Carrerahill

Quite the contrary, it is now more common because it is easier to achieve through 2 stage drivers. Most communal areas of shared housing, student halls, etc. use what is called Corridor Function, lighting sits at a setback level of about 20%, this is for compliance with CIBSE LG09 as it states 20lux through the night, but must ramp up to 100lux min if someone enters the space, the same is often used in stairwells too.

This is a common function of lighting used commercially, usually you have a master unit which has the sensor then slave units that just take the signal from the master. The way they work is they use a driver with 2 inputs, give it 1 live, it outputs enough current to drive the fitting at 20% - give it the second live the driver ramps up to 100%. So what I sometimes do is specify the slave units on their own, and create 2 switched lives, 1 live is driven via a photocell, so it gets dark and the fittings all come on at 20% - then wire in PIR's or Microwave sensors to switch the second live, so on detection of movement, the driver gets its second lie and ramps up to 100% - I also sometimes spec this so that the 20% is permanent and the 100% live is via a photocell for night only. Frankly you can do any combination. I've also had the first live on a photocell and manual switching for 100% so that 100% mode is only used when manually called for. There is also the option to use dimmable drivers with a controller or sensor that controls the fitting but that makes the whole thing more expensive and more complicated than it ought to be. The fittings I usually spec have Tridonic main drivers and a version of the Hytronik sensor you have got there. As an example, this fitting will do exactly what you want out of the box and can be linked to others - I have used a master of these to control about 10 slaves around the perimeter of a golf club. https://asdlighting.com/products/clarity-portrait-cage/

If it was me, I'd probably go for a recessed IP rated LED profile (strip of aluminium channel) ideally set into a rebate in the floor. I use a nice potted strip for things like this, 24VDC so safe for this use, remote 24V PSU. 3000K no more than 750-800Lm per meter for ambient uplight.

Often the land registry drawings are not accurate and they know what, I was in the RoS office in Glasgow a few years back (I was there on non-related business) talking to some of the staff and pointed out an issue I'd been having when trying to line up actual boundaries of my site with RoS drawings and he said that the issue is most of them were surveyed such a long time ago, done fairly roughly and obviously on paper, so when this all got transposed to the IT system the issue were mainly to do with scales and drawing accuracy, some came in correctly but most not. So sometimes the drawing they imported came in with a scale, so they could regenerate it digitally, but often it was all over the place so nothing quite lined up. The net result is inaccurate drawings which will probably never be accurate unless it is new parcels of land with defined existing markers digitally on the plans. What amazed me is that it is these drawing they use for conveyancing - if I was to plot out my boundary as per the drawings in the land registry I could move one of my boundary fences about 5m into my neighbours! When I initially pegged out our building area I couldn't work out what was going on, although having been in this industry for a long time on the design side I had never personally built myself, so that was a learning curve which has improved they way I work to allow for this sort of stuff.

I love this. I love breaking down myths and nonsense created by marketing groups, the poorly informed etc. which then sadly sticks. A bit like Covid. We have some neighbours whos Covid thought process on what they need to do to stay safe is comical. Anyway, I have only read your OP Jeremy (need to get working) so anything said after your post, forgive me if it has been said, but would it be better in fact to try and use the existing term thermal store? Thermal mass did sound sort of acceptable as long as you don't dive into it, a bit like on the face of it "socially distanced" sounds about right, however, analyse both of them and they are a misnomer. If I was to very quickly give 1 reason why thermal mass sounds wrong I'd immediately say the use of the word mass is simply incorrect here, water, as you mention above, has one of the highest specific heat capacities, therefore a smaller volume of water, by a factor of over 4, would actually give the same "thermal mass" as concrete therefore somewhat muddying the waters regarding "mass". I think it is probably safe to say that a big slab of concrete sitting at 20° could be deemed a thermal store? But, yes, thermal mass just isn't quite accurate. On the socially distanced point that I think is wrong - I think it should be physically distanced. I am being social with all of you right now - we can be sociable without being in the same city or even country!

Yeah realistically speaking yes, but I was just saying - buy the 4m - solved. But yes, it would maybe more likely be 6 or 8 or even 10 if she could. Not sure why an architect let her move the building location, boggy or not, planning might be upset too!

Unlikely but there is a chance. Friends neighbour accidentally built into an area of woodland which belonged to an adjacent farm - the woods were cleared and the house built, it was reasonable that the farmer would not have seen this due to the area of his farm, long story short, the house had to be partially demolished - certainly the neighbour didn't handle it very well and the farmer just served him with a court order to leave his land and reinstate it as it was!

Well, what is the farmer saying? Was it that farmer that gifted the land to you? In either case, talk to them, buy the 4m - it is about all you can do.

You are never going to get someone on the payroll to do this 100% by the book through. 3 days to hand over, major problem - boss leans on him to let it pass this time. Inspector gets on good terms with some of the labourers, Friday afternoon shot, he and his pals all want to knock off early and he passes a stage just to be one of the lads!

See all that dampness at the lower lintel coming out through the mortar? Makes me think this wall leaks like a sieve and a lot of water is running down the inside, hitting the cavity tray and seeping through the mortar on the lintel...

Is water coming in above the window, i.e. nothing to do with the window itself? Not sure of the build type/situation but is there an issue with the cavity tray above the window?

I think big house builders, or any major construction site should have a building officer, (paid for by the council which would be in turn paid for by the greedy house builders, I know sadly that then means buyers pay but it will be worth it) more or less seconded to site, to reduce possibilities of them being bought off, a government level inspector should also be present going around sites and checking things all look good. Anything more than say 4 houses or a commercial site should have this level of supervision and checking for quality, mortar samples pulled, insulation inspection, quality of workmanship etc. etc. Whoever thought the big house builders could be trusted was just beyond daft. If you consider some of the pay-outs and remedial work costs this would actually work out cheaper for the main contractor!

