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Small progress. Just because my LPA were teeling me off, I submitted an application and then an appeal to have my PD rights reinstated. This is for a barn conversion completed in 2017 (not by me). My LPA seems to remove PD rights on all new houses. So, one small step forward. I'll post up a sanitised version of the appeal docs and decision notice when I get a few minutes.

Agree with all the above, especially the advice re ditching the gas, an induction hob is superior in every conceivable way. Work on the insulation and air tightness. If you can get the 3 phase for a few grand more I think it would be well worth the expense to future proof your house. Who knows how many EV’s you’ll be charging overnight in 10 years time, or how big your household battery is that needs charging overnight etc etc.

Check the drawings held by the utility and get a drains survey done in case there are drains which are not on the drawings?

On Monday the internal structural walls are up to the top of the ICF walls and are tied in to the ICF walls. The windows and doorways have extra bracing ready for the pour. Nobody on site on Tuesday it rains all day and no more prep is needed before the pour. Wednesday starts with the last minute checks ready for the pour. The concrete pump arrives on site at 12pm it takes 30 minutes to set up before the first concrete pours out. We have 4 builders onsite plus the concrete pump operator. The concrete is poured into the ICF on all four walls in stages twice round and its up-to window cill height, the ICF cills are pushed into the wet concrete and the wood boards replaced so that the pour can continue higher. A poker is used to vibrate the concrete to ensure the concrete fills the ICF without any voids. At 4pm the pour is finished and the cleanup can start. The pump driver tests out our hammer head turn which was required by BC as we are so far from the road and Fire Engines are not allowed to reverse more than 20m. I think this proves our access works and it’s all down to the driver of the vehicles, the pump driver is great if only all delivery drivers are like this. The gables will be completed later so the concrete has rebar inserted, the other two walls are trowelled level. By the end of the week one gable is braced and poured. Total man days of labour week 6 is 17 days.

So after three years of planning shenanigans, plenty of back and forth over designs and a house sale that is (hopefully) completing soon, we're finally doing something meaningful on the plot. Last week saw us mark the foundation outlines, set up a few levels and work out a plan of action for clearing the site. First up is removing the leftover brick supports and plastic sheeting from an old summer house/chalet, then on to the the overgrown brambles and finally clearing a tonne of dead wood from years of blown down trees that were cut up and left in place. But the biggest and most precarious job will come when we try to move the tree house my late grandfather built back in 1992. It's stood the test of time, providing many adventures for both myself and my brother, and now our two young boys. The fact that three tress around it that were felled in numerous storms over the past 30-years managed to just miss it is a bloody miracle. So it deserves all the care and attention to move it to a new safe spot, and receive some much needed replacement legs, boards and felt. No idea how we're going to do that though... Next week we hopefully start the dig out, ready for the piles - but the rest of this week will be clearing, laying some hardcore and marking out some of the drainage/utility runs. More to come!

Hello All, I currently have planning on to convert an agricultural barn (pole) into a single story 4 bed Dwelling. im surprised at the lack of information on the internet about where on earth to start. We need to get funding for this conversion and obviously they want a scope of work and costs to which I am totally blind sided by. I’ve contacted 50+ builders all of whom don’t respond or do and then go come when they realize the planning is still undecided. I don’t don’t even see how I am meant to fathom if it’s viable without any costings 😂 i know it will need a lot of work and new connection of Electric and a septic Tank. id like a airb source and solar panels as we have them on the farm house at the moment. its all such a mind field. If anyone’s done any blogs that they wanted to share links to that would be great. 115msq - single story. Staffordshire

Hi there I would love to be able to build a place in the adjacent paddock we have and that's the goal. I have joined to find out more about how it all works, what's possible, how much to get involved, all those sorts of questions. Up front I am discounting living in a caravan for the build duration as that's a lot with a couple of hairy dogs. Right at the start of the journey, got some soil to dig, now what's the best way to go about it?

Well said GP. Man doth not live by U value alone.

No wonder, that is a big but not unexpected list of comments. However at times a game is played at your expense. BC folk get holidays and are adept at kicking the can down the road. It can be fearful for the public! I do this as a day job..make submission to BC.. lets leave it at that. Don't throw in the towel at the moment. From experience a lot of these things can often be resolvedvery easily. Your Architect should know how to navigate this common problem. If you feel you want a second and broad opinion then post all of the info and drawings you have on BH but sanitise it so you can't be identified. By all I MEAN all as there are folk that will dedicate time to helping you, some of us do this as a day job so you'll get probono professional advice. Now once you resubmit there is a way of wording your response where you can back BC into a corner where they need to talk to you face to face or on the phone. You turn the tables on them.. again this is part of the game. Keep you head up and forget about giving in. If you get stuck PM me, I can spend 15 min on the phone with you if you need a bit of probono advice and hopefully lift you spirits.

