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First rule to stop a flat roof leaking is ..... make sure it’s not flat ...!!! Get a decent fall on it, so water can’t find a place to settle. Also go over the top on structure so you get zero deflection and a decent ply or OSB layer - 2 layers of 12mm OSB can be better than a single layer of 18mm ply. A good built up and torched on felt (base layer plus top layer) will last 30 years if done right but getting the laps correct and the right falls is equally as important.

Any one. It doesn't matter. What does is attention to detail. Nitty gritty finicky fussy attention. Choose one system and get it done by someone who knows what they are doing.

Lots of ways to calculate this but whatever, it looks like there's a decimal point slip in there so it's probably more like 1.3 tonnes rather than 13 tonnes of CO₂. The current carbon index of the grid (total CO₂ emissions / total generation) is not very interesting from this point of view. Generally speaking, low-carbon power sources (renewables and nuclear) do their thing at whatever rate they can manage at the moment then gas makes up the difference. This means that any additional renewable generation (used sensibly) directly reduces the amount of gas burned so should really be “scored” at minus the emissions rate for a closed-cycle gas turbine, not the grid average at that moment.

They are traditionally done like this in Japan. They stick newspaper/cardboard on the bottom and burn!

Wow - time goes fast! I guess I'll say that again....and again! We submitted the revised planning app - free as within a year - and that was approved with no comments. The revised design removed a couple of windows which has pleased the neighbours. Engineer co has been working with the architect so we have made a lot of progress in design terms while we did the planning app so had building regs design approval ahead of revised planning approval! In prep for the demolition I (with my helpful neighbour and his digger) sorted the services which included stripping out the front garden and some trees (these ones without TPOs!). We managed to have a lot of the house re-used by people building near by - internal doors, UPVC patio doors, kitchens and bathrooms - trading for some labour later. Plus my neighbour fancied the 20+m of balustrade - he's got the digger so that + some of his time and experience is a good trade! We have a pump station serving the lower 2 floors, sadly the location needs to change but the pumps and control system will all be reused so need to get the pumps out - pretty sure the tank will be wrecked coming out but that if that's all we need to replace that will be a good result. Demo firm engaged and they are fantastic (so far anyway) who have stripped out the inside while I worked frantically to get the pre-commencement conditions satisfied. My helpful (seriously) planning officer confirmed by email that we could do trenches for services, strip out internals etc without being classed as having "commenced". this week we had a meeting with the tree police to inspect our tree protection measures and check the working arrangements - I prepared a nice report for them and that went well so we can officially crack on with the demo. Time lapse camera installed on neighbour's roof (Brinno - seems a great product). Currently harassing engineer to provide reinforcement detail for floor so I can get quotes in for steel and ground works. Next week the demo then will be underway and I'll be trying to finalise the drainage design + spec for the floor slabs... Oh - CIL rules changed so our liability would have tripled! But all sorted now and next form for them will be after we finish.

Back in the Spring I posted a planned design for a refurbishment of my main family bathroom. This is now 96% complete, and this is the After video. AFTER

My first jobs after my planning approval are to: (i) choose a timber-frame supplier; and (ii) arrange a conversation with my arboriculturalist. This post is about the (i). The next post will be about (ii). Timber-frame suppliers: I am in touch with the usual names known to this forum. Not sure if I should be naming names here. Six in total. Two companies supply panellised frames with a range of insulation levels, including open panel and double stud. Two companies supply I-beam-based frames, one of which is a company local to my plot in Cambridge, just 30-min away. One company provides a passive-house certified I-beam frame but as a pre-cut kit, complete with all tapes, etc. Frame erection would be by my own team. Quotes from them all are due by next Friday. Some random thoughts on my choice … The local company proposing an I-beam solution is interesting. Its a solution they use for school classrooms: I-Beam walls and roof filled with rock wool, although I see no reason in principle why the rock wool could not be replaced with blown cellulose. Airtightness using SIGA tapes & membranes. My dwelling is very simple in form (a simple L-shapted bungalow with a flat roof about, 125 m²) so when the rep from the this company saw that he immediately suggested this solution. Looking forward to that quote. My plot has problematic access: small plot, about 20m x 20m, a narrow 45m access road, mature tree overhanging the only gate, no space for a big crane. So a non-panellised I-beam solution has its attractions, although I suspect I am over doing it as one of the panel-based company seemed to think they could manhandle the panels on to site pretty easily, especially for such a relatively small build. The passive-house pre-cut kit supplier is also interesting. They provide everything from frame design to foundation design to PHPP and the kit includes Austrian passive-certified windows and MVHR system too, as well as the I-beams, all membranes and tapes, and all to a single firm price. They also include training sessions for your contractors. If I went down the route of a stick-build, albeit pre-cut I-beams, I have met a carpenter who is doing exactly such a build at present and using the pre-cut kit provider above. He has expressed an interest about possibly coming onboard in the spring and thinks he could erect the frame in 3x weeks. That sounds quite interesting as an option. As you can see I am mid-decision and still thinking through the pros and cons for my particular circumstances.

