newhome

Thought you were certified already ?

Ah well if you’ve got them anyway ... Best for DHW in summer however.

I understand the mortgage company but what’s it to do with the timber frame company?

Their warranties were removed from some mortgage lenders’ lists for a while when the issue kicked off but they seem to be back on now.

I have solar thermal but as @Alex C says it’s not very useful in the winter when it is most needed. If I chose again I would have PV instead.

Have a read. There was someone on FB complaining that they won’t communicate with him only this morning.

My inspector was pretty rubbish too. Again he hardly got out of his car. For the final sign off he asked for the gas safe certificate for the boiler (there was a photo of the boiler in his report and it was clearly electric), and said that the warranty didn’t cover the PV panels (the panels are clearly not PV, they are evacuated tube solar thermal). So it was circa 2.5k for a piece of paper that is worthless to me as far as claiming is concerned but could be useful if I sell within 10 years. Unless you are definitely going to sell within 10 years or need it for a mortgage. Mine is with Buildzone which seems to be one of the mainstream ones. Plus as we’ve seen with CRL / Alpha these companies can go bust too.

You would be portrayed as the big bad landowner riding roughshod over the planning regs, alienating the poor neighbours and decimating the outstanding beauty of the countryside in your status tractor ? ?

Every day’s a school day ? ?‍?

Wow, and there was me thinking the shower water came out of that tank! Is that different to an UVC then?

Are the utility and dining rooms in the existing house? Have to admit a loo off a kitchen never appeals to me much in truth. Years ago you had to have 2 doors between a loo and a living room / kitchen.

Who has to maintain it if you have to put it in rather than the council and who has the right to use it? Is it simply your path if you own the land or becomes something for the public to use if not your land?

So the cold water blends with the hot to produce water of the right temperature that is sent back into the loops and then some cold goes back to the boiler for reheating? I assume that initially the water in the store may be lower than in the floor (potentially if someone has just had a bath for example). Is there a decent diagram that explains it? I don’t want to fiddle with anything but would like to understand how it works. Or is my setup different? If the UFH is off all summer for example doesn’t the water in the loops go manky? And then you’re potentially showering with that water when it eventually feeds back into the TS? Or have I got that wrong too lol?

It’s temporary. He’ll be done by then ? ?

Yes I think the estate agent knows that it hasn’t gone through building control but more worrying is fact that it doesn’t have PP. I’m sure a fully self contained annex is subject to council tax but that this is reduced if occupied by a dependent. After all you could rent it as a separate residence. The person living there would need to pay the council tax. They are going to ring the council for advice without giving away the property details.

Still think it's a bit too early nonetheless. I would want an architect who had some sort of knowledge of what was practical / cost effective and hopefully he's only wanting them lined up so that you can move ahead quickly. Wouldn't hurt to get some potential names lined up I guess.

Yes that’s true. Mine didn’t. Supply only.

Mine engaged a SE to cover the timber frame but I had a separate one for the foundations etc. I dare say they could have done it all however.

What’s a services engineer? Is that the same as an M&E consultant? @vivienz has one of those but I don’t know when she engaged them initially. You would want an idea of the type of house you would like first I would have thought.

Not worth considering electric UFH that could be connected up? The floor levels you note above @zoothorn seem about right as a rough guide but you need to decide whether to put wet UFH pipes in and leave unconnected until you decide you want a heating system or leave for the next owner to connect up. As @Onoff says it's easy and cheap to lay the pipes 'while you're at it' but wouldn't be worth digging the floor up again afterwards.

You can't reclaim the VAT (you can't reclaim any VAT for labour or services) but you should be able to get the invoice zero rated at source I imagine if it was done as part of the demolition work and after planning permission had been granted. If they have incorrectly charged you VAT you need to write to them and ask for the invoice to be corrected (as long as it's not too long ago). There is a section in that thread that tells you how to do this. Remember, you can only claim for materials via the reclaim process. Anything else that you have been incorrectly charged VAT on has to be taken up with the supplier.

You probably want an unoccupied building policy that covers debris removal rather than rebuilding and will also cover property owners' liability. You'll need to speak to a specialist broker probably as most insurers don't cover uncommon scenarios. Google unoccupied property and debris removal and see what you get.

+1. You have to get a decent heating system in there or you'll be cold forever. Insulation doesn't heat your home. What do other properties have in the vicinity?

You can have electric UFH that wouldn't need a boiler etc. but if you wanted wet UFH you would need some way of heating the water and how would you do that? I'm no expert so can't tell you how feasible that is but with no central heating currently that might be a problem. PIR - I reckon the minimum you'd need is 100mm but many people put more in. Again I'm no expert but my house has less than that and I wish it had more.

Friends of mine have viewed a property (in England) that they are interested in buying. The listing from the estate agent mentions a detached garage but when they viewed the house the garage has been converted into an annex for the owners' parents. It has a bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen / laundry. They asked about it and were told that it has been done under permitted development and that the conversion was done before they bought the property. My friends have tracked down the estate agent listing when the current owners bought the property in 2012 and the conversion had indeed been made then as the listing mentions it but at that point it was only a half conversion at the back of the garage with a bedroom and a bathroom. Now the whole garage has been converted and the other half is now a kitchen/laundry and living room. They don't appear to have got either planning permission or building control sign off. My friends are still interested in the house but I thought that if a completely separate annex had been built not only did it need PP but that it would mean that separate council tax was due too? Can they avoid this if they immediately remove the kitchen? They would like to retain the laundry facilities if possible so that they have somewhere to wash their dog beds but have no wish to actually use the annex accommodation at this point. There is a other brick built building in the garden that is used as a summerhouse that appears to have no permission either. Sounds like a minefield to me TBH especially as they would like to extend the main house at some point anyway.