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First things first. No it isn't; it's an efficient and appropriate answer to your requirements. ? Second things second. On damp, I think what you want will be OK with whatever method, provided the stuff is off the ground eg on racks, or designed for a wet environment like bikes. You won't be able to change the humidity (will diving hoses and gaskets rot?) short of a ventilation system, which is not doable without power. I am not quite clear about the hierarchy of needs between security (is the garage secure), visibilty (does it matter if people see what is in it?) and other factors - can you drill into the concrete to bolt it down, for example or are you relying on weight to hold it down? One solution would be to model it on a secure cycle storage, which are more like a small fenced enclosure with a roof - and are permeable so the draught blows through eg: https://www.bikedocksolutions.com/recycle-shelter-10-bike-shed But I think the best suggestion I have is what are called "flat pack storage containers", which are used by people who have a garden but poor access. Doors can be in side or end. One of the standard sizes seems to be 2.1m x 2.1m x 3m, which seems to fit the bill. eg https://www.portablespace.co.uk/shop/flat-pack-units/flat-pack-containers-for-sale https://www.shippingcontainersuk.com/m28b0s69p2144/Flat-Pack-Containers-3m-self-assembly-green F

You have your architect backwards. Their particular skill is in concept and design inspiration, and perhaps in doing the application. If you give them a basic design to detail, then you have scoped them out of the part of the process where their expertise will add most value. In those circs I suggest an Arch Technologist, unless you need someone with architect skills to solve very difficult constraints. Ferdinand

Thats in the general category of brands such as Dekton/Neolith/Lapitec etc. Be aware that this is an extremely brittle material and snaps very easily on impact. Porcelain in thin sheets I dont think its a good idea for kitchen worktops Unless you are on a concrete floor with solid lids on units. The material offers no flex whatsoever. We have had problems and now refuse to sell anything less than 20mm without a signed disclaimer from the client. We have supplied loads of 12mm quartz worktops without any issues. So please be aware of these facts.

Hi, We're a family of 4 who relocated to Glenarm, Northern Ireland a year ago with nowhere to live or no jobs...but the risk paid off and we now have a fantastic half acre plot (with OPP) in the countryside, a dog, and hubby has a job. The plan is for me to project manage the build. We've had some floor plans and sketch of our dream home for a few years as this has been a long term dream of ours. Worked with a fantastic architect to turn that into reality and we're now 8 weeks into our RM planning application, expect to hear in another couple of weeks, fingers crossed! We've completed as much pre planning as we can (yes, a huge spreadsheet) and have chosen SIPs@clays to get us to watertight stage, planning direct labour and our own labour to finish. As soon as we get the green light our architect will work with SIPs@clays to get design complete and building control application submitted. We had a ridge height restriction on OPP, so to provide is with the upstairs space we need, we have opted for a 5degree mon pitch sedum roof and plan to clad the house in black corrugated steel - always loved how this reflects the surrounding environment and will fit well in its farm setting. Well that's it for now...sure you'll be hearing a lot more from me as our project proceeds and questions arise. Thanks, Kerry

i know the smaller hall gives you more space in the living room, but every time you bring in groceries you are going to be walking through the living room to get to the kitchen. It does not make for a relaxing room to sit in. People would also have to walk through the living room from the kitchen to use the WC and to go upstairs. Basically you lose some of the living room anyway as it becomes an access corridor. Why is there a single outside door in the living room, it looks to really get in the way of placing furniture? You have a large room but very little usable wallspace. The hall layout also allows there to be a cupboard under the stairs accessed from the hall. Whatever you do, incorporate that little square at the end of the utility room into an understair cupboard. You need to do this as you should be putting cabinets/washing machine/boiler along the wall between the utility and the shower room and then that space cannot be used as it would be blocked off in the utility room. I would swap the en suite and study around in that area, then the door to the study could be more easily accessed rather than behind the table. I would probably the study/en suite another 200mm wider also. That dining table is drawn too large relative to actual size. Personally I don't like having a shower in the WC. If you don't go for the larger hall, I would lose the shower, make the WC more square and put a cupboard where the shower is.

his is off left, just out of shot ?

Had to take the bloody loo seat off to get in there and screw it back!

I have used Soudal Fix All Crystal Clear MS Polymer on my build. It's been been in use for three years and not changed colour yet.

'Cold mains priority' to the house if you do it that way Never have the O/S taps off after the PRedV as it hugely affects the available dynamic flow to the dwelling.

And a resale value too, vs a bespoke DIY timber shed.

