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In planning terms, Amenity land is an area of land that has a residential use, ie. can be used for the enjoyment of the attached dwelling, but can't be considered Residential Curtilage, so you can't have permanent domestic structures on it such as sheds, bike store, bin store, washing line etc. and doesn't count towards PD for outbuildings where you can cover 50% of the original curtilage. To the best of my knowledge it requires no boundary separating it from the residential curtilage , so does not require fencing off. I certainly know of a few that are just extensions to the garden. I see it often used in rural areas where the planners have allowed a change of use, but wish to keep the residential paraphernalia close to the building and not spread out into what was previously agricultural land. Start off small, and see if anyone complains.

It's about time I put fingers on keyboard for a purpose other than Matlab or Perl. So here is a brief summary of the lack of progress in the woodland. I couldn't pass up a few weeks of sea pay, so progress in May was nil but it was lucrative, helping to offset some of the cost increases. And it gave the scaffolders a bit of time to strike the remaining scaffolding (rather a long wait for this). We're still waiting for the arch windows (another long wait) but all the other windows are fitted. The house is just about water tight so it's time to look at 1st fix and services. There's still a lot to do, and still plenty of supply problems to navigate. Before we did too much work, it was time to tidy up inside. Nic wanted to see what the family room felt like with some representative "furniture" to plot decor and fixtures. The first big job was to dig the pit for the sewage treatment plant. This all went very well with the digger earning its keep. No, I didn't make my daugher dig any of it tempting though it was. I planned to fit shuttering ply the next day because there was going to be a week wait for the concrete. Now for a backward step. It rained more than a little that evening, so I ended up the proud owner of a large garden pond with considerably increased area. Not exactly top of my list of desires. I got a good start on the trenches for the foul drains. Plenty more to do but at least they haven't turned into canals yet despite the rain. So I decided to ignore the problems outside for a while since the floor insulation had arrived and was in the way. Not content with the pool outside, I thought I could make one inside. But then I thought better of it (got caught by the boss for plotting silliness) and fitted insulation instead. It turns out that cutting 150mm insulation to get a good clean straight edge is particularly tricky. So I made a table saw. It's a little bit lethal, so much so that a work colleage called it the "death saw". I think it's a little harsh. It's only a sabre saw with a 12" blade bolted upside down under a home made table... Perhaps the sort of thing @Onoff would make? ? It does a very good job. Finally this month I looked at getting the ducting laid for the water main into the house. Very pleased with getting through 300mm of concrete and keeping the trench straight. The only snag is that I "found" the water main I intended to use as the house supply. It was exactly where the plan said, but only 200mm deep. Oh well, I like playing with the digger.

@Murdo We had Howden LVT (Quickstep) fitted last year. It's the one area in the self build where we have had some snagging issues. This has now been sorted following the fitting of a couple of thresholds/expansion joints, but the staff who advised about this not being necessary for the size of the area we were fitting. A pain taking of skirting boards. It's fine now and the LVT stuff is very robust no scratches, easy to clean and waterproof etc.

Ideally we normally run the walls up first Insulate and board Seal up with acoustic sealant Then drop the ceiling It’s worth adding a deflection head Should show you this in the white book

It will be so rare that you need any heating in bedrooms if they are upstairs. The heat from our towel rads more than heats the upper floors and our place is fairly standard insulation and airtightness. The cooling could be useful on the odd days when it is really hot and it means you don't need to have the external blinds down all the time and be in the dark on a nice sunny day.

About 80% less heat conduction relative to dry autoclaved aerated concrete

+1 although I wouldn't spend a fortune. Basically its agricultural rather than residential land. So you can normally use it for growing things or keeping animals (unless other restrictions apply). You cant officially treat it as garden so you're not allowed to set up permanent swings and slides. Even jumps for a pony have caused problems elsewhere because jumping a pony is different to grazing one. What you can do is use it for almost anything you like for up to 28 days a year. So things like letting the scouts use it for a 1 week scout camp or even a motor bike scrambling session is normally ok (as long as you don't create a statutory noise nuisance). If you want to turn it into part of your garden officially you could apply for planning permission for "change of use". If you just "do it anyway" you might get away with it unless its very obvious from the road or someone complains. If you get away with it for 10 years the planners loose their ability to take enforcement action. So make dated records of when you started using it as a garden. Even if the planners get unhappy they almost never just hit you with formal enforcement action. There are no instant fines. They would first send you a letter warning you that unless you return it to its original state they "intend to take enforcement action". Don't panic. At that point you could either comply or apply for planning permission. The latter would delay any enforcement until the application is considered (perhaps a few months). If planning permission was refused you could appeal potentially delaying things for a year. In theory if you still refuse to remove the playground then the council could take it down and bill you for the work so don't let it get that far but you can still give them a good run. Deliberately hiding the equipment with say straw bales allows the planners more time to initiate enforcement action (law changed after someone hid an illegal castle that way!)

