Del-inquent

@ETC does the above give enough info to form an opinion from or would you need to see more?

They're very rough and basic at the moment as I can only get round there occasionally at the moment to work out dims, but in essence this is the plan. As-is at the top, as intended at the bottom.

I'm looking for some examples of building control submissions for a dormer extension. The property (chalet bungalow) currently has a small (2.4m) dormer on one face of the roof, I'd like to extend it to about 90% of the width of the roof. I have significant design and drawing experience, but zero experience of the new part L and reading it is driving me slightly insane.

I'm just giving my brother a hand getting ready for a new patio door to be installed. The manufacturer has sent the spec and sizes over. Due to the way it's specced (to give an almost flush cill to the inner floor level) and to match another patio door nearby, a row of bricks needs to be removed at the bottom of the opening. The door spec requires 10mm tolerance all round, however removing the full course of bricks gives too much clearance - with 10mm above the door, there will be 35 - 50 mm below (lowest course of bricks is not level, old house) I'm thinking of just laying down a bed of mortar on top of the newly revealed course, running from 25mm one end to 40mm other end, to level it and create the correct dimension. Any flaws in that plan? Mortar work is "not my strong point" so thought I'd check. We're not fitting the door, the supplier is, so I don't want them turning up and saying it's not suitable for reasons I've not thought of.

Long story on the builder... complete and utter cowboy that frankly I wouldn't let back near the property ever again, if it were mine, and I'd be pursuing them through the courts to get money back as well. Sadly not my shout on that, I'm just being asked if I can help clear the mess up. IF we can avoid taking the floor out that would be ideal not just on a cost basis, but also "save my aging back" basis. Do you think a self levelling screed on top of the oversite would be a bad idea or a "bit of a bodge, but it'll do the job okay" idea? What's the minimum thickness and any additional bonding needed?

2.4 x 2.8m, the breaking out option would be a lot of hard work by hand I think!

I don't know if they need screed is the honest answer! The insulation is under the slab apparently, I believe it's Celotex PIR as there was a lot of that sat around, not sure on thickness. The oversite is... "a bit lumpy" to say the least, so would need *something* doing first. They're planning on tiling the entire ground floor so could the tops be knocked off the worst of the slab and a self levelling compound take care of the rest?

Just pondering on an issue with a relatives house, trying to find any plausible solution. Property is currently being extended both sides of an existing room. The extended floor slab on one side has had too much concrete poured, its about 40mm higher than the other side. Problem is, the property had rather low ceiling height in the first place, and losing that 40mm isn't great. The room isn't that big, 2.4m x 2.8m So my questions are... What would be the most efficient/effective/remotely possible way of cutting off/grinding off/skimming off the overpour, if at all possible? Is there some sort of "super screed" that can be put down a lot thinner than usual?

No PV at the moment but I have been given notice that some might be available in the very near future at a very, very attractive price. I'll have a look at the Vaillant 938, cheers. The SA is "rather pricey" as you say but if it does the job well, I'm not adverse to getting one. As long as I can sort the heating out in such a way that I don't have to have the overflow tank any more!

Could probably just about fit a coke bottle on its side in the eaves at the front, that's about it 😂 (hence wanting to get rid of the tank from its current space, storage is seriously non-existent and the planned works to extend the dormer will mean even less as the only bit of eave that is bigger than a mouse hole will be gone)

leaves me with a tank still though, looking for methods that don’t involve a tank but potentially retain boiler as-is if possible. interesting in the preheated though I’ll look at that, cheers

I wasn't really sure where to post this, as I'm trying to build an overall picture of options and pretty much everything needs looking at, if I've posted it in the wrong place please do correct me, still quite new here. Overview: We're trying to purchase a small 3 bed chalet bungalow. I'm trying to get my head around what could / couldn't be done with it. At the moment it's badly laid out, has next to no storage spaces and at some point had a central heating system installed that I think was designed by a 2 yr old with crayons. Very recently a new Worcester boiler has been fitted, though. There is one real cupboard downstairs. It has the water tank plus a pump in it, that's that cupboard full. It's also in a really bad position and ideally the cupboard would come out completely and be moved. There is one usable "cupboard" upstairs in the eaves to one side of the dormer. That has the cold water tank / overflow tank in it... To make the place "useable" we would like to extend the dormer to enlarge the 3rd bed and install an en-suite to the main bedroom but that would leave no space at all to have a cold water tank / overflow tank. I'm looking at the sunamp thermino as that would fit in a space in the kitchen and remove the need for the cold water tank, plus allow for solar top up. What could I do about the overflow tank for the heating, though? What's the most compact solution for replacing that? The alternative to this would be replace the almost-brand-new boiler with a combi, but I've lived in three places with combi boilers and hated it every time - wife washing up, 14 yr old running hot taps full blast for no apparent reason meanwhile I'm stood turning blue in the shower and the heating has turned off for half hour because the boiler couldn't cope. When it comes to the heating system itself, the specification appears to have been "please place the largest possible radiators in the most inconvenient / useless location, preferably offset to ensure they line up with nothing at all". Half under a window, just off centre in the middle of the only usable wall, behind a door so you can't open it properly... So as they're all going to have to come out and be re-sited I was wondering about the alternatives, thinking maybe thermal skirting, but not finding a lot of positive feeback stories on those so far.

