Bozza

So Joe90 is confirming you won’t end up like this guy

Can I ask are you in Scotland if so where approx.

Understood. Horses for courses and all that. Someone once told me that some telephone lines carry some (low) voltage so just make sure you know that before you cut them if that’s your intention.

Ok so I had an electricity pole on my land carrying my elect supply and third party phone line that I wanted to have removed, so not relevant to you because it’s not on your land. What is relevant is that openreach were awful to deal with and due to the poor quality of the line In my rural area would have resulted in me paying a lot of money to have a landline that was next to useless for internet speeds. So I have gone down the route of buying & testing a 4g router with unlimited data SIM card and external antenna at my new build. I got fantastic speeds on 4g and 5g is coming. Less than £200 for kit and £34 per month for unlimited data. Our mobiles will be on separate networks as we won’t have a landline (in case one network goes down). Have you considered doing away with landline entirely. Old technology. Can go into further details if that’s an option.

Is the pole an electricity pole Owned by the electricity company, that also carries a phone line. Is the pole on your property. Does the pole carry a line to anyone other than yourself. Do you have a good 4g signal. Are you trying to avoid having an overhead line into your house I ask because I may have specific experience/ solution depending on answers. Yes Openreach are crap ironically very difficult to contact by phone.

But not stripping back the tiles to replace the clipped ones surely, If we decide to do that, I thought that would require scaffolding. Looking at my roof Makie is that a big / expensive job (couple of days work?) to replace those clipped ones properly like you said to expose them to double nail them etc. Just wondered. House pic is on my profile page thingy.

Absolutely, and that could be a very expensive error on their part if they have to put it up again.

Ferdinand makes some really strong points here Adam. The assumption is that the current light levels are satisfactory. Therefore even clearing the window ledges of stuff could help a lot. Changing window frames, light reflecting paint, would make a huge difference you never know the applicant maybes could get their builder to replace them for you as part of planning agreement or even install additional windows to mitigate their extension. the idea solution would be they get their extension and you get the same or more light into the dark bit of your room. Just one thIng from the plans and your description of the space - 8m - and that middle area being dark - it would appear as if the neighbour would be looking to extend their house to same length as yours. So I suspect your house has an extension on too creating that darker area in the middle? Which means you either extended or bought a house with a darker middle area which like you say you added light by installing those two side windows. Is that right enough?

Hi Adam, When I was searching for a building plot I came across a lot of plots where locals had objected to the PP. in their objections they often listed numerous weird & wonderful reasons for objecting. It was quite obvious they they just didn’t want a house next door or like the applicant, and knowing that wasn’t a legitimate reason to object they started listing loads of questionable reasons. “I saw a rare squirrel once” etc etc etc. It sounds like you don’t have a problem with the neighbours extension other than the natural light issue impacting your daughters condition. Assuming you have access to relevant vision professionals I would go down the route of getting some form of report explaining how the reduced natural light would impact upon your daughter Eg her development confidence or whatever (sorry for my ignorance but whatever is relevant) and why artificial light is not a suitable alternative to natural light. Better than coming from the opinion of yourself, even though you would know What’s best, but it’s just if it’s impartial it’s more credible to authorities. I would use that independent evidence in your objection and approach it along the lines of you would have no objection if the extension was made of pure glass etc that wouldn’t impact upon natural light. basically saying look I’m the good guy in all this with a legit objection, I’m not a NIMBY. I’m sure there would some way of calculating the volume of light loss but suspect that may be an expensive survey of some sorts A bit out there, but could you rig up a dark sheet between poles to imitate the building and have before / after shots. Or photos of your child playing in a light or dark space. In criminal law they call it strands of evidence. The more strands the stronger the rope / case.

Yeah first photo - the ridge tile capping bit sticks out, it’s tight in on all the other parts of the roof. The house is 100% turnkey fixed price with very reputable company so decision to take down scaffolding would have been Site/Project manager.

Further to my roof I’ve attached a short video which may change or affirm everyone’s opinion, plus some pics of issues I’m highlighting for snagging/attention., interested In hearing everyone’s opinions. IMG_0647.MOV

That suggestion has potential for the windows thanks Ferdinand. It’s quite difficult to see from attached pic but the frames go really low to floor level. Oak skirtings to go in so and grey frames. I could see if I could put in a reveal depth Low level oak strip / ledge that may look ok. That plus the skirting thickness might just get me under 5000mm but I think fitters need more to turn under at the end.

Oh that’s very interesting Joe90. When I spoke to numerous carpet fitters, none of them would guarantee a seam could be hidden, so that really put us off looking at having a carpet which would definitely be our preferred option in our living room, especially as the join would be at the window recesses. Do you remember what type of carpet it was eg poly, twist etc I suspect some types are better than others for seaming.

Oh I never knew you could oil larch that’s been exposed to weather. For some reason I thought you had to do oil it straight away or not at all. Was it that you wanted it to fade a bit and then use the oil to keep it that way or something else. Any info / advice on this appreciated..... I have to oil one side of my house with some fire resistant oil because it’s close to a boundary in case someone builds a house next door, which is basically impossible, but hey that’s what building control requires. I can see how your house will sit well in Skye. Traditional form, but with contemporary materials (I sound Kevin Mckleod). Nice.

