kandgmitchell

So more of a semi then? Really interesting website. We went Danwood so we have a German style house and can see our style in some of the versions on show (although by other manufacturers, neither Danwoods are typical of their UK range). You are right about "what you don't like" and I must say there is quite a bit of that in there! Down to what we see as "normal" for houses over here probably.

Maisonettes? Semi's? Flats?

Given the increase in extreme weather we seem to be getting now, a small amount on extra strapping would be a good investment, but I agree it's not easy to do with air tightness requirements as they are.

More like this sort of thing with the short bit nailed to the stud in the gable at mid-point in gable and the long section nailed to the adjacent rafters and a noggin set between them (overall length of strap is 1 or 1.2m) to suit. I guess that the strap will be to the underside of the rafter/noggin rather than the top as shown, since the stud will have stopped short of the top edge of the rafter.

Front downpipes tend to be a pain as often there's insufficient depth of garden to get a soakaway far enough from the building. I am anti putting any more rainwater through an existing combined sewer but sometimes there simply isn't another solution. However, before that, as mentioned above can't you utilise the soft dig through the flower bed to a traditional soakaway or agree a filtration solution using perforated pipe within that bed if the area of roof isn't too big?

Baltic? you must be in the first balmy part of caravan life, early days, wait until it gets Yellowknife like (minus 32 tonight...)

Going back to the OP's question. Can you clarify, when referring to a downpipe going to a flower bed - is that an existing one or the one off the new extension? Not sure why you would need to dig up a driveway if there is access to a soft area such as a flowerbed.

Go full plans, at present the rear extension is greater than 3.0m deep and more than one storey as well as being a side extension to the existing rear single storey part and is more than half the width of the original house. I'd rather not risk building that without a certificate of lawfulness to confirm it's PD and if you're doing that (and I think you would fail) you might as well go for full planning.

Firstly if you haven't got the bathroom fittings for those "nice to have" bits consider buying them up front so you can reclaim the vat on them. I believe (and I stand to be corrected) you can only make one vat claim. We bought as much of the materials for the garage as we could afford so we could put the vat paid into the claim. As to your BCO's attitude, you're going to have to enquire. Some may want to see those sanitary fittings installed to ensure the whole system is airtight. Others may be flexible, local authorities tend to be more relaxed about this sort of thing than private but you won't know unless you ask....

One point - our entire house was spray painted white by danwood's guys. The finish was great but it has a specific texture. I recently had to touch up a scuffed area in the stairway (using their left over paint) but the brush/roller finish just doesn't match and you can see the join.....

My money is on: First floor joists spanning side to side i.e from coving to coving in the second picture A horizontal beam/lintel spanning from one pier up the side of the window to the other pier on the other side of the window. The upper floor front masonry built off that beam/lintel. The bay roof built as a frame and bolted to that facade masonry The solid bit above the window internally is framed out and clad in plasterboard to form the downstand.

For what it's worth we found Wiser quite useless. The central hub couldn't communicate with the "smart" thermostatic valves and "smart" plugs unless these were sited in the next room. It was nice idea being able to start the heating when on the way back from holiday say but beyond that it was hopeless. We ended up stripping it all out and selling the parts on ebay, going back to a simple time controller etc.

Well one has to admire some Build Hubbers aspirations! We just stuck to two floors and a bit of timber cladding......... Interesting question though. One has to ask are the plants "materials" for the purpose of the regulations or "decoration" if they aren't actually incorporated into the structure of the building. That could branch out in all directions and sprout lots of discussion......

Sorry but this just made me smile.....

and probably in the forum as it's under Ventilation.......