Dan_the_man

I am having trouble finding an empty property officer in NI. I emailed the local council and they sent me to the housing executive. They in turn sent me to land and property services. Still waiting to hear back from them. I wish it was easier to find an empty property officer in NI. The only valid evidence I have that I have not lived in the property is my google maps location history and my significantly reduced electricity bills. The past few months its been £3 a month.

Thanks for the recommendation. I was looking at using Guardian glass with the Origin windows and doors. I assume Carroll's glass uses a different glass supplier? I also assume Carrolls makes the doors themselves, the Origin doors are made in England in their own factory and they are shipped over which appeals due to quality control consistency. I was going to hold off on the project for a while to see if labour/parts costs come down any, I have been told they have increased due to Covid. I guess we will have brexit soon so worried prices for materials will shoot up.

Hi everyone I am currently in the process of renovating my own home. I have been working with an architect and have received building control approval and I am now ready to go out to tender with tender documents in hand. I have owned the house for two years, however for the past 7 months I have not lived in the property. I have now discovered the 2 year empty home 5% VAT scheme and intend to not live in it for a further year 5 months to avail of the 5% VAT scheme. My worry is because I employed a structural engineer around 11 months ago I would not quality for the 5% VAT scheme as work technically started on the physical construction before the property was empty for 2 years. Will HMRC link the structural engineer survey to the physical construction of the extension. From reading this paragraph the only crumb of hope is I would have a period of 28 months before work could start and when I paid the Structural engineer and I am wondering if this would un-link the two events so I could be seen as starting from scratch when I employ the contractor to carry out the works. "If you carry out services either before or after the physical construction of the building takes place, they can only be seen as closely connected if there is a close connection between when they are performed and when the physical construction of the building takes place. Services described in sub-paragraph 3.3.4 may be zero-rated (subject to the conditions in subparagraph 3.1.2) where, for example:  civil engineering services are supplied to a landowner for the purposes of servicing a building plot and it is clear that the construction of a building that qualifies for the zero rate will take place shortly afterwards" What period of time would HMRC see as closely connected?

I am debating on if I should go for a 3 panel sliding door or a 2 panel sliding door. I am based in Northern Ireland so my door options are limited compared to the mainland. The size of the opening the door has to fill is 2355 high by 4130 wide. I had originally intended to purchase an aluminium Origin OS-44 sliding door with two panels but they cant make one to fit my large dimensions. The Origin OS-22 would fit my dimensions as a two panel but they do not ship that door to Northern Ireland. So I am left with going with a three panel in the Origin OS-44 if I want to go down the Origin route. The issue is my extension is only two metres and the three panel has a frame which is 70mm deeper than the two frame version eating into my limited amount of internal space. I had originally planned for the door to be set back 100mm from the outside edge of the wall but I have been advised that I can place the sliding door right up to the edge to maximise as much space internally as possible. Will this dramatically effect the insulation properties of the door? Apart of losing 70mm of internal space I also have the concern that the three panel door will ruin my views outside if I place my swivel chair near the door as I have to do due to my space constraints. My view will be considerably blocked by the window frame. On the two door slider this is a none issue with the required seat placement. On a sunny day if I opened the three door fully this would solve the frame issue I suppose. I decided to look for an alternative two panel sliding aluminium door to fit my space requirements and I found Schueco ASE 60 sliding door which could be made to fit my space requirements in a two panel version. The depth of the frame is 73mm narrower than the OS-44 door. The prices of my two Aluminium door choices including vat @ 20%: Double glazed Schuco ASE60 Single Track Lift & Slide door - 1 Pane Sliding, 1 Pane fixed = £9,120 (Price includes fitting door) Double glazed OS-44 sliding 3 door = £7,117.5 (Price includes fitting door) I guess those prices are quite high. I am guessing if instead of aluminium I went with a uPVC sliding door instead it would work out significantly cheaper? But then I assume the lifespan of uPVC is a lot shorter than that of Aluminium? I would appreciate what people would go for in my situation, 3 panel door or 2 panel door? And if those prices seem too high for an Aluminium sliding door and I should go down the uPVC route instead to save on costs?

