ToughButterCup

Ah, flachspul.... literally 'flatflush' (flach = flat) Still dunno what it means....

Ja, kein Problem Junge. Many Germans are expert scatologists for reasons explained below. We know our toilets! Spurandlos ist ein bischen kompliziert..... because of the delightfully annoying tendency of Germans to run words together spul means flush rand means edge the suffix ...los means without Literally translated edgeless flush; which is why its never a good idea to call yourself a translator - interpreter is better. The word might mean direct flush, that is, it doesn't flush the edge. For those of us who can keep it all focused and accurate perhaps. tiefspul is deep flush .... a flush for No2s flackspul, no idea, never heard of it .... spray flush, perhaps? Or maybe the toilet uses anti-aircraft guns to shoot enough flak at it all to flush it (and the toilet itself) away? Bear in mind that many Germans have what we would call an unseemly interest in scatological issue, and examine the product (which is presented on a shelf in the loo itself) before flushing. The water trap is in the front of the loo, not towards the rear. Which is what made me ask my mum whether German anatomy was the reverse of its English counterpart. I was 6 at the time. Out of the mouth of babes and children.....

No need to buy, all you need is an agreement to lay the pipe and thereafter to maintain it. As Nick suggests, just ask. We are in a similar situation: we asked, the permission to cross the land was valued, a sum was agreed;and here's the detail (December) Or have I missed something?

My dad had a name for the tool with which you hit rather than screwed screws to fix them in the wall: a Birmingham Screwdriver

Oh, there! How stoopid could I be? Didn't think of that.

Right, Once you've got them, how do you store the sodding things.......? Eh? Answer me that!

@K78, go and have a look (and feel) at the Denby Dale passiv haus open day. There are a good few others you can visit too. But the owner at Denby Dale is a really nice bloke - given the chance he will chat to anyone for ages and give you lots of technical info. Nothing in the PH standard says you can't open the windows. It took me ages to accept that.

You are absolutely right to be concerned. I was - until I spent a few days researching the issue, and visited several passiv houses. @MrsRA and I always sleep in a draft: year round. Our Tomcat (Sid) will not use a catflap (we haven't got one) and so uses the windows. I work outdoors all day (on the build), and so loathe stuffy rooms. Sounds to me we are quite like you, therefore. In the planning phase, at one stage I thought we'd go 'hardcore' and have a naturally ventilated passiv haus (instead of MVHR) and read several research articles on the subject. As a spin off from that exercise I read about how common it is for MVHR installations to be 'tuned' badly, switched off even, unbalanced and commonly poorly maintained - filter left uncleaned, that sort of thing. Air quality suffers as a result. I have yet to choose an MVHR system, but in researching suppliers I have come to realise that there is a common conflict of interest: suppliers often both design and specify the system. And I have yet to find a supplier who is obviously competent at design. Maybe the sales reps I talk to -not one of whom is interested in design- simply fill me with dread because they couldn't give a stuff about the customer; they just want to close a sale. We went to Denby Dale passiv haus open day this time last year. What did we see? The owner chatting enthusiastically about how he leaves the window slightly open all night because he -like you, like us- can't stand a stuffy room. I think the answer is take great care tuning (balancing) the airflow, and, if needed don't be shy about keeping the window open a bit. Yes, it'll unbalance the airflow, yes it's counter intuitive. But nobody has ever said passiv hauses have to have the windows shut all the time. Not even us Germans.

I did stay awake during Maths lessons. They were torture. Sleep impossible. I am glad he has had enough of people like me. Now I know the feeling is mutual.

In terms of the application process, I am not sure. But I think this will reassure you. Bottom line: just do it. Ian

Na gut Mensch! Viel Spass bei eibmarkt. The tragedy of your discovery is that it reminds me very many Germans regularly read and speak English , whereas their UK friends don't. As my mates in Berlin used to say : "Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache." That is, of course, nonsense. English is a Germanic language, and so -in theory at least- easier than many to learn. I tried learning Welsh once: nearly lost the will to live.

Ah jus' leruuuv dem stairs mayun. Whay here in Murca we jus' use da lif' man.

Lots of progress. Details to follow when I am rained off....

Try telling that to neighbours who don't want their chocolate box disturbed. They don't need to engage with 'difference'. All they need to do is 'feel' 'Ah know wut ahhhh laaak lad, 'n 'at's reet shaeet' Our current houses were built in the 1600s and then messed about by the Victorians (as so often happened). This is the 2000s, Designed to fade with time to look like many of the local barns (called 'shippons' oop 'ere)

Pushing on an open door with me, hence: The Best Invalid Objection You have Heard I wouldn't mind so much if the Chair of our PC would bother to do just a teeny weeny bit of background reading, such as this from the government's own website That page gives a simple, clearly expressed list of objections which cannot be considered. '... I cannot believe that you are only going to have two bedrooms in a house with parking for five cars...' said one senior Councillor in public at our local PC meeting. No wonder nobody with any authority takes Parish Council feedback seriously.

A brief cautionary tale; We live in a chocolate box cottage in chocolate box hamlet in a chocolate box village in a chocolate box part of Lancashire. And we wanted a chocolate box house in our cottage garden. Outline PP, no problem. And then we discovered passivhaus. And a good architect. Over a year later, we no longer wanted a chocolate box design, we wanted green apples. The local reaction was a lot of chewing and spitting. But the planners loved it: waxed lyrical. Here's the point You can talk to people about why you want your house designed like it is until you're blue in the face. They don't listen.

You are very welcome. There's a lot of good reading on this site. The principal focus is building in the UK, so you'll need to be aware of that focus when thinking about issues like Building Control (Building Codes for you?). Read to your heart's content and then ask.

May I council care - real care - about this issue for the following reasons My most recent experience Where it all began In short, my experience tells me; There's sloppy thinking among planners There's sloppy practice among planners And both of the above operating concurrently Differing professional opinions among ecologists Pursued to the 'n th' degree, the consequences of handling this issue badly are significant (Wild Life and Countryside Act) and (European Protected Species Licence) Worst of all is the joint effect of both GCNs and Planning overload in the LPAs on scheduling You might like to contact me via PM with a view to a chat on Skype , mobile or even 'telephone'. 25 meters is exactly how far our newts are from our property, but beyond a financial and timing hiccup, we work with them; not against them. It can be done

My piles are getting a lot of attention. Some say they should be put in with a vibrator. Hmm, that sounds like fun..... So I went and had a look : and wondered if Jimmy Page had a role in piling. Or maybe the designer was on something when he thought of this rig. Talking to the driver (also a Lead Zep fan) he said that it was the best rig he's ever driven. Ya gotta give it to the Germans, there's something annoyingly reliable about them. Now, where's that razor? Must shave my top lip.

Very grateful for all the replies. Ian

No. Oh Gaud, nuff said Ed. Ian

Hmmm. What I need and what I'll want when I have used one for a while.... Length: 2m + Width: 360mm Depth: 400 ish

What does it need to do? It needs to process a few hundred bits of Larch cladding, and I suppose I'll be throwing some oak at it too. And then it needs to be sold. Harsh I know, but that's life. Budget £1000 ish. Recommendations? (Don't tell @MrsRA but I suspect that I just may want to keep it though. I can at least try)

Well, Hugh, not long now before all you'll need to do on a Sunday is mow the lawn. Whatever will you do with all that spare time eh? Well done. Any thoughts on serial house building?

Ditto. There are loads of videos to help you