I really enjoyed the stuff about the Wash. Very relaxing for breakfast. I’ve flown over that coast low several times and it really is like that.. impossible to tell where the sea ends and the land begins.

My CP at primary school was in the 1970’s. There we were all hand-signing round the playground, but it wasn’t enough: We had a tough local copper who failed the whole class! Never did get it after that 🙂

Wholemeal flour needs to have a very wet dough. IMO it’s best left almost as a sticky mass which you can stir (with a strong arm). Once it gets dry enough to be kneadable, it will be too dry, and will make a close crumbly bread.
Try and stick with the 100% wholemeal if you can. We mostly use Spelt flour these days which makes a lighter loaf despite 100%.

What about this 18 speed box?

http://www.pinion.eu/en/

Sounds like it’s a stud wall. Since you have messed up already by not really thinking ahead. Try the toggle clamps first, probably your easiest practical option. – But if that doesn’t work then here’s what I’d try :

Remove one tile adjacent to the fitting area of the screen. Make sure you have a new one, because you’ll break it up by getting it off.
Cut an arm sized hole in the centre of the removed tile area, but avoiding the tile edges. I hope you have big tiles..
Reach through and bond large 20mm plywood strips/pads to the areas you want to screw. Use a combination of a good quality woodworking glue plus some instant fixer (eg hot melt glue) to hold them while the proper glue sets.
Carefully re-drill (don’t push the drill too hard or you’ll might still push the wood off) and screw in screen with woodscrews (ideally stainless ones).
Replace the tile with a new one, using lots of tile cement, and covering the hole edges in the process, re-grout. (If you want to bond back the piece of loose Marmott backer first, try an epoxy glue).

Alternatively break through the plasterboad from the room behind and set a stud in the right place where it should have been before!

If you put anything which expands within a hole driled in the tile (ie any sort of plug), you will crack the tile 🙁
It needs to grip in the substrate. – So you do need some of that. – Wood is good.

Hammerite thinners.
Contains Xylene. Nasty stuff, carcinogenic, but it will take it off 100%.

I have one too. He lives in my compost heap and loves it in there. Always scarpers when I get the compost out but he’s soon back home afterwards.

Nice to see some wildlife.

I’ve done two. The first one was ~20 years ago in an old house where common sense ruled, and I’m not even sure if ther were any rules. Slapped in a steel registry plate to the old chimney and piped it in.

Three years ago I did another in my 1970’s house which had no chimney. Building regs approval was fairly straightforward. A quick drawing and some blurb about Part J and Noitces and the spec of my flue. Full twin wall internal flue. (I used Poujoulat). Take a careful read of PartJ from .gov.uk website. It’s not difficult to follow once you get into it, and means you will do it properly. Also when you ask your Building Controller, you will know more than him about the rules.. yes.

I’d say the opposite myself. With Rohloff, I think a change down on a steep climb is quicker and with less loss than with D’er. Slap it in at pedal TDC. I’ve never got stuck in the wrong gear on a slope. There’s not a D’er rider who can say that’s never happened to them, however good the plan. With the Rohloff the ease-off is so ultra quick, the pedals don’t stop. Never tried an Alfine mind you, so no comment there.

And anyway, if you keep full tourque on a D’er you often ask for it..

That right turn one happens more than anything else IMO. White van man gave me an earfull this morning as he swerved round me. Even more angry because he was “forced” to drive over the centre of the road with approaching traffic because I was 2 Metres from the kerb. The other bad one is then they tend to underpass. Once a stream of them start to accelerate up the inside then it can get quite scary sat next to the white line. I try to find the spot where no-one can get past either side, but it doean’t always work.

My wife does the school run on our tandem. I’ve just bought her TWO of those silly (but brilliant) lollipops. They are fitted now the very ends of the stoker handlebars, and my little girl pops them out both sides in traffic, and folds them back on the paths. It makes them a metre wide and has helped a lot.

There are council tips which will take if for free (only certain ones- phone up first). Basingstoke used to. If you take care and DIY it that’s the cheap way. I took an asbestos shed to the dump in my car. Handle it carefully, plastic and sticky tape. I guess a little water spray probably good if there are fresh breaks.

I find the sizing spot on. (Slim feet though). All my shoes are 45 including Shimano. They are a little snug when new, but when the padding squashes they fit fine for me. I wouldn’t buy a size up.

Plumbers like them because they are easier to install and probably give them better margins. You loose the tank which you might like, but might get fed up running off a lot of water waiting for some hot, especially if you just want to wash your hands in the bathroom. I can’t believe they are very efficient either, cutting in and out whenever anyone uses a hot tap. The thing will scarcely reach temperature, and won’t be running efficiently unless you are pouring a path.

And if you ever want some solar thermal on your roof (way to go), then forget it. Keep a tank.

Not for me.

I’d say yes. I rotate 3. Since a good bit of the wear comes from chain too long for the tooth gap, you do get a longer period at each stage of “wear”. I think it works. At the end you will be re-fitting chains which would otherwise skip all over on new gear, but which fit snugly on your worn stuff.

I am now on hub gear, and I do the same. Saves needing so much adjustment of the EBB. I only adjust EBB once every 3 chain swaps, and always fit the next shortest chain (hang them all together on a nail and choose the shortest), I rotate them about every ~200 miles. 3 chains (and 1 set of gear) are good for 3000 miles of daily surrey grit and no cleaning save the odd wipe when I lube (every day in winter).

Take a look here then re-evaluate what you could do with some tackle:
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/03/history-of-human-powered-cranes.html#more

So regs is just because of the fixed staircase is it? – When “storage” (ie a shelf with a ladder) becomes habitable space/room/needs building regs?

I have a lean-to extension underway with a high pitched roof. Not in plans, but there is enough height at one end for a big “storage/den” area with ladder access. Floor would be about 5sq M area. Ceiling above would be ~5’6″ max down to ~2’6″.

I am treating this currently as a “shelf” and have already put in the steels to support the floor. BC should have no interest I was thinking – or would they? I still need BC round anyway to sign off the rest of the work when it’s finished. I guess I should perhaps ask, but rather wouldn’t raise it if awkward BC might stop a fiendishly good plan. I am treating this (so far) as outside BC concern.

For any single earner family in £45..50K territory, it’s seriously worth looking at the work/life balance after this, for those of us who don’t see their family enough already. I’d seriously consider negotiating (say) 90% work, to get below the ~44k level and keeping the allowance. Overall loss would be probably 3..4k gross. So for probably ~ £35 a week net, I could get double the holiday, more family time, and probably help out my wife’s small craft business enough to make up the difference anyway.

Perhaps it’s a nice opportunity after all..

Rear Cycraguard:
[/url]
08102009193[/url] by mountaincarrot[/url], on Flickr

I think the Cycraguard is a good choice. Not the lightest by a fair margin, but all the others I’ve tried all broke off after a few weeks/months. The Cycraguard is solid.

Was quite nice with garlic toast.. the rest I dried for the winter

I got this yesterday:
[/url]
30092010403[/url] by mountaincarrot[/url], on Flickr

Been experimenting with mixing various thick waxes with various solvents to see what works best. Slather it on and wipe it off, like Rock’n Roll which is good but damn expensive. DIY cheapo version. Always needs a good shake.

So far so good, the solvent rinses out quite a lot of the daily grit. Petrol is a bit strong, but white spirit seems to do the job.

I don’t know anything which will reduce static and dynamic pressure of cold which is the problem. A NRV might block it, but likely as not there won’t be enough head from the loft tank in the hot line to operate a NRV in the forward direction. – By your admission, the reverse static pressure is bigger then the forward, so how will the NRV ever open? Even if it does, you might then get a very measly amount of hot in the mix, and it might not give you a a hot shower. If the cold is flowing back up the hot with the mixer turned off now, I’m fairly surprised you can actually have a hot shower at all.

The only proper way is to reconnect the cold from the loft header tank. Ideally it should have an independent feed from the tank to prevent pressure changes when someone turns on a tap elsewhere.

There is one shower brand I’ve seen that was a cold mains “powered” – effectively a power shower. Can’t recall the brand, but it uses cold mains water pressure as the energy source to pump the hot. The outcome is cold water “waste” at low pressure which you’d need to put into the drain.

I use them everywhere, but be careful. The cheap ones are sometimes nothing like as efficient as they claim.