I tried searching to and there aren't any. The reason that I have been told is that all energy providers that to pay a fee to the National Grid which provides the transmission and distribution of electricity. "In 2016, Ofgem removed the requirement for tariffs to have a standing charge following recommendations by the Competition and Markets Authority. However, though suppliers are no longer required to set a standing charge on their tariffs most still do."

Unless you're talking big towers and zip slides, I'd probably just do it. Any neighbours likely to object?

We have fairly large overhangs, high levels of insulation and airtightness and external blinds on most windows which will be automated by Loxone. So our calculations might give you a good idea: Cooling Load: 335W Cooling Load (no blinds): 1.3kW Cooling Output UFH (GF Only): 3.6kW. (UFH circuit @ 17C) Cooling Output MVHR (FF Only): 1.1kW. I think that 1.1kW may be based on the same 17C though, as the Comfopost datasheet suggests a cooling output of 2.1kW for 190m3/h with flow temp from ASHP of 7C. Given these numbers, MVHR cooling for us was a no brainer and fancoil/AC was clearly not required.

Vent for the kitchen extractor should be 150mm if the fan is anything more than a box standard extractor. Anything less than that will remove very little from the cooking. Why not combine 2x 100mm outlets and split them off a 150 Y branch from the extractor? Use the 3rd with a damper to allow fresh air in during the summer to offset the heat from cooking. Or blank it off. Oh, and MVHR for a single room in this house will be useless. Just stick with extraction.

Looks like wonderful project, time won't be something you will have lots of but finding enough for a blog is rewarding and perhaps useful - wish I had / was done /doing one.

The ends are the only bit that are the issue to go through the joist, but you still have to pull 80m of pipe through the first end, maybe 70m of pipe through the next, 60m through the next and so on. Do that for 8 rooms upstairs and it becomes a mammoth task. You can't notch pozi joists. With the best will in the world its not the done thing.

Not so bad, one less unknown

hey @Dan F. how are you finding the supplementary cooling via your MVHR system in this hot weather? is it doing the job? just about takes the edge off? or not very satisfying at all? I'm considering supplementary cooling and our M&E guys have suggested using Split AC rather than using the MVHR system. just wanted your opinion of it please.

Have you checked that the asking price for the freehold is reasonable? These days you can get the leasehold extended to 999 years effectively making the freehold worthless if the ground rent is low. The cost of the extension should be similar to the freehold I would think.

For a single room I wouldn't bother with MHRV. Presumably you have got trickle vents and the like everywhere else? You need as much air tightness as possible in the house for these systems to work properly.

Take a look at Kytun they have quite a range but I struggled to get them in black recently.

We used Marley Easy to install I lost a couple of clips and they sent me replacements free of charge

What else is in the office generating heat i.e. computers, displays etc? In this warm weather our passive tf house works well at keeping cool until the sun flips over to the west side where we don't have external shutters on the glazing and by that time the external air is warm so keeping both direct sun and warm air out of the house is a priority. As soon as the sun goes low, air temp drops considerably and the house can be stack ventilated until morning when the cycle starts again. We have blown cellulose so high decrement delay which seems to be working well, external shutters on east windows which is very effective at reducing solar gain. Need to sort the west aspect where we have large sliders - either a film or external structure to provide more shade. We have some linen drapes inside that are somewhat effective but insufficient. However the home office, in a NE room, is always warmer due to displays, laptops etc chucking out extra heat.

