Quote: zooo @ 24th October 2014, 11:41 AM BSTNice, Bill!
It's like a grown up's wendy house. I want one.
I don't think it will fit in a flowerbox.
DIY Page 10
Fantastic job Bill!
Yes - a fantastic job BillWill.
Meanwhile back in the land of whatever the DIY equivalent is of dyslexia:
I bit the bullet and agreed to accept the offer to redecorate the room for £800. We agreed on lemon paint and the job was scheduled to begin on 5th November but now it has been put back to the 10th. Two 16 hour day-and-night shifts of removing what was on the walls led to the showering down of a polystyrene like substance that I had initially feared was asbestos. I had 24 hours of feeling reasonably satisfied with my effort and then the chronic coughing began which I tried to shrug off for a few days without any success.
In parallel, I was looking at the place I call home more than I have done for several years and feeling that other things also needed to change. Specifically, I became aware that there was a lot of dust in the carpets in several rooms that the very occasional hoovering hadn't helped. So for a couple of days, I not only spent time getting rid of the carpet from the room that is to be decorated but obsessively worked my way around other rooms with dustpan and brush. It was a microscopic nose to the floor exercise that turned out to be very unwise. Subsequently severe excema broke out followed by several nights of being unable to breathe.
So it was that I ended up at the GP wheezing like I have never done before and with large parts of my skin covered in scales. A lot of it has been pretty scary and there has been a question about whether such things will now be a permanent part of my life going forward. Unfortunately that still remains and I am to have tests although with antibiotics and creams I think I can say that I have noticed a few improvements in the past day. It was made even worse by the fact that I then decided that perhaps I should get rid of my bed so I was sleeping in the kitchen in an arm chair with the back door wide open while gasping for air.
The GP was kind but we did have an honest talk about psychological issues including what he described as my long term hermit like existence and preference for living in the back of the house. We agreed that when all the furniture was moved out from the room, including a computer which temporarily decided to break down with the move, that relocating in the daylight hours to the front of the property had taken its toll not only on it but on me. Nevertheless, the decision to move forward was a step in the right direction as was a new desire to open the windows and even to look beyond the screen at real life taking place in the road.
Fortunately the local authority has a service whereby you pay £10 and they remove heavy items on a specified day. With bits of bed and carpet stuck on the front garden for several days, it did look like a scene from Steptoe. Consequently, I was relieved to hear that the Council people would be here on Thursday morning. But I had kept the mattress indoors as I was alternating between that and the arm chair in the kitchen for attempted sleep. Neither was wonderful as the mattress was now on the floor in the middle of an area that felt like a dust cloud. That was to join the rest of the bed in the garden on Wednesday evening.
Imagine then my surprise when I awoke from a hellish night in the kitchen during which I had got about an hour's sleep not merely gasping for air but hearing the sound of clanking in the front garden. That was, at 7.40am on Wednesday morning rather than Thursday. Getting to the front door, I first spotted an unmarked white van in the road and two blokes on my rockery. Much of the bed had disappeared, having been placed in the van. Confused, I said to them that they were a day early and that there was a mattress to go too. "£40" said one of them in an East European accent. "No" I said. "It is part of the £10 lot agreed". But no. He wasn't having it. £40. "Look", I said, "I am not going to argue about this matter. I will get it and bring it out to you". He disagreed with this approach. "I will come in", he said, to which I replied that, no, he wouldn't.
So next I am outside the property with the heavy mattress and I'm hardly able to breathe and he's refusing to take it without the additional cost. It was at that point I started to feel suspicious of them. I asked for identification. He produced a card which said "Redbridge". Being on the other side of London, I wasn't satisfied so I asked him to show me the list of items that had been filled out. That,I said, would prove the mattress was included. Ultimately he admitted that he didn't have the list and that he would have to come back later. He then raced into his van. The two of them sped off and that was the last I ever saw of them. A phone call to the Council confirmed they were nothing to do with them. I'd had East European scrap metal merchants on the rockery helping themselves in what frankly seemed - and still seems - like a crazy dream.
Whoops! This was next to the Not Going Out thread.
