Leaderboard

I went for the Philmac 1143 at the same price. This is 21-27 x 15-21. The nuts are quite big at 70mm and I didnt have a wrench that size and the stilson wouldn't fit. Had a brainwave and used a oil filter wrench. The one I have is from Lidl and is thin and easy in a confined space. No leaks at the main connector but will have to remove the stopcock to fit insulation and tap.

Update on this. Had a subsequent conversation with the neighbour stating we do not agree with the survey and that our solicitor is currently looking at. Neighbour said what is acceptable and I offered them a meter only. They backed down somewhat so I pulled the solicitor for the moment. Then wrote to them stating that their survey did not match what is in our title deeds plus that we had exclusively maintained the land for almost 20 years however not wanting to have a dispute offered them a meter only with a timescale for acceptance otherwise we would have the right to withdraw the offer. That timescale has now past and not heard a thing since. Not saying this still hasn't gone away but hopeful that it has.

@pocster, @Thorfun and myself obviously listened to a lot of Jam when we were younger. We have friends in a nearby, quite posh village on the Thames. They bought a single story traditional cottage and were not allowed to exceed ridge height, so they built a full footprint basement and contemporary flat roof 1.5 story on top. Sailed through planning.

I don’t know. I only employ traditional methods

Hello, Just thought I'd drop a little message in here to say hello. Have just joined this forum and I'm sure I'll be asking afew questions going forward and will also enjoy looking through the old posts. Cheers James

I haven't read all the posts but are you convinced that the landing has enough headroom? Any scope for a one and a half height extension, giving a 'sun room' off the living space and more space 'upstairs'?

Wouldn't everything in the ES run to the stack at the toilet, them drop to the ground floor WC and them out through the wall below ground level? Inspection chamber at that point. It's VERY similar to our layout and that's exactly what we're doing. We've a 150mm service void under the first floor and all branches from shower and sink will run to the stack from the toilet. A couple 45° bends required in the stack to get the alignment right, but will be hidden in a void behind the kitchen units.

Ready to go to next level now scaffolding is up, bricklayers back tomorrow.

This ^^^ We had a problem after planning but before breaking ground. It delayed us by around a year. All sorted in the end, and WELL worth it, but reading through some of the other posts and speaking from experience: - Don't tell the neighbour anything you don't have to, sometimes tiny details make a huge difference so keep the idiots in the dark - Don't give in, it's yours - Don't believe a word they say. You say they've backed down... I'd assume they havn't and just do your thing anyway. Just look after yourself. With us it was the parish council who lied and led us on a merry dance. If I'd have realised earlier then it would have been better for us. When it comes to land, just assume the other party is a scumbag and a liar. Our best help came from a Town and Country Planning Consultant initially, might be worth looking for one of those as well as a solicitor.

What nobody has mentioned is joining them DEVALUES both properties, turning them from semi detached to mid terrace. This is probably what your neighbour wants to avoid hence he built his extension on his land with a (small) gap and you cannot join to his wall without trespassing. I would just carry on building on your side leaving a gap as well. What happens at the eaves? There will be some eaves overhang you have to allow for that in setting the position of your wall so your eaves overhang and his don't clash. I would not make any attempt to fill the gap between them. Have building control raised any issues with building so close? A friend of ours was not allowed to build so close and building control insuisted they left space to maintain the wall.

Exactly. Whenever there's a problem - especially in this sector - and you get either lies or silence (such as avoided phone calls) then the temperature goes up doesn't it? I have had two major wall-of-silence issues on our build. And in both cases the people I wanted to contact have the emotional intelligence of the average 3 year old. The vast majority of others just pick up the phone and talk. People show themselves for what they really are when things go wrong: not when everything in the garden's rosy. You have a good case to make: they can either listen and help solve the problem, or be awkward and have a resolution imposed with the help of the PWA. Try another knock on the door - cup of tea, piece of cake?

I would get this sorted before you build, as if this comes up later it would likely cost you more. If you get a specialist Property Litigation Solicitor, it will likely cost you £300 +vat/hour. They will bill £30+vat for every 6 minutes!! However, they will likely see off any high street solicitor, providing of course you have a good case. Your solicitor will check your deeds and your neighbour's. They would also advise on adverse possession. Of course you'd likely pay for 2 or 3 hours work to obtain documents, review the case and write a letter. The conveyance's may indicate where the boundary specifically is, but could conflict. Wording in the documents are important. If it indicates that the land is "more particularly delineated on the plan attached", and the plan contains specific measurements, the plan will take precedent over any ambiguous phrases, such as "for indications only", in other documents. Land Registry clearly indicate that they are not in the business of defining boundaries. The registered plan is taken from a small scale OS map and the red lines are only indications of the extent of the land which is registered.

Hello. Welcome. You have the most important thing already in place: the network of trades who are going to be working for you. So far so good. Party Wall ... hmmm common enough issue on BH to warrant a quick search on this site. Since you are new, I've done one for you. Here it is, with the term Party Wall in the title. The subject often comes up in the text of posts, too often to bother you.... Good luck. Ian

Hey there! New member here and you're in a very similar boat to us. My other half is a joiner and has worked with builders for years. We're doing all the groundwork, got a good bricky lined up and got great contacts in the trades for everything else (plastering, electrics, gas etc.). Obviously my hubby will be doing all the woodwork. We're just doing a simple side extension (over garage) and builders were quoting £100k+. We did have some more reasonable builders lined up but it was like something off Rogue Traders. So enough is enough, we're doing it ourselves. Best of luck with your project! Sure we'll have a lot of experiences to share!

Welcome, don’t worry there are no stupid questions here ? I had similar experience with trades over the years and I learnt to do almost everything myself. But bricklaying (and plastering) is something I will always leave to the professionals!

I had a look and they have a good explanation - from their point of view naturally, of the new Scottish regs. https://www.aico.co.uk/scottish-legislation/

ATS did our posijoists through Leadons, can't fault the quality

Just to follow up my posts above about chimneys, I've just had approval under a variation of condition application to remove them from the approved plans. The original planning officer insisted on having them in line with the local design guide. Her replacement concluded that although chimneys are generally preferable, in an architecturally mixed street scene such as this they are not mandatory. So much for consistency! At least the savings from not having to include them more than offsets the extra planning fee.

Go underground my friend . It’s the only way to get more space …

Glazing chisel is the quickest way to get the beads out but be careful as the big units can be quite heavy. Longest beads out first then work the others free.

Ready for scaffold now to get to chamber joist level, been lucky with the weather this week as was showing rain all the way through but been mostly dry. Few days delay on the chamber joists due to availability I believe. Been and ordered a Charnwood burner today and planned the fire place so that’s all sorted and paid for. Bricks/ mortar dark in the pictures as looks like they had been washed down today.

Possibly a silly question but... Other than the maximum temp being capped at 40c instead of 60c and the lack of control for a 3-way valve, what are the differences between pool heat and home heating ASHPs?