Installed, with gubbings and consumables, that's about right, if not cheap!! Companies do actually need to make some money to stay in existence https://www.google.com/search?q=eddi+pv+diverter&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB910GB910&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUz-i0vZjrAhXLTsAKHfCBB2AQ_AUoAXoECA0QAw&biw=1280&bih=610#spd=988388954505620188

If you want windows they do ones called kiosks or cabins.

No - but more that once one has the low hanging fruit and decent practices in place it is subject to a law of diminishing returns. So occasional checks is sufficient for say 80-90% of potential gains.

And energy is too cheap to change habits/goods.

Solar PV installer "set in his ways" I might be inclined to suggest move the solar PV to the main garage CU to free up the space needed for the switch fuse. Or even re purpose the solar PV CU.

Only seems to be available in white. Glass to tray then spacers and CT1 clear would be my choice. Then pull the spacers and fill the gaps when dry.

https://www.ct1.com/contact-us/?target=distributors

White CT1 can discolour but never heard of BT1. Are you talking about the floor to glass join or the wall to glass..?

Cos Nick said so! I can live with the pressure as long as I use decent hose and fittings. Tbh it's a boon having a big garden on a slope etc.

Couple of thoughts: Damp might be an issue, as you say there's been one flood before, but also from the concrete, and/or it only takes someone to spill something / have an oil leak or whatever on their car to become at least an annoyance and/or do some damage to the contents / structure. The walls might be a bit wobbly with nothing to tie them together / hold them straight at the bottom. Might make it a bit less sturdy around the doors in particular. You could probably solve those quite cheaply / easily and get a better result without losing too much height by: Cover the area with a DPM with enough overlap to bring up the sides a bit Then a layer of thin OSB - 9mm should be fine. For a 2200 x 3500 base you'd have 3 boards running side to side. Screw the timber wall plate to the OSB perimeter from the bottom before you lay it. Your side-to-side walls can be in one piece along the long side of the sheet, it'd be easier to do the front-to-back as three pieces one on each OSB sheet probably so you can lay them one at a time rather than trying to build the whole floor upside down and flip it after. Once the sheets are in position you can put a second continuous piece of timber over the top to join it together. That should be pretty solid already, but to make it really robust you could screw a few bits of plumber's band / thin metal repair plate across the butt joints in the middle of the floor in a few places. Build your walls and turn/staple the DPM up the outside of them a suitable distance above the floor. That should give you a reliably dry, sturdier structure with not a lot of extra cost/effort and only 9mm extra height. Obviously for the best flood etc protection you'd want to continue the wall plate / turned-up DPM across the doorway, but that will give you a step over on the way in. If you'd prefer to have it flat / level I'm sure you'd be fine just stapling the DPM over the edge of the OSB there.

I imagine the roofer will want code 3 lead for the soakers and code 4 for the cover flashing

Certainly a unique situation! We had mild steel storage units in the floor of an apartment building I lived in years ago. Directly on the ground. Everything was always wet. Once moisture got in, it never left. If you are confident you won't have surface water flowing in (only takes a small amount), when what you propose is fine. If laying a timber shed or structure, I'd first install a ground plate with pressure treated timber. Unlikely to rot in the time you describe. To save time, you could get a shed that matches your dimension, and just modify the roof so it's flat, rather than pitched?

GRP valleys are fine - they really don’t leak if you get the decent ones not the cheap ones. Lead is better but you need to cost in valley boards and time to fit so is 4-5 times the cost of GRP. You’d be better with a ventilated ridge system and using a fully breathable membrane. Cromar make a couple of good ones, as do the usual suspects such as aTyvek and Protek but I can’t see what doubles the price. Be aware though they all have a maximum exposure time of 3-6 months depending on the manufacturer so you need to have your roofer planned and booked before the membrane goes on. All lead will be Code 4.

Sounds fantastic! good luck and have fun!

These days quartz has entered the Howdens market, ie entry level kitchens so I would say any property in the south east selling at above the £500k mark come with an expectation of solid tops if the kitchen is not in a 'needs replacing soon' state.

Laminates come in 60/70/90/120/130 cm depths. Stone is cut to bespoke depths. Quartz slabs are typically 1350mm wide to allow two cuts and 100mm upstands to be achieved from one slab. Duropal or Westag Getalit are probably the best out there but there must be others. We do so little of it that I am not very up to date with laminate suppliers.

