We aren’t even allowed to use hands free (I have voice activated phone in my Focus) while driving for work. Apparently studies done that say hands free can be just as distracting and likely to cause accident. I use it on personal time with my personal phone but only rarely now.

It’s nice to be free of the phone while driving.

I remember seeing one of those police camera stop type programs (a more serious version I think) and the experienced traffic officer on it was saying it’s the biggest problem they face and he had seen so many accidents because of phone use. I suppose when you’ve seen people mangled beyond recognition all because someone was using their phone you tend to gain a bit better perspective on it. 🙁

I wouldn’t go to Turkey, and for the same reasons, Egypt. Firstly I don’t think I could forget about the risk of terrorism, even though it’s pretty small. Secondly friends (mixed race couple, him white, her black, kids in between duh!) were treated terribly by locals as he was a white guy who dared to walk hand in hand with a black woman. Their words to describe how they felt was enough to put me off.

What’s random and outdated about miles? Nothing wrong with it as a unit of measure. It’s what most people use.

Ranting on about miles being outdated sounds just as bad as the people complaining about the other way round.

Diagram of how you’ve wired the new cables might help.

If the room light works ignore it, it’s 2 separate switched, yes?

Why on earth have they used KM anyway? Seems a dumb decision.

Anything at SJS?

Expensive though. 🙁

Likely to be 25.4 as a British bike (some road bikes were 26mm but more likely European brands).

If I were you I’d look on eBay or Rose bikes for a steam and bar set up. You can get lots of 1 inch stems and groovy sit up and beg bars for not much money.

“Daddy you know you shouldn’t tickle me, you know my tickle circuit is connected to my trump circuit!

Thats REALLY dangerous if it is common to all!!

My brother (PeterPoddy) and I find Mr Brown saying hello the best thing in the world.

I think I am better in my bum trumpeting than my brother, I have reduced him to helpless tears on a number of occasions, rocking on the floor like a baby, due to my anal fog horn abilities.

I was worried recently I had lost the ability to make smelly trumps. However a recent bout of pant coughs (paaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh or ffffssssstttttt!!) so eye wateringly toxic NATO became involved I could relax and stop worrying. Which also helped things too!

Mind your own business!

It’s nothing to do with me or anyone else what he does, his personal life is his business. If it came out that he did………SNIP

Sounds like the herb at least makes you oddly overly offensive. 😉

Anyway, Looks like a great ride, like I used to ride when I was younger – having fun and playing around rather than concentrating on sector times and distance. 🙁

Insist they wear ear protection too even when only practising for a few minutes. A friend of mine is a professional sound engineer and guitarist and won’t not use them when he’s working and his kids wear them all the time when they are practising – he’s seen too many people with tinnitus!!

If they are in Huddersfield area I can recommend someone who I would trust with my family. Any good?

Use a local company, not one of the big nationals. Even Which magazine recommends that.

There is no way they can give you an accurate quote without measuring all the windows and agreeing a design with you. They would have to go away and send a quote to you once they had calculated it.

If they came to my house and didn’t measure anything I wouldn’t employ them, full stop.

I’ve never experienced any of the issues with Virgin that people describe on here, neither has anyone I know. Virgin quite well installed in Huddersfield so most people I know are on it and very happy.

I’ve just signed up for a basic TV and TiVo package, with home phone line and 50mb internet for £31 a month.

Spent until midnight last night trying to finish bathroom. So many small niggly bits to ensure everything done. Looks no different but I spent 4 hours tracking a small leak and replacing the CRAP speedfit connections with Hep2O ones which I love.
Repaired missing grout (might not use that tiler again -hmm).
Sealed round edge of floor with clear silicone
Cleaned window with UPVC solvent – wow that stuff makes you happy but it works amazingly.
Sealed up shower plate.

Also sealed off chimney in lounge properly (it has a vent so don’t panic) to stop droughts.
Annoyingly I bought some slate sealer for the hearth I put in the lounge. Works fine but when I opened it and smelled it it is obviously boiled linseed oil in a fancy bottle which they charged me £7.50 for. Hmmm. Lesson learnt!!

Makes sense to make your journey as useful as possible! Hopefully ensures it doesn’t get damaged on the way too. 😉

Dire Straits – Alchemy Live
Pink Floyd – The Wall (Live)
Strung Out – Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

Would be hard choosing a fifth!!

It looks a lot smaller….. 😉

My wife is an artist so I leave all colour decisions to her. She could be an interior designer, it always ends up looking amazing.

If floor is 60m2 then that’s a 10m x 6m room. Or other multiples that make 60. Which is massive.

Think about it. 2.5kw is a 2.5 bar electric fire to heat that whole room. That doesn’t sound like enough to me.

I’ve asked my brother – surely we can do a pony express sort of thing to help out??

It’s not perfectly level but it’s better than it was. I had to cut 2 holes through the hardiebacker board and they were tiled around and it turns out they weren’t perfectly vertical. I can’t get it any better but in real life it looks ok.

I have the same problem in my new kitchen diner. Hang the normal online calculators I get a requirement ofaout 10,500 BTU. It’s a big room – 7.5m long and between 4.5 and 3m wide. I can only put rads in certain places so I’m going for a big one under the window of around 9000 BTUS and another opposite of around 3000 BTUS. Don’t know if that is the best way to go but I reckon that’ll give nice even heat around the room.

I have so many sanders I’ve lost count, 1/3rd and 1/2 sheet, detail sanders in various types, belt sanders etc – I used to work in a big DIY store so got quite a few dirt cheap.

I recently bought a cheap B+Q random orbital sander for £45 and its the best sander I’ve ever bought. I have rigged it so my Henry hoover extracts the dust and I can sand pretty much most things and it produces no dust. I go through a fair amount of sanding sheets but they are cheap to buy at Screwfix. The main difference I have found is that they can sand really quickly, almost as good as a belt sander, but leave no sanding marks. I’ve used mine for skirting/doors/windowledges etc. You can’t get right into corner but a small sheet sander can be used for a few seconds afterwards to get into those intricate parts.

I reckon I’d do a small/medium room floor with my sander without too much trouble if the boards were in ok condition. If the floor had cupped boards or was particularly large I’d hire in a floor sander though.

If my B+Q sander ever gives up I’d consider a more expensive one but for £45 it does an amazing job.

(one caveat – it comes with some sanding discs included but they don’t stick very well, but the Screwfix ones stick perfectly)

Senor J – I tend to take time off to help the professionals. I have a chat with them and say I am there to help them as much as I can and be there to make decisions so they don’t have to assume things which later I don’t like.
I always say I like working with them to learn things myself but I don’t correct them – just ask questions. With the builder I said in advance I would be there to labour for them and we had a good time doing the work in the end – I have learnt most trades like to take the mick constantly so I set myself up to be the butt of their jokes!!

I’ve read a lot of threads on here from tradesmen who explain what annoys them about clients and tried hard not to be one of those annoying clients!!

I reckon with this approach I get a really good job done, save money and gain knowledge. Even being nice and helpful to people like cable installers (Virgin) can help – I got a much neater install in my house helping them out.

Saved me a lot of money in the end – at least £2k – and gained a couple of friends and sources of advice!

Yes DIY Kitchens, impressed with quality to be honest but they messed up delivery a bit but they did sort in the end.

The bathroom has been very trying. I’ve never put an inset shower in before, I’ve had leaks all over (nothing major though) and the sink tap was faulty and took me ages to sort out.

However the sink is now finally usable. I don’t know why I struggle with sinks so much but they seem to hate me. Toilets in comparison are easy!

Quite chuffed with how it’s turned out so far.

“You’re **** shitting me?”

Well skip was £200 (used that for other stuff too though) and beam was £120 on top. Plasterboard was probably £100 I did that myself and plastering was probably £150 for the bit where wall was removed.

I removed electrics and plumbing that were in the way.

Calcs were £300 IIRC and regs application was £200 I think
EDIT: builder says it was a 5 day job for 2 people but as i prepped it all beforehand and laboured for him it only cost me 3 days for one person.

