AliG

What is it about them that Rationel cannot supply? Are they lift and slide? I don't think Rationel do them.

Nothing stopping you doing it, probably easier to build. But I wouldn't, people are unlikely to look directly up when they come through the front door, their eyes will be drawn to the stairs and it is double height there. Meanwhile the first floor landing will feel a lot more cramped after the change. Also is there a games room or something in the roof? People in beds 2-4 will have to go down then up the stairs to get there. I also think the little corner in front of the square bay could look awkward. You could reduce the width to 900mm ish if you want a bigger double height space but I would keep the landing.

Bosch PSB 1800 Li-2 drill/driver with 2 batteries for £59.99 on Amazon today. Other Bosch specials to day also. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Cordless-Combi-Lithium-Ion-Batteries/dp/B01CJO8VVE/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=bosch%2Bcordless%2Bdrill&qid=1569227474&s=gateway&sr=8-5&th=1

This looks like an interesting idea. Maybe for someone older. However, the microwave controls are at the same height as the top of the door which would be over 2m. Taking hot liquids from above eye level would seem to be a very unsafe piece of design.

We don’t have them anymore as our handless kitchen did not have enough clearance under the rail below the counter for the dishwasher. Tbh I wish I had raised the counter slightly as I liked it so much. I am not sure if we had the sliding hinge in the last house as it appeared that the height of the door meant they had to notch the top of the plinth below the dishwasher. Bring able to get extra large plates and pots on the bottom shelf whilst still getting tall glasses on the top shelf made loading it so much more straight forward.

We have two. First time we have had two and it is great. Particularly good if you have a party or a big meal with lots of pots, pans and bowls. I would also recommend an extra tall dishwasher. We had one in the last house, but not this time as we didn't have the height in a handleless kitchen. Siemens do an 86.5cm tall dishwasher and it is much easier to load than a standard height dishwasher. Siemens SX736X03ME for example or Neff S723M60X1G. I would also look for a sink big enough to take a full oven sheet/shelf. These do not clean well in a dishwasher and if your sink isn't wide enough then you cannot easily steep them in hot water.

Interesting, the guy that I spoke to was quite vague. I might try ordering up 4 and see what happens. First I need to email them and ask where the 275s went.

Thanks, I went in and spoke to them yesterday. My car (Tesla Model X) has 275/45 R20 on the back and 255/45 R20 on the front. These were on the website a week ago and it was roughly £150 cheaper than elsewhere between the £100 off and Costco being cheaper to begin with. However, when you go to order them a full page of disclaimers comes up. Costco won't fit tyres of a different spec to those currently on the car, Costco will only fit tyres to the rear if you buy 2 etc. I checked the spec on my car and the tyres have a Y speed rating. For some reason the 275 cross climates are Y rated and the 255s are W rated. W rated is max speed of 168mph and Y rated is 186mph! So I went in to ask them if this was an issue. The guy said that Costco would not fit tyres of different spec to the front and rear axles of a 4wd car. Now I know that you do have to be careful because in a 4wd the axles are usually connected. I could have argued that this is not an issue in an electric car as there is no driveshaft between the axles. Also the speed rating is irrelevant as long as it is above the top speed of your car. But he wasn't going to budge. Internet searches suggest that Costco are entirely inflexible and stick to their rigid corporate policy. By this point the 275 have also disappeared from their website. They couldn't explain why, but they wouldn't fit just 2 non matching tyres to a 4wd car anyway and they also won't fit tyres to the front axle only although I don't know how they are supposed to work the policy on car that have staggered tyre sizes like mine. So that is that, a great deal but such a strict policy that many people cannot actually buy tyres there.

Reviews suggest that they do not seal as well if you have glasses on.

The 3M one that is £130 at Screwfix is £75-81 at Amazon. People seem to seem them for £30 on Ebay but I think they are knock offs. https://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-3-M-Mascara-Full-6000-Series/dp/B00FYNN6NQ?th=1

I got our house number and doorbell from a German company called Metzler. They work well if you have a very modern look, they are generally stainless steel or RAL 7016. They sell off Amazon or their own website. Not cheap but great quality. I hate going to a nice house and seeing a little plastic doorbell. https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/node/11221997031?_encoding=UTF8&field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=Metzler-Trade&ref_=bl_dp_s_web_11221997031

Thanks @joth. Sorry I didn't get back to you in that thread. It seems that it just measure net usage as far as I can see.

I don't know all the hate about smart meters. It saves having to read the meter. I wanted one so that I could get the cheap EV charging from Octopus which requires a smart meter.

I went and checked his after a previous discussion. We have 5kw of PV split equally across 3 phases. Our electricians have split the circuits across the phases, but we have a 3 phase car charger and the pool dehumidifier which is probably the biggest user of electricity in the house is also 3 phase. I have taken some pictures to show how this works. We also have an Elster meter, an A1140 which measures kWh across all three phases so basically works like any other meter. Currently you cannot have a three phase smart meter, none have been approved yet.

