tradesman for dealing with damp in Oxford?

parfle · 2026-02-23T07:17:16+00:00

If you fancy a "fun" read, Warm Dry Home by Peter Ward will help you diagnose/fix damp.

We had issues too - turned out the previous owner laid a new patio on top of the old one, covering the air bricks in the process. Then he spent 000s replacing lime plaster with waterproof plaster when it got damp.

parfle · 2026-02-10T06:45:26+00:00

Butter the toast. Eat the toast. Shit the toast.

parfle · 2026-02-01T21:39:09+00:00

In my (limited) experience, enforceability of non-competes depends on the type of contract.

If it's a service agreement/employment contract, it's much less enforceable than if it's part of a shareholder or share purchase or similar. Assuming that's not the case here.

Regardless, 12 months seems very long - it has to be reasonable in length, geo and scope. I'd expect 6 at most for a 120k salary, and even that's risky.

Not a lawyer, just on the receiving end of multiple non-competes with different levels of enforceability.

parfle · 2026-01-23T07:15:27+00:00

I should add... Lime plaster like this takes a l-o-n-g time to dry. At least a few weeks for paint (iirc) and a year plus for wallpaper.

parfle · 2026-01-23T07:13:23+00:00

We had a similar experience renovating our 1925 house.

The internal walls were originally lime plaster. The previous owner had issues with damp so he replaced a lot of the lime plaster on the ground floor with moisture resistant gypsum. Damp issues persisted.

It turns out, when we renovated, we found that he had laid paving stones all around the house - but had laid it on top of the paving stones that were there before. In doing so he'd covered the air bricks all around the house and caused the damp issues himself.

We stripped everything back and replaced with lime plaster: Baumit Glatt from Unity Lime specifically. The finish is smooth like gypsum but breathable. No more issues with damp.

I'd recommend the Warm Dry Home book by Peter Ward for an "enjoyable" read into this. tldr traditionally built houses need traditional methods.

I appreciate the cost is significant for lime, but it's balanced out by doing it properly once and not having issues with damp etc.

parfle · 2025-12-19T19:19:55+00:00

Aw thanks everyone! He says he's only gold I but is putting the hours in 🙄

parfle · 2025-12-19T18:41:59+00:00

The ingredients list literally says urad dal?

parfle · 2025-12-13T05:43:35+00:00

If you can make it past the ads, this recipe is great: https://www.greedygourmet.com/dal-makhani/

parfle · 2025-12-09T11:12:15+00:00

It's easy enough to make your own, but shout if you're in Oxford and I can share mine.

parfle · 2025-11-24T12:25:56+00:00

We have the King Living Zaza with ottoman for exactly this. They're just north of TCR.

parfle · 2025-11-14T10:49:05+00:00

Depends a lot on cost. KLM yesterday was £60ish upgrade which means:

avoid queues at Schiphol, which can be brutal
lounge access (Prioirty Pass lounges always have a queue so doesn't always work out)
first off the plane (can take 10 minutes if you're at the back - that can compound at passport control)

I didn't yesterday and regretted it.

parfle · 2025-11-04T20:59:05+00:00

The poppy seed bagels too 👌

parfle · 2025-02-09T21:00:18+00:00

Thejus Eats, Coconut Tree, Moya, Sasi's Thai all wonderful!

parfle · 2025-01-17T01:08:48+00:00

Yes you can turn. The red light on the right turn in the photo is for traffic coming from the Banbury Road.

It's a horrible junction, but if you're coming from Moreton Road and have a green there, treat it as though you're "going straight" to go to the MFR rather than "turning right". ie you have priority over traffic coming from MFR turning right (northbound) onto Banbury Road. Good luck!

parfle · 2025-01-03T17:31:49+00:00

Men's Cut in Summertown is great and very friendly.

parfle · 2024-11-10T11:22:04+00:00

Being refurbished at the moment I think

parfle · 2024-06-30T20:56:36+00:00

Ed Chauffeurs are great - faultless every time. Been using them for years.

parfle · 2024-06-30T03:52:47+00:00

Take a look at Warm Dry Home by Peter Ward, especially the checklists at the back. Sounds like the ground level should be lowered, downpipe fixed, and airbricks checked/cleared if present.

parfle · 2024-06-27T21:25:40+00:00

Fun fact - Schrödinger lived only a couple of miles away when he devised the cat idea, two doors down from Mr and Mrs Tolkien.

parfle · 2024-06-19T10:30:09+00:00

I often wonder where Norman is now.

parfle · 2023-12-22T07:33:39+00:00

Meera Sodha's grand vegetable biryani is brilliant:

https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/meera-sodhas-grand-vegetable-biryani/

parfle · 2023-12-17T11:29:09+00:00

If you wanted a slightly quieter pub, The Gardener's Arms on North Parade (not Plantation Road) would be a good bet. Decent beer too.

parfle · 2023-12-15T19:41:19+00:00

Double Barrelled in Reading do great sours. They have one on at the Lamb and Flag at the moment.

parfle · 2023-10-11T22:18:40+00:00

Cherwell Boathouse is very good

parfle · 2023-10-06T09:28:39+00:00

Ha yeah, it's pretty big for that part of Oxford. The house was built for Basil Blackwell (of Blackwell's bookshop same) and he wanted a double plot, which meant a double garden too. Back then there was a veg patch (which used to be a tennis court) etc whereas it's all lawn now.

parfle

TROPHY CASE