joe90

We had a fight with our planning permission as many of you know, during this they tried to tell me the “curtilage “ of the existing house was smaller than the residential plot (aside from the agricultural field attached). The res plot is about 1/2 acre but the council tried to tell me it was half of this. I then said I could produce evidence that family members had used the 1/2 acre plot as garden in previous years, they then backed down when I asked for their evidence. When looking into this on tinternet I found many examples of councils trying to tell owners the curtilage was smaller than they claimed.

Definitely, but not everyone can imagine what something will look like, I am lucky in that I can look at plans and see exactly what it will be like finished., I also designed/built a kitchen diner and separate lounge ?

I agree,

I am definitely thinking of DIY installing PV like @ProDave did. It will easily go on my garage roof and faces due south.

I built my workshop/garage under permitted development whilst fighting fir planning, was great as I had a place to store all tools and materials ready fir the house build to start. You can strip the house right up to the demolish point but guess the roof would have to stay as that’s where any bats would be.

Just found this from https://www.stovefitterswarehouse.co.uk/pages/regulations-for-wood-burning-stoves Building Control charges Some Building Controls are not very switched on and will also insist on themselves employing an installer to check your install and its compliance with Building Regulations. This is very annoying as they will also likely want you to pay for it. Unfortunately it appears that they can do this. See here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/404/regulation/7/made They do though have to follow a process - make sure they do so. Take a look at this document. It says in here: “In the case of local authorities, which cannot refuse to undertake building control on a project if requested…”

Well I don’t have one!, it was on the building regulations drawings that were passed by BC. I have just scanned the internet on this subject and many sources say the BC officer should sign it off if it is part of other works or you pay the fee for them to inspect but if (like my example above) they don’t have the expertise you are between a rock and a hard place. If you did it afterwards as a separate job and paid the council the set fee I think you would have a lever to make them.

Ah not come across that before, glad I live in the middle of no where 1. Fixed charge: Properties up to £50 RV – with surface water Properties up to £50 RV – no surface water Properties over £50 RV – with surface water Properties over £50 RV – no surface water

Why “twice for rainwater”? You pay to have your sewerage treated based on a fraction of the water consumed, not metered rainwater ?‍♂️

I have always gone full plans, cannot afford any surprises throw up AFTER work has been carried out ?

It appears about 50% of our electricity is generated using gas so the prices have to be linked. Might be worth using gas from that mothballed plant in the short term.

You have got to love an optimist!!!

I think it took a cold spell to realise it could not quite keep up.

Thanks!, whilst I did have a problem it was because I designed the system myself applying common sense but I am not a heating engineer. I made a presumption about the efficiency of the coil within the buffer tank, which was wrong. Likewise “the combined wisdom” and direct help from members ( @Nickfromwales and @PeterW) helped another member sort their ASHP problems that was installed by a professional!!.

It has to be HETAS qualified installer or building inspector, I installed one fir a customer as other work was being inspected by BC, He asked me if I done this before and I said yes, so he accepted it ?. If your BC won’t you have no choice, instal it after he has gone.

Personally I think any grant should be for insulation so whatever fuel you use to heat it will use less ?‍♂️ As an aside, my builder, who had a stroke just after finishing my build, has just been told he can upgrade his old storage radiators, have cavity insulation and additional loft insulation for free, grant based on his benefits as a stroke patient ?

I would have thought it’s only useful If you want to cut logs for a woodburner in the future, if not other saws will do the building work.

Surely , with close up of porch roof. Spot the hooks???

My natural (Spanish ) slates are fixed with hooks and looks great, you have to look really hard to see the hooks and broken slates won’t fall off the roof and can be replaced without awful lead/copper strips. I would always use hooks in future.

I fir one am not against the Scots and think Great Britain is better as a whole, I think it’s (some) Scots who want out of the UK and despite a referendum keep on about it, on and on.

@zoothorn, we had a hard frost last night and when out feeding the chickens I noticed my ASHP was beginning to frost up a little due to the high RH, It went into defrost mode (rare fir us), no more noisy than running normally, went indoors and had to turn the radio off to hear it running. This is what a monoblock ASHP does, even with a buffer tank and pump!!,

I think you are top of the class mate, good bragging rites.

I have a Vortex and would recomend it, people often say that plants like the bio disc that have mechanics in the smelly stuff are more prone to failure.

Well as a retired builder I did virtually everything apart from the shell (foundations, brick, block, slates, plastering) but had to get sparky to do wiring as I am not part “p” and gas fir cooker. I also got a chap to decorate to speed things up towards the end (plus I hate painting). Oh, and also got the firm who made the bifolds and front door to hang them as they were very heavy and a bit specialised to adjust properly. Also I was retired and had the time.

But as we all keep saying a “normal “ monoblock heat pump is not that noisy. I run mine during the day whenever it’s required but put a timer to avoid a possible frost pocket late night/early morning. As you know Steamy I discussed E7 / E10 with you long ago and the conclusion then was probably not worth it for me (might change with prices due to rise), then again I might follow @ProDave and DIY install PV in the near future. I would suggest this is because he has very low levels of insulation so any heating system is going to run a long time.