I'm trying to visualise how yours was done, failing a bit lol. I don't think any of the internal walls on this place are load bearing, they don't appear to be. There is however *one* position beside the stairs, about 1m off centre of the ridge that I could run a steel down all the way from ridge to ground floor, will have to have a look and see if a foot could be put down there.

Yes that's what I assumed, I'm just thinking about supporting the beam, without it being intrusive in the rooms below. My brother is doing a project at the moment and they've made him have 600mm pillars to put the beam on - last project I did it was 300mm required for a longer beam. Not sure if that's because something has changed regulation wise or just his SE being overly cautious!

I'm looking at a potential project, a chalet bungalow. It's pretty small upstairs and whilst the front elevation has 2 dormers, the rear only has a single tiny dormer which seems daft, most others in the area have almost full width on the rear elevation. There is also room at the rear for a 1.5m extension for the full width. I've done plenty of builds / renovations before, none of them have ever been a chalet so this is a new one to me. I'd love any advice full stop on potential pitfalls and problems, plus advice on how it would be best to extend the joists so that the majority of the original rear wall could be removed. I would not want a dropped steel below the joists as the ceilings aren't exactly high in the first place. Also, I was thinking that it would be good to make better use of the existing eaves on the front elevation (which are inaccessible) by replacing the current wall with slide in storage between the posts. At the moment, the back of the existing wall is insulated so I'm thinking of putting insulation between the rafters instead - any pitfalls here to consider, or tips for best practice on doing that?

One big advantage with an A-frame, foundation requirements are tiny - 3 parallel strips and you're done!

Convincing my wife to move from the Caribbean to the south coast UK was hard work, chances of getting her to move away from the "limited scraps" of heat in the UK to the cooler climes up north... I think I'd need a burial plot rather than a building plot lol

Many thanks - I don't seem to be able to access the site, it's giving me an error, will try and work out why!

Many thanks! I'm in the process of trying to cost out the differences and at the moment, subject to Structural engineer telling me I'm an idiot, an A-frame should come in substantially lower in terms of money, just more in terms of my time, but thanks to the pandemic and recession I have lots of time and not so much money lol I am just searching around for Basement stuff now. So many learning curves... but that's the fun bit.

Hi all, I'm new here so doing as I'm told and introducing myself. I'm Del, I've a serial DIY'er, I've renovated a handful of properties, built an extension on one that was larger than the house it went on to, I tinker in the workshop on projects all the time and can turn my hand to most things, also love restoring classic cars or "fixing things" when I can. We are in a rented flat while we look for the next project. I'd REALLY like to find a plot in Hampshire to build on, but we have a budget more suited to a carboard box outside a shopfront... working on that one though. I don't know why but I've got a real thing about A-Frame houses at the moment. I've spent a lot of time watching videos from avrame but really... I'd like to design it myself. Also have a thing about posi-joists so thinking about combining the two... The extension I built, I designed myself then paid a structural engineer to make sure it wasn't going to fall on my head as maths isn't my strongest point. Another reason for liking the A-Frames is that I can do pretty much everything apart from lay bricks / blocks. I've tried, I've failed, I've accepted it's not something I'll ever be good at. My key requirements are Eco-friendly (not just from the eco friendly perspective, but also to minimise running costs!) I'm looking at all sorts of things at the moment including building a thermal battery. Today's "why don't I just..." thought to add to the list is to have a basement below the A-frame, so I'm also reading anything I can on building basements. With reference to my poor maths, I'm trying to construct a *complete* price breakdown of doing a newbuild - a friend told me "there's lots of new fees" but failed to provide any info on what they are, so I was wondering if anyone can give me a comprehensive list of things I've not thought of outside of the actual construction costs. Many thanks, look forward to reading lots on here (and probably asking some pretty stupid questions)