chris24747

Hi, I'm after a bit of advice so I have more confidence in what i'm saying to my builder following a lintel replacement. As part of an extension a lintel was removed and replaced with a longer Catnic type. The floor joists for the first floor are supported on this wall above the lintel on a course of brick and block. The extension is complete and the builder has been gone for a couple of months. During the renovation of the existing room that the lintel was in i have had the ceiling plasterboard down which has exposed where the 1st floor joists go into the block work. When the house was originally built there was a DPC layer laid along the block under the joists. The result is that the blocks below the joists were not stuck to the blocks above. This has resulted in a gap forming below this DPC. The joists have followed this and dropped as well, resulting in a gap on top of the joist (where mortar once rested on the joist). At the worst point i can get the end of my index finger into the gap above the joist. Upstairs, the floor has noticeably dropped, its a bathroom with a lino floor which was siliconed in the corners - so the silicone has stayed stuck to the wall and the lino has dropped by, at the worst bit, around 10mm - which ties in with my findings downstairs. I guess my bottom line question is: Is there an acceptable amount of drop expected from a first floor joist / flooring following a lintel replacement? In my eyes, this should be zero - is this too ambitious? 10mm seems a lot. Before I get my builder back and insist on them rectifying this I just want to get my facts straight. If you need me to sketch something up, I can. Many thanks in advance.

Hi, Thanks for the responses. Dennis, I checked out Lavers - you are correct in that it has to be ordered in. The stuff they did have was much better quality. I believe the place in Beighton is the HPP place (Hills Panel Products). I am in contact with them about what I need. Andy, thanks for the tip, Ill get in touch with them. Ill take a look at nankivells as well. I was also pointed at Supafit in Dronfield (where I am). I visited today and they appear to be able to meet my requirements but Ill have to cost it. thanks again.

Hello all, After having a fairly astronomical quote for a fitted wardrobe, and being fairly handy myself, I am looking to build my own (the internals only, ill be buying sliding doors). Anyway, having looked round the chain DIY stores at their offering of melamine faced chipboard (MFC) I clearly need to find a specialist supplier that can offer the quality required. The ones I have seen had poor edges and unrealistic looking grain on the face. So, can anyone suggest / recommend somewhere that supplies quality MFC? Ideally, Id like to be able to cut it to the required size then take it to have 2mm ABS edging put on (like you get on office desks), however if this is not possible / too expensive then Id be happy to buy the sheets pre-edged. my only remaining leads are Lavers (will try and get over this evening) and hpponline.co.uk but they seem to be a trade only setup. Thanks in advance!

more *or* less Jeez!

Apologies if anyone posted this link, I had a scan through the messages and didn't see anything.. Have a look at http://www.isstracker.com/ I have used that before.

Beauchief exchange is now Fibre to the Cabinet (BT infinity) enabled, so you could move to BT for (up to) 40Mb/s or wait for Sky to re-sell it whenever they get round to it - I believe they are trialling it in some places. I'm on BT infinity as of 2 weeks ago, jumped from 1Mb/s to 38Mb/s .... i love it!

There's one on Abbeydale Road, i forget what it's called but it's opposite a petrol station that got converted into a drive through hand car wash! Just found it on streetmap: click However i couldnt tell you if they sell motorised dishes etc. Their website says 'We also specialise in Foreign Channel Satellite reception.' so you may be in luck!

try extremepie.com, ive bought from them before, they do all sorts of surfer / snowboarder etc clothing

My biggest issue is the lack of software thats fully compatible with the Symbian S60 5th Edition OS that the N79 is running. especially satnav, i believe Garmin XT is the only one that works (apart from the subscription based nokia maps). Hopefully that will change over time. As for the above query about the battery life... mine is fine. i obviously depends what your doing but mine will last from about 7am in the mornnig til about 11pm the following day without any issues if im just using it for texting and calling. If you play with wifi, 3G GPS and processor hungry apps then it will easily go in a day. oh yeh.... the compass is pretty dissappointing.

as said before i upped it by £500 to £4500 below asking. couple of notes: when i put 6 below in they said it might take 1 or 2 more grand. whenever the 'mysterious bidder get this: they rang me today and have said the seller wants £2k below asking 'to fit in with their budget plans' no word of this 'mysterious bidder' either... ive backed off at this stage.. someone is messing me about, either the seller or EA. my guess is the EA! told them my last offer stands but they cant keep asking for a bit more and a bite more after that!

i am in this situation at the minute... -rang up saturday for a second viewing on a house, also asked if there was any interest, feedback etc. EA said mainly negative feedback, and NO OFFERS. -i look at the property, by this time EA has closed. -ring up monday (5 business hours after last call) to put an offer in 9k below asking. i get told that someone put an offer in LAST WEEK for 7k below. So thats conflicting info already! -i put in 6 below (got rejected) so went to 5k below. -then i get told yesterday that i have been outbid by 100 quid!! which seems a small increment, so once again i have upped it. However i am very suspicious of being ripped off by the EA.. some things just dont tie up and this place has been around since last October on and off. My feeling is that the EA is just trying to nudge me a bit higher. should also mention something very similar happened on a previous property which i pulled out of in the end. any thoughts?

cheers for all the feedback.... a lot of it goes along with what i was thinking might be involved and it would certainly be reflected in any offer made!! thanks again

hello, i have been to a couple of house viewings this weekend and have seen one that has (what i think) a lot of potential. the problem is that nearly all the rooms have artexing in them...i think the only room without is the lounge.. im not kidding, all the walls in the bedrooms and hallway are covered in the stuff... i spoke with the seller and was assured that it was put on 'a couple of years ago, maybe 3'... which rules out the possibility of there being asbestos in it (is that correct??) anyway, IF i were to put an offer in and be sucsessful what are my options? i obviously would want rid of it. i dont mind a bit of hard work so my initial thoughts are to hack / steam it off and try and keep as much plaster in tact as possible, failing that, hack it off and have the whole house re-plastered. So...my questions... 1) rough ball park figure, how much to plaster a 3 bed semi throughout. (PM if you like) 2) other than skimming over, are there any other options? cheers,

my guess is that it wil be the one thats in a shop (think co-op) on Whit Moor opposite the Pug garage.

Just a thought, is it a good idea to use a projector with a wii? a lot of the games like the sports ones need you stood in front of the TV, with a projector you would be blocking the projection. On the other hand it would be great for playing mario kart etc where you sit down and play...