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Ian , it's just an 'ole, 'ole in the ground. Open to all-comers. Been there since 2014 - look on Google Earth Pro Image History: you can see it clearly from outer space. It is unlawful to build one without planning permission, (been banned for a while now) unlawful to leave it open to the air, and not to pump it regularly. The cesspit leaks like a seive, discharges to the open ground downhill every time it rains, and has done for 6 years now. Stinks like France on a bad day , but mostly it stinks them out ( they dug it up-wind of their van-house (house-van?). Basic error that. I fantasize about popping a weedkiller-sugar bomb in the middle of it with a delayed fuse, delayed to explode in a strong westerly wind....Their pigs would love the extra protein. From October to March the pigs are knee-deep in sheet in the associated floodplain. When I have dead rats to dispose of, I throw them over the fence into the cesspit. They float for a bit, I'm waiting for the complaint with something like glee. Eventually the lead with which I force-feed the rats seems to take over. Worthy opponents rats. The shed down-hill (to the left of) from the cesspit is now an island. But if all day every day you are paddling in Scheisse from pigs and humans, you soon get used to it I expect. Bet the inside of that dwell-van hums .... Trump-like, he has to double-down at every setback now. The screw is turning slowly, but inexorably. He has managed alienate every land-owner around, and will not be able to discharge to a stream. Even if he applies for PP (next to impossible now) he has been told that a pre-condition for PP is a satisfactory Perc result. Which isn't happening. He's made the basic mistake of buying an old clay quarry (supplied clay for the canal nearby) so the water has nowhere to run. Apart from convection and transpiration, water stays in that location. Every year when it rains he has to pump surface runoff uphill to another part of his property. Which then comes back downhill. To be serious for a moment, how low must your self-esteem be to consider living like that? I actually feel sorry for both of them living there. All they have to do is MTFU and buy a property elsewhere. They've given it their best - its time to move on. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, letter edited, tweaked, in the post tomorrow, Recorded Delivery.

You need to look at a product called LITE STONE. I’m using some outside for exactly the same reason, not happy with 100kg hanging of some wood screws. Pits basically a stone smashed up and mixed with resin then layer out in a sheet about 2mm thick, you stick it using a contact adhesive onto cement board or plywood depending if you want it waterproof or not. I was very surprised how realistic it is. And I normally hate most things I see.

That's the condensate pipe which exists to enable the condensation that forms as a result of lowering the temperature of the extracted air to be expelled. The pipe should be connected to a trap and not via a tundish as in your case. That air break means that the slight vacuum that forms inside the MVHR unit will be sucking in air from the room and, if there's just the right amount of condensate built up in the base of the unit, cause it to gurgle as the air passes through. I'd suggest removing the tundish and making a connection directly between the grey pipe and what appears to be a waterless trap below. If you can help identify the latter I can suggest a more exact method (as it's all down to pipe/fitting sizes). When connected directly to the trap it won't allow any air to be admitted and the gurgling will stop. Edit: From that quick glimpse it looks like it's a Hepworth HEPvO waterless trap with a BV1/21 tundish adapter on it. If so, that adaptor looks to have a 15mm 'pipe like' interface to it so, if you removed the black tundish, you could connect the two 15mm ends together using a short length of suitable-sized hoses and jubilee clamps. Others might be able to suggest other methods, which might include 15mm pushfits at either end but you'd have to see how well one would attach to the tundish adapter (I suppose if it has a 15mm OD like a plastic pipe does then it'd be fine).

Put 20 or 25mm PVC conduit through the wall, sealing both ends to the timber. Later once you put the wires through, seal that at both ends to maintain your air tightness.

There are often two mind sets.. 1/ To look at the wild life as a problem that interferes with your financial gain 2/ To accept that you are interfering with the habitat and make a serious effort to provide an alternative (during the build) and enhanced habitat once you have had your way.. development wise. If you are inclined towards point two then you can look at providing a "temporary habitat".. enhanced feeding, stacking cut foliage, even pallets to encourage insects, to provide shelter, natural food for young birds and a safe space for birds and so on to dive into if a predator is about etc. A building site does not have to be barren. Calvin you seem a point 2 type.. you have time now to act on the alternaitve habitat, supplementary feeding and so on. Take this approach and you will enhance the wildlife and not have to worry about the chimney. Then when you finish your project you can enjoy not just your new house but all the wildlife that has been turning up during the build.. what more could you ask for? Have to say ten out of ten to you for posting about this.

