Roz

Hi there everyone, We got our planning permission through a few days ago (yay!), and we have some drawings from the engineer, so I think we can start trying to get some builders interested in quoting for getting our little barn and extension to watertight shell. I've attached a screenshot of the spreadsheet we've started and were thinking of sending to builders to quote through. Obviously we'll meet them at site etc but if we send this is gives a list of the things we'd like them to get done for this initial phase. Is this too simplistic? It's a small project so didn't want to go overboard. I might have missed some things. Thanks for your thoughts! Roz

Thanks Jamie this is great info. I was posting on the go so forgot to say that we can’t commect to sewer so this soakaway was in relation to a septic tank or sewage treatment plant. Does this make any difference? Thanks so much

We have been told that due to potential mining activity close by that a soakawya isn’t supported at our site but an ‘attenuated discharge’ might be. Does anyone know what this means and what form it would take? Thanks a lot!! Roz

Thanks everyone. I'm more puzzled today as I asked for more details from one of them and they said they expect the job to take 2 weeks ?however it sounds like their quote did also include connecting in the road at the bottom, including the road opening fee they have to pay the council, whereas the other guy's didn't.

Thats great info thanks Peter. Is the info given by DigDat very precise? Or I suppose that's where the Cat scanner comes in. Would any 'man with a digger' have a cat scanner? A quick google tells me this means Cable Avoidance Tool, does it also detect water pipes?

Thanks everyone. Will have to keep badgering some other people then. Do diggers just crack through tarmac? It's a pretty pot holed lane so doesn't strike me that it would be a strong layer of tarmac. Our neighbour has said we can use the grass verge that they own, but we might come across other utilities and need to avoid by going into the tarmac. Plus towards the bottom of the lane we don't have grass-verge permission so will likely be digging in tarmac there. How much does re-tarmacing cost?? We know there are 2 sets of household utilities running down the side of the lane we would want to use (but don't know where yet) how much caution should be given when digging around these? Yes we're all under the impression there's not much trouble as the lane is unadopted (we might have to do some highways work at the very end for a couple of metres but this isn't included in their prices until we have had this confirmed). I was just confused as the one guy said it would only be two days like you all have said, but still quotes £3000. He also runs plant hire so it's not like he needs to hire the digger to do it. I've been passed a contact of a 'man with a digger' type guy so maybe he'll be more reasonable.

I've had two estimates come in for approx £3200 ex VAT to dig approx 100 metres in grass verge and some tarmac and lay ductwork ready for water and electric connection. Does this seem OK or should we keep badgering for more quotes? I only ask as one of them said on site it should only take 2 days. He has said he has quoted to bring another person with him so they can work around the other connections in the lane. This is down an unadopted lane, shared by 4 houses. This doesn't include the actual connections by Western Power and South West Water Thanks for thoughts!

Thanks everyone - all sounds positive. Yes South west water specifies 750mm depth too, so I think we'll be working to that also.

We'd all have our own pipes so I don't think selling would be an issue (if thats what you mean). It's just sharing the trench really. The trench wouldn't cross either of our properties in a 'joint' capacity, it would just go up to our drives and split into our properties. The groundworks guy seemed to suggest he'd lay pipes and ducting then leave it open at the ends for the providers to connect the services, paid for separately by each of us I would imagine. So the only shared bill would be the groundwork's trench running along the unclaimed, unadopted lane that 4 properties share. It seems like a good idea but don't want to get ourselves into a tricky situation by not thinking it through properly! Identifying our pipes in 10 years did have me wondering though.

We were at site today speaking to a groundworks company about getting our water and electricity connected when a neighbour came out to say they want to replace their water pipe as it keeps breaking. They suggested combining forces and laying their pipe at the same time. Obviously we'd ask them to pay half the trench price right? Can anyone see any issues with doing this?

It's about 5.5 metres. I was reading about having water tanks and boilers in garages etc and people kept recommending it was a waste of heat for the hot water to travel any distance. What do you think?

