Steven P

before or after tax and deductions?

Have you phoned around your local tree surgeons? 2 of my local ones arn't on here Also look at adding youerself to the tip sites

Not wanting to ask but finances are for the OP to work out - might be that the desk job that pays OK has afforded a decent savings account, perhaps a partner earns enough to pay the bills but they'd loose the little extras for a while, at 45 the dependents might be off in a year or 2, and 25 year mortgage paid off in a couple too, or it could all balance on his wallet alone for the next 20 years. Not my call. but that's the same with any career change, you start at the wages of a 17 year old, and you have to do the sums to work out how long and if it is affordable - the warnings about that are above. I have said for years that working is a balance, and got to get that right, I could have studied hard, worked 18 hour days and become one of those bankers the press love on a million pound bonus - but no quality of life (always working), I could have sat back and let the state pay, do what I want all day long but no cash, and somewhere in the middle is where I am now - got a house, a car (I'm doing alright...), family, garden - balanced the work and stress against the money and life. Reckon OP wants a change to the outdoors, trees sound fun, just wondering for him, if climbing might be off -what alternatives>? Gardening, countryside ranger, something along that line of things, slightly less physical?

If you are investing in your future, do you have the time left in a physical job to get that paid back? Training, lower earnings while you gain experience, possible time unemployed till you pick up work? Got to balance that against your mental health of course, might be that sitting at a desk for the next 20 years is too much to look forward to - and the financial risks will be worth that. Might be as suggested above you do the training during holidays, get a feel for it before you leap, worst case is you paid for training - but then we all pay for stuff that interests us (whether it is learning new skills or beer). An alternative might be getting the tickets and volunteering at a local nature reserve that has trees - maybe get your mental health kick there, use the training and still have the financial backing you have now? Plus this is gaining experience for if you do make that leap in a year or so. Mind I am also quite cautious with some stuff

I didn't read all of the posts but can the team leader be responsible for the state of the site, plenty of time in this job and no one leaves site till the client has given it a once over and accepted that the site is left in good condition - and if this means bucket of water to clean the walls then so be it (in this case). Maybe reminding the team leader that no one leaves site without the client being happy or you saying so ?

It takes time to get contacts to know you. Putting your face out there helps, listen out for chainsaws in the morning and a quiet word ("Have you got somewhere local to tip that - cause that is my house just there,,,") and so on, takes a while though

Offer to do training at a basic rate - not much profit to cover your time, costs, use of machine (wear and tear etc), on a quiet day when not much else happening - but will save you ££ in the future in repairs? Might ned a little more info on how much you use the machine, id this a little side line on days you arn't using it (it being paid for on other jobs) or do you want this to make a worthwhile subsidy to it's costs, or just as a favour to the local estate (off the back of a favour you might get bigger paid jobs)

not sure if this is snooping too much, sometimes you can find old photos for when a house was last sold....check out the potential neighbour if you can - might be that with the chimney removed, they have taken out their fireplaces completely? Pretty sure you could put a liner up and do it that way though, 1 liner for each for you want to reinstate

What does that block burn like? If it burns OK, get it covered, all dry and do that, if it doesn't then let the beetles eat it. I don't get too fixated about the type of wood I burn,. but mrs gets fixated whether the house is warm or not

ahh, new years day, suppose I should open the curtains some time and check? Maybe later.

Certainly looks like it is an adaptor on top from the photos of the stove itself. I suspect you are right that the installer didn't quite get it right to install with a vertical flue, and had to go angled. I am sure I read the numbers the other week and can be corrected of course, but I think there is a minimum vertical distance above the stove before there is a bend.. could be that the installer didn't quite get this right to allow for a true vertical flue pipe, then the bend (for example at 45 degrees, if the horizontal needs to move 100mm in then the bend also needs to go down 100mm. Suspect this might be why it is as it is. The fix? Get a lower table for the stove (or shorten it), or drill new holes and fill the walls so to get the distances correct, or live with it? (for those sad enough to check, I think the flue is 8 bricks height to the start of the angled piece, at 65mm+mortar each brick? a 600mm 'vertical flue' as it is. If it is off vertical by 50mm, you also lose that in height so would be a 550mmm vertical flue to the first bend?) Just trying to find a source online to tell me the numbers but I can't see it just now EDIT... as soon as I press 'save', 600mm minimum vertical distance and an allowed 15 degree angle Installation at a glance | The Stove Yard WWW.THESTOVEYARD.COM This at-a-glance guide to stove installation is intended to provide you with some general information regarding basic stove installation requirements – it is not intended to be...

