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Just fiddling around with the window openings. Turns out the window posts I put in for the "big" window got knocked out of line when I compressed the bales, and I didn't correct it in time. So, they're about 2° out of level :S. Squaring the opening off is fine enough - I was going to build a window box anyway - but means the opening is much narrower now - around 745mm instead of the expected 860(!). I'm just going to order a premade timber unit of the right size. Bit of a blessing in disguise actually, since it'll come with a frame and be double-glazed to boot. Still on the fence about whether I should have a top piece of 2x8 for the box, or just let the window go up to contact the roofplate. It'll open from the bottom, so there's no possible issues with clearance. Over on the opposite side, I've got that round window to fit. I've decided to build a mostly-circular sleeve out of lengths of 2x8 offcuts, hold that into the wall with more hazel stakes and/or strapping, then screw the bubble window to it on the outside. Simples. I cut the timber today - 12x 121mm long pieces, 15° angles either side. It's glued up and strapped together now, and is hopefully going to work exactly as imagined. Inside, I can have the wall taper in to meet the timber sleeve, which should help to make it feel bigger than it actually is. I'll need something between the plastic and the timber, and was originally thinking a rubber gasket of some kind, but they turn out to be very expensive. So maybe it'll just end up being a bead of transparent silicone, or maybe some weatherstripping compressed by the screws that'll hold the plastic in place 🤷‍♂️. In parallel, I've had some lime delivered - I went for 500kg St Astier NHL3.5 in the end, from Lincolnshire Lime, on the strength of a phone call with them. More foolproof than the putty and, after accounting for the fact that the bags of premixed rough stuff contain sand and the bags of lime don't, about the same price. A few of the bags were split on the pallet, but they refunded for those without quibbling, and say it should still be good to use. Fingers crossed. I still need to order the sand, but regular coarse sharp sand should be OK and I need to finish sorting the walls out and make sure I'm happy with windows and doors first. It's all feeling pretty close now, though. Oh, and I finally managed to get a persuader - 7.5kg wooden mallet - so the walls will be getting a literal beating as I try to improve how level they are. In particular, the one that's due to take the round window is still pretty far out.

I would stick to the same name. I did wonder in your other post where the tin shed fitted in. Put a signature at the bottom of your posts (in your profile settings) saying "now working on my daughters shed conversion"

Well it's the second day on week 4. The ground floor screeding is being done as I type this. To date all the walls are up (they come fully glazed, partially rendered and plasterboarded). The roof has been tiled and guttering fixed, the first fix electrics are done, the first fix plumbing is done (wastes and supplies for basins, wc's etc come ready installed in the panels), the underfloor heating is in and the MVHR ducting in place. In the service room is the cylinder, expansion vessel etc for the ASHP and the external unit is here wrapped, sitting on it's pallet. They started on the 8th April and expect to hand over at the end of May. We elected to use Dan Wood as a "half way house" - it's our original design (although with a nod to that sort of style). We didn't go extreme, much as we would like as I wanted a smooth planning experience, which we got. So, some of the standard Dan Wood bits we omitted. They can finish right up to carpets; handing over complete, save for the kitchen (too many choices apparently). We wanted a UK stair with closed risers so it could be carpeted. DW use bare wood, open riser and being aimed at the German market, the pitch is lower so the going messed up our internals too much. We also left out the doors (odd looking with the leaf rebated and closing against the face of the frame) and floor finishes save for the bathrooms. Those are now down to us. We had to provide the foundation (insulated raft for us) and drainage/service connections. However, it's been a dream not having to organise anything once they sign off the slab as ok. Men turn up at 7.00am sharp and work to between 5 and 6. Saturdays 8 till 1 ish. All materials are either brought with them or turn up on time. Electricians, plumbers, and scaffolders are woven into the work and are here at the correct point. The electrician was here until 11pm finishing off first fix because the next trade needed it done. Every single day it progresses. It probably isn't the cheapest way of doing it ( about £1730/m2 ex foundations) but the joy of not having any arguements with individual contractors makes up for it and there is no doubt the polish crew working on this house work damm hard and do a good job. You have to credit their attention to detail too. They obviously do this all the time as all the membranes are properly taped and sealed, the windows being inserted in the factory are done properly, etc etc. It's clear they have designed out issues over the years and have come up with solutions that work - hence the 20 year guarantee. We could buy the plot but needed to sell our house to fund the build. We are in a static caravan at present on site. Having reached retirement the certainty of getting the build done in a sensible timescale so we could get on with enjoying life was a big driver for this approach. Hopefully it'll be a family Christmas settled into a house this year instead of renting a cottage to escape the cold and damp of a 32ft static!

