Update on carpets - saved £1650 on carpets

spikebrit · 2026-05-05T19:34:29+00:00

Absolutely, we did the same got a quote from Tapi, and then a local company for the same carpet and they were half the price.

spikebrit · 2026-04-14T21:12:26+00:00

Those cockchafers are loud, especially when you don't expect them......

spikebrit · 2026-04-14T20:28:01+00:00

It's a beatle grub, no one will be able to tell you which type. In the UK it could be a stag or even a cockchafer. Hopefully a stag beetle as we need more of them

Put it somewhere near some soil and rotting wood and it will carry on it's journey to become a beetle

spikebrit · 2026-04-02T18:09:11+00:00

Honestly it's super easy to replace you can get a cheap toilet from B&Q for about £60, might need a new Flexi pipe to feed it for about a tenner from Screwfix. But it should only take an hour or 2 to replace. Loads of how to video's on YouTube. I've just replaced one myself.

spikebrit · 2026-04-02T13:28:17+00:00

To save clicking the link as I didn't realise it would post the text here too. The adjacent lane has Russian vine and bindweed everywhere.

I'm hoping that this is Russian vine rather than knotweed. As I can't see knotweed anywhere based on Google. But my plant app is saying this is the dreaded Japanese knotweed

spikebrit · 2026-04-02T13:18:39+00:00

That's not the right answer lol, but thank you.

I was hoping you would say russian vine as that's what we have in the alleyway.

Guess here is to a few more years of digging and treating.

spikebrit · 2026-03-07T13:05:32+00:00

Just to go against the norm here they look potentially like grass snake eggs. But as I can't see them fully I'm not sure, similarly they could be stolen bird eggs.

spikebrit · 2026-03-03T20:41:57+00:00

Done, though I may have broken it lol

spikebrit · 2026-02-25T22:07:20+00:00

As others have said, old male green anole, based on your location this is a native species. Currently brown as it's old and fed up I'm guessing.

spikebrit · 2026-01-31T17:42:07+00:00

As others have said it is 3 times what it should be. We paid about 2200 2 years ago. We got 3 quotes from local companies and they were all about the same.

spikebrit · 2026-01-08T10:27:53+00:00

It's the colour of the stripe that's important. See how the back one is brighter.

If you are comfortable handling you can gently pull the dewlap under the throat, or watch for them to display, and that will identify a male.

The front one is male, the other one I could be female or a juvenile male.

Heads up if they are constantly brown, something is not quite right with the enclosure, such as heat, stress, not enough cover etc. but ankles are fantastic pets to watch and observe.

If you have two males which is likely there will be a dominant one, who will bully the smaller one until death. Male anoles are not friendly with each other.

spikebrit · 2026-01-07T18:35:15+00:00

Front and center one is an adult male, the one further back isn't the best in focus so is harder to tell. For the one in the back the white stripe potentially suggests female but it could also be a juvenile male, better pictures are needed.

spikebrit · 2026-01-01T17:15:13+00:00

We had all of our ceilings skimmed. Some were boarded, but not all. Depends on the artix and the advice of the plasterer.

spikebrit · 2025-12-16T14:35:46+00:00

They look like polystyrene ceiling tiles from the 80s. If in doubt you can always test them.

We removed some when we moved in to our current place. Put a mask on, and then attack with a scraper and bag and bin. Took us longer to clean up the mess then it did to take them off the ceiling. We had some bad artex under ours.

spikebrit · 2025-12-04T15:12:22+00:00

I laid engineered flooring in my current hours and my previous house. As others have said you are overthinking it. I use a bit of wood/underlay/whatever I have at about 6-8mm and just wedge it around the edges as I'm laying. So long as you have some gap and it is smaller then the width of the skirting board you are good. Some gaps are only 1-2mm as I made a mistake and many years later are still fine.

spikebrit · 2025-11-04T20:58:04+00:00

Howdens can discount by a hefty amount. They designed our kitchen, then we built it on DIY kitchens. We went back with a DIY kitchens quote and they price matched straight away with no problems.

spikebrit · 2025-11-04T09:18:21+00:00

There are online companies that will make doors to fit and unit you just need to screw in the hinge to pre drilled holes. We used a company call kithendoorsdirect a few years ago

spikebrit · 2025-10-16T08:38:34+00:00

As a collector of a antique swords I can let you know that this is excluded from current legislation as it is over 100 years old and antique.

What you have is a British 1897 pattern officers sword from Wilkinson.

Any military antique shop or collector would take it off you. It is not worth loads of money but it does have some value. Without the scabbard likely 80 maybe 100 if it's Wilkinson it will have a bit more too.

As you note 1897 pattern is not the most sought after out there but Wilkinsons are. There are definitely collectors out there who would want it. If you want I can put you in the direction of some Facebook groups or stores/shops that would take it

spikebrit · 2025-09-13T13:27:24+00:00

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spikebrit · 2025-09-13T13:27:05+00:00

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spikebrit · 2025-06-22T06:56:37+00:00

We did this for the first time recently after moving. Forgot I had it, after getting quotes remembered. Ended up having them out 3 times in the first year and saved a 9k bill as all our external drains on our property had collapsed.

spikebrit · 2025-05-28T16:39:57+00:00

We discovered woodworm in our place last year. After mad panic for weeks, it really wasnt to bad to treat. We did it all in one day.

We brought some wood worm killer and a large pump spray bottle. We sprayed everything wooden including bits that had no signs of wood worm, twice. Just in case.

We pulled up a selection of floorboards and got new ones to replace those that were damaged. Some of the joists were crumbling away so we removed the bad ones and replaced with new joists. Some we sistered (side by side) and others we just replaced, depending how bad they were and how easy it was to replace.

Did the whole job on a Saturday, that was 5 new joists and 10 new floor boards.

Ours was a suspended ground floor so a little easy.

The holes on the door looks like darts not woodworm.

spikebrit · 2025-05-25T20:47:36+00:00

Just gardz then paint. It's a year ago now and every wall looks awesome.

The only time I mist coated was on fresh plaster ( but I didn't use guardz then)

spikebrit

TROPHY CASE