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It is as you surmised. A councillor can require it to be removed from a delegated decision, to being put before the councillors of the planning committee. so you have to convince your councillor or, very unlikely, the councillor for another ward. I have seen that . It was where a councillor was pushing a vote towards something that was contrary to fundamental policy, so guaranteed to be appealed against. I expect there are party lines too, at the bigger councils.

Two units made the install easy. House is 25m long and would have resulted in a few long double runs, these became short single runs. 2k, the 2x Titon units came from eBay, new unused for £250 and £320. Rest of the costs for duct etc etc.

Thanks. Never really thought about from perspective of number of people in house. Family of four with 2 dogs so my gut is that although it’s a large house, something like the q600 would suffice. @JohnMo why did you go for two units out of interest (and how on earth did you get that for 2k!)

I got ours called in by getting a councillor to do it, I called him and explained the situation and he was sympathetic HOWEVER, he voted against me, as did everyone else and would not look me in the eye at the meeting. I was told by an anonymous source everyone was told to vote against my application CORRUPT OR WHAT !!,! Revenge was sweet when at appeal I won on all grounds and the planning department were told they were not abiding by their own policies and threatened with official action (never heard any more though).

I said I would report back from the planning meeting. Firstly, it was personally useful as I said hello to our planning officer who I had only communicated with by email (he, by coincidence presented the first two applications on the agenda) and also the councillor for our area who had called-in a couple of the applications. The layout was interesting, with the councillors in a big horseshoe and the 'public' squeezed into a small rectangle. There was a small table for the 'public' to speak from with all the councillors and relevant planning officers bearing down on them. The planning officer spent an age going through each application showing a dozen or more drawings and photos, walking through the history etc, and doing a reasonable job of summarising the LPA's position and the issues at hand. The councillors were an interesting lot. Some said nothing at all, some reacted a bit to the officer's presentation, some were chummy with the planning officers, one sat apart and only had a list of pre-prepared points on a couple of the applications. Some of the 'public' spoke - an architect and a planning consultant speaking for some of the applications and a bevy of town council / posh residents / hired consultants obviously co-ordinated over their objections. As it was getting late, I left after 3 hours and 3 applications, but the meeting was sure to on for another hour or more. Pretty much as expected, but interesting all the same. I'm still not sure of the process for getting an application called-in.

I’m not done yet, but have the same impression that I have to back the LPA into such a tight corner that they have no alternative. They’re still not acting like an organisation that is going to be influenced by what a mere appeals inspector has already put on paper or anything their own employees have said in the past.

I used off cuts of tiling batten to create the air gap, 45 the bottom of the insulation so it sits on the wall head.

Hi @mjc55 I'm at this stage too but in Suffolk where the council like utilities to coordinate works to minimise road closures. A few weeks back UK Power Networks visited my site and said they'd need a partial road closure at @£1.2k to excavate the bottom of the pole for the cable run into my site. Anglian Water visited yesterday and told me I'd need a full road closure for three days for their works. AW said they'd coordinate with UKPN if I gave them the job number so that both jobs could be done at the same time. My road is also 6m.

Sketch re above looking inside box.

The baffle supports the filter which is mounted vertically, inlet at bottom and gives the airflow route. See picture. The red line is the baffle inside the box, the blue/red the filter and green represents the airflow. Basically the baffle divides the box internally to give separation of air so it has to flow through the filter. It's an L shape. The box is 600mm sq by 1000mm high. Second one shows the baffle inside in red, the dirty incoming in purple and green filtered air. Blue dashes the filter. The white dots the inside edges of the box.

Thanks for all the input @Iceverge @Mike @Redbeardand all others, very appreciated. So WRT a smart VCL, the jist is that even small gap in the VCL will leak much more domestic bourne moisture into the wall buildup through air movement, than the VCL can return back into the room through vapour diffusion? Therefore an imperfectly installed VCL* (smart or standard) hinder the drying ability of a vapour open wall built up. *Agreed here the reasonable assumption that a perfectly retro-fitted VCL is a unicorn.

Open BOTH the black levers, one each end of the flexi pipe. Open is with the lever in line with the pipe, they are closed at the moment 90 degrees to the pipe. It does not matter which you open or close first. Losing pressure at the start is normal as it vents any air left in the system, if it persists, then there might be a leak somewhere.

All of our first floor ceilings are vaulted. Love it. Zero issues. Just avoid angled windows as they are a pain to dress.