Thanks to the relatively mild weather this winter i decided to start chipping away at the bathroom project, which is being extended into part of the extension which was finished over a year ago. This gave me the opportunity to install the bath, sink and toilet in the new bit, at which time I’d totally disconnected the old bathroom allowing me to strip it out and that’s worked really well for my as I struggle to do more than 4hours in a single day so I could keep doing a bit and stopping when I’d had enough. didn’t fancy tackling the ceiling for plastering in the new bit so got a pro in to do this bit for me, all done in a couple of hours which was nice. and made the most of the space and got the painting done after putting a layer of 10mm marmox board down ready to accept the underfloor heating mat Next job was to start making a frame to hold the toilet frame and the sink and cabinet Decided on making my own cabinet rather than paying silly money for an MFC one, got pine furniture boards, a pocket hole jig and a new router and came out with this which I’m pretty happy with that all got painted and the sink installed, wall mounted tap and the wet room panels that I’m using both for this and for the walk in shower area all installed. got to work cutting the OSB backing and wet room panel for the toilet in prep for the final big push to disconnect the old and commission the new, that was a hard days work! And then bath and toilet all installed once the shower area is complete the bath will be disconnected again to lay the underfloor heating, self leveller and the flooring before being put back in place, and eventually building the wall and plastering it. Made a start on stripping the old bathroom out Next job is to patch up the loft insulation where the old spotlights were, new wiring in place for a single light fitting this time, airtight membrane adhered to the walls and then battens before reboarding it ready for plastering. Floor is coming up also to be replaced with 22mm chipboard to match new bit.

It increases the amount of time that the rest of systems have to react to. Why it is called inertia. Mainly the noise and physical size. Also, the mass and speed the flywheel has to spin at. Here is a bit about the KERS device that Williams developed. https://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/williams-f1-kers-explained/

There is one need Edinburgh https://www.science.org/content/article/gravity-based-batteries-try-beat-their-chemical-cousins-winches-weights-and-mine-shafts

Since the late 1940s when the national grid came into existence, we had relied on spinning devices to synchronise each other. As we move forward, we may well go back to DC bulk transport of electricity, synchronised by a central system. The article paints a rather bleak picture, when in fact it is showing that we can cope with vast amounts of unregulated generation. It has to be remembered that the European electrical grid is designed similar to the USA grid, and not like the UK grid, which is almost a radial circuit. As @kevinm points out, we have mechanical systems in place already for grid syncing, there is one next to a local collage down here. These are relatively cheap bits of kit, and with the old introduction of cheap chemical storage (batteries) can alleviate most problems. Also worth pointing out, as @joe90 has, overproduction does not happen too often, and distributed, unregulated (micro generation) automatically disconnects, or at least limits, delivery when there is a problem. It is early days in the renewable generation journey and we must not fall into the trap of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, which the right wingers with financial interest in fossil fuel generation industries want us to do.

It should have a kite type mark on the inside pane like this. Excuse the dust as still sanding and painting 😭 Actually ours has that on both sides so that doesn’t help! All of our glazing units have a slight blueish/purple tinge on the outside pane which is presumably the Low E coating.

IANAL, but my understanding is the LDC is not mandatory. If you have evidence, including records of Building Control inspections, the planning department cannot stop your work unless they issue an enforcement notice. If they have seen your evidence, I doubt they would take that course of action. They can *ask* you to stop work while you apply for an LDC, but to the best of my knowledge they a) cannot force you to stop work just by asking and b) cannot force you to apply for an LDC either. By all means, apply for the LDC to keep everyone happy and to be able to authoritatively respond to any future queries from interested parties, but for now, I'd say carry on...

I did several new builds with a German gang (in the UK) and to be a Joiner there you need a proper apprenticeship and they are proud of their uniform and they all wore it on the builds we did. Actually I think they were Austrian not German that I worked with. At least one of them is still working here, on his own now and I met him again on a job last year, still wearing his uniform. And he is one of only 2 joiners I would use for a job that needs a bit of thought and a good finish.

Yes I had a neighbour from hell like that, I got to know my local enforcement officer who turned out to be sensible, I let him know exactly what I was doing each day.

The biggest issue isn’t the technology. It’s all there to be used. It’s the awful standard of quality of too many of the trades who just don’t care. My experience has been bloody awful frankly. The UK builds pretty average houses that are poor value for money.

I always thought as long as there was a pending application to regularise a situation, they would not take enforcement action until that application has concluded. So worst case, stop until you have your LDC application lodged.

I had a similar fight with planners, dated photo,s and docs and I told them I would NOT back down, I won 👍 If ever…. When I lived in Shropshire and selling a property planners told me a conservatory did not meet rules, I had building regs and paperwork so I threatened to sue them for the devaluation of the property (£40k)if the conservatory had to come down . I got planning within 24 hrs. I agree, they have too much work on their hands to fight a loosing case IMO.

Not fair. A well designed and constructed building will survive for a long time in any material if used correctly. I've been working with steel buildings for decades. The only issues have been where a client's architect has insisted on fancy details that are inappropriate and caused problems. The rain washes the roof (avoid penetrations and valleys) and the walls too (avoid overhangs) Potential problems are with bad detailing, inferior materials, and bad workmanship, but the same applies to traditional buildings. It depends. There are projects where I specify or recommend old fashioned construction (small and fiddly usually), and others where modern techniques are better (much better) value. For clarity and open-ness, I have never used or specified SIPS or polystyrene kits. Any timber cladding I've used has been decorative and the building doesn't need it for any weather or structural reason. Sensible then, if the quality issues are attended to.

The report focuses on price as though it is a bad thing. The real question is how much fossil fuel generation shut down during the mid day solar peak? and a technical question, how did the grid cope with a lot less "spinning mass" in the generation? If it happened regularly, people would get the idea of load shifting to mid day where possible which would reduce the need for fossil fuel generation at other times.

I did everything myself except for the major groundworks, where I hired a digger+driver, and plastering, which I consider a black art! I laboured alongside the sparky, and got a plumber to do the UVC, because I was told that I legally had to. None of it is rocket science. In a self build, you will take much longer than a professional, because you want it done right. Basic timber frame work is easy if you are half way competent with a tape measure and a nail gun. Second fix is a lot more fiddly as all your work is on show. I tried to get someone in for that but ended up having to do it all myself. That's one of the reasons I went with painted MDF skirting etc, so I could fill and paint any mistakes I made. I designed out complications early on- e.g. no joins in the kitchen worktop, just a few fairly large windows. I decided to go open plan and ended up only having to hang two internal doors.

Take her for an afternoon trip to Wr£n's. We went just to see the kitchen layout on their VR head set [as the house was not built at the time]. If you've took on a selfbuild, you will have the will power to say "I'll think about it", and walk out. It did take a couple of hours, but we did manage to fill our selves with their coffee, and snacks, and ended up with a couple of mugs [useful for site] and a freezer cooler bag [useful for the inevitable take always]. It was quite worrying to see a price of £40k drop to £28k in a matter of seconds, for a kitchen I know cost £9k from Howdens and £5K for appliances and £3.5k for tops. Their fitting price was about the same as I paid my joiner for 1st fix timber, second fix timber and kitchen fit out. If you want an island you really need at least 4.2m width if not more. We designed our kitchen end of the room at 3.7m [6x 600mm units], and how ever much we tried we couldn't make an island look right [it always looked as if there was an island because we wanted an island and would make it fit] If you want an island design in Water, Waste and Power now, even if you do not use them.

