Ferdinand

I think any architect tends to have a house style, which is why it is so important to look at previous work.

Never apologise to a cat. It will bank the apology and expect compensation as well. A friend has just got rid of the last sproglet to University, and is replacing it with a doglet . Has gone for a cross between a Shitsu and a Poodle, which is apparently called a Shihpoo. I am so going to put the extra T in at the wrong moment by mistake. “Shitpoo” is as inevitable as rain in The Lake District.

You sell tm at a bargain price with buyer collects condition.

i’m moving to Kent... There was an interesting snippet on a recent Beechgrove Garden I caught up on this week, where the presenter was talking about Gardeners’ Delight tomatoes, and said her dad had got double her harvest per plant by growing them as a bush tomato ie no pruning, rather than her growing them as a tall and pruned.thing whatever it is called.

Should this be on the docs from the Land Registry? (I don’t know]

It is just a note that the London market is going to be very difficult to predict. There was a piece in the FT this week claiming that it was booming, which I think very irresponsible. F

Don’t tell me .. you’ve got a brand new combine harvester, and you’ll give me the key...

You also need ventilation to remove the moist air. So slow cooker will not dehydrate imo. Another way is apple rings for 4 or 5 days on a bamboo pole in your wash-drying arrangement. F

An oven is less controllable in the narrow temperature range and I suspect use much more power. Also ovens tend to have fewer shelves, so fewer apples at once. My oven is hard wired so tricky to measure. Though In autumn it probably all helps heat the house. There is a thread over on the Gardeners’ World forum where I have been running experiments with a warming drawer, and we have been working out what to do with the apple glut. https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1046577/ideas-for-eater-apples

Playing with my new half price allegedly cosmetically challenged food dehydrator. Applechips here we come. Watch out .. can use a lot of power by BH standards as it needs 10-15 hour runs at 300 or so watts.

Apologies for my couple of typos. I think the meaning is clear.

Interesting story. The source seems respectable. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54326178 F

Being slightly contrarian, can I recommend that as a foil you also do a "needs" analysis from the other end - a list of spaces and facilities that you need. Particularly in the London, house values are currently questionable having gone down for each of the last 3 years. Suspect that you may do this anyway, given your approach on the forum. It's good to know what you can afford, but there is no reason why you need to spend to the max. Having some headroom is a good thing to do. Whenever I go to Town I love window shopping all the expensive boutiques for the things I don't need to buy any more than I need to buy a polka dot hippopotamus.

If I wasn't sure I would spend a couple of hundred taking advice on this - rough cost of his alternative, but idea of the potential risk / cost profile to you. That would give your ballpark. Half a day for a local surveyor to do an ballpark assessment and write a letter? I think you are realistically talking about 20k or 50 or 80k numbers here, not 5k or 10k. Your really need to think carefully about your options, and the cost landscape one each one. And how much you need the money - one option is that if he offers a sufficient sum you should actually be comparing it with the added value you would generate on your second house, not the overall cost. What is better - 50k and walkaway plus a bigger garden for your existing, or 100k added value and the hassle / satisfaction of another build? What you actually *want* is also a key factor here. Assuming this is Holywood, Belfast, I suspect the plots are worth a little less than @AliG's £1m - perhaps more like 750k? Assuming more like £2000-2500 per sqm on 1200 sqm for prices of 600-750k each? Very very guestimating. Just thoughts. Ferdinand

The house insurance call is a good Plan B. If the level has raised over time, then it will have achieved a position where it cannot be enforced under *Planning* rules due to time (10 years?). There may be some "right to support" achieved under Common Law, which I think is 20 years, by the same process that a "right to drain onto adjacent land" is created by the existence of such unopposed and tolerated drainage. I am not sure of the detail on that. I do not think you will fix this easily through legal process; imo redoing the wall may be less expensive. Would your insurance covers it if it collapses? On the BBQ, are you sure it has moved, or was the BBQ built away from the wall? I would do so if I was aware, and would have documented it. Horribly tricky. Sorry you have this issue. Ferdinand

//

Perhaps he could build an Arc de Triomphe without the top bit ?.

So I have a somewhat decrepit 1.7m (ish) stone wall between me and my neighbour on the West side, on the South side of the house. The wall is in poor condition - I have this year removed the ivy that had come over and *through* it. Small stones can be removed by hand. It is full of solitary bees in the spring / summer. The ground level on the neighbour side is approx 12-18" higher. And the boundary is my face of the wall. It is 14-15m long. Something needs to be done. Neighbour is please that I removed the ivy. I would like to grow things like a black berry and fruit espaliers on the wall as it gets quite good sun and shelter. Obviously that needs permission from N. How would you proceed? Relations are fine, but I do not see the neighbour spending a couple of K to restore my side of the wall until after it has fallen down. Had a chat and he said "yes you can repoint it". ? He also has a further 45m of the same wall between him and the lane, which I do not envy. Rebuilding fully by a real stonemason would be perhaps £200-250 per metre. I am wondering about the benefit of repointing this myself. Any thoughts would be most welcome. Ferdinand

Refraining from asking you your weight or shoe size, can you have a suitable sheet of eg OSB around to put on top of the worktop and spread the load? The other thing that you could use would be the spare cupboard shelf you will have in the garage.

I had a look, and I am surprised how many are still left on my Bramley.

So I take it the deeds do not show responsibility for maintaining the boundary? Admit I do not know how the traditional "land supported has responsibility for supporting structure" would play out here. I have one I am just about to ask about that is probably in worse condition, but not quite do formidable.

Not solutions, but grist to the mill. - Think about a (perhaps even a larger 8 person one?) table oriented in a landscape format, and treating it as what is known as a "farmhouse layout" where your table gets used for some food prep etc. - Look into peninsulas as you are doing. - Compile a list of the cupboards etc that you actually need from your current usage, and dividing up into kitchen / utility in the new house if you have both. See what that means for length of unit runs etc you need. - Can you use one of those mobile trollies as produced by eg Ikea as a movable island? eg Bror or Forholobalobalob. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/foerhoeja-kitchen-trolley-birch-80035920/ https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/kitchen-islands-trolleys-10471/ - Alternatively, can you consider a smaller table against the wall with traditional leaves or drop down sections? F

Who will own the drain? If it is 4 four houses does that make it owned by the utility as being common?

Alas ! You will never have the chance to taste homemade fat free beetroot crisps. Or not yet.

Do you have an air fryer? I would love to know how verithin slices of beetroot do in one of those. (Having just observed that a packet of Tyrells root vegetable crisps are £2.50 in Tesco, albeit for a 125g packet).