Ferdinand

Just bought some of this. Cheers @PeterW. Ferdinand

Edited.

You could use Vinyl tiles, or Flotex tiles. Both are available in a large range of patterns and suitable for all rooms, and will help with a warm floor feeling. Flotex is also perhaps better for kids to play on. And they clean under the tap. F

On occasion I have gone into Screwfix and asked to look at about 8-10 similar items before buying one sort. You could do that. They have always been amenable. The only one which ever raised eyebrows was when I looked at about 6 different sorts of security safe, and they were still tolerant despite the weight.

Just ordered one :-). I find fingerprints on the ally parts to be a bigger issue for me. At home we have not cleaned our smoked glass hood parts in about in 4 years. It hurts if you bang your head on the corner of it, mind. Tends to be a man problem due to height.

Are there serviced plots available more widely now?

I do not think this is a Canadian thing. Surely it is just a sensible thing? It is not just shaving and cosmetics and toothbrushes, it is towels and heaven knows what else, including all the stuff that a lot of us put in the modified roof voids of our top half-storey now. Sufficient storage and then double it. I blame estate agents for wanting to make the main bit of rooms bigger. Kitchen units are often better quality than bathroom ones, anyway, and are available in the next bay along in the shop, or for only a few 10s of ukp. And the kitchen wall ones are available at half the depth. What about a larder unit the size of an old airing cupboard? Admittedly I have never lived in a genuinely developer built house, but even those can fit a vanity unit round the whb. Even say a 1940s or 1950s house would have some sort of storage related to the b/room - say 1.2m x 600mm x floor to ceiling. Some of that for us is now in utility rooms with the washers, and bathrooms have become vanity grooming spaces. This was our previous bathroom which was fitted with kitchen units circa 198x. You can just see the corner of the bath, and if you turn around there was a slightly expansive experimental shower cum steam room which has space for two plastic garden chairs inside it, and room to shower at the other side. Then there is the full height double larder cupboard with another cupboard above it, with the washing machine and the dryer and the hot water tank. Admittedly a generous 15x15ft-sh. But it was cold in winter. Now I want a look at some Lutyens or C R Mackintosh or Hampstead Garden Suburb or London County bathrooms to see how they did it. F

Absolutely - horses for courses ! The least expensive coordinated OK but not brilliant collections of all 5 I have seen are probably Ikea Lagan, but that would not be cool these days depending on your customers. They used to have noticeably good warranties, but that has I think gone. II think I will be going with a ceramic with control by knobs, just in case of poor eyesight etc. My original kitchen budget was a hands-wavy £1500-£2000 plus appliances, but I will be above that as I am aiming for a slightly higher level rental with oak-veneer doors etc. For me the price difference is small enough that it is worth it for the oven - plus I have a stash of Currys gift cards to use. F

Following on, NEFF Induction hobs. This is the best I have spotted, but there seem to be numbers of offers around from some independents. And the hob as something like this NEFF T40B31X2GB at £349 (Currys price for similar model : NEFF T40B30X2GB = £449 minus 10% voucher code) http://www.whitakers-appliances.co.uk/neff-t40b31x2gb-induction-hob/ which comes with a free set of 4 Neff Induction pans (rrp £120 but there seems to have been a general offer from Neff so ebay is heaving with new sets at £30 or so): http://www.whitakers-appliances.co.uk/free-pan-set-with-neff-induction-hobs/ That offer may work for @Crofter due to the price and the free pans, but I am advised to go for a Ceramic due to traditional conservatism of tenants in my area. I wrote about the price comparisons with Howdens and Appliances Direct here: Ferdinand

Talking about hobs a bit more specifically as I did the oven in the last post. Extractors are to be had from anywhere for the £60-£90 range, so not much potential for savings above about £15-20. So I am looking for a set of oven + hob for a faily well equipped rental (Oak Veneer doors etc), to go with a "Greenwich Shaker Oak" Howdens kitchen. I am looking at cheaper but not totally basic package 1 - Fan-assist oven / OK Ceramic hob, and more impressive package 2 - Ceramic/pyrolitic oven and induction hob. Background. * The Howdens own range Lamona were about £430 + VAT for package 1, and quite a bit more for package 2. * Howdens stock Bosch and Neff, but the prices were off the scale. Not their core business, nor a loss-leader; go elsewhere. * Appliances Direct own brand Electronique were £275 + VAT for package 1, and £510 + VAT for package 2 (pyrolitic + induction). I have never had trouble woth Appliances Direct own brand, but if I did their Midlands' Hub is only 10 minutes away. * Boschs and Neffs online can give package 1 for perhaps £550-£600 online, but looking at NEFFs the package 2 can be purchased for under £700, which for me makes it an attractive option with the slight risk that a tradition tenant might not like induction. Items: That leaves the oven as Curry's sale item "Slide and hide" Neff at £419 minus 10% voucher code. http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/ovens/neff-b44s32n5gb-slide-hide-electric-oven-stainless-steel-10143345-pdt.html And the hob as something like this NEFF T40B31X2GB at £349 (Currys price for similar model : NEFF T40B30X2GB = £449 minus 10% voucher code) http://www.whitakers-appliances.co.uk/neff-t40b31x2gb-induction-hob/ which comes with a free set of 4 Neff Induction pans (rrp £120 but there has been a general offer from Neff so ebay is heaving with new sets at £30 or so: http://www.whitakers-appliances.co.uk/free-pan-set-with-neff-induction-hobs/ That offer may work for @Crofter, but I am advised to go for a Ceramic due to traditional mores of tenants. Ferdinand

We have one which is annealed glass in roughly international orange. Expensive (several hundred) but pretty good. And gives a surprisingly effective counterpoint to a light birch kitchen. Just do not get the size slightly too large. This printed one looks to be fun at £135 for 600x600 in toughened glass: eg http://www.mysplashbacks.co.uk/Digitally-Printed-Splashbacks/473/Bald-Eagles They do custom with your own photos. Ferdinand

Has anybody said "cake or coke?" to Angus Deaton yet? If not, why not?