I had one of those mains power meters. A set of 6x4Watt Ikea bulbs in my kitchen was using about 70 watts.

I have found branded ones much closer to their claims for power consumption.

Thanks guys. I'll take a look at those rowing ones. Otherwise it's out with the sewing machine. – I like the coathanger tip Epicyclo.
Rgds

Go for it. 270mm or more is well worthwhile. Toys19 is wrong.

I did the same and it made a really big difference. Even in the hot summer now the upstairs stays cool and never boils like before. Don't worry about vapour barrier provided you have some through ventilation in the loft and airspace above. Do seal the loft door carefully with gasket though.

If you put this lot in without good ventilation above, your stuff in the loft will get damp with winter condensation.

Another one for your kidney beans:
Just cooked beans 30-40 minutes, not squashy. (Never use disgusting canned beans – they are always horrible)

Grate a big lump of fresh ginger
Grate several cloves of garlic
Add good virgin olive oil. (Never use nasty oil – for anything – ever)
Add some Tamari
Add some cumin seed
Any herbs at all that you can find in the garden. Use lots.
Bit of chilli if you like it.

Mix it all in, leave to marinate for a time, eat cold.

Is there any point linking one to a gas boiler?

Solar yes. – If you can do it then go for it. I haven't got a special thermal store, but a big 210L solar tank and solar thermal since April. I have not used any gas at all for hot water since I got it in.

My boss doesn't know how to say "Innit" properly and ends half his sentences with a rather polite "Isn't it"..

Somehow looses something. I'm not sure if it's more or less annoying.

I had this discussion with my BC officer recently.

Yes, local Council asre obliged under Government rules to do the electrical inspections after your own DIY work (provided you have applied for BC and paid the standard fees), and the cost is covered by your standard BC fees you have already paid up front. Downside is that they then own all the information. For example if you are doing an extension, you will get a valid Completion Certificate, but you will not get anything to say your electrics has been signed off.
Also if the inspector does find any faults, they are obliged merely to tell you there is a fault, and not tell you what it is or where it is. Perhaps the latter depends on how pally the inspector is, but my BC put it that way to me.

I find it quite irritating that to comply with this, I spent many hours poring over IEE wiring regs. In the end I didn't have the time, and got the sparky's in. They were pretty good, but needed to be told (by me) in a few areas what the regs were, and also took some technical shortcuts which I (as householder/DIY'er) could have got hauled up on had I done the same myself. But at least now I don't have to get it inspected. I'm happy and so will be BC.

I use lengths of 2" x 5mm thick steel angle. Drill them for 10mm bolts to the wooden posts. Slap on some Waxoyl, conrete them in. They'll last ten times longer than metposts and very cheap, especially if you find a salvage yard for the steel.

I've used Blackl on and off. I might use it more now. http://uk.blackl.com/ or just make it my homepage instead of Google.

I would be interested to see just how much less power my monitor uses with black screen v white. (Who has a power line energy monitor – do tell us). But if everyone did it it'd probably save a nuclear power station or two.

Thanks, I didn't realize the taps were so easy to get. Guys at my work engineering shop might be able to drill them straight for me that for me.

Rgds

Nice if I could source the lefthand thread (and even the RH for the at matter..) tap

I was looking at an old pair of cranks in the scrapbox and eying up the hacksaw and jubilee clips last night. Kind of looks like a DIY bolt-on option might be bodged, but getting it all square and not wobbly would be a challenge

Ta, I'd seen that one. I'm sure they are great. £90 though

Yea, thanks wwaswas. It's a triple, so unfortunately that's not going to work. I am more after moving the pedal thread with a bolt-on gadget.

Those fangled gadgets which you wrap a wire with a little signal generator, or plumb in the magnetic coil thing. They really do help – for definite.

I was once sceptical, but it's not entirely snake oil. I got convinced some years ago when I lived in Cambridgeshire, and I always use them nowadays. Not a solution but a worthwhile improvement.

I'm in Surrey. My 2.35 KWP (It is actually 2.35 not 2.2) provides 1.98KW (I have never quite seen 2KW yet!) at middle of the day sun. As the roof is only 30 degrees angle (it is due South), I think that's a pretty good figure. The panels are Yingli's.