What make of stove is it? There might be some photos online of another installed one. I reckon that there should be some wiggle room on a stove install so everything fits and doesn't leak, but that angle looks to me to be a bit more than normal. If it all fits together and doesn't leak then probably as it is meant to be. One thing to think about here if it is meant to be that the chimney angled piece would need to be suitably different from 45 degrees to get it all to fit together - looks like a new install, does the paper work suggest off the shelf angle pieces or did 1 come from the stove manufacturer (as a non standard piece might) You could also look outside at the other end of the chimney and see if it is similarly angled - guess not. The make of stove would help narrow down if it is meant to be or not Also a new photo straight on the edge rather than angled from the corner would give a better impression

If your burning it this season, then no problems, they go up in smoke. If they are mature to come out to breed then that will happen in the spring, however if you bring logs in the house for any length of time they might think spring has cone early.

Yes, they have always been about the same, house coal used to be £7 for a sack when smokeless was £18 or £19 and now it is more even for the nationwide suppliers when i looked

Your memory doesn't do inflation justice! Speaking to the coal man at the start of the season 'house coal' was going for about £35 for 50kg, smokeless £30 - he can't get normal coal and the prices because of it have gone right up, he can't get coke either (even pet coke from the oil refineries), his anthracite is about the same as smokeless.. Oil benefits that is is fairly hassle free, light it and go?

I've got my rowan tree by the back gate - between mine and the cemetery, for much the same reason..

Laurel can give off cyanide - OK if it is drying outside but if you have it inside (perhaps to dry of a bit more before burning) then there -could- be a problem In an open fire that released smoke into the room (as the OP) again could be a problem Yew, no idea, thought it was OK. Don't eat the seeds they are poisonous but burning thought was OK

Sorry - open fireplace... doesn't above doesn't all apply but there could still be a problem getting the fumes to go up the chimney, perhaps you have put too much fuel on the fire, overloaded the chimney capacity? (is that possible), maybe chimney needs cleaning. Still applies though when do you smell the smells (leaving my first answer above in case others with a stove are looking)

playjng devils advocate here for fun.... wood burner goes for 15 hours here, frying for 15 minutes, toaster for 5.. multiply that up I guess 15x5=75 (stove), 411x0.25 = 102 (frying), and 451x1/12= 37 (toaster).... Though I would go with the other argument that there are a lot of other things to consider, sitting in a car in the commute, whatever is in the house already. Interesting tests though to measure what there is in a real world situation. Back to the OP, what is the smell you can smell, and does it happen through the burn or for example, when you open the door to put new fuel on. A stove shouldn't really put fumes into the room - all the airflow should be from the room up the chimney, especially when it is burning hot. Might be then that the smell you get could be burning house dust (if the stove isn't used for a while - that smell you get from electric heaters first time of use each year).... so what is the smell and when do you get it? If it is a wood smoke smell when the door is closed, and not just refuelled then to me that sounds like a problem with the stove itself

I wouldn't store them in the garage. If you can stack them outside in the sun that is better. The sun isn't as important as wind - logs will dry to a point in the winter and rain, so long as there is wind flow through a stack of them. Not sure how you are set up with your house but can you find an area or the logs? 1m x 1m stacked 1m high is a 1m cube, 1/2m wide x 2m long, 1m high or even about body width the length of a car and not quite 1m high all 1m cube, should be able to squeeze them in somewhere (having said that, half the garage to logs, that could be a lot of logs)

Understandable and happens all over. If you have been on a forum for a while giving good advice, the questions come around and around again and again - only so many times you want to answer the same thing (I used to keep text files with stock answers in another forum the questions were that predictable). Then you become just a lurker and adding to threads if they interest you.... but essentially I reckon over time you have given all you want to a forum, and the interest dies away. Doesn't explain why there they arn't replaced with equally knowledgeable members though

and if you do find it, don't disable it, keep it at yours or where a handy friend might live - a risky option of course, or let is live in a few friends houses for a day or so, move on a few times, and then stash it away.. in the dog kennel.... no somewhere like an empty industrial unit (so there is no 1 place where it has been, no obvious home)

My suggestion is pure heresy and turn her phone off! Don't they log onto available iphones to log their location, if there isn't a phone within bluetooth range then no location. Obviously it will pick up the next signal it finds though

"You weren't in so I put my package in the wheelie bin"?

Yes, water and sewerage gets paid for - just paid direct to the council and not the water company - and I guess the council passes on the charge (but.... I bet they deduct a handling charge, there is never a payment that the SNP doesn't want a cut from)