With this in mind and my desire to get the bigger depth I have to go with the blum pull out drawers. Would they be best suited directly opposite the island? I would pull them out and only be able to access them from one side, but at least this way they could be left open and unobstructed access to the fridge is granted. As they are on the images I have attached they would have to be closed each time I need to access the fridge.

I mean the depth of each individual basket. I require so much depth as I store all my dry goods in oxo containers and they each up lots of floor space. When you include the carcass and door the total depth of the unit will be around 650mm. Of course this is a non issue with the blum drawers.

I have searched for hours for a pull out pantry with 600mm deep wire baskets but can't find any. I definitely will not settle for less than 600mm deep.

You are correct on that sofa width. I could always get a larger sofa. If the dining table is centred there would still be plenty of room between the table and the sofa. I could easily add another 300mm onto the sofa width and keep it within the living area boundary.

The gap between the Island and the entrance door is 1 metre. I would not want to make the gap any narrower than this as it would become too narrow to navigate around and your bum would hit the island when retrieving items from the freezer. The Island protrudes 146mm into the bottom of entrance doorway if looking at the floor plan images. I just thought about your built in furniture idea you had. What about a built in bench opposite the book case? Or is the room becoming too cluttered now?

@Ferdinand Thank you for the feedback. Sadly I can't move the entrance. The Island protrudes the entrance door by 146mm so I cant really afford to make the island much wider. It would need to be at least 950mm wide to make a breakfast bar an option as I have very deep drawers on the Island at 650mm deep due to no upper cabinets. I took your suggestion to move the table to one side. Here are the two possible options. I am beginning to think I should remove the hanging pendant as it would allow more flexibility where I can move the table to in the future.

Well the usable bottom area of each drawer would be 422 x 566mm.

You have 600mm deep drawers on your slide out pantry? Which one do you have may I ask?

Sadly blum do not offer those. I also have a very deep pantry unit with drawers at 600mm deep so would be hard to find one suitable. It does make sense what your saying though as it means access is possible at both sides.

The Island protrudes slightly into the entrance which is through a sliding pocket door. So the entrance would be on the tap side of the Island. On the last image you can see part of the sliding door sticking out, next to the circle on the wall which is the room thermostat. There will be a TV in the living area. It will be either on a dresser or fixed to the wall. The main three seat sofa will sit directly opposite the TV up against a wall. The whole kitchen/dinning/living area is 4415 at its widest point and it is 8460 long with the two door sliding door and 8387 long with the three sliding door.

Hi folks, I would appreciate feedback on my open plan kitchen/dinning/living layout. Question 1. - Door opening on left or right Which is the best placement for my sofa, option 1 or option 2? On option 1 the sliding door opens opposite the long planter in the garden. The issue I see with this option is it could encourage people to walk through the kitchen triangle to get to the patio door opening? To counter this argument you could argue it is more important to get quick access to the sofa from the hallway which would be a straight line walk with option 2. Option 1 Option 2 Question 2. - Living ratio Is my Kitchen/Dining/Living area ratio ok? In the below image I have a two door sliding door which is 140mm thick. If I were to choose a three panel sliding door the depth of the frame increases and I lose 73mm in the living area. Question 3. - Furniture choices for living area In order to save space around the dining table on the edge of the living room I am going to have a pouffe instead of a chair. Would anyone ever sit on a pouffe? I found a combined coffee table & pull out Pouffe. So I would have a 3 seater sofa, a swan swivel chair. Is this enough to seat 5 people comfortably? Question 4. - Two/Three panel sliding door Which door would suit best, a three panel door or two panel door? The advantage of the three panel door is it lets more of the outside in as the opening is wider, the major disadvantage is the frame is deeper so I lose 73mm of living area space inside the house. Question 5. - Best position for fridge/freezer relative to the Island The fridge/freezer and food pantry storage are located in a 1100mm wide nook in the wall. I want to know which side directly opposite the island would best suit the position of either the fridge or pantry unit. On the first image below the dry food pantry consisting of a 500mm wide blum pull out cabinet is to the left of the island, to its right is a integrated 600mm wide fridge/freezer unit. The fridge freezer unit is directly behind the Island with 134mm unobstructed space to its left. This above image shows the food pantry on the left and the fridge on the right. Many thanks everyone.