Ferdinand

Here: https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/Information-4261.htm Not sure what happens if you have used the Generator though. May be OK if minimal testing, as LiDL will probably just take it back and the supplier will take responsibility. When I bought Aldi cycling kit, I had no idea how I related to the stick-insect chic which prevails, so I bought one of everything in all the sizes over M to try. Turns out that little me is a cycling XXL. Aldi were fine. F

Do Lidl give you a 28 day no quibble return policy, like Aldi?

Are you buying one or four? Is a trad metal farm gate with a hinge side opener kit a possibility? I say because a gate plus two metal posts should cost not more than perhaps £150 approx. That sounds like your gate selection anyway ... I think. Not sure on the costs of hinge kits. I have one of those farm gates and the posts have survived everything up to gravel lorries hitting them gently. In since 1993. Even @Onoff's kits are £500 each for the midrange one and I think you need extra gubbins on top. Can you home brew the gate itself from girders? Serious thought if it needs to be seriously robust. Do you have a duty cycle requirement and backup plan? The gate linked has a reserve kit which gives 10 openings ... sounds a small number for a hurting plot and may require reserve mobile batteries or a failsafe open setting, or manual option. Ferdinand

What do we pay for these, by which I mean 50mm thick by 600mm by 600mm or 900mm? I find that I can get recycled ones locally for free sometimes in small quantities, but because they weigh from 45-70kg each it is not worth going more than a very short distance. Off Ebay recycled ones are about £2.50 to £4.00 each to collect, or £5.00-£6.00 delivered. I was looking for about 30 of each size today, and the best price I was able to get for new ones delivered was: Marshalls concrete flag 900x600x50mm: 6:20 inc VAT. Marshalls concrete flag 600x600x50mm: 5:00 inc VAT. Is that a good price? I feel I want to be at 5.00 and 4.00 respectively. Cheers Ferdinand

Couple more places with ideas or adaptable layouts: http://vitainterface.com/30-small-bathroom-floor-plans-ideas/6-option-dimension-small-bathroom-floor-plans-layout-great-for-effective-space/ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/334814553525418097/ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/453385887471535147/

It can go wherever you need it to go Steep yourself in some bathroom design sites.

Here is one idea for something more towards the triangular - the corner could be chopped off more eg if you used a corner whb and a corner wc. I could see this gong down to say 1.7x1.7m. That is a big shower. I do not see the this shower meeting the "big enough for 3 people" test, however. Revolves around a quadrant shower. It comes beyond the french window line, but leaves a useful space in front If you google on things like "small ensuite designs" there are oodles of everything.

How thick is that stud dividing wall? Remember the conversation about walk-in-wardrobes some time ago, when we talked about how thin a stud wall can be made. Around 65mm should be possible. That will give a little extra. http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/14367-building-a-thin-partition-wall-how-thin-can-i-go/ Another possibility is a triangular ensuite across the corner. Or to treat it like a kitchenette and have wardrobe type doors which are open to the bedroom when in use - so you borrow the floor space from the bedroom. The problem there is how to fit in the depth of a shower cubicle. Also your "step" could be a sweeping curve. Didn't someone here do one? Or you *could* turn it into his n hers posh WHBs on the bedroom side of the bathroom wall, and create a direct door into the bathroom for loo and shower. Ferdinand

Cannot get my head around the ensuite yet - what are the internal dimensions please (1060 x 2090 ish?), but you do *not* imo want a loo cistern used by other people on the back of your bedroom wall. Move the bath by 90 degrees and put it on the outside wall? Backing onto the ensuite may be OK. Flushing noises at 3am or on a lazy Saturday morning while having B-in-B if people are visiting or if you have kids? For a small ensuire, if I have the dimensions right, that does not seem really tight. I thought anything from about 1x1.5m was doable. It looks like a feature bedroom so have you considered eg a freestanding roll top bath facing the windows?