Quote: Chappers @ 31st October 2014, 10:26 PM GMTWhoops! This was next to the Not Going Out thread.
Join the club - there's not an old fart emoticon. 
Amd Horse - way past my bedtime and am too tired to read your massive post. Will give it a look tomorrow. 
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 31st October 2014, 10:48 PM GMTAmd Horse - way past my bedtime and am too tired to read your massive post. Will give it a look tomorrow.
It was a bit on the lengthy side.
Quote: Chappers @ 31st October 2014, 10:26 PM GMTWhoops! This was next to the Not Going Out thread.
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 31st October 2014, 10:48 PM GMTJoin the club - there's not an old fart emoticon.
Mainly because of tonight's subject matter!
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 31st October 2014, 10:48 PM GMTAmd Horse - way past my bedtime and am too tired to read your massive post. Will give it a look tomorrow.
Quote: Chappers @ 31st October 2014, 10:51 PM GMTIt was a bit on the lengthy side.
Yes indeed.
But I have chiselled it from recommended materials. It is reasonably three dimensional.
And, for better or worse, it is where I am currently residing.
Billwill is laying a wooden floor..
It is hard work !!
Linoleum? It's the new vinyl don't yer know. 
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 23rd February 2015, 9:25 PM GMTLinoleum? It's the new vinyl don't yer know.
Kitchen has oak-pattern Vinyl (so that plates bounce), bedroom will have engineered wood with real oak topping.
Quote: billwill @ 24th February 2015, 12:23 AM GMTKitchen has oak-pattern Vinyl (so that plates bounce), bedroom will have engineered wood with real oak topping.
Quote: billwill @ 6th March 2015, 8:30 PM GMT
Expert Advice Please
I have just spotted that seven or eight plugs are fitted to one socket in my next door neighbour's house. I am not quite sure how he has done it but four are on just one multi-socket attached to the wall with a substantial looking cover. The plugs are for a lamp, a portable television, an electric organ and possibly another device. My neighbour is claiming that the items are never used at the same time and that the situation is perfectly alright. I am not so sure and have requested a change to ensure that there is no house fire. This has been resisted. As our properties are semi-detached, I have advised I may be writing to my insurance company to warn them about the problem. As it happens, my next door neighbour is my father.
UK plugs have fuses in them, with a maximum fuse rating of 13 amps, Normally any sort of 3-way adaptor also has a fuse in it of max 13 amps.
So no matter how many devices are plugged into one socket their total current can't significantly exceed 13 amps. At 240 volts that's a maximum of 3120 watts, just over 3 kilowatts.
Most electronic eqipment nowadays are less than 300 watts, so you could run at least 10 electronic devices or light bulbs without exceeding 3 Kilowatts.
However if your neighbour has heating devices plugged in to multiple socket chains like that it could total over 3 kilowatts and blow the fuse.
~~~~~~~~~~
I have a 10-way extension lead plugged in one of my sockets, to plug in TVs, Video Recorders etc and a computer.
Quote: billwill @ 6th March 2015, 8:56 PM GMTUK plugs have fuses in them, with a maximum fuse rating of 13 amps, Normally any sort of 3-way adaptor also has a fuse in it of max 13 amps.
So no matter how many devices are plugged into one socket their total current can't significantly exceed 13 amps. At 240 volts that's a maximum of 3120 watts, just over 3 kilowatts.
Most electronic eqipment nowadays are less than 300 watts, so you could run at least 10 electronic devices or light bulbs without exceeding 3 Kilowatts.
However if your neighbour has heating devices plugged in to multiple socket chains like that it could total over 3 kilowatts and blow the fuse.
~~~~~~~~~~
I have a 10-way extension lead plugged in one of my sockets, to plug in TVs, Video Recorders etc and a computer.
Thank you billwill. That is most helpful. If I may, here is a further one. I have an old computer - 2006 - which has plugs in a multi-socket on the floor (extension lead). It is one that is designed to prevent surge but I noticed this problem when I just had an ordinary extension lead too. That is, when I plug it into the wall socket, I notice a small spark. This doesn't happen when I have the TV set plugged into the wall.
Should I be worried?