Me working on the kitchen:

Bit different from this!!!

For the first time I’m actually looking forward to moving in. There has been some very dark days when I seriously did not think I would ever move in, especially when I had no running water, no kitchen, no bathroom etc etc.

I’ve only employed a plumber for £1k (inc £450 worth of pipework!) to re-plumb the house – could have done 80% myself but it would have taken weeks rather than the 3 days it took him. I had to employ an electrician to install a new ring for the kitchen and put all the cables in for the extra sockets I put in every single room (I chased out, did 1st and 2nd fix on all the sockets (checked by electrician) and did all the repairs afeterwards to make good) and the new dist board. I have now got multiple sockets in my workshop now though and an outdoor socket (which is awesome BTW!).

I restored all the interior doors myself and installed new handles and catches, installed all the bathroom and all rads.

£400 for a plasterer, £3500 for new windows and composite door, £350 for builder to remove supporting wall and install lintel.

I have learnt and done 1st and 2nd fix electrics and plumbing, rendering, plasterboarding, wood restoring…..

And how to self medicate physio for a ruined back – not surprisingly!!

looks good, where in west yorks are you?

Huddersfield

That’s a lot bigger than 4.5m2, unless you’re referring to the window?

I meant 4.5m by 4.5m length by width!

Bathroom is nearly finished. Went for an Edwardian style which matches the house age. Inset Bristan shower and taps etc. Went for dark grey grout (which looks black and the tiler HATES dark grout!) and it looks ace.

Floor now down and new column radiator in. I love a nice warm bathroom so this one is a bit big for the room but it looks ace, got it for £150 new but online they are £400 at their cheapest so a bit of a bargain.

This is the main bedroom, now got carpets and curtains (not shown) in now.
4.5m2 – pretty big

The windows at the back of the house like this one were ok, just needed a cleaning and resealing.

Lovely view out over the woods.

We want lounge, 1 bedroom and bathroom done before we move in and we are nearly there!!

Update!

Lounge is done. New windows fitted – they look amazing and even though they have more vertical bars in them the room feels so much lighter. And quieter.

Fireplace all ready for a wood burner but we can’t afford one right now. New rad and electric sockets, all original wood restored in doors and window surround and skirting. Carpet in too!

DT78 – I got a 3 dimmable bulbs for the lounge which are those fancy filament style ones then a leading edge LED dimmer switch to match. Seems to work really well.

While I don’t agree with the damage done it certainly was a quick street court hearing and subsequent punishment metered out!

Probably will think twice about doing it again to another female.

“If you are OK with your current bills, why stress about saving another tenner a month.”

A tenner a month would be great! If I can save that I’d be happy.
As I completely renovating the house I’m putting LED lights everywhere, planned heating system to be efficient, making sure everything is insulated ok etc etc.

I have no problem being billed more at certain times of the day if it gets to that.
British Gas are doing a free electric on a Saturday daytime which would work well for me to put dryer on in winter. We aren’t typical energy users anyway so timed charging would be ok for us.

It’s a new bigger house we are buying so I’d like to see how we use energy in it as it’s very different from our last house.

When I had to get older building regs docs for my last house it was going to cost a fair bit from the local council for anything that wasn’t online already. They wanted to charge me £70 but I argued it should be only £20 in the end.

Best to speak to neighbours, especially if there is any elderly ones around. Use it as a chance to get to know them and offer help to them if they ever need it too. Might be nice for them for you to pop round for a cuppa and a chinwag about the street!

I got a couple of photos from neighbours of our last place and a full run down of who lived there over the last 50 years! Difficult to know what it might have looked like in the past – maybe there is a house which has been kept nearby on same street with its original features you could check out.

Agreed, septic tanks shouldn’t need emptying really. But people put all sorts of stuff down them (baby wipes, sanitary towels, nappies) as well as harsh chemicals which kill all the bugs which help decompose the waste so they invariably need emptying regularly.

A house we lived in previously hadn’t theirs emptied often but my parents never emptied it as they were careful as to what went down the drains.

Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy a full Shimano hub to use for spares.