Bozza

In a former home I had a downstairs loo with timber floorboards and low ceiling height. The floor was not level - out by quite a bit despite small meterage - and it was going to be difficult wrong get it level via timber for several logistical reasons including boards going under walls. I taped up the joints and poured a self levelling screed. It was worth a punt and worked really well. A click laminate went over it. whether this would work for you I don’t know. I’d imagine you’d need to prime the osb with pva to prevent it sucking in the the water from the compound. if you’ve never used self levelling compound you do have to push it around a bit to find the low spots. because of my previous success with compound if it were me in your scenario that’s what I’d do. it wouldn’t have to be perfect as you’re putting in an underlay not like you’re gluing down an LVT onto it.

As opposed to caulk I’d personally go for a colour matched silicone sealant, either matched with the units, or the wall colour.

So you will almost certainly require both planning permission and a building control permission. You are likely to need a steel support in the wall you wish to open up. I would however at this stage get a builder around. They are likely to be able to tell you what is required. Based upon your pics, it’s highly likely they will need to raise the ceiling height of the conservatory. A builder will likely be able to advise whether they can do that or not as the conservatory structure might not be suitable for a new proper roof and MIGHT require to be rebuilt as a more robust structure and more substantial foundations to take a proper roof. If you’re replacing that plastic roof with a proper roof that will reduce light into your dining area. You need to think about getting light into that area. my comments are all just ifs and maybes though, until you get professionals in. be of no doubt this work will be a major disruption to you and quite a big job if you want it done right. Including moving the WC. you’ll have to put a mini temp kitchen in your livingroom during such a build. everything you wish to do is possible. If you have the money to do it.

@davelank have a look at my profile pic. We face south. The 3x windows ground floor are livingroom. The 3x windows above are a bedroom. These rooms overheat. Reduce glazing on your south elevation, and you can add a solar tint to help.

@LeeVanCleef if it is by chance the Baillieswells woods land I live 5 mins away. I’d say you would have zero chance of getting a house on there and would be gobsmacked if you got PP there. 99.9% sure it’s greenbelt on the ACC website. Otherwise it would be selling for 20 times its price.

Assuming Aberdeenshire have a look here https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/plans-and-policies/ldp-2023/ if there are no buildings on the woodland to demolish & replace I’d anticipate the answer to your question would likely be No. But Aberdeenshire planning are very approachable you can pick up the phone and have a quick chat with them. The only reason I was able to self build at my plot here in Aberdeenshire was because I did a replacement house. It does annoy me that developers can build crappy houses pretty much where they want but self builders can’t pop a great quality house in a bit of totally unused land.

You have four options. 1. Lengthy & expensive battle with planners and consultants to try to get something through that just doesn’t fit in, in terms of scale and design. Costly in terms of fees and building costs increasing daily with zero guarantee of success. 2. Alter your design to something more appropriate in terms of scale and design which is what you should have done from the outset. High likelihood of success. Surely a design with a frontage in keeping, but with more space behind, up or down would work. 3. Offload the plot. 4. Wait and see if there is going to be a (promised….) huge change in planning laws that would allow a Wild West scenario whereby we can all build what we want, where we want. Unfortunately whoever advised you that you’d be able to get a huge white and grey contemporary designs like this through in a street like that have advised you badly and I’m really surprised your architect didn’t discourage you.

Welcome. I’m estimating you are, like me, are middle aged. Most of my build was turn key with me finishing off some stuff, kitchen and landscaping etc, due to budget. I also had the potential to do two plots on my site but stuck to one house. My body is now broken. I’m tired. And with hindsight I’d wished I’d split my plot. Thing is I approached my project with the mindset of a fit 30 year old. Not a now broken 52 year old. I don’t want to pee on your fireworks, but if you are a bit older please be aware of the toll the manual work can take and that the dream and reality are quite different. If I’d split my plot my bank balance and body would be in a far better place. And I’d be Living the Dream. having said that glad you’ve found something and looking forward to the challenges. If you wish to crack on as planned, get yourself into the gym and get private healthcare, you’ll likely need it. just remember you are not 20 anymore.

at least one member here has incorporated steel cladding, to great effect. Barn style. Very cost effective. I built a barn part timber and part steel cladding and it has turned out quite nice. FYI for building regs you may require to treat timber cladding with a fire resistant coat, if near to a boundary. If that applies to use test first, as we had to replace an entire elevation because it went wrong. pinterest is great source for you for ideas.

@NJLJ2024 1. Do research with local planning authority in particular planning policies, and successful local applications. Other applications will give you idea of what is needed for an application. Visibility sprays, bats drainage etc etc. 2. Propose to build something that meets policy etc don’t apply to build something odd for area. Use materials / shapes that fit in especially if rural. If your local planning officers are approachable have a chat with them. Planning application doesn’t need complex technical drawings more about the appearance of building & materials etc. liaise with neighbours early on. 3. If approved, then value the land. As other have said it’s value will increase dramatically with PP. All of above is low cost / low risk. A self building project involves hundreds of stages / decisions. Break it into manageable chunks. Above points being the first, important, chunk. Once / if you get PP then come back to the group if you need help with house design and other stuff eg lender recommendations. While awaiting PP decision utilise this forum as a self building open university. Every old post will increase you knowledge of someth8ng you probably didn’t think was a thing to consider. Stop looking at pictures of fancy bathrooms etc that comes later. Good luck.

Hello. Welcome. Your plot (with planning) will have significant value and you own it outright. Self build lenders can lend against that. Effectively it becomes the deposit, and they will release the funds you need as and when you need them. Once you have completed just change to a cheaper standard mortgage. Well thats how I did it, via Ecology Building Society. Didn’t need a cash deposit. Search this forum for Ecology many of us have used them with great success. Ecology are a company who you can phone and get great initial advice, and brilliant to deal with. one issue though is you’d need to evidence the build cost. Easy for me as I had a turnkey building contract, but you may need a QS report. Just pick up the phone to them tomorrow to keep you right. that said with mortgage rates as they are - higher still for self builders - you need to consider how long you would have a self build mortgage running if you’re not getting a builder in and doing it yourself. Might be a year or two and things are only going to get more expensive. If you sold your flat plus your anticipated savings, that money will get you ah long way on your build without drawing down the SB mortgage. We sold our previous house and freed up cash to build as much as possible before using the SB mortgage. Self building is stressful, having a shed load of cash in the bank ready to go is good for your wallet and makes things a LOT easier. Once you’ve completed the build if (big if) you have surplus cash you can always go and get another buy to let flat. just a wee tip. If you’re going to be buying a lot of materials yourselves, which you will, make sure you get a credit card with benefits either cash back or airmiles. Despite having a turnkey contract I did spend £10s thousands myself and earned enough points for a big holiday afterwards.

See his previous posts.

I think what goes in your favour is that as soon as you realised / suspected it didn’t fall under PD you stopped immediately and presumably fessed up to the planners and have now put in an application. At the other end of the scale are people who deliberately ignore planning laws like that farmer who built a house without PP and hid it behind hay bails. Or Capt Toms dodgy family spa. Though planners follow rules etc like anyone in a decision making position it’s difficult not to be influenced by human factors and perception. The risk could be at this stage is if you you utilise a consultant you may be perceived as someone who knew the proposed build was questionable/ borderline from the outset and as such it wasn’t and innocent mistake. Which is why you didn’t apply for PP. They may think you’re at it and a consultant told you “no chance” so you went ahead anyway until “caught out”. If it were me I’d just let the planner make their decision, if your PP application didn’t include a full explanation of what went wrong, I’d just put in a letter explaining this with suitable apology. I have never worked in planning, but I did have a long career in a job that involved granting licensing and legislative applications. We used to work positively with erroneous applicants who made innocent mistakes and helped them navigate the application process. Those whose integrity was in question often found that their applications failed. Decision makers are not dafties and it’s quite apparent when someone, or a company is at it, or when someone has made a faux pas. You need to assure the planners you haven’t been at it with this build. You don’t need to pay a consultant to do that. Your post will generate opinion based upon experience and others may advise differently but if it were me that’s what I’d do. Based upon the assumption that your build isn’t something that would clearly never stand a chance of getting PP because it clearly breaches local planning rules.

Can I just confirm you mean you have planning permission for a static caravan, and to build a house, but you are awaiting a building warrant for the actual house. I thought you don’t need a building warrant, but you need PP, for a static caravan - but I’m happy to be corrected if wrong by others, as I didn’t have one on my build, so cannot be certain if this. Hopefully someone else can give you a better steer. Off the back of my planning permission I did a lot of site clearance / utilities / prep, whilst awaiting the warrant being granted. I would concur with @Jenki, I also had a verbal and email dialogue with my local planners and building control depts, to ensure I could progress my project accordingly within the rules and requirements. It seems there’s a better relationship between applicants & local authorities north of border, in fact in my shire my local planners etc were exceptionally helpful in keeping me right and made very helpful suggestions to allow progress.

