Lincolnshire Ian

Hi folks Hopefully this will be an easy one for someone. Does anyone know where I can buy 6mm granite chippings (the little stones that go on flat roofs)? TIA

We don't live on site, so I am afraid I don't have a picture. The windows are externally glazed and seem to be stuck into the frames with double sided foam tape.

We are getting close to the demolition of our 1960's prefab and thought we would do some preparation before the demo team arrives. We would like to remove the sealed units from the ancient upvc windows to reduce the broken glass on site during demolition. We can pop out the beading that holds in the double glazing, but the sealed units seem to be stuck in to the frames. We have been able to remove a window, but it has been a very slow business prizing it away from the glue/tape. Does anyone have any tips for removing old sealed units that are stuck in to the frames? Thanks

Our battles with planning continue. To meet their requirement of a replacement dwelling in the open countryside that should be of "High Architectural Standard" we have ultimately conceded to have a render and clad house rather than brick skin. We are running out of fight and are reluctantly happy with this compromise. Having swapped from brick we now have a decision to make regarding what height we should start the render and whether we should have a plinth. Talking to the Planning Department is hopeless they aren't prepared to give us any guidance regarding what may or may not be approved (they just want to look at drawings as and when they are submitted) and our architectural technician isn't local which probably doesn't help either. Are there any pros and cons to render height (we are a bit worried about it getting damaged during the build process) and if anyone has a photos that would be brilliant. Thanks

Hiya I was just wondering if anyone had read/heard anything about how Labour's new planning strategy could potentially affect self-builders. For example, I have a 1/3-acre plot with outline planning permission, but it's outside the Local Plan Settlement boundary, so I can only build a replacement home, although there is probably room for two or three houses. Thanks

Hi We have submitted a full planning application to demolish and build a replacement dwelling. As we are getting planning permission that includes permission to demolish do we also need a Section 80 notice? Thanks

The blurb talks about swifts being very clean birds with no requirement for cleaning. Apparently, the adult birds poo away from the nest and even eat the chick's poo to keep things nice and clean!

Hi Our planners are keen for new builds to incorporate swift boxes. I researched this a little and realised that Wienerberger not only makes integrated swift boxes but also boxes for other bird species, bees, and insects. We have a two-storey, north-facing gable end that seems to fit the bill for the swift boxes, but I was wondering if anyone else had fitted other habitat integral bricks. We want to avoid bat boxes so that we aren't involved in all the protected species stuff. Any shared experiences/advice would be great. Thanks

Thank you everyone. If our application goes to the Planning Committee (not guaranteed at this point), we will need to consider our next steps carefully. Thanks for your help, it really is appreciated.

Hi everyone Thanks for your feedback. We have seen the Probity document and he has a "predetermined" view of what house design should be on the plot. He actually said during a Parish Council Meeting, "I believe that the replacement dwelling should be a bungalow and no-one will change my mind". This should be enough for him to be excluded from the Planning Committee decision making process, but I guess that he is too self-assured to realise this and I may need to write to the committee chairman.

Hi We are applying for planning, and we have received an objection from a parish councillor who is also a member of the district planning committee. I understand that this councillor should now remove themselves from the planning decision-making process. Does anyone know if there are any guidance notes/codes of practice that would prevent a councillor who serves on the district planning committee from publishing an objection on a freely accessible planning portal? Thanks

Hi @Conor Was that full planning or outline planning. We already have outline, waiting for the full planning approval. Thanks

Hi We have bought a derelict bungalow with outline planning permission and have started the demolition process of outbuildings etc. We don't have full planning approval yet (it's in the system). Even though we don't have Full Planning Approval can we start to: a). Have vat zero-rated services such as demolition and fence rection. b). Claim back vat on items we buy (we may erect our own fence and just buy materials). Thanks

Hi We have around 200m of fencing to erect, a combination of 6-foot featherboard fencing and post and rail. Does anyone have any nuggets of information regarding good places to buy this stuff? We are located in Lincolnshire. Thanks

Thank you everyone for your input, this is invaluable. @Benpointerthank you for sharing your quote.

We wanted to install the fencing to use the 3 months wait we will have between clearing the site and demolishing the bungalow. We have still got the heras fencing at no cost. It's purely a scheduling issue.

Hi everyone We are demolishing our plot in two phases, everything apart from the prefab bungalow first followed by the bungalow (we can't demolish the bungalow until we have full planning permission). We are doing this because there is a restriction on the demolition window to avoid nesting birds in the many sheds, trees, brambles etc. that surround the bungalow. Phase 1 demolition has started and heras security fencing has been erected. We will have a 3 month window between the two demolition phases and it would be good to use this time productively. The CDM regs are really vague when it comes to site security fencing standards. Would it be OK to replace the heras fencing with a 4 foot feather-edged fence. We would also attach the usual site security/building site warning signs. Your thoughts will be appreciated. Many thanks

Hi We are demolishing a prefab bungalow to build a new house on the plot. The plot is roughly flat, but sits below the height of the road, we have been asked to get a topographic survey to make sure that all the levels are OK. The bungalow is still in situ but I was wondering whether it is possible to do a topographic survey before demolition, which is likely to be January 2025 so that we can push ahead with our building control plans as soon as we have Planning Approval? The existing bungalow and the new house will overlap in footprint by about 8 metres. Thanks

Thanks everyone. As a benchmark (this might be cheap/expensive, no idea). We landed on Protek, it cost us just over £1500 for rebuild value of £475000, cover for hired plant and equipment and a storage shed.

Hi everyone I'm shopping around for self-build insurance. Buildstore Insurance, Self-build Zone, and Protek are currently on my list. When I fill in the online quote form, I notice that the forms for Buildstore Insurance and Self-build Zone seem to be identical. Are these two "brands" part of the same company, and if so, has anyone got different quotes from each? Or are they different companies just using the same web designer? Finally, does anyone else have a suggestion for any other self-build insurers? We are demolishing an old prefab bungalow and building a new house. Thanks Ian

Hi We are building a timber frame house with a brick outer skin. We like the look of a brick plinth around the house. Apart from the additional cost of bricks + labour to build the plinth are there any extra costs involved such as wider foundations? Thanks

We have a Vp of 28 in one hole and 105 and 110 in the other two. Massive difference. When I dug the holes there didn't seem to be much difference, all very dry and solid. It was a long crowbar job to loosen the soil whilst digging the hole.

Sorry, my post wasn't clear. The perculation test is undertaken to determine the suitability for a soakaway, it looks like the ground as it stands isn't suitable for a soakaway.

Hi We have bought a large plot (3rd acre) to build a house. We have dung 3 perculation test holes 80cm deep and conducted the tests several times. One of the holes drains well, the other two holes take longer than the permitted time. We can't discharge to a water course. Even though we have a large plot if we meet all the requirements for distance from the house for the treatment plant and soakaway we only really have one location. Does anyone have any idea what we can do to make this work?

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful 👍