Jilly

You need to get your head round the Building Control side of things. First, you need to decide if you are going with a 'full plans' Building Control application (ie architects drawings spec'ed out) and this, as MAB said, locks in the Building regs at the time of the Building regs approval. They can be very slow to approve and you may miss your deadline (mine took 5 months!). This method gives your builder a guide to the works. The other way is a 'Building Notice' which means usually that the builder just gets cracking, and you hope it complies (ie riskier option). You can future proof it a bit by over specifying insulation etc.

Hi Dudda, yes, all your assumptions are exactly right. Thank you for your reassurance, I was worried it would be a pain to rectify now.

We have an old concrete slab, and hope to have UFH. The ex builder placed stud walls onto the floor, sitting on DPM (after initially saying they would lay it onto a brick course). If the visible DPM plus another on the floor in each room is lapped up the walls, it will encase the bottom part of the timber wall in plastic. Will that be ok? It seems to me it will get condensation and rot the wood at the bottom? Said builder will never come back to rectify (I have waited 6 months for other bits and given up). Thank you!

Thank you!

I had precommencment conditions which got lost by the planning dept, I'm only just wading through them. The more you read and familiarise yourself the more it makes sense as some are interlinked. I don't know about Scotland, but in England you pay for the 'discharge of conditions', as it is called, for each submission ie if you lump three conditions together you only pay one fee, so for ten conditions you could, in theory pay £100 once or up to ten times. In the scheme of things it isn't a lot, so I've tried to get on with my planning officer and she has been very helpful, and I've made her life easier by being very clear about all the info she wants with nice drawings, and ticked things off as they made sense to do so. If you look through older applications you will see some shockers and hence the reason they get annoyed. PS It can quite a few weeks before they grant approval, depending how many departments the documents have to pass round, so plan round it and get on with what you can in the meantime.

What's quadrant? It means something else to me ?

Rough sandpaper if there's no key, then when you get near your top coat finer stuff. Don't overload your brush and keep watching for runs and putting the paint back in. You may have to do a few coats to get a good finish. Find a paint that's not too thin and drippy (gloss is sometimes), the 'Once ' types have good opacity, but will still need to do more than one coat for a good finish. Also for finer work I would chose one of the brushes that look like a big artist's brush, they have a point and are much nicer to use than a square ended type.

I'm going through this too. My builder and the window people have been happy to charge me 5% VAT and someone on the forum said they thought I would get the 5% back at the end, but reading the info, I'm not so sure. On Grand Designs (well known source of info!) I'm pretty sure the barn conversion self builder collected allowable invoices where they paid 20% and received 15% back. Suppliers obviously add 20%, so I'm keeping a mix.

The comment on the fencing seems bonkers, as far as I'm aware you done need planning permission to subdivide your grazing land with decent fencing. Can you just convert the building and share the current entrance for the time being?

Good luck, I think you'll get there as they haven't actually refused the conversion itself. I am doing a small stable conversion and was just about to ask for a 'variation of condition as I didn't like the large set back they've asked for, so maybe there was a discussion I wasn't privy to. I'll think twice now and just comply, its easier! Maybe talk to a planning consultant about putting in a separate application for the entrance first? PS I've just been having an email discussion with the planning officer, and she was very picky about wanting granite setts, not cobbles, for the apron. Who would know they cared about such a detail?! Try to get a relationship and a feeling for the officer you'll have to deal with, take samples and several proposals, as in my experience, they love saying 'not that', but won't always say what they would be happy with. Definitely don't give up, but maybe be prepared to compromise.

Tread slowly and carefully ?

Thank you and OMG! The superstructure of the main stable has been converted, so I'm just going to try to keep going in small bites with myself, occasionally my partner, subbies and my virtual friends!

Really interesting. I know a surveyor who told me from his knowledge of geophysics, he couldn't see how they could work and would be liable to 'run out' of heat. I'm guessing we all erroneously intuited that the heat was from proximity to magma ?

The two builders mentioned are actually partners! I threw my toys out of the pram on Monday as they still haven't been back to rectify and we haven't made progress. Builder 2 is livid that I've asked for a refund for the incomplete works, but to be honest I've now no faith at all that they would ever come back to rectify faults (it's been 6 months). I now need to get a really good handle on the detail and buy some more tools! Just bought a good ladder which is a start. I'm not going to pursue any money as I don't want the agro, and some of the blame is mine (changing architect, new one forgot/didn't know about bat membrane), I was ill and didn't notice. Luckily it was easy to rectify when I realised. The broken down abandoned dumper is still here, maybe they wanted it to be pinched!

I'm trying to get 100mm graphite EPS in or wood fibre boards to use with the lithotherm tiles if the u value is sufficient.

On the plus side, at least you notice now before you have a future condensation debacle.

Looks fab, good luck.

I've just done one and it worked via the planning portal as you've described. Maybe try again tomorrow or call them in case it's not working properly? You can submit paper copies if all else fails.

No sign of the builder, so I'm researching if it will be possible to do some of the floor myself in my stable conversion (54m2 in main building). I've become convinced UFH will be good as there's no room for radiators. The height is tight, there seems to be 150mm up to the DPM ( ie 2 bricks) but it looks like we could go higher than this to take it near to the patio windows to make a flush ish entrance (if that makes sense). I'm scared of making a stuff up with wet screed so want to consider this build up: Tiled floor (thickness up for discussion) Lithotherm clay tiles as they are only 45mm thick and I can take my time , expensive but easy for diy. Need a very level surface. Kingspan K103/ K3 100mm, expensive but short of space. DMP (Big sheet of plastic lapped up the walls and taped? One sheet for each room? (Paint on DPM is a non starter, I can't do fumes and the floor is rough) The existing concrete slab (150mm thick) has a slight slope and is a bit rough in places. How best to level the floor? Would sand work? Might the clay tiles wobble? The thought of using floor levelling compound on a big area is intimidating...I might go too thick, get it wrong, loose some depth accidentally. Thank you!

Ohh dear, find a compromise with him if you can and calm the situation down. Not sure if it's any consolation, but dramas seem to be part of this building malarky.

Why not...?

At least you got it sorted!

Ha, I learnt that block and beam should have a 225mm void over clay, rather than the <150mm my less than reliable builder intends...

My main stable building has 600mm foundations and the hayshed extension has 6m piles (yes, you read that right!). We are on clay. I want to enlarge the hayshed (but can't apply until we are a dwelling) so have put enough piles in to allow for this. The architect and builder both suggested a block and beam floor which could take any kind of wall construction. Will it be ok to leave this exposed for a considerable time? What do I need to be aware of? I've lost faith in the builder and want to change (its a long story). On clay there needs to be a 225mm void. which will fill with water in the winter. How can the be managed?

Hello! Best way is to ask a specific question and see who comes through.