Hi

[Jeremy Harris]

I could lend you my old, and much tweaked, Airsporter.  I know for sure that it has enough poke to take out street lights...

[TerryE]

On 16/12/2018 at 21:05, Hecateh said:

I have thought about reporting it BUT it is outside a house belonging to someone who objected to me building.

 

You applied; he or she objected; you got permission; the house is now built, so it's a done deal.  IMO, the issues are:

1. Can you both move past the history of the objections? If so, then surely it would be good to move on, and only consider alternatives if this proves not to be the case.
2. Does the neighbour understand the nuisance of the light?  Perhaps a polite direct request explaining the issue might be the best first course.  It might just work, and if it does then it would be a more amicable resolution.

If you do raise a complaint then you should anticipate that it will become apparent that you are complainer since the spotlight is looking into your windows?  I must admit that if I were reviewing the complaint, then I might be more receptive to the escalation if I knew that the originator had attempted to resolve this amicably, and the complaint was only an act of last recourse.  I just feel that you will fair better if your actions are seen to be measured and proportionate.

Edited December 17, 2018 by TerryE

[Hecateh]

Yep, I know all that and agree.  

I don't really think about it during the day, it's a minor thing really.  If I choose not to have curtains (yet) that's not really their problem.

 

I have just been and looked for it for the first time in daylight.  It's not a spotlight it's a lantern with a very bright bulb and it is outside what appears to be a garage converted into a garden room/summer house or something like that.  It is even possible that it is a granny annexe - which would explain the need for a light outside.  A PIR would work but that would be worse - I can easily mitigate the effect of a constant light.  One potentially coming on at odd times would be far more annoying.

 

There is a small deciduous tree between me and it so, come spring, it should disappear.  I need to mark where it shows above my fence and plant something my side that will screen it, it only shows a couple of foot above the fence so it shouldn't be too long before I can hide it.

 

[joe90]

We have neighbours who have a flood light at either end of a two story garage that come on with PIRs but because of trees blowing in the wind they come on and off all night which is annoying. Especially when we have no light pollution here.

[Ferdinand]

@Hecateh I think you have now worked this out.

 

There's nothing stopping you stick into a bit of trellis or even a bit of willow hurdle on the fence at the appropriate point to give extra height, either on it snow or with a vigorous climber.

 

The only extra thing I would add is that if you are going to ask for a change via whatever route, it is probably better to do it reasonably quickly i.e. In 3-12 months not 2-3 years.

 

F

[TerryE]

1 hour ago, Hecateh said:

If I choose not to have curtains (yet) that's not really their problem.

 

Jan and I (or to be exact Jan) chose and put up some simple manual roller blinds on all of the bedrooms as a temporary measure a few weeks after we moved in.  She used to have a fancy curtain sole-trader business for years so she's pretty expert at making posh curtains, blinds, etc. and intended to replace them at some point.  However, the truth is that we both like the simple and clean lines,  and they work well for bedrooms so we won't get around to replacing them anytime soon.

 

What I misjudged is just how many little jobs need doing between the house being good enough to move into and being "finished" -- and we found the strain of getting to that point of moving in both mentally and physically exhausting.  I would recommend to anyone just moving in that one of the first things to do is to have a bloody good break from it, go away on a holiday and both mentally and physically rest and recover.  Then do an honest triage of the jobs still to do: 

• those which you need to "properly" and get right first time;
• those where you can do a simple interim (like fitting roller blinds in our case) and come back to it in few years time if and when you have the energy, and
• those which quite honestly don't need doing at all for now and can wait until that "if and when" point.

Moving in was a mountain that had to climbed again a ticking clock.  You now have luxury of being able to change the tempo, and to prioritise and plan the finishing off tail minimising stress and taking the time to be able to enjoy the jobs more as a hobby.

[Hecateh]

That was kind of my plan when I moved in here in 'the summer'.  However as trade after trade let me down, thing after thing went wrong an I lost my mojo for a couple of months I didn't get that luxury.  

 

Moving in as I did about a week ago I'm left with just a couple of weeks to get things sorted for Christmas.  My 2 adult kids are coming for Christmas, with just my daughter staying over.  Matt only lives about half a mile away.  Matt's partner and her mother were also supposed to be coming but her mum broke her hip and has been in and out of hospital and won't be able to come and C is staying with her Christmas Day so it will just be the two of us.  

 

Not having doors isn't a problem for me on my own but I guess I need some sort of screen on the bathroom and the cloakroom - which opens onto the lounge, is a priority before Christmas.  

 

Other than that I really can't be bothered to do much at the moment.  Friends and family seem to think I should be so excited and motivated to get on with things - They have no idea how much I just need a break and to NOT have to do anything for a while.

 

Luckily I still have the old house until at least the middle of January.  I have brought nearly everything I really need down here already but the house still looks almost liveable.  There is so much still to sort and shift but this place being a good bit smaller is almost full. 

