I fixed my firewall so you should all be able to see this:

http://www.dionic.net/Alveston/building-1/

So far, temporary power on surface run cables (ie builders and me can see
them). 2 lights so far, will add more next weekend, do a final "Megger" on
the whole lot and write out an electrical installation cert which will
prove useful in dealings with EDF. Then I'll be able to kill off the old CU
completely. At least we have RCDs now...

Worked like a demon yesterday to drain down heating, chop off and cap off 4
radiators + bath and refill heating and check for leaks. Also move bolier
over to a fused spur from temp socket circuit to make walls safe for Pete
the Builder to put a diamond cutter though some of them for doorway
alterations. Got home at 1am, ate and bed at 2:30 (good film on telly). Now
I am dead, so please excuse bad typing.

Pete and Darren of Broadbeech Builders,Tunbridge Wells, have been very busy
digging new drains. As there were so many drain alterations, I asked them
to run a completely new set with 3 pits, and they managed to maintain a
connection to the old drains so the loo still works (hurrah).

I'm glad I subbed this bit out - along with the building of new walls. Until
I go full time on this project in Feb 2009, it's nice to see some leaps in
progress that I couldn't manage myself at such speed.

There are a couple of questions spinning off from this, but I'll ask those
later whern I'm awake.

Cheers

Tim

On 30 Nov, 23:21, Tim S wrote:
I fixed my firewall so you should all be able to see this:

http://www.dionic.net/Alveston/building-1/

So far, temporary power on surface run cables (ie builders and me can see
them). 2 lights so far, will add more next weekend, do a final "Megger" on
the whole lot and write out an electrical installation cert which will
prove useful in dealings with EDF. Then I'll be able to kill off the old CU
completely. At least we have RCDs now...

Worked like a demon yesterday to drain down heating, chop off and cap off 4
radiators + bath and refill heating and check for leaks. Also move bolier
over to a fused spur from temp socket circuit to make walls safe for Pete
the Builder to put a diamond cutter though some of them for doorway
alterations. Got home at 1am, ate and bed at 2:30 (good film on telly). Now
I am dead, so please excuse bad typing.

Pete and Darren of Broadbeech Builders,Tunbridge Wells, have been very busy
digging new drains. As there were so many drain alterations, I asked them
to run a completely new set with 3 pits, and they managed to maintain a
connection to the old drains so the loo still works (hurrah).

I'm glad I subbed this bit out - along with the building of new walls. Until
I go full time on this project in Feb 2009, it's nice to see some leaps in
progress that I couldn't manage myself at such speed.

There are a couple of questions spinning off from this, but I'll ask those
later whern I'm awake.

Cheers

Tim

Your late nights sound like my father who bought an old Scottish house
near Edinburgh in 1953, and would come home from work, have his tea
and then travel 12 miles to work on the property which had nothing
done to most of it since the 1750's. It took 4 years to make it
partially habitable. Childhood memories of walking across open floor
joists and pulling cables through conduits.

Rob

robgraham coughed up some electrons that declared:


Your late nights sound like my father who bought an old Scottish house
near Edinburgh in 1953, and would come home from work, have his tea
and then travel 12 miles to work on the property which had nothing
done to most of it since the 1750's. It took 4 years to make it
partially habitable. Childhood memories of walking across open floor
joists and pulling cables through conduits.

Rob

Good for him, I bet in the end he was chuffed.

I've got until next September to make this place habitable on the ground
floor (meaning decorated and finished).

Mine's about 10 miles away, which is a pain when you get there and find
you've forgotton something (did that Saturday |-)

I nipped down this morning to see the builders. Good job too as I'd
overlooked a 2-way light switch on a wall which is coming down and was
still live. Old CU now switched off for the moment.

Cheers

Tim

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
I fixed my firewall so you should all be able to see this:

http://www.dionic.net/Alveston/building-1/

Nice pictures.

