Temp

Toolstation sell an electric mortice release. https://www.toolstation.com/electric-mortice-release/p33871?store=K1&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=CjwKCAjwx_boBRA9EiwA4kIELut56idmCnJLD72M6AbtPcpr00BG5ymu2aBck7_ahMVTV8xCKgWfbRoCIwUQAvD_BwE I can think of a few ways to use one of these to do what you want. Push button on outside to unlock door. Switch or numeric keypad inside to lock it and disable outside button.

If you have PP to knock down the barn and build a new house to live in yourself you should be exempt from the CIL, but as others have said you MUST follow the exact sequence detailed on the forms or you can loose the exemption. The rules on a conversion are not clear... I wrote to my MP and had him check if the exemption applies to a conversion. I got a reply that didn't really answer the question. My feeling was the government were happy to leave this as a grey area up to individual councils/courts. If your council decides conversions aren't eligible the calculation should deduct the area of existing buildings, so its only the increase in area that is charged and only if the new area is over 100sqm. So suppose you plan to convert a 200sqm barn to a 250sqm house. The new floor area is 250sqm which is more than 100sqm so CIL is payable but its only payable on the increase which is 250-200=50sqm. I know this will sound odd but it does appear to be the way councils are interpreting the >100sqm rule.

260kohm equates to about 1mA leakage current. Bit low to trip an RCD?

The fastest way you can get a bonus is to pay in £1,200 then make 2 monthly payments of £200 making £1600 in total for which you get £400 bonus. Total time about 3 months. The slowest possible way would be to pay in just enough to reach £1,600 in 2030. If we say 2030 is about 120 months away it means the minimum you need to save is at least £14 a month (£14 * 120 = £1,680).

No that's wrong. The _maximum_ you can save is £200 a month, except when you open it when you can put in a lump sum of £1200. There is a minimum bonus of £400 so you must have saved £1,600 before you can claim. There is a maximum bonus of £3,000 for which you need to have saved £12,000. Details https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/help-to-buy-isa/how-does-it-work/ Martin Lewis urging people to consider a Help to Buy ISA.. https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/9227324/martin-lewis-first-time-buyers-help-buy-isa-now/

Anyone with kids over 16 should consider opening a Help to Buy ISA for them even if you just put £1 in. That's because the scheme ends on 30th November 2019. You can continue to put money in after then and use it to buy a house until 2030. You need to be over 18 to start a Lifetime ISA but it's 16 for Help to Buy ISA.

Depends on the architect and your build method. Getting him to do the building control drawing pack and getting it approved might be a reasonable minimum. On the other hand you could also employ him to oversee the build making regular inspections during construction but it can get expensive. Typically they want a percentage of the finished build cost, so if you decide to go for a better kitchen you can end up paying another % to the architect even if he has no involvement with the kitchen design.

Think I would stick with rads. We have 80mm of celotex under our UFH and wish we had more.

Mixed supply should be at the lowest rate. Eg "Supply and fit" should all be zero rated as labor is zero rated. I believe both "design" and "supply" are standard rated. Normally only materials/supply can be reclaimed but I think you might ok if it's not itemised.

Might also be a problem with the spring. You may need to leave that off as well.

So there was a condition that required the materials be approved before starting work. If that wasn't discharged its very likely the planning permission expired. The seller should be able to tell you if this condition was discharged but you are right to check with the planners on its status. You might find the planners aren't prepared to tell you its status in writing. Such a letter wouldn't be binding on them anyway. To be 100% safe legally you would need them to issue a certificate of lawfulness for which there is a fee and time delay.

Only time I've noticed glass is green is when the edge is visible, never seen an issue with it effecting the colour of light in a room. We also went for low iron glass (Optiwhite) on our frameless shower but that was just to get rid of the green edges. http://www.glasswarehouse.co.uk/optiwhite-glass-low-iron-toughened-glass/ Google suggests you can get low iron glass sealed units made.

Wife reminds me we still have the unit in the garage! The indoor unit is "portable" in that it's on castors but you can't move it around much. The outdoor unit is intended to be hung on an outside wall. Here is a photo of the pipe connections and the instructions on the back of the indoor unit. They are fixed permanently at the outdoor unit. The pipe is oval and has in it.. Flow & return pipes, a condensate tube and an electrical cable. Overall dims of the pipe are about 50mm x 25mm. The connectors on the end are 24mm (across the flat) but can't be sent through the hole individually. So I think the hole in the wall would need to be at least 50mm and 60mm diameter for comfort. The grey stuff on the cold is foam tape. Underneath it looks similar to the hot connection.