@Crofter I have been playing with another way for self-employed people to save another 10% at Wickes. Haven't written it up for the savings thread yet, so I will do it here first. We know about Employee Benefit Programmes which give 10% off, but I have discovered that my Health Cash Plan, Westfield, have their own Westfield Rewards programme which also gives 10% off. A Health Cash Plan is one where you pay a regular (say "£25 a month) subscription, and receive cash grants for glasses, or the dentist, or the chiropodist, or the chiropracter, or a small amount (say £20) for each day as an in patient - all depending on your level of membership. These are mainly relics from before the NHS when they were used as a form of social insurance. However, usually just a couple of grants - say teeth and eyes - will add up to 100% of the subscription if you use them every year. Westfield Rewards have a website here, and it also gives 10% off at B&Q and loads of other retailers. Wickes discounts are only in store via a reloadable (online) gift card. I am sure that there are other "non-employee" benefits out there; I have just not found any, Wickes at present also have a JUNE2017 discount code which saves 10% online. Here is the Bamboo Flooring closest to Jeremy's:14mm stranded bamboo woven, but 96mm wide boards. http://www.wickes.co.uk/Westco-Stranded-Bamboo-Solid-Wood-Flooring/p/215564 Cost is 29.99 per sqm. The best I can do with that is £23.99 per sqm via - 10% Trade Discount plus 10% via the Westfield Rewards programme. That is 19% when stacked plus I get 1% more by topping up the gift card using a debit card that gives me a reward. So 20% off. or slightly cheaper at around £23.70 per sqm via - 10% off using JUNE2017 voucher code stacked with a 10% Trade Discount when purchasing online via the App (=19% assuming it stacks). Then another 1-2% by using a cashback or reward Amex Card to order. So 21% off. The staff discount for TP Employees at Wickes is 20%, so I do not think we will be able to do much better unless sales or 3 for 2s etc kick in. The price I am offered at TP (cash account) for the 15mm thick version is coming in at about £22.70 per sqm inc VAT with whatever my account is, minus perhaps 1% more for my reward Credit / Amex card = £22.40 or so per sqm. If that is your price, it is OK imo if you want the bamboo. Ferdinand

Ours - OK but not passive and 2G - has been tricky to cool down overnight. Yesterday the house was at 26C for the afternoon (I dislike above 23C and ideally to be at 20C), and I couldn't get it below 24.5C overnight with windows open. At present the air is still and balmy. Last week it was coping as it was windier. As we are gas / ufh and no ASHP/MVHR I am stuck as to what to do. One thing I did notice was that out landing rooflights. when exposed to the morning sun, were like radiators. Perhaps need to look into external roof films, and evaluate just how robust they are. And we have an unprotected Southern Facade, so I may need to look at a veranda. Ferdinand

I think you have achieved something that doesn't look like a "max space in a box" self-build, which is excellent. F

i have usually used Leyland Trade, which has been satisfactory - from a local Johnstones Centre where they were willing to give an account from cold despite a smallish purchase (-15% iirc). But I think there were other places more compettive, but they were good in matching colours. I think the white was available at a lower price elsewhere. One question - if the current paint is too easily ruboffable, will that have much impact on the top coat, or should I be OK? I will have to try the Valspar one. Cheers Ferdinand

And a permanently on fridge light.

That £108 fails the Occam test. That is a lot of beer, at which point beer goggles will make the fridge irrelevant. Why a window? Just use a security cam and a display on the outside.

Oops. YTR. We need an acronym dictionary. For me iirc is when I have not absolutely bottomed something I am asserting but it is more than opinion. In this case I could not immediately come up with a list of his projects for the NHS but had found newspaper bios referencing the activity. F

I would pay at least some attention to Hammond until proven ill-informed, as he spent part of his career some years ago developing Iirc Doctors' Surgeries for the NHS. So he has some hinterland and contacts to find out, though one jump away. Otoh he does sometimes use slightly apocalyptic language. Ferdinand

Don't think I can add much more.

You can do the same for any site, and hopefully the technique transfers and there are a small enough list of urls of each type to spelunk through.

Can we introduce a Buy Ferdinand a Beer system? I was looking for something for my sig . And that is nicely blog old-school. For your storage you could at its simplest just put a shed inside one bay. Or get one if these garden buildings made to size to be a home office too if needed for 2-3k, and put that inside a bay. @recoveringacademic Tx.

If you go into the "summary" option, and list the urls, you can then filter by type. eg list of urls https://web.archive.org/web/*/kctmo.org.uk/* That would let you zero in on eg all the newsletters. filter by *.pdf Hope that helps for your searching rather than repeating things you know and are doing. Best of luck anyway. Ferdinand

Are you using the Wayback Machine? Spidering kctmo since 2002, and presumably most of the others. https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.kctmo.org.uk

Needs a deep pond next to it and a hose on the roof to make a water slide.

Probably. It has been like that for 20 years. I need Jack with a pail of water to fall down and break his crown and Sue the Council.

@Simon, @recoveringacademic is the official in-house Herpetologist (*), or Batrachologist if we are being pedantic. Ferdinand * For the avoidance of doubt, that is not a reference (as far as I know) to herpes.