A good friend of mine had a spaniel. He was slightly asthmatic. His wife heard a thud upstairs and went to see what it was. He’s was unconscious on the landing. Not breathing. Paramedics turned up and his heart had stopped. They shocked him a few times to get him going. I read the transcript of the Paramedics conversation, it was very touch and go.
He’d be dead if he was in the house alone.

I’ve had this problem for years.
In general people that want you to work for free (usually family) and not just little jobs, are the first ones to shy away when you need a hand.
I fit kitchens and have fitted a full kitchen for free then to have asked for them to give me a hand and I’ve offered to pay them and they’ve took it. I’ve planned and priced jobs for them to take the plans to b&q and buy from there because it’s £300 cheaper and want me to spend the extra time building flat pack carcass for free so they can save money.
I could go on and on…………….
If it’s your job (self employed) charge the going rate and maybe 20% off the labour cost. (Parents and siblings excluded)
If your doing it out of hours (your employed elsewhere) maybe 50% off max.
I’m pretty sure the person wanting the work done would tell their boss to do one if they were asked to work extra hours for half pay!
Once you work for free for them they’ll expect the same for future jobs.

I’ve just moved out of my house that had a se 100.
Never had any problems with it.
Open both vents. Build a jenga block with kindling on top of a fire lighter. Light an leave the door on the open latch. Leave for 10/15 mins then add a few bits of soft wood. Once that’s blazing, shut the door and close the bottom vent. Add hardwood once the soft wood is glowing. Control with top vent.
If it’s struggling, open the bottom vent/door for a few minutes.

I don’t think permission is needed anymore for a loft conversion. Building regs still apply tho.
And £30k is a lot for 1 extra bedroom/bathroom.

I had an old petrol one 1999 I think and a brand new 07 (new shape) diesel.
Never had any problems with either.

Pretty much the same as YoKaiser
Bob Haro being the no 1, but any of the old school bmx team.
Got to meet most of them at a kellogs bmx tour when I was about 14.

I don’t use the DIY site to order from them

I’ve posted this many times before.
Bq, wickes, homebase etc, the quality is ok but the design/damages/after service is shocking and you have to pay upfront.
IKEA is very querky to say the least!
I stay clear of them all if I’m asked to fit them.
Howdens is generally geared towards builders, they hold stock and can deliver usually within 24 hrs. I’ve fitted hundreds of Howdens kitchens. Quality is fair but they don’t age as well as others. There own branded appliances are poor and the price difference from branch to branch can be huge.
DIY kitchens – I’m a trade account holder with them (Ultima furniture) get your design sorted and you can’t go wrong.
I’ve 2 kitchens in my house and there both from Ultima.

I fit kitchens for a living.
Diy kitchens gets my vote. I use their trade side company all the time.

Best form of self defence. Is not to be there in the first instance. Second is to get the **** away if some thing kicks off.
Ive also walked out of a bar in defence of a friend, I got glassed, very lucky for me, it hit me in the shoulder and there was no damage, 6″ higher and it would have been my face, ended up scrapping in a pub doorway with 2 blokes whilst the friend I tried to help done runner!
Do whatever martial art you enjoy, it’s a slim chance your going to get beaten up on the street and it’s better to know something than not, just don’t think your a Bruce lee style super hero just because you’ve got a coloured belt, be it red or black!

Your traditional karate is pretty poor I agree. It has its place but as a defence system, not really effective.
The club I train at is a mix of karate/boxing/tkd/kick boxing. We do a little bit of grappling but not a lot, not as much as I’d like, I used to do judo as a kid and its still there. Also boxed but not competitively.
I’ve a mate who’s son trains at a local karate club, he’s a brown belt (15 years old) and has never ever done any sparring. My daughter trained from 7 and was sparring within about a year.
Hora. What type of fighting style would have stopped the beating you got?

I’ve been doing karate for about 8 years. I’ve had my week, never mind day ended numerous occasions by that exact kick. A shifting side kick is even more brutal.
We sometimes train to step into it and take it on the arm before the leg is fully extended. After 3/4 hits I know I’m going to be black and blue for a while.

Those foam things have been out for a while. They used to be called j bars.
All they will do is possbly make the heel more snug in the boot, heel lift is easily sorted with a few tweaks in technique.
You should be able to wiggle your toes on a toeside turn. If not your likely “standing up” and gripping with your toes which will give you heel lift.

I generally fit kitchens as well as a few other things.
Had a little rascal, then a hiace. Got a trafic lwb high roof now but it due to be be replaced.
I wouldn’t have a van that I couldn’t stand up in.
Nv400 is going to be my next purchase.

I’ve just had a roof done on a house in building. Not a drop of mortar anywhere.
It’s a good system that is taking over the traditional bedding on sand/cement.

So 6 weeks into the job. You must have started mid December.
Office shuts for 3 days over Xmas and you want paid holidays for that time whilst everyone else has had to accrue their hols over the year.
Current holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks per year.
5:6 X 5 working days = 28 days of paid holiday.
28/52 weeks is about half a day a week.
Your owed a day if they run their holidays January to December.

Correct, it has to be annealed.
Heat it up slowly, aluminium melts from the inside out, as mentioned a bit soap is a good pointer.
Allow to cool and then bend.

Solafold in Gateshead has just done my house (self build) Windows, huge sliding doors and front door.
Not sure how far he’d travel tho.

I served my time as a plater (heavy steel fabrication) so I’ve been welding for 30 years.
I bought a sip set for about £250 and it was a pile from the day I got it.
Last year I bought a second hand snap on set off eBay for £350 and it’s bloody great!
I’d imagine the clarke to be in the same league as the sip.

Cheapest way 100/170 wool insulation.
Easiest way kingspan/celotex sheet.
Leave both resting on the wall plate to allow air flow.