Did I forget to mention that 14m of 25mm 3 core armoured would be a *******
to install :-)

Adam

ARWadsworth coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
I fixed my firewall so you should all be able to see this:

http://www.dionic.net/Alveston/building-1/

Nice pictures.

Ta. Must get this stuff into a blog...

Did I forget to mention that 14m of 25mm 3 core armoured would be a
******* to install :-)

I can imagine.

Other things I learnt on Saturday:

1) No matter how long one can use fine wirewool barehanded, nothing prepares
you for the myriad skin abrasions caused by coarse wirewool. Gloves next
time.

2) Going well prepared is good - enough other stuff will go wrong without
setting yourself up for a fall ;- I have cheap stackable Tesco's toolboxes
(also in Wickes for more money) - 1 Plumbing, 2 Electrical tools, 3
Electrical odd bits (sleeve, earth blocks, random stuff), 4 Screws and
rawlplugs, 5 Screwdriver and power driver set. Means I can grab and stack
the right boxes for the jobs. I'm told buckets also work quite well.

3) 1950s paint on pipes is indestructible by both wirewool and flame - see
(1). Next time I'll just scrape it off and solder a cap on.

4) Subbing out select work is good if the budget permits. More happens at
the beginning when the destruction and partial reconstruction is happening.
Destruction is bad. Seeing stuff go back together is a great mood enhancer.
Also makes you do your jobs quicker, ie disconnect electrics and pipes so
real men with big tools can chop your walls to bits.

5) Communicate with often with anyone you invite to do work. I'd marked up a
wall for a 76cm door. I meant 76cm door which requires an opening of maybe
85cm. Men on job had read this as a literal 76cm cut which would take a
71cm door. I'd nipped down before work today so I was able to explain this.
Not their fault - we both read it in different but quite reasonable ways.

6) Give the men doing the work an outline of what you are aiming for, even
if it's not work they'll be doing. I'd positioned two drain pits to allow a
theoretical conservatory to sit between them. Because I'd pegged out the
corners of the conservatory and explained my plans to Pete the Builder, the
following happened:

He needed to bring the pits a little closer together to use a single 3m pipe
between them (less joints is good, especially if they are under a
building). However, because he knew what I was doing, he managed to bring
them together in a way that doesn't impede the conservatory. The
conservatory might never get built, but if it does, I don't have to mess
around with the drains - they are already correct.

7) I like JG Speedfit for quick jobs like the lashup to the bog. I can see
its merits and the fittings do feel very positive on both copper and
plastic. I may be converted. Jury's out. I tried it because Screwfix had
30m for 11 quid and bags of 10 fittings for 9-10 quid. Bending the coiled
stuff straight is a bit painful, but being able to run long unbroken
lengths is good.

8) Every tool I've bought for the job has been used in anger, except the
wall chaser and box sinking chisels. Although Saturday was a long day, it
progressed without the frustration of past jobs, because I had a means to
do most things directly to hand.

9) Can anyone recommend a good opensource blog system for Linux (ie runs
under Apache)?

Cheers

Tim

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
ARWadsworth coughed up some electrons that declared:


"Tim S" wrote in message
...
I fixed my firewall so you should all be able to see this:

http://www.dionic.net/Alveston/building-1/

Nice pictures.

Ta. Must get this stuff into a blog...

Did I forget to mention that 14m of 25mm 3 core armoured would be a
******* to install :-)

I can imagine.

Other things I learnt on Saturday:

3) 1950s paint on pipes is indestructible by both wirewool and flame - see
(1). Next time I'll just scrape it off and solder a cap on.

Flame followed by scraping with a staley blade to remove the worst of the
paint, then the wire wool. Most of the paint may scrape/chip off whilst cold
with a big flat screwdriver.



5) Communicate with often with anyone you invite to do work. I'd marked up
a
wall for a 76cm door. I meant 76cm door which requires an opening of maybe
85cm. Men on job had read this as a literal 76cm cut which would take a
71cm door. I'd nipped down before work today so I was able to explain
this.
Not their fault - we both read it in different but quite reasonable ways.

