Carrerahill

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.

Most stoves say after a couple of small burn in fires you should take it up to max temp to burn the paint smell off, what does your stove say, my experience is that you need to fire them up HOT very hot (within working spec obviously) with all the windows open and get the paint smell burn off, but maybe your stove calls for a different procedure? The 2-3day pause is perplexing then. You sure it is not rain related? What is the situation with the terminal at roof level? Pokey hat with a grate round it? I'd get it all fired up to full temp and see what happens 2-3 days later.

No, assuming your flue was checked and the draught is correct it will be under vacuum. There was an article in the Guardian recently, it was research on particulate coming into the room on refuelling stoves, a big scare narrative claiming when you open the door all this pollutions zooms into the room. Tripe, utter tripe, I wrote to them called the whole article into contention, in a long, technically based email the environmental editor was really unable to come back to me with anything to refute my claims. Basically the research had been created to tell a particular story. The first thing any stove installer, be it DIY or pro, should do it confirm suitability of the existing chimney for lining, or the siting of a new flue for draught. Small cottages with a short chimney are sometimes problematic, sometimes the problem goes once it is warmed up and the fire going well creating more of a draw with the heat convection. So, with that in mind, with a properly installed stove, while the stove is running, you could drill a hole in the flue and smoke would not come out. This was also my argument for the pollution coming into the room. Yes on a poorly installed stove with a poor flue draught it is possible smoke, i.e. pollution may come into the room but I know for near certainty in my stove it is not. Another reader of the Guardian also wrote in commenting that he bought a pollution meter, set it up and monitored pollution in a room with a stove, he actually thought his meter wasn't working and tested it by lighting a match in the room where the meter recorded a spike in particulate, his stove clearly was properly installed and the draught up the flue was such that when the door is open it is sucking like a room vacuum, nothing is coming out. If you were to fling the door open at 200mph then yes, a sudden turbulence created by the door swinging open and the suction created would draw some smoke into the room but nothing serious.

What are you burning? This is a problem I have seen with stoves with back boilers running cool with wet wood - the walls of the firebox and flue never get that hot, the result is all the steam from the wood condensates on the cool surfaces and runs down the stove wall, I was once met with a stream of black water running out a stove door at a friends farmhouse when he was using a lot of damp wood. I have also seen black streaks running out of flue/chimney connections where the same is happening in the flue. If you are burning the sort of fuel you ought to be you shouldn't have an issue. On first ignition a little moisture will be seen on metal and glass surfaces inside the firebox, that is even with bone dry kindling, however the temp will come up and soon disappear as the temp comes up. I might be way off the mark, but did you burn a lot of damp or wet wood and perhaps not let it rip properly? This can also be caused if you have too high an output stove in too small a room, people then try and underrun them and the never get up to temp, killing the stove and flue early as the gasses are always a bit damp. The next point is that the flue should be constructed in such a way that the higher part always sleeves into the lower, this is to stop moisture or rain managing to run down and escape from the flue, except from into the stove itself.

You will be good to come through the wall and into your service void, I also put a bit of plastic conduit through the makeup just so I could then seal the conduit to the building, then using intumescent seal a little bead around the cable on the outside just to stop air leakage through the conduit. I only used intumescent sealant as it was specifically designed for use around cable.

That is not strictly true, when looking at a wall, you are meant to consider both sides of the wall as their could be sockets etc. on the otherside too. I didn't build in SIPs but really that ought not to make a massive difference because you would not put cables in a TF behind the insulation either so bringing it through the wall inside is acceptable as long as you then continue on using an acceptable route - i.e. straight from location. What are you doing inside? Service void using battens then plasterboard?

Building regs requires it, as in you have a BCO coming to sign off work? If just because building regs says so and no BCO vist then get it bricked back up, if BCO is visiting wait, then get it bricked back up. Of the friends, family, holidays homes etc. that I stay in, including some new build pretty sealed up properties I have never seen an intake vent for a WBS actually being installed. Some building regs are very important and very valid, some are just silly and some really need situational awareness, this is one that needs situations awareness and this vent is a general rule that is applied en masse yet ought not to be. I have spent the last month or so tweaking our house and limiting air infiltration measuring, air pressures etc. I have now more or less sealed several rooms including the living room except for where I want air to move, the WBS is in here, there is free air movement from other directly adjoining rooms which could not be sealed up even accidentally and a small amount of air can be drawn in from the first floor ceiling void via lighting penetrations. Even at full blast the WBS cannot create anywhere like a negative pressure in the room.

What sort of house are you in? Very few really need the air inlet, if in a new build sealed up house then I can probably see it.

Ah - not impossible obviously but a bit more work than slapping a door in! OK - might not be so easy to bodge a door in... I personally would be investigating the BCO's involvement here, why was nothing said until now? What do you drawings show? If the proposed drg's are as you have now built and you have a BC stamp then raise this with him in as friendly a manner as you can. I had something similar, they asked about it right at the end, nothing in the drawings but suddenly he wants to see particular hold down ties - I wanted to reply and say, "Sorry, too late, you've missed the boat", but this is not the best approach with a council worker who you want to sign something off for you!

It does work this way but it is not like the heat is lost, for every litre of hot water, you might get 5 litres of warm water, the heat is going into the system, you cannot destroy the heat energy in the system, it gets used. It is a bit like a combi making hot water for a shower/bath/tap, to get a nice flowing shower I turn my hot on full and add cold to suit, I can turn my boiler down so I can use just hot water, but the flow is not as good because I don't have the benefit of some cold, so we have our boiler sitting at max DHW.

Yes it is possible, holiday cottage we stay in every year uses an oil boiler and the whole cottage is UFH with tanked hot water. Personally if my options were limited to those two I would probably go oil for now knowing that one day I would need to change it - but lets face it, heating systems are like phones, you know you will need to one day.

Maybe an option, could you split the land then and repackage it as land with planning, then you are not responsible for CIL because you are not building it... I think brining both the planning permissions into one phase may have been the issue. Or re submit as two standalone planning applications?!?

I don't see this idea being an issue at all - just make sure you do it right. I am going to be doing something similar in an office of ours at some point as the first floor was built with 2x6's where it should have been 2x8's and deflects a fair bit, it is not going to fall down either but it annoys me when you walk across the first floor room.

If rain/damp stopped play, nothing would EVER be built in Scotland!

It is a fireplace not a garage door opening, the brick work looks OK so just remove things carefully and away you go. I have skim read this post, I am not actually really sure what you are trying to do, are you trying to widen the fireplace to get a stove in or such? I think you want to remove the first few corbelled bricks, in which case I would either, simply remove them all carefully, or prop the row 2 up, and remove the courses you want, then fit an angle iron lintel type affair. If I was doing it I would have probably put in 3 lintels, on 2 running back to front, then the main one running across. However, heavy angle steel is your friend! This is a mornings work with a couple of cups of tea.

Understood.