AliG

There is a button inside that says "maintenance". You just push it for 5 seconds and it resets the counter. Once you open it up there is a row of lights that show if there are any issues with different parts of the system.

Impatience and beeping got to me and I just drilled the lock. All fixed now. It probably doesn't need a lock at all, but a new lock is a lot cheaper than the spare keys.

Hi, We have a Velux kfc210 smoke control unit, it opens a window automatically in the event of fire. It has started to beep and the manual says it needs to be inspected/reset every 15 months. But I have realised that no one gave me they key. Frankly I have no idea why such things need locks on them, it is a pain and I am tempted just to break the lock. But before doing this does anyone know if there is a generic key that I can buy, I did find the keys on line for almost £20(£24 with shipping) I am not even sure that these are the right key, they are listed for a different product but they look right. https://www.loftsolutions.co.uk/shop/velux-spares/velux-smoke-vent-spares/velux-kfx-100-keys Thanks

I’m not sure I just picked this up from comments made on the story in newspapers. He may have refinanced with Funding Circle or it may have been them all along. Certainly it would be a pretty small and unusual investment for a hedge fund.

I have a 5.1.2 system with ceiling mounted Atoms speakers. It works well. Atmos definitely sounds better than Dolby Surround but unless you use 4K blu rays there is surprisingly little content available. Sky only has Atmos on a small percentage of 4K movies plus sports.

I don't think that all the self build magazines and on line calculators seem to quote prices in the £11-1400/sq are metre range. I reckon from reading people's stories here that a well built house is usually coming in somewhere in the 1500-2000 per square metre range. Lower prices tend to involve doing more work your self, unusual designs as on Grand Designs can easily come in the 2-3000/sq metre range. Now that we are finished I am around £1900/sq metre to build the house, this included a pool and all interior finishes, built in furniture, floors etc. Landscaping was about another £100 per sq metre and fees about another £100 per square metre. According to an on line calculator I just inserted the figures into I should have been £1460 a square metre. For my parents' place I am just going to assume £2000 a square metre and be pleased if it is less than this.

We did that but the isolated corner is actually accessed from the cupboard next to it. I too hate corners in the kitchen but couldn't lose that one.

I think that if you move the entrance to the stairs to the fridge there should be enough room to get a landing that the stairs to the bedroom connect onto. You cannot just fix it by having one stair level and a drop down to the other two, that is not safe and would not pass regs. I know it is better than it is at the moment, but it simply would not be accepted. If you are going to fix it, you may as well do it properly. The regs are here - http://b. for work on an existing building that did not comply with the applicable requirements of the Building Regulations: (i) the work itself must comply with the applicable requirements of the Building Regulations (ii) the building must be no more unsatisfactory in relation to the requirements than before the work was carried out. They do say for work on an existing building that did not comply with the applicable requirements of the Building Regulations: (i) the work itself must comply with the applicable requirements of the Building Regulations (ii) the building must be no more unsatisfactory in relation to the requirements than before the work was carried out And I think you do have leeway to not fully meet the regs on an existing building, but I don't think they would let you away with a step that had different drops at each end. A stair case shaped something like this starting where the fridge is should work with a small landing at the top and then steps to the bedrooms from the landing. You would probably have to raise the bottom of the cupboard that is close to the bottom of the stairs. Strictly speaking that is also against the regs as the door opens across the stairs, but would probably be OK as it is already in existence.

Basically what @Carrerahill said. The only thing I would add is that you could probably fit two more steps into the turn shown in the first picture, but the horizontal offset is as big an issue as the height difference. You need to be able to pull the main stairs back so that there is a landing outside the new bedroom then you would 2/3 steps up from that into each bedroom. Even if you cut a third step down from the bedroom you will need the stairs to move back by at least three treads and possibly four. To do this you will likely need to bring the first tread back into the room at the bottom plus add more treads on the turn, is there room at the bottom to do this? I also need to bring in building standards and safety. This was either done pre building regs or ignoring building regs. I would think new work requires a building warrant, although someone could correct me. I hope you don't let visitors use these stairs, they look quite dangerous and I would be quite concerned re legal liability they create. There is no way an insurance company would pay out if anything happened as they are clearly unsafe.

