Jump to content

vivienz

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1378

  • Joined

  • Days Won

    15

 Content Type 

Everything posted by vivienz

  1. vivienz
    My house design has 2 deep, long balconies off the bedrooms on the upper floor. The decks have been designed with parapets; the build is by MBC Timber Frame and it will be a cold roof construction. The architect is doing all the necessary for building regs sign off and it's nearly there, but they are flapping about ventilation of the decks. Their concern is that the cold roof on the decks must be vented, but they don't want to put any vents through the vertical face of the cladding that will be on the outside of the parapet. As yet, I haven't seen the type of vent that they are trying to avoid, but does anyone have any other solutions for venting the roof other than going through the cladding? I've seen a few ideas where the air flow goes to the edge of the deck then up through the inside of the parapet, but I'm not sure if this would give sufficient air flow and achieve the necessary ventilation level. Any suggestions welcome.
  2. vivienz
    Good news. Never assume you have free time- if you think hard enough, there's always something that's been out off to another day!
  3. vivienz
    Something that's worth having done is a soil survey or ask if the vendor has had one done. My plot is on highly shrinkable, dedicated clay which, broadly, means an extra £20k for me due to more complicated foundations than we had initially thought. Ours is still within our budget ( for the moment) but if things are tight it's better to know before you purchase in case it makes the whole project unaffordable.
  4. vivienz
    Still loving the view. Even a JCB can't make it look bad.
  5. vivienz
    So, this list of luxuries - is it fixed and has this been agreed in writing? Just saying.
  6. vivienz
    Bugger! Has someone cursed you, Lizzie? Even the simple things don't seem to be going right. You must have been a very bad girl in a past life?
  7. vivienz
    I think that's how they do it in France, too, especially when the farmers go on strike.
  8. vivienz
    We had the hedges removed and laid by a tree surgeon and they chipped/shredded as much as they could on site, using their industrial shredder. Much of what is left is scrubby rootball and, quite frankly, if it wouldn't go through their shredder, I very much doubt that it would go through anything I could get my hands on. We currently have one set of near neighbours who know that we will need to burn this stuff and have no issues with it as long as it's done properly. Re. the wildlife, this is why I want to move the heap from its current position in the garden and into the field - it will give a chance for any wildlife to escape in the process.
  9. vivienz
    Good point about the grass- better to do it sooner rather than later, methinks, as the ground should be a little wet after the predicted rain at the weekend, which should stop the grass going up with it. I will have a word with the neighbours too, of course. Any more advances on how to start it? There's way too much for an incinerator/dustbin.
  10. vivienz
    Following on from all the hedgerows removal and hedge laying that was done earlier this year, I have an enormous pile of woody waste that needs to be burned. It's currently resident in the garden area but I may get it dragged into the field. My past history may be chequered but being a pyromaniac is not something I ever aspired to and so I have no idea how to actually set light to this stuff and get it all burned. Is it as simple as a judiciously applied can of petrol and a match or two, or is there a more scientific approach?
  11. vivienz
    We had our asbestos survey done a while back and it confirmed that there is asbestos present, all low grade and not requiring licensed work to dismantle. It's most old floor tiles inside the bungalow itself and the corrugated roofing on the concrete garage block. Even though this isn't a complex case, it will still cost ~£1100 + VAT for disposal, mainly due to the transport costs to get rid of it. It's easy to dispose of a small amount that may crop up in households from time to time but a skip load needs to go to a specialist facility, of which there are few. The nearest to us is Swindon and of that £1100, half of it is the transport cost. By the time the VAT and the cost of the survey are taken into account, it's the thick end of £2k for an uncomplicated case with nothing aggressive in it. It makes you pause for thought.
  12. vivienz
    Watching with interest.
  13. vivienz
    The best one I've seen in real life is in Brittany and belongs to the office building of a garden landscape company! The roof is a wave shape and covers quite an area, but one would imagine that it would be in good nick, given their line of business. It's certainly been there for at least 8 years and still looks pretty good.
  14. vivienz
    @dreadnaught We didn't in the end. We were thinking about it over the single storey garage but as it's north facing and heavily shadowed by the 2 storey house, we didn't take the idea any further, I'm afraid.
  15. vivienz

    Hi

    vivienz replied to Hecateh's topic in Introduce Yourself

    Congratulations! Everything takes longer than you think even when there are no major hitches, as I've found out. Enjoy the moment.
  16. vivienz
    Brilliant replies, thanks everyone. I spoke to the firm this morning. Their depot is in Taunton, so it's a reasonable distance on a round trip to north Dorset but it's come in very competitively. About £55 for delivery and the actual compost is £22 + VAT per tonne. I want 2 tonnes, so about £110 all done and delivered. 2 tonnes is about 4 hippo bags or many, many standard 50 life bags. And it's peat free, which is good. We are going to use it for all sorts of stuff but the kitchen garden is just the start. The roof timbers from the old bungalow will be the edging for the beds.
  17. vivienz
    Has anyone tried compost from recyclers of local authority green waste? Because we have really heavy clay soil at the new place, my kitchen garden will be almost entirely no-dig raised beds (I'm trying the methods promoted by Charles Dowding). I will need to fill these with compost - far too much to be messing around with 40l bags of the stuff, so I'm planning a bulk delivery from the closest green waste recycling plant and I will get a quote on prices next week. I will be able to start making my own compost in due course as we're surrounding by dairy farms and horse stables, so there's no shortage of raw materials, just time in the first instance. Does anyone have any opinions on the quality of the compost if they have used it?
  18. vivienz
    Indeed, Jack, but I've always been a hopeless optimist - all self builders are, I guess.
  19. vivienz
    +1 to what Nick says. And don't be afraid to push your architect around, either. I will be breaking ground in the next few weeks on my build and have engaged with lots of people/trades that will be involved and the architect has been the least professional of everyone in terms of reliability. They only seem to do something when you really, really nag them.
  20. vivienz
    Wow! I never knew you could spend that much on a coat for a pooch! And I grumble about buying something more than the base brand of food for 2 cats.
  21. vivienz
    Bloody hell! £1700!!!!! Outrageous! Makes me glad I won't have any gas!
  22. vivienz
    Could you attach some sort of tube to where they've dug their own tunnel and fill in around it to give them access whilst the next is there? The tube could be removed and filled in at the end of the season.
  23. vivienz
    Gorgeous. Stair porn, indeed. Really, you're going to make us wait for weeks?!!!!!
  24. vivienz
    You could create a dedicated kitty compost heap for general use but not on edible plants. There's no reason why it won't compost down, just add some other kitchen waste and shredded paper and it should get away nicely. Cats don't always bury it. Our two are free to roam outside and have always chosen to go in the border of the greenhouse, underneath another mini-greenhouse that was in there, for preference. They hate getting their paws wet and heaven forbid that they should have to do anything so uncivilised as go outdoors or further than their own garden. We stopped using the greenhouse border some time ago. It's now called Turdopolis.
  25. vivienz
    We've used this firm for a number of things over the years. Their products aren't fashion greenhouses, but made for functionality from perspex and self assembly aluminium frames. We've always found their quality to be very good and service is reliable and friendly. Their products are mostly made by them in the UK as well. We've just ordered a few things from them, including an additional greenhouse for the new site, and there is currently a discount of 15% if you order 2 items or more. Worth a look.
×
×
  • Create New...