That’s a very high horse you have there johnellison!

That said, a friend of mine has done the same thing and come a cropper, the house needed 20K spending on the foundations as it was falling down basically :-$

House buying is a bit of a lottery sometimes, isn’t it?

to the OP,given that photo you’d have hoped that further investigation would be flagged up as necessary.Does that partition run through the first floor?

It’s a stud partition upstairs, so supporting it’s own weight and that of the ground floor joists.

How does the wall look down there?

In the cupboard on the opposing wall, like this:

B*ll*cks to it, I’m sticking with my expanding foam plan and spending the money on drugs and hookers instead.

It’s foolproof! 😀

Someone told me, a surveyor, that, the homebuyers report is the one where they actually get out of the car but don’t go in the front door…

I’ve heard similar, but I think it’s the valuation that he was referring to. The homebuyer’s is a 30+ page report. Half of it is cut ‘n’ paste, granted!

Hmm,old house has cracks,movement and not everything is level,now that’s a surprise

I’d have a thorough read of the T and C’s of the report and get an RICS surveyor’s opinion of them,survey the house or make the necessary repairs and put it down to experience

I’m not really that surprised tbh, even as a naive first-time buyer taken in by the character. But it still should have been noted by the surveyor.

Here’s a picture of one of the walls in question. You can see the drop in the middle and the sloping lintels. None of the defects here were specifically listed in the report. The flooring was given an ‘A (green)’ grade. It’s not a wide-angle lens, the distortion you see is real, not the camera…

The structural engineer asked if he was looking in the right house. I sometimes wonder. 😆

The local woodland trust lady who does most of the thankless work, work that a lot of people just take for granted, in woods bought by individuals that have got off their backsides

I can’t argue with this, but for the record, I have volunteered to help out a number of times at local woods in our area, some woodland trust, some not. I was also very open that I am a cyclist that would like to give something back. For some reason, they never seem interested in my help. Maybe the management would feel as if they were fraternising with the enemy 😉

In hind-sight I would have rather spent the £600 on paying a qualified various tradesmen to do the job rather than a surveyor!

Me too, but it’s our first house and I didn’t know any tradesmen before this fiasco. On good terms with a number now! 😉

How old’s the house??

Built circa 1900

However you need to check very carefully what your contract covers, and if that contract is a fair reflection of industry standards.

Solid advice, thanks muchly.

If it is historic settlement and has stopped then you do not need to underpin and you can just make good the defects. Need to monitor the cracks for ongoing movement and for this you will need a building surveyor or a structural engineer. In fact they might be your best call anyway.

Gets a bit more complex. Basically one of the walls has dropped due to poor soil conditions. Our builder found a void that runs under one of our exterior wall foundations that needs to be filled which is possibly linked to this. This has yet to move, so wouldn’t necessarily have been spotted. However, the interior wall has and is in very poor condition. This needs underpinning as well.

The structural engineer we had in subsequently has said pretty much what you have said actually.

Thanks br, but I think you’ve missed the point. The surveyor is still instructed to spot visible faults regardless of whether it’s a homebuyer’s or structural. It shouldn’t stop them from being responsible for spotting visible structural issues (that aren’t hidden) which in this case they missed.

You could probation try and use the surveyor to sure up the foundations.

Sir, I like your style… we are talking about burying the surveyor, right? 😈

Well, here’s the snag! It wasn’t a structural, it was a homebuyers ‘report’. Still a survey, carried out by a qualified surveyor. Which, from what I now gather, doesn’t hold as much water and is a massive arse covering exercise. 🙄

😯

The Woodland Trust have become really quite negative about biking in our area of Kent. I don’t know whether it’s an area manager that has a particular grudge, but signs have appeared everywhere. After politely getting in touch to express my thoughts, I received a rather patronising email in return.

They basically said that they don’t like jumps being built (fair enough) but it’s usually when schoolkids get busy in the holidays… Nothing to do with 95% of the cyclists enjoying the woods who are now banned.

Needless to say, they are no longer on my Christmas card list! 😛

Go and have a play with one of the new Windows 8 phones and see if you like it. The operating system is (imho) much better than iOS (iPhone) and Android. I design apps and have plenty of apple and android gear in my house, so I have a vague idea of what I am talking about.

Downside is that the app store isn’t as burgeoning as the other players at the moment, but if you have a play with a Lumia and HTC 8x you will see that it’s not the end of the world. The phone hardware and overall experience is spot on.

However, Strava isn’t out there yet, apart from this third party app so that might rule it out straight away.

Within 12 months time it will have eaten into android and iOS share quite nicely and developers will be churning out apps.

Cheers for the heads up. Good to watch if you’re into id games like I was back in the day…

Quake 1 and Doom 3 were my personal faves…

even a high end litho press only prints at around 200dpi and (paper dependant) often around 170dpi so a 100% (ie same size) scan at 400 dpi will give perfect results – remember, it isn’t just the resolution that matters but the quality of the scan.

In true STW style this seems either badly written or misinformed – sorry, Johndoh 😉

You will need to scan the illustration in at up to 2000dpi, 1200dpi would suffice. Then clean up in Photoshop and supply at 600dpi as a tif or pdf. Pdf isn’t really necessary here as it’s a raster scan and not a vector graphic.

Even the printer Neil is using requests a minimum of 600dpi for raster format supply.

You should get the artwork recreated as a vector graphic for the best print result unless it’s a detailed illustration in which case a 2000+dpi scan is your best bet.

Scanning existing labels probably won’t give you great results, but it depends what you are trying to achieve.

Have you got a photo of the label artwork you can email or post on here so we can get an idea of what it is?

Cheers.

Neverending Story
Labyrinth
Krull
Dark Crystal
Alien/Aliens…

Actually I’m quite surprised my parents let me watch Alien/Aliens as a 9 year old. Still, loved it at the time!

There’s some decent riding around T Wells area, but a car is your best bet.

If it’s dry/frosty check out Bedgebury, which is about 15 mins drive for some fast Singletrack riding.
Sevenoaks/Seal Chart/Ightam is just down the road and has some great stuff if you can find a local to show you the hidden trails.
Friston/Swinley/Surrey Hills are under an hours drive.
Alternatively hook up with someone on the sketchy boards (although it’s mostly East Kent): http://www.sketchymtb.co.uk/Blah.pl

I would offer to show you around, but I’ve been off the bike for a while due to health reasons.

Email me if you need any help.

Patriotpro’s list is a good guide. From those games I would suggest you try:

Forza – because everyone I know raves about it being an addictive and gorgeous driving game
Alan wake – it has a deep, twisting and dark plot, with some lovely graphics and good pacing. If you ever liked twin peaks you’ll love this.
Portal2 – a thinking man’s first person game. Great graphics, brilliant humour and massively satisfying gameplay. It’s an absolute must.
Lego games for coop – as above.

If you aren’t a seasoned gamer I wouldn’t bother going for halo, bf3, gears of war. Not because they aren’t amazing games – they are. It’s just that they are challenging, not very deep and if you play online you will likely be beaten endlessly by kids that are much, much better than you (do I sound bitter?)

There are sooo many more games worth playing once you have done these. Have fun!

‘geologists go deeper’ -that one never gets old

I went with my gf a couple of years ago. My little fella clearly knew what was happening as he was shrivelled up like it was -20. Cue me having to stretch him out to a more regular size in front of the nurse so I could open up for the swab. She then proceeded to to jab me with it in a ‘shut up and deal with it’ kind of way, clearly getting the angle wrong and causing sharp discomfort. Hurt to pee for a couple of days.

Got the all clear. Worth it for peace of mind.

Tazzy I think you are going to be hunted down with pitchforks and burned at the stake for that comment 😈

Well I guess that’s case closed then? 😀

Yep. Fair enough. The cynic in me says the same too. But there are those out there that swear otherwise. I’m curious if anyone has had an experience of one and walked out thinking ‘bugger, that’s 20 quid I could have spent on beer’ or ‘Christ that was a freaky experience’… Rather than being pre-judgmental?

Rockhopper – where are you? Think my mum has a clavinova she might be looking to sell in the north Hampshire area. Can’t remember which model, I think it’s the clp123 or 260. Don’t think she’d be willing to let it go for £100, but it would probably be cheaper than eBay (300+)

Mail me if you want info/pics and I will ask her for shots. If anyone else is interested you are also welcome to get in touch.

Cheers

Christ! That thing is an accident waiting to happen! 😯

Pretty damn impressive though 😛

Not sure bashing her doors in yourself would be a good idea. Best let someone else handle that! 😉

Trail_rat +1

There are reasons why wood burners need to be properly installed. I can’t believe she lit it again!

It’s probably just the angle/lens, but has the front right of the property dropped a bit, or are my eyes deceiving me?

Are you planning on lifting any of the floorboards up to have a peek underneath?

Is she getting good advice on how to tackle the problem? 12 months is a long time to be off work. I’m not judging, as both myself and my mum have been in a similar position. Thankfully both of us are much better, but it’s been a long road. NHS help can be limited. Email me if there’s anything you want to discuss.

Brad needs to sort out his taste in music! Dire!

Yep. I’ve tried that Growacet. It’s the bollocks…
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Taxiiii!

Fell off my bike gunning it on the gap route a few years back in typical style of this type of injury I.e. hands out palm down first. Went into A&E and had it plastered the next day.

Two weeks later the consultant wasn’t sure if I had or hadn’t broken it so said come back in another three weeks.

When I returned another consultant (much younger) said that I hadn’t and that it was a bad sprain. Plaster was taken off and I used a flexible support for another 6 weeks.

Had periods of discomfort if I moved my hand in an awkward manner for the next 3 years or so, but for the last year it has been fine 99% of the time. Still wonder it was a minor fracture, just by the length of time it took to improve.

And

Adrian flux have been the most competitive for the last 2 years. Never had to claim *touch wood* so no idea what theyre like for that part of the process.

Bought from John Lewis in the end… 8)

PayPal do a phone app. Pay on the go?

Thanks guys.

Thought Boardman did an excellent job of being accessible for the non cycling viewers, yet at the same time factual enough to make it interesting for others. He clearly has respect for the mtbers, and his dry humour often makes me smirk.

Not sure what the complaints are all about, unless maybe the stw armchair experts are forgetting the target audience.

Yeah, don’t bother berm bandit. You’ll be struggling to keep your eyes open without matchsticks. As your tickets are virtually worthless, I’ll do you a favour and offer you 50p and as a brucie bonus throw in an out of date clif bar that i found down the back of the sofa. Deal, yeah?