We often pay in cheques to our First Investment Bank account. No trouble with doing it except it takes the clerks an age to do it!

One further thought: The chimney for a wood burning fire must be cleaned every two or three months, depending on the heat in the flue gasses. It does not require much of a deposit on the sides of the flue to seriously slow down the flue gasses, which then cool rapidly. In the worst case liquid tar a...

M W, Normally a flue built with 225mm brickwork and then rendered would be sufficient insulation. Mine looks like it is just 225 mm common bricks with no pot on top and works just fine. If the walls of the chimney are less than 225 mm then you may need an insulated liner. Not to mention the doubtful...

Given the uncertainties of Bulgarian law and it's interpretation generally, I am staying with the 'no change' option until someone has been brave enough to prove the new status of Brits. in a BG court.

M-W wrote: If you ever see my house, you'd ask, why is that outlet pipe for the toilet on the exterior wall and not under the foundations! Answer, because two English builders forgot to put it in. They swore blind that it was there somewhere, but it wasn't so, I had to find another route. Poking my ...

Any house agent in your area should be able to give you a guide price per sq. m. After that it will be down to getting quotes or doing the rounds and pricing up materials etc. There are no short cuts to this endeavour. The quality of labour in Bg is generally quite poor and you will need to do a fai...

Condensation will only be visible on walls when the plaster or the wall finish cannot absorb it. The walls can in fact be quite damp and only a moisture meter will reveal it. New properties will take some months to dry out properly. Smoke getting into a room can be due to a number of factors. One of...

M_W re: your UPS and heating problems. I do not know what your system involves, but I have no idea why the engineer said you cannot have UPS on one side of your system. I for one do not believe him. If it is run by an electric pump then the pump will not know where the electricity is coming from, pr...

karenm, I have a little trouble trying to reconcile my admittedly rusty knowledge of physics with heat pumps that appear to produce more energy than they use. My understanding is that there will always be losses in any system so you cannot get out more than you put in. Even the best Nuclear Power St...

why?