Omnibuswoman

I can't imagine doing without a freezer, Tea. We use ours every day. We were planning to have two in the new house!

Crikey! That's a long time to be without power. Hope your freezer contents are ok

Mods/admins, please can someone remove the docs I have posted as I have not properly edited. I'll post some screenshots instead. Thanks!

Thanks all. Ok first thing, floor plans are attached. @ETC There won't be a condensing boiler - we will have an ASHP outside the utility room feeding the hot water tank inside the utility room cupboard. Both bathrooms are on top of each other. We will have a stack pipe inside the house in the same area. @Mr Punter The rainwater system will be separate - the roof will drain to a water garden, and from there down to a pond in the south westernmost corner of the garden. @ProDave We haven't had a percolation test done yet, but we know that drainage is likely to be slow - the ground is Kate Brook Slate. My parents, across the valley, had a klargester installed about 10 years ago in the same ground, and my dad said that the percolation test was a nightmare. He filled up the hole, and 3 hours later it was still full! The local company from who we obtained a quote for this work offered a working assumption of 42m soakaway length, based on the size of the house/tank that we will need and their knowledge of the ground in this area, but said that this was subject to a percolation test being done to finalise the calculation. We own the land to the East of the red boundary line (south of the crossed out garden), and will be able to extend the soakaway into that area. I have also asked South West Water to contact me to quote for connecting to the main sewer. It goes straight down the road at the bottom of the drive, so it is possible we might be able to connect to it without enormous cost, but our SE previously said that she thought that we would be bound by the nearest manhole which is 20-30m down the road, i.e. £20k-30k cost for that. I took her word for that, but realised today that I should check with SWW to be certain that a WTP is the way to go.

I need more friends like this guy!!

We are going to install a waste treatment tank as we are almost 100m from the main sewer connection point and told it will cost £££ to connect. I've read the Binding Regulations and have checked the rules re distance from house etc. However, I have become stuck on the design of the trenching/pipework system from the house to the tank, and the drainage field. We had a quote from a local company for this, but they whacked it up by over £2k between July and January, without any persuasive explanation, so I am now considering the feasibility of getting the installation done ourselves with the help of a local chap with a digger. I'm struggling to work out where to start. Do I first need to work out where the pipe will exit from under the slab? As it is a passive house the drains will come out from under the slab, I guess meet up in a sensible location, and from there flow to the tank. Attached is a copy of the site plan with my initial thoughts. Is anyone here able to help me to work this out please?? Or is this one of those things where I am better off just paying a professional to sort it out? Many thanks, M Plan of sewerage system.pdf

There’s no scream face emoji so I had to choose the sad face one to convey my concern about @SteamyTea Hope you’re ok Tea. My mum said there are several trees down near them in West Devon.

I’ve been thinking about you guys down there and wondering how you were doing. Glad it’s not too bad so far. I’ve definitely been influenced by the horror stories of Storm Arwen and people up north being without power for days or in some cases weeks. The water supply here went down a month ago for the best part of a week, despite SWW’s best efforts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-60098358?fbclid=IwAR1_s1xOMHEd6UBFR3ZcqB-r4mVqaFmrbiiAHUEPMwgkU53bLlcymOwYHk4 (Out of interest, the woman in the picture is our least favourite neighbour - she left her broomstick at home for the BBC interview) I guess I’m anticipating a greater frequency of severe storms heading our way in the coming decades and the increased likelihood of damage and supply issues. We will keep an open mind for now, but interested to see if the battery saves Mike some ££. Stay safe! M

Given the likelihood of power cuts in severe storms, the increased risk of severe storms over time, and the fact that our passive house will be electric only, we have started thinking about installing a battery to use as backup in the event of a power cut. We’ve not planned to fit any solar panels (the cost v savings don’t justify this) but may do if it becomes economic. Following your thread with interest.

@ProDave I’m wondering if you had a reply to your enquiry to BBA?

I don’t have any sage advice unfortunately but I wonder if there are any structural engineers that specialise in ICF that could give you the benefit of their experience? I’m happy to ask our SE if she knows anyone with relevant expertise if you’d like? m

Inspiring stuff! We are at the beginning hoping to be able to move in by the end of this year. I’m being careful not to say “we’ll be in by Christmas” but am secretly hoping we will. Also feeling the shock of rapidly skyrocketing prices. Well done on digging deep and pushing forwards!

Hi there. Welcome to Buildhub. Have you had any particular issues with architects? What sort of house do you have planned? m

We have washed one of the ply panels with a strong bleach solution and it did clean it up a bit. But we have left the rest for now as we had other more pressing tasks to get done. Once the workshop is complete we will wash all of the walls with bleach (we dissolved lots of tesco bleach tablets in water to make a strong solution) then will paint with anti mould paint.

I haven’t yet tried this, no, but will be down there in a fortnight so will give the experiment a go.

Excellent progress, congrats on getting the ground floor done! Very impressive stuff. Loving Mrs BotusBuild’s hardhat!

Absolutely thrilled to say our S73 PP was granted this morning, bang on time, with no new conditions. What a fantastic Xmas pressie ☺️☺️☺️

@tonyshouse @markc @joe90 thank you all so much for your advice on this. Just wanted to update that this was successful and not too difficult. I’ve uploaded a couple of pics which are not that fascinating but a testament to the excellent advice you all gave me. Thank you! m

Don't worry Tea, once we have moved to Cornwall, I'm sure the local grapevine will eventually bring all salacious gossip your way!! ?

Anyway, good news. The council are going to remove the offensive comments.

these things are quite primeval - I think it’s the human equivalent of a cat spraying on its territory.

That's a shame. It sounds as though everyone has lost out really. I can't see that he has been through the MPTS at all. The CCG applied to stop him from being one of their GPs rather than going through the fitness to practice route, so he should be still able to practice outside of West Kent CCG area.

I'll see if I can find what the GMC did with him....

+1 Some of the doctors I work with tell me that they 'couldn't do [my] job' and don't understand how it doesn't get to me (complaints investigations). I can sincerely say that the converse is also true. I could not see patients all day that I thought were being foolish, or unreasonable, or obtuse, and not say something very direct about what I thought. I don't know how more of them don't get into this sort of trouble!!