djbobbins

Lit the stove here (Warwickshire) once in the last week and we probably would have done again last night, but were out and about until gone 9, by which time it didn’t feel worth it. I find we’re at that stage where it’s a tiny bit on the cool side when the CH goes off, but if we light the stove it makes the lounge too hot. We’ve got a stove fan but it doesn’t help getting the warm air out of the lounge and circulating in the rest of the house. Incidentally getting the oil tank filled up was a more unpleasant £££ experience than this time last year :-(. Maybe I should be burning more logs after all!

And be prepared to get all your documentation together if you have had any work done. Choose a local solicitor who you can get a direct number for, not some plastic factory conveyancing specialist 300 miles away - the former will be busy but the latter are completely snowed and from my (painful) experience understaffed and generally a PITA to get anything done by. Whichever you choose though, still expect to have to chivvy them along. My legal colleague at work said, and I quote, “I apologise for my profession as far as conveyancing is concerned, you have to ride them.” I think I phoned or emailed our solicitor about three or four times a week on average from the end of November through to when we actually moved in mid-February. Cloudy2Clear are alright but I think run a franchise model, which means you a paying a chunk of someone’s profit when you use them. I’ve been lucky to find an independent bloke who does the same thing and is cheaper - about £60-80 per unit, fitted and guaranteed, depending on size.

Happy to accept softwood or hardwood arisings, plus will put a few beers / bottles of wine / donation to charity in the direction of someone delivering. Also at the moment (Spring 2021) I am looking for some clean chip - which I could also come to collect from nearby.

It’s an interesting topic re: golf courses. I initially read it as being only those which are community-owned, but you’re right, it’s ambiguous. The definition of community could be quite broad and might well include any organisation owned by its members. I assume however it rules out e.g. commercial football grounds / clubs, who if the are privately owned and can pay players £100k a year (even at League 2 level), or much more in higher tiers, ought to be able to cough up some fuel duty anyway.

Indeed - for farms and various other users (heat in non-commercial premises, running a genny, fuelling trains, mowing a golf course - but only if it’s community owned and for amateurs, not for commercial gain) red is staying. Reform of red diesel and other rebated fuels entitlement - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK The largest sectors that I can see are going to be impacted are mining / quarrying and construction. I wonder what mpg a fully loaded Terex does?!!

A bloke asked me the other day if I was over my lifelong obsession with Phil Collins. I said “Well take a look at me now”.

I need to move a (well made) 10 x 6 wooden shed, by about 20 feet in my garden. The garden is flat but the access is not great - about 650mm wide down the side of the garage. So I’m loathe to dismantle the shed to move it such a short distance but think it’s not going to be possible to get a telehandler in. Any ideas / suggestions for how to shift it? I’ve thought about basically screwing some lengths of 3 by 2 across the ends, to turn it into something a bit like a giant sedan chair, but I reckon the collective wisdom on here might have a better idea??

Tank off a scrapped motorbike? That’s what used to get used in stock cars years back - strong, about the right capacity.

Anyone out there got a pile of chip that I could come and fill a smallish trailer from (about a quarter of a cube, I think) - maybe two trailer loads? I am happy to do the loading myself, plus leave some beers or a few quid. Within 10 miles or so of Warwick would be preferred - so Leamington, Solihull, southern side of Cov etc are all do-able. I might have to stretch my distance limit depending on what is out there!!

I’d never heard of pyometra until I read the last few pages of this thread. Sounds nasty. Our pooch was spayed a few weeks ago (recommended by the vet to do it before she had her first season, the dog that is, not the vet). Here she is being ladylike and showing off her scar...

Hi all I’ve been a member on here for years and have done some felling in the past. However, there’s a mature hawthorn in my back garden that’s a nice enough tree - but is sadly damaging the fence between me and next door, also is in the way of where I want to build a workshop. So it is going to have to go. I reckon the adage about old pilots and bold pilots, but not both, probably also applies to amateur arborists! I think I know my limits and this one is probably beyond me. The tree has a lean (towards next door’s garden, although not over anything that will be harmed by dropping chogs) and thankfully, if anything batters the aforementioned fence to death on the way down, it’ll probably be doing me a favour. All waste can stay on site provided it’s lobbed into my garden. One pic is below, more photos can be provided if that will help people form an opinion. I reckon it’s about 300mm DBH but can measure as well if that’d help. Cheers Will

I’ve had a cast iron chiminea for 17 years (I know why how long, it was a wedding present). I’d say the amount of smoke depends on what I burn and how well I manage the fire - try to burn greenery or anything damp (damp cardboard) and there’s clouds of smoke. Dry wood or putting something on top of hot bed of embers means flames and little smoke. I’ve also had it running with a cone of flame out of the top of the chimney in the past... What I do found has helped a bit is that the original (90cm or so) chimney rotted out, but I luckily found some 5” flue when Countrywide Stores was shutting - I have put 2 x 60cm lengths on the stove and although the extra height makes the chiminea look a bit like Brunel in his daft [emoji145] hat, but it lifts the smoke that bit further away from chest / head height.

I’ve definitely found that weather and social element can lead to farm sales going a bit bonkers, especially when buyer’s premium (15% plus VAT being about the going rate from what I have seen) is tacked on. Back to the OP, it’s not really my game but sometimes I really wish I had proper transportation and somewhere to install kit!

