Ferdinand

Don't do that; they will have no option other than to back down and let everyone else walk all over them, or go nuclear - which could end up with them forfeiting your lease. That is sensible. NLC have some successes, as well as some (imo) overambitious aims. You may end up at the Tribunal, if you are determined and they demur. F

Given that nuclear regulation is independent and statutory, I think that "Chernobyl incoming" is a little overwrought. I note that we have 2 gas power stations mothballed with 2/3 the capacity of Hinckley Point C, and that energy demand has been significantly falling for 20 years now. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1007132/DUKES_2021_Chapters_1_to_7.pdf

Depends on what is in your "fixed price" contract. It may include terms as to what may change under which circumstances. There is also a thing called a "firm" price contract, which is really fixed. See: https://www.commercial-consulting.co.uk/post/contract-price-type If someone tries to impose a price increase on you, your action needs to depend on all the circumstances. Half may be reasonable if it is genuinely unpredictable, but if eg it is recent and you have discussed Brexit / supply crunch consequences then it may be different. Nick's "take a hike" could potentially leave him with a liability.

Depends what else you do to mitigate. There is, for example, a current proposal for a 'social tariff'. I'd put a carbon tax on everything based on emissions, which would simplify it very much. And gradually turn against gas as electricity is decarbonised. We have just had a god-almighty media and political flap about a rise in energy prices, yet they are still *after* the flapping around 25% *below* the real level they were at around 2013. I see no reason to subsidise anything out, beyond what has been done previously. I can see a case for ramping up some current projects by volume, though. The normal replacement cycle for heating is 10-15 years for gas, and whatever it is for oil fired. So one thing we need is to insist on upgrades when these are replaced. A ban from 2035 seems quite reasonable, but I am concerned that the current Govt are running scared and risk defecating on their own relatively good record as emissions-reducers. As for relatively rich people in older properties demanding money from the relatively poorer population to make up for their own neglect to invest in properly maintaining/upgrading their own properties in the past - I find that quite obscene. We probably need some quite heavy Pigou taxes, such as higher rates of Stamp Duty or an extra band of Council Tax for poor quality properties from an efficiency point of view. And it needs to be in the Owner Occupied sector, as that is where the slum properties gather now. Yes - they need to catch up on this one ?. They are ahead on setting a timescale for requiring decent energy efficiency in OO properties, though. The Govt in London are dragging their feet, though Rishi shows signs of addressing this. F

Pallet Timber Price Index: https://www.fefpeb.eu/wooden-packaging/timber-pallet-price-indices

So they need to be used to build a woodstore like @joe90's from them to keep the other wood in. Which I was planning to find a picture of but it seems he has never uploaded one. Full of good ideas, me.

So you now have some wood to store in your woodstore !

There's currently a shortage of pallets. But I don't know if you can yet dismantle them and sell off for more than the price of a new shed.

You could do some fake plywood ones for stack ventilation like Kevin McLoud did at Swindon. Just don't put them 3 storeys up in the middle of a two-sided gable so you need some quite serious lifting gear or a big scaffold to repaint them ?.

I'll give you a free opportunity if you make a £20 donation to BH. Give the ones with glyphosate to Hufflepuff, who sound like the people on the "B" Ark Ship from Golgafrincham.

Cheers.

I've taken a vigorous alder out my hedge by my lane, and need to prevent it coming back so the holly to fill the gap gets a decent run. It is too big to dig out easily, so I want to poison it. Any suggestions? I have copper sulphate available and apart from that probably only a couple of root weedkillers (ie glyohosate) which will be no good for this. Will drilling a hole or two and packing with copper sulphate do the job? Thanks F

I would top that up when you put the other one in next week, if still to do.

You clearly need to bathe inside a dry suit to save water. A perfectly shaped bath 2mm deep.

At this point, have a cup of tea for 20 minutes,

What an excellent excuse to buy a thermal camera !

Have you considered ceiling mounted rather than sunken spotlights? Personally (having inherited about 55 from the person who built this house and gone through the gantlet of making them all LEDs back in 2013) I think recessed spots are evil.

It's a just in case. With walls to both boundaries it would be tight to meet the "50% or more glass walls" requirement to be a conservatory: Definition of a conservatory: A conservatory is defined as "a building that has not less than seventy five percent of its roof area made of translucent material (e.g. glass or polycarbonate), and not less than fifty percent of its total wall area made of glass or translucent material."

Either make it a bit wider at that side, or use your skill and judgement to decide that it is OK. TBH if it is 3 feet deep I would expect it to be OK.

I would say that in addition to overhangs, you could be raising things like "how will you clean the glass on the outside by our fence", "will you fit opaque or patterned glass", "what happens when we build one", "can you make this side a wall or a wall to 5ft with frosted glass above since you will be looking at the arse of my fence? *", how much more insulating a wall is over glazing panels with a view of a fence 4 inches away and so on. You might also try the reason I moved mine in, which was "what if you need to get a TV cable or an air-conditioning unit connected into your lounge (once the conservatory overheats it)" but that is relying a lot on their knowledge. But you are now in a position where your strategy has to be built on legal rights and diplomacy, rather than planning policy. Most of your easy leeway to make demands turned into a pumpkin when they got the PP. For all of these you need input before they actually order it. At that point it will be a right pain for them and it won't happen. F * you could threaten to put a mural of Homer Simpson mooning on their side of your fence panel, but that is likely to lead to a lack of cooperation.

I'm afraid that 'more fool you' has much truth in it - I also missed one once. You can also prevent them trespassing on your land - scaffolding etc, or charge rent. But what could happen is that you end up with a bodge built from only one side. You need to check where things will actually be, what your rights actually are, what you are actually going to do about it, an what you are going to ask them to do or change - eg I built mine 18" in from the boundary with a high clerestory window because i wanted a bit of "lounge" back wall still accessible even though the PP was up to the boundary. Being a doormat is a bad idea, but so equally is overreaching. Don't get your redlines in the wrong place. Don't let yourself get over emotional, and have a non-involved level-headed friend give you feedback on your findings and proposed action. But you also need to move quickly. NB: If it is a real shared fence, both parties need to agree before eg either removes it. Ferdinand

Try taking thermal photos of the panels and the various gubbins, and see if anything is seriously overheating. It has to be going somewhere if the energy is coming in.

Cut the top off a plastic water or drinks bottle, and use the tall thin "cup" left to hoick the water out. Or since it is hilly can you siphon it out with a length of hose pipe? Then take the water down to the level required by the Postcrete instructions (usually a third full?), and bingo.

Good comments above. I think on the whole it feels a bit over-bedroomed and under-living-roomed. Consider when you want to have two people doing different things privately (eg reading a book and practising the trombone, or sewing and watching TV, or kids playing first-person-shooters and grownups playing poker) - you probably want two separately available living spaces. Depending on the width of that sea view, can you project the balcony? Outside shower? Ferdinand

You don't say what you are looking for eg 2g, 3g, upvc, ally frames, ally covered wood etc. If cost is a driver then eg dark grey upvc is surprisingly good. If you are looking locally then at least go and talk to Eurocell, who are based in the Midlands near where I live. There are also very local / regional suppliers everywhere, if cost is a real driver. F