Furnace

I thought it might be Scottish colloquial...

And secure the house side to the exterior of the timber frame, to avoid cold bridging?

Ah yes, thank you. I remember reading that. Did you have the battens for the cladding increased in size to accommodate the blinds? Edit (Yes of course you did. Because you mention it in your post!!! As we are having external blinds and they have a requirement for fitting the blind cassette we needed a large gap between the house walls and the outside of the cladding. This meant 50mm x 50mm timber battens and counter battens. ) On all elevations? Do the blinds run in a track or hang freely? Do you use them? How often?

Thanks @Thorfun Excellent point. I had just Sketchup-ed them in, but thinking about it further, it's difficult to see how a cold bridge could be avoided, and since I'm not that keen on them anyway I may well just keep it simple. The PHPP model was based on no balconies, but included brise soleils to keep the overheating under control. I don't have privacy issues, and am not sure about how I'd feel looking out through a blind although I guess you get used to anything over time. My PHPP consultant has exterior blinds and swears by them.

Yes. Shell, no roof or external wall cladding. I think the foundation quote is quite high and I may choose another route for that part.

Opinions sought on practicality, cost, aesthetic of the alternatives shown below. My partner is rather taken by the idea of balconies, whereas I'm unconvinced - I see another area to clean, and one that won't be used. However, the views are to the south and having full height sliding doors in the bedroom (LHS) and upstairs sitting room seems a nice to have. Some sort of fall prevention will be required if there's no balcony, and that somewhat negates the sliding doors, cos almost half the height of the opening area will need to be protected. I have not yet received quotes for the brise soleils, and have no sense of the additional cost for balconies. Thoughts?

Yes of course. I'd missed that crucial piece of info 🙄

If mortgage-free living is a primary goal, then a tight rein on costs will be needed. The alternative, as the estate agent has said, is to apply for planning, sell your current house and the extra plot and use the proceeds to buy a ready made home you like. I wouldn't underestimate the time and aggro that a self-build involves - you'll be doing pretty much the same (non physical) work to build 1 house as a developer would do to build 10. Plots with planning do seem to fetch prices that leave little, if any, margin for profit. It's worth reflecting on all these things prior to digging holes - changing your mind after that point becomes expensive. Bonne chance

My quote is around £530/m2 for the shell only and £725/m2 including foundations. I'm in the South East

Welcome Katie, I'll throw in my penny's worth...I'm pretty clueless about design, but believe that a particular site can accommodate lots of designs - many of which don't suit the site. Views, orientation, likely usage of outside spaces, slopes etc. are what drives the design just as much as a desirable internal layout. Many on this forum are experienced in this area, or are naturally good at it, and this renders an architect less useful. I chose to work with one (and a planning consultant too) up to the planning stage (May 19th is my Determination Date 🤞) since I wanted someone to both hold my hand (I'm single) and provide experience. They weren't cheap and of course it's possible I could have come up with a good successful design without them. It's also interesting how taking time over the process helps to provide perspective on decisions - don't rush it. Good luck M

Many thanks. I'll have a poke about.

@Mr Punter Would you recommend the brises soleil supplier/manufacturer that you went with? Has the finish performed as expected?

To aid the success of a full planning application it's also important have plenty of time left to complete the Class Q conversion. When considering a full application, the LPA must consider what the alternatives are, and a granted ClassQ is established as a valid "fallback" position as long as it has a realistic chance of being implemented. A ClassQ with 6 months rating from approval date is probably not deemed a realistic fallback position.

Can you see the door's construction a and veneer thickness by looking at the top or bottom of the door, or is that veneered too? 90 quid sounds v cheap for a door of that standard

Here's a credenza I made for my daughter. It's solid, not veneered, (cos she's special) but has bookmatched doors and back panel.

Some of the veneers have been 'bookmatched' - sequential slices from the log are reversed and appear almost mirror images when next to each other. It looks like each (100mm-ish wide) board has been veneered separately. If the log is cut to 100mm wide prior to having the veneers sliced, one can create many bookmatched pairs. Certainly more effort than randomly cut veneers, but like many bulk processes the additional costs to set it up can be defrayed over many doors.

Maybe I got off lightly. Utter madness. Full article in the attached batcrazy.pdfpdf

A Class Q requires that the work is complete within 3yrs from the permission being granted. I'm using my approved Class Q as a stepping stone to a demolition and new build. You need to ensure the Class Q is "viable" for it to be considered as the fallback, therefore don't want time to be running out on the Class Q permission.

Good point. I'm going Passive House and MVHR so trickles not wanted but I need to remember to ensure they're not automatically included.

Gotcha. Do you mind sharing the make you went for so I can stalk the acoustic data as a reference? I currently have single glazing (listed gaff) so anything will be an improvement, but there's no reason not to perform due diligence with clean sheet of paper at hand. Cheers M

@craigIs this the sort of thing that would make comparison easier and avoid to-ing anfd fro-ing? I'd also say I'd like a 'supply and fit' quote inclusive of fitting materials. Does that make sense?

Gilly, Are yours double or triple? I haven't looked at acoustic specs, and dumbly assumed TG would be 'pretty quiet'.

Gotcha. I didn't know that, so thanks. Do the windows next to the doors need at least one laminated pane to comply with PAS24? Do 'normal' windows in situations where they're not next to doors typically comply with PAS24? Any other requirements that might trip me up? Cheers

Not sure I understand. I'd imagined that glazing below 800mm needed to be toughened (inner pane only?), but all other glazing would be float. If any glazing breaks, surely that's my problem? Am I being dim? edit Is it that the centre pane of all TG units should be toughened because it's subject to greater thermal stress and therefore more vulnerable?

I've found it difficult enough to keep track using only MY scheme!