patp

Yes, we did but it was a compromise. We wanted to use and existing farm track as our drive. Planning officer kept putting obstacles in the way and not answering when alternatives were offered. We ended up putting a driveway we will never use on the other side of the site just to satisfy her ego.

Ours fits between roof trusses and we are accessing through it quite happily as is the sparky. I will get some measurements. We are not planning carting stuff up there so only needs to be a human sized space. Roughly 560mm x 720mm is what I am being told.

Thanks guys. They are all too big. Just can't seem to find the smaller sizes in wooden hatches.

An objection should be based on planning regulations. If a neighbour just does not "like" it that is not a valid objection. Even within a planning department you can get awkward or helpful planning officers. Our architect got on very well with the officer who approved our plans. They talked over all the possibilities and came up with the best plans that we were all happy with. When we went back to change some things it was a different officer and, in the end, our architect went to the Chief Planning Officer to complain about her. She blocked everything he suggested but would not explain why. Once she had answered a query she then refused to take his calls or answer his emails. Chief Planning Officer took over the case.

If you are in East Anglia then I cannot recommend Spartek https://www.spartek.co.uk/ more highly. The owner of the company, Lee, is a genius on electricity and all things solar powered. Because of this he is crazy busy carrying out contracts for London Boroughs etc. You are welcome to view our system which is nearly ready to go.

We will not be using our loft space for anything much but the inverter will be up there and so an access has been created. It is visible from the main hallway. Does anyone have any recommendations? We are age proofing the bungalow so thought we had better have a drop down ladder type of hatch.

On the friendly neighbour front, our electrician has offered to put a meter on for us if we need to tap into neighbour's supply. Haven't asked them yet though. Farmer neighbour has offered us a silent generator too.

Where do you site your lpg cylinders may I ask? We used to have an lpg gas hob but tiredof the sight of the cylinders. Could, of course have made a nice little housing for them but life got in the way.

Are we talking about a passive house here though? Is it likely that the weather conditions could be so poor that no one would be able to source some solid fuel from somewhere?

We had a four day power cut once I have heard of even longer ones. If young and fit you might be ok but what about the frail and elderly? Always best to have options in my opinion.

Nothing wrong with a well built chimney. In fact, as we discuss future proofing, they are almost essential when the power goes off!

Of course we should not dwell too much on re sale as I am sure I heard that no matter the spec of a kitchen most people rip them out and re fit after they buy a house.

Make sure that the living space faces South. Having lived in two houses where it didn't and now one where it does face South I would never live in another house that faced in any other directions. The current house was re jigged to take make lounge face West instead of East. The original, West facing kitchen is now where the lounge was. New build was put on the plot, by the architect, facing North and East! The minute we saw it we said "spin it". He looked a bit taken aback because they all design for the best "street view". Yes we will drive up to the rear of the new house but that is a small price to pay for all the light that comes into the living rooms rather than the hall! (Ours is a bungalow).

We (other half who is a time served plumber) went on an "update your heating and ventilating skills" course there and he said it was very worth while. We also did the Potton Homes self builders course which was also very useful. Not just about timber framed houses either. We are building a traditional build, knew some of it already, but still learned lots.

What year was it finished? It was a while ago, now, I seem to remember. Kevin McCloud did not seem to have heard of the Dekton worktop material. I, personally, did not rate the kitchen it seemed a lot of money for a galley kitchen unless I missed something.

Architects, in my opinion, only really care about the visual impact on the street scene. That comes first and they fit everything else into it. Our architect placed our bungalow, on a plot with no restrictions to it, so that the rooms all faced North and East while the hallway windows faced South and West! He was more concerned with kerb appeal than giving us heat and light and views from our habitation spaces. When we pointed this out he said "oh you could turn it around but it would mean driving up to the rear of the house rather than the front". So? This goes for so many people that they design and build a home to impress other people.

That is exactly what my daughter suggested. A unit on wheels. I thought too, of a Butchers Block on wheels. We are off to see an independent kitchen designer tomorrow. He, apparently, loves to give his customers all the little things that they desire in their kitchen. https://www.wentwoodkitchens.co.uk/

Following with interest. One kitchen designer we consulted said that he can reduce the height all around our U shape kitchen and that included a dishwasher. My only reservation is that a tradesperson told us that his gran has a reduced height kitchen and it "looks weird" Would the market value of the house be reduced? I don't really want an island even though we have plenty of room for one. I have heard many people say that get fed up bumping into them and that they reduce the "flow" in the kitchen. An island would, however, be perfect for setting at a reduced height. Decisions, decisions.........

I loved the bit where Kevin McCloud points out that the bins have nowhere to go and, also, was it the bathroom that was miles from the living area? The £120 kitchen was quite compact for the money it cost. No attempt was made to show off any fancy design features other than the work surface and the extractor fan. I think the designer saw them coming.

Our local builders merchant wants eye watering amounts for their products. Have found Nassboards on Amazon at much better prices but wondered why? They get good reviews on Trustpilot.

Building regs need to change to make solar or wind etc compulsory with ASHP installations.

Long story as short as I can. There turned out to be a 4in water main slap bang under our proposed foundations. Anglian water quoted to move it West by about 8m then back East around the perimeter of the site. £17,000! You do have the right to use other contractors for the bulk of the work. They must be registered on Lloyds List. They have to pay to be on the list. We went out to tender from a few on the list. Most did not even reply. One said, despite being a nationwide organisation, that they "did not cover that area". Found one to quote. His part of the job was about £7K. Went back to AW for them to now quote for the turning it on and off and testing and they quoted £12k. Figures are from memory (!) but you get my drift. When asked to itemise their quote they told us that they did not work like that. It was an estimate and that is all they could provide. I eventually got hold of a manager who told the costings of materials etc was a "commercially sensitive" and not available to the general public. I complained and got nowhere and took them to the Ombudsman in the middle of Covid and got nowhere. It is my opinion that they had an "agreement" with the large contractors to leave their area alone. The small contractor that did quote knew he didn't stand a chance because he had never won a quote.

I would be interested in any experience too. We had to fight our own corner when dealing with Anglian Water and always wonder if we missed a trick.

We found a cabinet that came out, along with two more artic loads, of the Olympic Park when they took it all down. It is free standing and situated near the garage, bigger than we need but better than too small. It cost £80. We are using a well established local electrical company to supply our solar panels and wire the house etc. I asked him to negotiate the job with UK Power because my IT skills were not up to providing plans etc. Sometimes these people have a nice working relationship with the big utilities. There is a civil engineer living opposite and he often gets his work signed off with no visit necessary.