Gone West

Can't you get the prices off their website?

As others have said, go for the largest that will fit. I fitted a 600mm long by 250mm diameter attenuator as that was the longest I could squeeze in on the supply side and it's silent.

@Eileen An excellent blog, great photographs. I guess you are very proud.

If it's been working without serious problems for years I would keep it. I know it's not environmentally friendly but a lot cheaper. As Peter says just replace the pipes with plastic, fit a new inspection chamber and manhole covers then you could probably forget about it again.

Thirty odd years ago I had an 18" McCulloch and boy am I glad I don't have to cut wood anymore. I am so grateful I never injured myself.

Do you know if it is a true cess pit or septic tank and what happens to the stuff that drains out of it?

@Eileen It is stunning, well done.

Take a picture of the plaque and use it as your avatar .

Congratulations .

The builder is a regular contributor to the GBF. Whilst his build may have used materials and techniques that are unusual I don't see why there is so much criticism. Nobody builds their first self build and gets everything right. There are a myriad ways of building a good house, not just one, so I congratulate him on having a go and producing an interesting looking house. I would be very surprised if any of the houses featured have been signed off by building control so are in an unfinished state.

Siting them on the roof is not the best place for maintenance such as cleaning insect screens.

What about CHP for the winter and PV for the summer.

IIRC you said there was a 10" drop from one side to the other so taking out 5" from one side and adding to the other doesn't need a digger. I've used a spade rather than a digger for most of my garden work, much less mess as a result. Go for it.

I always work out levels first and then work out how I'm going to do the job.

The lane outside my place slopes R to L but where I've fitted the gates, approximately 3m back from the lane I have made level.

Yes, I think that's what they call it. I put up a Jacksons fence in 1993 and when I moved sixteen years later it was as good as new. The gate posts here sit in water when the water table is high so it's a good test for their treatment.

I'm impressed with the softwood treatment by Jacksons. I've used their fencing several times. When I got the gate posts this time I had to drill through them for the hinges and the treatment had penetrated to the centre of the post. Of course this means the treated wood is very heavy until it dries out.

I've no idea I'm afraid, @NSS is the expert.

As it's not retrofit I would design in hidden external blinds or shutters but if the cost is okay I would rather consider something like SageGlass like I believe @NSS used.

Hi Matt, welcome to the forum. You will probably be lucky to get a PP result within the eight week requirement if your area is anything like around here. Good luck with your plans.

No I never put them in my planning application. I had to put the details of the driveway and fencing/hedging in but never mentioned gates. There are rules about the hedge/fence being no more than 0.9m above road level for a certain distance back from the road edge, might be 2.4m, can't remember for sure. I'm sure the planners aren't really interested down here unless someone complains.

I take all these per m2 figures with a pinch of salt. There are so many different ways of calculating the results I doubt whether anyone is comparing apples with apples. If it's a PH compared to a conventional house I would have thought using external floor area more sensible as a lot of the cost is in the floor and walls. Some people use all their costs, some cherry pick and leave out site works or paperwork or whatever. I can come up wildly varying per m2 costs depending on how I work it out. A house costs what it costs and if you've ended up with what you want, that's great. For most people it's the first, and for me the last, self build they will do so there is a steep learning curve and nobody gets it perfect the first time.

We have built a timber frame with timber clad house and used brick slips for the plinth. It will be interesting when we come to sell it whether they think the brick slips are real bricks.

IIRC they are 0.9m and 2.1m. We bought the posts, hinges etc from Jackson as well. https://www.jacksons-fencing.co.uk/fencing/entrance-gates/traditional

We have a Fakro roof window with triple glazing and a g-value of 32. Whilst you can hear the rain on the glass I don't find it a problem. There are external shutters to further reduce the noise if required. https://www.fakro.co.uk/products/all-products/accessories-for-roof-windows/external-accessories/arz/