My bath is massive and boxed in. A couple of things I did which really work are partially sink it into the floor so there's no level change stepping in and out. I also sloped the sides inward so you can stand closer when reaching over to the taps etc. The taps also have a quick release system for changing them etc. Pre grouting the bath sides: There's 150mm of pir under the bath (under the grey painted concrete) except where the sunken bit is, only 50mm under that bit. The side walls have 50mm pir then 50mm eps where the bath is. It does stay warm tba.

+1 I don't think the condition is enforcible as worded.

I read that and it’s usual Royal Borough of Windsor stuff - they could only include the trees into the permission if they included them and noted them on the notice. Also worth reading the next paragraph. Conditions can be used to protect street trees from development pressures or be used to agree schedules of work with developers that may include planting of new street trees to counter losses or harm. So this would only refer to trees the council/borough owned as they have no power under the TCPA to impose a condition on property they do not own. That information is also nearly 10 years old - I did wonder how many times it’s been challenged or even used...?

A roof that keeps the building warm is not dependent on the roof covering, it’s the insulation layer under the waterproof coating that does that, tell your Achitect you want top spec in heat loss design as he will need to allow for extra height for the insulation buildup.

When was the speed reduced to 20mph? Was that after they had declared there were no highway issues on that other application? Eg What was the speed limit at the time there were no highway issues? I think this is starting to look like a new highway officer is just a bit fussy. If true I think when you submit the application you should point out there were no highway problems identified on the recent/previous application (reference no) when the speed limit was ??? and since then it has been reduced to 20mph.

Presumably they don't do any assembly of the kit on site themselves? If they did their labour and the kit should be zero rated.

Sure @oldkettle. PM coming right up.

Haha, that would give Peter a heart attack!

Sorry, yes I meant bedroom not kitchen.

Ah tilt & turn - they would be ideal. I'll have a look at those - and I'm with you on just two doors if I go for doors on the bedroom. Thank you!

That wall is nowhere near as high as I expected from your description. How high is it exactly? And it is not right on the edge of the highway, it is set back by a grass verge. What is the distance from the wall to the tarmac of the road? and I don't just mean at that corner say a couple of metres from the driveway? Up here, the visibility is measured from a point 2.4 metres back from the edge of the road, and 1.05 metres high. If that wall is only marginally above 1.05 metres high there might me mileage in your idea to raise the level of the drive slightly and then slope it down to meet the road.

We’ve been running since March. 6.16kW is our full array - max we can produce. 3.87 is what we were producing when I took the screen grab. 6.3 is what we were consuming power wise - that would have been ASHP and dryer running... maybe even dishwasher. So we were offsetting half our power requirement with solar.

Nice! Thanks for sharing this. How long was it since installed? Could you explain the various numbers here? I guess 6.16kWp is max power it's ever generated, 3.87kW is current live power? Was your ASHP running at the time this image captured (or cooker on)? If so nice to have caught an unusual example of the getting over half of the space heating load from solar.

I think you’re right Ed. My iPad app says 12k (as per the screen grab). iPhone app says 1.2k. I’ll let SolarEdge know about this.

How does it know what information you want? Not saying this mirror project is a replacement for home automation, or even a replacement for a notebook, pencil or diary. Just thought it as a nice combination of two existing technologies. One fairly old, and the other very old.

Buy some "decking" lights. They are really small and very low profile and designed to be walked on, so won't mind the occasional kick. they run from a transformer that will sit happily under the unit.

