MikeSharp01

We used 12mm Hardiebacker board, on 15mm OSB for the Garden room and will use the same in the main house shortly.

Yes but how - the basement will be air tight and need to be secure so is it louver's or some such?

Does the design include a specific stack or are you just using strategic roof windows as vents high up? How do you let the air in low down?

Hi and Welcome to THE forum for self builders and other like minded people! (I say like minded with a bit of a nod to our sanity....)

This is where they make their mistake I feel. All these systems should be open and not demand a central server connection. I am happy to share my data but on my terms. Here the RS485 interface is indeed worthwhile but I have a concern that we won't stop this IoT bulldozer. However many industrial users of IoT have exactly the same concerns as us diminutive users so I have a small hope while anybody who thinks you can buy a car that does not tell the manufacturer exactly where you are and what you are doing has got another think coming.

I think we all do, but as it is the only current platform and more secure IoT systems will more than likely build off it one is left with the challenge of creating security systems. We have discussed this here before but never really got to the very bottom of it. I am something of a fan of secure mesh networks of IoT but the security stuff continues. Any system connected to the WWW is susceptible in the end and I am definitely not a fan of the house protocols around the smart speaker systems and all their gadgets which hoover data and have too many security loop holes. As a nation, probably the people of all nations, we need to get control of our data from these systems although big tech would argue that we have nothing to fear - but if that were true....

If they have had the conservatory for 20 years then they will have a right to light, as I understand it, if there is an architect on the other side they will know this, perhaps thinking they can avoid issues by mentioning it now, or maybe even assume that you also know the implications. The planners don't need to enforce the right to light per se as it is a civil matter and you can either pay compensation for their loss - perhaps that is what they are hoping but you need to be sure of the facts. You have already looked at the 45 degree rule but have you applied it to the correct element and again IIRC it is not used to determine right to light calculations. Have a look here: http://www.123plans.co.uk/uploads/frontend/media/documents/rightstolight.pdf

I guess that is the bit I was wondering about. It feels much simpler to integrate with the house IoT if it is one of the things out of the box rather than via the house RS485 bus. I do agree on the tool chains issue, I now have tools, and special laptops, running tools going back to 1992 for some of the stuff here, EG the clock in our bell tower, no bell sadly, uses a PCB and micro controller board I designed in 1990 and only now am I thinking is it time to switch over to an ESP based module.

I have to do it with a microscope these days. Why didn't you choose an up spec micro controller module with all the interfaces and make the diverter controller portion shield pluggable? I guess processor speed might be an issue but there are some very fast boards out there.

Hi and Welcome to THE forum for selfbuilders. 150mm of insulation is OK if its PIR but anything else will need 300mm+ to get great energy saving and up there the average temperature is not in your favour. We are stick building with 300mm I-joists in Kent, fitted the last stud today!

Is your ground higher or lower? You need to remember that they may also wish to build up to the fence line at some point.

Is the new wall in any way a retaining wall - this makes a difference. If the neighbour has only a building regs question then I would offer to get the BCO to set out the reason all is well so as to reassure them, if the BR things is a smoke screen for something else then you need to find out what the something else is before working out your strategy. Boundary disputes can go on and on so you might find a few searches of the Land Registry DB helps as your deeds may not show it but theirs, or someone else in the row, does.

Unless you are going for Passive house standards in which case you need a different metric, PHPP - n50≤0.6 ac/h, and even better air tightness. Sadly the conversion between PHPP units and SAP (Air Permeability - AP) units is not simple as one uses just the volume of the property to calculate total air changes per hour while the other uses the surface area as well, and is measured per m2 , to calculate the AP. if you know both volume and envelope area you can do the maths and compare the two values.

Do you already have planning permission or are you trying to get it? I think the latter but thought it would be worth checking. How long have the neighbours lived there with the conservatory? If it is longer than the right to light trigger period then you may have a problem if any part of the new build overshadows any window. Have you had a sun track plot done to show how the shadow moves as this will help you either prove your case or understand theirs? Neighbours have rights to light but not to the views. PS is the plan North South (IE the new build faces due south) - if so then you can see their issue. PPS infringing a right to light (must meet the criteria) can be VERY expensive as they can sue you for damages to their utility and enjoyment!

