Haironyourchest

I actually don't know, but we'll find out when the next guy puts his foot through the new panel! ?

That was my first thought actually - DIY fiberglass with a bit of grey colourant. I didn't mention it though, as a DIY panel won't comply with building code, and the landlord sounds like the fussy type. I suppose there are places who can fabricate rated panels though?

Are you sure it's not asbestos? If it was my problem I'd scribe the profile onto a price of wood, and have a metal fabrication place bend me up a sheet. Paint the surface with tile adhesive, applied with a roller, it will be hard to tell the difference from cement. Then paint with yoghurt when it's installed, to encourage moss. You could sprinkle some of the existing moss over it to propagate spores. Sounds like the landlord thinks you should build him a new roof. He probably knows it's asbestos and wants it gone anyway.

Oh, I thought you had a yurt. Maybe it was Jomoco, now I think about it...I know someone here claimed to live part time in a yurt in their woodland. There's confluences of interest all over the place, nothing new. The oil companies and me share an interest in free flowing crude oil. They want to sell a product and I want to buy it. No conspiracy.

(Sorry, sorry, I've done it again) It's not an organized conspiracy, it's a confluence of interest. Like the way the "rich opress the poor". How's life anyway? Are you in the yurt this winter?

Agreed. I think it's a complete (and sinister) scam, but we shouldn't be squandering our resources with abandon..

Just had a weird one not half an hour ago. Went into the caravan to play PlayStation and my Tarot card box had fallen off the shelf and left cards all over the floor! I hope it was just the wind. Or the cat.

The new owner deserves the Thug Life treatment! I've got one, not me though, happened to a friend of mine. He was on a roofing job somewhere in Wales, on an old vicarage or sumsuch, not a stately home as such, but an old, large and rather well to do property...anyway, one break time (frequent joint breaks) he took a walk in the grounds, and noticed a wing of the hose he had not seen before, which was weird, because they had been all over the building for days. As his mind was trying to compute this information, he saw a little girl, about five or six, in a white dress with long blonde hair standing looking at him. He figured she was the child of someone on the grounds, and as he looked at her he noticed her hair was kind of floating slowly about, though there was no wind. Instantly, he felt overwhelmed by fear and ran back to the lads. So he mentioned this event to the owner, and apparently there was a wing of the house many years ago that was demolished. The daughter of the then-occupier, had a bedroom on the top floor of the wing, and she had a pet grass snake. The story was her father found the snake one day in the garden and stomped it, whereapon she went into depression and jumped or fell out of her bedroom window and fell to her death....

Get a really lightweight top handle first, for pruning, and use a small back handle saw for removals. Small back handle will be useful on the ground as well

I wonder too. The simpler the better I reckon. If you live rural and have loads of wood, efficiency doesn't matter as much.

I think they are probably an unnecessary product for people who pack lunch. It's those like myself who are always running late, or who can't stomach breakfast, that they're handy for.

Nah that's crazy, there's a place advertising them in the UK for 6. I paid a tad under 8 euro a pack from Germany.

Eggs (beside the point, but) how'd the date the the former girlfriend go? Did you take her out in the end?

I discovered this product and have been using it for a while now, and it just works. It's a compressed biscuit, very dry, somewhat powdery, only slightly sweet. One box = nine biscuits = 2300 calories = about £6.00 Each biscuit is individually wrapped, and the stack of nine are vacuum sealed. Shelf life is 20 years. Three biscuits is a meal. And it's slow release calories. I have been experimenting with how long I can work on one biscuit before feeling low energy again, I reckon about 2 hours. They were developed for emergency food suppply in refugee/disaster situations. The makers claim you can eat these and nothing else for years without ill effect. For hardworking people who often forget or can't eat breakfast, or who's schedule makes lunch an annoyance, these things are the bomb. Easy to eat (with plenty water) and you don't feel stuffed, and don't get energy crash, so you can stay sharp and focussed and productive.

Pfffft. That's easy.

Say it really quickly three times!

Steve, I never realised there were forums for forum owners. Honestly, my curiosity is piqued - is it possible for normal people to lurk these forums? Any chance you could post a link?

Yup! Cleared right up. Should have tried the simple fix first.

Anyone tried the "Patronus" alcohol free weissbier from Lidl? Been off the booze for three or four months now, cant even remember. Don't miss it at all, not one bit, but I still spend the same amount of money on Patronus. Its like nectar.

US Army Field Manual 20-22 Vehicle Recovery Operations! https://www.bits.de/NRANEU/others/amd-us-archive/Fm20-22(62).pdf There's gold in that there manual. Excellently written, and forever relevant - the laws of physics never change. ?

You know, I've just found the solution: you get a bloody strong pole or something, stick it round the back of the house, with just a foot or so sticking out beyond the corner. Attach your winch to the end sticking out (chokered sling) and that's your anchor. Now, as you apply force, the pole will want to pivot on the edge of the corner, so you have made a reverse lever. You must stop this my anchoring the moving end of the pole. You can do this by either: A) sucuring it to the house with bolts. B) Blocking it with something heavy, like a car. Whatever you secure it with had better be strong enough though, cos if it fails under load the butt end will flip away from the house like a Roman trebuchet. The longer the pole, the less force will be needed to make it fast. Think leverage and practice with a mini mock-up first so we're clear about the physics. Honestly, that's what I'd opt for. Assuming the house wall is somewhat in line with the tree.

Good point above - I never thought about the DPC. Anchor into one of the side walls parallel with the direction of pull, and install the anchor as far back as you can, so the load will be compressing the entire wall edgewise. No way the wall will move then. But there will be shear forces on the bolt, and that's not what they're designed for, so use an oversize bolt. There will also be tortional forces on the immediate bricks around the bolt, which will be impossible to counter. A long plate, anchored with a series of bolts, will be the way to go. Something like a length of 10mm channel iron with some holes punched will do. And a hole in one of the side walls, close to the end, to attach your winch to. If you wanted to be really super-safe, you could get something L-shaped welded up that would wrap around the back corner of the house. Where there's a will, there's a way - let's not hoist the white rag just yet!

That was my first thought, but it presents a major problem: depending on the width of the house, your rope ends would meet (at a shackle and winch) at a very oblique angle, putting massive leverage on the anchor rope. In order to achieve the same WLL as a straight leg to anchor, you'd need the angle to be 120 degrees. Now, given we don't know the dimensions of the house, let's assume it's about 6 meters across. If so, we're looking at the winch being situated somewhere around 5 to 6 meters from the wall of the house. Now, this might be ok, if the grounds are big, and the distance to the tree is far enough. Or not. Also, the rope will be hammered on the house corners. This could be overcome by padding the corners with side-cut pipe, say, 6-8 inch diameter. That new type platic ridged road drain pipe would be ideal. And the pipe will be crushed unless packed out against the wall with something uncompressable as well. All very complicated. Ground anchor would be ideal, but maybe thats not possible, for some reason. Could be the whole place is tarmcked, concrete or landscaped. Could be utilities whereabouts unknown. Who knows? If there is a slab foundation, then I would suggest bolting to that. Anything is possible, if the perameters are known and the physics understood. Pics and specifications would be great.

Sonds dodgy, but depends on factors. How much of a pull witll you need to exert? Of what is the house constructed? What kind of anchor? If we're talking rawlbolts, you can Googe the load rating of different bolts, resin, conpression sleeve etc. If you spread the load between several bolts equally, via a series of pullies, it will help. But also need to consult engineering info about the load rating of substrate etc. Rawlbolts are pretty strong, I've pulled a big stone out a creek bed with one drilled in, with a chain hoist suspended from a nearby tree. It all depends on the load. If it's to just get a small leaner over, and the line angle is optimal, the load won't be that much.

True. But then we do have lots of water.