 

Still I am enjoying being down here in comfortable warmth - despite the heating not working properly and probably costing twice as much as it should as I am having to manually turn it off as the thermostat is not controlling the boiler.  I have at least partly sorted it by turning the flow temperature down on the boiler itself. 

 

Happy overall but knackered ??

[ProDave]

2 hours ago, Hecateh said:

Not having doors isn't a problem for me on my own but I guess I need some sort of screen on the bathroom and the cloakroom - which opens onto the lounge, is a priority before Christmas.  

 

We have cardboard doors at the moment.  All those massive sheets of cardboard the wood fibre board was packed in came in useful.

[Hecateh]

I could have done that if I'd thought of it.  The cardboard is stacked outside and now very wet.  

I have used hot melt glue to stick material up as a screen.  That's been (one of) todays job

[Onoff]

Bathroom door here is a sheet of Antinox stapled one side to the stud wall:

 

 

It folds too...

[lizzie]

58 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Bathroom door here is a sheet of Antinox stapled one side to the stud wall:

 

 

It folds too...

Antinox is the most useful stuff I used it for all sorts including doors. cheap too.

[Hecateh]

Why has this stuff never been mentioned on here before.  I have never heard of it.  

 

I think I'll just manage with my door curtains for now though as it is really only a couple of evening over Christmas that they are needed.  

Doors, architraving and skirting are in the plan for when the other sale is through and I have some cash

[Onoff]

1 minute ago, Hecateh said:

Why has this stuff never been mentioned on here before.  I have never heard of it.  

 

 

 

Correx is probably the best known variant. Wicked now do Proplex rather than Antinox.

 

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Proplex-Black-Surface-Protection-Sheet---2mm-x-1-2m-x-2-4m/p/118670?

[Hecateh]

Beginning to wonder if they could be used a bit more long term.

 

I'm really dreading having the doors etc done. I really need a long break before I tackle anything else

 

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Hecateh

[lizzie]

I had acres of the stuff - we covered my entire floor in it as tiling was done and it was a sea of mud outside not great on pale tiles plus its good for protection if anyone drops a tool etc.

 

We had it up internally at doorways to protect rooms plus we covered the aluminium front door in it to protect from damage....there were a million and one uses for it.  The Wickes price is high I paid a lot less than that on line.  

 

Its tough stuff lasts and lasts really hard to damage, we skipped all mine to get rid of it but it had a lot of life left in it.  I almost wanted to keep a few sheets as it was so useful

Edited December 18, 2018 by lizzie

[Onoff]

I've made a temporary full size door before out of tile batten and stapled the Antinox to it.

[Hecateh]

Why, why, why,  has this not been promoted on here.  Over and over and over.

 

I would have bought stacks of it, if I knew.  There have been times I have been so scared of damage, especially after things had already been damaged.  
New people coming on here need to have this promoted to them.  

 

Really, (no ... R E A L L Y)  How come this is the first time this has been mentioned for all the ways it can be used

[newhome]

8 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

Really, (no ... R E A L L Y)  How come this is the first time this has been mentioned for all the ways it can be used

 

Have you really never seen the 3 acres of it that @Onoff has all over his bathroom? 

 

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/7865-pp-conditions/?tab=comments#comment-133494

 

 

[Onoff]

10 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

Why, why, why,  has this not been promoted on here.  Over and over and over.

 

I would have bought stacks of it, if I knew.  There have been times I have been so scared of damage, especially after things had already been damaged.  
New people coming on here need to have this promoted to them.  

 

Really, (no ... R E A L L Y)  How come this is the first time this has been mentioned for all the ways it can be used

 

There was this thread: 

 

[Hecateh]

yah ... yeah .. but ... specific jobs and no prices mentioned.   - it's the question I didn't know to ask

[newhome]

TBH we had acres of cardboard everywhere. Laid on floors, taped to the kitchen units, bannisters, doors etc just to prevent damage whilst things were still getting done. 

[Onoff]

3 minutes ago, newhome said:

TBH we had acres of cardboard everywhere. Laid on floors, taped to the kitchen units, bannisters, doors etc just to prevent damage whilst things were still getting done. 

 

I've even been using the old tile boxes as they're empty as backup under the Antinox.

[Hecateh]

I did use some cardboard for that - but I WAS very naive and hadn't realised until too late how little even the better trades respected what was there.  

Pluss

There are so many questions I could have asked on here that I didn't - because it didn't occur to me that hubbers had solutions to offer for problems I didn't know about until it was too late.  

 

I need to go back and post in the 'what I wish I had known post'

 

@ Lessons learned too late

[newhome]

4 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

I need to go back and post in the 'what I wish I had known post'

 

 

Lol, we all have that post to write! 

[recoveringbuilder]

Our kitchen firm brought these sheets of antinox to cover all our kitchen furniture once built in , they also covered the full kitchen floor with it and it has come in really handy for painting etc