Steven P

When was he last in the news before then... oh yes, wasn't there something about "the least socially distanced party ever", and then there was a loan the head of the BBC was middle man for (before being appointed by Johnson). He has previous for going overseas when the press gets a bit nosey, can't handle the door stepping (remember when his ex wife locked him out when news of another affair leaked to the press?) So why did he go there? Last time he got some good PR out of it. This time an afterthought on the evening news

This is just a thought The background is that I 'killed' my neighbours wood store over the weekend, it had a 30 degree lean to it, and piling next winters logs on it has given it a 90 degree lean now..... So a job for me next weekend.... My thought here, if I put some fine mesh at the ends of what I rebuild, would that be enough to stop most of the rain and yet still allow an air flow through. My guess is yes, if I get the right size?

Had a Stihl one that I guess worked OK - I never compared it to anything, think the batteries died but it had shown what I was drying out was dry enough before it did

Not something I've ever done you see, interesting to know.

To go a bit further to Trigger_Andy. Looking at the costs and your suggestion it might be better as firewood - can you rent a mill, might be if it is all going to go for firewood the OP is only loosing a rental fee and time to have a go themselves? Might be rubbish, might get a gem, but be good experience any way

My take, bark is the trees protective layer, it keep the moisture in (remember that when making firewood - split everything so there is wood exposed to dry), bark keeps the insects out and also some fire resistance... so the more bark I think the harder it will be to burn. Am sure we have all seen big old trees where the insides has been burnt, the outside is OK leaving a hollow core

Maple trees need a certain conditions to get good sugary sap - think also has to do with temperature at certain times of the year as well

The also take everything out out the leaves that are useful and shed them - smaller surface area to get cold - or they have fat round spikey leaves (generally) with a smaller surface area to the volume. They shut down a lot, don't need so much water in the trunk (see the leaves which lose a lot of water) again helping (chop a tree down in winter, it will be drier than one cut in the summer) After that the memory fades from school lessons many many years ago

How much kindling will you need for personal use for a season? To me a machine is a bit excessive for what I use but each to their own. My kindling machine was about £10 from the large DIY warehouse*. Softwood logs at 200mm, hand axe, happy days. Pallet, saw with an old chain, and a hand axe, nearly as happy. (* other large DIY warehouses are available) (serious question though, how much will you need will give us an indication of what you are looking for)

The right thing to do - I'm not a legal expert Client / Customer - different line of work to you, but yes understand the distinction.

Here is an experiment, outside, have a fire in the garden and place a sealed tin of beans on it. Puncture a tin of beans and place that on at the same time. Stand well back and wait as they heat up. If it is sealed. or can become sealed in use then I believe it becomes a pressure vessel and subject to all sorts of other regulations. Does capped mean sealed though, or just protected so that hot air expanding out of it isn't directed to a person standing nearby? Legal requirement for a liner? Not such a thing (see below), unless it forms a part of a sales contract with you and a stove supplier. Nearly all manufacturers of anything will recommend stuff but not demand it (legal issues on both sides, if they tell you to spend money doing something and turns out you don't need to, you can claim on them you see). Recommended though, but if you chimney is in good condition then you will be OK. What is the chimney at the moment? If it is lined you might get away with just a stove install. I'd be tempted to take it out at a suitable time and get it replaced. Removal could be a DIY job - the boards are - but the stove will be heavy and need a couple of you to get it out the house. Get the sweep back though - I'd recommend that for a first time sweep anyway - tell them the stove is being replaced and you want the chimney swept and inspected (they will more than likely put a smoke pellet in, check all the way up for leaks, check the chimney pots and chimney). Do that in advance of the stove being installed - just in case you need remedial works doing, be a shame to watch a brand new stove doing nothing while you wait for a builder to do works. If you have a chimney liner just now and if the sweep says it is good to go then I'd get the installers to remove the old stove... they will know how to do that without damaging the liner if you tell them to reuse it. Final couple of thoughts, does it work OK as it is? and from above, sweeping it yourself, can be a DIY job. Wood Burning Stove Building Regulations | Direct Stoves WWW.DIRECTSTOVES.COM Are you wondering what building regulations there are for installing a stove in the UK? Find out about flues, hearths and more on our expert blog >>

Your sticks are more stickier than mine, just -4 here

Sorry, being blunt, you can do as the insurers say, and do a shit job. Or you can do a good job, Sounds like you need all 3 insurers to talk together and all 3 of them to all agree that your quote is the best for the job, and then all 3 to coordinate giving you the go ahead and then coordinating with all 3 owners to do the work. Suspect this will add to the cost of course. Remove what you have been given approval for and you are leaving site with half a tree on a neighbours house? Wonder if that will happen quickly? You could work backwards, top to bottom as it were, do the neighbours first if their insurers approve, then the clients garden another time if necessary (or wait till neighbours get their half done) In my view (I have made very few insurance claims though), householders tree,. fell damaging neighbours property, client is liable for that damage and their insurance should pay up. Neighbour isn't liable for any of it and should be claiming on the tree owners insurance.

If you have them in a bag, where is the moisture going to go? My thought it not very far, it will pop out the logs, look about and pop back into the logs again. Drying logs is simple: Air flow Keep the water off Heat in roughly that order, no air flow in bags, no drying.

If the building collapses that loses you an hour or more sorting that? All manual labour. Suggest go back to the customer and say you are concerned about the low price, accepting that you have lost the job, suggest they get a third quote and check you are all quoting like for like. Might be the 3rd is £300 - £500 mark which means you are way out, might be the 3rd quote is nearer yours - but then you can't say you didn't warn the customer that something wasn't quote right

Depends if your system can give a date of when it is expected to be in stock. 'This week' is usually OK with me, 'Unknown' and I'll look somewhere else. Of course good customer relations would suggest to keep this accurate

and that might be the bottom line of the answer, physically fit, keen, happy to train and start at the bottom, but with financial commitments it might not be possible. So the next question, drop the take home to minimum wage, how long can you work at that for before you are in trouble - and that gives you a clue of how quick you need to get the experience to ask for better wages. Am sure no one out there would think they could walk into a £30k job with no experience... so what's the time scale you need to get to that level? Might be not possible, might be you can get by for a year or so. Finances got Al Capone, they get most of us somewhere or other. (Just to note the comment above, OP sounds happy - for now - to take on 6 days working, which at minimum wage - and including paid holidays takes you to about the Tesco rate). To me sounds the best way to go is get the training you are interested in, and do the work part time, weekend shift is available, take holidays, volunteer at places or whatever to gain the experience with no financial risk which might allow you to ask for a higher rate... and save save save just on case you jump before you can get that rate

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