Temp

I would go and see them to say hello. Make sure they know that you are building the house to live in yourself and that you're not a developer. Ask about schools, village life, pub etc etc. so they know you intend becoming part of the local community. Find out a bit about them and what they do for a living. Tell them you will try to keep any noise and disruption down to a minimum etc. I would mention that you plan to change the design and reassure them you don't plan to build anything ugly or out of keeping (unless you do!). To some extent you can joke that the design won't be entirely down to you as the planners have so much say these days. I blamed the planners for a change that I secretly wanted and got away with it. You will probably have to go down the pre-application advice route with the planners. Most likely the planners will want to see some initial drawings and these will get iterated and changed a few times. I would NOT involve the neighbours in this discussion phase at all. Don't send them copies of any drawings. Once you get to the stage where you are ready to submit the formal application then I WOULD go see the neighbours. Take a set of drawings with you. Do it in person. I think this is better than letting them find out your application has gone in and having to get their own drawings. Our architect created a "street scene" drawing and some pen an ink/watercolour sketches that showed what the house would look like from the road. This included trees and hedges that obscure part of the house and gave a much better impression than the raw elevations. We left the neighbour with the best of these sketches not the elevation drawings.

We ended up with a policy from the Halifax. Was cheapest at the time and it was virtually unlimited. However our house doesn't have any flat roofs and is all traditional construction.

Advantages.. http://www.ustudy.in/node/3601 Lower losses. HVDC can carry more power per conductor No need for the ends to be in phase/synchronised so may improve system stability. DC needs inverters to convert the AC to DC and back but these can also be used to provide better control over the amount of power flowing = Improved stability. DC better for interconnects (eg point A to Point B only). AC better if you want to tap off at lots of sites along the way.

I don't think anyone has mentioned GRP/fake cast iron.. http://www.rainguard.co.uk/guttering/grp-glass-reinforced-plastic-guttering/?gclid=CjwKEAjwgo6_BRC32q6_5s2R-R8SJAB7hTG-uzWcSXbQL_wWVPjUriyZTwp8jaccoRdvzmG-oQcOLhoCba_w_wcB

That's possibly good news. If you try to push things I would round up dimensions to the nearest brick/block size rather than just adding an arbitrary 150mm. Usually there will be a scale rule somewhere on the drawing but that can also get stretched when drawings are photocopied. When you submit an application they want several copies and one is stamped "approved" and sent back to you. Depending on how the copies were made the one the planners keep can sometimes be slightly different to the one you have. It might be worth a trip to see the planning file at the council and making some careful measurements to see if your or their copy of the approved plans is slightly more favourable to you. As I recall photocopiers typically shrink a drawing by a few percent to ensure an A3 original always fits on an A3 copy.

Sometimes there is scope to get a refund if other houses are built that connect into your sewer later. Nor sure of your exact situation but might be worth exploring.

Most of our oak (eg floor, skirting stairs) was done using Osmo Hardwax Oil. Been dome 10+ years and had proved very hard wearing even in the entrance hall (family of four inc teenage rugby players). highly recommended. Have recoated the WC floor and that went down very well. We also have some indoor oak beams done with Danish oil and that has darkened slightly. Still very happy though. Has a more matt finish than the hardwax oil. Overall I prefer the finish on the Osmo but I would paint up samples with both and see which you prefer. Have some outside oak done in Danish oil. Looks great but loads of work to maintain. Needs loads of coats and recoating ideally twice a year. Once a year minimum or it will go black.

Some 10+ years ago i think our cheapest quote came from Milbank Floors/Milbank concrete products. However they were a long way from us and after transport costs a nearer supplier was a bit cheaper.

What Barney said. Normally once Building Control have issued a completion certificate the house is considered complete on that date. At least as far as the VAT man is concerned. After that you can no add new purchases to your VAT reclaim.

Normally you can service them (change the valve seals or cartridge) through the cover plate.

Tesco sell thin bleach very cheap. I dilute it 50/50 with water and put it in a Hozelock plant sprayer. Use it regularly in the shower and it stops mould forming on grout/silicon. Don't use a sprayer with brass parts or the bleach will corrode it.

