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76

General Car Chat / Re: Shunted on the way home .....

« on: 08 February 2018, 19:51:35 »

..... last night while in my Fortwo Smart by a Land Rover Sport. Though I've yet to get under & have a proper look, my Smart seems unscathed. His MOT ran out 2 Jan 2018, do I give hi me the benefit of the doubt?

Nope, report it to your insurance company......as you are contractually obliged to.

Not exactly.  Read your policy first, as wording varies.  Some simply say notify if you are involved in an accident.  Other say notify if you are involved in an accident that could lead to a claim on the policy.  In the latter case, as the other driver is at fault and you will not claim on your policy then no need to notify your insurer

77

General Discussion Area / Re: Lawn protection.

« on: 02 February 2018, 09:30:39 »

those grid systems do work but it is absolutely critical to use the right sub base and work out drainage levels.  Neighbour of mine has the stuff set on non draining sub base in a clay field where it was lower than the surrounding field.  you can guess the result. 

78

General Discussion Area / Re: Carillion

« on: 15 January 2018, 09:20:16 »

my guess is pulling profit forward when the cash to support it was later in the contract cycle.  If the expectations of profit then fall short, there is nothing left.

79

General Discussion Area / Re: Maths experts please

« on: 12 January 2018, 13:06:14 »

first one is worked out as

x² evaluated between 13 and 10.  In other words 13² less 10² = 69

.... dull.....

.

I bet if you, offerd to do it she would be offended, also would the wearer understand the equation, and know the answer ?

let's see the full face in the picture before I answer that...

80

General Discussion Area / Re: Maths experts please

« on: 12 January 2018, 07:06:37 »

first one is worked out as

x² evaluated between 13 and 10.  In other words 13² less 10² = 69

.... dull.....

81

General Discussion Area / Re: Medium term garage roof fix

« on: 10 January 2018, 06:03:54 »

I'd suggest laying a single sheet rubber roof.  I used rubber4roof.co.uk on a porch.  Its not difficult to lay yourself.

If you are raising the roof then i expect you'll replace all timbers so in effect you'll be laying on a new timber deck, so a rubber sheet is fine. Its no good to patch an existing hot felt roof

Others may suggest grp/fiberglass but it feels a bit of overkill for a garage and is more expensive and less diy able

82

General Discussion Area / Re: Ryanair

« on: 28 September 2017, 07:49:14 »

I think everyone is assuming that the CAA is run more efficiently than ryanair...

83

Omega General Help / Re: Pump problems.

« on: 15 September 2017, 12:53:03 »

unplug it: no need to blank it off or even easier - just ignore it (been ignoring mine for 4 years to no harm)

84

General Discussion Area / Re: For those who have done extensions...

« on: 07 August 2017, 18:51:30 »

I'd reckon at about £1k to £1.5 per sq m for the extension plus probably 5-10 for the garage conversion.  so around the 50k mark at a guess

as to planning, unless you've had permitted development rights removed then as long as you are extending your original house then you should be fine.  You can go further under extended pd ( 8m) if neighbours don't object.  as to the garage, the issue will be getting the insulation values up as much as anything. then it stuffs floor height and ceiling height.  Walls are not so bad to deal with

Beware architects recommending builders - there is usually some financial relationship between them at your expense.  far better to seek quotes and references.

if the extension is simple, draw plans yourself - you probably need more input to get building plan approval, but I'd look for support from an engineer as much as anyone else (my experience of architects is not good)

85

General Discussion Area / Re: State pension - warning

« on: 19 July 2017, 20:09:05 »

Contracting out ceased in april 16.  So we are all contracted in now. In any event when you contracted out you earned the state second pension but also had a serps deduction. The deduction was never equal to the state pension you built up, even as far back as the 80s

The real point is that there is a change being planned for those borne after march 1970 but another review in 2023. We may see another change then

86

General Car Chat / Re: The devil's canal-boat juice..

« on: 30 June 2017, 15:08:28 »

Similarly I don't see a massive hike in diesel tax at the pumps. We're a road based economy after all and it would be hella costly to make a multi-tier system of fuel pricing based on whether you're filling up a car, van or hgv.

