epsilonGreedy

I discussed some window alterations with my local planning office early in my build. The planning officer said he thought they fell within the scope of an NMA because the changes were not visible from the roadside frontage and also would not change how overlooked the adjacent neighbour's property was. I am also in a conservation area and had I been proposing a historical shift from Georgian sash to late Victorian bay windows I think it would have taken smelling salts and a £400 cheque with a full planning application to resuscitate the planning officer.

If a detached garage includes a regular size (33" wide ) entrance door to a room labelled store & workshop (non commercial) would this entrance be subject to mobility access building regs?

Are your readings inside the house or for fresh air outside? I wonder if the numbers improve in the spring when things start turning green?

The green corner plot is a distinguishing feature in such an urban environment and you might deter some future buyers if covered in tarmac. In your position I would be thinking the property already ticks the two-car-offroad parking box, so tidy up the existing brickwork, keep £8k in the bank and let future buyers see the potential of extra parking space. If however your house is valued at £1million and with a London underground stop 300m down the road then I think that would tip me towards redeveloping the frontage.

This and other threads showing upfront costs remind me what a good deal a plot with planning permission represents particularly when the plot is level and does not introduce design challenges for the foundations. My costs were: Conveyancing 700 ( £450 legal + land registry fees ) Technical Drawings 1300 Private Build Control 740 Self Build Insurance 15 months 521.17 Total £3,261.17 Ex vat Included with plot purchase Detailed planning permission. Regional Georgian architect's house design ( for conservation area ) Topographical survey Historical trench dig Newt/Eco warrior survey Roadside culvert drainage survey Flood risk assessment SUDS roof drainage plan Brick panel to satisfy planning condition Prior to the foundation dig I skipped an exploratory foundation test dig, soil sampling and structural engineered foundation design on the basis that the historical report indicated the land was trouble free ancient pasture and by employing the same private BC inspector who was overseeing another self build just 30m away I got a nod & wink that the rumoured clay was in fact silt with decent drainage and lowish heave characteristics. We dug, discovered, smiled and poured in £2500 of concrete.

When the kit arrives will I be able to cut a 75mm ducting hole through both the inner and outer blocks from one side? The footings have standard 100mm blocks with a 100mm cavity. I ask because it would be simpler to access the footings at the right depth from the internal oversight.

While reading up on drilling cores I found a few mentions about the danger of being thrown off a ladder if the cutter jams and the drill kicks.

Thanks for the warning, is the damage caused by the leverage of a wide (say 120mm) cutter on the gears or motor?

This danger will be high on my attention list as I cut any cores. Are the terms "slip clutch", "overload clutch" and "mechanical safety clutch" all references to the same thing?

I suppose the resale value would be high because pros might be interested. The downside according to a poster on another site is lugging the yellow transformer around. My 240v secondhand cement mixer came from a small pro brickie team offloading their remaining 240v gear because they had been spanked during a health & safety inspection for using 240v on site.

I understand that I will need a serious drill for a slow paced diyMax selfbuild. My initial thoughts about buying a delux battery powered model were squashed by my part time building adviser who is always trying to save me money. He flipped open his Toolstation catalogue, pointed at a mid range brand drill and said "all you need is a 700w to 800w 240v model with an SDS chuck". The first serious job of the New Year is to cut a 75mm hole through dense concrete blocks so that I can feed an insulated mains water conduit through the foundations. I might progress to cutting 110mm drainage pipe holes in masonry later. Reading through this forum I reckon I should be looking for a model with the following modes: rotary, hammer and chisel. Given my intention to cut some large holes through concrete blocks I will also need a safety (overload) clutch. Is the following decent a option? Bosch Professional GBH 2-24 D Corded 240 V Rotary Hammer Drill with SDS Plus 790w https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Professional-Corded-Rotary-Hammer/dp/B007P15O9E Or a bit more oomph Bosch Professional GBH 2-26 Corded 240 V Rotary Hammer Drill with SDS Plus https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072J3KXDV/ref=psdc_1939340031_t4_B007P15O9E

This is proving to be a viable lifestlye for the some sailing vLoggers who got in early to establish a travel media brand AND who execute the publishing workflow competently. Swmbo and I follow svDelos via YouTube on our main telly and as a consequence our diet of scheduled mainstream TV has reduced. The young sailing couple behind LaVagabond got a 1 million euro sailing yacht from a manufacturer to continue their round the world adventures though I suspect the financial deal was complex.

