Chardy

If doing your own fencing and doing frameless glass I strongly advise against using bolt down spigots - glass panels are heavy and having them fall over could be a disaster.

I always prefer to core drill posts/spigots wherever possible (even semi frameless or tubular) but you need extra thickness along the fence line whether limestone or concrete under paving.

Remember you need to do a separate council application for the pool fence - some fence guys will do this for you, I do if asked.

Too many bitey things over here in WA to get a proper swim!:laugh:

So the idiot Premier Barnett would have you believe !

Aaaah, thanks. Looks like I'm screwed then!

 

(I guess my company isn't all-Australian)

If your company needs a top class video conferencing set up just drop me a PM ;-)

Hi all

 

As a family, we have really struggled with Perth. We are really jealous of those people who love Perth and are able to call it home, as we hate this continual unsettled feeling of knowing Perth is not for us. Perth gets a bit of a bashing on PIO, and we want to avoid it in this post. It would appreciated if we could hear from others who moved from Perth and whether it cured them. At the moment, our options are Brisbane and Melbourne. I get a lot of negative feedback when I mention both cities - people mention the humidity in Brisbane, and the traffic, as well as the rednecks. With Melbourne, people mention the overcrowding, the weather and the traffic and poor public transport.

 

Rather than mention the shortcomings of Perth, we would rather concentrate on what we would be seeking comparitively from a City, as follows:

 

 

 

 

• Abit more greenery and a few more hills and a bit more scenery, maybe with some rivers and streams ( I know I could be pushing it here);

• A few more options for day trips and weekend trips;

• A few more wordly people

• A bit more of an international feel

• A bit more vibe and buzz

• A more integrated public transport system, allowing you to have a night out without being at the mercy of the taxis

• A place where people don't retire for the night at 8.30

• More of a student vibe and university scene for my kids

• More of a community spirit, where people don't drive into their garages and you never see them again

• A place where people go out and socialise more than entertain at home

 

 

We appreciate we are looking for a lot here. All feedback appreciated. Thanks for reading.

I'm sorry to hear you are feeling like this.

It really puzzles me as we have found all of your list in and around Perth so maybe as another poster said, perhaps it's the suburb/area is wrong....where are you now ?

Perth is a very large spread out metro area so is naturally very varied from one part to another.

Letton Percival or Insure-Your-Move are the only 2 players in the non shippers market.

IYM charged us 600 pounds for 35000 pounds worth of goods and a small claim was easily dealt with.

Ah fair enough !

The USA is an odd one out (seems like South Africa is too), all international flights 1st port of call you have to collect your bags even if they are already tagged through to your final destination, it's just one of their security things, there is a special re-deposit area so its not like checking in again, buts its a pain in the ass if you have a short timeline for your connecting flight.

Just something to be aware of when travelling via USA, also you will need to obtain your ESTA, if you are holidaying there, it's the new visa waiver thing, used to be free but now you pay.

We flew from Orlando to Brisbane via Dallas and our bags went all the way through no problems ?

Our dyson got destroyed for free !!

You would be very lucky to get a job here from the UK, most employers will, understandably, want to meet you in person before committing !

Electrician will give you greater state choice (assuming you are looking to be state sponsored) as data cabler is only on the SA list currently.

My assessment for telecoms tech was through TRA back in early 2011 and took 8 weeks.

Not sure what visa you are applying for but data cabler isn't on the skills list so you are better off on the sparky route as long as you've been doing this work recently too.

By the way nice to meet a sparky that knows how to data cable - a lot do it here but the quality is rather shocking in a lot of cases.

The crazy thing is I (as a telecoms tech) had to pay for training to become a registered cabler here but sparkies can do Comms cabling under their licence with no training ??

True, the Perth climate is quite dry whereas Queensland is more humid !

I wouldn't bother with a tumble dryer, been here 14 months and never used it !

We are building our dream house here and compared to what we had in the UK - a two up two down terrace it will be amazing. But, I wonder if it would last as long! The house in the uk was built in 1890. I suspect the new one here won't last a century.

But a century old house in the UK would have had a lot of upkeep/modernising over the years just as our new Aussie houses will, I will be surprised if they reach the age of maybe 60years and just collapse !?

I won't stop going in but tend to stay waist deep in the surf with lots of seal looking surfers behind me !

When you see a nippers/surf life saving session on a Sunday and see so many people on the beach or in the sea you realise how small the chances are of being singled out.

And for the record the anti shark measures are wrong and need to cease immediately, it is their space not ours !

We used a firm called Insulation Extract and they put in Earthwool Batts. They also took away the rubbish which was up there (some sort of polywool which did not insulate at all).

We were really impressed with how quickly and efficiently they did the work. They were cost effective as well. I would recommend them.

Ah ok so just roof insulation, we will already have that in the new house, would like something in the walls ideally though.

Not sure cavity fill is a great idea as the electrics run in the cavity too which is also a crazy practice I reckon!

I think we will eventually build again using SIPs to achieve high insulation values and low air permeability plus double glazing, passive cooling and maybe gas/solar underfloor heating for the winter.........just need a builder willing to take it on !

A lot of the better panels have long warranties and they are maintenance free as have no moving parts and any potential failure is in the inverter not the panels which with a good quality unit is unlikely .........I'm not sure what you've been told if you're expecting maintenance costs ??

[Q UOTE=Incata;1936401723]We have also insulated the house and it has made a huge difference to the temperature inside - both in the summer (now) and in the winter (after we had it installed).

Draftproofing is next, when we have the rest of the renovation and building work done.

What insulation have you put in ?

I agree it's best to build better first but volume builders see this as a money maker and of course without the lovely gas central heating in the UK most of the electric is used on heating/ cooling here in Aus.

I still believe PV panels are not just bling !

The $3k I intend to spend on ours will save us $300 a year so we will be saving positive after 10 years, a simple calculation but it works ;-)

Love to see your figures but hey if you're right then maybe do it for the environment only.........and the capital increase on property value according to the real estate agents ;-)

My understanding is that tariffs have recently changed and anything you get over and above which you feed back to the electricity companies now generates less monetary payback - so tariffs do play a part.

 

I guess so far every calculation I've seen doesn't show a money saving until many years later and the scheme is relatively new so it's hard to tell at this stage if the panels actually last as long as the time it takes for the payback to occur, taking into consideration maintenance etc.

Feed in tariffs play a part if you want them too but I was basing the panel cost payback time purely on bill savings, WA feed in tariffs would barely dent this time period now.

There are PV panels still going strong after 20 years although the efficiency has improved a lot since the 90's !

Maintenance on PV is virtually nil other than the occasional panel clean. Hot water panels are more prone to issues.

What is this "scheme" you refer too, are we not discussing the PV panel technology in general ?

Some of the UK roof tile companies already sell PV tiles but to cover all the different profiles and colours would make it uneconomic really

If something takes 9 - 10 years to get back any money I'm not sure that is a great return on your investment? Also what if some panels need replacing or if tariffs change and the payback is reduced further? I'm not being deliberately argumentative I just really don't understand how there are any benefits to putting these panels up? I keep wanting to prove myself wrong as I'd like them but so far I'm not convinced the facts are that they are a genuine cost saving?

That payback time is very short compared to other home improvements and is based on energy savings not the feed on tariffs, if you can half your electric bill then how is it a bad thing ?

PV panels should easily last 20 years barring physical damage.

Of course the other part is reducing your contribution to carbon emissions.