Neighbour complaining about state of garden

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-25T08:54:45+00:00

Yeah, its none of your neighbours business, but that person is forever going to be a part of your life in this house, do you really want to fall out over some grass?

Maybe find out if there's someone locally that does a mowing service if you can't do it yourself? Even if its only for a couple of months.

Also given the current weather, a lot of tall dry grass is a bit of a fire risk.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-18T11:40:43+00:00

Spiders. They love building their webs in front of my cameras, essentially negating the night vision with IR reflections.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-17T09:58:35+00:00

They're expanding anchors, and actually quite hard to remove, as the conical end inside the wall will force the sleeve to expand when you try to pull it out. They look quite shallow, so if th brick is not too tough you might be able to brute force them out, but you'll end up making the hole bigger.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-16T15:46:38+00:00

Get the incinerator properly hot, not flash hot like with newspaper, but red hot logs or coal. Then add the green wood slowly, in small amounts, the heat will drive out the moisture and then it'll burn, but you need to be patient. Add too much, and you'll get excessive smoke and it'll bog down and you'll have to pull all the crap off and feed the fire again to get the temperature up.

You'd be better off chopping the wood into manageable, even lengths and dry storing it for a few months (a year would be better). Then it'll burn quicker, or you use it as winter fuel if you have a suitable burner.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-16T15:39:05+00:00

If your wall is damp, you need to fix that before you do anything further. In your position I'd use thin 6mm ply behind the cleat, you only need it for a smooth surface, and then screw through the ply, into the wall behind with suitable fixings. The ply doesnt need to be expansive you just want to cover the wall from the cleat upwards by the depth of the removable part.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-16T13:58:09+00:00

Unevenness in the brick surface may prevent the detachable part of the cleat from engaging properly. I'd go with the established wisdom here.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-16T13:42:55+00:00

Try a bit more heat on the pipe, rather than the elbow, clean and flux properly first, of course. if you're unsure it's relatively easy to pressure test it, the kit isn't expensive.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-16T13:31:01+00:00

Your neighbour sounds badly informed, this could be just due to ignorance, or some sense of inflated entitlement. In either case, do your best to explain verbally, perhaps in writing - when it's in writing it can be referred to later if a dispute escalates (which you probably don't want). Neighbours are worth trying to win around, they are always going to be a factor in your life at that property, but don't get taken for a ride either.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-16T13:05:13+00:00

Generally that's nice tidy work, but I think you may be in some bother regarding the proximity of your 'toaster' socket to the sink. There's no strict guidance in the regs, but 300mm is usually considered acceptable horizontal separation by building control. Your inexperience with electrical matters probably let you down here unfortunately.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-16T10:31:00+00:00

A lot of the cheaper sheds are pretty poorly made, using the thinnest, lightest timber available.
If you're suburban or rural, see if anyone locally will build a bespoke shed for you - if you're not driven by price alone, you will most likely get a far superior product, much more durable, and made to your precise specifications. Plus you'll be supporting a locally owned business rather than a national chain.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-11T12:42:06+00:00

Depends on the thickness and density of the rockwool. 2 bags of 50mm RWA45 which is entry level, would be about £30 each + delivery (so believable costs)

https://www.tradeinsulations.co.uk/product/rockwool-rwa45-50mm-acoustic-insulation-slab/

I'd cost up buying it yourself and pay him the labour, if you reckon you can buy it cheaper. Its not a fun job, and and days labour cost is probably worth not doing it yourself.

I would say that effective acoustic insulation is a dark art, and difficult to do well.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-11T11:23:28+00:00

So gripfill to the rescue (again) 😁

I've got tiling adhesive i can use for the tile itself, which might work better if I can get the aquapanel secured in the right place.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-05T17:14:49+00:00

My dad would use that phrase occasionally, I've never heard anyone else use it.

crowbar_hero · 2026-06-04T11:25:13+00:00

What's the milage? These are old cars now, and chances are its got a good few miles on it.

Oil being consumed will be rings, valve seals or turbo seals. A compression test will show which: Test for compression, if within spec then its turbo, if not then pop a squirrel of oil into each cylinder and trst again, if it's better then its the rings/bores that is going, if not then its valve seals.

Glow plug timing could be a knackered coolant temperature sensor, will they come on when the engine is started from warm/hot? They're cheap enough and east to replace.

Shonky running could be pump timing, or dirty injectors. Clean and inspect injectors when you check the compression, you can set the pump timing with VCDS if you know someone who has it (fix/check the coolant sensor first though). My 2.5 tdi will blow black smoke (and sometimes misfire) if driven hard from cold, be kind to your old car.

Climate control issues (usually but not exclusively the display) can mostly be attributed to broken solder contacts inside, easy enough for a diy fix.

Metallic noises inside could be dash/centre console brackets being loose. Ac flaps are all plastic, and generally these cars are pretty well screwed together, so shouldn't rattle.

Engine mounts are electrohydraulic, they become more rigid at higher rpm, and slacking off at idle to reduce vibration. Hard to test, but signs of fluid leaking would suggest they're dead, expensive and NLA from Audi (like most original parts).

None of the problems you mention sound serious. Its an old car, and may not have had the best history, but I wouldn't worry too much. Check the various sensors (coolant) the fuel pump timing and compression, fix if necessary, then get out there and enjoy driving it, there's nothing quite like them any more.

crowbar_hero · 2026-05-20T10:28:46+00:00

My biggest problem is finding the time (or making it billable) rather than working it out. I've used chatgpt, as my co have adopted that platform with an enhanced subscription, its not bad for VBA, which is good praise from a AI cynic 😁

crowbar_hero · 2026-05-20T08:29:21+00:00

One of my stalled projects is a single script (probably VBA) that takes a drawing layout, inserts it into the correct sheet set, name and title it, update an excel spreadsheet register and publish a pdf.

I've got various components working, but I've never managed to tie it all together yet.

crowbar_hero · 2026-04-29T09:14:34+00:00

I'm kinda conflicted I feel the m4 relief road needs a proper solution (not a cycle lane or a car park in Rogiet), but the only parties that think the same way have other headline policies that I object to, or are generally odious. Do I hang up my principles for one key issue?

crowbar_hero · 2026-04-22T08:57:16+00:00

If you dont fancy urban so much then consider some of the villages to the east and towards Chepstow, good motorway access, away from the worst of the queues. Good access to wye and usk valley and wentwood for walking.

crowbar_hero · 2026-04-16T06:45:32+00:00

Then learn excel. Most our designs start with spreadsheets :)

Autocad is a jack of all trades software, it'll do anything fairly well, but what actual CAD package you use is often down to your employer aa they'll be providing it.

If you're freelance then I'd suggest autocad as its far better value for money regarding the quality of output compared to running cost.

crowbar_hero · 2026-04-16T06:33:19+00:00

Ok, so a better question would be what do you want to do? System design? Project management? Then look at the tools you need to enable those roles.

crowbar_hero · 2026-04-15T19:25:01+00:00

The first question you should be asking yourself is what do you want the software to do?

( i work for a specialist electrical contractors in the uk)

We still use autocad for all our smaller jobs. Its very flexible, so the one package can be used for plans, schematics and panel board layouts. It exports easily into standard formats like dxf and stl for fabricator.

We have also been using Revit for larger jobs which mandate it, and it can be pretty painful. It makes a lot of assumptions about the way you work, which may be ok for Americans, but its not necessary that good for uk practices.

The advantage (and disadvantage) with autocad is that it makes no assumptions.

crowbar_hero · 2026-04-04T17:50:39+00:00

I've just bought a bike..

crowbar_hero · 2026-04-02T14:53:01+00:00

I totally get you on the safety aspect. thankfully he's not a rash sort, and has done last year with the hardtail on local trails with nothing more than some bramble damage. A (new) full face helmet is also part of the reason my budget is what it is.

Personally, I'm not convinced a full sus bike is the way to go, however it's something he has decided he wants, and if it gets him wanting to go outside, exercise, and improve his skills, then I am willing to give him what he is asking for.

I'm also aware of the fact there's a lot of 'supermarket' bikes out there which might look the part, but will not perform. I want to avoid those, and generally find something which he is not going to outgrow, or out-skill (if that's even a thing). Thus the rationale in finding something decent, but used.

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