Why don’t you just put a step in halving the drop running the full width?

You’ll be fine honestly. The hardship of raising children is balanced with the joy of people at your diner table and partners, grandkids etc in later life.

My hobbies are biking, fishing, walking all of which my 3 boys do with me and every day is full on and great.

Terminations are not be considered lightly is all I will say and don’t underestimate the impact when the chance has gone and everything is a bit sterile

Yes – concealed hold open device linked to the detector, that’s if there is room and the arrangement works with an open door.

It’s not great using a heat detector for this though as significant smoke may be on the stair by the time it operates. Smoke would be better for early detection but doesn’t really work in a kitchen.

Depending on the layout a multi detector linked to the door retainer outside the kitchen may be a good compromise (and cheaper). In practice this would long activate before a heat directly placed in the kitchen.

If what you are building isn’t ‘code compliant’ then the building regulations allow provision for a fire engineered solution.

Basically smoke modelling will be used (computer programme) to demonstrate that the stairs in your arrangement would be safe.

The fee for the report is the fee. I doubt it would take someone more than an hour or two but you are paying them for the liability and the programme licenses that will demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposal.

If it was me I’d always have a fire door off the kitchen with interlinked heat detection in there.

You need to get onto the out of hours service for your housing provider (they will 100% have one). We carry out all no heat and hot water visits within 4 hours and they all do the same if they are a regulated housing association.

On the repair front id boost the pressure to 1.5 bar min and turn it off for ten minutes. Turn it back on and run your hot tap and see if the pilot ignites.

Not employment advice sorry

Was this in a bedroom or a communal area? Only reason is that if it was a bedroom it shouldn’t have operated the ARC on the fire panel so the alarm is incorrect.

Also for the fire service to charge they must have had a lot of false alarms and wasted call outs. And I mean a lot….

This again potentially points to the fire alarm and fire management not being set up correctly.

Seems like any blame is being placed on the wrong person

Yes you can go over it although sanding / knocking off the nibs should be avoided.

It the grand scheme of things is very low risk although if removing that volume, it would be done under a notifiable non licensed removal if done correctly. I’ve always done some reassurance air testing also unless it’s on solid board that’s removed cleanly in sections.

No way of telling prior to sampling and even then it’s inconsistent due to the asbestos often being added into the Artex on-site. Surveyor may miss this if not taking composite samples from different areas of the ceiling.

I wouldn’t be knocking much or anything off to be honest as it shouldn’t be treated the same as AIB everywhere or even lagging ect.,

But as you know smoke will always activate way before heat then you’d effectively have a smoke detector in the kitchen???

So it’s doesnt work if it is indeed sold as smoke/heat/co

Then why would you need it to detect heat then?

Serious question…. smoke detectors activate long before a heat detector, you only use a rate of rise heat detector when the room it’s in produces smoke, fumes that would set off a smoke

A combined heat / smoke detector makes zero sense and wouldn’t work

Footflaps – you don’t have a smoke / heat / co detector. Aico were the first to bring a combined heat / co to the market and I’m not sure if that is even available yet to the general public.

I was luckily to be invited to the product launch of the new aico multi and it is far in advance on anything currently on the market. When it detects smoke (below the level that would activate) it confirms that it is smoke from fire and not cooking/condensation etc and increases its sensitivity ensuring early activation and eliminating false alarms.

This is even more beneficial if you rent property’s out as an alarm that activates often doesn’t stay on the ceiling long leaving properties unprotected.

If you are willing to pay £90 per detector then you would get much better protection by hard wiring some aico multi sensor detectors with lithium battery back-up and a combined heat/co in the kitchen if that’s where your boiler is.

The best thing to protect your family in the domestic home (in my opinion)is to have a good door on the kitchen and make sure you close it before retiring in the evening. And know where your keys are and have a plan.

I took some forks into green machine in horwich and had the steerer cut down and a new star nut fitted.

£2 (Gave him £5) and completed while I waited….

so errrr you should have paid that much

Started out as a site engineer many moons ago and really miss it at the moment now I’m stuck behind a desk.

That photo didn’t help! Loved doing groundwork’s and bolt boxes/portal frames

Unless it’s its going to be multi-storey I think the suggested footings are a little over the top!

With steel in them as well as c40 at 600mm wide they would support a planet

Artex and textured coatings is a tricky one as often the asbestos was mixed in on site to add workability into the product. Result is it can be present in patches and not in others.

The only way to make sure is to take several samples across the wall/ceiling and to avoid representative sampling, which is taking one or two samples, and if non asbestos then presuming the rest to be the same. Most surveyors do this however so you need to understand the subject to fully understand a completed survey report and mitigate the risk correctly.

A good surveyor will take scrapes from different points on a wall/ceiling and submit as one sample and do this for each wall/ceiling.

And that is the problem. The returned survey will be full of caveats and would never say no asbestos present unless a sample has been taken and confirmed as not containing asbestos.

It will also at the very front of the survey state that it is a management survey and if future work is taking place then further investigation would be required.

Management surveys are to meet your responsibilities under regulation 4 of the control of asbestos regs and should only be used for this. Unless it is a place of work or you are letting it out then it is of limited value…

HI Op,

i manage the property compliance for a large group ((15000 property’s) including asbestos.

A management survey is designed to find or confirm acm’s that may be disturbed in ‘normal occupation’of the building. A experienced surveyor can make judgement calls using experience and knowledge of construction materials and sampling isn’t always required. Textured coatings should be presumed to contain asbestos unless age of construction is after 1999 although best practice is 2000/2001 to account for stocks held by builders.

In reality very little investigation or intrusive sampling will happen unless it is a rufurb or demolition survey. A refurb survey will be specific to a scope of works and investigate these areas. A demolition survey will aim to find all acms prior to it being ripped down.

It all comes down to the initial survey scope that you asked for and what the required outcome of the survey was. If you just asked for a survey then I’m not surprised that you have reviewed something of limited value to you.

Cost paid is very expensive for what you have received. For reference I pay around £100 for a management survey on a low rise block of flats.

If I can help further then let me know

Andy

https://www.skatehut.co.uk/m/scooters/complete_scooters/jd_bug_junior_street_scooter_matt_black.htm

Hi mate

Just buy a decent stunt Scooter with good bearings and wheels. My 4 year old gets on great with one. The others are just toys and don’t roll anything like a good one and rattle like mad.

Nope! Nothing that can’t be overcome though with a bit of willing and effort.

My email is in my profile, do you have any pics and an idea of price your looking for?

Ta

May be interested mate. Want a van and looking for a project.

Where abouts are you based?

Cheers

Andy

I’ve vaped for the past four years after a 20 a day Benson and hedges habit for the previous 15 years.

There is no urge to smoke cigarettes at all as i find them disgusting and the smell makes me sick. Vaping is much cleaner in terms of smell, taste and not to mention much much cheaper.

Giving up vaping is also a breeze in comparison to cigarettes, it really is. I’m not convinced that nicotine is that difficult to give up, it’s all the other bits and bobs in cigarettes that cause the addiction and the ritual.

Myself, I’ve no desire to give it up as i enjoy it and I’m not convinced by the negative press it sometimes receives. I do wonder about the impact it’s having on the tobacco industry though, as other posters have mentioned, nobody i now know still smokes and seeing somebody smoking pretty rare these days.

I love all this talk of ‘topping up the coffers’ and ‘somebody has got to’. The reality is that unless you are earning a lot more than prison officer wages then your not even paying for yourself mate.

Any hospital treatment, pension, child birth ect and you’re being looked after yourself…

If he hasn’t checked the property in five years has he carried out your annual gas safety check? You should have been issued with a cp12 on moving in and annually there after.

