Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

COOLTRIKERCHICK

He must have a DWA License then.... Last year there were loads of pigs in the auctions, and prices were on the floor, you could pick a piglet up for a £1..ok not in the best of condition... but now for a similar piglet, when we went last time and bought 'paul the pig' the same sort of piglet were going for £30 plus....

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave.... lovely piggies... just found out the calf auction at the RWS winter show, set a new high, with the top calf going for just over 7k!!!!!!!

Itismehonest

Rozee - We were pretty lucky with the main builder who was in charge of doing the initial big conversions. It was just as well because the inherited architect was a chocolate teapot. If his plns had been followed it would have meant digging down a metre below floor level at one end of the run of buildings :wall: As it was the builder picked it up very early & worked around so that the height of rooms was distributed evenly up & down. He also kept a close eye on all the other builders, labourers, carpenters etc who worked on the job. The buildings went from barns, cowshed & stables to visitor ready cottages in just under 18 weeks. Mind you, we had 17 working here for the last few weeks. :rotfl:

We have had occasion to make builders redo a couple of things which they took it into their heads to do without consultation &, once or twice, I've had to use quite a lot of persuasion to get something done a certain way & not let them settle for the "Wouldn't this do?" approach. I found the best thing was to listen carefully to their point of view & then decide, discuss & reach agreement. Sometimes things just can't be done as we'd like but sometimes one just needs to keep a close eye & become She Who Must Be Obeyed
If they take a pride in their work they usually come back the next day having, if at all possible, sat & worked out how to achieve what you want or something very like it.

Our windows & door frames are almost all at differing heights. The house has 3 different descending roof levels & only the windows in the newest part align with each other. In the older parts there aren't 2 windows exactly the same. As to doors, they range in height & width, too.

Alfie's right. Custom-built sounds like the only way you'd get a door to align with the top of the windows.
You could always create something in the gap above the door to align. How about a carved stone? Maybe the property name?
If I was putting one outside my place I'd probably do "Abandon hope all ye who enter here" :rotfl:

choille

Rummer - we are off to Inverness for the day on Tuesday so I'll escape then.

CTC - We do a hamper thing for an elderly couple here & I buy stuff that I know they'll eat. It's a sensible idea.

can't list on the ebay for some reason - s'posed to be a flw but it's charging & It's so annoying so close to Christmas. I must find an alternative.

choille

I'm thinking of getting some pigs in the Spring. I think they'd be better & quicker than me at clearing the bottom of the croft.

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Davesnave.... lovely piggies...

Yes, they've had an acorn diet lately and are ready for the one way journey.......but it's Christmas and the butchers are otherwise employed ATM, so they're spared till January.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

same here, some of ours are going in January... going to have one done for bacon..


Choille.. they will def churn up your land....

ukmaggie45

Mum in Law not good, we didn't get to lottie today.

Think I may be missing for a while as suspect MiL is going to be ongoing not good.

We did do some digging out of couch grass and nettles one day last week. :j Just hope we can get back sometime this week, all depends on how the above situation goes.

CTC sounds like you going great guns - loving the look of your place, hope you get to move in as you plan.

Rummer, hope you and Rumlet continue to do well.

Too tired to say more stuff. Hugs from Liverpool!

moneyistooshorttomention

rozeepozee wrote: »

CTC, and all of you who have renovated, I'm trying not to be annoyed with the builders. Is it just me? There have been a number of instances where they seem to do things without thinking or questioning. I don't understand it.... Door frames looking totally odd, not using common sense where plans aren't entirely clear. Argggh!

No, its not just you.

Thankfully, my renovations of new-to-me house aren't anything like in the same league as some people on this thread (including yourself), but its driving me nuts currently....

I'd probably expire on the spot at having to do as much renovating as some posters:eek:

Even at the level of renovating I am doing, it feels like an endless battle. There were several in the course of modernising the central heating and I can see the finished job isn't up to the standard I thought it would be (I said "double radiators", which they interpreted as meaning "double panel but single convector" for two of the radiators). I've had several battles about the bathroom (and am going to end up permanently with one thing wrong) and have just discovered today that it looks as if another battle on that is on the cards and so it goes on......

I've lost count of the number of times that I've complained to myself or friends by now about "Why don't they just ask me how I want things?" instead of making my decisions for me and usually getting them wrong.

I have come to the conclusion that commonsense is distinctly uncommon and if you end up with one of the workmen I have encountered to date....then I quite honestly reckon he wins title of Dimmest Person I've Ever Met and I literally cant understand/believe how he could be so stupid as to do one particular thing he has done. The one who made the "Permanent Bathroom Mistake" is the second stupidest I think.

I have lost my temper and literally yelled at two of the workmen to date, when I seemed to be getting nowhere with talking/explaining/etc and they had made one mistake too many. If you had met Mr Dimmest Person Ever I think you would understand why he got yelled at twice and the second time was terminal and he got told pretty much what I thought of him....

I wouldn't begin to contemplate the level of renovation work you are doing.:eek:..even with a man to hand by my side

Davesnave

With something like central heating, money, the sequence of events should go something like this:

You get Mr A, Mr B and Mr C to visit and inspect.

After taking measurements etc they sit down and talk to you about the job and what you want exactly. At that early stage you might work out who's thick.

Mr A-C then send you a written quotation for the work they propose.
You look at price and detail of quotation and again calculate who might be thick or cutting corners.;)

You then select either Mr A, Mr B, or Mr C ....or you start the process again, until you find someone who appears to be knowledgeable, reasonable and sentient.


Did you do any of the above?

I've only had one bod here so far, but already I know he would be OK, because of his thoroughness and track record. What I don't know yet is whether someone else would be even better, either because they have smarter ideas, or because they are not tied to certain products.

All this takes t i m e.

Something like tiling a bathroom is actually harder to control. It looks 'easy' but the decisions made by the tiler about where to start, where to cut and so on are crucial. I'd really need to read up on it before I could approach the discussion bit.