Good point

6) Give the men doing the work an outline of what you are aiming for, even
if it's not work they'll be doing. I'd positioned two drain pits to allow
a
theoretical conservatory to sit between them. Because I'd pegged out the
corners of the conservatory and explained my plans to Pete the Builder,
the
following happened:

He needed to bring the pits a little closer together to use a single 3m
pipe
between them (less joints is good, especially if they are under a
building). However, because he knew what I was doing, he managed to bring
them together in a way that doesn't impede the conservatory. The
conservatory might never get built, but if it does, I don't have to mess
around with the drains - they are already correct.

Nice

7) I like JG Speedfit for quick jobs like the lashup to the bog. I can see
its merits and the fittings do feel very positive on both copper and
plastic. I may be converted. Jury's out. I tried it because Screwfix had
30m for 11 quid and bags of 10 fittings for 9-10 quid. Bending the coiled
stuff straight is a bit painful, but being able to run long unbroken
lengths is good.

Polypipe and Hep20 pipes are a little more flexible than JG

Cheers

Tim

I knew you would enjoy it when you got started.

Adam

Tim S coughed up some electrons that declared:

He needed to bring the pits a little closer together to use a single 3m
3m? No I meant 6m pipe. It's angled so gives about 5m wall-wall clearance
for a wide but not deep conservatory, or more to the point allows some
wiggle room for a smaller one.

ARWadsworth coughed up some electrons that declared:


Flame followed by scraping with a staley blade to remove the worst of the
paint, then the wire wool. Most of the paint may scrape/chip off whilst
cold with a big flat screwdriver.

That's an idea.

I did find it chipped off with a screwdriver - but I was worried about
gouging the pipe prior to using an o-ring based fitting which is why I
didn't.


Polypipe and Hep20 pipes are a little more flexible than JG

OK - as I said, the JG was opportunistic as I knew it would be a temporary
item. If I decided to use plastic for the finished job I'll certainly look
into the two you mentioned.


I knew you would enjoy it when you got started.

Heh - I'll enjoy it even more when I start wiring up and laying floor tiles.

I've got a lot more mess to get through first. I'll do the wall chasing and
box sinking in a few weeks and take down a couple of suspect ceilings (old
bathroom ceiling is some funny crap with what looks like brown fur inside,
though that might be glass wool poking through, and surface framing.

Wonder if that's anything I should be worried about?

The bay windows never liked paper stuck to them, always fell off, rumours of
asbestos cement - but it might just be poor insulation above letting the
surface get cold and damp, so I'll have one of those off too and see if
it's worth doing anything to them.

Also need to take the ceiling board off the little sloping rear rooflet
where the shower's going to replace with aquapanel or something else that's
really water proof.


Cheers

Tim

Tim S wrote:


9) Can anyone recommend a good opensource blog system for Linux (ie runs
under Apache)?

Cheers

Tim

My web hosting company supplies two types of blogging systems:

http://b2evolution.net/

and

http://wordpress.org/


both are PHP / MySQL based and should work in a Linux/Apache environment.

I haven't used them, so can't say whether they are any good. However,
for something simpler have a look at:

http://www.simplephpblog.com/

Hope that helps.

Rob Horton coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S wrote:


9) Can anyone recommend a good opensource blog system for Linux (ie runs
under Apache)?

Cheers

Tim

My web hosting company supplies two types of blogging systems:

http://b2evolution.net/

and

http://wordpress.org/

Both of those look nice.


both are PHP / MySQL based and should work in a Linux/Apache environment.

I haven't used them, so can't say whether they are any good. However,
for something simpler have a look at:

http://www.simplephpblog.com/

And that might be a good place to start for a quick jobbie.

Thanks for that - I'll have a look

Tim S wrote:

1) No matter how long one can use fine wirewool barehanded, nothing prepares
you for the myriad skin abrasions caused by coarse wirewool. Gloves next
time.

