Russdl

I’m waiting to see how this winter goes but ready to add ventilation if required and I’ve got water and drains in there so I could do that if it looks like it needs it. So far the temperature is very steady but humidity follows the outside humidity but around 5-10% lower so that may be a problem with this grand design.

Good question, I got a bit carried away and it is over the top I guess but I wanted a warm dry garage. No heating and the door does open and close as required to get stuff in and out. The other night it was 3 degrees down here, the garage was at 18 degrees the day before and 17 degrees the following morning. It gains heat from a warm car getting put in there and/or charging up a hybrid car overnight. No ventilation requirements, at least none that I could find and it’s been signed off by building control so I guess they weren’t aware of any either. No, no secondary door or windows but the electric sectional door can be opened from inside or outside in the event of a power failure.

Designing my new build detached garage in SketchUp was easy. Finding someone to convert my fantasy garage into something that Building Control would be happy with was more difficult. I wanted the detached garage to be well insulated, and I may well have got a bit carried away. I wanted to use Geocell Foamglass for the foundation topped off with a concrete slab. I then wanted single skin blockwork clad with external insulation that married up with the Foamglass so that the slab and block work where inside the thermal envelope. I also wanted a warm flat roof. On top of this the garage was to be trapezoidal in plan to make the most of our odd shaped plot and big enough at the front to take a 5m garage door and finally I wanted a thermal break at the door between the slab and the outside world I contacted a local Structural Engineer who came round for a site visit. There more I spoke the more bewildered he looked. He'd never heard of Foamglass, not necessarily an issue but he didn't seem even vaguely interested in finding out more about it and its utilisation. I rapidly came to the conclusion that I couldn't work with him so I pondered my next move and decided to get in touch with a (well known on here) Structural Engineer/Architectural Designer who happens to live at the other end of the country. I wondered if he'd be able to help me out or steer me in the right direction. It turned out that he could. More than that, he took on board all the odd things I wanted to do and worked with me brilliantly. He's an absolute mine of information and had lots of great input with which to finesse my design and he clearly knew what he was talking about which is so reassuring. A site visit wasn't necessary, I provided a site survey and soil survey from the house build and then photos and Google Earth filled in any blanks. I probably drove him nuts, every drawing he sent I added to my SketchUp design because I really wanted (needed) to understand how it was going to go together and didn't want the standard "the builder will know what to do". There was a great deal of detail in the drawings: The upshot of this long story is that working with a Structural Engineer/House Designer who I'd never met and who never visited the site was a great experience and I'm glad I looked further afield than the local offerings and would recommend the same approach to anyone else looking for an SE/Architectural Designer. You’ll find him here:@Gus Potter and if you’re looking for a Structural Engineer/Architectural Designer I would heartily recommend you get in touch 👍🏻

Well I took my own sweet time as ever but I've finally made it from SketchUp dream. To block built reality - and even a driveway going in after three years of occupation! The build was a long slow process, fitting it in between work, other projects, trades availability etc but I'm very pleased with the end result and so far it's performing as planned (should a garage perform?) One thing is for certain, it will never pay back the investment, a bit like the cars and motorbikes that reside within, but I'm not concerned about that. Anyway, it was not all 'standard' construction so I'll put a few posts up seperately highlighting the different stages that may be of use to others.

Agree with all the above, especially the advice re ditching the gas, an induction hob is superior in every conceivable way. Work on the insulation and air tightness. If you can get the 3 phase for a few grand more I think it would be well worth the expense to future proof your house. Who knows how many EV’s you’ll be charging overnight in 10 years time, or how big your household battery is that needs charging overnight etc etc.

Speak to a planning consultant?

I can see your concern there from the photo. I’m guessing there will be door’s/stud wall to hide the gubbins? If so, I would route a channel through the wood floor where the doors/wall will go and then waterproof seal the gap between the two sections of floor (which would be hidden by doors/wall) and then install a tiny flood barrier so if the worst did happen it wouldn’t affect the whole floor.

We have two steel spine staircase, designed on the mighty Sketchup and fabricated by the local metal fabricator. The main staircase is relatively easy going and then there is a smaller, steeper one up to the accessible loft storage space.

I’m not entirely sure I understand the question but if I have got the right end of the stick: We used spray paint that was suitable for plastic on several external power outlets to turn them from grey to black and they remain very black four or so years later. No sign of flaking.

