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Put a sample floor down in one ensuite un grouted just in case it has to come up?

Is it just me that goes and makes a cup of tea and settles down to see what Jeremy has now found in his shed / garage? I think there is a TV series here....

Can you not just search by postcode? https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressByPostcode.html Or will that not deliver the SAP derived EPC?

Here’s a taster

Well, the Energy Assessor came around this afternoon to do the RdSAP assessment. Frankly it was a complete joke. Knowing both RdSAP and the order in which data is supposed to be entered, I'd printed out a crib sheet, with all the info in order, so all the chap needed to do was verify the accuracy of each statement and then enter it into the app on his iPad. Did he check the validity of any data? Did he heck as like. I got pretty annoyed within the first minute and ended up telling him that I wanted him to record all the required evidence, as he was supposed to. I made him look at, and take verification photos of the TRVs, programmable thermostat, boiler type and installation date, cavity wall insulation type, glazing type, including the full frame and glazing unit specification and go up in the loft to verify that we really did have 250mm of fibreglass up there, and photograph it. If I hadn't been so insistent he would have just made up numbers and walked off. As it was he was in the house for at the most ten minutes, with most of that time filling in stuff on the app on his iPad. I've no doubt he'd have lodged the EPC by the time he got back in his car. Not a bad way to make £84 for at most 20 minutes work. I've always been a bit cynical about the way some energy assessors "work", and this incident has just made me even more convinced that EPCs are a load of meaningless crap whose only purpose is to keep people who can make easy money by doing next to sod all in employment. Be interesting to see what his assessment comes up with, as I've already done a full SAP assessment on the house, using accurate data, and got an EPC of Band C 71.

That's probably because AutoCad has an arcane user interface that was invented when it first came out and ran on DOS. The first release I used ran on DOS, with a dongle plugged into the parallel port to verify that you were the licence holder. IIRC, the machine was a state of the art (for the time) 386, with a maths co-processor (essential to get AutoCad to run) clocked at a blistering 20 MHz. You could actually see vectors redrawing on the screen if you refreshed the viewport. The interface hasn't changed much since, and I find I still tend to type in commands as often as I use the mouse, simply because the command line was the better way of drawing quickly back then. Autocad was always intended as a replacement for a drawing board, and so the whole philosophy of the user interface assumed that users were already competent draftspeople. If you weren't competent to use a drawing board and didn't understand normal drawing conventions, then AutoCad must have been a PITA to learn. Now I find I really like AutoCad, just because I've got around 30 years experience of using it. I've tried far more modern packages, like Solidworks, Rhinoceros and even had to get to grips with CATIA when I was running the Future Lynx programme, at least as far as being able to manipulate some of the models to see what the designers were up to with the novel, machined from solid, airframe.

That's awful. you're going to need to get your BiL round to skim it again.

