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Thanks for all the input.

Trying to figure this out.

I think I'm going with option 1 - French drain style.  Yesterday I was for two, today I'm thinking 1 
What I'm thinking now - as I dig.


I'm going to tank the wall.  More expensive but easier than re-pointing.  No there's no DPM whatsoever, and though I've no way of telling for sure, it's unlikely there's a DPM through the concrete base either - if there is it's breaking down. 

So if I dig down right to the bottom of the base for the porus pipe (laid on top of a few inches of chip), which is just there to connect with the proper drains at the front of the garage, any build up of water pressure should go to the drain and not draw through the base.  At the moment it does draw but only after very heavy rain. 

Then line the back of my trench with heavy barrier cloth (will let water through but stop soil getting down to my drain).  Fill trench with cheapest available chips (I'm told these are available by the tonne fairly inexpensively)    Maybe some more cloth on top, some soil and slab it with a few inches gap to the garage. 

I'll get a builder in to do the tanking, fit the drain, do the slabbing etc.  I'm just getting the cost down a good bit by doing initial donkey work.  So I'll check all this with the builder and get a quote.

The low wall in front of that lawn has no (low level) drainage 'holes' in it that I can see .. so the water can't get away by flowing out from the area.

Purplebear7 - There is a line of small drain holes lower down on that wall.  But I've never seen any water coming out.    Plus a drain has been installed for the guttering of the wee conservatory.  Now if it's been done right there should be a French drain or similar running from the lawn to the conservatory drain  (maybe, maybe not!).    Now I know from digging my trench the  soil is holding a lot of water, but in the 18mnths I've been here, so far there's been no serious water logging.  And it rains a lot here in Ayrshire! 

But anyway a longer term plan is to knock that silly wee conservatory down and build a decent sized one or maybe sun house.  So you can be sure, now I think I know about drains, there'll be a proper set up when that bit of land is re-landscaped to take the new sun house (if I find the cash) and even if I have to dig it myself.

Once again thanks for the input.  And if I'm missing some do let us know.  Much appreciated.

or, better still, in to a tank so you can water the garden with it?

There is guttering to drain on the garage.  Which reminds me, it's about time I invested in a big ladder and did all my gutters!

We did have a dry spell recently, and almost got the garden hose out, but then the rian came again.  Dry spells here are very rare.  I think our last hose pipe ban was 1976. 

Not started digging on the left side yet, I can just get a small wheel barrow up there, creating a permanent air gap here will be difficult.





Not started this side either yet.  Whoever landscaped the garden has sheeted the garage, but it's useless, does not work.  Will be interesting to see if I find drainage, but I doubt it.




This is where I am just now.  That's the rear of the garage, I'm down to the concrete base, 3ft down.  The top was chipped, underneath sort of tarmac 1.5 foot out.  Going down - 1.5 foot down of very wet soil, then 1.5 of ash waste, not so wet and much easier to gig, and now back to soil down by the base.   There's a matching 3 foot tide mark inside the garage and water gets in.

If I remember they were selling them off as following spring gen 2 came out . How Yamaha can justify over 10k for essentially the same bike as the 2006 model is beyond me.

 I bought mine pre reg in 2004 for 6k.  It's pre reg because the dealer has registered it to make a sales target, if they hit their target they get a bonus.  But the bike is no longer new and any buyer will be the second keeper, so having made their money on it they discount it to shift it.  A one grand discount seemed fair enough compensation to me for buying a second hand bike with zero miles.
As for the current pricing, it's simple.
2001 I pound  = about 175 yen
2006 1 pound = about 220 yen
2012 1 pound = about 125 yen
Yes that Suzuki deal is amazing.  God knows how they do it.

I've got a habit of photographing any old style red phone box I come across.

A Gen1 thou managed to sneek into the shot.

Sheildaig, 19th of June;

Whoops here she is;

Help ma boab!

Had bother with my first combi in the last house that I bought.

It was a cheap first generation Ferroli combi fitted in about 1986.  It was hell getting spares for as the company that brought them in went bust not long after.  Had to get spares direct from Italy.  Which just amounted to the odd temp control switch and pilot light caplilary.   I did a couple of times get a so called 'gas engineer' out to look at it, but cos they could find no detail or record of my model they wouldn't touch it, so I fixed it a few times myself before deciding it was well done.  I kept the darn thing going for the best part of ten years, it was absolutely focced by the end.

Then I got an Ariston (non condensor), which had the addition of electronic ignition and a fan flue.   I was amazed how much things had come on, both in terms of pumping out the heat, reliability and hot water temp control.      It broke down once, the fan for the fan flue was bust.  Was resigned to ordering and fitting a new fan, but I had a fiddle with it and found a little grain of corrosion had got into it and jammed it.  Bingo, freed it off, and away it went again.  Other than it, it needed it's expansion tank re-pressurised once.  7 years near faultless use.

The house I'm in now has a Vokera combi (non condensor) fitted going by the details around 2003, it's run for the best part of 2 years with me now with no probs (touch wood)  It probably gets an easy time right enougth as I've fitted a stove to this house, and there's just me to heat water for.

