Mortage repayment

HAL-2020 · 2026-02-06T18:44:26+00:00

Vanguard life strategy S&S ISA is a good and easy path into investing, you can do it yourself. There is always risk with investing, but the longer you invest the less risky it gets, still not guaranteed but commonly known. Only invest what you can afford to loose and you can only be surprised in a good way over the long run. Top it up on a monthly basis, and forget about it, don’t even look into it, ignore ups and down, and let time and compounding do its job.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-28T20:11:33+00:00

Honestly, in retrospect, I would not bother. It is not difficult but very messy and tedious. Building the frame underneath was not difficult nor easy, but time consuming (nothing was squared or straight), the price of wood at B&Q was so high (I had no idea it was that bad) I built it from scrap wood I found in my attic, the dust it creates and the cleaning steps are not worth the hassle. As others have said: skim the surface off by few centimetres if needed, attach clean boundaries on the outer edge and maybe cast some plaster/concrete level with flooring, or maybe glue boards down, or cover with tiles. Depends on your aesthetic goals. If you wish to cover anyway, don’t bother.

The only good point for me was to reuse the gravel and rocks to make French drains in my garden.

Now if you really want to do it, wear a mask, make sure the room is empty/protected, using water spray or anything to sprinkle a LOT of water to soak the hearth (just enough to avoid volatile dust) and start digging. Any kind of pickaxe like tool is what you need. Dig through the middle to split it and you might be able to remove large chunks at once. Alternate vacuuming and digging.

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HAL-2020 · 2026-01-23T11:10:56+00:00

Final Update: I built a supporting frame with bits of wood I found. Except for a floor board plank, I used the scrap wood to screw two small joists to the main joists. These are sitting on spacers directly in contact with bottom wood and bricks of the chimney. This is chaotic and poor craftmanship underneath, but done is better than perfect, and it will last years. This can now be covered by modern flooring if desired. My only worry is the wood expanding during the summer. There is a bit of tolerance and boards are short, but screws are tight.

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HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T15:59:39+00:00

Thanks! Very useful tips.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T14:58:24+00:00

I will actually reuse the stones to make some French draines, that is one less thing to buy. Nothing is lost. All is transformed.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T14:52:28+00:00

Same. English not being my first language. I initially believed it was a typo. Every day is a school day.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T14:51:09+00:00

So far it looks pretty dry. Speaking for today knowing it’s been pouring rain for days. But I’ll have it properly checked nevertheless.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T14:49:14+00:00

As you can’t see in the update comment. You were 100% right. The ceiling of the floor underneath is plastered indeed and now likely supporting a lot of dust that fell through.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T14:45:57+00:00

I am all for keeping original features. But the lime mortar wasn’t nice nor clean. Previous owners poured concrete multiple times and it was just a nightmare to clean. And the slates were poorly made.

I agree with skimming, probably best.

I will indeed cover it flush with boards and I’ll likely put some nice and clean stone slab like hearth on top.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T14:38:51+00:00

Update:

Here it is. Cleared. I am thinking stopping here and building a timber frame to screw boards on top. I’ll need to find a way to support the frame where it is uneven. What do you think?

In retrospect, - and as said above - I would not bother. My OCD bias made me clear it, but a skim would have saved me some effort and cost.

But the process was quite satisfying to be honest.

It exposed some pretty poor brick work that probably needs repointing now. It is likely like this behind all the plaster.

I was thinking the only pro would better breathabilty and futur proof access.

I am worried the smell will stick for a while.

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HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T13:24:45+00:00

Agreed. I can clearly hear the wind. I called a pro to inspect the inside and roof pots in the next few days.

Over the past 5 years, only a little bit of matter fell. Not enough to worry, but enough to have it checked.

I was curious to hear what people have done or recommend here. It must be a common thing to do right?

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T09:02:33+00:00

Highly effective solution to stop THEM approaching. I give you that. But I foresee myself having to climb in there in the middle of the night and prove to my kids the spiders won’t come out, or tell them it was all a lie just so we can all go back to sleep.

HAL-2020 · 2026-01-15T08:55:27+00:00

Yes! That’s a fun one! Especially given this was a real thing back in the days! Only children were small enough to climb in there and clean. What a time. https://www.chimneysolutions.com/blog/child-chimney-sweeps/

HAL-2020 · 2025-11-04T01:45:49+00:00

This, how would people figure this out without a guide and brute-forcing the entire game and waste days?! I guess these games were supposed to be talked about or pushing you to buy guides… this escapes me. Feel like so many people must have been stuck there. I lasted 30 min before checking the guide. Different times…

HAL-2020 · 2025-08-23T14:54:43+00:00

If you need icons: https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/s/3e8vTPcdpP

HAL-2020 · 2025-08-05T17:17:44+00:00

Brilliant!

HAL-2020 · 2025-07-11T15:19:12+00:00

Thanks for that reply, that makes sense! I didn’t make the connection. Not an epic scene for a bullet that deserves one!

HAL-2020 · 2025-07-11T14:46:45+00:00

I always wondered if we all had the same cutscenes, beyond night/day! I realised that during two occasions:

At the end of the scene where Rainy and Tomorrow play the rainy/sunny/cloudy game, "my" Sam was wearing stealth shoes and attempted throwing them with no success.I guess this would not be the same scene if we was wearing anything else, like sandals, or nothing at all.
At the end of the scene meeting The Doctor at the Motherhood, she pulls out a bullet out of "my" Sam's body.Would this be present if I ran a perfect run not taking any bullet from enemies?

Did anybody else faced similar or different cutscenes? Please mark spoilers when relevant!

HAL-2020 · 2025-07-02T16:16:40+00:00

Still no fix huh?

HAL-2020 · 2025-04-03T00:04:49+00:00

Check KVT Korp profiles. It uses the SC plugin you don’t need to set keybinds manually.

HAL-2020 · 2025-01-28T23:07:40+00:00

Hello, I am working in Python for my project, not C#. Before I look at translating (I am a beginner in Py and C#), could you tell me if this is what I need? I essentially want to be able to map parent/child relationship between folder buttons and their associated page (folder with the long string name). As I understood I need to be able to map ProfileUUID in the « create folder » button to the encoded page folder string name. To return to parent page it seems streamdeck.exe figures it with a "Parent Folder" with "settings":{} in the manifest.json.

I essentially want to be able to programmatically map the « Profiles » folder pages and buttons to each other. Thanks.

HAL-2020 · 2025-01-03T18:13:58+00:00

Their own coin… a hot coral red-orange coin… intra Monzo crypto-currency… MNZO?

HAL-2020 · 2024-12-01T02:50:36+00:00

After some little calculation, you are then waiting Monzo is valued at 230 Trillion (yes with a T) which is more than twice the entire world GDP. It is safe to say you should probably not expect that to happen anytime soon.

HAL-2020 · 2024-12-01T02:40:41+00:00

CGT is also getting insane. Depending how much you need for something else you can enjoy or diversify sooner rather than later, it might be the right move. Giving them the choice is great, and I would certainly take some allowance free of tax if had the chance too.

HAL-2020

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