Ferdinand

I would put the WHB on the LH wall, and fill the whole dogleg with a decent sized shower. It will be used for cleaning muddy / work clothes and potentially dogs so it wants space. You could also have one of those LCD windows which clear at the touch of a switch for the shoe/handbag exhibition unit so the proud owner can go "ta-da" to show up competitors :-). I think inward swinging doors in small rooms can inhibit wheelchair manoeuvrability. Possibly you can't consider the swept area to be part of your internal room area. I have seen this highlighted as designers adding unusable space to rooms to meet space standards. It was discussed as a loophole when they were defining the London Space Standards. Ferdinand

A bit of a spinoff from my other thread. I am replacing a back galley kitchen in a 1900 terrace house due to damp over a decade having stained the back of 2 base units. Date is approx 1960-1970 (based on different bricks from house and knowing when my local council did grants), so probably a mix of solid wall and cavity. The plan is to strip out the kitchen, and do some protection against what I expect to be rising damp ni the walls. I can see 2 options: 1 - Strip plaster at bottom and Inject DPC. 2 - Do not strip plaster, and attempt to seal with eg "Damp Seal". My inclination is to do both 1 and 2, but I will not have the option of leaving the walls exposed inside for more than 24 hours to dry out as it has tenants in situ. I get a clear week to work but more will be awkward. Potential problems: 1 - One wall is external, one is party. Are there difficulties injectnig a DPC into a party wall? Do I need to do a PWA notice etc? 2 - I would like to insulate the external wall as much as is practical, but what is the method? I reckon I can lose only perhaps 25-30mm off the kitchen width, and I really don't want to take it all back to brick even on one side. Can I bond PIR or PUR backed plasterboard directly to the existing plaster? Any comments are welcome. Ferdinand (Aside: may be off line for a bit due to antipodean holiday, or may check in if the marsupials are boring).

Now there's an offer ! And I used to live just off Hampstead Heath and attend the bathing ponds (swimsuited). Though my interesting Hampstead intellectual landlord used to take cold showers in the altogether in the back yard on his return from a swim. It may seem like a lot of questions, Brinsey, but they should help you find at least some aspects that you had not considered in detail. For me, could you identify North - so I can see where the sun will be? Thanks and welcome.

What size does the potential shower have to be? If wheelchair accessible I make it something like 2.5m square for teh room. (From Memory). Ferdinand

Perhaps the height of the "standard" celiings in bathroom plus hallway need careful consideration in relation to the bedroom vault. Does it work better if the lower ceilings are at the same height at which the vault starts, so you get continuity when walking through the more intimate spaces to the larger? Ferdinand

You could get more wall space in the plant room by accessing it via door from the WC. Access and moving things in / out may determine that. Ferdinand

Spiders inside have the use of: a - Convincing your girlf that you are a hero. b - Allowing your girlf to convince you she thinks you are a hero as a diversion from something else you won't discover until it is a done deal. Choose A or B. Agreed on wasps, particularly stepping on underground nests. We have far too many flies this year, which we deter using big bunches of mint in water replaced every 2-3 weeks. Do wasps deter bats? Ferdinand

There's not really enough info to comment in detailI as it would need eg the complexity of the windows - are they windows with 6 lights and 2 opening panels each. But DG is now seriously inexpensive; a decent fence or tree work can cost more. But I can give you quite aggressive real numbers within the last month in the Midlands. 2x3 storey student houses. 4 doors, 2 of which are composite with 2 x quarter windows. Suited locks to front doors (ie master keys for LL). All locks thumbturn. 22 windows. No complex windows. 18 windows are identical. White finish. One opening pane to almost all windows. I am not certain that I specified Grade A this time as is my normal practice, as the whole contract was through in about 3 weeks. Includes scaffolding as necessary. Total cost just on £10k inc. VAT, which is from a local supplier. IMO a good price. My alternative quote from my usual supplier was about the same, but they couldn't meet the timescales. IMO go for a locally owned supplier with a 10-20 year track record and a turnover of low millions, where you can talk directly to the owner if you ask. The last time I did a single house it was iirc around 2-2.5k for a "rosewood plank" upvc front door and 5 windows (4 casements and one tall thin twin-opener), from a non-VAT supplier. Here I would be aiming for around £5-6k for your group assuming a mix of complexity: £400-500 (generous) per window ave, £750-1000 for the stable door, £1000-1500 for the patio door (lintel?). Plus add £1000 for a "wood" finish, or £1500 if Irish Oak finish. All including fitting and VAT. But then Sussex is full of retired bankers and new age organic hobby farmers with posh staircases and lots of thoroughbred petunias, and chickens and Vietnamese mini-porkers that are a lot of work for one week of breakfasts . This is the generally basic "look" of my fittings, so you will need to adjust your expectations for spec. Ferdinand s

What is above your ceiling etc? I might try to work from the top and decide how much height I need in any stirage space or sleeping platform up there. Can you for example have enough height to walk along the middle beneath the ridge beam? I think any ceiling height would be OK, but might tend to 2.4m as standard, or perhaps 2.6m. F

IF you did use a pod, you could take it out in one piece and reuse in an ensuite ...