Gloves all the time when plumbing! (box of latex examination gloves are
ideal for plumbing - stops all the metal oxides getting ground into the
skin).

2) Going well prepared is good - enough other stuff will go wrong without
setting yourself up for a fall ;- I have cheap stackable Tesco's toolboxes
(also in Wickes for more money) - 1 Plumbing, 2 Electrical tools, 3
Electrical odd bits (sleeve, earth blocks, random stuff), 4 Screws and
rawlplugs, 5 Screwdriver and power driver set. Means I can grab and stack
the right boxes for the jobs. I'm told buckets also work quite well.

Yup, I concluded it was worth having boxes dedicated to tasks, even if
that meant duplicating some tools. It just gets to complicated if you
start borrowing things from one kit to do another job (says the man who
had to use a mini pipe cutter the other day because he took the big one
out of the plumbing bag to strip some SWA and forgot to put it back!)

3) 1950s paint on pipes is indestructible by both wirewool and flame - see
(1). Next time I'll just scrape it off and solder a cap on.

Flame and pipe brush usually works. (it strikes me there is a market for
a pipe cleaning bush that can be driven from the end of a drill)

4) Subbing out select work is good if the budget permits. More happens at
the beginning when the destruction and partial reconstruction is happening.
Destruction is bad. Seeing stuff go back together is a great mood enhancer.

I don't know, destruction of something that was seriously ugly, or
bodged can be quite therapeutic. ;-)

Also makes you do your jobs quicker, ie disconnect electrics and pipes so
real men with big tools can chop your walls to bits.

You will probably find real mean with big tools left to their own
devices would also "disconnect" electrics and pipes rather quickly. (the
mess may take more cleaning up however)

7) I like JG Speedfit for quick jobs like the lashup to the bog. I can see
its merits and the fittings do feel very positive on both copper and
plastic. I may be converted. Jury's out. I tried it because Screwfix had
30m for 11 quid and bags of 10 fittings for 9-10 quid. Bending the coiled
stuff straight is a bit painful, but being able to run long unbroken
lengths is good.

Speedfit I have used enough to trust now - only ever had problems on
copper when you can't insert it straightly, and you can tell by feel
that it is wrong when it happens. Tried some cuprofit the other day -
that worked well. I also used some "Floplast" but I was not very keen on
- very hard work inserting the pipes, especially with inserts in, and
you never got that feeling that the joint was a good one. Still to be
fair, it has all held and no leaks yet.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Tim S wrote:


2) Going well prepared is good - enough other stuff will go wrong
without setting yourself up for a fall ;- I have cheap stackable
Tesco's toolboxes (also in Wickes for more money) - 1 Plumbing, 2
Electrical tools, 3 Electrical odd bits (sleeve, earth blocks, random
stuff), 4 Screws and rawlplugs, 5 Screwdriver and power driver set.
Means I can grab and stack the right boxes for the jobs. I'm told
buckets also work quite well.

Problem I face on a daily basis Tim :-)

On the van I carry a 'first response' bag with tools likely to be used every
job; tape rule, hammer, stanley knife, screwdrivers, level, filling knife,
scraper etc. I have a plumbing bag, an electrics bag, a drill/fix bag
(combi, driver, charger, spare batts, screws, about 9 types/sizes of
fixing).

It does double up on tools sometimes, but being able to grab that bag & know
I have everything is a real boon.

Then plastic boxes holding plumbing stuff, electrical bits,
silicone/gripfill etc.

Just inside the workshop is the decorating box, laminate floor box, tiling
box etc.

Its the only way I can keep organised, I can't be doing with going back home
for something.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

John Rumm wrote:
Tim S wrote:

3) 1950s paint on pipes is indestructible by both wirewool and flame
- see (1). Next time I'll just scrape it off and solder a cap on.

Flame and pipe brush usually works. (it strikes me there is a market
for a pipe cleaning bush that can be driven from the end of a drill)

I'd buy one right away.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk