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Yeah sorry about that . Mirrors and satin sheets removed now .

We went to view a house, years ago, that had a large mirror above the bed, on the ceiling in the main bedroom. The bed was covered in black satin sheets. Even the estate agent showing us around was giggling a bit.

Well my “ Discount offer of the week” has been my best score yet, as some of you will know I am doing my build on a rock bottom, empty barrel budget, it’s just the way things are and I’m ok with it, but it has made me develop lots of contacts for getting materials as cheap as possible and recycling / up-cycling wherever I can. One of my local builders merchants has undergone a radical management and staff changeover and cutting a long story short after introducing myself and showing them photos of my project the new management have offered me a substantial amount of materials for my project for free.... today I have started the long job of collecting pallets of paving bricks, they have just gifted me a minimum of 15 full pallets of brand new but old stock pavers in a variety of colours. It’s an unbelievably generous offer and I am over the moon, though I am not ready just yet to go crazy with my paving it will in the future make my property look totally amazing. Really overjoyed that there are still some incredibly friendly and generous people out there who are happy to help out a stranger doing a budget build. Living in my remote location with a small ferry ride and two miles of steep dirt track and restricted to only being able to carry 2.5 tons means I am going to be very busy next week hauling all my plunder back !

My MVHR vents are utilitarian at best, ugly at worst. Does anyone know of a source of less unattractive ones? For preference, I'm after something with a less shiny finish and more flush. Picture of the offending items attached.

The Smart Export Guarantee comes in from 1 January with Octopus already offering 5.5p/Kw which is more than the feed in tariff when it was abolished. And in Scotland at least you can borrow interest-free (over up to 12 years to fund it). So the numbers look a bit better and if it helps make a dent re: sustainability (or just makes you feel a bit better about it) then it's perhaps not a bad price to pay.

Time to move on to the next job I reckon. Sounds like you've got it well covered

Meat. Eat a huge hunk of ham. See what doesnt happen. Oh, and by the way, eat just a small amount of corn on the cob at the same time. (Used as a transit marker).

BPC Ventilation iirc. I have images of their offerings on my phone to show customers as they have a few more available than most. There is an opening in the market for flush / recessed units here I think, but not a fan of the type you can see up into, which most alternatives seem to sufferer from. You also cannot have the ‘paper doily’ type ones as they’ll block up with dust me thinks.

On materials yes you can. On labour or supply & fit as a new build it needs to be zero rated.

What type of lighting are you going to use? There are sometimes options to be quite imaginative with light fittings. When I do our bathroom next year my intention is to incorporate the plenum into a lighting raft then use the fittings themselves as the extract points - likewise with clean return air, I don't see an issue, it is done commercially all the time. I like double-gimbal rectangular down-lights, we have things like this: https://www.lucent-lighting.com/products/prospex-light-fixtures/gimbals/gimbal-maxi/ they are fully vented and I was able to actually incorporate them into a plenum in the ceiling void.

Best to be safe. Especially if you get some muppet tradesman doing work after you and decides to sit/lean/swing from them! I won't bother using the illbruck stuff then- maybe that is meant to as a sealant when going through walls etc. Now that it's cooler, I'll force myself into the attic to finish that job I started months ago...

OH doesn't mind looking at those.

In another thread I brought up Paragraph 55/79 and referenced a potential plot near me where consent for a more standard house had been turned down. I have since dug up a bit more information and while I think it is the final nail in the coffin for this potential plot I thought it may be of interest to others. Rather than completely take over the other thread I thought I would post it separately. Having finally been able to get hold of the most recent appeal for the potential plot there is some explicit language relating to paragraph 55/79. In previous appeals there had been mention of points (a) to (e) not applying and one inspector commented that the house might not be considered isolated. However, in the most recent appeal the Inspector was much more explicit and stated: " The appeal site is close [to] other buildings... Consequently, I do not consider that the proposal would result in the development of an isolated dwelling and there is no need for me to consider whether the proposal would meet the circumstances a) to e) in this respect." I found this interesting as one of the main reasons for refusal is that the potential plot is outside of any settlement boundary and therefore described as being in the open countryside. However, I then came across this brief piece reporting on a judgement from March 2018, which may have informed the Inspector's view. https://andrewlainton.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/court-of-appeal-clarifies-meaning-of-isolated-housing-in-nppf/ In short it appears that a small group of houses with no associated services outside of any settlement boundary is still potentially considered a settlement and a potential plot nearby would therefore not be isolated and so ineligible to be considered under paragraph 55/79. Given this judgement, it would seem that some previous decisions by the Planning Inspectorate have interpreted the NPPF differently. For example in this case an appeal was allowed. https://docs.harrogate.gov.uk/AniteIM.WebSearch/Results.aspx?grdResultsP=1 The following is included in the appeal decision justifying the use of Paragraph 55/79: "The appeal site is an open field on the edge of the village of Cattal… ...Cattal is located around a kilometre from the railway station but has no notable local services. The parties agree that the site could reasonably be described as an isolated dwelling in the countryside which local policy and the Framework seek to resist." From what I have now found the March 2018 judgement has probably further reduced the scope for Paragraph 55/79 applications, limiting them to houses standing in splendid isolation in the countryside.

Very true there are weird things that will catch your eye that no-one else sees. I guess we are all a little ocd with different things.

best i could find without a pay wall https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/read-this/you-may-be-able-add-two-storeys-your-house-without-planning-permission-heres-what-you-need-know-638515

Is there a better source than the Daily Mail? E.g., one worth clicking on?

Bet you're glad that faff has been completed! At least you have no ceiling in place yet so a bit easier to tape the joins. Did you end up CT1'ing all the connections or just taping?

Yes, from 0 to 4

Check at Ikea, where I am currently looking. They always have good value mirrors; I have one of theirs in my hall. 650 x 650 at £17 https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/nissedal-mirror-black-50320320/ Have you considered a bigger one extending over the bath, or two separates - they currently have one that is just under 80cm x 2m for about £90. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/large-mirrors-24859/ Anyhoo, here is one from Ideal Standard that looks good. May have better price elsewhere. https://victoriaplum.com/product/ideal-standard-framed-mirror-800-x-700mm

Sorry, Declan, but we've been in for 7 weeks and I still hate them. I do agree with @epsilonGreedy that it's the protrusion that troubles me, along with the shine against my flat matt white ceilings. The link that posted from an earlier thread looks promising. @AnonymousBosch I didn't say I wanted pretty, just less ugly. I'm a realist with things like this and have learned to manage my expectations.

Perhaps this one, https://cvcdirect.myshopify.com/products/conus-airvalve-125mm-1, from Jeremy here:

Looking for air permeability class 4 tested to EN12207 that should guarantee you the best results... I'm still tempted by windows that are only class 3 but not sure to what extent this will affect my airtightness score.

Make sure you order them with trimable blocks on the ends, so you can tweak a good fit in site.

Isn't that just the kind of shit that unimaginative, but pretentious, clients are impressed with, while making everyone else put two fingers down their own throats.

Scene : local pub, Friday evening . Bar is full - buzzing chit chat , barmaid has a big grin on her face - all's well with the world. OnOff's mate: How's it goin' son? Mine's a pint. OnOff : Get on wiv ya, 's your round I think you'll find, matey boy OnOffs mate: Whatcha bin doin this week any way? OnOff: Yer....gorra special job on like, ................. (pauses for effect) .......... bin makin' a church pew The whole bar stops dead. All eyes on OnOff. Barmaid's spilling beer down her blouse with shock, beer's being snorted through a few noses, the pub dog's dreams come true - everyone spills their crisps at the same time. The pub parrot suffers spontaneous lock-jaw, and craps noisily with shock OnOffs mate: Seen the light eh, pal? OnOff: Naaaaah, but I like a challenge. And ( nods at the barmaid) wet T shirt competitions.

Speculating, you kept one from the same month every third year to give an evidenced and interpolatable trend line, and binned the rest. On first attempt, I read that as 3 O levels and a goose. ?

I only got three o levels (and a gcse) and I am better off than quite a few people I know with a degree!

HND? Wow you're clever! My missus has plonked all my ONC notes in the lounge for me to "sort" as part of her current clearout of one of the hip end loft spaces. Sort...she means bin! ? I f**ked up not completing my HNC. I blame cars, girls and drink.

When we moved I found a folder full of old payslips. The earliest dated back to 1972, when I was earning the princely sum of £478 p.a, a bit under £40 per month before deductions.

I work on the principle that if I haven’t used something in two years, then you don’t need it so it goes in the skip.

I couldn’t extend my self build policy. I tried but they said no to the extension so I went through Quoterack and sourced a specialist policy via a broker. It was just a standard house and contents policy in effect but it stated that it was a new property under construction and that it was currently unoccupied. I wasn’t able to get accidental damage cover at that point. The cover was £438 which is more expensive than my current policy including accidental damage today but I was happy to secure cover and it was still cheaper than the self build insurance. I know a couple of people who have tried to get a quote via Quoterack recently but didn’t have any joy.

You can get horizontal unvented cylinders with attic cradles which are pretty easy to get installed. Only usual issue is the pressure valve drain off.

The objection to the garage is one of the more comical objections that I have read, people need to get a life. The house is further away than the one you are knocking down and the windows facing the boundary are not habitable rooms. I cannot see any issue at all. Also I think the windows are at right angles to each other although it is hard to tell. Why do they underline that the house is larger. What is the relevance? This is the kind of nonsense we got. What is the relevance of being overlooked by the other neighbour, that is nothing to do with you. The planners will likely ignore the objection. Arguably their house is way too near the boundary and causing the issue. I believe the 20m type rules do not apply when the existing property is breaking the rules. So in Edinburgh there is a 9m distance for habitable rooms to a boundary and 18m total. But I believe if the other house is less than 9 m from the boundary then that is their problem not yours. Basically people want to build right up to the edge of their plot then think it effectively gives them ownership of part of yours.

I wish I had specced humidity sensors and enthalpy unit. As it is I have had to pay vat on enthalpy as bought afterwards and at nearly £1000 not cheap. I dont have the sensors as we didnt wire for them and its a pain as I have to be aware of when someone has shower and zap it up manually. It worries me that when I go away my housesitter will not get to grips with the ipad controls (or forget) to put it up manually and I will come back to a nasty damp wetroom. I have 4 settings. One is a humidity suppressant so if 'off' it will still draw out a bit of moisture. 2. is 30% below building regs, 3. is building regs and 4 is blow your socks off boost.

@Big Neil yes we used manifolds. As others have said easy to isolate individual circuits and no joins in pipes.

Sounds like a neat solution. Most of the flow adjustment systems are either clunky (like running around changing restrictor plates) or mean screwing the actual terminal in and out on the thread, so they all end up looking slightly different if there's a lot of adjustment. For a budget solution I think it's hard to beat the ones I linked to, as they are very unobtrusive, especially as so few people gaze up at the ceiling all the time, where 90% of them are fitted. Here's a view of one in the corner of one of our rooms, The outer ring that sits flush with the ceiling is around 150mm diameter: