Sue B

That sounds near my sister - she is at Davidstow. Welcome to the forum. @pocster - trying to get past the £4 mark ?

Last month in this sleepy area of Dorset. The tree hasn't been cut down, but hacked about really badly - he has been fined the equivelent uplift of his property value plus costs. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/17524295.case-of-wealthy-homeowner-ordered-to-pay-out-for-hacking-at-protected-tree-was-another-level-say-council-officials/

Planning permission is in - I got the payment demand this morning at the same time as the email from the architect saying they had been submitted. 8 weeks of nailbiting now!

? (The closest emoji is could get to a safe rubbing of the chin.)

I’m one of those 60% - and my guess is that this is a HUGE underestimate.

I’ve got very good at nodding sagely ?

After hearing other things that the planning authorities have said would be a new full application rather than a NMA, I can’t imagine adding an additional space, contrary to the FRA that you have provided would be acceptable. Basements are not cheap. If you really want a basement, go for it, but you will now need to disprove your own FRA.

I second the issues with a bath under a window - I would hate to use it because of having to use blinds the whole time. Obscured glass windows never feels obscured enough. I don’t like the bath sticking out - it all feels like “oh well, it can’t fit anywhere else so it’ll have to plop it here”. If that meant just having a shower rather than a bath and shower, I’f prefer that.

The new school I have talked about previously had 2 very large water tanks up in the loft area. We had a a very strict water testing system in place which included checking their temperature. In the summer, they were virtually bathwater temperature - this was also our drinking water (they were sealed). The solution - we bypassed them with a much smaller tank. The water was pumped round the school anyway so within 30 minutes of any power failure, we would have no water for anything so had to shut the school.

Watching the thermal store being lifted had me sitting with my hands over my eyes! I struggled to believe they hadn’t measured the roof clearance to make sure they could get the thing in place. I didn’t see which MVHR they had and haven’t ever seen the vent that goes in the roof before. Sad to see it’s not a great system @JSHarris - I’d love to put our vents up there rather than visible on the side of the house and quite liked the look of the round thing ?

Peter overheard Neil and Derek talking while we were having lunch - he went back to the table to load up ?. The discussion was about the cost of putting on the course, compared to the number of sales generated from it. They are of course a sales and marketing pitch and they fully expect, as any normal business would, that enough sales are generated to more than cover costs. They wouldn’t do it otherwise.

He now runs the Isotex course of course

They previously were Durisol contractors and the two blocks are similar enough to have interchangeable skills. The differences are small. In my blog, I have one thread where I compared the two. We have our preference now on quality and style of the block, it will all come down to price once we have our planning permission granted.

I asked a lot of questions - I felt like the troublesome child in the front row! I have a feeling other people have come away with the same impression after seeing this issue come up a few times in various places so I asked specific questions and wrote down what was said. The course was run by Derek and Neil and I’m Pretty sure they run all the courses. As I said previously, the emphasis on the recommended height was differently put by the two product trainers - the actual outcome, taking away the order and emphasis of the words was the same. For DIYers like ourselves the recommended height for both systems is 1.5m. I think that is what @scottishjohn had confirmed by Durisol when he queried it with them direct IIRC.

Just found my notes taken during the one day course. Durisol said 2.5m for first pour WITH EXPERIENCE. For DIYers such as us, they would recommend no more than 1.5m. This is pretty much what Isotex said during their training course but with the emphasis the other way round - 1.5m to first pour - however, they go higher when doing the work themselves due to their experience with the product.

I think both actually recommend the same height before pouring. If the Durisol or Isotex people are doing the actual build, they will go higher because of their experience with the product. I’m trying to find my notes from both training courses but 6 courses sounds about right for both products.

I believe that the Isotex blocks have a finishing process after they have been dried that the Durisol blocks maybe don’t have or the process is less robust. Certainly, we could see the difference in the few blocks that we used on the training courses. The Isotex blocks were also smoother on the outside (you’d still need the gloves) but were obviously more “finished” than the Durisol blocks. It’s not a huge issue for us, it Is just another factor to add to the decision scales.

We had one in a school with students with mobility issues. Brand new school, designed with specialist classrooms on the top floor. There were 2 lifts, one in each wing but the top floor was not joined. Each time I got the call from the site team that the lift was out of service, I would need to check where the student(s) were to make sure they were not stranded and also what lessons they had later that day so I could re-room them if necessary to a room they could reach! After one lift failing one time too many, meaning that the student had to leave his specialist chair overnight on the top floor and going home in our emergency chair, we invested in a machine that would transport the students down in an emergency. Bloody design issue which should have been spotted and designed out before the ground was broken!! Grrrrrrr. The machine was slow but the student felt safe on the mover.

At the NEC recently we spoke with several companies about sewage treatment works. We know we will have an issue with the discharge as the land slope gently upwards where we want to discharge towards and we have a very high water table. They all talked about a pumped outlet - we know this is the way we will have to go, and discharging into a raised mound. We started to talk about a reed bed and they all shuddered and advised against it. When we clarified - we were just taking about an area that was raised but also planted up they relaxed a little.

Kevin McCloud interviewed on The One Show tonight about Graven Hill

On our South Today news - couple in a conservation area had to go to appeal to get permission to build an accessible bungalow in their garden. He has MND and the house that they built is no longer suitable to meet his needs. The interview with them was very moving, asking for planning authorities to understand the power that they have over peoples lives. My understanding is that as it is not determined, you can go to appeal. Go for it!

All schools in the L.A. That I worked had warnings of this type of scam some years ago - probably before 2010, so it has been going on for some time. it makes you feel sick to your stomach.

The course will show you it is equally as DIY friendly if not more so. It also has the pass block which reduces the number of blocks you need to cut (it took my head a while to get around how that worked).

I noticed that too - another reason for our Isotex choice ?

Not entirely sure what you are building but Isotex (which is similar to Durisol) have column blocks which we will probably use in our build for 2 columns supporting the overhang on the first floor. The website is Insulhub. I may have completely the wrong idea about what you are trying to do though.