Hello, we hope to be demolishing in March and I am concerned that birds nest every year in feb in chimneys. Is there a way I can put them off without going on roof? I have a chimney sweep brush that goes on rods, if i leave it up would that work?

Buildzone was £2600 for us for 275sqm brick & block, mono pitch. LABC wanted £7500!

This is def worth noting. The panels are a 100% vapour barrier so if they are added as part of a multi-layer roof/wall build up (like in a house) you have to make sure the parts of the wall/roof inwards are very vapour open to allow drying inwards i.e. no poly sheets or foil-backed plasterboard etc as the moisture would get trapped. Topic for another day, but I've found that it's increasingly common for US buildings to be vapour closed on the outside and aim to dry inwards not outwards. Though if the panels are thick i.e. very insulating, and the building is airtight, then the metal inner liner shouldn't get cold and so condensation shouldn't be a problem (I'm hoping). Another source of mysterious leaks is apparantly if the sheets are laid in the summer the metal expands and bows the panels very slightly upwards. The panels are so strong that screwing them down doesn't remove the bow (and you'd strip the fixings if you tried too hard). When weather cools, the panels lie flat again and the fixings stand very slightly proud of the roof - just enough that the fixing hole is a water path straight through the panels. We had this in a couple of places with just a drip coming through. No problem to fix, someone just needs to tighten the fixings, but it's something you might not even notice if you covered up the roof from the underside before the weather turned cold, and then have a persistent hidden leak. So you shouldn't just swap them out in place of a regular roof without thinking carefully about what else might need to change, and the designer & installer has to be aware of the potential issues.

I can’t say I notice any significant rain or birds noises on composite roof cladding. Be very careful to make sure vertical over lap joints are well sealed and screwed to avoid condensation at joints. We had a problem with this in a sports hall and thought it was an intermittent leak which couldn’t be found. Turned out to be condensation but the amount of moisture was incredible so I was sceptical at first. Not so bad in an open building but not so good in a dwelling

@CalvinHobbes Our building including roof is clad in standard KS1000RW Kingspan panels using 150mm quadcore insulation. https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/insulated-panel-systems/insulated-roof-panels/quadcore-trapezoidal-roof-panels-ks1000rw It is unusual for a house, but very common for other building types. There's another buildhubber who self-installed them on their dairy conversion roof. We don't live in it yet, but so far my quick summary: - Can be very insulating and is inherantly thermal bridge free, though you need to detail this at the edges to avoid the metal thermal bridge of the inner liner - In theory can be very airtight, but there are some issues getting this detailled right - Looks just like metal roofing i.e. very neat, and available in large range of colours, but likely not going to be accepted anywhere but rural I'd guess - Can easy drop in insulated plastic rooflights anywhere. These are not see though but allow you to have natural light wherever you like (subject to planning etc) https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/daylighting-systems/rooflight-systems/daylite-trapezoidal-rooflight-plus-ks1000-dltr-plu - A bit noisy in the rain it seems. If you had an additional layer underneath i.e. plasterboard ceiling, not sure how much this would attentuate this. Crossing our fingers on this one, but many people live in metal roofed houses, and rain noise is one of the sounds people play to help them sleep - Cost effective considering you get all the layers in one go - you get the whole roof build up for the same price (perhaps even cheaper) than a seperate metal roof - Fast to install and in theory fairly simple, but likely not something most builders have done (our cladding was done by firm that does loads of it) - Lightweight and partly self-supporting meaning you don't need as many purlins - Penetrations are tricky, but not impossible - Don't use them for walls (long story)

Said like a true believer. What I lack in cash I make up for in faff.