If you're within 6 meters of a boundary you'll need to demonstrate a percentage of fire resistance for each elevation. That percentage area that needs to be resistant is dependent on the distance of each individual elevation, staring at 100% and reducing to zero past 6m. Masonry, brick and metals count as resistant off the bat, but wood is tricky. Check out diagram 22, p48 in the domestic B4 building regs for these percentages. If you're planning on cladding just the front and rear elevations you should be fine. If it is the sides of your building you're cladding then be careful as I know the plots are fairly close together around the Cresent. The costs I listed were for different treatments across my various elevations to try and save money where possible: £25/m² - Natural larch (£3.10/m) - Fire treatment - extra £25/m² (£3.60/m) - Painted - extra £25/m² (£3.50/m) The paint was more expensive than normal due to it having to work with the fire treated. P.s. just as well, I hadn't twigged in my last post that you had Premier too; they don't acknowledge any form of treatment on charred wood to make it fire resistant, even if you use HR Prof or similar solutions. The charring process seals the wood and makes it difficult to absorb the treatment. Also none of the BBA certs for the treatments have included charred wood in their tests, so again hard to prove it'd work.

Yes you basically make them whatever size you want, the trusses will be designed around them. Here is a screenshot of part of my truss plan showing 4 x roof windows 1140x1180mm. They are doubled each side and the truss that goes through the middle is cut onsite and bridled (600mm centres).

You can't see it in conduit.

It's not 'burnt' and it's not exactly 'wood' but we've used a wood/plastic composite cladding from Envirobuild. It's not far off being black and, we think, looks pretty sharp. It's also a good 'wood' imposter.

Especially the weird wiring

Good call by @Onoff. I usually install a walkway at joist level in a loft, and arrange the top layer of insulation so that one run can just be whipped off. (And put an obvious sign and arrow so it is clear where it is). Costs little and adds convenience. F

Forgot to update you with the finished result. Very happy!!!

Thanks @Mr Punter and all the regulars here. Mine will certainly be a BuildHub build, all the way through.

@Dan Feist other topc:

Conversion work comes under Appr Doc L1B (E&W) with a much more relaxed standard compared to new build. No need for SAP calculation to show compliance as simple elemental U-values are provided. (SAP is needed however to produce the EPC on completion). In basement walls and floors the U-value is dependent upon the basement depth as well as insulation type & thickness, if too difficult to insulate BCO can relax the L1B standard.

The sparkie had done his bit and we were now waiting on the plumber. Not much to see here just your standard first fix plumbing. We had a couple of dust sheets removed before the scaffold went down. It was great to have our kitchen view back it had been almost a year. Moving onto the ducting I had previously ordered. A 45 degree bend was deemed easier to fit so now I got to get that ordered. We also had our brickie complete the stove blockwork. We were keen to incorporate some meaty concrete blocks around the stove. Next up is plasterboarding and the end of first fix.

For a reason or reasons unknown to me I am about to pen a short piece about cats. I think it is mainly because @AnonymousBosch posted a picture of his supervisory cat, here. Now, that cat is a lot of things, and whilst allegedly Jellicle (ie black and white), is not so. It is clearly a Rum-Tum-Tugger - particularly given a penchant for using 'playbites' as a slightly abrupt management tool. It is also the fault of whoever did not tell me about the statue of Hodge, the supervisory cat that used to own Dr Samuel Johnson, when I was living in the City of London back in the late 1990s. As reported by Boswell: 'I recollect [Hodge] one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, "Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;" and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, "but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed."' I need to record somewhere that a statue of Hodge now exists in Gough Square, outside Dr Johnson's House - just around the corner from where Cafe Opera used to exist in Fleet Street. Cafe Opera was just what it says - reasonable Italian Food whilst being serenaded by Opera singers earning a crust on the side. (Credit Mrs Woffington, who's current blog, which seems unfortunately to have stopped in 2010, is here. I will assume she found a congenial Latin teacher who now occupies her interest). The oysters, upon which Dr Johnson used to feed Hodge, are a sign (in 2019 anyway) of a very supervisory cat. Whilst I'm jabbering about this area, I recommend that anyone wanting to get some amazing ideas for Garden Design take a tour around the two dozen pocket-parks in the City of London. These are genuinely delightful, complexly small designs, and deserve a profile as high as the collection of City Churches by Wren. Greyfriars Bobby, never mind Paddington Bear, eat your heart out.

Is there any chance i can knock them over doing 20mph, and then reverse back over them trying to see what i hit. Then driving over them again as i could'nt see that i had hit anything. Just thinking, would 3 goes at 20mph do the job. ? Plenty of people on my list.

Oh how useful a bag of those is! And another bag with wedges of different sizes. I feel like taking a few of them with me when we eat out - beats shimming or wedging the restaurant table with folded paper napkins dunnit?