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This is a post about mortgage rates not COVID so back on topic please.

Well it is good to see that you bothered to spend an hour this morning looking at data and finding out that happened. I would hate to think that you based your analysis on a politically right of centre viewpoint where no one else matters a toss and the 'sad cases' where not your family. Now you may not like being challenged, with data and facts, but without bothering to even take a cursory look at the underlying data, you are only expressing, as usual, an ignorant opinion.

Multi finish I don’t even know why they make board finish I send it back if they deliver to me

Once again and for the last time if you want to discuss interest rates then fill your boots in this topic. Having it out over what the government did and didn't do during COVID is not for this post . If you want to discuss that then maybe a self build forum ain't the place to have it.

Why does a shed need bi-folds and a cavity?

My take on the Ecodan: Ecodans do fine on the "euro tests" for sCOP. The euro tests for sCOP test the unit at a few fixed points that are representative of perfectly weather compensated heating of an old-build in one of three climate zones. This means: - They have a "long and low" space heating season (heating well into the shoulder seasons and relatively more of this vs heating during the coldest snaps) - They don't capture domestic hot water production - They don't capture how well the built in controls on the unit do, or don't, work (the tests are at operating points fixed by the test rig) It isn't the highest performance unit on the market. And it's also an FGas based unit. High temperature capabilities are limited. In the real world you see a very mixed bag on the results. The majority are fairly poor. (if we believe heatpumpmonitor results) This could be because the people who typically choose Ecodans don't know how to install and operate them. This could also be because the controls on the units are poor and they don't operate anywhere near the lab test conditions in real life. If you dig into the results, the top ecodan is...delivering space heating ONLY (so no high temperature operation to produce domestic hot water) in an old build (so extended heating season) with UFH (so in effect it never operates hot). It comes close to the test results. The second ecodan...essentially uses uses solar thermal for the domestic hot water and tops out at 38C at design condition in an old build property. So again t's doing nothing hot. The third ecodan...is more normal (providing heating and lukewarm water - 42C) but read further and it's operated by somebody who gave up with the OEM controls being being excrement and wound up rolling their own to try get the thing to perform. Only by the time you get to the fourth ecodan do you see something "normal" but again I'd caution that it's an old build with extended space heating. The rest get progressively worse; with Ecodans occupying too many of the bottom rungs on the list for there to be no correlation between the unit (or the people who choose this unit) and performance. You have a passive house. The heating season will be MUCH shorter and harder (there won't be the long shoulders of low grade heat and relatively high ambient temperatures) and hot water will be a MUCH higher proportion of overall demand. You will want to pay a disproportionate amount of attention to the high flow temperature DHW production performance of the units. That will likely favour the newer R290 based units over R32 units. You'll want to be MUCH more careful about designing an overall system (both heat pump itself and the heating system controls that couple this to the thermal storage of your pipes/floors - no stupid hysteresis stats on 101 zones etc) so that it can operate at part-load. I don't think an Ecodan ticks those boxes particularly well. It's long in the tooth. Naff OEM controls (read through the trials and tribulations of the openenergymonitor folks trying to control these) and what looks like narrower operating window (look at the minimum flowrates etc required) compared with other units. The Vaillant units aren't anything to write home about on paper. They look like they don't work as well as an Ecodan. Yet they're disproportionately represented on the upper part of the heatpumpmonitor charts. Probably not a coincidence. Perhaps due to an "ok" unit with superior control when it comes to heating. Perhaps due to those designing these installations being better at it. Performacne oriented units? Perhaps Nibe S2125? Rated with a sCOP of 5.0 on the average climate and 6.4 on the warm climate for underfloor systems (35C peak flow temp) on the euro test cycle. https://www.nibe.eu/en-gb/products/heat-pumps/air-source-heat-pumps/s2125 https://assetstore.nibe.se/hcms/v2.3/entity/document/319563/storage/MzE5NTYzLzAvbWFzdGVy (The south of the UK is warm climate. The north of the UK is average climate.) Don't get confused by the nameplates. 8 kW nameplate on Nibe is about the same at 5 kW on Vaillant. (Nibe quote the "max" heat output in warm conditions; Vaillant quote the "design" heat output at the cold/design condition; both are similar) Perhaps a Lambda unit if you're feeling brave enough to try a low volume unit? https://lambda-wp.at/luft/ https://zewotherm.com/de/produkte/waermepumpen/zewo-waermepumpe-lambda.html Rated at sCOP 5.7 on the 35 degree *average* climate cycle. Similarly impressive sCOP on the 55 cycle infers decent DHW performance too. Quiet courtesy of both the sheer size and blowing through the heat exchanger to muffle fan noise rather than sucking through it and giving you direct fan noise. (at the expense of being somewhat more difficult to clean) Three options for PV diversion 1) run at a set output when digital contact bridged 2) measure the actual excess export and run at as close to this as possible using a meter 3) get told what to run by an external device using a modbus input Also tall to avoid getting buried in snow; buried in cold lakes of air; and designed to thermosyphon from the house (needs heat pump higher than the house) in the case of a power cut etc. Relative to this kind of thing the Ecodans aren't a performance oriented unit. They're so so. Robust but not lighting anybody's pants on fire. And in practice most appear to be towards the bottom of the league tables in real world performance vs other similarly "so so priced" units. I'd at the very least want to know why my designer were picking this over other units and what they do differently to ensure that their designs aren't at the bottom of the league tables in terms of performance. It doesn't appear to be a given that these perform well.