We had a small problem at the old house, wasps had started to build a nest in a corner of the roof, flying in and out via a small gap in the facia board. This is right next to the drive and I spotted them yesterday when laying the gravel, and as it's right next to the entrance to the house there was a high risk of getting stung later in the year, when they tend to get more aggressive. Last time we had a similar problem, on the other side of the house, above our bedroom window, I didn't spot it until late in the summer, by which time the nest was the size of a football up in the loft and we could hear the noise in the bedroom underneath. I had to pay a bloke from the council around £50 to come out and deal with it, after my own attempt to puff insecticide powder in the hole resulted in my getting multiple stings (no fun when your up a ladder). This time I did a bit of digging around on the web and came across this gadget: http://waspnestkiller.co.uk/acatalog/Dustick-High-Reach-Dust-Powder-Applicator-dustick.html for close on £200. Looking at it in use (there are Youtube videos of people using it) it seemed ideal, as you can stay on the ground and just poke the nozzle in the hole and pump in insecticide powder. I wasn't going to pay £200, so last night I went and had a look to see what I had lying around. I found a length of 1 1/4" solvent waste pipe, an 1 1/4" solvent straight joiner and a screw on solvent end cap. I also had some 50mm diameter grey PVC bar, some 6mm brass pipe, a length of 25mm PVC pressure pipe (20mm bore), a very low blow off pressure fuel-type non-return valve and a Schrader valve with a 1/8" BSP thread on it. All the parts were glued together with ordinary pipe solvent cement, which works just as well on the bits of PVC that I turned up. So, this is roughly what I made up. First the drawing of the two ends: The way this works is that you unscrew the top with the brass pipe, and fill the bit of waste pipe with insecticide powder. This doesn't need to me marketed as wasp killer (I found it hard to buy wasp killer powder in the local garden centre) it just needs to be a powder containing around 1% or so permethrin. Ant powder is usually the cheapest way to buy the stuff, and it works very well against any form of insect (including beneficial ones, like bees, so use it with caution). With the top part full of powder you can screw the lid with the brass tube on, as shown in the photos before (taken after use): When assembled, the whole thing looks like this: It could be made a lot longer, but our house is a bungalow so I cut the 25mm pipe down to make it easier to handle. The non-return valve in the base of the upper section just stops powder going down the 25mm pipe - not sure whether this was needed, I think I could probably have got away without the bit of 1 1/4" waste pipe, but it is easier to pour powder into the larger opening. Finally this is a close up of the Schrader valve at the lower end: To use this I connected a tyre inflater to the Schrader valve, that was connected to my compressor (at around 90 psi). The brass nozzle was poked into the hole where the wasps were coming in and out and the air trigger quickly pulled to blow almost the entire contents of the powder container neatly into where their next was. I then beat a hasty retreat, as permethrin tends to get wasps a bit mad for a few minutes, before they snuff it. I went out half an hour later and there was no sign of wasps at all, other than some dead ones on the ground. Best of all, there was very little sign of white powder when I'd sprayed the stuff in, as unlike the puffer bottles, this gadget squirts a high velocity narrow stream of dust directly into any hole. The only thing I had to buy was a bottle of ant killer powder for around £2.50, and I only used around half of it. The rest was made from "may come in handy bits", plus the use of my small bench lathe. It took me less than an hour to make - the longest bit was waiting a couple of hours to make sure the solvent cement had gone off, before I could have a go at using it. If anyone wants to borrow it they are welcome. I think it would work every bit as well with something like a bicycle track pump as a compressor, as it doesn't need a lot of air (a 1 second burst was about all it took to empty the container).

So, my first post.. I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone at the moment. I used to be a CAD Draughtsman in manufacturing and I'm refreshing my skills so that I can possibly get some 'gig' freelance work online. I'm looking at building a large (9.5 x 5m) Summer House in my garden so I thought drawing it up would be a good idea; I'll have my plans building ready and at the same time I can get my CAD skills up to scratch. I would put my skill level at strong DIYer, we bought a 'do-er-upper' about 12 years ago and I've done just about everything on the house - new bathroom, kitchen, garden landscaping, large decking area, fencing, decorating etc. However, this is the biggest project I've taken on by far - I love a project!! I've got some more first draft drawing to do and then I'll have loads of questions I'm sure. I look forward to my time on here and hearing from you. Cheers Jim

Different register in Scotland I believe https://www.scottishepcregister.org.uk/

I can? https://www.scottishepcregister.org.uk/

@newhome there is a separate register for Scotland the one mentioned above is only for England and Wales. Try www.scottishepcregister.org.uk sorry cant get the link in on ipad

Just done a post code search using my post code and got an EPC for an old cottage up the lane that's just gone on the market. It seems our EPC is listed under the post code for the house up the other lane behind us, not the one we're on.

the chinooks may shoot back but at least they don't shit on you, unlike the parakeets....

Hey, you are not butting in. The scheme has its nonsense elements from assessment through to the calculations. I dread to think what my score is like given that the RHI calculator goes off the scale lol. It says my heating demand is 26,200 kWh and I know I don’t heat all the rooms but I have MHRV that circulates the air and I used just over 6000 kWh here last year. 26,200 sounds crazy!

I ordered through Roccia these plank tiles are lazer cut and a great design I needed 150 mtrs But batches can vary wildly So ordered direct Roccia knock them out at 46 I paid £29 including vat and carriage

I honesty wouldn’t worry @lizzie as if you know that your house performs better than that then that is what counts, not some irrelevant piece of paper. Without renewables you are always going to be penalised in a score type system.

