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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/05/24 in all areas

  1. SUCCESS!! After an initial refusal and discussion with the council includdng a lot of the points on here raised, they have now approved my application. Thankyou for the help and the comments on here. So very much appreciated!! Credit to my council too for reconsidering and being sensible and fair.
    3 points
  2. I estimated labour at 1 hour per point. A "point" being a switch, a socket, a light fitting, a smoke alarm etc. For a new build that has always proved pretty accurate for me. It should be easy to count up the number of points in your house. Materials can be harder, anything from £2 for a basic white plastic switch for £10 for a stupid expensive "designer" one. So make sure they know exactly how many switches etc there will be and what sort you want.
    3 points
  3. I liked to estimate jobs and charge by the hour of actual time spent. Plenty on this forum don't like that, thinking I would work slowly and drink lots of tea while ticking up my hourly bill. I differ in that charging by the hour you pay what the job takes. If I had to give a fixed price I would have to factor everything that could possibly slow the job down and charge more. Some seem to prefer that. I guess it is an ethics thing, if you think the guy is going to work diligently, or slack and do the job deliberately slowly.
    2 points
  4. And they wonder why planners have a bad name. How do "formalised space" and "unneighbourly" map to the requirements of planning law? Similarly, I don't see how "engineering works" have anything to do with the need for a planning application. You built a small(?) retaining wall (planning not needed), replaced the paving over a slightly larger area (no planning needed), and didn't raise the level (no planning needed). I agree that it all sounds like complete nonsense, and I'm sorry you're having to deal with it. Depending on your appetite for stress, I'd be tempted to write back and tell them that you look forward to them initiating enforcement action based on the actual planning laws of which you're alleged to be in breach.
    2 points
  5. The more detail you can provide the more accuracy / reduced ambiguity there will be in the quotes. Mark as much as you can on the plan, including TV coax and CAT6 outlets, CCTV, outside lights etc and then ask the electrician to review and comment before quoting perhaps, as they might make some suggestions to better the end result.
    2 points
  6. Could it be that vertical timber is helping support the ceiling by hanging that binder from the purlin? Removing it may make the ceiling below start to sag?
    2 points
  7. I've dealt with planning in perhaps 12 councils. Scores of applications. Applications in 10, and also meeting them in working groups in 2 of these. I think they were all behaving honestly. Of course they are people, and some are less competent, organised, modest, strong willed, hard working than others. Some will tend to bend as required by bullying councillors, developers etc. Do they respond to bribes or threats? Not that I have heard. Parish councils are amateurs. They can't be made to go on training courses. Some are there for their own ends, there is no doubt, and will bully and lie and use their position. Most are there for the best of reasons but can be bullied by the former and by the public...and often will leave. Is that corruption? No, but bullying is as bad. Parish councils can't control planning anyway, only advise. Bigger councils have more clout. The elected members are usually also politically linked. You are into the world of lobbying and lunches. Most are doing the best they can. I think it's too easy to assume corruption is behind decisions we don't like. The ones who cast blame are those least likely to put themselves forward for public service.
    2 points
  8. Everyone is an idiot. Including you.
    2 points
  9. , I was right , new plaster up to mid height, and not all the way to the door frame (which is why your dotted line was vertical near the frame 🤷‍♂️). I will,put money on waterproof render is under that new plaster. Again if it were me I would inject or physically cut a DPC near floor height behind the skirting. (In a previous renovation I cut a DPC into a whole cottage with a brick hand saw one foot at a time slipping DPC membrane in as I went, took weeks but worked.) OOH I LIKE THE PLASTIC ZIPPY DOOR TO KEEP DUST OUT 👍
    1 point
  10. One thing I didn't mention is that a parquet floor is slightly buckled which would indicate damp in the floor. The dryness below is what threw me off course. Thanks @joe90 that makes sense
    1 point
  11. Id say Joe90 is bang on the money.
    1 point
  12. From tales of your previous tenants it could be wee...
    1 point
  13. That would be my guess, damp rising above the previous “cure”. Houses should have a damp proof course because below ground is damp. I can’t see why a horizontal damp line on an internal wall could be caused by damp on an adjoining wall. Let’s see if others here have another theory.
    1 point
  14. It boils down to you converting an informal area, to a formal area, resulting in the increased likelyhood of people gathering there, and having an adverse effect on your neighbours amenity. They are treating it like a new balcony. Key take-home from this is "lack of mitigation measures". Can you put in a higher fence or plant dense hedging? I'd supply a drawing to show this when you appeal.