Take a look at what used to be called Flotex flooring now supplied by Forbo. It is carpet but not as you know it. You will see from he website that is sold as a contract floor covering. I have had it in my house/s for nearly fifty years and never ever seen any wear and tear on it. It will burn of course. They tested it in lorry loading bays and post testing put a 21 year guarantee on it. It used to be called Flotex 21. My only problem with Forbo is that they aim it at commercial use and so the patterns are not as house friendly as they used to be. You used to be able to get terracotta tile effect or just a multi random effect. I have, at the moment, wooden plank effect which every single person who comes into the house thinks is wooden planks until they try to slide their shoes or walk on it without shoes. https://www.forbo.com/flooring/en-uk/commercial-products/flotex-flocked-flooring/ctbual?gclid=CjwKCAjwruSHBhAtEiwA_qCppgL2DG8oFWU-tRb79FnzSWeUUwkpp_-4n8_uXYA7_isY1rvWkVO6DRoCAtAQAvD_BwE

I was wondering the same thing. I guess doing the insulation before will hamper first fix electrics and plumbing. Doing it after means installing the insulation over the top of pipes and cables.

I haven't watched the video but I'm suspecting it's a bit of a Roger's rant! Regardless of the arguments re efficiency/inefficiency, I suspect that there will be a gas distribution network in place for a long time to come and that this will be used for some kind of hydrogen/naturual gas/biogas mixture. I find it interesting that biogas hasn't played much part in the debate about future heating. Norway, however, has recently voted in parliament to add biogas as a third option in line with electricity and hydrogen. In its recent newsletter, Ecotricity mention its biogas project near Reading and how it wants to UK government to re-think its future energy strategy. For me the argument shouldn't be an either/or focus on a single heating strategy - these are all doomed to failure eventually because it inevitably puts too much pressure on a single resource. I think it should be a diversified strategy that includes all options depending on suitability. Thus you'd get heat pumps in some locations, geothermal in others (like some areas in Cornwall), biogass somewhere else, etc. In some areas of housing, district heating could be a very sensible option that uses shared, large scale heatpumps together with solar etc. - think village energy cooperative, using an unused field, or even the local football and cricket pitches. For me there's just too much narrow thinking on solving the problem. I also have to say that I get quite worried about some tendencies toward heat pump evangelism that doesn't really deal with the real world drawbacks of these systems, nor the practicalities of large scale implementation. They're neither a panacea, nor are the entirely as environmentally benevolent as they're made out to be. In many studies heatpumps come out quite low when it comes to overall environmental impact, even if they're favourable in terms of GHG impact.

Most new builds I'm in have a dpc between block and concrete floor with these blocks sitting ontop not coming up through. I'm not sure if they align with beams underneath or have some massive cold bridge with a wall underneath the beams interrupting the insulation? Must pay more attention next time when a plot is pre pour.

Hi nick Iv had a good think about this, and thankyou for the info on setting up a tank. the problem i have is i really dont have the space to put it I am now thinking of just keeping it simple and keeping the radiators 'always on' without a valve. And just use a 2 port valve on the ufh so i can run two stats. I have a rad without a trv on it so it would save the messing around. It was my original plan. What do you think?

I think he has highlighted the ignorance in the industry that he claims to be an expert in. X is an unknown quantity. Spurt is a drip under pressure.

Get the UPVC company to provide a stub cill. This is shorter than an ordinary cill and will sit on top of the concrete one. I would always try and use a cill, without it you need to get a window with what is called face drains which will add to the price. How big is the window…?

Hi The DPM is black and the Radon barrier is green. The cladding is Deckz Fortiz composite cladding duo grey

The LA's hate s96 apps but it would seem appropriate to me. Mind you - you need to decide if you want to spend time arguing about the application route or getting the thing in the system to be decided. I had the same - Huntingdonshire Planning refused my s96 app and wanted a variation of condition (drawings) app instead - this lead to full consultation....... It is just about done (just as well as we built it anyway!) but I would dig my heels in next time.

On tonyshouse website if you dig, yes windows behind reveals, no plywood boxes

Thanks for reply, looks like there is place I can dispose of once up, really relieved as last night thought whole house was swimming in fibres but seems very difficult to actually release any from tiles, Lawrence

perfect, what else did you expect. ??

I'm considering one of these two options for a garden room: - https://www.partel.co.uk/products/lunos-ventilation-with-heat-recovery - https://www.bpcventilation.com/vent-axia-hr100 Still need to look into details and costs though.