I would be worried that you would devalue the cottage by putting plastic fascias on it. IT is not what someone buying a period property will be looking for. Is it in any kind of conservation area? If so I would think this needs planning permission and wouldn't get it.

The Devon house story is featured in the Daily Mail today. The comments are as smugly mean as you might expect, but two points came out of them. 1. Apparently he borrowed £2.5m from small investors in Funding Circle in 2016 to progress the build and according to commenters has defaulted on this. I have not found any more information on this, but it seems strange to lend this without security. 2. Was it a dream house or was it actually a property development? Considering the numerous comments on the show about how much the finished house would be worth, how much the smaller house was worth and the borrowing on what appears to be commercial terms, is this really an overambitious property development? It may be that is what it became when the money ran out, but I can't help but feel it was maybe done with a profit motive not a dream home motive. Edit: So I found someone on Funding Circle saying that they have so far invested £3m and have not seen a penny back yet, property development loans do not amortise, they are interest only until the development is sold or refinanced, although apparently the normal term is 12 months. I do not believe it has defaulted and I suspect that it is secured on the property. Funding Circle were projecting a 30% return from the project, but are reviewing this. If this is true and the house was to eventually be finished the owner will have paid out I reckon over £1.5m in interest. Funnily enough Funding Circle stopped doing property development loans last year and no longer publish their default rates.

TBF there have been two divorces this series, but I don't remember there being any before, maybe one. There was that one last year where the GF mysteriously disappeared. Considering the divorce rate that's not bad.

Put as many hall light switches in as you can and make sure you put can control the lights from the other floor. Put extra bedroom light switches next to the beds. Use PIR sensors in bathrooms, utility rooms etc and don't bother with switches in these rooms. Put a supply to the front door for the bell. Do you actually have a full electrical plan? You should try and think as much as possible everywhere you may want a TV, lamp etc so you don't have cables all over the place. I would put at least one cat 6 cable everywhere you want a TV, 2 if you want to use satellite boxes. You then need a central point that you wire in your broadband, TV etc to and distribute it around the house. I spend more time on the electrical plan than almost anything else in the house and still made mistakes.

This was one of the saddest episodes of Grand Designs that I have ever seen. When you pay for professional advice, I really do think they need to take some responsibility. There was no way that house was ever being built for £1.8m. Also he said that the budget included £250k of professional fees, so was the budget actually £1.55m. When the architect was standing there saying how much he loved the curves I just kept thinking that curves are way more expensive to build. I hope his fee was fixed! The owner also needs to take personal responsibility. Basically he couldn't afford the house. If he couldn't borrow that much money it was presumably because he was trying to borrow more than 3-4x his income. I also wonder that his income hasn't been steadily falling over time. I think using all your savings and borrowing up to the hilt to build a house on an expensive and uncertain site is crazy. You just do not have the room to manoeuvre if things go wrong. I can understand how easy it is to get carried away though. I am not sure why you would want an outdoor pool in such an exposed location. I really am enjoying this series of Grand Designs as the people are actually building houses. A few series back it was trying too hard to be different, a particular low point for me was the guy doing some kind of boat conversion.

I hate the idea of putting switches in my lovely clean glass splashback so I had the switches put in the carcus of the cabinets at each end of the row (the sides of the ovens above). This also makes the switches a lot less obvious when looking at the kitchen and makes the splashback easier to install. In general, unless they had to be in a specific place, I tried to install switches in rooms where they could not be seen, e.g. on the far side of a chimney breast seen when you enter the room. Our isolators are all in the back of a larder cupboard in the main kitchen, but in other places they are too high up to reach without a step/stool. The big multigrid switches or even worse heavy duty hob/oven switches that we used to have are something I would rather not have on display. As mentioned using the main board is probably easier to use anyway, the ovens etc are clearly marked, but this is a good point for my parents' house if/when we get permission.