Shades of solar power companies. Go local. Go with solid people. Get an insurance based warranty if available. Don't go for the absolute cheapest.

Shower Room Pods? https://taplanes.co.uk/ There are others, including one I looked at near Manchester which I can't find. You will be looking at more money but easier fitting. I think I saw them for down to a couple of thousand. If you have the one with double sliding doors you will be forever mending it. And if a hinged one with the seal slightly wrong you may be forever letting volunteers out of it when they overshut the door. I went for large shower tray and fixed shower screen when redoing our student bathrooms, and we did 4 for 10k including all fittings and finishes. They are still fine 4 lots of students later. eg http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Walk-in-Shower-1200X760-Tray-760-8mm-screen-Free-Waste-/301995192561?hash=item465050f0f1 If you spelunk through this Landlordzone Thread titled The Tenantproof House, my studentproof bathroom conversation starts at about screen 8 or so: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?35033-The-Tenantproof-House Here you go - post 103: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?35033-The-Tenantproof-House&p=420089#post420089 Ferdinand

To me that would be almost a full day of work if you get a report and a conversation. Ferdinand

How nuch extra nion-chargeabve does he do? eg is thinking time, travel time and report writing time charged? Ferdinand

Thanks. So where does that 315mm rule you cited some from :-) ? Or was that a typo? /pendant Ferdinand

On the OP, I think they could be after anything. Might this though slightly off-topic be a good place to have a conversation about how to prevent badger digging etc, though some may choose to encourage them? Badgers are formidable diggers as you know, so perhaps: 1 - Appropriate fencing, which may be a 1.5m - 2m brick wall? Subdivide the garden into "domestic" and "woodland"? 2 - Can something badger-dig proof be put under the lawn when it is laid, such as a metal mesh or terram? 3 - Outdoor dogs or geese. Will mainly be disruption by presence as obviously badgers are nocturnal. 4 - Block their regular run. Creatures of habit, and cautious. 5 - Gravel the garden. 6 - Human urine. Badgers are sensitive to change and smells. Commit acts outraging public decency in your own garden when no one is looking eg in the gloaming. Or have some in a plant sprayer, CLEARLY LABELLED. 7 - Play Brian May music, or import him to live in a Yurt. Badgers probably have better taste and may leave. 8 - If you have a big enough garden, why not create an artificial badger set (heap of tree roots perhaps over appropriately sized clay pipes in a partial network), then perhaps they will live and dig in the bit you give them while foraging elsewhere. Is there a minimum foraging distance? Phil Drabble had an account of building one of these in "My Wilderness in Bloom" iirc. Badgers are so protected, despite having a huge population and being under no conservation threat whatsoever, that some of the above may be technical offences and need a license to do. So do some homework. Also, animal welfare respectables and animal rights fruitloops are in a lot of places, so take care. It is possible that you may get good advice from your local badger or wildlife group, or not. Ferdinand

Can't you just put it on a bit of board for now? Ferdinand

I'd have it out in this case. But where is that 315mm rule? TPOs for example, commonly say 3" or 4" as being a tree, or if it is a Woodland TPO it (ludicrously) protects any pruning of anything (I think). Ferdinand

I'd have said: "No. So divorce me."

Given that a bathroom can probably be tiled in a single day unless it is a stonker, I'd do it all at once. if you want it working then put something temporary down eg Visqueen. Ferdinand

In the absence of a boat, perhaps a Citroen DS Convertible?

Does anyone have any indication of what sort of weight will crack a Pressed Council Slab (ie the 2" things that cost next-to-nothing on Ebay) laid on a gravel base? I am wondering how safe it is to lay a row of these on top of a gravel drive as a path, which would be down one side of the drive for ease of use by postmen etc and only need to be driven on when particularly wide vehicles come into the driveway. I'm think that anything car or 4x4 or transitsize will be fine, but I am unsure about 3.5-7.5 tonner, larger lorries or 4/6-wheeler tippers. Thanks Ferdinand

OT: I envy people flexible enough to be able to work from a squatting position. I am trying to develop flexibility via a local gym, and it is agony-in-spurts.

I have sufficient rental properties to qualify as a professional landlord if they ask. They did what seem to be standard credit checks only as far as I can tell. I am also planning a number of projects over the next couple of years after I recently sold a housing site I have taking through PP over several years - so they will see a decent throughput on the account if they query it later (which they won't). Ferdinand

Insurance policy? I'd hate to find I needed them 15 years later for some reason.