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I think we're sorted on the visibility side of things now. The remaining question is about how far back from the road the gate needs to go - this is more a feature of entering rather than leaving the driveway. I've seen various distances quoted and the basic premise seems to be that the vehicle needs to be able to get off the road while waiting for the gates to open, but none of these figures seem appropriate for the leviathans that seem to be taking over the roads these days, so it all seems a little arbitrary. By contrast, all our cars are small

Cheshire West and Chester

Thanks for that @Temp. I think this is more for roads though, rather than driveways onto roads.

Thanks. I had an email exchange with the planning department but they seemed more concerned with the height of the gate than anything. Obvoiusly, that will be until I actually submit the application!

When we finished building the house we created a driveway entrance (obviously!) but didn't add gates. We're now in the process of landscaping the drive area and want to add some tallish gates for added privacy. As they will be over 1m tall, we're aware we'll need planning permission but I'm struggling to get any information from the planning dept as to what else the layout must comply to, other than it all must be in-keeping with the local area blah, blah, blah. I've read a couple of articles talking about visibility splays, but nothing from an official source. The key question for us really is how far back do they need to go? Again, I've seen a few figures bandied around, but nothing consistent and nothing from an official source. Does anyone here know what the rules are, or are there no 'rules'?

Make sure you get to see a sample of whatever grey you choose - the most common one is quite 'green', which is great if you want that but not if you don't! We ended up going with Internorm and choosing one of their 'premium' colours purely for this reason.

They do scratch quite easily, so it depends on how careful you are. They do look good (in my opinion), but I don't think they're top quality unfortunately. Would I get them again? Actually, I probably would - we aren't heavy handed and only 1 or 2 are showing marks so their aesthetics would sway it for me

Because they got permission due to Class Q. The existing building must, in structural terms, already be “capable of functioning as a dwelling”. This means is that the building as it stands must be capable of conversion. If it requires such substantial building operations then what is proposed amounts to the construction of a new building. If that is the case then the conversion would fall outside the scope of Class Q

Unfortunately, no. That was my first approach

We're looking to do another build and am trying to work out how best to finance it, so I need a little advice The timeline we're looking at is that we want to buy a plot, then sell our main home and then build the new house with the proceeds of the sale while living in rented accommodation. The equity in the house will ultimately cover the cost of the land and the build. The issue I've come up against so far when discussing this with our current lender (Melton Mowbray) is that they want to lend based on the cost of the entire build and on that basis our income is insufficient. What they're essentially saying is that we would have 2 mortgages (our current one and the one for the build) and won't take into consideration the fact that we won't start building until our home is sold. So what I need is someone to lend just on the land, which would have at least OPP. Any ideas?

Just to be clear, when you say that 'garden size is restricted to the same area footprint as the barn' are you saying that the garden for the house can only be something like 300m2 (some of the 465m2 is on the first floor)? Does this include driveway etc to? I think the total floor area of the barn is something like 600m2, although the current plans show some of this to be demolished to fit in with the Class Q limit

Yes, it was changed a year or two back. It's now 465m2

An opportunity has come up to purchase a large barn that has approved Class Q permission - the approved plans didn't include a garage but I'm keen to add one, either attached or detached. There are also a few other barns on the land although they don't form part of the current application. The house itself would comprise the full 465m2 allowed under Class Q for a large dwelling, although the barn could actually accommodate a much larger house if allowed. So, onto my questions: Would a garage that is built within the footprint/structure of the existing barn (attached to the house in other words), but with no access from the garage into the house form part of the Class Q area of 465m2? If the answer to #1 is 'yes', would the entire house/garage now need a full planning application or is there some way of 'adding' the garage to the house that is approved under Class Q? If we went for a detached garage, would this just be a 'simple' case of making a full planning application for it, in addition to the Class Q approved plans for the house? How is 'garden' defined? The entire plot is about 5 acres, so theoretically could it all be laid to lawn? We wouldn't actually do this but I'm just trying to confirm what we can and can't do In time I'd like to convert the other barns but under the current Class Q rules we would only be able to build up to 4 additional dwellings, each of up to 100m2. Ideally I'd like to build 1 or 2 larger houses (of say 200m2 each). Would I be right in assuming that if I wanted to do this then it would be outside of Class Q and I would have to make a full planning application, which could quite easily be rejected? Thanks in advance!

Looking through our invoice, we have a 5300 x 2100mm sliding door - 1 element fixed, 1 sliding. It is an Internorm timber aluminium HS330, triple glazed in a bespoke textured finish (not standard RAL). The cost was £9850+vat including fitting, before discount I think (which we did ok on, but the order was about £75k). This was through Spectrum Architectural, whom I would 100% recommend. I have no connection with them other than being a happy customer and I can say their before and after sales service is top notch. They also only take 50% on order, with 45% on delivery to the UK and the remaining 5% on completion of the job. If you do call them, ask to speak with Nick and say Andrew Webster sent you

Sorry to hear you've had so many problems getting this sorted but please you've got there in the end! We've been thinking of getting some films fitted, primarily to keep the heat in during winter, but also to keep the sun out of a couple of the front rooms. I'm guessing it's not a cheap option though?

We bought ours from Sutton Timber in Suffolk and then had them treated with the same process as the flooring

Have you tried Protek?

Fitted wardrobes? Go to IKEA. You can build these yourself!

We have a triple glazed Velux window in a very inaccessible location that's become locked shut. The Velux customer support has been so fantastic (both for this and an installation query/issue) that I wouldn't even look at alternative suppliers if I needed anything like this again

I think we paid £8k for about 105m2 - that was for Alumasc render which I really rate. if you do end up leaving the windows open, you can cover them up with poly tunnel polythene. MBC did this for us and it was a godsend given the heavy rain we then had

Have the windows been ordered? If not, I'd wait until the render has been done then take your measurements from there. This will cause a delay but I think it would be for the best overall If they have been ordered, then I think you'll have to work with the renderers so that they finish to the right dimensions. The render onto render board isn't that thick so if they're any good they shouldn't be more than a mm or so out, which is nothing in reality. It may be worth speaking to a different renderer too. I can recommend our guys if that helps (Cheshire Facades)

Here's mine

There's a lot more to it than just veneering a door! The quality of the hinges and latches for a start - and that's before you get onto the frame itself. I totally get that not everyone wants to spend £7-800 per door-set, but to think it's "just a door blank" is really missing what they're selling. Take a look here to get an idea of what we fitted: https://selfbuildnoviceblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/internal-doors

Deuren (and hillside) get their veneers from Nantwich Veneers (http://www.nantwichveneers.com) We have Deuren doors throughout and if you can stretch to them I'd totally recommend them. The quality is superb and the fit/adjustment is amazing. Everyone, and I mean everyone, that saw them was gobsmacked. I was going to say pop over, but I've a feeling you already have!

We bought ours from www.suttontimber.co.uk Having said that, with hindsight our flooring guy could have sourced it cheaper - and he also did some mods to them, including fitting nosings