Hey friends,

Welcome back to Edition 2 of the as yet unnamed newsletter, though there were some good suggestions from last week, including 'Dymock's Drivel'. Thanks for that.

I really appreciate all the responses and though I wasn't able to reply to everyone there were some great insights:

• There doesn't seem to be an end in sight to the shortage of building materials. According to one chap in the business, it looks very much like this will carry on well into 2022. If you're interested in what's going on with timber specifically John sent me this link from the Timber Trade Federation. The shortages extend to computer chips, garden furniture and even bubble tea leading to price hikes...we should probably discuss what's going on with inflation soon.

• On the housing market, some understandably expressed concern over their kids' ability to get on the housing ladder. From those with rental properties, I didn't hear from anyone selling. Instead you're holding (or HODLing as the kids say) and even buying. To me, it seems that if rents, which haven't kept pace with property prices, are in many parts of the country still stacking up to produce a decent enough yield, there does indeed seem a way to go with this boom.

I was going to run with the subject of property as an investment in this newsletter but I'll stick to DIY this time around:

💸 Home Insurance

I bet you're on the edge of your seat for this one! Paying for something you hope you'll never need and reading through endless scrolls of fine print is no one's idea of fun BUT since ours is up for renewal I've been taking a closer look at the add-ons:

So far the heaviest work I've done to the structure of our house has been adding insulated plasterboard and soundproofing a party wall but I'm tentatively scheduling in the rear extension for 2023 so at that point I'll likely opt for the extras, though whether that will cover me to knock down an entire exterior wall requires further scrutiny.

I haven't yet put much research into building our extension but my guess is that there are two ways to do the flat roof:

1. Knock the wall out, put in the steel RSJ and then notch the roof joists into said RSJ.
2. Attach a ledger board to the wall higher up and run the joists from that (height allowing).

Option 2 would allow me to build the entire extension at my own pace, get it weather and watertight, and then I can either knock through, or if the insurance doesn't allow me to, get the pros in who do have (one would hope) the appropriate insurance.

Anyway, insurance is not commonly talked about amongst DIY enthusiasts so I thought it was worth bringing up.

🛠️ Tools - To Buy Or Not To Buy

With the garden room, I was pleased to have shown that it is possible to take on big building projects with cheap tools.

Though if I'm ever to upgrade, now feels like the time as there's little point waiting until half the house is done to make the step up.

Last year I purchased my first pro tools with the Dewalt 1st and 2nd fix battery-powered nail guns.

So far I've used the second-fix gun (headless 'pin' or 'brad' nails) to attach cedar cladding as well as for a bit of furniture and the first-fix (usual looking nails) for a spot of fencing and plan to do all my framing with it going forward rather than rely on screws with the impact driver.

Of the three battery powered nail guns on the market (you can watch here to see why I don't favour the Paslode gas types), The Hikoki and Milwaukee seem to be favoured but this pair of Dewalt guns offer great value for money and for me at least, haven't skipped a beat.

So now I have 2 x 5Ah batteries so you know what that means: I'm wedded to Dewalt. As batteries make up a substantial cost of the tool, by sticking with a brand you can buy the tools bare at lower cost and there's less hassle making sure the necessary battery types are all charged, though there are third party adapters available.

As for the upgrades, my general thesis is that where something in your life becomes a frustration or annoyance, buying or upgrading to remove the irritation represents great value. Upgrading purely for luxury tends not to and should generally be done only if you have no better use for the money (read: wealthy and likely retired).

And my tools are beginning to frustrate me. So I've been thinking of buying a cordless and brushless (quieter, lasts longer) kit like this:

It does feel a bit frivolous though. I have all these tools already. Yes some are underpowered and others are corded which slows me down, but they do work so I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger. There's also a nagging feeling that I might be just as satisfied with a similar set from a cheaper brand like Erbauer. After all, my impact driver has stood up to a lot of abuse. Perhaps I'd be overpaying just for the Dewalt brand?

Why DeWALT anyway?

