Prawny: Drumnadrochit is quite good for riding. Cnoc a ‘ Bhuachaille is the hill you see covered in forestry behind the carpark. There is lots of singletrack in there and around Craig Mony, mainly on the north east facing side of the hill. No particular routes, worthwhile just going and farting around. Last time i was there i made my way up to the top by heading to the south side of the hill and climbing up the fire road to the crossroad at approx NH486289, then turned west to head back down the hill. There is a bike trail that runs down the hill adjacent to the forestry track. It starts on the left hand side of the track near the top and is easily missed. Nothing too difficult, nice easy flowy trail.  At the end you can cross the field to Craig Mony, there are trails coming down from the fort on to the GGW.

Out and back along Glen Coiltie to Loch Aslaich, Simple enough LRT, nice scenery and you will have it all to yourself. Starts just off the GGW at Drum

Out and back From Drum to Corrimony through Glen Urquhart (Affric-Kintail Way).There is a Chambered cairn there and you could also ride on to the Corrimony nature reserve if you fancy some photgraphy.

Further up the loch at Abriachan there are bike trails, but also many other trails. A particular favourite of mine is to park at the Clansman hotel on the A82 and ride up and over Carn na Leitire into Abriachan, do the trails, then back up and over the hill for a bloody good descent back. The path starts in the woods to the right of the hotel, brutal start to the ride though, it starts steep.

All the bike trails at Abriachan are marked out on OS maps, as are all other trails and paths in the area. It’s worth coming off the bike trails up there to discover the other things they have done with the area.   There are loads of shelters (reconstructed illicit whisky still/iron age style roundhouses/ bothy type structures) and cool quirky things scattered all over the hill.

Heading south from Invermoriston, there used to be bits of trails in the woods behind Jenkins Park in Fort Augustus, Not sure if they are still there though. Also the South loch Ness way can be ridden from the Fort to Foyers, Nice scenery, easy enough riding. Falls of Foyers are awesome. There is a few wee lochs on the way with plenty of bird life, Slavonian Grebes are regular visitors to some.

Do you have a carbon monoxide alarm ragnarok? If you have had the boiler serviced every year, your gas engineer should have supplied and installed an alarm. If not, i’d be asking questions about that too.

antidisestablishmentarianism

The nut or the whole threaded rod will need to be removed, then both plastic bends need to be removed (see below) and the tap and tails will come out in one.

The copper tails will need to come out with the tap. New ones will be supplied with new tap. Do not re-use the old tails for ease, it will only end up leaking.

The plastic bends can be removed by opening the nut a wee bit, then push down on the round collar on top of the nut and pull bend downwards. Pushing down on the ring releases the grip ring inside the fitting.

New taps may have flexi pipes in which case you will need 2 of these or similar: https://www.screwfix.com/p/hep2o-hx29-15ws-adapt-brass-male-socket-x-15mm/5970f

Just remove bends and fit these, flexi’s will screw straight on to the threaded end.

If new taps have copper tails, they may need to be cut.I can’t tell by your photo if that’s the case. They will need to be cut with a proper pipecutter for going back in to the bends, otherwise you could damage the o-ring in the bend.

When you get a new tap, the tails screw in by hand, do not try to spanner them up, hand tight is sufficient.

If you can get the same tap you can just replace the spout. Good practice to grease the o-rings with silicone lubricant first though. They don’t always come well lubed. Not spray type either, gel type lube is better.

The sink hole is a standard size so any monobloc tap should fit, just take note of what type of hoses/pipes come off the tap.

There are nice trails in every direction round here, what type of ride do you want? Downhill? Scenic? Pootle?

It’s been a long time since i fitted one, but i’m sure it’s actually a sanivite that you want for kitchen. They have the NRV built in. The sink trap stops smells coming up from the pump unit and there is a NRV on the pump outlet. I don’t think you need any more, i could be wrong though. They have a built in macerator too.

Can’t see a problem with that.

Fit a trap to the sink waste as normal to stop smells.

Are you sure it can’t go in as normal? You would only need about 100mm fall over 5m.

eta: Yes just a saniflo type macerator is all that is required.

Are you power casting? I don’t use a leader on my cod fishing rig. 100lb braid mainline straight through to an 80lb pulley rig with 60lb hooklength. 7-8 oz weights. Fishing from the rocks on the east coast of Scotland, a wee short 30-40 yard lob to get in to the cod, so i don’t feel the need for a shockleader. I would think a uni knot on both lines would be pretty good.

The only serious problem regarding biscuits is when i run out. :-)

To relieve pressure you can turn the red knob above the pressure gauge, it has a spring return so you only need to turn a tiny amount anti-clockwise and hold until it reaches 1 bar then just let go to stop.

