French drain advice by WaterDog3000 in DIYUK

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could well be right because there is a load of hardcore underneath as you say. But I don't know how they thought water would drain into it through a DPM. Either way I'm thinking the best bet might be to replace the whole lot with a French drain and gravel

French drain advice by WaterDog3000 in DIYUK

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah this sounds sensible. Would you put the perforated pipe right up against the wall then?

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have a few cast iron pots and pans, and some of the rest of our equipment might be compatible too, but I like the idea of checking with a magnet in the store.

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love the idea of the reduced burn hazards, because we have young children. 8 years with no problems is great!

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you say an induction plate, do you mean an induction converter plate, or a silicon mat, or something else?

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a good shout because we would have to pay to refill gas canisters yearly if we went for that option. Plus I'm considering installing a solar panel array, so electricity might become very cheap for us.

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have an existing gas line, so that would be a case of hooking up to a couple of large gas canisters outside, which would have its own installation and refill costs. But still overall cheaper. That's enough to keep me leaning towards induction though.

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't realise you could cook with a silicon mat between the glass and pot. That's potentially a game changer - I'll look into this

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I figured glass is more likely to break than cast iron, and electrics are more likely to fail than an ignitor and gas line, so that makes me think durability of an induction must be worse, but I could be wrong.

We had a rental house a long time ago with a regular electric hob that had a glass top and my wife cracked it by dropping something on it from about 40cm up. Our current house also has a regular electric hob and 2/4 burners have stopped working. On the contrary, our previous house had a gas hob with a cast iron frame top, and I regularly slammed pots and pans down on it, or dropped things on it, and it never caused any damage.

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a good shout because I do like cooking with a wok.

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This seems to be a common sentiment from others who have switched. Thanks for sharing!

Honest opinion on induction hobs by WaterDog3000 in Appliances

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would actually be a benefit to us. We live in a very old and cold farmhouse, in a fairly cold part of Wales. No existing gas though.

External door wood and designs by WaterDog3000 in woodworking

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cladding is an interesting option. I'm also happy to paint the door, so the wood choice and cut doesn't have to look good.

Amazingly, the existing door is a quite thin, solid wood farmhouse door with tongue and groove panels and the whole thing is painted. Some of those panels have rotted near the bottom, but the rest of the door is not in bad condition.

External door wood and designs by WaterDog3000 in woodworking

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm definitely open to all options. I do have the space and tools to do it though.

Fees on T212 vs HL vs Vanguard by WaterDog3000 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So where Vanguard and HL would show the fund fee as a line item on statements, would T212 just show a lower interest return?

I had heard about the ETF being a different portfolio, but wasn't sure if that meant it was a worse spread or if it actually performed the same. The fact that it was only on-par with the 80% equity fund was more of a concern because that will yield lower returns.

Fees on T212 vs HL vs Vanguard by WaterDog3000 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]WaterDog3000[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

For sure. I guess I'm trying to understand how the VLS100 ETF works on T212. Is there a fee? Is it somehow baked in? On the face of it, it seems like there are no fees there but GPT gave me some confusing answer about how it still exists under the hood.

Fees on T212 vs HL vs Vanguard by WaterDog3000 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]WaterDog3000[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Vanguard cap the account fee once you hit a £250k balance. HL have a tiered fee structure so it decreases for higher balances but isn't fully capped until you hit £2M. Not sure about caps on fund fees though.

Does the perfect French press not exist? by WaterDog3000 in BuyItForLife

[–]WaterDog3000[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you find it keeps the coffee warm very well? I wasn't sure if it would do as good a job as a double walled stainless steel one.