If there was an as-built SAP then there will be a lodged EPC. If you can find out the 24 character RRN from building control, you can get a copy of the lodged EPC from here: https://www.epcregister.com/searchReport.html For example, my RRN is 8497-7437-1430-2812-4906 You can look it up and download it as a PDF if you want a good laugh about the recommendations it makes, and work out the return on investment from them!

Based on my experience today I think you could tell someone like the bloke who did ours anything and he'd give you the EPC you wanted. Nothing to stop you then getting another one later. The only snag is that an EPC is valid and held on the register for ten years, I believe, so if your as-built EPC from when the house was constructed is on the register already, that's what will be used. I was told that they check the register to see if there's still a valid EPC lodged before doing another assessment.

I LOVE AutoCAD but then my apprenticeship was as a Design Engineer so I grew up drafting with pen, pencil and board.

I'd very definitely keep the pH neutralisation system in place. What sort of system are you using, just a pressure vessel filled with limestone chippings, or something that needs regular maintenance? A simple pressure vessel filled with limestone chippings, with a bypass and valve to adjust the pH to 7, should last a long time before the chippings need to be replaced. If you fit two vessels, so you can change them over and refill one whilst the other is in service, it's easier to look after. The key to getting a long interval between services is to size the system correctly and set up the bypass accurately, so that the pH is spot on 7, and no higher.

Either 75mm normal screed or 50mm liquid. Double check with insulation and screed suppliers for peace of mind. Put a thin strip of insulation around the perimeter.

Nails

They are dependent on Mr Telehandler doing his stuff so hopefully @Christine Walker will add some truss photos later when she comes out of hiding and can report that it's all gone great . Fingers crossed!

Swing shovel = what they call an excavator in Devon (or at least @joe90 does)

5x 100 screws are useful to have in your toolbox

And the property is NOT in a special area, e.g. conservation area, AONB, National Park etc.

... and as if by magic @Christine Walker has moved it.... @newhome and @Mr Punter your comments were noted !

I use it too. I notice genuine AutoCAD throws a hissy fit when you open a drawing created in Draftsight. Draftsight has limited 3D capabilities but if you create a solid in DS you can't then edit in AutoCAD. I just have the free version of DS.

Yes everything seems so light without the boards im hoping my willing other half will finish work early and help me glaze the bifolds

Depending on the size and distance to boundary building regs may require substantially non-combustible materials. F

Our planning permission was for a cottage on the site of a derelict timber and asbestos bungalow of about the same footprint, Torridge district council are renowned for being awkward and we were told by many if we were 1 mile away over the Cornwall border we would have had no problem. Torridge have a preference for bungalows or room in roof, they argued many things like access using an existing entrance put in in 2011 with full permissions etc etc, anyway we won in the end. The field we own next to our property is agricultural and we have been told there is NO way any permissions will be granted for building in this field. We plan to turn the field into a meadow, keep various ducks, geese and maybe sheep and put the Shepard’s hut there at times. Previously my wife (who owned the property for decades) was told she could not have a 1.5m x 1m chicken house as it needed planning!!! I am very aware of rights regarding planning hence the reason I aurgued our case and won ?.

It can be a such a nightmare with builders can’t it!! Things are starting to take shape though which is nice to see. Assume that’s the old cottage next door? Don’t quote me but I think you need to start a new blog post when you do a new entry. These comments are just for the entry contained above, ie your 3rd Time Lucky post. Is that right @PeterW?

What he means it's you are using 450mm dpc to tank the brickwork. As your build is tf you don't have to worry about keeping wall ties in proper coursing so you can put extra in at the level your dpc folds back in. You build the dpc in at the bottom then fold it up making sure the back of the bricks is clean and then build it in again. The black line will be your patio. It will fall away from the house anyway so with the dpc, the fall and a French drain you will be well covered.

Hey @DrawCAD BC have knocked back my drawings for lack of details so I'll PM you next week.... In the meantime my blog is a photo diary of a 49sq/m timber hut which might be of interest re your summer house project.

This house is 260m2 so not as big as our last self build but a good deal bigger than the cottage, although we lived in a small part of the big house you had plenty of walking room if you can understand that! I could wander around when I felt like it and we had room to get away from each other! While in the cottage I used to go through from the kitchen into the small hallway and was always struck by the same thought-where’s the rest of it?! Hopefully this time I’ve got it right!

Hi and welcome. Go to the text you want to quote and highlight it, mouse and drag or click and select. After you select at least one word a drop box will appear saying "quote selection" and you'll get the result above. The above will help deal with the Jargon

When you submit planning application do not have any dimension on it other than GIA. Ours was over twice the volume of the old one, however as they did not have the volume of the old house, it was a moot point. We basically used the original footprint, filled in some of the odd shapes with a bot of extra and went up to 2 floors.You can see from the site plan on my blog. Only discussion was with the planning assistant who 'didn't like it' this was quashed by an e-mail from my architect to her boss.

Welcome. I am not particularly impressed by the firmness of the lines your Planning Consultant is drawing ... sounds a bit too much like a gamekeeper turned poacher who has forgotten he is not a gamekeeper. Has he internalised the idea that you are the client, and the Council are now the dark forest through which you will navigate with him as your native guide? I don’t believe that planning guidelines are enforcible in such an uncompromisingly firm manner, and he should be explaining that the P.O. should be approving unless the balance of all the factors makes the development unacceptable in planning terms , and it is not always the P.O. who makes the decision. On the garage you could potentially do something like a cheap 2.1m porch or similar under Permitted Development to make the gap 4.9m,in advance of going for PP, which may give you your extra space, or even extend under PD to the max. That should be bread and butter to a PC. You could get a dismantable and reusable porch for later if you put your mind to it. Possibly I am being unjust here ... however we find it better to flag up Ideas firmly. Don’t worry, and take time to collect the knowledge, the guidelines, and the large bag of tricks. Try reading some of the blogs, which will convince you of the nebulosity of everything in planning. Perhaps read them like a book, one at a time at one sitting each. That way you get a lot of the stuff by osmosis while engaging with the stories. Have a meeting with the Wise Owl consultant, and explore his attitude, then perhaps think carefully about changing horses. It is not so much tricks, as oodles of experience. F

Great job @Declan52 looks well

Got the planters all finished up and 95% of the planting done. The boss is looking some gerberas in two of the areas. Have a mixture of flowers, coloured grass, herb section and a veg section to feed our pair of shiting machines( fat greedy rabbits). Even got a lime tree so with it and mint planted I only need an ice cube tree and that's me sorted for mojitos.

oohhhh I've been pottering about doing silly stuff to the house waiting for a bank loan to be approved... IT HAS BEEN.... so, money should hit the bank in the next 10 days. I Cant wait to get started on REAL work on the house!!!

Handy offer that is @DrawCAD If BC knock back my pencil and paper drawings for a building warrant, I'll come knocking ?

Thanks, we'll be greatly relieved to get rid of the old house, TBH, as we lost all interest in it a long time ago. For some reason it's been really hard to get motivated to tart the old house up for sale, when there are still little jobs to do on the new house to make it perfect - I'd far rather go over and potter around finishing off things in the garden of the new house than do things on the old house that I don't see as being very useful. Still, I have a few tonnes of gravel arriving at the old house today (with luck) to freshen up the drive, then it's just a matter of clearing out all the junk and tidying things up for the photos. This is what the new house looked like a couple of weeks ago - I'm putting up another 5ft 6in close board fence, with a side gate by the garage, on the dwarf wall on the garden side of the drive later next week, with luck: Here's another view showing the screening trees I planted back in March/April:

As an alternative method kango up the old concrete into tiny bits, leave in situ add a layer of type 1 and whacker down firm blind with a thin layer of sand damp proof membrane insulation ufh concrete topping with mesh.

Just add more insulation in steps EPS at 25mm sheets would mean you can step it down roughly (ie 25mm every metre) so it goes 200-225-250-275mm across the room. Stick them together with low expanding foam.

Waited six weeks for bifolds and tiles to arrive from Italy 150 mtrs of floor tiles arrived at 8am doors ten minutes later On my own today lug the tiles in and see if I can get the doors fitted