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... for our visiting hedgehogs ?

I’ve been putting off updating my “actual costs” spreadsheet and have accumulated around six months invoices and receipts. It’s taken me five hours to print them all off, enter the details into my VAT reclaim spreadsheet and to then file them in date order. The good thing is, I’m on target to finish the whole build at around £1150 per metre square. All I need to do now is get a local estate agent to value the place to see if it’s been worth the effort so far and if it’s worth upping the internal specification a tad to maximise final value, not that I’m gone to sell, just interested !?

Just watching Breakfast TV and they are discussing the headlines The analyst has just described the chancellors proposal as Peter to pay Paul ? He also went on to say Greggs gave reduced the sugar content by half in there custard slices They have made them half as big You couldn’t make these headlines up ???????

Hi Everyone, Just introducing myself to the forum as I have been lurking for a week or so now. We have a Garden plot adjacent our current house, the design is moving through planning presently. The design is for a 4 bed detached, 2 story, of 210 m2. We have experience of refurbishments and extensions we have done over the years but the information on here is a real help. The plan is to use labour only trades for much of the work and I will pick up the Plumbing, Bathrooms, Kitchen fit, 1st fix wiring. We will live in our current house whilst we build the new one which we intend to move into upon completion. looking forward to joining in the chats with any help I can offer and more likely receive! Cheers CP.

Some left over OSB and EPDM (from roofing the shed), a few screws and stainless staples and, voila, one weatherproof home. Awaiting EPC and building regs sign-off, but with luck the new occupants can move in very soon. Tomorrow's job is to position an Arlo camera in the hope of getting some video footage of our spiky friends ?

Something like this then: https://stores.dhsequipmentparts.com/blog/howto-wacker-bpu3545-belt-adjustment-replacement/

but they are so worth it?

I think we saw something we liked and the source mentioned an 8mm gap. Might have been something about keeping insects out too. I can't actually remember, to be honest! This is it. Siberian larch, west-facing with 4 years of weathering:

I have 2 sets one from Lakeland at approx 3.5cm folded and the other is ancient no idea where from but is 10cm folded. Quite a difference...the 10cm wide set is slightly taller than the slimmer one so that may be a factor to consider although my Lakeland ones are the ones I use most. They sit nicely in the gap between mvhr unit and hot water tank. https://www.lakeland.co.uk/25603/2-Tier-Handy-Steps

Ours was ‘built’ in as much as it was a shell. Didnt affect our sign off but we are not in Scotland which may be different

According to the display on our MVHR, the exhaust air always seems to be about 1°C warmer than it really is, the fresh air intake sensor reads about the right temperature and the fresh air supply sensor reads about 1.5°C too low (it always looks as if the MVHR isn't warming the fresh air by as much as it really is). I don't know what type of sensors it uses, probably fairly cheap thermistors I think, but it does seem that they aren't well calibrated. The same goes for the room thermostats. We have two identical wireless thermostats, that have 0.1°C switching hysteresis, mounted close together on the hall wall (one controls heating, one cooling). They always read differently, usually by around 0.3 to 0.4°C, despite the fact that they are within inches of each other.

Clearly the depth at which you set the staple from the front edge of the battens will dictate a certain amount of cavity behind the cladding still, but much reduced. I think I actually economised on staples by only fixing into the top of the battens, so the mesh then pulled round the batten and down to the next one slightly pissed off the vertical.

Just like you've already paid tax on the income used to buy goods that have other taxes in the price, like VAT and duty. The taxation system is really complex, and changing to only taxing income could make things a lot simple. The major downside is that income tax would have to rise, and despite that being offset by the reduction in other taxation, an increase in income tax would be seen as punitive.

... and if as @nod said the duty is simply added to the price than the buyer ends up paying the interest regardless.

Usually, if something is perceived to be a problem, it is best to get rid of it. What they should do with stamp duty. Or just rationalise it so that every sale is liable. It is really the 'half measures' i.e. where it applies to some properties and not others, some areas are except for a time, Like almost everything in our tax system, it is a pigs ear.

I think the chancellor could have phrased it better Perhaps Robbing Peter to pay Paul

Do it, and have a pack of EverReady batteries on a saucer, instead of biscuits. I like taking the biscuit.

Professional report. In the dangerous one I did, the Council were cooperative.

Round here it’s even more fun as the council tree officer is on sick leave so basically you submit and they do nothing ....!! I know of a couple of planning applications that went to 18 weeks and non-determined as they needed the tree surveys reviewed. They have also exacerbated it with 2 new conservation areas in the district so that is more approvals needed and no-one to do them.... On DD&D (dead, dying or dangerous) then the guidance is vague. In the 2012 amendments to the tree protection legislation, the rules around what is “dying” were altered. It became permissible to remove a dead branch without consent, but the notice for other work was increased to 5 days. On top of this, councils lost their Article 5 protection which meant if they delayed a decision and a tree caused damage then you could claim compensation. This was restricted previously and was designed to speed up decision making to put liability back with the tree owner ... Take photos and preferably keep some sections of any dead or diseased timber. The term “professional” is also a challenging one as arborist and Arboricultural contractor are used in the legislation, but you could equally ask a horticulturalist or a plant scientist if a tree was dead..... who’s the expert or professional now..??

It’s six weeks notification in a conservation area.

Couln’t possibly comment, except that all the other rooms had to be empty for spraying. /excuse.

Thanks for that supplier tip - looks promising. But more particularly for making me feel a whole lot better about the current tidiness (or otherwise) of my site ?

@Adrian Walker recently pointed me towards these… Probably not suitable for your case @ProDave but ingenious I thought none-the-less.

No need to sugar coat it, the blokes going to spend a quarter of a million pounds on that. Get it sorted or walk away.

On friendly terms with any trades people? Get your friendly carpet fitter or whatever to sign in and give it a once-over and some discrete photography....

Just an update on this, tiling going well and what a sense of fulfilment when you lay one!

Thanks! We're outside of our village's CA, but we are in an AONB. We're using traditional materials and construction (mix of Cotswold stone & colour through render, slate roof), but the house is definitely modern - although not a spaceship! I can have a bit of a bugbear with houses that try to look like something they're not (so for example the existing house was built in 1965 but designed to look more like a 1920s one), so very happy to have something that will look like it's been built in the here and now.

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All this is why I think we should just tax on income. A house sale would be considered income.