I think you've been unlucky oldmotherfoccer, I'd get shot of that one.  When the Vokera gives up the ghost it'll be another combi for me.

The downside of a combi is changes in pressure, flow and temperature when more than one person is using the system.  eg you are in the shower and somebody decides to wash the dishes, it can be irritating.

However I do like combi's.  Also a good idea to fit a control valve to your shower if you want to run it off the boiler, gives you much more control over temperature when having a shower.  And yeah you get great hot water pressure.

Also, as far as I am aware, when switching to a combi, most installers will just link the inlet and outlet of your hot water tank and get rid of it.  Some houses that can leave you with a long and pointless run off tubing from the boiler to where the tank was and eventually back to the tap you are using.  So it can be worth having a look at that, and if it's a long run paying a wee bit extra (or DIY it) so save money in the long run and get a quicker response at the taps.

And talking of DIY, modern plastic pipe and push fit connectors are so easy to work with.  So if you want or need to save pennies you can do a good bit of the install (if doing a full system) yourself. 

Oh Toolstation do good quality radiators at really good prices. 

And if you ain't keen on the idea of a combi, but don't want the expense of running a traditional tank system, check out systems like superflow. 

I just bought the S2, great deals on them.  It's taking me time to get the hang of it as it's an upgrade from my 2005 Nokia 1100!

The bleedin battery seems to want charged every day or so.  The Nokia would run for a week or two on one charge.

  ARGUMENTATIVE KNOW IT ALL

If you have nothing to contribute then don't click on the topic - simple. 

And if you are stupid enougth to click on it, remember, I'm always right, and Rusty, and for that matter anybody else who disagrees with me, is wrong.  Wrong wrong wrong.
It would make life much easier if you all accept that I'm right, and frankly even when I'm wrong, when you think about it, in a roundabout way I'm actually still right, though always to the left.
Argumentative - me?  Never.

VNA, if a few rich people find they can make money importing something from outside the EU, they will pull the strings to open the markets.

But that's simply not the case, as is demonstrated by the experience of the Japanese car industry.

As for food, lets not forget that the selfish Euro framing policies have been flooding third world and developing nations with cheap EU subsidised produce for decades now, in turn undermining their economies. Another area in need of real reform.   Yes a big part of the problem is that the EU has expanded rapidly for the benefit of the banks and big business.   Our economies have been living beyond their means for 30 odd years now, and finally it's catching up with us. 
I'm not arguing for the Euro (any more) and it's been a disaster because it's been so badly managed and it's problems have coincided with a global economic crash. 
But of course if the Euro implodes we will feel the chill.  Greece for example won't be able to buy much from us, their currency being worth maybe a half, a quarter or less overnight. 
What I am arguing for is staying in the Euro economic market.   I cannot see the point in leaving, we are stuck with it, so we may as well have a say and not have face possible trade restrictions.

 Of course we can survive and trade outside of Europe.  But it will have an impact on us, particularly in the middle of a recession and with Europe being our biggest market. 
 

The real fear of the EU is that Greece will depart only to recover, setting an example to Spain, Portugal and others.

Greece may exit the Euro but it will stay in the EU.  In the long term it may well be best for Greece to exit.  But in the short term it's a nightmare.  And of course even right now everybody who can is moving their cash out of Greece.  How would you fancy any savings you might have being devalued by 80 or 90% overnight?  And the real fear, is it's a step into the unknown, nobody yet seems to be able to predict what will happen across Europe, and the world, when one country defaults and pulls out of the Euro experiment. 

The EU is a ruinous waste of money, and the myth of us living on the edge of Europe should we leave is a lie propagated by those that have an interest in federalism.

I'm a nationalist, I want Scottish Independence within the EU, I have no interest federalism, and while there are those politicians within the EU who dream of it, there isn't one country in the EU that would ever accept such a concept.   

We can trade freely with Europe without being hamstrung by global emission targets, work directives, health and safety initiatives, and other such claptrap.

No you can't.

Europe can't set global emission targets, but yes lowering emissions, energy conservation and a Euro energy grid are important steps towards a cleaner Europe, and again underlines the importance of the EU.  Working and H&S directives are all part of protecting ordinary people and creating a level playing field and common standards, you can't have an open market without this stuff. 
 
And of course all this saves money.  Just take CE standards for example.  Once upon a time a manufacturer had to make various different versions of one product to satisfy each market.  And of course choose which markets they would operate in.  Now it's one standard for Europe, one big market, and only one model to make for that single big market.  Those are big savings, and savings that generate economic activity and growth.    Just a shame we ran down our manufacturing capability!
Which of course we can blame Europe all we like for our woes, but the truth is it's 30 years of economic miss-management that's the root cause of our current situation. 

No it isn't.  We were sold a supposed trade agreement in joining the 'common market', that's all we wanted or needed. All this extra regulation, EU directives for this and that etc are undemocratic and were never voted for.

The whole point of a common market is that it is common.  That means a level playing field, which means regulation and directives. 

If we back out of Europe, to access their market we will still have to play by their rules, but instead of having a say in the rules and shaping them we will be at the mercy of others, and if we don't play ball we'll face export restrictions.  Any talk of pulling out of Europe is economic suicide.