Thank you to Peter W for responding Very difficult when someone posts a picture and asks What wrong with this As you thought not a Plumbing issue Swapped the stats and actuators Nothing Left the actuators off the two effected zones Slowly stated to get some heat in the pipes Electrical then Put a tester on all the actuators The two effected had no power going out I took backplate off the two effected stats and found a live feed had snapped Half a day for me Half an hour for a good electrician Great feeling when those caps pop up on the actuators

You can only demand costs if you can prove the planners broke the rules, not abiding by their own policies even is not enough to ask fir costs (ask me how I know). I would get someone to do a “street view”, mine was done by an architect who did a pen sketch of the outline of the house, hedges, trees and neighbours to show the actual impact. This helped a lot with the appeal.

What actually is this "cesspit" then? Is it just a hole in the ground? or is it actually a structure? I'd missed that you described it as "open". I'd also missed that a Cesspool is not covered by the EA's General Binding Rules, and if it is a Cesspool (that requires regular emptying as it has no treatment capability and should not release to ground/surface water), then it does in fact require Planning Permission, Building Regs, Regular Emptying by a Licensed waster carrier, a minimum capacity of 18,000 litres per 2 users and must not leak or overflow https://www.gov.uk/permits-you-need-for-septic-tanks/you-have-a-cesspool Septic Tanks and small sewage Treatment plants need to abide by the General Binding Rules or have an EA permit (in England). So, if a Cesspool, then another Enforcement opportunity, as well as reporting to EA.

Reduce the time the air blower is on until it starts to smell then increase it just enough to get rid of the smell. I’ve found that 1 hour on and 1 hour off works for me, I’ve had a Charles Austen air blower in my Condor tank for over ten years now and doesn’t smell and it’s never gone wrong.

You already have the time. You just need to let the important things that you must do fade to the side. TIME created!. Now (expletive deleted) about to your hearts content!

FWIW where it was just one wire going out (external light / socket / speaker) we drilled through the whole lot with a 2 foot auger drill after the warmcell was blown in and sealed. Then fed the cable through a pro-clima grommet and then through the wall. Grommet taped down to the OSB airtight layer. This seemed simpler and allowed lots of flexibility in placing the wire much later in the process. In places where there's a bunch of services going through, we did the duct through the wall approach. For BT/virgin cable, I did debate running the duct all the way from the wall up to the AV cupboard, so new services (fiber etc) could be pulled right the way through in future, but decided it was too much effort and liable to snag anyway. https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/products/airtight-windtight-systems/pipe-and-cable-sealing/grommets https://www.ecomerchant.co.uk/walls/airtightness-products/service-grommets.html

I expect better in Bristol, how about some trompe l'oeil, now this is what I call a feature wall. Or this:

Quite like that idea but I'd use something a little more durable than Perspex. Pity you can't get some walk on glazing and use that.

Yeah, a few wraps of duct tape as @MikeGrahamT21 suggested would work well I expect, and if black I don't think anyone would be any the wiser!

£50 for the bottle and £67 for the refill (East Mids)

Good point re. waterless trap. Mine recommended a water trap (Vortice), and the boiler also drains into the same trap, so in my case I don't think there will be any drying out.

I thought a waterless trap was generally recommended, so as to avoid the issue of a dry trap during the summer months which could cause drainage smells to enter the system? You say quick fix but actually I quite like that idea as a permanent fix in this instance. The negative pressure will be minimal, certainly nothing like what the trap would have to deal with in a many plumbing systems.

About £85 for a refill here in the expensive north. when i tried to get a new one from Calor, they wanted to charge me a stupid rental charge so instead I went to the local Flo Gas supplier who gave me two new ones just for the cost of the gas.

Oh dear, someones fitted that wrong! Its basically sucking air up via the tundish, and therefore bypassing the heat exchanger, with it being cooler weather you'll have condensate, which is where the gurgling is coming from. Get rid of the tundish, and connect straight into the trap. Ideally it should be a water filled trap, with a good bend to it to prevent this. Once fixed, you'll also recover more heat too. For a very quick fix, tape the hole up in the tundish, but it must be airtight to stop that noise from happening. If it still does this after, then the airless trap doesn't like negative pressure.