Found this comparison chart, https://www.kitchen-worktops-direct.co.uk/kitchen_worktop_comparison.html

We had a double layer laminate - sparkly coloured layer with a hard, clear layer on top. Cost was about £500 for the whole kitchen vs £5k for quartz. It looked great. We're now in a rental with black quartz worktops.... I'm a bit put off them with the number of glasses and plates we've chipped or broken due to little knocks. Suppose that's the price you pay for hard wearing surfaces! Would actually consider laminate again of the quality and look we're what we're after.

No, but having fitted kitchen for years laminate (good quality) should be considered. It’s cost is a fraction of the alternatives and kitchens are not a life long thing (unless bespoke in Oak or something). I found people tended to replace them more often than expected so the cost of the others rarely justify the expense.

What I've done before with them is to build a little hidden channel at the base of the rooflight reveal and run an led strip in there, so that the light source in the room is always from the rooflights... also wall mounted lights washing the valuted ceiling can work a treat to give you a nice background lighting level. With the led technology it's much easier to have different types of light with hidden fixtures, on vaulted rooms I think you only really want a pendant dropping down if it's a "statement" piece...

Depends on your external duct size - mine were 180mm but it was slightly complicated by the way the basement wall sits in relation to the timber frame above - meant that even when the ducts were tight against the basement wall there was a 100mm gap between the duct and the internal utility wall that increased the space required. Also keep in mind that the duct diameter increases by another 50-60mm due to the duct insulation. I was not able to get a sharp 90 either as the floor joists dictated where the ducts could rise so I used a combination of 45 bends and eventually got there - was quite fiddly and I remember there was lots of swearing I did get the TF team to fit two sections of 180 duct into the wall ahead of time to ensure these could be made airtight against the frame and be rendered up against, but it did mean I had zero flexibility in making the connections. However I think 300mm should be more than enough for you.

Not really, the details posted by myself above were just to show the detail, you would rotate it to suit, so for example you take the top details and have the opening wall side. The detail above requires more distance and or a more diffuse source. For a uniform light without any hot spots or dull areas I'd always use the second bounce approach, in your detail (which I have yet to see used well anywhere frankly) the wall becomes the "reflector", not good. Have a look at this - note the washing to the centre core, this was done using the detail I posted originally.

Turn the PRedV up to 3.5 or 4 bar and enjoy the benefits. Yes, shite can block the fine gauze filter in the cartridge of the PRedV but that should all be worked out by now so a clean up should see you enjoy trouble-free motoring for a good number of years. 3 bar strangles the flow to death BTW, especially if fighting that ridiculous primary pressure.

I suspect it will be a bugger to sort out I'm afraid. Most coloured aluminium is done by anodising which is a chemical process, growing a layer of aluminium oxide on the surface of the metal and applying a dye into that layer. Unfortunately alkaline (caustic) substances such as wet concrete will eat away at the oxide layer and affect the dye. The best I can suggest is to try and find a matching non water-soluble dye (could even be a permanent marker) and apply to the affected area to see if you can get it to match: good luck. Otherwise swap the trim out.

The item I often try on this kind of thing is the magic sponge which is like very fine sandpaper. Do you think it is some kind of lacquer that has been damaged? That will be harder to fix. TBH I am quite OCD so would try and fix it, but if it is an outside door cill it is going to get dirty over time and I would probably live with it. We have rational doors and they have cills inside that look like that but are less shiny on the inside, they get a load of dust. mud etc on them over time.

We have the uplighters and I need to put them into the channels as at the moment they shine in a wavy fashion onto the ceiling, or maybe I just need to take the backing off and tape them down. I was too tight to buy the channels when they went in, but they don't look quite right at the moment. We have a wall wash via a channel cut into the ceiling, your design would be more elegant but quite a bit of work. Ours works well and is pretty well hidden when it is off.

