Recent content by benwhite

Have a look at the lightwaverf stuff. Sold under the Siemens brand name in B&Q. If you get the 'wifilink' box for about £60 that can schedule operations for pretty much anything at any time of day incl dawn and dusk. E.g. I have my patio lights come on at dusk and go off at dusk +1. It's...

This may have been asked before but I couldn't find anything. I have a 1930s house with exposed rafter tails. They are black and it looks like they have been stained (not painted), perhaps originally with creosote. I'm have some scaffolding up for other work later in the month and wanted...

In my case it's still on the table as an option... as a lot of our exterior render needs redoing any way. Since the render on our place is painted and that would need redoing every 5-10 years, which needs scaffolding... when you tot it up and include the energy savings, over 25 years it's...

Don't think so. They turned it around in a day or so, so it probably had a skinny dip in a hot caustic bath. Thanks all for the suggestions. I will leave it to dry out first. Think it may be dark because it's still damp. Will give it a sand once dry and see how we go from there. Thanks!

You are definitely right. But - also a lot of faff, and considering some of the layers of paint probably contain lead, I wanted to keep it well away from the kids. ------- Rant: I love diynot and refer to it all the time, but why is it becoming a place where people don't answer the...

I'm sure this has been done to death, but I couldn't find anything specific to the issue I have. I had a door dipped, with the intention of re-painting white. It was kill or cure. Anyway, after it's been dipped the wood underneath is actually in good condition (it's an original 1930s...

I had a quote of 24k for 4 bed detached. I was also offered 4K ECO funding. You'll need to get a green deal assessment/survey (about £150) in order to get into the ECO funding system. Personally, am undecided what to do.... While EWI is attractive (warmer, smarter looking house, etc)...

That is true. However many things such as cars, consumer goods, holidays, fuel, etc cost the same whether you're oop north or daaan south. So in the end you could argue that those daan saarf would accumulate more wealth over the longer term that those oop norf!

Thanks all for the replies. Nige - thanks for the tips. I can't see any billing of rainwater charge, but in honesty there probably should be since the guttering links up to the main foul drain. There is no soakaway here. I have tried the adoption thingy already - but the drains are...

Nige - the reason for calling them out... we moved into this place back in September. It's 1930s but suffered some neglect under the previous owner. We had full buildings survey and all that jazz but time was ticking and we were holding up the chain so neglected a full drains survey before...

The only thing I think it can be is a bush that runs between us and the neighbours. It's sizaeble - probably 2.5m high and 1-2m wide.

Hugh - I have seen the report from DynoRod that had images from the CCTV survey showing some root ingress into the main drain line. Here it is: Not too major at the moment, but would rather get it sorted before we get back ups!

Isn't everywhere inside the M25 land of the rip off?

Only that it's under a concrete path and driveway, excavation of which I assumed would be much more than the quotes here.