That’s bat emergence surveys. The initial survey which looks for signs of bats and suitability for roosting can be done any time of year, but if the ecologist decides they need to do an emergence survey, where they look for bats at dawn and dusk, that has to be done between May and September.

may be worth letting the current application carry on, if the design is close to what the rebuild will be it will then be hard to refuse your full application if the reno is approved. I'd wait until it completes then bang in full plans. You will need a lot more paperwork SAP calcs etc

dont kill all services you are going to need them and no fun paying twice. Keep the electric and water, just move them out of the way for footings.

utter nonsense. Lockdown was idiotic, achieved nothing but kill off load of people who didn't have a mild cold/covid but did have cancer/hear disease etc. The very worst cases of covid were nearly all due to other underlying issues anyway. Rules were nonsense for example you could sit without a mask to eat but stand up ? Goto jail or be fined. Masks were pointless otherwise zero doctors and nurses would have caught it right as they all wear them ? Just a gimmick to make the sheep think they were actually doing their bit. Virtually every single decision the gov made was the wrong one, from curfews to paying people to eat out. In fact if they had done the exact opposite in most cases we would be in a much better position now. Should have carried on as normal and managed the sad cases where a lot of already unhealthy people were impacted worse. This group of people could have voluntarily locked themselves down if they wished while the rest of the country carried on.

The issue isn't about insulating it, it is about how much the BCO wants me to insulate it. I am going to build it with 100mm cavity with 100mm insulation. The BCO is citing 4.2 of Volume 1, where he wants the walls to achieve 0.18 u value, this in my opinion is excessive and not really achievable since the plans propose a roller shutter along the road facing elevation spanning 3.5m! Also, I am of the opinion that since it is a detached outbuilding at the rear of the property (in no way linked to the house) it shouldn't be subject to the U value targets applicable to let's say an extension.

I'm not sure there is a method to not have posts from an individual appear on your list of posts to view. Other than follow that person then you will get a notification they have posted and then avoid that thread. I'm only a mod, don't really get involved in the technical discussions that we have behind the scenes.

This is what I would consider the principal elevation as it contains the main architectural features… in addition to the front door. So a suitably designed outbuilding positioned behind that blue line would imo be considered PD.

I think @Declan52’s point is that this thread, which I think is meant to be about the practicalities of remortgaging/mortgaging in the present market, is not aided or improved by the ins and outs of COVID.

On the other hand... https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/2214/regulation/2/made So it's not even a room for residential purposes.

If you’re not heating it why do you need to insulate it?

Less than 50m2 & no heating/cooling then exempt from Part L energy efficiency requirements. Simple!

Indeed. I just got word blind after researching / reading regarding mine, so after that info-overload the brain just starts to slip here and there! Agreed, BRegs approval needed over the 30m2, and PD rights remain (subject to T&C's). It's hard enough trying to remember all this and also try and find a guy with a micro that can do muckaway atm, with 2 of my mates having sold up after lockdown to drive HGV.

I’m thinking the same, line the pipe work up where you need it, clip it neatly etc then isolators if needed and tap connectors.

With reference to my post above about the Application of Volume 1... I think what you need to meet is Table 4.1 in Volume 2 "Buildings other than dwellings" (not Table 4.2 in Volume 1) https://www.planningportal.co.uk/applications/building-control-applications/building-control/approved-documents/part-l-conservation-of-fuel-and-power/approved-document-l-conservation-of-fuel-and-power-volume-2-buildings-other-than-dwellings That says new walls should have a u-value of 0.26 W/(m^2.k).

Not even that. The 15 and 30sqm limits are BC only. For Planning/permitted development you are PDR until half the original land is built on.

and goes further

Fleas come with the dog, pal You'll not get me feeling sorry for you You will be enjoying the fruits of your labour soon enough, and will have a very nice home to boot! Chin up, and stop worrying about types of plaster. Let the plasterer do that.

I used board finish for 20 years before multi finish came in You can’t tell the difference once finished Multi is creamier

Failing that, you can ring VA directly and their tech support team will talk you through how to change the settings so you don't get unwanted boost

Multi-finish every time afaic. I've only ever had one spread ask me to take the MF back and get BF, as he was older than Jesus, set in his ways, and refused to use MF on new PB's

You can adjust the humidity settings , look on Utube.