Can we have some more information as the design seems odd. I am sure people can help once they understand what you want to achieve. The unusual stair layout seems to be because the porch area has a supporting wall for the outside walls upstairs, is there reason for that? Maybe to add interest outside? South, position of garden etc would help people. Also plans for the house, number of children, lots of visitors etc. I put it into a PDF and the scale seems to be 1cm to 0.323m on the ground floor an 1cm to 0.452m on the first floor. The ground floor area is 107sq metres and the first floor is 95 square metres so you have a decent amount of space to play with. There are a few design rules that I would try to stick to with a house unless there is a strong reason not to. I can't draw to save myself, but I can create a floorplan. Obviously these are just my opinion and sometimes planning constraints, budget etc mean you have to compromise. 1. Rooms should normally come off the hall and not other rooms, en sites are an obvious exception and maybe a family area off the kitchen (What is that room off the right side of the kitchen?) 2. Most bedrooms should have a fitted wardrobe. 3. The hall should have a cupboard for coats/shoes etc. 4. As mentioned there should be a minimum space around a bed. I would say 8-900mm to allow for the overhang of the duvet. 5. A window on the landing is good if you can fit one in. 6. Lots of small rooms will make a house feel smaller than it is - The study is 1.78m wide, the room off the kitchen is 1.62m wide, the kitchen is very large so there is ample space to make these rooms larger. 7. Try to have the door open into the room away from furniture so as not to bump into people as you go through the door and create a feeling of space (the kitchen door is in an awkward position) 8. Try not to have kitchen cabinets in front of the island unless for a specific non kitchen purpose. 9. Showers should be a minimum of 80cm wide and corner showers should be avoided unless necessary. Walk in showers work much better if possible. 10. Ideally doors open into a room and against a wall. 11. Try to keep all passageways/walkways at least one metre wide. 12. You probably need a larger space than you think as a plant room. 13. Don't put so many windows/doors in a room that there is nowhere to place furniture. 14. The design should try to take advantage of views and the position of the sun at different times of the day. This house breaks a lot of these rules. Upstairs - Do you need that many en suites, they are too small, particularly the master en suite? Minimum sensible size for an en suite is roughly 1.4x2.2m. In a 200sq metre house, I would expect the master en suite to be more like 2x3m. The good thing is there is plenty of room to do this. I would stick with 4 bedrooms, but you need to add wardrobes to at least three of them, possibly a walk in for the master and make the en suites larger. Offsetting this is you only really need 15ish sq metres for the area where the bed would be in the master, this frees up 10 sq metres. The bathroom is not large enough to have a shower and freestanding bath if that is what you are hoping. It would not need a shower if most of the bedrooms are en suite. Indeed if all the bedrooms are en suite and you also have a shower room downstairs you could do away with the bathroom to make more room for the bedrooms and en suites. Downstairs needs a complete redesign - Aim for a lounge, kitchen/breakfast/family room, study/bedroom with en suite, hall, WC and utility room(that un named room maybe is supposed to be a utility room). There is room for all of these, the kitchen is larger than necessary at the moment and the lounge is too long, that space with the stairs in it should be part of the hall.

I don't have anything to say on this, I think a bit more explanation would help massively. What are your drivers for the house? do you need five bedrooms? what views do you have? what sunlight do you have? why have a entrance space full of doors? and a stair in the sitting room? and the sitting room is a corridor? dining to study to wc is a strange arrangement and that's the one you'll use all the time from the kitchen, all of the bedrooms have useless space in them? I'd probably make the hall bigger and have more regular proportioned bedooms.... (turns out I did have something to say, sorry about that!)

Apologies if you've spent hours and hours doing it yourself (or even worse you've paid someone to do it!), but I don't like much about the design. I think you really need to start again with an (different) architect!

Nothing about this design flows. Lots of disjointed odd shaped rooms. I don't even like the position of the stairs. Stairs rising from the living room should be for small houses where you have no space for a hallway. And why does the upstairs shape differ to downstairs? Overall dimensions and a site layout might make more sense of it and enable suggestions how to improve it?

With bedrooms, unless for single occupancy it is good to allow 750mm either side of the bed for bedside table and to walk around, so for a proper double room, put the bed on a wall that is at least 3000mm. Also, make allowance for wardrobe / clothes storage of at least 1500mm per person, 600mm deep. Work out where curtains and blinds are going and how you will operate them. Is it worth spending a few quid with an architect for some quick sketches? Get a quote first.

Middle of the day for us (it will be going on shortly) so it can run from the solar PV power.

Hello all, Please excuse me for the newbie question. We are looking to purchase a large plot with planning permission for a four bed property & outbuilding. Once planning has been approved, how difficult is it to make amendments to the planning with reference to the external structure / look of the property? We love the situation and land that comes with the property, but the actual designs aren't necessarily what we would wish to build. Thank you

Did our shower with Hardibacker and stone tiles. No issues 12 years on. Only thing is Hardi is pretty hard to cut. I've been through quite a few TCT jigsaw blades.

A really good old school tiler doesn't need a levelling system. A bad tiller will mess up the job with or without a levelling system.

Sadly not, you have to pay VAT on all surveys, reports, investigations etc that are done separately, i.e. not a part of a contract for something that includes some investigation or survey work, like a ground works contract that may include site investigation, laying out surveying etc, along with digging the foundations.

Then it is beyond reproach.

The 12 way CU in the house already half installed.