+1 Only new houses are zero rated. Conversions are 5% rated,. Pretty much everything else is standard 20% rated. The exception being houses that are being renovated after having been unoccupied for a number of years (and are still unoccupied when the work is started) there are different rates for those. He shouldn't charge you VAT if he isn't VAT registered. However that doesn't necessarily mean he should/must reduce his total bill, he just shouldn't include an item for VAT as he's not going to be sending that to HMRC. What he charges is up to him at the end of the day. What were other quotes like? My guess he quoted £86k + Vat knowing that the "vat" was going in his pocket as profit. In other words it allowed him to quote less than other builders that are VAT registered. That's a perk of not being VAT registered. One question I have... I think the VAT threshold is £85K? So does he have to register if he does your job? Perhaps someone else knows.

We had a small precharged split unit purchased in Belgium 12 years ago. The unit came with instructions on how to separate the two units to allow the pipe to pass through a hole in a wall. As I recall the ends of the pipe had some valves that automatically sealed when disconnected.

To extend PP beyond the normal 3 or 5 years the work has to be _lawfully_ started not just started. It sounds like he may not have got necessary planning conditions discharged before starting work. For example there might be a condition requiring materials be approved before work starts on site. If he failed to get that discharged the PP might well have expired some years ago. In which case you would need new PP just to build the original design. It should be possible to get that PP but watch out for policy changes that may have occurred since it was originally granted. You should ask the planners if they consider the site still has valid PP that could be implemented. If I was selling the plot I would increase its value by either getting a certificate of lawful development confirming work has lawfully "started" or renew the PP.

One possibility might be one extractor fan and an air brick between WC and utility room so that it's "shared". But would need the BCO to agree.

There are two separate issues: 1) Planning Permission: This isn't normally required when converting a garage, unless you are converting it to a separate dwelling (eg one that can be "separately occupied" independently to the main house, or has its own address, or is rented out or sold off as a separate house). See... https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/25/garage_conversion If you need advice from the Planning Department you can try asking them but they may not give it until you pay a fee for "pre-application advice". 2) Building Control Approval: This is essentially a certificate that confirms the work done meets the Building Regulations. You can't get one until the work is actually complete. There are two procedures that can be followed. a) "Full Plans Approval" involves getting the design approved first. or b) "Building Control notification" which involves doing the work and then having them inspect it. The risk with this approach is they may find something wrong that is costly to fix. Both require you to pay a fee before they will really speak to you. So you may not need to contact the council at all but it depends if the garage will be separately occupied to the main house. If in doubt bask yourself... Could someone live in the garage without needing a key to the main house? If the garage is totally self contained it's possible planning permission could be required.

I would strongly recommend a pressure test. Looks like HSS can rent you the pump but you may need to get adaptors. Many UFH systems have connections to suit a hose. https://www.hss.com/hire/p/pipe-pressure-tester There are bound to be vids on youtube.

90 degree bend "supports were provided with my UFH pipe. I gather it's to stop the pipe suddenly kinking when you try to achieve the sharp rad bend below a manifold. Here are similar supports on ebay but I haven't checked the diameter.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Underfloor-Heating-Pipe-Bend-Supports-Cold-Forming-pr-14-18mm-Pipes-/264303295351

It could be quite a lot of work to break out all that concrete but it is the right thing to do. My guess is he doesn't want to do that much physical work and/or hasn't got the equipment. Looking at the photos suggests he will use about 18 bricks per course. Each course is 75mm high. If we assume the porch is 2.8m high that's about 38 courses. Total number of bricks about 18 * 38 = 684. I think a pallet is about 500 but it varies. So 1.5 pallets (750) is possibly about right. They work out at about £1.06p each. Have they delivered that many or is he bringing small quantities in his van? I'm afraid I agree with others.

Those Visonic Quad PIR sensors are pretty good. Never had a false trigger with ours. Turn off the LED using the link inside to improve battery life.

In England I think you could still build the original house if the PP hasn't expired. Not sure about Scotland.

Bit too late but Google found.. £11 a month.. https://freeola.com/line-rental/?gclid=CjwKCAjw0tHoBRBhEiwAvP1GFXs2dVIBXCkzqqI5MpfTqaEqLPQeB292OKKWkiYzeC57_OsDgz3s6hoCRZwQAvD_BwE But I've no experience of them. Don't know if they can handle an installation.

+100000 Planning the layout is key. Sometimes it's better to have cut tiles at both start and end of a run to avoid a slither one end. Ditto with holes for things like shower mixers. Sometimes it's best to arrange the tiles so you are drilling in the middle, other times you want to arrange the hole to be on a grout line so you can notch the two tiles either side. Anything to avoid having to drill near an edge.