Marki

"I've also used relatively cheap plastic T&G boards to line a rubbish bathroom ceiling in our house" Lots of useful advice here, thanks. But... Just be aware of Part B2 of the Building Regs, restricting the flammability [Surface Spread of Flame] of internal linings. My understanding is that in a dwelling house, all ceilings need to be class 1 or class 0 [or the modern Euronorm equivalent], and max 25% of walls can be exempt from this. I thought this applied to all rooms including bathrooms, but I may be wrong [sorry I don't have time to check right now]. Garages under 30 m2 are [with a few exceptions] excluded from Building Regs, those over 30 m2 would normally require limited Building Regs, but I'm not sure if B2 applies in those cases. I've no idea if flame-retardant plastic linings are available for inside houses. Worth checking first?

Hi Si, we're living in our 8-year-old new-build eco-house in Wadebridge. We haven't used the finishes you are planning, mostly Doug Fir from Duchy and Red Cedar shingles from John Brash. But you might be interested in coming to meet, as I can talk you through some of our details and building structure decisions to get to £33 a year space heating [albeit will be more this year with crazy elec prices]. BTW, we have got Planning on our next project, a barn conversion [with new-build extension] in North Cornwall. I also need to source some charred or similar black timber for a friend's project nearby. Looking at your architect's drawings...If you're going for slim-sight-line sliding doors, you may have little choice ref Frame in Aluminium. However, I'd recommend you look very carefully at the Whole Window u-values when you get door and window quotes [the Uw figure, not the Ug figure for the glazing alone]. The Uw figures for Aluminium frame windows that I saw recently were appalling due to the poor Uf rating of the frame, and I'm certain will result in condensation on the inside of the frames [not the glass itself which is ok]. With your modern thin-frame window designs it may be less of an issue? Generally lower, better Uw with the timber windows with Alu facing so beloved of architecture magazines. And with your large glazing areas, triple glazing will cut down significantly on the draughts across the floor in winter [reducing the temptation to turn the heating up higher to compensate], worth getting a quote for [the cost of Triple v Double seems to vary, can be very little]

Hi Paul, I would say welcome to the forum, but I've only just joined myself! In Cornwall there are plans to adopt a version of your Welsh Gov 'One Planet' development policy [I think it is Welsh Policy TAN6 from memory]. Only relevant to you if you have a decent amount of land that you can [potentially at least] make some living from [and even then it's a long-winded process]. If that's not applicable to your situation, then I'm afraid you need advice from a local Planning Expert - or is any-one else on the Forum clued up on Welsh policy?