Recent content by Robotmannick

Yes you're right. I have a feeling David Cameron had one didn't he? They were downright awful.

No. There's several criteria you need to meet to be under permitted development and this is one-off the few that does not require planning permission. Why's that? It's been on a pole in the garden generating about 1200kWh/year until now. OK, not enough to power the whole house, not by a long...

Thanks all. I'll see if I can find a link later. The instructions only mention installation on a gable end which is simple because it only needs a couple of inches stand-off. It's the clearance past the eaves which is proving the hard bit to solve.

Hi all, I’d appreciate your thoughts on how to support a micro wind turbine that will be fixed to the side of my house. I’ve attached a fag-packet sketch (black being the walls and red the support/mountings). The turbine itself must be mounted on a standard 48mm scaffold pole. The eaves jut...

Hi all, My central heating is piped in 15mm with 10mm going to/from each radiator. It's all copper. I'm not a fan of 10mm, but it all works so I have no intention of ripping it out and redoing it. However, for one particular radiator, the visible pipe runs (all in 10mm) come down the wall in...

I'm in Gloucestershire. I've only ever claimed on insurance once before and they didn't give me the option of them organising anything, all they did was pay out the money (which was less than 50% of the cost of replacing the damaged items). Maybe that's the idea - if they pay cash instead of...

Just wondered what your thoughts are around finding tradesmen for an insurance job. I've always found it hard to get tradesmen to quote for work but this seems to have got worse in the last year or so. I recently contacted 13 people about a bathroom re-fit, of which 4 got back to me. One...

A few years ago, my supplier at the time (maybe Atlantic? Not sure) gave a rebate at the end of the year which was equal to the average direct debit payment made, effectively giving you a free* month. I doubled my DD so got double the rebate and they refunded the extra credit on the account at...

Excellent, that makes things simple. Thanks very much.

Hi all, I have an artex ceiling (tested a sample and it does contain white asbestos) that I'd like to skim over. There are several cracks - attached pic shows the worst of them. What's the best way of treating them? If I skim over them without scrim, the new surface will crack again. If I...

Light brown goes against the wall, pink faces the room.

How big are the lumpy bits? I get bumps in my lawn that tend to be 9" or so across and anything from half inch to 2" high. It's ants nesting under ground. Don't know if you have the same problem. Sometimes the lumps are soft and squish down level under foot pressure, others are rock hard. I try...

Definitely go for D-shaped rungs. They are so much more comfy than round ones and you will notice it much more than you think you would. I bought the Lyte ELT335 which reaches my eaves with plenty to spare. It's very sturdy and although it's not light by any means, it is still manageable.

Not what you want to hear but it's another vote for "this'll never work”. The sink and worktop look fine, it's the tiles that I'd be looking at changing. Sorry.

Thanks all. I'll go with the blind ones and split to suit. Much appreciated.