I really like our current barn conversion and that’s one of the big reasons. There’s a sense of airiness and generosity (if you don’t mind me slipping into designer-speak) that you don’t get from 2.4m rooms with flat ceilings. I agree that changing light bulbs is a bit hard, but I have a tall stepladder for that. It was 5 years or so before I bought it because a couple of the LED bulbs had failed. You get the same sense from grand houses with their high ceilings and big windows & doors.

I moved from OVO to Octopus, would I ever go back NO. Octopus - Not a single issue, that couldn't be resolved by picking up the phone and talking to someone in the UK, that was happy to help. You can change your direct debit easily with Octopus and see projected costs. OVO - I voted with my feet and moved.

We did vaulted in every room. Our lounge is 6m high with 45 Deg roof. All others rooms are 12 deg. It's very easy to do airtight details. Your roof structure can be a little more expensive and you have three options for insulation, between and under rafters, above rafter, or mostly above rafters and some between rafters. You have slightly more exposed roof area to the inside of the heated environment so a slight knock on heating costs - but nothing massive. You really want to heat via UFH, not high temperature radiators, as all the heat will end up in the roof. Do not install lights high up, other wise you need a scaffold to change a light bulb. Would I have normal flat ceiling - no way. When very high you need plenty of soft furnishings.

Provided you use semi-flexible insulation batts you cut them a little oversize and compress them a little, so that they push gently against each other from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, holding each other in place when supported by the studwork (at least once you get to 40 or 50mm of thickness). If any additional support is required (for example I had to do a mansard roof + a ceiling so everything was trying to fall in on me), then you can cut them to join behind a stud, and double up on studs to give them extra wide support if necessary. If you're careful, you can use lots of the offcuts, so that there's not much waste. BTW, talk to the manufacturer / supplier about suitable power saws to cut them with - you don't want to be using a hand saw if you have lots to do. Yes, you can certainly create a service cavity that way. However, as mentioned by @Redbeard & @Iceverge, VCLs don't give you a get-out-of-jail pass - not all moisture comes from inside, it's difficult to seal VCLs perfectly and an imperfect VCL can indeed be worse than no VCL. 'Smart' VCL membranes (those that change their vapour permeability from winter to summer) do allow moisture that would be otherwise be trapped by a traditional vapour barrier an escape route, but you still have to be sure that the structure dries out sufficiently in summer, rather than accumulating additional moisture each year - which would be catastrophic. Re the WUFI analysis, the usual computing adage of 'garbage in = garbage out' applies. And getting that right can be tricky too. This is why internal insulation can be difficult, and a key reason why external wall insulation is normally preferable where it's an option. Yes, Intello is a smart VCL.

Very poor effort. Not an architect. Let me know if you want me to take a look.

Metal Frame.

I did a lot of research into the Komfovent when I was looking for our MVHR, sadly because I’m a goldfish I can’t remember the specifics but I do recall concluding that the Komfovent was not the way to go for us. Something to do with the rotary wheel system and its efficiency - or lack of, in a domestic setting. It may be worth researching rotary wheel MVHR pros and cons before you head in that direction. Sorry I can’t be any more specific. Probably an age thing.

It's strange reading this thread, it both chimes and doesn't with my experience. That maybe the difference between applications for extensions and those for new builds. It makes me think that maybe these two processes could/should be separated! After all they are very different sides of the same coin. I spent 10 years or so working as an AT in Wiltshire putting in lots of applications for extensions to houses, I never once had an application rejected and can't remember many taking more than the statutory 8 weeks to go through the process. I am now going through the application process to build a new house for ourselves, in Dorset, and it is a world away from my previous experience with planning departments. It has taken weeks longer than the 8 it should, the PO hadn't even looked at the application until we sent a strong worded email to his supervisor, and once this had been done he passed the application. As regards corruption in the planning process, I am sure it goes on, as it does in all walks of life, can't see that there is much that can be done about this though.

Dear Community, We are struggling with the last piece of our Rationel window & door order and would appreciate help. We are going from pillar to post with MBC, Rationel and our architect unable to specify a small but critical detail. For balance I would say we are very happy with great service from all three agencies on all aspects but we are stuck on this one. The MBC timber frame is going to be battened and counter battened to affix brick slips creating an offset that will extend down to 150mm above ground. We plan to sheath the EPS insulation from 150mm down to below ground using aluminium sheet. Thank you to the Self Build forum for helping us learn of that solution. But what about beneath the door cills? They are cantilevered out from the door frame and need structural support. We have received the detailed drawing attached but no one as yet can say quite what should be below the cill or how it is fixed. Thank you in advance.

It wouldn’t be the crime of the century.