I have made a schoolboy error with my living room. It’s 5m x 5.1m, but with floor to ceiling window reveal maybes 20cm wider on two walls. Plus into the doorway opening. Result being that I can’t put carpet in it unless unless I get a carpet seamed or a bespoke carpet which will be an obscene price. For carpeted room as mentioned before remember carpets are 4m as mentioned, or 5m. Also think about if you have a room 4.1m x 4.1m . Means you’ll need to use a 5m carpet. Obviously off cuts can be used elsewhere cupboards etc but just something to consider with room sizes. For super efficiency I suppose you could design room sizes based upon carpet sizes but that would probably not be your main priority !

Ah yes like trim I get it. Very nice house. Are you leaving your larch untreated to weather/grey too.

Ah understood. The old cottage that we demo’d had skews per west coast vernacular funnily enougH. With my replacement new build there is no dry verge capping the gable end tiles, that’s not done around here and my turnkey builder doesn’t do their roofs like that and they are a builder of very high reputation etc. They do dry verges when they use concrete Marley duo etc but I’ve never seen any of their houses with slate being capped etc nor with the clipped tiles. Understood reasons for it being done on the islands though. thanks for the compliment. It’s Siberian larch board on board.

Ok so roofing stuff I’m not knowledgeable Nor able to answer. House is turnkey so whatever builder has done. Photos here any help?

Thanks Folks DIY kitchens do 460 deep units too so I’ve definitely got options. Difficulty though is I need to order the desired units and end decor panels ahead of moving in as Mrs Bozza wants the kitchen done for Xmas. Entry date 27 Nov. I asked Mrs Bozza would you prefer a larger distance between island and dining table, or a deep island. She replied both. ? At our last house our dining room table was about 90cm from a wall on one side and we got folk seated there ok. Tight but ok. Funny thing is we dont use the dining table much. I think a combination of narrowing the island a bit (so Mrs Bozza doesn’t notice), moving it slightly left a bit, buying a slimmer table and narrow styled chairs might just be ok. Some of the other options she’s not keen on. Personally I quite like the table connected to the island look. attached pic suggests it possibly doable

Yeah thanks folks for the input, I haven’t yet ordered the kitchen I’m doing it myself after handover but before handover I’m popping in a temp kitchen, namely a handful of base units to get me my habitation cert. This will allow me to see the space for real so to speak. When I did the design I had a kitchen diner already and moved our old chunky table 1400 from our island and it was ok. Just. thinning the island is the easiest option as it’s just units Not appliances.. I could even rip the services voids off them to maintain full depth Units that would give me an extra 90mm. I’ve also got 1400 between units &/island so can push island across a little bit. Mrs Bozza really wants a big island. If I used a narrow slimmer table (even glass) that may help.

Thanks for the comments. I am just back from the site where I met up with my future neighbours to seek their opinion. One is a solicitor /estate agent who has seen & sold a lot of houses round here. The entire rear of the house sits lower than the road, so the roof is at eye line as per attached older pic. As such it’s extremely noticeable but less so at this angle in this pic when the scaffolding was still up. They both also thought it looks weird & from angles creates an illusion of the roof curling up at the end, and neither had seen the clipped tiles before in this area. That wasn’t me putting words in their mouth. Another elevation of the house you can see is much higher from the ground and as been correctly suggested here it’s far less noticeable and more subtle and does look interesting. I think what’s happening is it looks good in the pics, certainly good workmanship, but in real life less so at eyeline from one side of the house. we all acknowledged the workmanship the slater has done and it not his fault but if he has a beef it will have to be with my project manager as this was done under his supervision and not at my or architects request. Nor on drawings etc. My PM advised me he hadn’t asked for this to be done, so the slater has just chosen to do it that way as far as I can see. Surely if doing something like that would they not ask the PM or client? Thanks Makie for the head up I’ll ensure if changed it will be done correctly. Interestingly at today’s visit we noticed we several cracked slates and one missing one. Wouldn’t have thought you’d get that on a brand new roof or does that happen?

Yeah re the table I’d looked at that possibly with an L shaped diner type seat In the corner. Even looked at a table built from the islan as one whole unit. Thing is the table centred on the window gives the view I’ve attached here. I’ve estimated I’ll have 1.4m from the island, more if I reduce the island from 1.2 to 900 deep. Or try to get a narrow table with slimline chair back possibly Scandi type design.

Where are you mate someone here ought to have some local recommendations

Yeah you’re right but just as much about letting those earlier in process to pick up positive & negatives & ideas for their own build. yes it’s ASHP we’ve actually swapped the 2 rads per bedroom upstairs for 1 larger my own critique is as follows. lounge - door swings onto wall where I’ll have a sofa. Might be an issue with flow hall - no vestibule bedrooms - would have preferred squarer rooms & wardrobes not into roof pitch family bathroom - a bit tight kitchen diner a bit tight between island & table and have to walk around table to get to utility

Oh dear this is a really terrible dilemma for me. Everyone seems to like the clipped tiles, and I totally respect your opinions, and I absolutely hate the idea of ripping out such workmanship. It’s been hot up there on that roof too. But I’m just not keen on them.