I'd want a meeting on site with the planner. I'd also have as much of the barn lying around as I could, I'd also have photographic evidence of any parts that went away for refurb. If you can prove it is going to go back up as it stood, just cleaner and with new bits and strengthened etc. I don't see an issue frankly. I think you will appeal it, the issue is the council have been fed wrong information. Nice neighbour!

Yes - that's what I'd do, I think that looks smart, gives it a little more interest as well.

BW = Building Warrant - i.e. what your inspector wants you to build from. You need someone who can CAD this up for you then. Plenty of engineers and architectural techs and CAD techs do this sort of stuff from their bedroom at night for a few extra £100's in their pocket.

So this is house steps in the garden having a gradient revision basically? I'd say just do it, there are no laws and there is no "legally" here. It is building standards, yes non-compliance and fatalities caused by non-compliance can lead to legal proceedings but you want to alter some steps. In fact, given you can add a porch under PD with no BC there really isn't an issue here. If I wanted to go and change levels in my front garden right now and alter steps there is nothing to stop me doing that as a job in isolation, if that was part of an extension or build then it is a different story because it becomes part of a bigger picture. Not sure of your exact situation but just be careful if changing levels you don't bridge damp proof courses in walls or anything on your house which could cause damp, very simply, don't pile material up against your house. As for the boundary, just don't build over it, I assume levels are not going to change drastically here, you are just wanting to iron out the steps a bit - can you photograph your house steps and show us what needs done.

They usually sit an an angle to maximise light spread and reduce the "tunnel" effect up to the window.

Watch this:

Don't see the need for an architect here, but you will need someone to draw stuff for you unless you can do it yourself. Arch tech/CAD tech/SE. You will need to do Building Warrant drawings - depending on exactly what you build you may not need SE calcs, but realistically I think your roof will need calcs. If you could draw up the build yourself then get an SE to detail the roof you may be OK - or get a friendly SE to do a building design from a structural point based on a drawing with full dims of what you want and get the whole building detailed then that gives you all you need. Architects have their place and we work with them often, but in domestic projects/extensions etc. they are often redundant. The holdback most people have is that they cannot CAD up their own drawings so the net result is they need someone initially to draw it all. If this was just a PD garage with no BW needed you could just instruct a builder what to build, just make sure you convey to them clearly what you want, your build will need BW so you can't do that. You say this is PD, I assume you have checked it all, boundary distances, heights, % of ground built on etc. or has someone just told you it can be PD. You should still get it in writing from the council that it will be PD, to get that, you will need to submit a plan though! We always submit plans for PD approval just so that there is no comebacks.

I think he is trying to be smart with her, what he is saying is, if their is an issue then how can he provide a cert? If you say you accept it all the cert will appear I'd say. At the detriment to the buyer of the house I would be tempted just to ask for the cert and move on. It won't be her problem soon, I know that is a terrible attitude but is she going to let the whole sale be held up because of probably, one of the most ridiculous certificates in the history of man.

You don't need to tell me... I'm the partner of an engineering consultancy! I was only making the tongue in cheek point that connections should be supplied and the easy bit, relatively speaking, was the steel/timber spec. As you say they are standardised so standard details can be pulled out the CAD library so not an issue to supply, if all the same it might be 3-4 click on CAD to provide the detail then there is no ambiguity. If you have your calcs setup in the software then you know how you put it together so why not show connections?

We have this issue in our new kitchen, I say issue but we live with it perfectly well, washing hands in hot water is tap on about half way, let the water start running, wet up hands, soap, proper lather up and clean of hands, warm water is here. For a quick rinse i.e. after chopping garlic or onion or something I just use cold. If you have been at the bathroom, then you should be washing your hands thoroughly, therefore by the time you soap up you should be onto warm/hot. Are we not meant to be singing happy birthday twice or something while we wash our hands anyway? Surely 15m of 15mm(?) which is about 4.5litres of water will be flushed by then.

Sounds very odd to me, so he did a spec for the steelwork but not how it actually bolts together! If anything, that is the clever bit, if we were all lucky enough just to be resting beams on solid walls then we could all just consult tables for everything, connections are possibly the most important bit!

It depends on the BCO, my warrant expired last June, BCO is still to be given a date to come and inspect for sign off, he isn't fussed, he said he may ask for an extension fee if there is a lot of snagging. I emailed him near expiration and told him that I was about 6 months behind because of 1st lockdown, that was a bit of a lie but in fairness I couldn't finish my kitchen as I paid a joiner to do the masons mitre joints in the kitchen, which held up hob install which held up call to gas man... If your BCO says no, or their policy is to be obstructive with you then you can pay for extension as long as you enter into an agreement pre expiration. So just start an email exchange and cite trades not prepared to come out etc. any sensible person should grant an unofficial extension.

I do not understand the fascination with downlights slapped everywhere. We finished our kitchen last year without a single light on the ceiling, whole lot is up lit from hidden linear sources with various colour temps and dimming levels, at full output we have about 550lux avg. at 0.9m (which is even greater than the required level for a commercial kitchen - we would not actually use it at full output except maybe when cleaning) and can dim to 0. Ceiling is totally unpunctured. Light quality far superior as there are no shadows anywhere and wherever you choose to stand and work you are never working in your own shadow. If your heart is set on them then how I spec it is 9.5mm PB on the ceiling, then frame it out for a service void, then 12.5mm PB over all of that. You have just created a service void that you can blast with a shotgun and still not damage your VCL/air tightness/insulation levels and removes the fire risk of downlights in PIR.