Since it looks like your property was built from a division of land from the property outlined in blue, I would check first that PD rights weren't removed.

Just go for the cheapest! You will not notice any difference.

which elevation has front door/letterbox ?

IMO I think #2 shows the principle elevation, it faces the road (which means you can use PD) it talks about the principle elevation (the singular), I think #3 is elevations (plural) which is not mentioned in the rules 🤷‍♂️

It would require Planning.

I got mine from https://www.directplastics.com We're very competitive at the time.

Tell him what he sent you is for a dwelling (which means something you live in, not a garage), it says so in the top line. I hope your not paying for this crap advise, I would escalate to someone more senior (or sack him 🤷‍♂️)

There are two types of pvc fascia, thick and thin. The thick one can be used without wood behind, the thin one is a capping to be used over wood. The fixing method is different, thin one pinned into place for example. I chose to have wood behind, makes it easy to install gutters as you have a good fixing point behind the fascia trim.

That's the way I've seen in pictures. Just a stub poking out with a bit of masking tape over the end to stop the muck getting in.

Part L covers dwellings, not garages Point out that it’s a GARAGE not a dwelling so part L does not apply (he should know that, that would worry me about his competence).

If I was planning to change the use I would make sure I had a feed for water and connect into the soil pipe. I don't really have a use for the garage other than for area to bring back bits from work to work on at home and storage.

Normally I’d agree interest rates rising House prices falling But this time is different Rents are rocketing and private landlords are offloading there properties So it would depend on you getting somewhere to rent at a reasonable price There still a high demand for plots

surveys dont take long as they are private companies. Turn them round in a week or so.

Interesting Principal elevation means the 'front' of the house. Most houses are built so that the 'front' of the house faces a road. As this is the part of the house that is seen by most members of the public, it will usually be designed to be the most important elevation or 'principal elevation'. however, I extended a former house with a cloakroom/front door porch under PD, the house faced sideways to the road (as the land along side used to be part of the garden) and the council didn’t argue (like they usually do!!!). I would just tell them you ARE doing it under PD as the house does not face the road and even hardly not seen from the road and see what their reply is.

The deaths in England was around 0.4% of the population. But that is just deaths, the numbers hospitalised was much greater. On March 1/4/2020 there were 13,432, 6/7/2023 there were 6,429. So it has not gone away At any one time since April 2020, 1% of the population is in hospital with COVID, on average, even today. Now, if you think that COVID was not reduced by physical separation, then there is no argument to be had, but if you do think that physical separation of people and basic precautions, then locking us all down did help. If the NHS struggled to cope with an extra 681,300 bed.days, how would it have coped with a 30% increase? As for the Furlough. There is a bit of a myth that the vast majority of people were on it for a full period. At Peak Furlough, 31% of the workforce were on not at work (12/4/2020), by October 2020, 10% of the workforce where on it. It then wen up and down as the winter waves came along, but only at about half the rate of the peak. I did read somewhere that mot people were only furloughed for a few weeks, and as others have said, they, and there family, carried on working. So there was probably only a hundred people that claimed it for the full period, wish I had been one. The majority of the longer term furloughed workers were in the hospitality and retail industries, and they were all back to work by August 2020 (Eat out To Help Out). During the first year (2020) there was little opportunity to spend money i.e. no holidays, moving house, car purchases, so people just saved. This saved cash was not in circulation, so no multiplier effect. This reduced, at that time, government tax receipts. That money is now coming back into the economy (savings being used for everyday purchases). So while I would rather have not had a pandemic, I do not think it hurt the economy as bad as people think, and it saved a lot of lives and pressure on public services.

Well said! Lockdown and furlough was an absolute disaster. That is why we now have 9% inflation. 99.9% of people had no cause to be worried about covid and we are now all paying the price for the policy response. Taping off outdoor gyms and not being allowed to buy certain good in the supermarkets, is absolutely laughable.

Because it’s within a meter of the boundary ( I believe !)

You won't need Building Control Approval as it's "constructed substantially of non-combustible materials". If you changed to a timber construction then you woukd require Building Control Approval.

No. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/outbuildings/planning-permission We are not experts. Just interested amateurs. Do not rely on our informal opinions.

As long as you still have permitted development I believe you do not need planning permission or building control.

If you read my posts, In my location they wanted £2k for a pump. That's £2000 pound. Sorry I've baffled you, we can't all be superman @Dave Jones😍

This would be massively overshadowed by the astonishment at a 20 something (without a massive lump in from their parents) actually being able to afford a property.

It's the reason i walked out of my job in banking. There was no mercy. Can't pay, take the house back off them. I believe that when the shite hit the fan in Ireland, the banks ended up owning more property than the general public. From memory, my first mortgage was £325 per month against a take home pay of about £1000. However, a tenner a month to the gas and electricty covered it. Petrol was about 75pence a gallon, a decent second hand car, about 3 grand. Now a bloody coffee is about 4quid.