Bozza

@vab89 I have messaged you a copy of my tree report for my planning application. It will give you an idea of what the issues are & what a tree report involves and recommends etc. I have 26 mature trees but no TPOs, I had to build around, but the principles are effectively the same. There is a bit of a chicken and egg here for you. The tree report comments on the implications of a proposed build on the trees, but you don’t know what to build until you have an idea until an expert has guided you. For me it was quite simple. We marked the tree RPAs on our site plan then progressed our plan to build accordingly. I think local authorities have someone who looks after TPO trees. Probsbly environment dept. If I were you’d I’d reach out to them with a general approach of I’m thinking about extending but don’t want to do any harm to the tree. I love that tree. I don’t want it harmed. Etc. Can you give me a steer? My application sailed through because I made sure I wasn’t placing any opportunities for the various consultees (including environmental) to make negative comments. Something sticks in my mind that up to 10% of a tree root can be disturbed without detriment but I don’t know about a TPO tree and definitely don’t take that as gospel. before you do any further research on building methods designs etc I’d definitely do the research on the TPO tree. Trees and bats have rights

“the tree is massively tall but the actual crown covering everything is super high up. the lower branches would just barely touch a proposed 2 storey development and if it was a 1.5 storey mezzanine approach i dont think it would touch at all. weve previously had successfull application to trim the branches before.” So what is important is the TPO tree Root Protection Area. Measure the diameter of the trunk 1.5m from ground, then times that number diameter by 12. Measure that calculation as a distance from the tree trunk, 360degrees That’s the circular RPA that you normally cannot disturb or dig and basically isn’t in play. If your proposed extension is within the RPA you’re very likely stuffed at least with dug foundations. And unlikely to be able to take materials, machinery across that RPA either. I have trees and know this because we had to build around the RPAs. And our trees weren’t even TPO’d.

Take, with a pince of salt, anything you read online, especially social media reviews such as on FB. It’s incredibly easy for a rubbish businesses to establish a positive social media presence online. People get paid to write fictitious reviews and content. do proper vetting, companies house check, visit prior clients etc. good businesses will be happy to provide proper reference etc .

@de devil tail your requirements are not particularly unusual and it seems you are not restricted in what you can build. So there should be no reason not to have a strong layout. There’s probably hundreds of house layouts online that would give you what you need or that you can tweak. again I’d refer you to Danwood homes website for ideas especially as it’s german/polish architecture. If you have budgetry limitations it is always cheaper to go up. Building a bungalow with a view to converting at a later stage probably isn’t going save you any money and a lot of hassle at a later stage. In the circumstances you describe I’d definitely just build a 1.5 or 2 story house. Well designed it doesn’t even have to be as big as 250 sqm to feel spacious. Just make sure your downstairs has potential future bedroom and bathroom space.

I’m assuming v.29 means that is the 29th attempt/version. I’m really sorry if this sound rude or unhelpful but from a layout perspective my initial thought was I’m amazed a qualified architect has put that together. Your compromises, namely rooms with no windows, a tiny entrance with outward opening door, inner hallways with no natural light. It just seems a really odd layout and flow when you’ve got a blank canvas that a self build is, to create something wonderful. and as a result you’re struggling to layout the kitchen living area. I think some of your layout challenges as a bungalow are due the squarish shape of the footprint. Bungalow layouts seem to work better if more elongated. You mentioned potential for 1.5. Have you considered a smaller footprint and go 1.5. All depends on your circumstances, plot, views, externals and budget of course. As you say it’s a long ambition to self build, and if you love that layout and it’s perfect crack on. We’ve all had to compromise when buying an already built house, but when self building you should be really happy with your layout. If you’re not happy with it, stop and rethink. The last thing you want to do after all the hard work and cost of self building is to have major regrets over a missed opportunity to build something you absolutely love. have a look at the layouts of the bungalows on the Danwood homes website, or similar size. The caveat with my reply is I designed my own house but I am not a qualified architect. And this is just one opinion. The likes of @ETC are far better qualified. I appreciate you weren’t asking for comment on the whole layout but some of us feel compelled as members of this community to encourage the best possible success for your project.