    1 point
  15. My usual suggestion when starting was walk round together with a marker pen or pad of post it notes, and mark where you actually want sockets and switches. It rarely bore any relationship to what an architect had drawn on plans.
    1 point
  16. It’s very time and detail heavy, and as said if you input things incorrectly, accidentally, then it’s not worth the paper. +1 to getting it done by someone who’s going to know the pitfalls and get you an accurate outcome. My 2 cents, but where do you think issues will arise? Are you super insulated, airtight, and lots of glazing?
    1 point
  17. Agreed. You can hire the proper shears and nibbler if you need to cut it. Also research screws. I would only use stainless from a major brand. And get the official head to fit precisely. A lightweight battery drill with accurate torque settings you might buy or rent. Lindab, catnic and cladco buy in coils of steel ready coated, and roll-form it. So it will be the same stuff. I don't know Greencoat. I doubt it is suitable so near the sea, so get assurances. Normally you will need the extra thick version of plastisol coating. It's not just the salt, also the gulls mess. And design so that the rain can lash all areas....no overhangs or ledges.
    1 point
  18. The timber frame will shrink as it dries, moving downward compared to the stone, especially on upper floors. The detail needs to accommodate this differential movement. Compriband sealing tape is often preferred over mastic as it offers more flexibility.
    1 point
  19. This is what you need: https://evanmccann.net/blog/ubiquiti/unifi-comparison-charts#fnr1 (it doesn't stay up to date for long ever though as they keep bring out new products)
    1 point
  20. I'd contact your water/sewer provider and tell them there is a leak but you cant investigate and you don't know who owns the asset. Do you know where your water supply comes in? I think I can see your meter box just to the right? In that case your rising water could be a blocked storm sewer, that other MH could be your foul sewer.
    1 point
  21. You ideally want to get someone to do PHPP for you, unless you have a lot of time to spend learning how to use it, but I still wouldn't advise this really. - If someone else is doing it for you, you don't need to buy PHPP (they will use their own license), but you will need pay consultant fees of course. - If you are doing it yourself you also want to buy the detailed manual, will need to invest a lot of time and IMO you won't be able to as confident with the outcome vs having someone with experience and PHI certification do it for you. This is because there are so many details to it, and things that seem minor that it's possible to not fully understand, can have big impacts. (e.g. things like not getting ventilation assumptions correct, or not correctly adding all the fine details of glass spec, glass spacers, window frame size, overhangs, height of trees in your garden etc etc.)
    1 point
  22. I'm going to take a dive here and say neither. They're both too cheap and "makey uppy" brands. You need to think about long term servicability/parts as well about quality. Small quality stoves typically run about twice the price. You'll have to go play with a stove to see what it's like. Check how tightly the door seals, if it's got a cool touch handle that you can open the door without leaving your skin stuck to it. If it's got an ash pan that can be removed without filling the room with dust. How easy it is to clean. I would always prefer a tall fire box over a wide one as the fire will self feed then to some extent. Make sure the firebox is big enough for your chosen fuel too. My preference is for an enamelled surface as it's easier to keep looking smart. Running a smaller kW stove is always better than sooting up a large one. I wouldn't worry about this. Charnwood make good stoves. This is lightly to turn into another annoying thread about the virtures of woodburning. Can we all pleasea void this for the 900th time by taking it @Sam odell understand and accepts that stoves: Elevate the risk of all the occupants of the house developing heart, lung diseases and cancer Contribute to localised airpollution on a scale that would make a diesel lorry look like a daisy Is a very expensive way of buying kWh of energy into your house. Makes the living room very dusty.
    1 point
  23. If your a carpenter and fairly handy you can do it, you will need a few specific tools but only hand tools so £150 will cover it. loads of instructional drawings about if you hunt for them. I think green coat is the actual steel coated product. this is then used by various manufacturers and bent up to their specific sheet style.
    1 point
  24. Usually, PV systems have a generation meter installed. You could make one of my energy monitors and attach it, then you will see what is happening every Wh, and when it occurs. And you get loads of data to play with. I have also made a simple solar intensity meter, but it needs more polishing (as I have no idea how to reliably move and store data from an ESP to a RPi across a wireless network). Then you will have even more data. Worth correlating it with your overall energy usage and the local temperatures. RH is useful to, but then you also need air pressure to get a truer reading.
