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Bloody good job I insisted on over engineered foundations. Look what they found: A rather large tree root (diameter is about 9cm), almost certainly from an apple tree we cut down almost 5 years ago. Had I gone less deep, we might have missed this root, it would have eventually rotted and caused moree movement that my barbecuing skills can cope with!

I stayed at a friend’s house in Melbourne once, which was designed not a fancy architect. Their kitchen/open plan living area was done in polished concrete. It was quite dark, but with coloured stones in it, that were red, yellow, green and pink. It looked good, much more interesting than our microcement. But it also had a couple of cracks in it, which are part of its “charm”. The walkway/bridge between the two sides of the Tate Modern has a much more sleekly styled polished concrete floor finish; I walked over it a couple of weeks ago and liked it more than the art I was seeing!

Well, polished concrete still needs to be polished. So that is a double job in a sense. Microcement can look industrial or it can look very homely. It all depends on the way you use it, ie the colours you choose, the other finishes in the room.

Lol. Nice idea, but we rounded the corners.

We have microcement, which is similar to polished concrete in look, but apparently easier to install. Only 3.5mm thick and goes directly onto the screed.

Definitely over, at least by 12cm extra, so if your shed is 300 by 400 go for 324 by 424 base. I also ordered the shed to have a roof overhang. On the front elevation the overhang is about 50cm. I made the shed base about 40cm buffet on that elevation, and this enabled me to put a doormat outside the shed and keep it dry. Wish I’d done the same on my actual house!

Need is a strong word, but yes it’s recommended to do that. That’s pretty much what I did, though slightly less. Maybe only 5cm or 6cm.

Apparently my family cannot. But I’m any case, the point is I want to use the light being on as a reminder to close the desk, because leaving the desk open when not in use is not ideal given its location.

There are advantages of ceramic tile, sure. But an engineered wooden floor is more homely, and after the initial delay to heat up, will let plenty of heat through. So I would go for a mix: tile (personally, I prefer porcelain to ceramic) for bathrooms and kitchen, and perhaps hallway to kitchen, but have at least the lounge, snug, study and bedrooms in oak.

This is debatable, and to a certain extent subject to one’s personal dogma.

No wiij

I considered a desk light, there should just be enough storage for it and we have sockets for the computer which could easily be expanded, but how do you activate it to come on when the desk is opened and off when the desk is closed?

I’ve seen as low as 10 degree. E.g.: https://www.lamps2udirect.com/led-energy-saving-light-bulbs/6-watt-narrow-beam-10-degree-gu10-led-spotlight-bulb-3000k-warm-white/135944

Possibly, although surely a timber pelmet could act as a diffuser along the top just as easily. Alternatively, should I be looking at a GU10 bulb light fitting, with a bulb that has a 12 or 24 degree beam angle, and get one of those light fittings that allows you to angle the bulb slightly? Or a miniaturised version of that: https://mastertrade.co.uk/ans-aigled-ww-ansell-aigled-ww-downlight-led-3w-w-w.html

Indeed. This is all proving quite complicated. Here is a cross section to show the design of the unit: we want the light to project forward slightly, so it illuminates the drop down desk, so I probably need a fairly low beam angle.

that is possibly genius! So it would work with a drop down door?

Thanks, had just found that page. This looks like it could work, but I would need wiring running into the door presumably? https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/FM141WB.html And leave the cupboard/desk open, but switch the light off by just swiping the sensor, right? If so that won’t work.

Thanks, but I’m not sure this would work how I intended. The description give by Mr Bezos is: “The sensor turns on when detect the hand movement at a distance of 5-6 cm, and turns off the light on the next hand movement.” But I’m looking for something that will only turn on by opening the cabinet, and ONLY turn off by closing it. That’s because the cabinet is a drop down desk and so I want the light to be on as a reminder to my family to close the cabinet/desk when not in use.

Okay, maybe not fourteen feet, but certainly more than 12’, including the flue pipe and cowl. The fire box starts at 90cm from the ground (like a kitchen worktop, you want it to be comfortable to cook), the fire box is about 75cm high. That takes you to about 165cm. Then there is the top support for the hood, the hood, the flue and the cowl. It was a thing of beauty.

Can you give an example of a microswitch please @TonyT? I Googled it, but didn’t get consistent results. Is it PIR or just push activated?

There is an IKEA option which at 60cm is the right size. But at 1.8cm It’s probably a bit too think to conceal as l within a 27mm thick piece of carcass. Also, it has mixed reviews, so not sure if it’s any good and I don’t need all the smart tech, just a sensor that works. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/skydrag-led-wrktp-ward-lghtng-strp-w-sensor-dimmable-white-10529109/

By “challenge” do you mean your neighbour’s objection? Or the challenge generally of building this? If the former, you have no procedural standing to respond to an objection, just to appeal if the decision goes against you.

It’sa cultural thing. My last barbecue was 14’ high and the subject of a planning permission dispute (which I won).

I am having a cabinet/drop down desk being built which is about 67cm wide. The cabinet door drops down and forms a desk, and within the cabinet is our home PC. It would be useful to have an LED strip fixed into a routered out channel of the top of the cabinet carcass, which is 27mm thick. Can anybody recommend an LED strip that comes in warm white (I prefer 2800K but anything between 2800K and 3000k is fine) and that can be switched on by the cabinet being opened and switched off by the cabinet being closed? It would need to be around 60cm or 65cm wide.

If by HPV you mean Passive Ventilation with Heat Recovery, I’m afraid I can’t help, as I don’t know much about it, or why you would choose it over MVHR. But plenty of people here have Mvhr and warm up their uFH pipes with water generated from green methods, such as a heat pump, supplemented by solar.