Recent content by richw

I grew up with a traditional system, but all my own houses have had combination boilers. If it was up to me, I would never replace a traditional stored water system with a combination boiler. They are a single point of failure, and cannot supply water to more than one point at once. The house...

Yes, 'the end is nigh'. It does sound like that. A scare tale as old as humanity itself. Like many things, the eco movement might contain some good things. I'm all for not wasting resources, for example. And generally, plastic is hideous stuff. Look at how over-packaged everything else...

I'm sure we are having an effect - like you say, 2 billion to 8 billion. But how much of an effect? Compared to all of the climate change between the Big Bang and today? How was the climate 2000, 5000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, 10000000 years ago? I struggle with the fascination since 1900ish...

I can think of two firmly good policy implementations since 2010: 1. the early step up to the personal tax allowance, which clearly helps those who work at the lower-end of the wage scale. 2. Michael Gove's education reforms, including the 'free schools' legislation. Unfortunately, number 1...

It's both extremes on here, isn't it! Landlords are evil millionaires, but they also struggle and scrape-along. People can buy houses, but people can't. Like this thread, the reality is mixed. The lovely graph on page 1 shows the Brown/Blair scam where they tripled house prices in no time at...

It could just be an area that catches running condensation, so goes mouldy over time. I'd start by bleaching it all off, then see what happens. Good way to remove mould is to apply neat thick bleach to the area and cover with toilet roll which will help hold the bleach onto the affected area...

Isn't the usual approach to add additional joists so you have a 'frame' in just the right place to attach the trapdoor to, then you can cut away the joist that's in the way. I was about to do similar in my roof, but realised that the roof was a 'modern' (1990!) engineered truss design, which I...

Similar to my childhood's cupboard-stairs... in 2021, I sold my own house. Earlier that year, I had the loft insulated and plasterboard-lined. The pull-down ladder was just left, as you would expect for a storage area. But the room was absolutely 'finished', and I used it as a home office...

In the late 80s, by dad built a loft staircase by utilising a built-in wardrobe in the box bredroom. Just cut a hole in the ceiling and made some stairs. Pretty unique - never seen anything like it since. It looked like normal wardrobe, but contained this magic mini staircase! Obviously...

For a bit of balance, I would typically be against any sort of 'big government' moves, be they NHS or HMRC or DWP expansions. I want it all slimmed down fairly significantly. As much as some benefit cheats might annoy me, it's a drop in the ocean compared to, say, corruption, or general public...

I'll have to try ammonia. I did buy some expensive BIN brush cleaner, but found it didn't work very well on the brushes (excellent on your hands, though). Funnily enough, I also used a foam roller - didn't have any issues with it deforming. For undercoat or top coats, yes, absolutely, you...

BIN is brilliant. I overpainted some previously stained 1960s doors and then applied white eggshell. You would never know they used to be dark. Used a 1.5" brush and a 6" foam roller. Problem with BIN is that it's evil to work with. The consistency of milk. Dries in about 20 minutes, so...

What's wrong about what Mottie said? If someone in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway etc. is being persecuted and feels genuine fear for their live... yes, I can see why they might attempt to enter England without applying in advance. But people paying criminal...

Not sure about the 'most scientists' narrative. Would also depend on your definition of 'some'... 99%? 1%? Assuming the doomsayers are right, and the planet warms a touch. What good comes of that? And what bad? And what do we need to do to help with the bad? (e.g. upgrade sea defences)...

If you have the hot water on 24/7, it doesn't mean the boiler will be on 24/7. The boiler will heat the water in the tank (to 65 degC ish) then switch off until the tank has cooled (either by escaping heat, or using the hot water and cold water entering). Putting the heating on will cause the...