Building Control When you think you are ready ask BC to make a final inspection. Our BCO wanted to.. a) witness us pressure test the drains b) check that all panes of glass were coated (he had a tester with him) c) check all safety glass was marked with the appropriate standard. d) I think he also asked for some paperwork from the electrician. Planning Make sure any planning conditions have been discharged. There is a fee for discharging conditions and to minimise that try and get all the conditions discharged in one go. Postal Address The council are responsible for allocating the formal address/house number etc. Some councils have different names for this department but try "The Address Development Team" or ask the planning department receptionist what it's called. They will send you a form on which you can enter a house name. Council Tax Well before completion the council sent us a letter from the Valuation Office (I think) stating that they thought we would be complete on some random date. We wrote back to tell them a more likely date and they accepted it. Council tax bills will arrive soon after. Telephone Get the connection process started asap as this can take awhile. We were in our house 6-8 weeks with no phone while they upgraded overhead lines. VAT Refund You have three months to submit your reclaim from the date of completion. You can only claim for things purchased prior to completion so don't forget any materials like paint that you intend to apply after moving in. Note that some things like plants and landscaping materials can only be reclaimed if they appear on a landscaping plan submitted or required as part of your planning application. Check to see is any trades have charged you VAT in error as this cannot be reclaimed from HMRC.

Just a reminder that walls have to meet Parts B (Fire) and E (Sound) and that this may affect the make up of the outer leaf.

My father always cheerfully asked "Where is my 100% discount"? Surprising how many places came back with a better price.

Have heard good things about the Swadling mixers from Matki. Have actually got one for one of our bathrooms but work on that is currently on hold. Video here has shots of the mixer around 1min 30..

Planning conditions usually state why they have been imposed so check your grant. However it would be very unusual for there to be a Planning Condition that only asks for the name of a supplier. I think that would probably be an unenforceable anyway. What is the exact wording of the condition? If you run into any problems getting a supplier approved come back for advice. Might be easy to get the condition lifted if there is one. It's more likely that Building Control want the details and they may also want to see the beam sizes justified. Can all be done by the Beam and Block supplier if you send them a drawing.

Not exempt but conversions do end up zero rated if they qualify.... New builds - Labor is zero rated to you so no need to reclaim. Materials are 20% rated to you, which you reclaim. Conversions - Labor is 5% rated to you, which you reclaim. Materials are 20% rated to you, which you reclaim. So in effect both end up zero rated. See notes at the end of the reclaim form for conversions... https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487887/VAT431C_form_and_notes.pdf Also.. https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/conversion-renovation-vat-2/

The problem is that Planning Permission doesn't trump all other legislation. Not all building work even needs planning permission but the wildlife laws still apply. If you don't want to apply for a licence I would get some barriers up. That way if the issue comes up later you can say your report found no evidence of newts on your land and you put up barriers to prevent them moving in from adjacent land and being killed during the clearance work. At least that would be some mitigation against any claim you acted negligently.

What Peter said. If it's not connected to the CH output they are typically connected to the primary side of the DHW system in the return from the HW cylinder to the boiler. If you connect it to the secondary side of the H/W cylinder (eg the same water that comes out of the hot tap) then I think you need a special type of towel rad made of inert materials like stainless steel not iron as that water cannot be dosed with anti corrosion agents/Fernox. http://www.featureradiators.co.uk/Articles/Radiators for Secondary Return Hot water Systems.htm

PS One reason towel rads can get very hot is because they are sometimes connected to the boiler HW system rather than the CH system. This is (was) done so that they come on at bath time and in summer when you don't have the CH running. Not an issue if you plumb it in on it's own circuit.

We managed to get a good deal on a towel horse like this because it was a 2nd... Ours is on it's own loop from the TS and has a pipe stat and time clock so we can control when it's on and the temperature. You can also get them with a rad in the middle but they can be expensive..

When travellers moved onto a site a few miles from us they brought in lorry after lorry load of hardcore raising part of the site several feet. The planners told someone living next to the site that they could take no action as there was no evidence of the original level. This is worth a look.. http://planninglawblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/earth-moving-for-garden-landscaping.html Note the very few cases of enforcement he was able to cite. In addition to the 300mm rule there are rules on paving front gardens (anti run-off measures) but you've probably seen those.

I was advised by several companies not to put rugs on wood over UFH but have done so without problem and ours does run quite hot.

I think I would consider erecting newt barriers asap to ensure they cannot migrate onto your plot. Then you would have your report showing no newts and a barrier to prevent new ones arriving. If there are no newts then no laws broken. Edit: Just read that email again... Perhaps safer to get another report done before erecting barriers and starting work?

Mine came with brackets for the wall and an aluminium channel for the tray. The channel was fixed to the tray with silicone. The channel was also part filled with silicone and glass inserted. Excess silicon removed. Very little silicone is visible, no large beads to speak of. Ten years later all still stuck solid.