Also best practice for electrical periodic testing is every five years. Has this been done?

His alleged claim is an absolute nonsense. I look after the Compliance of 12k properties and legal disrepair claims so email me if you would like some advice.

Some worrying advice being given above.

Asbestos insulating board is a dangerous product so it’s not as simple as ‘as long as it’s not loose fibres it’s fine’. Our schools are full of it and it isn’t being managed properly at all due to the sheer scale of the problem and the cost of putting it right.

Ceilings and walls panels in schools are full of AIB and I’d be concerned until I knew they knew what they were doing with it.

Wow Thom,

Quite a coincidence! I had exactly the same exactly 12 months ago as well.

Hope you’ve got used to the half beard look and are healing well mate

Andy

Apart from the fact it’s designed to be addictive and most that play them don’t do much of anything else

The only constant in most of these tales is games consoles. My Dad banned them when I was growing up and I thank him for it now although cheesed me off at the time.

I have mates in their mid thirties now that spend all weekend playing games. Such a waste of time!

As stated above, get all your kit ready and waiting then you can be out the door as soon as the thought enters your head.

And put the games console on eBay.

Sunflex are great quality. Aluminium though and not cheap.

Buy new under warranty or old and be prepared to walk away from it.

I bought a 2009 Mondeo estate for 1950 18 months ago. Had already had a clutch and doesn’t have a dpf. Driven 35k in it without a hitch and it’s probably still worth what I paid for it now.

Car prior was a Saab 9-5 aero. Kept for 3 years without a problem. Cost 2k and sold for £1500 and again bought a well serviced example that had the clutch and flywheel ect already done.

Cars don’t have to cost if you are savvy

I’m one year post op and treatment and to be honest Im really struggling at the moment. Every time I get a bit run down or my glands are fighting something off, I convince myself it’s back and think of nothing else.

I think I’d be OK if it was just me but I’m on 35 with two boys aged 4 and 18months

It also seems to be every where you look at the minute with adverts, on radio on here… I’m exhausted from the worry….

25 + 8 bank holidays and all the days between Christmas and the first Monday of the new year for free.

Every Friday off as work a condensed week (35 hrs mon to Thurs).

Feel really lucky to be honest!

Oh and I had a 147 2.0 petrol for 3 years that I bought at 8 years old for 1k. Didn’t break down or cause a problem in 60k. Great car

2k – 3k on a 156 is a bit heavy. I’d buy the best one I could for under a grand and preferably £500/£600 and see what happens.

3k means youve got to fix the bugger

You’d have to be going nearly 40mph to spin it out I reckon! Obviously it’s different strokes for different folks but I ride hilly terrain / N wales / Lakes and find it enough.

That’s not willy waving and I admit that you may well have an adjustment period where a change of technique/ mind-set is required to get you up the steep steep stuff. However you will be a far better climber for it with £100 more in your pocket from not buying a massive cassette.

1 x to me is about simplicity and the cheapness in replacing one chain ring. All these 42 expanders and cassettes is just the manufacturers making off the back of it. All this in my opinion obviously!

If you want/need that 42 gear then you may as well just keep a double/triple

Used both the Pro 4 Endurance and the GP 4 Seasons and you’d not go wrong with either. Currently got Gatorskins on and they are nowhere near as quick, comfy or grippy as those two.

Both excellent tyres

No need for the expander in my opinion, just more cash for little benefit. with a 30t/32t front and a 36 rear you’d have plenty to get up anything. Much slacker than that and you won’t get any traction anyway and just wheel spin

Loving the look of that! I take it that a mountain bike would be the order of the day?

If anyone is after a trigger 4 that’s only done 10 miles then give me a shout. Size large. Upgraded to single 32 ring … Thompson stem and seatpost, race face atlas bars, charge spoon saddle, nobby NIC tyres.

Warranty still to be registered so can be done in new owners name.

Going back to a hardtail

Andy