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Agreed that the companies that profited should pay for it. Many have, particularly the bigger home builders as their reputation gives them a lot to lose.
For many, though, there isn't a good way to hold the company accountable.
In my case, the company who built our block of flats was wound up as soon as Grenfell happened, and one of the directors who had become the building freeholder attempted to sell the freehold. The same directors have since created new companies to build new buildings, and now seem to just create and then end new companies for each housing development.
I personally am in a building that is covered by a government fund. However, I personally am out of pocket for about 60 grand despite this. It has been hugely expensive and there's a lot that isn't covered by the fund but needs to be done. I try not to think about it too much, as it makes me feel very angry.
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Perhaps too late, but have you considered Blink cameras?
Amazon owns 2 brands for video doorbells and security cameras. Ring is positioned as "premium" and is more expensive. It's also really best if you pay a monthly subscription. Blink is positioned as the budget option, but they are just fine. I have 4 of them in various places in my garden and garage.
They'll try and get you to sign up for the subscription, but what's great is that if you have a sync module, you can plug in a USB storage device and just store the clips on there, rather than on the cloud (cloud storage is basically what the subscription pays for).
I have mine set up to record to a USB thumb drive, but I'm pretty sure a hard drive will also work. It records video when the system is armed and there is motion, so it's not strictly what I would call CCTV. However, I actually find it more effective for this purpose - I want to be able to review footage if someone has come into my garden, rather than having to trawl though all the footage captured. It'll also do notification on your mobile if you want.
Happy to chat through my experience with them or answer questions if that is helpful.
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Note the quote marks around "rooms" in my original post. In reality many of them are not distinct rooms, but the heating engineer needed to put them into his calculator as separate rooms to get an accurate heat loss estimate. For example, hallways, landings, and storage spaces were all counted as separate rooms. Also, our open plan living/dining room had to be split into 2 "rooms" as some of it is in the extension, but the rest is in the old house. Same story in our kitchen.
Don't worry, we're not talking a mansion!
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Yeah, the loft conversion is well insulated to modern standards. The rear extension is a cavity wall with insulation, but also massive bifold doors and a lantern skylight. Everything else is solid brick wall.
I'm adverse to rendering, as I've heard that's likely going to cause huge damp problems on such an old house. As such our only other option is internal insulation, which means we'd lose some floor space and need to completely redecorate everything. I think fairly understandably we're not keen to do that.
250 square metres is dreamy! Maybe I should get working on my wife about a move to rural Spain! ;-)
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Eeep, I mentioned a couple of months and pages back about getting a HeatGeek round to do a survey, come up with a design, and give me a quote for a heat pump install. As a reminder, 200 year old detached home with some more modern extensions. Single storey extension at the rear from the 1970s, loft conversion from 2017. Approximately 155 sq m, or 17 "rooms" and 13.74 kW of heat loss in Heat Geek terms.
I'm in fairly rural Derbyshire, so really not LFGSS golf club territory, thank you very much.
Quote after BUS grant is pretty much 20 grand. Estimated saving of £8 a month of my bills, so it'll only take 209 years to pay back the investment. Yeah, there's no way I'm doing this. I thought I might get a nasty surprise at the cost, but I didn't think I'd be this surprised!
Heat pump would be a Vaillant aroTHERM plus 12kW / hydraulic station, and cylinder would be a Joule Cyclone 250L. In fairness, they've specified 15 new radiators, which is a new one in every room and landing, and were this even close to be feasible, I'd pushing on whether it is really necessary.
Full details in the attachment if anyone is interested to see the breakdown.
I really want to do the right thing, but I'm not spending 20 grand on this. I think I'd be much better off just replacing the existing gas boiler when it breaks and if I want to sink 20 grand into making the house more green, spend that on solar panels, battery, EV charger, EV. Hopefully then one day heat pumps will be more economical and the payoff will be better if I'm generating a lot of my own electricity.
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Gorilla PVC glue is good for this. Clean off the surface so it's clean and there's no dust or debris. Apply to multiple spots. Push together, weigh down and leave it.
This stuff expands to fill gaps. Also will set in the presence of water.
Other retailers are available.
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Ah wow, it's looking great. I've heard very good things about the Milwaukee nail guns, and I am already in their battery ecosystem so that's what I'll be buying when the time comes. The only downsides seem to be weight, and I've heard from builders that if something goes wrong it's not as easy to service yourself as a paslode gun.
Paslode is the OG and many people love them. Apparently they can struggle with enough power to properly seat a nail in thick wood. Also if doing things in very cold weather the gas can freeze and then it doesn't work until you can warm it.
All of the above is gleaned through the experience of others. I don't have personal experience myself.
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Most SRAM uses Dot fluid, not mineral. Check yours via Google, and if the system uses Dot fluid, only lube the sticky piston with Dot fluid.
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I think it's a young house mouse. They can get up to 9 cm long and a similar length of tail.
That doesn't look like a rat body to me, but I think the biggest hint is it's a hairy tail, not a "naked" one.
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I really wish with hindsight they had offered the set as a "naked wood" option and I could have spent £20 - 50 and just chosen my own finish.
