Big Jimbo

Don't rip it out on my account, but if the rest of it looks similar, i can't see you being happy at the end.

On off. Please don't be offended. You are my have a go hero on here, to Pocster who is genarally my belly laugh bodger. I'm going to be honest, and say i don't like it. It looks like to much mortar and not enough flint on show for me. I think the flint looks a bit to organised aswell. Sorry mate.

I feel your pain. The way i managed to get my permission was to use all my pd rights on a piece of paper. 3sq m porch on front, half the width of the house on the left hand side, and half the width on the right hand side. 8m extension to the rear. also pointed out that i could cover 50% of my land with buildings, so if they wanted to be knobs, i could make the site look much worse. They actually used my pd rights as special circumstances to pass what i wanted. i am also in the greenbelt, and eventually ended up with permission to go from 600sq ft to 3000sq ft.

My previous research tells me that you will get told "Non standard construction" by a lot of lenders, and that you will either have to pay more, or get refused. I would also be concerned about ever having to sell, and the problem that any future purchaser porting over an existing mortgage might have. Back in the dark ages when i used to agree mortgages for a high street bank. I would have an anual target. At the start i would write up mortgages that perhaps didn't quite tick all the boxes. As i got closer to the target i would get more stringent. When the mortgages got close to the maximum level of exposure that the bank wanted to have to the property market, i would refuse most mortgage applications. Please don't get me wrong. I think there are tons of better ways of building property than bricks, and blocks. Unfortunately the lenders just have not caught up with modern methods of construction.

Did the planning officer speak to you during the time that the application was being considered.

Joe is right, but IMO they look shite in the doors

Normally there is a rebate in the frame for you to put the strip in. You might be able to router them in if your frames dont have them.

A channel in the frame that has the fire strip thingy in

Sounds like a plan. And that is better than no plan fella.

And when they go, they go. Just because they shatter into tiny pieces, if you are holding them at the time, your hand get cut !

And another vote for wall panels. I have used expensive 9mm ply panels with a facing, down to cheap 200mm wide plastic, 6mm thick panels. Both gave excellent results. Panels available have defo moved on from that mobile home in the 80's look. Dont get me wrong, i love a good tiling job, but i just hate grout.

In my opinion, yes, it may be a problem. Our easily reached, and cheap morgage lenders do not like anything that is not standard masonary. Others on here will say it does not matter, but it does. Pick a few morgage brokers close to you, and they will tell you the same as i am. The other thing that would concern me is is somebody has an existing morgage and wanted to port it over to your property......That could be a problem, and could put some purchasers off. My research is what put me off building a house from timber I-beams. In my opinion, there are tons of better ways to build house than masonary, but the lenders do not seem to have moved on.

I have done loads of refurbs, while living in the property. It is not great. Even things wrapped very well get ruined. Kitchen utensils are always filthy. T.V's end up knackered. Etc, etc. Roof off, tin hat on in my opinion. I was lucky once, when i took the side, and back off a roof One morning. Got a gable, and rear dormer built in the day. By the time it got dark my Mrs had been up on the dormer and felted it. By the end of day Two i had the front roof tiled back in.The new gable, and dormer covered in building paper, and the ridge tiles cemented back in. Still don't know how i managed it. (I was young and flexible then)

I do hope the T.V screen is not to big. It might make you feel very inadequate when watching certain types of films.

Abbey Pynfold do piles with a reinenforced slat connected to the piles, with a void underneath. There is no insulation in the slab, and that has to be put on top of the slab before screed. I have looked at it as they are close to me. Not cheap though. I did also look at another company who use screw piles. These are all linked with a steel frame. Is insulated between the steel frame, and has steel sheets on the top surface. Cheaper, but i'm not sure how a warrenty provider would view it. Have you considered a basement ?

Santa can stop time, which enables him to travel the whole world in One night delivering presents. The other one is a total wanker, who works for a Council. Is shite at his job. Rubbish at working to any sort of timescale, but knows he is never going to get the sack for being crap. Oh yeah, and Santa brings him a new woolly tie ever year, because even Santa thinks he is a wanker.

It's bigger, the greedy git.

The only thing i would add is that normally between 1930's semi's you have a single 9" party wall between the properties. If you have managed to take out a chimney on the party wall, and have managed to not crack the plaster on the other side, then you have done very, very well. I have never managed to do it. Even taking the chimney out by hand. Cutting a steel into a 1930's semi party wall is also very hard to do without causing damage on the other side. Taking out a chimney requires Building control. As does taking out a wall and fitting a steel. (Did you have building control ? ) Obviously, without knowing the layout of your house, what walls you have removed etc, it's hard to tell if you may have cause damage to your neighbours property. It is however possible that you have......Get your structural engineer to go round to your neighbours, and take a look. He or she will soon tell you if any damage may have been caused by you. Good luck with all the work.

I planted 130 Laurels about 4 years ago. However they were 5 footers at the time. I planted them 750mm apart. The only thing i was told was to make sure they were watered well for the first year. They are 10ft tall now.

I have done a fair bit of roofing with EPDM in my time. That roof is a joke. If it ain't leaking now, it will be in a year. You should not be paying for that. That is a typical builder (who have no clue) doing roofing...

Show us pics of the inside of the workshop Zoot the Hoot.

All of my renovations done previously contain a tupperware box, usually within a stud wall. The boxes contain a small toy. Usually a teddy. A family photo, and a note with the date, and a bit about the family, and the renovation. One of them also contains a hammer, and several tape measures.

Didn't that fella who had his bitten off by his Mrs, end up with a bent one when they stuck it back on. He became a porn star so perhaps a bent one is better. Reaches parts straight ones can't.

You ain't ever going to get that bit of steel straight fella. Just saying. It will forever be a quirk. A bit like some of the other bits of your place. Don't worry, be happy.

I doubt that your existing ceiling joists on the first floor will be man enough to become the floor joists of your new second floor. Normally much larger joists are placed inbetween the existing ceiling joists in order to form a new floor. So i doubt that at 2.15m you have enough height for a loft conversion that would give you a 2m internal floor to ceiling height.