And probably not in a rental or a "rental by the week", if it lets @Crofter go fishing (or similar) for longer, and helps me keep tenants happy for a couple of years longer before the need for a new one.

Neff have the most bastard system of model names I have ever encountered. I run out of remembering ability at less than that when it has both 0s and Os in it. And when they have scores of models as well. Presumably the N0B in this one stands for upmarket people who want big ovens .

That is a good point. Have amended the post. John Lewis call it Ceramiclean. https://www.johnlewis.com/neff-b44s52n5gb-slide-and-hide-single-oven-stainless-steel/p2725525 Neff Details are here: http://www.neff-home.com/uk/productlist/ovens-compact-ovens/ovens/single-ovens/B44S52N5GB?breadcrumb=cookersandovensovenssingleovens#/Togglebox=591605008/Togglebox=1660410249/ Pyrolitic vs Catalytic is here: http://www.cookersandovens.co.uk/blog/catalytic-or-pyrolytic/ I think Pyrolitic is a more resolute clean than Catalytic at a higher temperature over a longer period. For me the slide and hide justifies the tiny extra price over a normal one (Curry's cheapest Neff built-in is £349), and the catalytic is a bonus. F

For a vanity unit we have Ikea and B&Q for the mirrored cabinet, which has been fine. If I was having flashing lights or other techno features, I might think twice about basic ones. Ferdinand

Pyrolitic clean single Neff oven with a "slide and hide" door for £377 - hardly more than basic Neff ovens. This may interest particularly @Crofter, who has been looking for appliances suitable for an upmarket holiday rental, just as I am for the Little Brown Bungalow. Currys have a pyrolitic clean single Neff oven with a "slide and hide" door (apparently that is posh) which is flagged as £260 off the £679.99 rrp, plus there is a further 10% discount code, and free delivery. Here is the oven: http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/ovens/neff-b44s32n5gb-slide-hide-electric-oven-stainless-steel-10143345-pdt.html The price is barely more than non-pyrolitic normal door NEFFs, and comes down to £377 with the discount code BUILT10A for another 10% off. I have ordered one. There are various ebay offers at arounf £400, and John Lewis at £449. If the Voucher expires you can get 5% Topcashback for the next few days, but they do not stack. I have something on hobs too, but that can wait. Ferdinand

Catalytic clean single Neff oven with a "slide and hide" door for £377 - hardly more than basic Neff ovens. This may interest particularly @Crofter, who has been looking for appliances suitable for an upmarket holiday rental, just as I am for the Little Brown Bungalow. Currys have a pyrolitic clean single Neff oven with a "slide and hide" door (apparently that is posh to people who are impressed by posh, and good for narrow kitchens and lifting heavy roasts, but bad for people who serve out on the door) which is flagged as £260 off the £679.99 rrp, plus there is a further 10% discount code, and free delivery. Here is the oven: http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/ovens/neff-b44s32n5gb-slide-hide-electric-oven-stainless-steel-10143345-pdt.html The price is barely more than non-pyrolitic normal door NEFFs, and comes down to £377 with the discount code BUILT10A for another 10% off. I have ordered one. There are various ebay offers at arounf £400, and John Lewis at £449. If the Voucher expires you can get 5% Topcashback for the next few days, but they do not stack. Ferdinand

There is a lot of conversation on the Green Building Forum about this - umpteen huge threads to read. Can be really excellent, but can be easy to get the detail wrong. There are products and kits around to do your own for say £30-50 per sq,, or services for £70-120 per sqm. It needs careful attention to all aspects - eg it locks in your double glazing so do that first - and you need to really sort your ventilation out. My local Council for example is now quite pernickety about EWI, because their own grant scheme has caused lots of condensation problems. Ferdinand

THis Mail article has a nice Time to London commuter map. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-4136778/The-cheapest-places-buy-house-commuting-London.html

I suspect that you may be spoilt for choice for possible areas within one hour of London .. which could be anything from nearly Coventry to Swindon to Aylesbury to High Wycombe to Folkestone to much of Suffolk and Essex, and some others in Kent on the train, plus lots of possibles on the Thameslink overground. I think I would suggest a focus on the type of area you want and lifestyle, which side of London, and what other criteria are must haves and would-be-nice's, and to understand the different stages of planning (or rebuild and replace) you can buy plots at and the money-risk trade offs. Then record that checklist. Then I might be inclined to look myself, but also to think about engaging a plot-finder general. As it is, you have a possible area of perhaps 12k square miles, which is a lot ! For places, the areas in the National Forest are becoming very attractive. Ferdinand

Dancing is said to do wonders for the balance. I have always been awful at balancing. I can last longer but with lots of adjustments.

You would the need a SiP manufacturing press costing some 10s of thousands (guess), and the place to put it, and the people to run it. SiPs work because they are bonded together under pressure. Steel, glass, and rubber is cheaper than a car, but then you have to pay for the factory :-). If you dig around on eg ebay there are some small businesses making SiPs, though. One I looked at was farm-based. Ferdinand

Unmaintainable roof valley and a cat slide roof :-).