Hmm having suggested this I am now onto Plan-B. My new concern is that these edging blocks might start to wobble following repeated vehicle transits, so would it be preferable to have a concrete/mortar bond on the inner face at the risk of more moisture ingress? These blocks look like engineering blocks.

I am subject to a SUDS motivated planning condition that requires a gravel drive. My working assumption is that I cannot form a large stable ramp to the edge of the garage floor slab from a 50mm size hardcore base with 20mm size hardcore over and gravel dressing on top. Ok. Think I need to reduce my expectations about the overall height difference I can implement between gravel drive and concrete FFL. Now looking at: Concrete FFL > Edging stones with say a moulded 20mm drop > 10mm drop to start of external concrete ramp > 50mm gradient in concrete ramp that is 600mm wide > then level to main gravel drive. I already have 150mm of hardcore down for the drive and some flexibility about how much more is layered on top as a finishing exercise when the main build is complete.

This is very useful. I was already thinking about using a row of such blocks, will you bring the under slab tanking upwards inside the inner vertical face of the edging blocks? Like you I am not that worried about a small amount of rain landing on the exposed concrete slab, my previous Bryant Homes house experienced the same and that was an integral garage. So about 1 in 50. In my case I was considering a formed concrete ramp starting 10mm below the edging blocks then dropping about 50mm over 600mm horizontally.

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Brick & block, timber frame, SIPS or ICF?

Judging from a previous story posted on the forum it would be a good idea to ensure that the local inspectors used by your selected insurance company are familiar with your chosen house construction technique.

Is this the battery technology that Bill Gates invested in? I watched a YouTube video about that and concluded community scale battery storage is on the cusp of viability. It was a shame that the inventors expended time knocking lithium to justify their technology.

Social housing is also getting caught up in the Airbnb phenomenon. At the end of the day Airbnb is just a new market making technology, it does not destroy housing and instead works it more intensely. Likewise with Uber, instead of high priced regulated taxi fares funding a load of blokes to spend most of the day chatting with other drivers in a slow moving rank we now have Uber's "surge" pricing giving intelligent regulation of supply and demand. This does create a more vibrant tourism industry that generates employment for locals. There is more, in Peterborough a new breed of social housing landlord is evicting lifelong social housing tenants because the landlords know the same people will end up on their books at much higher rentals because Councils have a duty to provide emergency housing. Not just London. In my last village 2.5 hours away from London there was a fabulous house probably 2500 sq ft 5-beds and great location. No one lived there for 3 years and instead I witnessed a handful of fleeting day visits by people in white flowing middle eastern clothing.

At 10pm last night I was about to cut a hole in the only working foul drain on site to fit a boss and merge in the grey water drainage from the static caravan. Then I thought if I get this wrong it is back to bucket & chuck-it in the morning. I put my drill down, called it a day and slept well.

But think of the legions of Business Studies graduates we got instead. I have already decided that the power cable to my static caravan will become a spur to a portable generator housing in the garden because there is no point in having 6 months of LPG under the back garden with no 240v to drive the boiler control electrics. I have not worked out the specifics of the distribution board switching though I imagine a chunky switch is required to ensure the generator is never fighting the phase of the mains grid when that springs back into life after a power cut.

With today's news that Hitachi has pulled out of a Welsh nuke plant construction deal this and other failing nuclear power station projects leaves a 15% hole in planned capacity 10 years ahead. Is it time for self builders to design in power source diversity? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46900918

Brexit is a distorting but transient factor so probably not worth burning brain cycles on. In the short term, likely SB factors are: Very slight softening of plot prices. More challenging LTV estimates for mortgage purposes. Easier to find building trades looking for work. Item 3 is the more significant for me.

I am starting to think ahead to the FFL of my garage which will be a ground baring concrete slab. The garage is separate to the house and the adjacent gravel driveway is flat with a very slight gradient away from the garage door. Are there any industry metrics for a maximum height difference between external drive and garage floor? Other local factors favour a higher garage floor but a don't want a clutch burning sharp ramp incline when entering the garage. I am unlikely to be concerned about the front ground spoiler of my Ferrari (joke) grounding out on the ramp. The garage is not deep (5.3m) so I want to avoid creating a daily parking challenge that would involve revving the rear wheels up the ramp and then hitting the breaks to avoid nosing into the rear wall.