Is this the case? When I did our build the siting of the treatment plant and it’s operation and discharge we’re part of the Building Inspectors remit and the EA also had to give permission prior to its installation. The building inspector noticed that there was no lock on the lid and told me it had to have one so nobody could raise the lid and fall in it. I would suggest an open cesspit was definitely against regs.

Box of Quality Street on the way Ian. Thanks. Ian (PS, minus the strawberry ones ?)

You can always pull the wiring and check by adding a short plug socket and wiring it direct to see if it moves

If you have decent ventilation above the insulation I wouldn't worry about it. Your instinct is correct not to wrap timber in plastic. Almost all moisture gets into a structure via air leakage not diffusion so like @ADLIan says seal all ceiling penetrations and you'll be fine. A consideration might be the thermal bypass. wind will simply blow through the mineral wool. No risk of timber decay but your insulation won't perform well on a windy day. I've heard suggestions of covering the mineral wool in building paper as a possible solution but I can't find the reference.

I'd high-light the two options the Council has, with something like: The Planing Inspector's Appeal Decision has high-lighted two course of action the Council could take. With the original enforcement being against the caravan, no arguments for Concealment were put forward (the caravan was not concealed). But the Inspector found that what was once a caravan, is now a building, so enforcement can still be taken against the structure itself under section 171B(1), since the building was covertly developed under the cover of the caravan shell, which would stop it from becoming immune from enforcement after 4 years. Indeed, the fact that the Council originally enforced against the caravan is itself material, since the building was concealed by the caravan. The Inspector then continues in para 38 to state that "even if" the structure becomes immune from enforcement, a breach of 171B(3) has been implied which allows its Residential Use to be enforced against, for which, as I'm sure you are aware, there is a 10 year duration before it would also be immune from enforcement. I'm not sure if Planning Control have any jurisdiction over "drainage" or Building Regs. ie. this may be out of the HoP's remit. I believe the Environment Agency and Building Regs each stand independently from Planning Control.

I like to think I've turned procrastination into an art form.

While the regs give guidance on derating cables totally surrounded by insulation for more than 50mm length in insulation. I think I wouldn’t bother worrying about it, I wouldn’t want mains cables next to data cables( wired video door bell springs to mind) but would just make sure they are sealed as per ProDave’s method.

One day I hope to have enough free time to #£&@ about like this. Not jealous much …. Honest .

Pigeon feet are also bloody loud on these roofs. Kid brother replaced felt roof with kingspan panels because bollox to felt/add insulation and the resin of ok but the pigeons are flipping loud!

Cladding? Bunch them up into as few entries as you can then run the cables behind the cladding to their final destination? (e.g doorbell and outside light to share a single penetration) Aside from chimney and mvhr entry/exit we're putting everything else through the floor then running it up behind the cladding to final destination. Minimises the number of penetrations and makes it pretty darn hard for things to get wet.

Ah Gus, I agree entirely with what you said. I buy a sack of wild bird feed every week as it is. The house is near an ancient woodland too and in a different lifetime I studied ecology.

Think I have a chimney sweep who will do it. Hope to get it done in next few days. Cheers

Yes it's a dilemma as to a fair charge, Architects / SE's and so on get a bit of a slagging on BH but it's social media! I've been a member of BH for a couple of years (I think) maybe a bit less so very much a newcomer when compared with the mods. Also, there are some past icons such as Jeremy Harris, still plenty folk that really know their stuff contributing and most importantly new members that are coming on board with new ideas as building technology is developing.. The new members, for me, keeps the site refreshed and the "old folk" on their toes! Another attraction for me is the humour that members come up with.. it's a great site for sharing ideas having fun with like minded folk and exploring ideas. I post stuff about the SE side and the odd bit about the gorund but I learn a lot here and enjoy reading about what folk are doing and so on. It's a good friendly site. Ok punloos.. your into electronics and systems.. but you have a brain and common sense. That is the key. Just ask your questions on BH, don't worry about asking a daft one, BH is not a knowledge test! Often I think that folk worry about getting trolled, using their own name. Some folk crop up here on BH that clearly are professional developers asking for free advice, some are trying to play the planning system.. but on the whole I think many are just honest in their intention.. yes if you are in detailed negotiations to buy a plot then remain anonymous but after that.. ? In summary just keep asking the questions, best to ask rather than build it and wish later you had not asked the question! Oh and have you had a Greggs Steak bake yet! I know the guy who was part of the development team on the steak bake..So THERE! my claim to fame