    1 point
  25. Solcast can also be useful for getting forecasts as well as I think for historical data -> https://www.solcast.com/ We use it for a dashboard done with the nodered ui tool - borrowed from another source And I know I need to fix it so the sidebar doesn't show.....
    1 point
  26. Agreed - which is why we did one! Unfortunately as we were doing it, a builder with options on a plot of land the village would not have prioritized for new housing found a planning department desperate for quick fixes to their housing shortage. So that was accepted into the Borough LPPt2 as allocated and therefore something we had to accept. A great way of saving land that locals don't think should be allocated, is to designate them as 'local green space' in the neighbourhood plan. This in effect makes planning apply the criteria for Green Belt to any decision. Our plan prioritised a number of small plots which added up to about the same as the large plot the Borough allocated. More than 5 years on, only one of these plots have been built on - a brown field site in the middle of the village - the old British Legion site. The large plot allocated by the Borough has only had some preliminary work done.
    1 point
  27. Or is there. Maybe the problem is in the legislation they have to follow. (SteamyTea's Law states: "for every law we have, we have another one that makes it illegal")
    1 point
  28. I've just sorted a ceiling that had exactly this kind of extra support in it. It was on an area that the ends of ceiling joists had rotted out so to stop it sagging they installed a binder and a struts to the rafters. Ive been able to replace the rotten timbers but my first plan was to double up the binder and get it supported both ends and do away with the hanging strut. The latter might be an option for you?
    1 point
  29. The use of language in reports is interesting. As quite a few of you know, I spent way to much time at university and hated writing assignments. As I had to write a lot, usually I would say one thing, in one sentence. When read in isolation, the sentence should make sense. I also tried to use words of 3 syllables or less. I take the American Museum view by assuming my audience was is a 12 year old, until I started my PhD, then I raised it to 14 years old. Occasionally I accused of being condescending, but that is the readers problem, not mine. I believe that a 14 year old should be able to read, understand and benefit from others knowledge. Many years ago, I did a Chartered Institute of Marketing course. I was told to use more marketing focused language. I think what they meant was to be dishonest by changing the meaning of words. Facts mean nothing in marketing. I often get asked for advice (usually thermodynamics), but what is really wanted is a simple answer. I am sorry, the answers are not usually simple. Try explaining entropy, and why it increases with disorder. Took me 5 years of higher education, then 15 years of practical examples, and I have still only scratched the surface of it. As Richard Feynman said when asked to describe what he won his Noble Prize for, "If I could explain it in 3 minutes, it would not be worth a Nobel"
    1 point
  30. This is a well warn discussion on BuildHub, you could call it a hardy perennial. Nothing wrong with recirculating hood, but you can extract to the outside as long as the vent has an air tight seal. There is a balance issue when doing this, but might not be significant enough to cause problems. If using a recirculating hood, you can put a filter on the nearest extract plenum. Again some installs have filters on all extract plenums. As with any thread on BuildHub, it is a lottery whether you will get a good community response and a plurality of views. Here is a link to a recent previous discussion on this topic. Also here is the passive house guide on the topic: https://passiv.de/downloads/05_extractor_hoods_guideline.pdf * Edit: I notice that the topics are in two different parts of the forum, part of the joy of BuildHub is the complexity of forum structure, some topics have multiple potential homes, easy to miss.
    1 point
  31. Loxone intercom + nfc/keyboard is nice combo if you are using Loxone, costs a small fortune though, lot more than ubiquiti doorbell or even their intercom 😞 Doorbird (https://www.doorbird.com/) is another well-known brand for intercoms worth looking at.
    1 point
  32. Don't cut it out. It appears to be holding up the cross timber which further supports the ceiling joists. It looks rather skinny hrnce the exta support. And someone has cut out the tops of joists for services. Too many i think.
    1 point
  33. Hi all, Have been reading advice here for a while and thought I'd join. Bought my first house 2 years ago (victorian end of terrace), thought it needed some light remodelling. Long story short is turned out to have some major structural issues, fixing these, led to destroying most of the interior structure, and, given I was already recking it I decided I may as well make it future proof at the same time, in the hope that this will make it nice to live in and recoup some costs in the long run. Its now fully insulated with and ASHP, UFH and MVHR. Kitchens in and currently on bathroom. Doing majority of the work myself to make it more affordable. Not a builder by trade, but have learnt a lot from forums, badgering those in the trade, and extensively quizing technical departments. I'll post any questions I have, feel free to message me if anyone is thinking on embarking on something similar.