It would have been so much less effort than what I've ended up doing.
I'm trying to stay positive by telling myself I've now got a really nice set for a total cost of about £150, and a sander that I'll use often on other jobs.
Just ignore the tens of hours of my own labour that have gone in, eh?
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Ooh, thanks for so much detail! I'll read up on that pile system, and keen to hear how you get on as the build progresses.
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Very nice! Can you tell me more about the pile system and why you decided to use that? I'm looking to build something similar soon.
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Posting a little project that's very minor compared to what a lot of you are doing without even thinking. I am only 8 months into my DIY journey, though!
We bought a garden furniture set that looked lovely and initially we were very pleased with. Acacia wood, and some sort of plastic based coating that we were assured would be extremely durable. Very soon it started cracking ...
So we got a warranty replacement, and this happened 3 times until the manufacturer discontinued it. The garden center we bought it from were very honest that all of the sets they sold had the same issues, and said they'd stopped stocking the manufacturer because they had lost confidence. They did the right thing and gave us a full refund and left us with the set.
I had a look at other comparable sets that I liked as much, and it would have been thousands. I got some quotes to repair, and in the end decided to have a crack at it myself.
Annoyingly, I couldn't find a chemical that would strip the coating effectively. I'm sure original nitromors would have done it, but you can't buy that anymore, so ....
After doing some testing to see how quickly I could just sand the coating off using my new random orbital sander, and how quickly I got through sanding pads, I decided to go this way.
I sanded everything to 80 grit to remove coating and flatten a few bits, then up to 240 to make it smooth. Then I glued, screwed, and filled, and then sanded again (150 grit and then 240). I decided to coat with decking oil because I already had about 4l of it from another project, and I'll see how that goes.
It's not perfect, particularly the parts I had to fill. But getting it perfect would have just taken so much longer. I'm really pleased with the result. Table and stools are done, benches are still to be completed hopefully next week.
Before and after pics below.
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Blossom end rot. I had it a few years ago on courgettes - https://www.rhs.org.uk/problems/blossom-end-rot
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I like the leaves and the colour they turn in autumn.
Smell is news to me. I'll do some research in case it changes my mind...
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Cheers @hugo7 and @rhb. I think I'll get someone in during the winter to prune the bigger trees and get rid of the cherry. A bad case of powdery mildew seems to be exactly what it is. Lack of airflow is almost certainly a part of the puzzle, so I don't think I'll put another tree in the same spot. I'll replace with a ginkgo tree elsewhere in the garden.
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Yes, definitely wipe down your chain when you arrive and it'll get rid of most of the water. Microfibre is good, but so is just an old towel or waffle weave cloth if you have any of them lying around.
Is the studio heated, and can you bring your bike inside? If so, I think that would probably be absolutely fine along with wiping the chain to make sure the chain doesn't start rusting.
For me it's just that the bike stays in an unheated and uninsulated garage, so even if I wipe the chain there will still be water that will start rusting it. In my previous place we had a downstairs utility room with an outside door, so sometimes after a ride in the wet I'd wipe the chain and then bring the bike inside for a few hours. When I did that the chain never started rusting.
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I did when I just started out, but not for a long time.
If the chain is wet and dirty after a wet ride I give it a quick wipe with a rag. Just stick it straight in my slow cooker of wax. I have a dedicated cheap one set up in the garage.
About 4 years on and I'm only just about to replace the wax with a fresh 500g. And that's using it across 5 bikes.
I've personally been really impressed with waxing for someone in my position (house with garage rather than flat, doesn't ride a crazy mileage per week, generally doesn't ride in poor weather). I'd recommend for anyone in a similar position.
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Another one using the YBN links on Shimano 12 speed. I tend to get 600 km out of waxed chains depending on conditions. I ride them until they start squeaking. However, if I end up having to ride in the rain I'll always stick it straight in the pot of wax when I get back to avoid it rusting.
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We have a medium size cherry tree in our garden that is clearly in poor health. Clearly used to have a split trunk, but one was chopped back and so is just a stump now.
We moved in winter when everything is dormant, but even then the stump is clearly covered in a horrible looking white substance, looks a little like mould.
Then in spring the tree had some but not very much blossom that all dropped quickly, and now has very few leaves and has not fruited. The white stuff has now spread to cover all the plants within approximately 50 cm of it.
Anyone have any experience diagnosing and resolving the issue?
It's not in the best spot for a tree - hard up against a wooden fence - so am thinking about whether it's best to just totally get rid of it and plant another tree I like better elsewhere.
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I've just done 90 minutes, and it's a lot better, but I've also probably only done about a third of the garden!
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Eeep. Okay. I've always tried not to use chemicals, so I will try the pulling things out method first of all. Wish me luck!
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Is bindweed all that bad to just leave? I've been lucky to never really have had it before. Moved to a new house in December, though, and there is a decent bit of bindweed here. Currently not threatening any plants that are sentimental to me, so I'd planned to just do nothing about it. Will I come to regret that in a few years time?
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That is awesome! Nice work.
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Yep Bike Tart are fine for Shimano stuff. I've also used the fluid by epic bleed solutions, direct from their website. I also often order both from Amazon.