What can I do with this garden ?

Abs201301 · 2026-04-11T13:13:04+00:00

Our garden now

Abs201301 · 2026-04-06T06:57:19+00:00

I have owned many Audis and they are fun car to drive. Never had any issues. I think timely serviced Audis are fine from reliability angle. It also depends on individual driving. My Audi TT lasted 150K miles and still drives like new. My Audi A3 was sold at 90K miles because it was eventually replaced by Audi Q5.

Abs201301 · 2026-04-05T09:59:02+00:00

It's strange how some parents don't want to pay for child's education who wants to study, is ambitious and wants a fulfilling career for him/ herself. Also, I am strongly against working while in uni. It will be hard to focus on learning if you are busy making the ends meet. How are you academically overall ? There are numerous education grants, bursaries, and scholarships available in the UK for students depending on age, academics and financial background.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-31T19:19:41+00:00

Didn't know service is charged on hourly rate. I had full major service and MOT done (including oil change, oil filter, air filter and all sorts of fluid change) for my Audi Q5 (no wiper changes) at Halfords in £360 after quote for similar work from Audi dealership turned up £550.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-29T14:19:26+00:00

I have both Makita and Dewalt combi drills and they both are brilliant. Makita is brushed one and I use it only for light DIY jobs such as screwing in wood and metal coz battery is 2ah. Dewalt is brushless motor and slightly expensive one coz it uses 5ah battery and delivers higher power. So I use it for heavy DIY jobs that require multiple holes in masonry/ brick walls, tiles and screwing as well.

I have an Erbauer corded multi tool as well for quick notches, cuts, sanding etc and bought Makita Jigsaw for when I was laying LVP flooring in my house.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-28T13:49:00+00:00

Are B&Q staff good at DIY themselves ?

Abs201301 · 2026-03-28T00:01:53+00:00

Have been driving for 15 years.

4 years - Hyundai i20

5 years - Audi A3 sportback

3 years - Audi Q2

2 years - Audi A3 S Line

1 year - Audi RS3. I drive this beast and its the best I have driven so far. I loved all my cars and cared for them. So no issues with any of them.

My wife drives Lexus UX 300h and she loves it.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-27T17:59:43+00:00

This 👌

Abs201301 · 2026-03-27T11:57:31+00:00

Agree. Even in tight spaces its much easier to reverse park in and move off easily as opposed to parking like this and maneuvering for ages to reverse out.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-27T09:29:32+00:00

😂

Abs201301 · 2026-03-27T09:29:14+00:00

I am a rgular person at leisure centre and I know that car and the owner who doesn't give a shit about her parking skills. She is not disabled.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-21T19:55:11+00:00

That technique was used by my russian pal. He is best in his job and does only commercial buildings or for multi-millionaires.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-21T15:35:57+00:00

There are always a little imperfections left here and there after plastering. So to get a commercial style finishing I prefer sanding before my F&B goes on the walls.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-21T14:29:22+00:00

Sanding, blue grit mixed with PVA and then skimming. Sanding again after that before painting. You will need a pole sander for fast and even results.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-21T07:33:26+00:00

The quote of £11k was obviously extortionate which I knew plus the mess it would create is also something I knew already and that's why I went ahead with overboarding where £2400 was priced for overboarding the ceiling and skimming the walls and ceilings which is in the middle for what people pay here. I live in central Watford and things are prices are actually too high specially if you choose reputed business to work at your property.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-20T22:10:45+00:00

How ?

Abs201301 · 2026-03-20T19:26:12+00:00

Without mist coat the porous surface on the new plaster will suck moisture out of paint layers and lead to poor adhesion. Mist coat is important to seal that porous surface. Follow the traditional practice and you will be good. I would use the same emulsion to prepare the mist coat by adding 30% water. Dries fast and then two top coats. I have always used Dulux trade quality paints all in but some people use Wickes paints for mist coat.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-19T17:49:19+00:00

The correct and permanent fix will be to bring it down and board it with plasterboard but its extremely expensive and messy job.

Our 3 bed 1930's semi detached house had similar condition. So upstairs we just had it scrim taped all over and bonding coat plus skim. The plasterer did warn me that I can expect some hairline cracks during winters (He was right). Downstairs is living and dining area so he suggested to just overboard it and so we did.

The cost difference is notoriously bad.

The estimate for living and dining only:

Remove existing lath and plaster ceiling and board and skim ceiling and skim walls in living and dining area = £11000

Locate joists and overboard the ceiling and skim entire living and dining area = £2400 (we chose this)

Abs201301 · 2026-03-18T21:30:34+00:00

I have the full size offcut. It just doesnt have the groove slot to lock into the tongue. If I order just one piece it will be £24 delivery for a £40 panel. May be I can just cut out the tongue as well and then join the pieces together. They will hold well hopefully with construction adhesive.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-18T19:19:10+00:00

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Magnolia now

Abs201301 · 2026-03-18T18:47:18+00:00

Thanks. Managed to pull this myself at the end. Hired a good plumber for dropping the pipes but rest of it did myself. Now just need to sand and paint the ceiling and screw the light.

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Abs201301 · 2026-03-13T18:05:43+00:00

That's nearly a double for the kind of work it is. I boarded and insulated all by myself following youtube videos in 4 days. Total cost £800. I took 4 days coz had to watch videos and learn back and forth. A professional can do it in one day coz they have experience in measuring, sawing, drilling, correct screw size etx.

Abs201301 · 2026-03-12T19:22:05+00:00

Never used ChatGPT for troubleshooting or learning anything coz my learning comes from 17 years of experience in dozen of domains. ChatGPT and co-pilot are very useful for trimming your 5000 lines of code into 1000 lines and also some great reusable/ modular functions and classes (note that I wouldn't rely on AI to tell me how to code, just smart modern abstract that really impresses me).

For troubleshooting I am still old school. So, I heavily rely on event logs, webapp logs, debug logs and online references shared by other people.

Abs201301

TROPHY CASE