    1 point
  34. "that's how we've always done it" 🤦‍♂️
    1 point
  35. You're stupid building airtight - sorry worst advise
    1 point
  36. "I wouldn't do it that way mate."
    1 point
  37. That's going to limit your audience a bit I'm afraid. Whilst we're lucky enough to have a number of professionals who keep us on track, this is more where the half-a$$ed amateurs hang out when we're not trying to rectify the last job.
    1 point
  38. and they will bow to what ever the firebrigade say so yes talk to local fire officer first and get a feel for what they will want
    1 point
  39. PUT YOUR PRICES UP LAD. Has always served me well.
    1 point
  40. If I go to a site and try and work out who the idiot is and fail, then I know it is me.
    1 point
  41. Embrace the homo-erotic behaviour.
    1 point
  42. This one made me chuckle, uses actual footage from the show. I believe Kevin actually tweeted the link on his feed.
    1 point
  43. Yes you will. Start with the 45m dimension, can a fire appliance get close enough without using the track? If not then contact the local fire service and get some advice about the access. As Table 13.1 says not all fire service vehicles are standardised so if the Fire Service are satisfied with the arrangements then BC aren't going to argue.
    1 point
  44. Similar route here. We have a block built passive class house. It's been running abour 17 kWh/m2 per year since we moved in. I was hoping for better but some of the bridging details around the windows etc aren't mega. During the build there was some things that you just give up on. We've just installed an A2A unit which has reduced our heating usage to about 1/3. Prior to that we were just using a single plug in resistance heater. In short if you make a very good job of the fabric you can forego a conventional central heating system. Its an approach I woudl only take if I was all over the airtightness and thermal bridging details however.
    1 point
  45. Take it down and rebuild it with lead trays and flashing.
    1 point
  46. Could you create a temp seal? Wrap the whole thing in taupalin tied down well and see how it copes with the next few months. Try a few weeks with a dehumidifier, then check in the spring?
    1 point
  47. What's on the other side of the wall? A loft (so bare brick that you can check to see if it has any moisture on so you know if you have a problem) or a bedroom (with wallpaper that is bubbled and is coming away from the wall so again you know if you have a problem). I'm sure you will have done so already but do check to see what the inside wall of your house looks like and if there is moisture you know there is an issue. I was told by a roofer that the area around the chimney is a known weak spot however it looks like you have had a new chimney (different colour of brick) so not sure of the quality of the work when you had your chimney replaced.
    1 point
  48. How is the pointing? The flashing doesn't look the tidiest. I had similar but was able to remove the stack, and the roofer said it was so bad he didn't need tools to remove the bricks 😬 Has a good roofer had a look at it?
    1 point
  49. When you call to book your quote Tell them you intend installing a HP The young lady with months of experience will tell Oooo you definitely need three phase Three quotes All wanted to sell us a Three phase supply Just tell them no thanks
    1 point
  50. Call a heat pump company, not a boiler company… Speak to Chris at CoolEnergy in Grimsby if you want to talk to someone technical. I’ve just added a 5kW Aerotherm plus and a VRC700 to my basket on the first hit I found on Google, with delivery it’s under £4k - where are you getting the other £4k from? Give us a breakdown of your system design and we can see where you can make it simpler and cheaper. Onto the glycol argument - no-one should be using glycol in 2022, a single freeze valve is all that’s required. A decent monobloc doesn’t need an internal HEX unit, just get the flow and return into your plant room and hook it up directly to the system. A buffer allows you to run the heat generator and the heat emitter as separate systems, with a loss of efficiency. Lots of installers use them because it eliminates callbacks for low flow errors when an existing system with too many TRVs have all the heads shutting down. A buffer also provides a large volume of water for the defrost cycle. Personally I have a small house with a simple heating system and we never have any doors closed so have no need for any TRVs downstairs. I’m going direct from ASHP into the rads, using the modulating pump in the ASHP - if I have problems then I’ll add a LLH and put a separate fixed speed pump on the rad side. So yes, a buffer doesn’t make it super easy to throw a system in that will work. The ASHP sees the buffer and controls the temperature of that, the room stats/zone valves/pumps just see the buffer as a ‘boiler’.
    1 point
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