Pay particular attention to this, also the drainage flows and loads (surface water.. hard standings matter) if you are increasing occupancy. This can open a can of worms so beware. Probably does not apply to you but if a new build then you need to watch out for land contamination on the site as this can have an impact on the type and cot of water pipe you need. If in doubt ask now rather than get caught out later.

Speak to a planning consultant?

I think the tutors need some English lessons.

I agree with everything @Conor said but would add ... We're doing the same kind of project (demolish and rebuild) and will live on site during the build in an outbuilding which we've fixed up. The outhouse is heated by a gas boiler and we need all the utilities to keep going during the build. I decided to move the gas and electricity meters into new free-standing permanent boxes on one side of the plot. I decided to upgrade the electrical supply to 3 ph after playing around with this demand calculator. Our water meter was in the old house which was built in the '60s. I asked UU to relocate the meter to a box in the street by the stop valve which was straightforward. Don't recall the cost but it wasn't much. I was wondering what to do about the phone/fibre connection which is still in the old house where we're still living. Haven't sorted that yet. So apart from that, I'm now ready to isolate and demolish the old house and keep all the utilities going to the outhouse.

1. The estimate of £2k is high. You'll find it'll come out less. The same works for us came in at a total of £2.k for the initial disconnection, relocation to kiosk, and final connection to house. You'll do the digging and ducting, the network's contractors will just do the cable side. You don't need 3ph, unless you plan on running simultaneous car chargers or having a very large PV array. 2. Ditch the gas entirely. You won't need a gas fire, and an induction hob is superior to a gas. Also means your ventilation works are simpler and your house is more airtight. Other than that, the existing supply would need to be found and isolated, then a new one fitted. Spend the saved £££ on more insulation. 3. Don't bother speaking to the water company. You own the pipe after the stopcock / meter box. Won't be hard to find. Before you demolish, find it, isolate the supply and just fit a tap on a post at your boundary and remove the old pipe. Then for the new house, you simply lay your new pipe and connect in to the old pipe at the boundary. Your ground works people will be able to do this. Ditto for the sewer connection. If your supply pipe turns out to be lead, apply for a new connection once you have completed all your works, it will be free. They'll then for a new connection from the main to your private pipe to edge of your property. 4. Internet. Nothing to do really until you are fully finished. Just lay a duct with draw rope to where the supplies will come in from. Virgin are useless, you need to tell them what to do. Don't worry about the existing supply, we ripped ours out with the digger as the concept of disconnecting a service did not seem to exist in their call handlers dictionary. Open reach will likely want an overhead service anyway. I carefully disconnected our phone cable and coiled the cable up. It was dead anyway.

For that very reason we are hiding our cisterns in the walls.

Yes building regs mean it will not fall down (structural ) and planning means it looks acceptable. my slab (advised by our residential SE) was a 9” slab with steel mesh embedded in it. I was lucky that the ground had already been a parking space with tons of compacted stone etc (just had to remove the gravel off the top.) others here will advise on depth etc of hardcore etc.

When fitting these in bathrooms, I use the compression ones with a short piece of copper and then Hep2O on to the copper. The pressure there is low because it’s feeding an open-ended outlet, so it’ll never see static cold mains pressure anyways. I use brass for strength, but I’ve also used a brass compression 15mm tee with a 1/2” centre Link with a 4-6” piece of copper in each side. One side as the feed, and then the other end to a hep cap end with 2 clips either side of the tee to hold it all steady. That was for a heavy shower arm where I wanted a bit more ‘beef’ to the fixing methodology.

Agree. Don’t understand why it was thought it was a good / relevant thing to post.

transitioning from hep to copper and bringing pipework out of the wall neatly at a guess. Well it was when I was playing at plumbing!

Hi, in the middle of building a garden room for my son and need all the help/advice I can get!

Perhaps I should have said ‘it will break if the wall STILL moves” 🤷‍♂️

Hello all, Glad to be here. New first time buyer up in Glasgow and looking forward to picking a few brains as I take a wall down between my kitchen and dining room. Architect and Structural Engineer have completed their work, certification done, acro-props are up and the wall is down. I’ll make a more detailed post in the relevant forum to start gathering advice on laying a sleeper wall in the sub floor as a base for the SHS wind post. In terms of myself, I’ve got a handy father (electrician) who’s always keen to help and lend tools. Grew up watching him tackle every house project he could by himself (bathrooms, deckings, fireplace removal, underfloor heating etc). Always tried to help and learn where I could, and only now that it’s my own house am I comfortable putting it all to the test. If I get it wrong it’s me rather than someone else that has to look at it right?

Yes it will. but I think we know it is moving. How much though?

The bigger your heat transfer area in the cylinder (the coil) the easier the heat source (boiler, heat pump etc) can heat the cylinder. A normal gas boiler cylinder a has a very small coil and requires high flow temperature. But I would Buy a the smallest a Panasonic heat pump you can get away with. Don't bother with the grant. £2.5k, you need a cylinder anyway, heating system sorted.