Apparently it is pressure washer week at Amazon These are good deals today, checked on camelcamelcamel I'd be buying the P150 with a 10m hose, but my Karcher is hanging gamely on. Nilfisk C120 £75, normally around £90-110 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nilfisk-Pressure-Washer-Patio-cleaning/dp/B01MSYCQ8N?ref_=Oct_DLandingS_PC_1db5b1d2_1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Nilfisk P150 £260, normally around £400 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nilfisk-Pressure-Washer-Induction-Motor/dp/B004OTOIYM?ref_=Oct_DLandingS_PC_1db5b1d2_0&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

The objection to the garage is one of the more comical objections that I have read, people need to get a life. The house is further away than the one you are knocking down and the windows facing the boundary are not habitable rooms. I cannot see any issue at all. Also I think the windows are at right angles to each other although it is hard to tell. Why do they underline that the house is larger. What is the relevance? This is the kind of nonsense we got. What is the relevance of being overlooked by the other neighbour, that is nothing to do with you. The planners will likely ignore the objection. Arguably their house is way too near the boundary and causing the issue. I believe the 20m type rules do not apply when the existing property is breaking the rules. So in Edinburgh there is a 9m distance for habitable rooms to a boundary and 18m total. But I believe if the other house is less than 9 m from the boundary then that is their problem not yours. Basically people want to build right up to the edge of their plot then think it effectively gives them ownership of part of yours.

I had a V6 and the battery gave out after a couple of years, I replaced it and it gave out even sooner. I spoke to our cleaning lady and she says hers did exactly the same. It is a great product but this is a pain. The V10 whilst much more expensive has a battery supposedly good for 800 full cycles, they suggest it is good for 15 years. I guess that's based on one cycle a week. Anyway, I waited for the 10% off day at Ebay and bought a refurb with this offer, I am hoping it lasts a lot better than the V6. I also bought a £90 Nilfisk Vac so I stop wasting my expensive vacuum on building work.

Good deal on Diall Work lights at Screwfix. https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/work-lights/cat4780004?brand=diall&cm_sp=managedredirect-_-lighting-_-diallworklight

That was considered, tbf the wall was sitting there for about a year and didn't get that wet before the slurry coat was applied so hopefully we are OK. We did put in some field drains behind the wall to take away large amounts of water.

One of the last two jobs is just being done, the garden walls. The stone has taken ages to come. We fitted a strip of powder coated aluminium to match the windows onto the wall and put a slurry coat n before the render. Hopefully this will stop the render getting too wet and blowing. So many garden walls that I see have the render cracked and falling off. I have noticed at one point on the house where the render comes down to the arch around the front door, the bottom edge is starting to go green above the arch as the water sits on top of the stone and runs into the render. We need to find a way to stop this, either a mastic band or a small flashing. We may mastic the back edge of the bench seat shown here as otherwise we might have the same issue where water sits on the seat and runs back into the wall. The last job after that will be the front gate, which I am told is imminent. I have wanted to do a photoshoot, but wanted everything to be finished. I have bought myself a Nilfisk wet and dry vac, my wife has been laughing as I may have been vacuuming outside today after the work.

I missed the tyre offer, I was waiting for it to order Crossclimates before winter. The tyres are also a good bit cheaper than Blackcircles even before the discount. It lets you order them for a later date if you don't need them today. It seems happy to let me order them for November fitting.

Surprised to hear about the ravine issues, I would have thought the first thing you do before building on the coast is look into how likely it is to be eroded away. Considering this, is the house uninsurable? I guess you might get insurance that excludes some risks, but this would be a pain to organise. When they were building, I knew as soon as his wife came in, she would say it was too small. I had to constantly show my wife room sizes versus our existing house etc. She kept insisting I had not made spaces large enough, even though from the sizes on the plan they demonstrably were fine.

Absolutely beautiful house today. I have said so many times that I don't understand why there are not more houses on the cost in the UK. Clearly in this situation building was hard, but there are lots of less exposed places still with very few houses. As ever it wasn't clear how much effort went into insulation, but it wasn't that big a house and is part buried so probably won't cost too much to heat. I would have thought that 3G windows were warranted in the situation, but there may be issues with installing them at those sizes.

Looks like you have a good choice there. To answer the previous question, the Velux vent is integrated into the handle. So you twist the handle to its first position and it opens the vent and then twist it further to open the window. I find it quite annoying as the vent doesn't ever feel securely closed. It just seems to be pressure from the handle.

I just had Kevin's Grandest Designs on in the background. I was very pleased to see that the Huf Haus couple from 2003 were still going strong and living in the house.