That's what I looked at first but the exit point is well sealed and shows absolutely no sign of water ingress. I think this is it... nice one! I kind of ruled it at at first because there is an identical stack on the opposite side of the loft and that was perfectly dry around the plasterboard. But the clue is in the direction the pool goes off in - notice the wet patch was on one side only, and there's an open vented CH header tank at the end of an imaginary line drawn between the stack, pool and nearby tank. And I was having a problem with warm system water circulating up the feed pipe that caused lots of condensation inside the tank. I'd forgotten all about this. I think I fixed that issue when I recently rebuilt most of the CH system but this has made me look more closely at how the stack comes up through the plasterboard ceiling. Below is a service box in the corner of a room that goes down two floors so plenty of warm air can come up. I will gun some foam around the gap for starters. But would it be necessary to lag the pipe where its exposed in the loft? The loft is ventilated but always that little bit warmer than outside so the pipe can reach the dew point first.

"The proposed replacement dwelling, by reason of its scale and mass, would harm the character and appearance of the area". Is this the only reason for refusal on the decision notice, if so it is purely subjective? Or is there anything else cited ? I asked because our initial application was refused for character and greenbelt reasons. Once we were confident on the greenbelt element for the refusal could be overcome that left us to deal with the landscape and character issue. It would appear no absolute planning policy has been breached but rather it doesn't suit the opinion of the planning officer. A superior authority, ie an inspector could come to a different opinion if well reasoned. A landscape visual impact assessment my help........it certainly did with our appeal, an expert could demonstrate in detail why it is acceptable in landscape and visual amenity terms.

One option could be to market it as attractive 'Option to buy' where a developer buys the right to buy the property in future at much higher price post a development milestone. Normally the developers will identify these sort of lands and approach the owners. I am not sure how the other way round would work where the land owner approach the developer.

WHAT did you tell them about the ASHP you propose to use? DNO's get very worried about direct on line start heat pumps due to the very large starting current. As soon as we told SSE that we were using a low power inverter driven heat pump with soft start, all their concerns disappeared. For similar network reasons we were only offered a 12KVA supply, so we accepted that. You could power UFH direct from the grid, and it would consume roughly 3 times as much power as an ASHP, which is not exactly helping the situation and will cost you more and put more load on a creaking infrastructure.

Better to do it now as they will be roosting (rather than nesting with chicks) at the moment.

Pondering heating systems can be like pondering how to climb Everest from base camp for self builders. Its impossible to know the exact best route without first knowing the best route. I gave nights upon nights considering this. I came to the conclusion that there is no two houses alike and even if there were, no two sets of occupants would behave the same. Calculations and modelling only go so far. Objective data is impossible to find, every consumer with a novel system thinks their own goose a swan. Every installer is prejudiced by familiarity and margin on installation. Every salesman only wants to pander their wears. I got so fed up with all this going around in circles I decided not to install any heating at all. Bold, rash, stupid, maybe, but if we were going to part with heaps of our cash I wanted to be sure. We built to passive house standards, a little beyond in theory. Put a direct UVC for DHW on night rate electricity. I borrowed a 2kW electric heater, plugged it in in the hall, and got to work regularly recording the electricity meter and feeding the results into a spreadsheet. Over a few months it was possible to isolate the DHW usage and now I'm working on the space heating. By March I'll have a full year of data of exactly our usage, to the kWh. No guesswork, no modelling estimates, just two numbers. DHW and space heating. So far DHW 10kWh/day for 2 adults and 2 small children. Space heating is broadly in line with PHPP, maybe slightly more. I must get a thermal imaging camera to check for any weak thermal spots. Also it's been very dull. I'll know more soon. I have aims for an A2A heat pump and solar PV. When I have my exact usage I'll be able to estimate if they're worth it. In hindsight I think we should have installed UFH pipes and run them from a Willis heater. While my current radiator was free, anything that I'd actually like to look at in the house permanently certainly isn't. Also , half our heating is on expensive day rate electricity. With UFH and a willis heater we could shift it all to cheap night rate with the slab as a storage heater, like @TerryE It wouldn't have been much hardship to get an UVC with a heat pump coil to futureproof also. TLDR: 1. Pathologically minimise your heating demand in design and construction stage. 2. Install UFH + willis heater and a heat pump compatible UVC. 3. Run your house for a year on E7. 4. Use the data to make the best decision.