Let me tell you why I think the paintball thing is unlikely. if I was wanting to start up a paintballing business I’d want a location that allowed players, ideally lots of them, to play various games that allowed competitors to run around all over a big bit of land. A narrow strip of land would mean that teams couldn’t out flank each other it would just be two teams firing at each other from each end of a narrow strip. Paintballs, especially with wind, can travel quite a distance. A “defending” team of paintballers would just have to locate in a central part of the strip and an attacking team wouldn’t be able to advance. It would be very stagnant and boring stalemate. I’m fairly sure that any planning conditions would require paintballs not to land on yours as a minimum measure. As such that 50m strip would reduced to almost nothing as paintballs can travel quite a distance with wind. Mitigation ? Lots of expensive high planting / fencing? Have a look at nearby paintball activity companies. See what they offer v what that land could offer. I’m pretty sure they will have better land so how could it be commercially viable, especially with an immediate a close neighbour who would understanding object to it. Why would someone want to paintball on a thin bit of land when other companies offer a better experience. How close is the nearest paintball centre. How close are you to areas of population. Would there be lots of parking, places to put in storage facilities, toilets, catering. They wouldn’t want to risk that with a neighbour next door complaining. I think the seller is at it and sounds like he’s being an d£&k. Offering to sell it to a paint balling company is a very different thing to a company seeing it as commercially viable land for that activity and buying it. If he makes that comment again I’d say good, I’ve always fancied taking up paintballing. Then go and do your research on bats, squirrels and various protected wildlife. You can put in measures to encourage habitation and report / record activity. Bats etc have rights you know.

Ok so farmer (A) sells this strip of land to random new owner (B) on condition he allows through farm access to (A), presumably for very little money. Do you know why (B) bought a random bit of land that presumably has very little value or use to it. Doesn’t make any sense for B to buy it. Or indeed A to sell it. It would make sense for A to have sold it you who wouldn’t do anything with it. Did you ever try to buy the land from (A) at market value when it was for sale. So what happens next how on earth do you end up speaking with (B) about buying it off him that ends up him wanting £60k & resulting in the paint balling threat. Did he just randomly pitch up one day and offer to sell you land he’s just bought. I think it would be helpful to understand the full story to allow us to provide you with the best possible advice.

You missed that bit out. Who has the right of access? Him or you? Have you been trying to buy that land ?

How much of your garden borders their land is it the 200m dimension, or the 50m dimension. Are you able to post a google image screenshot or whatever. How much land do you have next to them. Otherwise any advice would be very generic. I have land of differing types all around me - some used, some not used . Some would cause more problems than others for the likes of paintballing so trying to understand your precise predicament and geography. & when you say rumoured what precisely does that mean. Have you asked the landowner about it. Has the landowner got form for winding up and antagonising neighbours. My neighbouring landowners and I get on and a few of them have chatted over with me potential use for their land and they’re not the types to do anything inconsiderate. Or are yours the opposite if that.

Would you be ok with it if it (the paintballing) if it didn’t actually cause you any problems? Eg it was set up and run in a way that you don’t hear or see the activity?

Just two general recommendations. 1. If your ASHP/heating system has or is likely to have internal pumps, they can be noisy, so don’t have your plant room adjacent to, or below bedrooms etc. if they must be consider acoustic insulation. Don’t have MVHR so don’t know if the units are noisy or not. 2. Consider future proofing your house by designing in the capacity to easily run additional electrics or pipe work from the plant room to outside, perhaps by access hatches, empty conduit or whatever. At this stage the costs are tiny/nominal. Whether electric vehicles, back up generator, wind turbine, personal nuclear reactor, personal drone landing site, alien laser defence system. Just never know what the future tech or energy supply demands may be. We’ve had to retrofit a generator hook up due to supply issues due to weather. Would have cost pennies to do so at time of build.

Just another example of a country that is not functioning correctly, with no obvious solution or alternative to those in charge.

Maybes try this organisation as a starter point, you’ll need to get an independent surveyor in. They may be able it direct you if they deal more with commercial tarmac as opposed to domestic. Is there a written guarantee eg an email or contract or was it all word of mouth type arrangement. if you pay for an independent survey and it says the work is substandard etc and the installer fails to rectify have a look at small claims court, if you wish to go down that route. You never said was this a proper registered company or someone from Facebook or whatever. https://www.rsta-uk.org

So yeah basically create a full height 48mm deep false wall, or half wall with a ledge. To reduce depth of alcove, so bath centres on window. I have the same OCD about details like that. For me if it was deeper than 48mm, something deep enough to put decorative stuff on, I’d create a shelf mid height or whatever. But at 48mm it’ would likely be useless for that so I’d be tempted just to stud all the way up and as you say good space to run pipes etc. if you intend to panel this alcove it’s certainly going to be easier just to have the flat wall all the way up rather than stepping in 48mm. However if you intend just to panel half height or whatever and leave upper half as plain wall what you could do it’s create a rectangular recess in that new false stud (48mm deep obviously) and have a large piece of art or a framed mirror in it. A shallower version of the attached pic, which is what we did to camouflage a vertical boxed in soil pipe. That could look quite good especially if the recess is same shape of artwork or whatever. As I think you’re going for a fancy lux look with the panelling etc a big mirror with a fancy frame might fit in with the styling. just an idea… regards Bozza Llewelyn-Bowen

So I’m struggling to understand how tarmac could possibly create that very square shaped indent as a result of settlement, if it was perfect on installation.. If there was a problem with the ground sinking I would have throught it would be a more rounded dip. Several of us have observed it looks more like damage after installation. Though tarmac can be driven on after a few days it can remain quite soft, and susceptible to damage, for weeks after, as it can be a bit soft. Weather can play a part in that. My own newly installed tarmac drive sustained some scores and indents a month or so after installation, but I saw what caused that and it was a pallet truck wheel. if that indent appeared then got worse over a few days then obviously that’s unlikely to be damage and might something wrong in the sub base, but if you just noticed it like that one day it’s much more likely to be external damage. The thing is of all the places the marks are located it’s appears to be central to the driveway entrance, and it appear on a grade so exactly where a vehicle, van or whatever would come in and potentially damage it. The indents aren’t located in the corner for example near a wall. what explanation has the business owner given for the problem, as I assume you’ve sent photos.. Has he suggested it would be external damage. Before you get into who is liable for what you’ll need to establish what caused it. I doubt anyone here can tell you it’s anything other than damage, unless you’ve got CCTV that can confirm 100% it’s not. If you’re adamant it’s not damage you could get a tarmac expert in to inspect and survey it to confirm it’s installed incorrectly. Then take that to your installer because if that bits wrong so could the rest of it be. That irrefutable evidence would support a claim in the small claims court if you fail to get progress directly with the installer. if your contractor is a local reputable business as much as you explain he is, with lots of verifiable recommendations (eg not Facebook) he wouldn’t have got that reputation by being bad at his job. Did you get a personal recommendation by someone you know.

How many days after installation was the driveway sectioned off for and how many days after installation did it appear. Was is sectioned off when this mark appeared. Where the mark is, was there anything underneath it before eg a drain cover.

Was it there when you handed over the cash, and did you discuss that at the time, or did it appear afterwards. Is there a contract, emails etc and is it a proper business / company.

You do realise spending that much on a shoe rack means your wife will be expecting to fill them with Jimmy Choos.

@Square Feet nice job - looks great and high end - seen a lot of this kind of thing on TikTok. Something I’ve always wanted to ask though / discouraged me from doing something similar. Close up is there not a mismatch between the materials , the shade and texture of the ikea manufactured and melamine -v- the hand painted facing timber. And I always worried the hand painted part would in time fade/yellow and contrast with the melamine ?

It does look good, but it’s does seem quite expensive for the quantity of units. But if the quality is top notch and you’re happy with it that’s the main thing.

Yeah I was surprised it needs exterior grade board, as per what @ProDave has said. He’s also picked up a on valid point regarding structural strength. I would not downgrade any sizing as it must have been specified for a reason, but note you were increasing from 9 to 12 you just need to watch out because some ply is structural and some is not. I would just also think about clear benefits in kitchen of being able to attach wall units etc easily you may wish to consider 18mm on the relevant walls.

I think the requirement for the 18mm in bathrooms is for future handrails / grab rails / disability assess accessories, not for hanging basins etc. Certainly on my drawings (TF build ) it specifies accessible bathroom walls to be of substantial construction namely 18mm ply then 12.5mm plasterboard. But I’m in Scotland so may be different down south. there was no mention of using WBP though. You may need to check with regs, your architect and/or building control.

Yes niches are good in showers. Ours is a godsend. Just have it at the dry end of the shower would be my recommendation. Make it big enough for everything you will need if you end up putting stuff on the floor etc defeats the point.

There is something called Tricoya, it is a waterproof MDF that can even be used outside. Never used it myself but saw a video review where they made planters out of it. Personally I would be equally concerned about normal Mdf around the bath. But there may be other here who have done so successfully. My concern would be if the panelling design had horizontal sections that water would catch on. It may be that a combo of moisture resistant MDF and that tricoya might be a solution. Your second dilemma re spacing of bath I won’t comment because I’d have read it a couple of times but my small brain doesn’t understand maybes a sketch / photo to explain? re the tiling of shower up to edge of tray as opposed to an overlap I don’t think it would look odd but the dilemma will be that you’ll be drilling holes for the shower screen/door/panel very close to the edge of the tiles. I’d make sure you do a drilling test on a sample to make sure you can drill that close to the edge. And when installing make sure you’ve got solid timber verticals behind and the tiles adhesive is well dry. I had to install a big screen recently near the edge of tiles. What I did was made slight bigger holes than required so the screws didn’t go anywhere near the tiles and straight through and into the plasterboard then timber. Lots of silicone to plug the hole. If that makes sense. Just everything I could to make sure the tiles didn’t crack when tightening the screws. if your concern is seeing a cm or so of tile outside the edge of the screen could you cap / cover it with some trim that matches the shower screen / door?

IDK to be honest, can you show a full threshold photo from outside, to show the external weep holes on the threshold. Is it a new door / new house.