece? Am I missing something geometrical? (I hope it is for a slide)

You tend to get more cash off through employee benefits programmes (often 10% vs 3% for Quidco etc, but not John Lewis), though you should be able to nobble John Lewis via price match, which may help a little. Not an inexpensive supplier, though, generally - so if you have pre-decided to go there you may well pay extra for the privilege. What you pay depends how hard you work at it. F

Agree on the price reductions. If you have a couple of models / makers in your price bracket and the one above, variations on prices should be around +/- 30% if you look around and can wait a couple of months. Free delivery should be a lollipop that is always available, especially if you ask just before signing the order. If you are going for an Induction Hob then ebay is still swimming in £120 (allegedly) sets of Neff Induction pans which were being given away with Neff hobs until recently for about £40. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=neff&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xneff+induction+pans.TRS0&_nkw=neff+induction+pans&_sacat=0 But you will shaft yourself if you then negotiate a free set with your new Range Cooker :-) . Ask for something else instead. Free fitting may also be an offer, but that is more difficult if you are buying early for a discount to save a few hundred and storing it for a few months. To my eye keeping it for 6-12 months is worth it if you are saving say 35-40%, as 25-30% off should always be available. Ferdinand

I would prioritise how it cooks over how it looks ! My subjective impression is that Range Cookers have better ovens than standalones or built-ins, and the hobs are more equal. We currently have a fairly basic Range Master Kitchener 90 range cooker which cost about the same as a decent hob + a decent pair of ovens (£999). At a previous farm-style listed house we had an umpteen oven hybrid Aga, which was eyewateringly expensive but we also needed the storage for heating and the house deserved it. Ferdinand

Snip. 8>< Decided to leave the hobbyhorse in the stable.