newhome

Ok, so good for imprisoning children, or to use as a dungeon or torture chamber then. You’re not selling it TBH. My take is that I deffo wouldn’t want a larger house and would much rather have something with natural light. Horses for courses I guess ?.

Well I could be sympathetic or honest or brutal Instead, I’ll use one of my favourite phrases from work and say MTFU! Hope you feel better soon ????

How so if you have lots of space above ground? I see the benefit if you are tight on space or can only go single storey but otherwise if you can get the size you need anyway I don’t see the point of one TBH.

Why did you take it off? You’ll wreck it if you keep ripping bits off the panelling.

Poor @Nickfromwales! @PeterW is very bad telling everyone he's a pie boy cos he's really not and nor does he wear a stetson. The horse, well I don't know if he has a horse. More likely to be sheep in Wales I guess .

Sorry for hi jacking your thread @lizzie but is there a way of plugging a shower drain to prevent smells when it dries out. There is one shower where I have to keep filling the damn thing up and given that shower isn’t used could I just put a plug in it?

Criteria for eligible Wardrobes from VAT Notice 708 is below: Basic wardrobes installed on their own with all the following characteristics: the wardrobe encloses a space bordered by the walls, ceiling and floor. But units whose design includes, for example, an element to bridge over a bed or create a dressing table are furniture and are not building materials the side and back use three walls of the room (such as across the end of a wall), or two walls and a stub wall. But wardrobes installed in the corner of a room where one side is a closing end panel are furniture and are not building materials on opening the wardrobe you should see the walls of the building. These would normally be either bare plaster or painted plaster. Wardrobes that contain internal panelling, typically as part of a modular or carcass system, are furniture and are not building materials The wardrobe should feature no more than a single shelf running the full length of the wardrobe, a rail for hanging clothes and a closing door or doors. Wardrobes with internal divisions, drawers, shoe racks or other features are furniture and are not building materials. Of course you can just claim for the bits that make up an allowable structure and add the internals later. The thing they will disallow is buying a wardrobe as flat pack even if you said you were only using the doors and did away with the sides etc (someone apparently tried to argue this case). I haven't actually altered mine. I find the shelf and hanging rail work just fine as I have lots of other drawers etc elsewhere to use. Actually that's not quite true as I have 2 hanging rails in a couple of the wardrobes as I only need one to take full length clothes.

Where are they? I thought most of the prefabs round Sevenoaks way had been flattened.

I think that's right. It's said that you know whether it's 'the one' almost immediately and once people get that feeling they are prepared to overlook several things to secure the house. Apparently people spend approximately 27 minutes viewing the biggest purchase of their life, less time than they take to buy a smartphone, a car, or choosing a holiday.

I don’t think people give a stuff about them in general. My friends are looking to buy a house and sent me the details of houses they were viewing. One was a self build with ASHP, UFH, MVHR etc. They hadn’t even really noticed that but didn’t like that the paddock it came with was close to neighbours. I went with them for a second viewing of another house and they hadn’t even registered what heating it had (oil boiler, UVC and rads). I asked the vendor and he didn’t really know either. Just said ‘top of the range’. Got the same answer when I asked about insulation too. House had a D EPC rating with potential to bring it to a C but he had no clue what was suggested to bring to a C. And the estate agent in sky scraper stiletto heels (I wouldn’t have been happy for her to walk all over my solid wood floors in them but the vendor said nothing) only used one word pretty much. ‘Fantastic’ was all she said. She knew nothing at all about the house she was selling.

Fashions seem to change, so what is desirable now may not be in 10 years. The kitchen always used to be separate mostly, then people wanted somewhere to eat and now as @ProDave says now they want somewhere to sit and relax too, so the kitchen family room is king at present. I love having a separate living room too that is good for visitors or getting away from the hustle and bustle if more people were living here. A nice looking kitchen helps to sell especially as it’s a big ticket item to replace. People seem to be interested in location and being in the catchment area of a desirable school attracts a high premium. What the house looks like from the outside is important too. No one wants an ‘ugly’ looking house so be careful about über modern looks as they could date more quickly or appeal to a smaller group of buyers. People mostly look at superficial things IMO and aren’t interested in renewables or the amount of insulation, but they may wish to see your utility bills. An ensuite shower is very desirable even if it’s cupboard sized. Where I lived previously there was a lot of house building and even the 3 bed semis had an ensuite and family bathroom. A downstairs cloakroom is also desirable but needed to pass building regs now anyway. A utility room would be on my list too. I want a private garden but not a huge one. Something relatively low maintenance but provides somewhere to sit and entertain, with some nice doors to the garden. Bi folds seem very popular now. No gaudy colour scheme, although that is superficial of course. I also prefer hard floors but that’s changeable too. Looking round some show homes will help as others have said, but they have some clever staging techniques too.

None at all and the posts before confirm this IMO. Still astounds me that someone so blatantly against the majority here has the cheek to keep posting, and asking for advice.

Yes I would agree where UFH is concerned although we did all of the pipework ourselves as that wasn’t the hardest thing in the world. It was connecting it all up and commissioning that was where the specialist knowledge was needed. Weirdly though our roofer was far too cheap but was ace. He quoted much less than the 2 other quotes (like half!), seemed a bit rough and ready, but he was recommended so we went with him. He was one of the best trades we had in the end. Finished the job on time and charged exactly what he quoted. We actually paid him a bit more for a job well done. Helped out the budget position enormously. Had him back for the garage and extension.

Hmm, indeed! I think the only bits that worked in mine were things still in the box!

@daiking, @Nickfromwales is an ale man. Anytime, anyplace, anywhere ?.

TBH during our build plumbers were the least reliable of the trades in terms of turning up and most of the ones we had were pretty crap too so if you have a decent one it’s probably worth the wait. Is everything else finished now then? It’s much easier to get things sorted when you’re not working round your own stuff trying to sort things. Does the other guy need a van? Can’t he come in a car, or you go pick him up?

That's certainly what I read on a specialist tax forum, ie if it's in the curtilage of the garden of the PPR and under 0.5 hectares in total then it's not applicable, but if larger or on land designated agricultural, paddock etc even if adjoining the house and garden then it is applicable.

What is the top made of just now? What is the unit made of?

Welcome to the crazy world of self build. Exciting, challenging, sometimes terrifying, and a journey not many choose to take. You are among like minded folk here though. Read lots of threads, ask lots of questions; you are fortunate to have found this forum right at the start. Remember, there are no dumb questions here.

Christ I did that for weeks last winter when I couldn’t get someone out ?. It’s doable. Wear a jumper and warm socks, plus you can pop to the old house to shower lol.

I think you are just going to have to go with it tbh. Getting anyone else will likely come with an overhead of cost as most trades don’t want to pick up a job halfway through. It’ll be a case of ringing round and finding out if you do want to go down that route but I doubt anyone will agree a fixed price for something that is an unknown quantity. Annoying I know but you’ll either have to go with the flow and move in without hot water, or heating in some places (think you have electric UFH in some places), or just sit tight.

Welcome to BuildHub. Experience is always welcome here ?

No I don't believe it should. If the barns weren't part of the PPR (as in the back garden and and the whole PPR area less than 0.5 hectares) then CGT would be due I imagine just as it would be due if you gifted a second home. Similarly if you gifted land that wasn't part of your main house then CGT would be due.

Don’t forget there is a marketplace on here too.

There is a similar thread here. Not sure if you’ve read this one?