I guess it would make completion of that roof joint a whole lot easier if no one can see it.

Supplementary question. What is the wooden thingy? I presume it's a fake ventilation thingy. I'm guessing it serves no purpose, the house is around 25 years old in a cul-de-sac of similar looking buildings with similar wooden things on their garage roofs.

@Andehh I initially thought they wouldn't be suitable to work off but having a look at some maybe they would. I found one nearby that seems to have plenty of reach.

It seems that what I did was correct and last night it worked as required, my problem would appear to be solved.

My son has been asked to quote for a job repairing a purely decorative wooden thingy on top of a garage which has a pyramid hipped roof. It's not immediately obvious in the photo below but the ridge joining the house to the garage is a good couple of feet lower than the top of the pyramid roof. He asked me what would be the best way to access the wooden thingy in order to work on it. I stared at him blankly. So, over to the hive mind if I may. What would be the best way to access and work on the wooden thingy? Is there a better option than full scaffolding? Thanks in advance 👍

I have an Intelligent Octopus Go / Zappi question. I’m trying to reduce the rate* at which the Zappi charges the car overnight from the standard 7kW to around 4kW. To do this I changed the ‘Device Limit’ in the Installer Settings from the default 31.8A to 15.0A as research indicated that would do the trick. Turns out it didn’t do anything and the car is still charging at around 7kW. Does anyone know whether this is because IO Go overrides the Zappi settings? Or have I got something wrong here. *My main fuse is 80A and if everything electric is on overnight at the same time I believe it’ll go pop. Clearly with the IOG tariff I want everything electric to be on during the 6hr cheap rate but I can’t decide when the car will charge during those 6hrs.

Ah, I misread, soz. So the principal elevation is most likely still facing ‘Highway B’. I found the Gov guidance useful but don’t recall enough detail to advise. Have you read this?

Before you go too much further it looks like you need to firmly establish what your principal elevation is. The elevation facing ‘Highway B’ clearly used to be the principal elevation but moving the drive to ‘Highway A’ and the porch addition facing ‘Highway A’ may well have made that the principal elevation.

Oh. Nothing there re ‘keeping secrets’

That can’t be legal!!! Let me just check the BuildHub T’s&C’s…

Just watched it. I’m completely puzzled as to why planning decided it should short of replicate a building that wasn’t there and, by the looks of it, hadn’t been there for very many years. You obviously satisfied that seemingly weird request and produced a beautiful house. Quiet frankly I wish my wife hadn’t watched that Grand Designs! I’ve been fending off numerous questions tonight regarding how you did it so quickly, so well, and so under budget. Thanks!

Isn’t that always the way!

I was snapped as a 3 lane 40 mph limit expanded to a 4 lane 30 mph limit. Definitely no pedestrians or even footpath close by. I was doing 34 mph, I didn’t see the 30 mph sign. Too much street furniture? Or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, either way nothing but my pride and wallet were hurt and who knows this thread may may slow some down by 1 mph or more and prevent a them hitting a car/bike/person in a future scenario. I’m not preaching here, I have a Speed Triple that doesn’t really do ‘slow’ very well.

That, I guess, was the point they were trying to make. It resonated with me, especially the 1 mph extra resulting in 8 mph extra at point ‘X’ which could be where the car/bike/person etc is. I was baffled by the 1 mph becoming 8 mph so thanks @garrymartin for confirming that bit of weirdness is a reality.

@garrymartin I got lost in the maths there but it would seem they were telling truths. They weren’t talking about stopping distances per se more about how fast you would still be going at the point the ‘compliant’ car had stopped. I was quite surprised. What about the speed of a car at point ‘X’ if it’s doing 35 mph, that’ll be significant I suspect? it sounds like I’m a convert but it is my second course so they haven’t fixed me yet 😔

I’ve just been on one of those course you are invited to take instead of 3 points on your driving licence (I was innocent! So were the other 20 people on the course). One element of the course explained that with two identical cars, one doing 30 mph one doing 31 mph braking at exactly the same time the car doing 30mph would stop at point ‘X’. The car doing 31 mph would still be doing 8 mph at point ‘X’. I couldn’t argue that because I don’t know where to start on the maths. Can one of you boffins show me the ‘workings’ of such a sum?