I agree with hatter above, tried all sorts of traps and the pest stop are definitely the best ones.

Leave them out hatter, they will come back. I can get 2 or 3 in a night for 3 nights then nothing for a week.

Good things about the pest stop traps is single hand operation for setting trap, and same for removing the dead mouse without needing to touch it. Also, never need to re-bait as the bait sits in a cup below the platform which activates the trap and the mouse never actually reaches it.

I used little nippers before and the mice can remove bait from them with ease. Not sensitive enough.

One of my local bakers sells this stuff:
https://www.artisanroast.co.uk/products/janszoon

Love it!

Does that not say ‘fitted up’?

I have seen many old signatures in my time, oldest was from 1887.

Found a perfect condition newspaper from 1828 buried in a lathe and plaster wall before too.

If carrying waste as GD mentions above, you will need a waste carriers licence. The authorities are really trying to clamp down on this so there are a lot of spot checks going on in industrial estates etc of vans over the last few years. There has been a large number of folk getting fines local to me due to not having a licence.

Waste Brokers will require you to have one before allowing you to dump your waste with them also.

ETA: Licence cost me about £200 2 years ago, about the same for 1 fine. i think it lasts for 4-5 years before needing renewed.

When i changed from a Truvativ stem to an Easton Haven 6 years ago, i noticed a massive difference in stiffness. Especially when riding up short sharp techy climbs and you’re pulling hard on the bars. It’s something i would never have thought would make much difference before changing,but it does, night and day.

Merchant – you said 6lb line and 18 hooks. If you didn’t say he should use them, why did you suggest getting them? Confused.

I only do sea fishing but i think the hooks Merchant mentioned already have the appropriate line attached, usually about 350mm long, which then gets tied to your mainline (6lb).

IME / IMO the best way to stop mice is to remove their food sources. they are getting food somewhere in your house or else they wouldn’t be there.

Only partially true. They usually come into houses at this time of year looking for warmth and safe nesting places. I have found them nesting in various places in and around my property. From the deafening material on the underside of my van bonnet to a rucksack in my loft and even inside the dust collection bag of my electric planer, which was inside a closed box, inside a locked van. There are none whatsoever inside the house itself as the house is well sealed. There are no food sources available to them anywhere on my property other than the kitchen cupboards. They do like the spare bits of pipe insulation that i store in my garage though, all chewed up in little piles below the rack i put them on.

Buy a couple of 3/4 blanking caps/nuts (same thing, different name) to stick in your toolbox. They have a rubber seal inside, perfect for rad valves, showers, washing machine valves, etc. Hand tighten and a gentle nip up with a spanner will do it

1/2″ blanking caps for modern TRV’s. Old Danfoss valves will be 3/4.

I have about 30 of each in my fittings box.

15mm compression blanks can be used on radiator tails also for ease of removal, obviously not flange type lockshield though, they would require 22mm.

Avoid that by removing the trv head

Valve will be fully OPEN if you do that!

Took a while to do 0-60 though.

From the text on that page.

As if hardly taking its own record attempt seriously, Koenigsegg proclaims in its own documentation of the event that the factory test driver, Niklas Lilja, did not even use full throttle until he had already reached 190 mph, so as not to stress the engine unnecessarily. The above video released by Koenigsegg supports this claim, with telemetry exhibiting a noticeable spike in acceleration around this speed.

0-60 in that video is about the same as my caddy van loaded with tools. :lol:

Why do you think people have so much trouble with leaky showers and black sealant?

I remove and refit 35-40 bathrooms per year. Pretty much every time the showers have been leaking the problem was as bear said further up the thread, especially in new builds. I have removed plenty of showers that have been fitted for 20+ years which have never leaked and have reasonably clean silicone. There’s no point trying to convince me as i have seen the evidence myself that properly applied (tooled with no water or finger involved) silicon will stand the test of time.

Top Causes for silicone going black and silicon failures? Tradesman licking his finger (introducing bacteria, most common problem) and using saliva to smooth out silicone bead. Cheap non anti-bacterial silicone. Applying to wet or dirty surface. Homeowner not cleaning silicone enough. Movement in shower tray because lack of bedding and not being sealed to wall before tiling.

Again, those showers in that link are bloody ugly. I can imagine their main customer base are pensioners, nursing homes and building companies that have had lots of problems in the past with their shower installations because they can’t do them right. I get local building companies emailing me regularly asking me to do their showers for them because their tradesmen don’t know how to do a proper install. There is a sequence in which it all has to be done, any part of that sequence missing it will most likely fail. The problem with new builds is there may be 3 or 4 guys involved in that sequence.

