Spinny

Yep well it wasn't for my neighbours, where they and the 'architect' (aka paid planning poacher) got unprecedented approval to build a 4.5m wall along my boundary for a single storey extension if you please - totally unnecessary. And also deliberately contrived to hide, disguise, and not declare an intention to raise the ground level by 0.3m in front of their house. And building a boundary wall in excess of their planning permission and PWA. Sorry, but IMO a drawing in isolation of it's built surroundings is meaningless. Maybe those people with a gigantic Amazon fulfillment centre looming over their houses would agree. Architects are very well practiced in making their clients build look like a vision of nirvana - once built it can look like a vision of hell. How can you possibly assess whether it is sympathetic to the local street scene, if the street scene is never drawn. And it doesn't have to be detailed, an architects package can paste the outline/ridge height of an adjacent building in less time than it took me to write this.

If you know exactly where you want the sockets then you could potentially put metal boxes in now. Don't forget if you are fitting out for a desk, or for a network cabinet then multisocket extensions and/or surge protected power bars are available.

I have had 2 topo surveys - one was 2D done 5 years ago at the request of the architect. The other was 3D with the express intention of .recording the existing boundary features prior to my neighbour carrying out work adjacent to the boundary. Obviously the first thing that happens when such work is done is that the boundary features/fences/posts/kerbs etc get removed so accurate data is necessary with the ability to gain measurements of the previous features from fixed points on the properties. Without such data disputes can be unresolvable. Neither survey included invert levels and I wish it had - very useful data - but I had no idea what an invert level was and nobody ever asked. You may wish to consider what information/data you might like regarding the boundaries of your plot while you are having the survey done. Depending on circumstances boundary disputes can arise as a result of building work, and equally diggers etc may trample out existing features. Are there old posts sticking up at a jaunty angle, perhaps buried in the centre of a hedge or other vegetation, a retaining wall, a fence you may want to replace, a neighbours garden at a different level etc etc. Some measurements like distance of a build from a boundary can be significant for fire regulations compliance, or for roof overhangs. It is IMO completely inadequate that domestic planning applications have absolutely no requirement to show the height or position of other houses - only the boundary/junction line. Planning officers are often young, ignorant, poorly paid, and put under pressure to approve plans in haste. How you can approve something when ignorant of its size relative to surrounding property is beyond me. You might also want to consider taking lots of photographs of your plot yourself and it's features and setting - possibly some with a tape measure in. (PS When my 3D survey was done they inserted some reference markers in some places into the ground/concrete - small studs. These allow someone returning to do another survey to take new measurments (e.g. of your completed house) and exactly relate them to the original survey measurements. (PPS You might also want to clarify ownership and rights regarding the digital topographic files - will they be retained by the surveyor ? Will you be sent a copy ? And will it be a RICS standard survey/ accepted at court ?)

I have other doors which are not new. On the new doors, it is not a case of leaving a key in the lock on the inside preventing key entry from outside. You cannot gain key entry if the door was locked from the inside and the key removed. Well yes, but far too many other things to finish first. Being dependent on a single door for entry is a risk, should the lock fail or key snap off. Or indeed if the door slams shut and you have to go after a spare key to re-enter when an ephemeral plumber visits.

My new doors were fitted over 2 years ago now. I had never needed to use them for access from the outside with the key. When I finally had a need for that I was surprised to discover that if the key had been used to lock the door from the inside, it was not possible to then use the key to unlock the door from the outside. To unlock the door from the outside with the key, you must first have locked it from the outside also. Looks like they may have a privacy euro cylinder - never knew such things existed. The fear I have these days is of locking myself out. Not sure, maybe this means you could install a privacy euro cylinder such that if you lock the door with a key from the outside, a thumb turn on the inside would then not allow it to be unlocked ?

Presumably you do have a Party Wall Agreement in place ? And you have ensured that the eaves and gutter will not project onto your land (which is illegal) and this is clearly defined in the drawings within your PWA. Presumably there are no windows in that wall and overlooking your property ? Nor vents or external pipes ?