Middle. Mrs Super-Paulie is right. boiling tap will free up more space and you can get them for under £300. Best kitchen decision we made was to get a £300 boiling tap, and second one was not to put the sink at the end of a worktop run.

I used to live in a city centre apartment complex that was plagued with seagulls. bought a plastic hawk off the internet, put it up high in the roof. Was surprised at how effective it was. Eliminated the issue permanently. *plastic hawk as in a moulded plastic bird with reflective eyes, not as in what you would use for plastering. The latter probably wouldn’t work and your neighbours may think you’re mental*

https://www.scotlime.org May be of use & they run courses in the skills you wish to learn.

Tread carefully, and do lots of research, especially with some dodgy companies that will try to flog you heat pumps on the basis of promises of huge energy savings. Loads of previous very similar posts on this site for you to search through.

I think you’ve assessed that correctly TBH, but the specialist groundworks should definitely be zero rated for VAT. We had to remove hundreds of tonnes from our site (though it wasn’t contaminated). And some asbestos roofing from an old building, which certainly was. Specialist firms were very expensive so I did my research and found alternative ways to remove everything (safely & properly). It therefore may be possible to do some of the required works cheaper than what I assume is a significant quote. I’d imaging the actually disposal of the contaminated soil is the biggy.

Quite a few of us here have backup generators and changeover switches. Not so much for a zombie apocalypse but more SSEN network failures. Problem being petrol generators use a lot of fuel. if you are thinking about full on “prepping” I would normally have suggested tin foil to make a hat, until those who were ridiculed for a prepping for a overdue pandemic turned out to be quite correct in 2020. In terms of longer term major disruption / disaster - fuel in storage is a challenge (unless using long life fuel or additives). As is the supply of medication in particular penicillin. In reality in an apocalypse more people would die from dental infections than zombie bites. Of course being British toilet paper was the priority if everyone recalls. I must have missed that Walking Dead episode where Rick Grimes was in a shootout over a roll of Tesco super quilted. Fear not, in such a scenario the govt definitely “have a plan”.

“I am worried about overheating as well. I will have to look at a combination of roller blinds + trees on GF + Brise soleil to tackle the overheating.” so like @Conor I have an overheating issue on my south facing elevation, have a look at my profile pic. The 6 windows on the main gable - lounge & bedroom - are a small fraction of your sqm of glazing on your south elevation. And you’re in a warmer part of the country. my daughters bedroom - she has to close the curtains during sunny warm days even with windows open.. The main livingroom is rarely used in the summer even with all the windows open. You can get glazing finishes that can help. You’re definitely going to have to make this a number one priority in terms of mitigating, if you’re committed to that glazing design otherwise you may find parts of the house difficult to live in. like you say you can create shade via planting but the sun is high in the summer., so you’ll need to ensure most of that glazing is shaded me thinks. one thing we do is we have some roof windows in the hallway. These help the rising heat to escape. If you think about it with modern insulated homes effectively the heat has to have some way to escape. 100% don’t think “it’s probably going to be ok” as is. Hate to think a major part of your house will be unusable.

Floor plans in isolation are only part of the story in terms of a successful home. So providing a bit of detail eg family, kids, dogs, WFH, relevant hobbies, home for life, etc all play into us being able to give you the best layout advice / suggestions for your circs. I do love what you're planning though but a couple of initial observations. I think the bedrooms are a bit too big and the house is big enough to have its own office - you don’t need to combine your living & office in a house that big, unless you want to of course.

I also have Rationel windows aura plus alu clad, & exterior doors from ADW. Have performed great over past 3 years despite facing prevailing heavy winds and storms. Had an issue with paint finish imperfection on one of the doors, it was replaced under warranty with zero quibble. Great after service. Cannot comment on the other brands.

For the double fireplace opening problem ….here’s a creative solution. Large piece of what appears to be wall art / canvas on the chimney breast, however it’s actually constructed from an acoustically filled frame finished on the back in same colour as the wall. Hinged at the bottom so it flips down and covers and seals the gap. Could even replicate the art in the actual chimney beast, so you don’t have a big gap. or not hinged but made in a way with a lip that hides a rubber seal, so it can literally friction for / plug the fireplace gap with it. You could have one either side to create an airtight gap, because obviously the fireplace couldn’t be used if covered with certain materials. if you have tvs there could use same idea just hang the wall art/acoustic panel on another wall when not used. do I win a prize ?