Oh er ?

Ok - so if the wisdom of crowds holds then, given the guesses to this point, we have an average of: £557.18, without factoring in the parking fines idea - that feels high. Assuming a fine of £35 (worst case for Brighton & Hove higher, see below) if you pay early and Mr P is not toying with us by giving us the clue that if you paid early it would be cheaper to pay the fines - and, by extension that it would be more expensive to pay the full fine, then the range, per bay, is between £75 (3 days lower rate) and £210 (3 days full fine higher.) However we have no idea how many vehicles will need parking although we have a variety of guesses at that above. So if three days / 3 bays then worst case £630 and best case £225 so after careful consideration and trying to get a best estimate I think I will go for £400! Parking fines from Bright & Hove web site. Level of charge Amount of charge Discount charge if paid within 14 days from the date of the issuing of the notice Higher £70 £35 Lower £50 £25 Bus lane £60 £30

Snap again - we are four years in, since planning permission granted 3 years of building, and just getting the roof rafters in which is a great feeling. I am not quite knackered but feeling the pressure now to crack so so having wished you all the best that is what I intend to do. Good luck - maybe I will have a coffee first - no just get back out there sharpie..

So is the access plan a very shallow ramp or do you want the ground everywhere to be at the level of the threshold. In either case there is nothing to stop you providing a trough as @Russell griffiths & pdf27 suggests and even if it is 600 wide there is nothing to stop you (them if its they who have to fix it) putting a grill on top of the trough so you can wheel across it although it will still fill with debris, leaves etc, and need regular cleaning so if you can get the telescopes that will be the better solution. As @pdf27 says if level access is in the spec then that is what the contractor should provide.

Our daughter, 28, checks that we still have all her notes in the GGE. Wonder now much it will cost us to help her buy a place of her own with room for 'notes'. We can talk J and I both still have all our Uni notes / assignments / letters (remember them) we wrote to each other stored in our loft along with the accretion of life together as a pair of baby boomers who's parents forced the never throw it away it might come in useful mentality upon us. Now we have sheds of sheds, hundreds of KwHr of combustible material, our children will look at briefly as they pass it from loft to skip - 8 yards won't hack it, or more probably just hand over the keys to the house clearance people and tell them to 'disappear' it all. I guess with the exception of her notes, son won't care a jot. Sentiment for sediment is a forgotten thing.

I suppose the question is how fail safe, it is a relative term? - IE fails safe every time or doesn't fail safe once every hundred million operations and burns the house down. Yep

Welcome to THE forum for self builders and like minded types.. Looks like a stunning project - enjoy the good weather.

Well at least you don't have to put up with the local Morris dancing crew, jangling and squeeze box, practising all day in the garden next door but one! Quiet today though - maybe the pro boxer next door has had words!

Yes but dragons can be slain can't they, particularly with money. PS Welcome to THE forum for self builders and like minded people

Hmmm -- it comes with 12 bales of warmcell as well, bit pricey, might try a cheeky offer once I have done the PHPP change to warmcell from current product to check all is well.

Welcome to THE forum for selfbuilders and like minded types. Our experience, still building in Kent, was to create a mood board, in our case a word document, into which we pasted dozens of images, furniture, interiors / exteriors / details from the web and photos we took out and about. We thinned this down and gave it to the architect as 'our sort of thing'. They then worked with that as their starting place. We have put a bedroom, with ensuite, downstairs as we are basically retired and we were wondering how long we would be able to climb stairs - however we put another upstairs and that will be our bedroom at the outset, the room downstairs will be our snug / guest room, albeit with a rather odd ensuite attached, complete with sofa bed. Our kids are grown up - well mostly, and live away so the extension we built at millstone manor is now largely empty - we have three bedrooms and a sitting room we don't use - how daft is that we now think. If I were going for a forever home I think I might just think about the tightest spot, when the kids were about 16/18 and create for that but working out how each of the spaces would be used once they are flown away. Eventually, one hopes, they will be back with partners & kids of their own so maybe those rooms will get used sometimes.