Seriously ?!? Do NOT even THINK of running different phases in a caravan off that red outlet. Lethal advice, unless you go to a new 3ph CU with all RCBO's. Cheaper to buy a proper 1ph genny. Leave it well alone and sell off this boat anchor. ?

So bc came today, I fired a load of questions at him. He stated 770mm clear opening is what he is after.

surprised they would work of that pile of rusting scrap. H & S would have a field day.

Not on a boiler > single loop UFH setup. Deffo not a healthy arrangement for the boiler. The manufacturers installation guides often state that short cycling should be mitigated against by design. You need a 50L buffer in series with the flow, between the zone valve and the UFH manifold, and a 22mm gate valve ( NOT a bypass valve ) fitted across the flow and return connections where they supply the manifold. I use the 50L version and works a treat. These are very well insulated and wall mounted. Just connect the boiler flow ( after the ZV ) to one upper tapping, and and then UFH flow to the diagonally opposite lower tapping. Blank the two other tappings off. That will give you sufficient energy buffering to not have the boiler ever running under duress.

If it is you who built the garage, turn it into a workshop or a snooker room. And don't be so silly next time.

Object on the basis you have described, including road safety etc, and make sure that you specifically draw the attention of your Highways Authority (who may not be the LPA) to the same issue on the same basis. If PP has not yet been requested, put in a complaint and request enforcement on the same basis. Contact your local councillor, and write to all members of the Planning Committee. If you behave like a doormat on this, you will be treated like one. F

Big news. The variation and carport planing application are now approved. The planning officer sent me an email saying that he would process both the variation and carport approval at the same time. The comment deadline for the carport was 11th of June. The Monday after this it went to awaiting decision and was approved on 28th of June. So that was good. But despite putting in writing that he would do the variation at the same time, it did not come through. Last week I started to try and figure out what was wrong. Called and emailed the planner - ignored. My mum emailed him from her council email address as she works for them part time - ignored. Called his boss - phone permanently on voice mail. Called the planning helpline which is not supposed to be open but is - Told they would send the planner a message to contact me - ignored Called again - Told to try the head of planning as they couldn't contact the planner. Emailed the head of planning and left him a voice mail - ignored or at least no response to me Called the planning helpdesk again - Told me it was pointless and they would transfer me to complaints Decided that now it was only 4 days from the determination deadline so I would wait for that before making a complaint. Emailed the planning helpdesk as this seemed to get a better response previously than calling them - told that the deadline had not passed yet, but in light of the fact the officer had put in writing that I should have had it done over two weeks ago they would email him. Approved two days later This was one of only two variations from May still outstanding. The average time to approve a variation is 3-5 weeks. With a promised expedited time due to the Council's previous hopeless efforts it took 8 weeks! I will be drafting a formal complaint now it has been approved.

The last six weeks have been a bit of a slog but have finely got the roof finished, PV fitted and first floor cladding and windows fitted. Scaffolding came down yesterday 3 weeks longer than planed big hole in wallet. First floor chipboard flooring down so will start on the ground floor windows and studwork. But now back to real work as well.

We have supplementary heating/cooling via MVHR (first floor only) and have just used foil-backed mineral wool to wrap standard 90mm radial semi-rigid ducting. The large duct that feeds the first-floor manifold (as well as out intake/exhaust ducting) uses this product which has worked well: https://www.ubbink.com/en-gb/ventilation/residential-ventilation/residential-ventilation/aerfoam-insulated-mass-flow-ductwork

You may find that single room split AC is the way forward for cooling. It can sometimes be simpler not to combine different functions in a single system. The nice thing about it is the pipework is very small bore and very well insulated. I would not run cold ducting inside a warm house.

We used granite on the window cills throughout the house . |It came cut to size- easy to fit, never need to paint . We have grey aluclad outside with cream painted wood inside

And put something to help it move under your washer ?

I don’t think its a newt , could be bat poo .

Is that the skeleton of a great crested newt I see in the bottom left of the picture? Good clean cut that.

Had a customer come in last night, she was covered in dust. Had been plastering all afternoon. I quite the look of her, in her dungarees and unkempt hair. Much better than the scantily clad people that had just come off the beach. Oh hang on, I am awake now and not still dreaming. Mental Note: I must fit a security camera.