I think most people discount an ASHP because of the high cost, and then compare the high cost of an ASHP with a £2K boiler. I think most are looking at prices installed by an "ASHP specialist" at £10K or more.? But before you dismiss that as too expensive look up the actual cost to buy an ASHP and pay a plumber and an electrician each a couple of days labour to install it. You might find it is a lot cheaper. Several of us on here have bought them cheap and DIY installed them. Can't comment on likely running cost without knowing what you are building? Something that just scrapes through building regs? or a passive house? or somethiing in between. There is no doubt ASHP's work best with UFH throughout upstairs as well, and are better suited to low energy houses. Don't forget the cylinder maintenance or standing order costs when working out the cost of LPG.

I liked the Housemartins

It's been over a year since we finished our home and I thought it would be good time to reflect. We have not had any major snagging issues with the house. The only product which required some additional work was the LVT flooring, we found thermal expansion was causing some warping. This has since been resolved with the addition of two expansion joints. In my last blog post I discussed how we were heating the house with just a wood stove during colder times of the year. In the first year I had to build up our wood stocks quite quickly, but going into the second year I decided to focus on collecting sticks. I'm still burning home grown split logs but I find that collecting a bundle of sticks to be a great way to maximise the amount of firewood. By the end of the summer I had collected quite a large pile. Nearly all of these sticks are either dead wood, wind blown trees or from trees needing to be cut down for other reasons. In these times of uncertain electricity and gas prices, it's very satisfying to be able to collect and store fuel to heat my family. For our hot water, our exhaust air source heat pump has been very efficient and with no need for electricity to heat our house our usage has been 10-11kWh a day. During the course of the self build I collected a huge amount of stones from the ground. I used the smaller ones to extend the parking area. The larger ones I sorted and then had a go at dry stone walling to line the ditch. In the spring I stumbled across videos on YouTube by Charles Dowding discussing his no dig approach to gardening and I decided that it would be great to grow more vegetables. My take away from his videos was that having access to large amounts of compost was critical to making this a success. I started to hot compost from lawn clippings, hay and a variety of woody materials. I recycled the last of the pallets from the self build to make this four bay system By the end of the summer I had a huge pile of homegrown compost. This is now ready to grow some vegetables in the Spring, any suggestions?

ODE TO SHATTAF A quandary as old as time itself, You reach for the roll, but there's none on the shelf, Scanning the room engulfed in panic, to mop the mess that was routinely volcanic. As your steamy behind sits engulfed in mush, Your wiry gaze spys the toilet brush. Alas tis too far for your arms to reach , As you flounder whalelike on a toilet beach. Whilst the bowl emits olfactory toxins, You morosely consider your spiteful options. Yell in shame to your wretched wife, or chance your luck with a pocket knife. Option B gets approval as you pray to Bog-God, You'll only scrape muck and not draw any blood, With the gloomy grin of a morose mortician, Slowly you start your solemn mission. But just before in deep you wade, You catch a reflection in the steely blade. Over you hip just out of sight, Beckons redemption glimmering in light. Merrily resheathing your swiss army sword, You sing praises to the toilet Lord. Glistening chrome with a flexible hose, charged with 3 bar pressure she blows. About to begin the washing game, steady your hand and take careful aim. pull the trigger with a mighty whoosh, commences the act of the cleansing douche. Chuckling as you splay and spray, Gushing your defecation troubles away. Stand and shake with a euphoric howl, And dap the drips with the bathroom towel. You exit the WC with a proclaiming laugh, "CIVILIZATION HAS ARRIVED, ALL HAIL THE SHATTAF” Iceverge 2022.

Looks like you shat in those shoes

Mate. You are an absolute lunatic. ??