“We had to provide indemnity cover for the flat we sold with cheap (perfectly good) non-FENSA windows”

You can’t get non fensa windows, a window is a window. It’s like saying you can only use NICEIC cable.
It’s a scheme/con that supposedly assures you get a correct job.
I think the BC route is about £120 for an inspection.

Fensa is basically a competent person scheme. Same as the NICEIC is for electrical work.
Not all fensa contractors make their own windows. They buy them from a upvc window co and fit them.
If your happy with the windows that are to be fitted, the BC route is perfectly fine.

There’s lots of good restaurants in bansko but my favourite was the steak house on the left, just past the sports bar/strazhite hotel where perin st splits. Been a few years since I was over there tho but went about 7years in a row.
The restaurants down towards to old town (right at the sports bar) were always better than the ones by the gondola.
I’m sure bansko sports Paul (aka winterfunman) has a guide he emails out.

I was just repeating your good advice!

Can you not remove stopcock. From there pipe to where ever you want the stopcock and then re-pipe back to where the stopcock was?

http://www.norbord.co.uk/view.php?mode=products&page=19

Used this and it works.

A friends daughter and boyfriend was on a few weeks ago. Ended up with a huge front neck cover to hide a Roman numeral date of birth error. Someone got the dates wrong.

I’m post Xmas holidays an in my head I’m quitting. Not a big drinker but when I go out its usually a big one, 12 hours or so. Most of it I don’t remember.
The only drink I really enjoy is a couple of cold bottles before a meal. But because it’s in the house a couple can turn into 6+, but it if it’s not there it’s not a miss.
Lost a few old mates over the last few years to alcohol (mid 40’s) and the sad reality is there’s a few more to go over the next few years.

I’ve got a tipster and love it. There is nothing boring or dull about. It might not look as flashy as a new carbon jobby but it gets lots of admiration.
For me it’s a bike that does nearly everything I want apart from what I use my mtb for.
Head out on road, bit of bridle way, explore a few singletracks then back on the road home.

I get the piste milage thing as I’ve spent time riding with skiers. It’s 2 different disciplines of a similar sport. But I do much prefer being with a small (2/3) group of similar ability snowboarders.
I also prefer small resorts as you can lap the same run, picking out all the natural hits and practice different things, you struggle to do that when every run is a new line.

I’ve been looking for a while. Im looking for full zoning of every rad/ufh zone. 12 in total. Honeywell evo is ticking all the boxes at the minute.

[what works for you and your tenants is no longer working for society nor the financial system as a whole]

So its working fine for me and my tenants but I should sell up and put them on the streets just beacause some landlords are getting it wrong?

I’ll send the mother in law round to your house then 😀

I’m a landlord.
3 Small comercial shops, rented out to 3 small businesses.
2 flats, 1 rented to a friend that has split with his wife and walked out leaving everything, 1 rented to a young first property couple that are a family friend.
2 small houses, 1 rented to my Mother in law, bought because she was shafted by the local council after working as an in house care home manager for 18 years, she had a house but sold it when she was given the job as she was promised the pick of social housing when she left, you can guess the rest. The other rented to a couple in their late 60’s, they had a house but have sold it and are spending the £120k wisly, mainly holidays I think.
I dont make alot of money (the MIL’s house I lose about £80 pcm, but I didn’t want her to be stuck in a run down 1 bed flat so I just suck it up) by the time repairs/insurance/checks/interest/tax/etc are taken out but its a little bit extra for all the hassle of sorting everything out.
I haven’t put any of the house rents up in over 10 years, my cost have remained constant so the rent has reflected that, the shops rent went up £40pcm each in 10 years as the insurance has increased by quite alot.
Remind me how I’m a “greedy and parasitic landlord”

Missed that one!

I can see both sides tbh.
I do karate (more a mix of kickboxing/boxing/tkd/karate). One of the instructors is a 6 times WAKO word champion and there is quite a few European/British champions also. Some students drift into MMA, some into K1, but it’s mostly the ones that want to fight aggressively, not competitively. A young lad I’ve trained with for a good few years has 2 British K1 titles.
But.. Put them back into club sparring (no takedowns or leg kicks) and they become average. I can out point the K1 fighter but would I **** get in a ring with him!

Horses for courses.

[/quote]Personally I wouldn’t use them without additional strain relief, you’d need a lot of pressure to deform a 2.5mm single core enough to give reasonable pull resistance, and if you crimp over too narrow an area with too much pressure, you just crop the crimp in half as they’re very cheaply made.

I did a 12 week domestic installers course about 10 years ago and crimps were the preferred method of connection by the NICEIC at the time if it wasn’t going to be accessible. Jb’s have a tendency to work loose.
I prefer wago connectors but they can be too bulky if trying to fix or extend a cable that’s in a wall.

Nothing wrong with crimps if fitted correctly, classed as a permanent connection that can be buried in walls or floors.

I’ve a 14 year old patterdale that crossed with something, not quite sure tho.
Had him since he was 8 weeks. He’s chilled out now but was a monster until a couple of years ago.
Would, and prob still will, fight any dog that showed a morsel of aggression towards him, been quite embarrassing over the years watching Rottweilers and staffies being chased by him. Has had a very particular thing for boxers for some strange reason? Doesn’t chase cats or birds etc.
Would attack/kill anything that came to harm my daughter or my van (I wouldn’t put my hand through an open window if he was in it)
But apart from all that, he’s loyal, never leaves my side when I’ve got him out, very rarely on a lead unless I spot a boxer and I’m sure he can understand English.
Would have another without doubt.

The picture from underneath suggests it’s solid wood.
28mm is available (I’ve fitted it once and it buckled after cutting it to suit a Belfast sink)
Wouldn’t fit it again unless straight runs.