Temp

My news feed says a new place just opened in Preston.. https://www.lancashirebusinessview.co.uk/lancashire3d-opens-preston-plant-109816/ Open to the public.

Just for info the cheapest printer I've seehn is a clone of the Anet A8 made by CTC on eBay for £90. However it needs assembling and some FETs boards adding (£12 from Amazon) to prevent a known fire risk. You also need an SD card and reader for your PC. A reel of ASA filament is about £25-30 on Amazon. So if you have time you might DIY for say £150? However that printer is pretty basic. Most people who buy one end up printing upgrades to improve it or even replacing the wooden frame with aluminium extrusions. Edit: Not sure if that printer will print ASA.

Perhaps get a pressure gauge from screwfix/tool station and measure it? Pressure at our house isn't huge but we needed to fit pressure reducing valves on wash basins to stop splashing. If you do the same make sure they are accessible as you may have to adjust them up a bit after a year or so.

Googling 3d printing services finds loads but to get a quote most want to upload your design. However I found this place that will estimate cost based on dimensions before you have the design files... https://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk/pricing/ I tried entering 20mm x 10mm x 5mm, 2 bodies (whatever that is), qty 10, white nylon and it said £40.

ASA looks like the right material to use. Rigid.ink says it has good UV resistance. As I understand it the design software (the slicer?) will tell you how long the print will take and how much material it needs. I expect they charge by the hour. I doubt the material will cost much. Whole 1kg reel is about £25.

I've been looking at buying a cheap 3D printer if my son is allowed to do a project at school. I won't be offering a printing service but I've been doing some research recently. How strong do they need to be? Strength can vary depending on the material (PLA, ABS, Nylon etc) and the direction of the layers. Sometimes the adhesion between layers isn't great and they fail along the "grain". Might be ok if the hooks are printed laying on their side and load isn't huge. Looking at getting Fusion 360 to do our design(s). It has a free license for experimenters.

Perhaps worth looking at the policy documents cited to see if they mention heat pumps. If the COP of the ASHP is say 3 then it consumes 1kW for every 3KW delivered. So compared to electric rads/immersion heater you could argue your ASHP delivers 66% of the heating/dhw from a renewable source. Aside: Here it says that an EPC doesn't have an option for both "PV and ASHP" or has that changed?.. http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=12156

I must get around to measuring the power consumption of our PIR night light. I wondered if the PIR part consumed more than the LED?

Well done Tesco... https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/exclusive_tesco_plotting_uk_superstore_solar_rollout_programme

If you plan to have a combi boiler make sure they check the pressure and flow rate carefully. Not sure if it helps but the water companies are obliged to deliver 0.7 bar (some sources say 1 bar) where the supply crosses your boundary. However it's not clear to me how they measure that. eg is it the static pressure (no water flowing) or while you are running all the taps in your house? If it's just a static pressure it's useless as far as protecting customers.

I'd start with making it mandatory to put PV on new distribution warehouses. We've had many of these spring up along the A14 and they have vast roofs typically around 1 million square foot.

Yes should be fine if it's not a wet room. If tiling the shower area and any of it is studwork wall I recommend using a 12mm waterproof cement board like Hardibacker board. Not only does it stand up to any water much better than plasterboard but it takes fastenings quite well. So if you want a soap dish, or hook for a shower head you don't have to worry about screwing into a stud, it can just about fix anything anywhere (although perhaps not something like a heavy cabinet).

+1 It should have been zero rated to you so no vat paid and therefore nothing to reclaim. The rules allow you to get work "closely connected to the construction of the building" zero rated (or reclaim the VAT if it's materials you purchased). Para 3.3.4 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-708-buildings-and-construction/vat-notice-708-buildings-and-construction

How are you doing the shower tray/trap? If the tray is going on the floor (no plinth) then use a top access trap. We omitted the insulation under the tray and built a platform from marine ply and treated timber roughly the same height. That gave space for the pipework under the tray. Our tray was very heavy so we made a template and used it to get the waste pipe and base of the trap in the right place (clearance hole in the marine ply). Once happy the trap was in the right place we glued the tray down over it. Then seal and screw the top part of the trap through the tray into the bottom part. Then fit the tube that forms the water seal in the trap and mushroom cap. Very rough sketch not to scale

Putting a restrictor on the outlet of a mixer tap increases the pressure in the tap. That can cause the seal between the body and the movable part of the tap to leak more. If you have an isolation valve under the sink to make changing the washers easier perhaps just shut them off a bit until the flow rate is within limits.

I've had problems with one or two of the wax actuator heads popping off but not the blender as that's a different design on our system. When the loop heads pop off the loop is permanently on.

Do you already have planning permission? Its quite common for them to add a condition requiring you to create the pavement/footpath when you apply.

I have a horrible feeling HMRC might decide that battery storage isn't something "normally incorporated in a new dwelling". If it matters I would try to get a ruling from hmrc. Edit: Perhaps ask the Solar Trade Association. Seems they negotiated the 5% rate when installed at same time as pv with hmrc... https://www.solar-trade.org.uk/sta-secures-tax-win-for-solar-and-batteries-for-householders/

I think 3.3.6 is more about HMRC trying to close loopholes that allowed people to zero rate work on a "plot" and then never build the house or on work done after completion. "Design" services are standard rated as per 3.4.1. So if a civil engineer designs a retaining wall then it would be standard rated. I think if you hired a civil engineer to "design and build" a retaining wall as a package then the lot that would be zero rated to you.