Cheers Mick - although I’m not sure about your lovemaking technique if it involves a screwdriver.. ;-) !!

Thanks all!! I have already cut the stems and will be leaving the ivy on the living trees to die back. I want to kill the roots if possible and get rid of the tangled mess generally, but fortunately there is only one small area that’s on brickwork (my neighbour’s garage wall, ironically) so I will trim / spray that and see if I can get rid without any damage.

That’s a very frank and honest answer. Credit to you for posting it. I grew up in a family where a tipple was allowed and had a mate whose parents ran a pub. We graduated from going to a local youth club, to going for a few frames of snooker and a few pints whilst watching a band, circa 15 years old. At uni I drank regularly, particularly in a year in France (being able to buy 24 stubbies for about £3 played a part in that) and then again for a couple of years afterwards. I’ve had times years ago when I realised I hadn’t gone to bed properly sober for a couple of months, even if it was only a couple of drinks per night I was having. I’ve ended up in a desk job and moved away from where my mates live, plus got older. I still have a couple of beers at the weekend, then if given the opportunity can put 10 pints away in a daytime / evening session. Monday to Friday I try to not drink though, I find by the end of the week I am generally sleeping better and feel more alert in the daytime. But even when I rationalise all of this, and realise that some of the times I have let myself down most in life are when I’ve been properly pissed, STILL alcohol feels like a bit of a treat. It’s a bugger of a situation and no mistake, I suppose a shrink would have something to say about it. Not sure what this adds to the conversation but just to say that how you describe your relationship with booze rang a bell with me too.

I felled and split a holly years ago; I seem to remember it split okay - was only about 9” diameter though. Burnt well too [emoji91]

I have ordered some 360g/l Gallup so will be painting / syringing that into the big stalks and spraying it onto the leaves of any small plants. It took me half an hour to peel and cut the stems on about 3 foot of the mass of ivy clustered over the fence. It is going to be quite cathartic piling it up on a bonfire heap and putting a match to it :-)

It’s definitely growing here (Warwickshire). One old doris round the corner was doing her grass at the weekend. Not found my mower yet after the house move. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it!! ;-)

Not sure if this should be in the homeowner or tree care forum, but it’s a bit of both... I have been stripping back contents of the garden of the house we moved into a fortnight or so ago. The previous owners had done some nice stuff, in places, but then seem to have given up on anything other than the most basic of maintenance. There a couple of reasonably mature apples trees, a damson tree and a few other bits - along with a couple of dead trees. Everything in that area of choked with ivy - one stem I cut through today was over 30mm thick, at about 2 metres above ground level. Where it is on the trees, but hasn’t yet killed them, I am cutting the ivy stems and peeling off foliage above that. There is also a mass of ivy (think like a 30 foot long of woven mess, completely burying a 4 foot tall fence) which I am hacking through with secateurs. The ground is also matted with ivy. So... what’s the most effective way to prevent regrowth? I want to put a workshop / log store in part of that corner, so would like to not have it swamped with ivy. I also would like to give the fruit trees a prune back and a fighting chance of survival, which they wouldn’t otherwise have got. I’ve tried spraying roundup onto ivy leaves before but with no particular effect. Any other ideas? I assume there are no predators / creatures that will eat the stuff, in a controlled way?

If I could get this one down the path at the side of my garage, I would definitely keep it and use it for either seasoning or moving wood around in. Sadly the path is too narrow so the trolley has to go.

Evening all, if anyone needs one I’m selling a supermarket-style four sided caged trolley on eBay. It’s well used but good for moving around nigh-on a cube of timber (cage size is 1.5m by 0.82m by 0.74m, which by my reckoning makes it a tiny fraction under 0.9 cubic metres) or the sides can fold flat for shifting drums, cylinders or bigger chunks. It’s only at 99p at the moment and will go with no reserve. Proceeds are going to a local charity. Supermarket style square removals trolley WWW.EBAY.CO.UK <p>Supermarket style square removals trolley. Condition is "Used". </p><br><p>Four solid plastic wheels; it has seen plenty of use but all works, sides and top can be padlocked or fold in flat so that it could move drums or cylinders. Cage dimensions as shown in the photos. </p><br><p>Collection only from CV35 7BW; you will need a van / large estate car / pickup.</p>

That’s kind of what I expected / hoped for, thanks

Anyone got experience of a Titan multi-tool, the TTK587GDO one that Screwfix sell for £170? I have got some “lovely” (not) overhanging leylandii from next door’s garden which I want to trim and no appetite to do it with normal hedge trimmers whilst standing on a ladder. I also have some weedy / waste ground area (only 50m2 or so) that I want to be able to keep on top of when Spring comes. I get that the multi-tool probably isn’t going to do as good a job as a dedicated brush cutter and separate pole pruner / long reach hedge cutter, but I’m tempted as a practical compromise - unless someone tells me they’ve used one and they’re a PoS?? My thoughts on Titan as a brand are relatively positive based on the electric chainsaw I’ve got, but I don’t have experience of their petrol stuff...

The expenses of getting there and back are for you to pick up, so like it or not you can’t factor those into the calculation. Same for time to travel to and from work. Presumably the daily rate also includes some breaks, which are probably unpaid if my experience of 20-odd years and four different employers is anything to go by. Assuming your actual working day is say 10 hours, how does the rate compare to the legal minimum for your age group? National Living Wage increase to protect workers' living standards - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK Announcement of the 2021 National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates.