Nice people thread part 5 - nicely does it

LydiaJ

Here we are. I've found a pic of some stairs that are not dissimilar to mine.



Imagine those stairs in a room that's one and a half times as wide, so that the lower half of the staircase is against the wall, the upper half is in the middle, and the extra third of the room leads to a door. If we want to be totally accurate, I should say that mine are the mirror image way round, and the space under the flat bit has been enclosed to form a huge cupboard. The wood's a lot darker, as previously described.

While googling for that image, I came across some open stairs that would really freak me out and definitely put me off buying:

Davesnave

I think we'd have been over the moon if properties we could afford had 'only' come with a few small issues like open tread stairs, or whatever.

The minute one adds 'rural with land' to the equation, choices within budget narrow down considerably.

Land is also far harder to alter than buildings.

silvercar

The first thing I would do is fill in those stairs,.I would worry about slipping on the wood and my foot sliding through the gap.

We have a turn in the stairs like Lydia's, but after more stairs, so the cupboard underneath is a walk in cupboard that turns and goes back on itself, so the area under the first few stairs is also within the cupboard but low height.

michaels

To me ruling a property out on 'open tread stairs' or whatever else shows a real lack of imagination - a new staircase fitted is only a couple of k at most.

Re your second picture - we have tiled the entrance hall and given unlimited fund I could easily be tempted to remove the under stairs cupboard and replace the staircase with a glass set although I admit this is probably not that practical but it would give the kids a very posh naughty step...

LydiaJ wrote: »

Here we are. I've found a pic of some stairs that are not dissimilar to mine.



Imagine those stairs in a room that's one and a half times as wide, so that the lower half of the staircase is against the wall, the upper half is in the middle, and the extra third of the room leads to a door. If we want to be totally accurate, I should say that mine are the mirror image way round, and the space under the flat bit has been enclosed to form a huge cupboard. The wood's a lot darker, as previously described.

While googling for that image, I came across some open stairs that would really freak me out and definitely put me off buying:

misskool

feeling terribly homesick this weekend

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

To me ruling a property out on 'open tread stairs' or whatever else shows a real lack of imagination - a new staircase fitted is only a couple of k at most.

Re your second picture - we have tiled the entrance hall and given unlimited fund I could easily be tempted to remove the under stairs cupboard and replace the staircase with a glass set although I admit this is probably not that practical but it would give the kids a very posh naughty step...

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/09/glass-staircase-not-dress-friendly/

misskool wrote: »

feeling terribly homesick this weekend

Hugs

silvercar

michaels wrote: »

To me ruling a property out on 'open tread stairs' or whatever else shows a real lack of imagination - a new staircase fitted is only a couple of k at most.

Re your second picture - we have tiled the entrance hall and given unlimited fund I could easily be tempted to remove the under stairs cupboard and replace the staircase with a glass set although I admit this is probably not that practical but it would give the kids a very posh naughty step...

Think of all the storage space you would lose.

LydiaJ

LydiaJ wrote: »

I am wrestling with my PV panels' data logging. On the advice of the guy who sold me the panels (who was very knowledgeable, and not at all hard-sell) I chose an inverter that he said was the best for reliability and had a longer warranty, even though its coms are known to be poor.

I am a spreadsheet geek, so I like to have an Excel sheet tracking how the panels are doing and drawing a little graph of peak output and daily yield. So far I have been going up in the loft every day to get this data from the inverter. However, I'd like it to be logged automatically, so I don't get any gaps in my graph if I go away for a few days. (I know, I know, I did admit being a spreadsheet geek.)

I have discovered you are supposed to be able to get it to log onto a computer by connecting with a serial cable, and I have an obsolete laptop that I can use for the purpose. The coms really are not at all well developed, though, and so far I am finding it quite tricky setting it up so that it logs every day without needing to be reset. My latest attempt to sort things has involved finding a setting in the laptop's power management plan that I think may have been making the USB port go to sleep, and disabling it. If that doesn't work, I'll try eliminating the serial-USB converter and getting an actual serial cable to connect to the laptop's docking station.

Meanwhile, I'm still reading the numbers from the inverter in the loft every day, and beginning to see effects of spring. Saturday and yesterday were the first two yields of 10+ kWh that I've had since November.

I tried several things to get the USB port to behave, to no avail. Eventually the serial cable I had ordered arrived in the post and I connected it yesterday. This morning it just carried on where it left off, so it looks as though it's all working as I want it to now.

zagubov

zagubov wrote: »

Another thread not so long ago had great advice for students going off to a degree

Will try to track it down.

Knew friends who, before the course, did evening classes in shorthand and swore by it. another was cooking - very handy for people moving into non-catered accommodation. The guys in these courses were in a minority and didn't mind one bit!

My flatmate did a sandwich degree with paid work experience in Europe and America. Stood her in very good stead.

Any NPs got advice for good ideas after you've been accepted on your courses?

Here's the post about advice for a student I mentioned earlier. I was going to quote it but it's on another thread from someone who doesn't post much (or ever) here so I don't know the etiquette

Contacted Simon11 and he's updated the originaql post, for which many thanks!

michaels

Interesting outlook - when I graduated I had a trip to the US for 3 months lined up but not a job just the intention to find work when I got there then when I got back I temped a bit then went to work in a ski resort - there is quite enough time in life to be sensible and have a job but once you start getting ties the option to do anything else other than a job closes off completely. Surely with the way the student loans work (after my time) there is no penalty from not starting to work straight away?

zagubov wrote: »

Here's the post about advice for a student I mentioned earlier. I was gojng to quote it but it's on another thread from someone who doesn't post mush (or ever) here so I don't know the etiquette