How wide is a wheelie bin?

S106 Contributions Hope you like reading!.. Not that I've heard. There are complex rules that govern the use of S106 payments. Originally they were meant to be specific to the plot (eg your house uses up green space so you must contribute to the maintenance/provision of parks, that kind of thing). However councils got good at bending the rules so they were tightened up a few years ago. There is now a limit on the way many S106 payments are pooled. So for example if they have already agreed five or more S106 to fund the same thing (eg parks) then they cannot set up any more for the same reason. This was meant to persuade councils to move to the CIL. The exception is S106 for affordable housing. I/this might be out of date but there is/was also an exemption/rule for small developments that would normally cover self builders. However the way this has been implemented by councils varies. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7200/CBP-7200.pdf The Ministerial Statement of 28 November 2014 is here.. https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/November 2014/28 Nov 2014/2. DCLG-SupportForSmallScaleDevelopersCustomAndSelf-Builders.pdf That was subject to some court cases which I think ended with the government winning in 2016. https://www.planningpotential.co.uk/news/government-wins-appeal-to-exempt-small-sites-from-affordable-housing-contributions/?id=197 However I have heard that some councils are still asking self builders for S106 payments for affordable housing. See this FOI request from 2018.. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/government_changes_to_the_106_ag To which the reply includes.. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/464934/response/1146352/attach/html/2/Response.pdf.html That basically says that decisions should be in accordance with the Local Plan and that National policy is "not the law". However the reply to the FOI appears to leave it up to councils to decide how much weight to give to the governments Ministerial Statement when writing the local plan. So you might find something in the local plan that is contrary to the Ministerial Statement and/or National Policy. It's also important to find out the status of the local plan. Is it just a draft? Has it been put out to consultation? Approved by the Planning Inspectorate? So what to do if they ask for a S106.... Find out if what they are asking you for is supported by the Local Plan. If not you could refuse to agree the S106. You would then have to appeal any decision or appeal for non-determination. However before doing that you should make sure all the other aspects of your application are likely to be approved. One thing I do know is that Appeal Inspectors put a lot of weight on the Local Plan especially if it has been out to consultation and ratified. So if what they are asking for is consistent with a ratified local Plan you should probably just give in pay up.

To meet government targets. They are meant to process as many as possible within 8 weeks but they don't have to count those where the applicant has agreed a delay or longer time period. Unfortunately an appeal to the planning Inspectorate can take a long time. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/appeals-average-timescales-for-arranging-inquiries-and-hearings Householder appeal Valid appeal to decision Written representations 14 weeks Note you need to add another 2 week to that as it takes that long for them to go from receiving your appeal paperwork to deciding it's valid. My local authority sends out a letter stating that they will assume you have agreed an extension unless they hear from you. As I recall the time period stated in the letter I got was vague. One option would be to find out how long similar applications are taking and subtract a few weeks or perhaps offer to extend to 16 weeks. However if you agree a delay beware of the timescales/window for an appeal may not be delayed. In other words if they delay long enough you can loose the right to appeal for non-determination. So if you agree a delay I would reserve the right to appeal for non-determination.

Planning and Building control are separate issues... Planning: Once you have planning permission it can only be changed in very exceptional circumstances and in some of those the planners have to pay compensation. This isn't one of those situations. The planners have no mechanism to change your existing approval but the issue could be raised should you make a revised application or a new application. For example if you needed planning permission for the garage then the fire brigade could object then. If you don't need planning approval to build the garage then they have no opportunity to object on those grounds. That's why its important to know if you can build the garage under permitted development rules (which are complicated if its near the plot boundary). Building Control: The BCOs job is to ensure your house meets the Building Regulations. It sounds like he noticed you couldn't comply with Part B and contacted the fire department to see if they would give him an excuse to bend the rules in your favour. As it happens they said no. So you will have to come up with some solution. In my case we discovered a window was too small. The BCO allowed us to keep the small window on the proviso that we improved the fire rating of the door to that room. Eg he bent the rules for us. If you provided a turning circle now that would keep the BCO happy but it might cause problems later when you need him back to approve the garage and he finds your house no longer complies. . Th

We have a 25mm supply to the house which works but we see some interaction between outlets and I would fit 32mm if building again. This interaction is not due to pipes within the house. If you fit 32mm pipe you can still fit a 25mm meter so no extra charges. We are in an area prone to burst water mains. Its burst three or four times in 10 years. Each time I get the impression Anglian Water turn the pressure down a bit to try and prevent it happening again.

I typically buy 4W or 5W LED downlights each providing around 400 to 450 Lumens which I consider equivalent to a 240v 50W halogen downlight (note that 240v 50w halogen down lights arent as bright as 12V 50W halogen downlights so you need them closer together). I have five 7W POE IP cameras on one hub so I'd say yes its easily possible to run four 4w or 5w LEDs on a good hub.