It still does that at warmer outside temps, say 12 - 15, but not at around the 10 or lower that we had over a week ago. Looking at the power draw curve, the behaviour suggests that AA manages the compressor to run as near as possible to its efficiency sweet spot around 40% of maximum capacity, and if it can't, then if the run has been long enough (never less than 20 minutes), AA allows the compressor to ramp up and either switch off while keeping the flow pumps running, or when target room temp +1 is reached.

You can glue a small piece of glass across the crack, it will break if the wall moves.

Am I having a DeJaVu moment or have I seen that exact wall discussed here before (by previous owner?)

You can get cheap crack monitors fairly cheaply from amazon. Fitting these would give you an idea of if and how much the cracks are moving. Also will give the neighbours the comfort you are taking this seriously. Crack Monitoring Record and Tell-Tale Crack Monitor Kit for The Standard and Corner Tell-Tale Record : Amazon.co.uk: Business, Industry & Science Randomly found advert ^^^^^^ others are avaialble.

That post (the one immediately above) was unkind, unnecessary and hurtful.

No but the crack and the cut and mastic will tidy it up (keep the neighbours happy) till it does need rebuilding which could be years away yet 🤷‍♂️ (I did similar on a family members retaining wall, and it’s still there over 10 years after).

OK that's concerning. The bricks popping out at the corner. There doesn't appear to be any mortar bed. I wonder if these are a facade and not structural. I wonder if " lack of vertical articulation" means, " not plumb". Anyway,it's not good. Is there any suggestion of what has caused the issues and if there is a remedy? Does the report state the construction of the building..eg cavity wall, timber frame etc? Perhaps someone will recognise these very rusticated bricks and know if they are not for normal Construction. If you are buying, perhaps don't. And don't pay for the report yet.

OK understood. 1 Our project also has lots of redundant concrete slab out-with the house. We are retaining it because it allows a hard surface for plant and materials during the works. Seeing how the ground is churning elsewhere this week, this was a good move. In the long term we may leave it as concrete and garden above it, using raised beds, and bonding gravel to it. We will need holes for drainage. Sheds and greenhouse can also sit straight on top. This is obviously a personal choice. What we did break up was crushed on site for use as hardcore driveway. This was with jaws on the excavator: it looks like a dinosaur. 2. We are retaining the slab under the building footprint , and laying PIR on it then screed. saves removal and then replacement in whatever form. The reason @Gus Potter and I have mentioned it is because we have seen consultants and contractors remove slabs as a matter of course. On the 'not my money' principle. There are plenty of reasons why slabs need to be removed. I don't know your circumstances .

Fine, beware for DHW you're roughly halving the capacity of the store Vs an UVC. Eg a 500l TS will only deliver roughly half the amount of hot water a UVC will at the same temp. They work well with high temperature water supply though. I put a 250l Maxipod in my parents house. Good idea. Water is a cheap battery. Beware you may not have quite enough solar in shoulder months to achieve the 60ish Degs a TS needs to work. An UVC meanwhile will work right down to 40 DEG. Fine for DHW, however unlightly to do much for space heating. Beyond early morning. Rads everywhere. As large as you can fit. Simple cheap, all on the same zone. Put electric UFH mats in the bathroom on a timer for comfort. In my parents house the solid fuel cooker will often get the store to 70ish Deg + after which the rads will kick in to dissipate the excess heat. They'll be running at maybe 30deg which is far more comfortable than the regular "hot" rads you get. My point being, if you oversize your rads and run them at a low flow temperature then you'll have lots of the benefits of UFH without the complexity of integrating a new and old system. Good plan. If you were just to add 10mm of PIR under the floor though it'd make a world of difference. I did a thermal model here for someone ages ago. There's no mystery with internal insulation. Just make sure it can "DRY" more than it gets "WET". 1. Eliminate bulk water. Gutters, chutes , drains leaks driven rain etc. 2. Regulate internal humidity with mechanical ventilation. MVHR DCV and PIV is the hierarchy. 3. Don't build layers in manner that will trap moisture with materials of very low permeability, PIR, foil, polythene etc. 4. Stop air taking internal moisture where it should go via air leaks. Lime and hemp is good, but over sold IMO. A mild sand cement wall parge and tapes to the windows and floor for Airtightness. A battened layer of mineral wool for insulation and plasterboard would be fine. Airtighess is the key here.

Not in the sense of planning permission! But yes, position over an internal wall if poss. Depends on size; traditionally houses were built with 50 gallon cold water tanks in the loft, usually mounted on a board spanning 3 - 4 joists, never heard of this being a problem. BTW your other post is here. Click on the chain link symbol in the header, insert the URL and the keyword, then Enter.

We are going to the old miserable mother in laws as it’s our turn and we live too far away to go and get her. Therefore no first Christmas in our new house unfortunately. Christmas may as well be cancelled as she hates Christmas and does nothing but moan about it. Ho ho ho! Technically our first Christmas was last year anyway

No. Too much to do, so have moved this job to next year!