Owning your own home

Has anyone done a front garden/driveway?
Wanted advice on the surfacing - block paving look like weed/moss traps, tarmac, resin bonded?

After something low maintenance that lasts.

That does look great.

Why only 8/10 for fitting?

It is three pieces and the joining and filling is a bit scabby.
They cut and finished the three pieces on site and finished it freehand, so the drainer grooves to the right of the sink are uneven and the beveling on the vertical face is not uniform.

I'm being pernickety, so maybe 8.5 out of 10.

They also did all their cuttings in the street and covered my and my neighbour's cars in thick thick white stone dust. I had to pay for cars to get washed in an act of neighbourhood penance. Caused us a bit of grief with one neighbour whose soft top is still a shade of grey when it should be black because of the layer of stone dust that settled into the fabric.

We have white quartz from these lads in Plumstead http://www.superior-stonesolutions.co.uk­. Had it about 4.5 yrs.

Wish I'd known this 3 weeks ago, I could have supported the local economy

Cheers. Good to see a real persons' photos. It looks good and is a lot like what I was after.

If you don't mind me asking how much did it cost?

Think it was about 2k for 2 x 300cm lengths and 1 x 150cm length but can't find anything to say how much we budgetted or paid.

Nested offered me 1.5% inc VAT straight off when I spoke to them recently (for sole agency)

Yeah. I've been offered 1.2% inc VAT by other highstreets after a 'discussion'.

But 2% and they categorically rule out negotiating? Riiiiiiight no.

Gravel

Thanks - was just after a rough guide so that is useful.

If I turned my neighbours* water off for 30 minutes to replace a stop-cock, what laws have I broken? How would I avoid breaking them - by giving notification? Something else?

*62 of them

Not possible to do it with a pipe freezing kit?

Iron pipe, very short run, mains pressure. Plumber came out to look at it and said no.

Set an alarm for 3am?

I did this. Just wore high Viz.

If it's not illegal then I'll just do it and dare the managing agent to do their worst.

FWIW also did this when plumber said no. Didn't die.

Make sure nobody turns the main back on whilst your part way through the swap.

Claim it was an emergency water off job. Apologies afterwards is easier than seeking permission.

Don't seek permission, way more hassle than it' worth. Just go for it.

Caused us a bit of grief with one neighbour whose soft top is still a shade of grey when it should be black...

:(

We just had one done in block paving. We'll have to see how it lasts but I'm expecting moss to grow in the sandy gaps

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@rhowe
Looks good - def want some planting also.
Decent company?

Showing my ignorance here but is there anything in the average flat that gets broken by a water interruption? Replacing 62 boilers or washing machines would be expensive.

Nothing should, water companies can turn off the water for maintenance or damage repair at any time.

We had ours go off last week for about 4 hours (first time in years) as they botched a hydrant replacement.

Yeah he was pretty good. Seriously chatty tho