Storage yes massively important for building. Problem is you need the space you are building to be clear so you can build it. And you need to live in your existing space. We still live in chaos but by necessity have evolved a system of boxes/crates for stuff - the PPE box, the mastics and selants box, the small tools box, the large tools box, the rolls of tape box, the useful wood offcuts box, the electricals box, the smart home box, drawers with zipbags of stuff you need to find later, the 2.4m timbers corner, the cable reels cupboard, the box of sample leftovers pieces so you know what you bought 10 months ago should you need more of it etc etc etc.,

Don't worry, your builder will take good care of this issue... (It certainly won't be dumped on your drive and left for 3 months before a labourer breaks it up with a sledgehammer and SDS drill. 🤪

Neighbour one side has a scaffold tower up and is busy replacing his rotten bargeboard. Neighbour t'other side has his builder son in slowly cladding the front and rear of their side extension. I sit in the middle working with my LVT flooring guy to complete a 1000 piece LVT jigsaw without a reference picture. Busy Street - roofer, floorer, builder.

A sketch of your planned floor makeup thicknesses and threshold design would help I think. How big is the extension ? We had a 7.6m extension and had our bifold company measure against FFL twice - once at survey, and then again at first fit visit - their laser measurements were 11mm different between the two visits (measuring over a 9m distance), even though nothing had moved. Laser levels are not guaranteed perfect and should be subject to some periodic calibration check. Over longer distances a water level is your friend - good to a couple of mm over any distance if used carefully.

I am using with a Gledopto controller with zigbee with them.

The other way is just to fill proud i.e. across over the edge of the metal box. Then when it has dried use a stanley knife or utility knife to cut the excess filler off along the line of the metal box. I have done this multiple times as my plasterer plastered over the edges of all the boxes leaving a small hole in the middle where the box was, which I then had to cut back out to the box size again. Have seen these... https://www.amazon.co.uk/SOCKITZ-SPLATEZ-SPZ270-2Gang-10/dp/B098R5S152/ref=sr_1_15?crid=26ZIVS9GYJJ3N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3b-rCX7Ys2oK91thMjG_Dg69RkwjdHZhR6WJs3AIVQ8fYlHVN0mB_IjylF7IKwxUZ-g3PBujamNFuYAm_ecGUihrhJGycJivsFRux4BENEScWsjAT42VktX9F0i5MLTR352V165DFrgTU3rMefCI35VHkZSYYA7KDCiiUUw1xa_Q2linXPRjlotAGEZzwmaTNQvZbfWpLj704YS3YHj3fEAm5t2m6HBNIffoKBh_AZMSzE60rmZZpOjAtE4-6kjB-BE_1H_y5BZV5Jk5SI8wEOnvVdDQlFSCpXXn9wWfsRY.PvE2ixsZeO_V1UekfFVDmwcizgLGuu_lWP0st7vtxy0&dib_tag=se&keywords=sockitz&qid=1785161928&s=industrial&sprefix=sockitz%2Cindustrial%2C159&sr=1-15-catcorr&th=1

Thanks folk, I am through now. Basically am replacing a 2 strand low voltage wire with a 3 strand wire. I used some identical 2 strand wire from another LED puck I had managed to remove. I was then able to strip one of the strands/cores from each cable over a matching length and then marry up the remaining 1 core on each and tape together to make it 2 core. Hence I ended up with just 2 cores across the joint with 3 bits of insulation tape holding it together. The thinner and more flexible joint has pulled through. Now have done the same thing to attach the 3 strand/core to the end and pulled it back up through. Harrah. Time for a cuppa. (by doing it this way I have avoided cutting the existing lights from their wire which is fixed/soldered inside the light itself. So the old lights can be reused elsewhere or flogged.) (Replacing Leyton 12V 150lm recessed puck light with Sensio Hype R Pro 24V 230lm CCT, incase it helps anyone)

I am wanting to swap my kitchen under wall cabinet lights as I have found some smart CCT ones to fit the same circular recess. The wire runs horizontally from the circular recess in the bottom of the wall cabinet through a horizontal circular hole/channel in the bottom 19mm panel until it reaches the wall. Here is turns 90 degrees in a shallow 15mm service void to run up the wall vertically to the top of the cabinets where it get connected to power. Having trouble pulling another wire down from the top - taped on with insulating tape. Just cannot get it to negotiate the 90 degree turn. Any ideas ? Spray the join with silicon ?

Are you talking mortar or are you talking pointing. I only ask because they can be different and can be done at different times i.e. built with one mortar and pointed afterwards with your colour choice. Careful neat pointing not necessarily every brickie's forte if they normally lay concrete or thermalite blocks ? Could allow you to postpone the decision until you have some cladding up and can make a decision based on a larger area/perspective. I am probably over complicating and adding cost but just a random thought. I would build a larger test area too. PS you could even have the brickie build a separate dedicated piece of wall for testing pointing colour before using it on the actual build. SWMBO would say there I go again - trying to keep the receipt. (Still looking for the receipt I got from her dad)