Oh noooo! The idea of your kids being the ones innocently transporting them around... I'm glad you still like the newts!

Thanks! Had assumed we would qualify for the 5% VAT but will make sure I look into it in more detail

That's a good way to look at it. We're not too exasperated really, as we know it's getting us in the right direction really. I only say pointless because we had to get a tree survey and ecology survey. The tree survey was mostly pointless because we're using plinth foundations (e.g. jackpads) for the workshop area in question and they won't affect the roots, which the survey confirmed. Then the bat survey was pretty pointless as my partner is an ecologist so knew we didn't have bats, but we had to get someone with a license to do the report Anyway, in the grand scheme of things it's not so bad, it'll get us there in the end! Plus I am sure we have had to do a lot fewer surveys than some people here! Thanks for the welcome

Hi everyone, Realised I never did one of these intro posts so thought I should say hello and thank you for having me, seeing as it looks like I'll be having lots of questions! We're just waiting for our planning permission to come through (fingers crossed - planners have implied they support it) in a few weeks after lots of pointless surveys and delays, but hopefully we will get there in the end. We have a very small old granite barn, that looks a lot worse than it structurally is. We're hoping to convert and extend it into a 2 bed modest home, plus build an insulated workshop/office in the garden. Attached is a quick screenshot of our elevation plans! Would welcome any suggestions of suppliers and tradespeople in Cornwall. Thanks again for all your advice and support.

Hi Peter. Sure, these are just the ones I did for planning. They don't currently show the right thickness of insulation

@Nickfromwales I've just remembered in our last rental property they had an ASHP and a very massive water tank, which I am guessing we would need too. Are you allowed to put these outside?

That's interesting. We were understanding that they were in the thousands to buy and have installed. The size of the place makes it likely we will have to move after maybe, 5 years, (we haven't had kids yet!) so we can't value any renewables by saying they will pay off over 20 years. Inverter driven but not ErP - what does this mean? ? How do you get hot water for baths if you have a ASHP?

@PeterW Oil fired combi boiler. We have no mains gas and can't afford a ASHP unfortunately. We'll have a wood burner too but realistically will only use it occasionally. Apparently the oil fired UFH might cause havoc with the SAP values so need to get someone to calculate for us. Can more insulation in the floor and roof counteract this? I'm not sure how SAP values work when you get into the details.

Thanks Peter, will do. Does putting extra room between heating pipes and insulation in the form of the thicker concrete slab not create more heat loss into the concrete? As the insulation is further away? Perhaps a stupid question.

Make the slab structural - what does that mean in relation to what we already have? Do you put the insulation down first followed by the concrete? Perhaps this wasn't specified due to the walls not being underpinned? I can't be sure as know little about this section of the build. I think the roof has 122mm rafters planned

It has no roof at present, spec says to put in 65+12.5mm kooltherm plasterboard over/under 100mm mineral wool in the roof. We are digging up the floor but can only go to the base of the walls to avoid underpinning, so that's spec 75mm kingpan. (65mm screed, 500g polythene, 75mm kooltherm, 100mm concrete slab, dpm, sand blinding) Any thoughts warmly received!

Hi ProDave. We won't have a loft so it shouldn't have anything like this I hope. Unless I'm misunderstanding you. Do you know anything about how close the pipes should be while we're on the subject? I haven't got around to contacting a company yet but heard Wunda are good for supply, I'm sure I can ask them too so apologies if I'm wasting your time by asking.

Hi Joe, I did look into them briefly but felt the size of them would be prohibitive as we have no loft space. Hopefully I haven't made this up as now I'm typing it I'm wondering if that's right...

@PeterW It's about 30 square metres on each floor. So 500mm granite wall rubble filled, then structural engineer has specced 40+15mm insulated kooltherm Kingspan plasterboard, although may try to make this up the 'warm battened' way instead as I read a blog that I think was recommended on here that described this method as better for solid stone walls. Then the extension (which will be open plan, opening up a wall in the barn) is studs and 125mm mineral wool.