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Not really. By the time I was seriously considering knocking the whole thing down, my builders had already started on site with the partial demolition. Pausing mid way through this partial demolition to allow time for submission of a full knock down/new build was not feasible given how tight we were on cost, and spending £2k+ per month on rent, double bills and double council tax. I'll send you a message.

We kept a few of the original walls rather than doing a complete knock down and rebuild. The advice (and to some extent sowing of FUD) was enough for us to make the risk based decision that we would not fully demolish. We would not have been able to afford any time delays for resubmitting planning as we were paying for a rental house whilst doing the works. In hindsight, I am pretty sure that we would have gotten away with it, but we are happy enough with our decision. We were already doing it in quite a risky way with finances and mortgage. There is very little of the original house remaining as part of the completed structure, and almost all of it is hidden behind newly plastered walls (except a small portion behind a rarely used large sliding wall panel, complete with various pencil notes from the builders with to-do lists, shopping and horse racing tips. We are actually keeping this as a reminder of the works) As the house had been vacant for 2+years, the majority of the materials and labour were changed at 5% VAT at the point of purchase (VAT note 708), whereas if we had knocked down and been caught needing to to a full new build application the VAT would be paid at 20% then reclaimed at the end, so would have severely impacted cashflow for only a relatively small saving.

We used this company for our Juliet Balustrade. https://www.ironoctopus.co.uk/ Was very impressed with the price and service. They did basic style galvanised steel one, bespoke to our dimensions and fixing method, and powder coated it RAL matched to our window frames. From memory is was only about £150 delivered.

I've got lots of PIR board offcuts from the build, so might try and fix it together in to a pool sized panel to create a 'lid' for the pool to use in addition to the thin tarpaulin type one. Will keep it out of the water though, as I'm not sure what effect the pool chemicals will have on the PIR board. Thanks. Still no thoughts on whether using my domestic ASHP hot water supply to do the initial pool fill is a good idea or not though. The pool and small ASHP pool heater have now arrived, so will be starting the fill over the weekend.

Thanks, I've already ordered various pool chemicals.

Hi all. We have an 12kW air source heat pump with a 400l tank for our domestic hot water. Temperature set to 55°C. We have just bought a 3.5m diameter, by 1m deep above ground swimming pool that we will put up for the kids to play in over the next few weeks once the warmer weather returns. This will likely stay up until autumn. We are looking at buying a small either 3.5kW or 5kW pool heat pump to warm keep the water warm to around 25-28deg (example: https://www.tradeinn.com/swiminn/en/poolex-nano-action-a5r-2020-5kw-2.5-m--h-inverter-heat-pump/139816348 ) My question: Rather than filling the pool with the cold water supply, and having the small pool heater work to bring the water up to temperature over a few weeks, would there be any benefit in filling the pool with water from our hot water tank 400l at a time until the pool is at the required temperature and then letting the small pool heater take over? I've read that I should expect it to cost about £10 a week to maintain the pool temperature, does anyone in the South East have any thoughts on whether this is a realistic budget? And is there any benefit in trying to insulate the pool in addition to the standard thin polythene pool cover? We have some old foam garage floor tiles that we were planning on putting under the pool for protection/insulation but would welcome any other tips about setting up or running a similar pool. Thanks

For our almost complete knock down and rebuild, our BCO said that we would be fine with lower sockets. We chose to put them in at the higher position. At some point we may appreciate not needing to get on our knees to plug things in. I've also not once looked at them and thought that they look high, or considered the plugs to be at an inconvenient height on walls. My general view on most things is that Building Regs are there for a good reason, and should be a guide rather than something to rely and get around.

For a large hand built using good quality birch ply (mix of oak veneered and Fenix veneer), good quality hinges, feet and drawer runners, worktops a mix of Fenix NTM and Valchromat, we paid about £8.5k in materials (cabinet maker built the materials orders with his supplier, who then invoiced me directly for VAT savings), and about £7k in labour for the time in his workshop to build the units, deliver and fit. I sorted sink, tap and appliances myself, but they came to about £6.5k I am doing some of the finishing work to save cost, such as sanding and oiling the cabinets, putting in back splashes. My electrician and plumber did their own bits. Total cost of about £22-25k. The cost for the equivalent from wren was about £15-20k, the Germans were about £35-45k

We are only a few miles away from you and used a cabinet maker based in Brighton. Happy to share details if interested. Have you looked at Schmidt kitchens? They have a branch near you in Dorking.

If you want handle less, with solid doors, have you thought about getting a local cabinet maker who specialises in kitchens to help? Most decent kitchens use high quality hardware such as Blum or Haeffle for the drawers, hinges etc, so a good cabinet maker should be able to use the same bits and hit the same quality as a German manufacturer for a lesser price whilst being bespoke to your layout/design. There are loads of really interesting materials that you can use, ply, valchromat, Fenix NTM, and an almost endless list of different veneers that you can have applied to ply such Formica, various wood veneer, Fenix etc. Not sure where you are in the country, but take a look at the sort of thing this company do, there will be similar companies nationwide https://www.instagram.com/woodworksbrighton/

Yes, or at the point when it is added back on by the Valuation Office if you get it removed from the Register to avoid paying Council Tax during the work.

Have you considered that if you do remove it from the register, then it might be re rated at a higher council tax rate once completed? We chose to keep paying council tax for the 18 months of our large renovation/build, as looking at similar size properties in a similar location we could have expected to go up by two council tax bands when it is re rated and added back on the the register by the Valuation Office. Our break even point for paying 18 months of unnecessary council tax is 6 years of living in the house of paying the lower rate tax band. We expect the house will be re-rated to the higher tax band when we sell it.

Thanks Will have a read about the BC Condo Crisis. I've just checked with the builders, and the breather membrane definitely overlaps the external masonry wall on the ground floor. Their plan was to fix a concrete board to the external studwork, and then fix the EPS/EWI on top of this. Going right up to the soffit and sealing at the top. I'll discuss your proposal with them, thanks for the detailed knowledgeable responses.

If the top of the EWI is under the soffit (regardless of whether there is an attempt to close the cavity behind it or not), where could water come from? Are you thinking of just condensation? Thanks

Here are some photos of the gables taken at various stages over the last few months. I'm not around until tomorrow morning to take new photos of specific details