We had a similar shed, an old bullock shed, mostly wooden one side tin clad and half height old concrete blocks, only dated from the 70’s though. we are also in a village and like you it’s split with us in the half not AONB, this was just noted in the application. we got independent pre planning advice and discovered it could be argued we were within the village by drawing a straight line between existing nearby properties. We decided to go full plans, not part q, as the planners get to see the intended build rather than outline P. We kept the original size plus 1 metre, and single story so not too dissimilar to existing. CIL only counts on the 1 metre extra so that’s only a few hundred pounds I think but could depend on county rules. Is the bridleway a public right of way that could be problematic. can you get the services to the shed? good luck, somebody we add to this there are a few on here who have more knowledge on part Q.

What meanies. Surely you could just send in the Building Control Commencement paperwork? I had a condition that my building had to be started within three years, but not completed. Did you have a planning condition which said you have to finish within a certain time?

The issue is this... The planners are only allowed to issue legally binding decisions using official documents. So for example if they just wrote you a letter saying your PP is till valid that would not be legally binding on them, they could in theory change their mind. So if you want a legally binding ruling on the status of your PP then you would have to apply for an LDC. If you are confident that you can prove your PP is still valid you could just carry on. I think what I would do is carry on working AND apply for an LDC on the grounds that work started before PP expired. Its extremely unlikely the planners would start any kind of enforcement knowing an application for an LDC has been filed.

And the steel will make it almost impossible to pass cables and pipes through the joists. (not an issue with posi joists)

I started in a similar place, it's easy to go down rabbit holes. But always for a building to be as airtight and well insulated as possible. Building Regs is the minimum standard. Go well above those standards for little no cost Start by reading building regs and get familiar with them. You need to know what they require. Use them to test your architects drawings. Actively review and make comments back to architect, make sure they capture everything you want to see. Passivhaus institute websites world wide. Wealth of simple information available. You may not be doing a passivhaus but you get plenty of clues of what to look out for. Don't try to do stuff that is novel, unless you are actually doing it yourself, do what is normal around you. If that's block and cavity - go that direction, if timber frame go that, don't try to force a learning curve. Read up about building form factor. The further you are away from a simple cube, the more insulation you need etc for a given heat loss. But the basics are always the same Airtightness - can you draw a continuous line line around the airtight barrier, if you can't you have an issue. Insulation - read the above on airtightness, same logic applies. Ventilation is very important, decide early what you want, and have routes for pipes built into the design from the start. Are you likely to want cooling, again design in from the start. You can only generally do airtightness and insulation once, but you can pay bills for the rest of your life. Simple is normally best, if it starts to sound complex, stop and leave it for a few days revisit. (I should have listened to this). Ask yourself what do I want to achieve from this. Be sceptical of advice from unknown people (this forum, Facebook etc). Heating system should be simple, zero complexity - most complex stuff in heating systems is people trying to sell you stuff, I have a plant room full of stuff I didn't need to install (all now removed).

The caravan itself will need some rewiring. It might only have a mini 2 way CU with a 16A circuit for sockets and a 6A circuit for lights. You will need some upgrades, e,g, an additional circuit for the washing machine etc. But you biggest issue is going to be voltage drop. Whatever load you end up with after upgrading the installation in the caravan you will have to calculate the voltage drop over your 100 metre length, I am almost certain the voltage drop will determine the cable size not current carrying capacity. You only need a 2 core Steel Wire Armour cable as you will be using your own local TT earth. You really don't want a washing machine in the caravan, try and find somewhere else for it. If you are happy to ration your use (never use WM and TD at same time) then a second 16A radial circuit for their socket would keep your total load down and help with your cable sizing calculations.

Wife’s uncle lives in a Huf Haus. Stunningly well built. Build team were exceptional. The whole process from start to finish was slick and smooth. The only issue was with the foundation which the British did.

My mate was a sparky at L&Gs failed attempt at modular residential builds. Their plan was to have a factory similar to the car industry where materials go in one end and houses come out the other. He said it was red tape galore and the management could arrange the proverbial in a brewery.

Looking good. Just make sure you cover that nice floor before you splash render all over the place 🤣

Any warm air at all would have been luxury for our 18 month sentence 😜