• They're yellow: Not my favourite colour but easily spot-able. I'm terrible for putting down tools and not finding them again. There must be dozens of pencils buried around my garden room. I'm lucky to have great vision but Abi's always bemused that I can spot the smallest movement of birds and squirrels on our walks but can't for the life of me locate the butter in the fridge. I'd definitely be a hunter, not a gatherer...or perhaps a T-Rex?

• They're sold everywhere: Screwfix, Toolstation, Toolsense, FFX, Toolden etc. Other brands, a bit less so.
• Good variety of tools. Practically every tool type has a good offering and there's a good garden range too. I have my eye on a battery powered mower and strimmer at some point too.
• They're well thought of. Some like Makita and Milwaukee score higher but I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference. To be honest, I'm not much of a tool geek. I'm much more interested in what I can build with them.

If you have any thoughts on helping me make this decision, do get in touch!

Project - Fence/Laylandii/Garden Room

Looking out from the house, the fence along our left boundary extends about 2/3rds of the way. For the final third, all that was stopping the neighbour's giant dogs marauding around our garden was vegetation and a patchy chain-link fence. With the baba having being born in January I'm jumping into action to do the Dad-ly thing and get this garden secure. (You might think I'm being dramatic but these dogs have already attacked Abi and love to stand their ground against me).

Working from the back where the fence meets the one I built last year, the only bit left is to bridge the gap between the new orange coloured panels and the older yellowy one on the left in the photo above.

But I have five massive laylandii standing in my way.

With a great deal of difficulty I could probably get the fence to sit just behind the trees, or I could take them out.

In the keeping them camp we have:

• They block the view of the lorry parked in the neighbour's garden (for some reason)
• Overall it's less work.
• I won't have to deal with getting rid of them - industrial sized shredder required.
• They do look rather nice in winter:

In the cut down and be rid camp:

• They don't add much biodiversity.
• The fallen needles keep the ground bare.
• It would make the fencing easier.
• There's a nice silver birch behind them that might prosper with some sun.
• This will be the location of my next garden room which I'd be able to situate closer to the boundary and I wouldn't have to worry about roots damaging the concrete base (yup, concrete this time).
• It might make a fun video - 'timbeerrrrrr'

So I've pretty much made up my mind that I'll be getting the chain saw out and having a go.

My cunning plan is to send a drone up to the tops to measure the height, figure that out horizontally on the ground and then do my best to get them to fall in the specified direction: hopefully towards, but not reaching, the greenhouse.

The garage at the top right of the photo is my next outdoor project as it needs a new roof so if they fall on and smash the roof, it's not the end of the world, as long as the walls aren't badly affected.

I could cut them down in sections but wielding a chain saw while standing on a ladder with nowhere to run doesn't sound too appealing.

The other worry is the trees fall the other way on to my neighbour's garden, but you never know, I might get the dogs. Problem solved.

🖥️ Tech Tip

There's a lot that irks me about Amazon but boy is it convenient. One of my gripes is that prices can fluctuate hugely. To combat this I highly recommend downloading Keepa. It's a browser extension (works on nearly all) that shows the price history of a product right on the product page, including when the price dropped, to how much and how often this occurs:

Taking this Echo Dot speaker as an example, it shows the price has regularly jumped from just under £30 to £50. With Keepa you can even set email alerts for when the price falls to your desired amount. If nothing else, it helps practise some delayed gratification. CamelCamelCamel (bizarre name) is a good alternative.

Perhaps this is a good time to shill my Amazon Affiliate link. If you're planning a purchase, by clicking it first I get a little kick-back at no extra cost to you, while lining Jeff Bezos' pockets a little less. I'm sure he won't mind, he's off to space soon anyway where he can look down at us the way he's always imagined: like ants. Too harsh?

Hit "reply" if you've got any comments, tips or ideas on this or future newsletters – otherwise I'll see you next time. Have an epic week :)

PS If you think a friend will enjoy this newsletter, feel free to send them this link where they can sign up.

PPS I actually love dogs, just not these ones.