That's the easy bit. Same (huge) price at the pumps for everyone. But a company can claim the fuel costs back as an expense for lorries, so it's deducted against profits before corporation tax so it's tax neutral for things that basically have to use Diesel. However, you cant claim the fuel costs for vans or company cars - this will incentivise companies to change their company cars/vans to something else - which they typically do every 2-3 years anyway.

All it requires is a few words in the Budget and a modification in the tax rules (which happens at every budget anyway) and job jobbed.

Ok loads of hacked off personal owners with diesel cars, but give people 12 months notice of the changes and that can be mitigated because they're threatening the world with imminent death and should be ashamed. Around here most are using Red Diesel anyway so where's the problem?

Yes it is deducted from taxable profits so it means it reduces corporation tax but that will be 18% of the price hike.  However companies or investors aren't fond of reducing profits so they pass the increase costs on.  In other words, transport costs go up and as consumers we all pay

87

General Discussion Area / Re: Tower block fire

« on: 18 June 2017, 22:03:49 »

Just on the news: survivors can get £500 in cash straight away, and £5000 paid into their bank accounts on Monday. This money is not for accommodation costs or fuel costs etc.
Imagine going to sign on at the benefit office on Tuesday. Hello, Mr Smith, we understand you've had a bit of a windfall. Fill in this form, there's a good chap.

Would the government have given me £550 if I'd lost the house?  No bloody chance     

OK TB, swap places with one of those tenants who have lost everything, had their families put at risk, even losing a member or two. Is £5,000 a lot of money then?

The contents of my flat alone I insure for up to £50K, as £5,000 would only just about cover the cost of furnishing and re-equipping the front room 

I feel no anger about what these poor sods get, who were failed miserably by the people who were responsible for the refurbishment, and only feel very sad that they have had to go through such an ordeal.   Let the government pay them the money, then reclaim it back from the contractors as they are found guilty of gross negligence and manslaughter.

would you say that if it were found that the council instructed the contractor to use that cladding or that the council in their duty to enforce building control, failed to enforce?  it is easy to blame the contractor but the council have the statutory building control duty.  what if the contractor proposed those materials and the council agreed as their customer?

my hunch is that a proportion of blame rests with the council - just not sure home much.

88

General Discussion Area / Re: Tower block fire

« on: 18 June 2017, 11:27:28 »

Now the experts and observers are stating the cladding used in this tower block is banned in most European countries, along with the USA.  It is even suspected it is actually banned here in the UK!!


Heads are going to roll

agreed, heads should roll.  what we don't know is whether the cladding material met English regs (note that Scotland, Wales and NI have devolved control on building regs) in which case Regs should change OR

The cladding did not meet regs, the Council in their role as building control knew that it did not meet regs but did not enforce. (whilst building control can be passed to private companies, Enforcement powers rest with the Council...)

there seems to be a presumption that Regs are not sufficient but it could be that that are and work was not carried out to a sufficient standard. 

89

General Discussion Area / Re: Tower block fire

« on: 17 June 2017, 20:06:44 »

Presumably the panels met the regulations at the time. 


Did the steel that melted in the twin towers meet spec and building regs? Rhetorical question.

Lets hope the lessons learnt are actually implemented. I suspect they wont be once rhe focus moves to something else.

there is something here that i think the media is missing.  If you look on the Council's website, the cladding work was done under a building notice.  That notice records the work as "completed Not approved" no one is focussing on that in the media.

did building control not approve the work because they knew about the panels? if so why did they not take enforcement action?
of course they may not have approved for other reasons but to my thinking there are two routes for this to take

Regulations today ARE sufficient and they were not enforced properly ( in which case you have to ask why: failure of council, enforcement powers not strong enough....) or

Regs are not adequate and have to be amended.

I have no clue which but there is something not quite right with the building control notice for the cladding, that's for sure.  Anyone can see this, search on RBKC building control site for the tower

90

General Discussion Area / Re: Leccy problem...

« on: 05 February 2017, 07:42:38 »

daft question but has everything been unplugged on the circuit - absolutely everything in the bedrooms as well?

I think you can discount the rcd as that does not have any connection to the earth.

best to pop each faceplate off in turn in the bedrooms and test.  At least you'll identify ifi t is one of those or which wiring leg.   Givne you have a multimeter, I'd dead test rather than live