I always tell my customers to call me if any problems with silicon.
Never had a call back yet in 12yrs SE, and have revisited a few as i’m a plumber to trade so also do general plumbing and heating for my customers.

Exactly, putting batten 22mm below joist level, cutting ply to fit and making a “floor” at joist level. Screed the 30-45mm shower tray into place and then I only have 20 odd mm above my 22mm chipboard, more importantly the middle of the tray where you stand is likely much lower than the 45mm top of the tray so my 1923mm ceiling seems less close..

A little tip to aid in the installation: Once you have the flooring cut out, installed the ply and braced the sides of the flooring, i would cut out a further 200 mm of flooring around the perimeter of the tray. This will help in getting the tray laid as it can be difficult to drop it into a hole and get it level without a bit of wiggling, especially at the sizes of tray you have in mind.. Then fit new noggins etc for flooring and replace flooring.

high humidity/ high water/ high bleach/ high shampoo/ high soap/ high movement environments

Is exactly what it is for. What on earth are you thinking? Silicone is used on corners etc because it allows for movement, grout just cracks. Good quality silicone applied correctly and cleaned regularly will last for 15+ years. If silicon fails it’s always down to bad workmanship or poor cleaning regime.

Silicone is used on those manufacturers you mentioned, maybe a little less than some others but by god they are ugly.

Couldn’t believe one of my customers had been paying £400 a year for that nonsense. That was £1200 for 3 boiler services basically. Find a decent plumber with a good rep and relevant qualifications and use him when you need to is my advice.

I’m curious about how this works. Assuming joists are every 40cm, you must cut at least one, possibly two, to get a shower tray in. Doubling up the adjacent joists and fitting trimmers is easy enough in a new build but in an existing house it probably means taking up the floors in adjacent rooms. Plus the complications in an attic where the joists may also be tying the rafters.

No cutting of joists required, he wants to gain 22mm by removing chipboard(?) flooring where tray will sit and filling between the joists. So tray will sit on top of the joists.

Who knew how booked up bathroom folk get!

It’s called Reputation. :lol: The shite ones won’t be booked out for that long.

95% of my work is through previous installs, friends and family of customers. I don’t advertise locally, have a website but it’s not something i really keep on top of.

Ok! Can you show me one of these well designed shower enclosures that don’t need silicone?

Don’t get me wrong, i have installed silicone free enclosures, but there are reasons why most manufacturers don’t go down this route.

@supremebean, where are you located?

Black Isle, north of Inverness.

You say that Supream, but I have this week installed a 1900mm x 1000mm tray and the manufacturers instruction called for silicone to be used to stick it down, which I ignored and fully bedded it like I always do.

I guess I’d be liable if it broke, as it wasn’t fitted to instruction, although I think the instruction method would be more likely to break. I’ve also seen them fitted dry with nothing holding them down. Bonkers.

Was it a resin tray? Sounds like madness to me! :-) I would have done as you have, the tried and tested.

I would say the Mortar bedding doesn’t stick or hold the tray down, it is to prevent movement between a possible uneven floor and the imperfections on the underside of the tray, and enables the installer to get perfectly level. Silicone seal around the tray to the wall once mortar has set and before tiles or wetwall go on. Mortar stops tray from rocking and silicon fixes in place laterally.

Supremebean – you don’t happen to be West Yorkshire based do you?

I’m afraid not. I’m in the Black Isle, north of Inverness. Fully booked out till next April too.

Although I have travelled to Sussex and Portugal to do installs. Both for the same guy who has a holiday home near me which i renovated. :-)

We have the same problem with our shower. The moral of this story is always buy a properly designed shower unit that doesn’t need any sealant to maintain watertightness. Sealant (in this usage) is crap and is the botch job way of doing things cheaply.

Wrong! It’s all in the install. In 23 years of bathroom fitting i have never had a leaking shower enclosure as i was taught to install in the correct manner. If people who are installing shower enclosure’s would read the instructions properly there would be no problems.

100% of leaking shower enclosure’s that i have attended over the years have been because of poor installation or damaged trays/screens, probably during installation. Even cheap showers from B&Q etc can be installed without leaks.

That’s just a cosmetic issue. Highly unlikely to be the cause of the leak as grout is waterproof.

I never said that that could be the cause of the leak, was just an observation in true STW form, like when folk on here point out that tyres/logos etc are not lined up. :-)

Is it realistic to think we can get the old tray out and put a new one in (if they are both 900 mm quadrant trays) without needing to replace the floor?

Shouldn’t be a problem if you have a capable installer.

Plenty of low profile trays out there with different waste positions and all sorts of sizes too. If the tray is being sunk into the floor, the gaps between the joists will need to be filled with ply to joist level (or the removed flooring) and strengthened around the edges of the hole. You can’t just lay the tray on the joists, it will have to have a bed of mortar underneath so needs to be completely supported apart from the waste trap hole.

I install many large trays as in the photo above, i use a company called Kudos for all my trays, glass panels and wetroom installations.

All depends on whether the tray was bedded down on a mortar mix or just laid straight on to the floor, or worse, stuck down with some sort of mastic type adhesive/silicone. If no mortar under the tray then it’s the builders responsibility. The manufacturer will not cover anything if there is no proper bedding down of the tray.

I have removed many shower trays which have not been bedded down and there has been no problems, but with these modern large and thin trays it is a vital part of the install.

If it is bedded down properly, i would expect that the tray has had an impact at some point, probably somewhere between leaving the manufacturers warehouse and the moment the install was finished.

I have installed a few VicPlumb/ internet bathrooms.
Utter shite.
I now refuse to go any where near a job that has bought from them now. One job took 7 wc pans before we could get one to flush enough water to take away loo roll, even then we were not happy with it and ended up changing it to a better quality roca wc, which worked perfectly. VP had the cheek to tell my customer to change plumber as they thought i was incompetent. Cost the customer over £300 in time + £170 for the roca wc as it was the only one i could find that was high enough to cover the precut hole in the wc unit.
It’s all chinese rubbish and give a lot of bother. Wc’s, basins, baths and shower trays lose their shine very quickly and look terrible after a year or so. Some of the glass in the shower enclosures stain and is impossible to remove. I could go on!

Save yourself and your installer some bother and avoid cheap stuff.

Definitely a false economy IMO.

Love the Island accents up here in the north of Scotland, particularly The Outer Hebrides, Skye and Orcadian accents.

The far north Caithness accents deserve a mention too:
” Shot ae door keep ae heet un”. Shut the door, keep the heat in.
or
” Got ae go ae Golspae on ae way up ae road ae pick up ae dowg”. Got to go to Golspie on the way up the road to pick up the dog! Were two memorable quotes from fella i was in college with. The way they say dog is brilliant.

Hate hearing my own accent (strong Invernessian) on the telly.

If you use a PIR board (Kingspan etc) on top of rafters, do not fill the joist voids as you will trap moisture and the rafters will rot. I’ve been speaking to a lot of builder types recently about this, and though it hurts my head to accept it, it’s generally considered a bad thing.

I think that may be interstitial condensation?

I have seen it a few times on ground floor bathrooms that i have stripped out, where the gaps between the joists have been filled with kingspan. Bad move, the joists should be covered from below with KS also. Still wouldn’t recommend using KS under floors and in lofts.

The tops of the joists were condensating due to the cold air hitting the bottom of the joist and travelling up through it hitting the warm floor. No airflow at the top end of the joist due to the KS being tight between and level with the top of the joist means that the condensating joist doesn’t dry.

I would always recommend glass wool in lofts and under ground floors if retro fitting.

Oh, and one of the bathrooms i had stripped out with condensating joists was
spec’d by an architect, who wouldn’t believe what i was telling her about what was happening. She must have googled it at night as she was agreeing with me by the next morning.

They are expensive but you save the cost of an unvented cylinder (£500-1000), save space, and should save on installation costs as well (both labour and parts) so difference is not nearly as much as it first appears.

A system boiler will have a longer life though and will undoubtedly break down less, if at all. Cheaper to replace the boiler when it does eventually go too. The motorized valves are usually the only thing that may give problems, but are easily fixed by homeowner compared to a combi breaking down.
Most unvented cylinders will have a 20+ year guarantee, but realistically they will last 30 maybe up to 40, depending on water softness.

If you have the space, System is best option. Even in a small property i would always prefer system.

So it is just a case of buying the new boiler and banging it on?
New boiler £1200.
Flue £85.
Programmer? £75 for the internal, double that for rf stat version.
Worcester mag filter £120.
Chemicals £30.
Pipe and fittings? That depends on a few things. Very rarely is it just a straight swap. Old boiler may have 15mm gas supply? Needs to be 22mm now, where is the nearest 22mm gas pipe? Presuming the old boiler is non condensing, is there a waste pipe nearby for the new condensate pipe? £70-£300 for materials.
Electrician to wire boiler? £35 upwards
£285 per man/ 2 men 1 day £570

Is the installer VAT reg and is that quote including VAT?

Should i mention profit on materials?