Alan Ambrose

PHPP is a 20-30 page spreadsheet. Pretty complicated but not indecipherable. The manual is pretty good and a good primer on relevant building physics. Highly suggest using PHPP if you’re not daunted by big spreadsheets. You may want to, or may have to (depending on your BCO) get it checked by a kosher PHPP ‘expert’. It will let you make tradeoffs on your design e.g. window schedule vs. overheating.

Ah thanks - on metal roof a bit as described here: and

I'm monkeying around trying to line up some Velux MK-08s in a PV array - so the exact spacing is fairly important as the Veluxes will go in before the PV. The Renusol configurator defaults to a 24mm gap between PV panels. Does that sound about right?

Fine

Thanks, but both BS 5250 and NHBC seem to just have prescriptions for the common stack-ups. Go, slightly off-piste...and you're on your own. And I was trying to understand the building physics rather than find a somewhat-relevant cookbook in the relevant standard. For instance NHBC says: NHBC: 7.2.15 Ventilation, vapour control and insulation - NHBC Standards 2025 NHBC Standards 2025 Where a Type LR underlay is fully supported on sarking sheets or boards which offer a high resistance to the passage of air or water vapour, such as plywood, OSB, chipboard, or tongue and grooved sarking boards, the Type LR underlay and sarking should be treated as a Type HR underlay, for roof ventilation purposes. ... and that's kind of what I've got.

If it helps any we have had some MOT 3 with quite variable composition. Some was quite chunky, some had more fines than you would expect. I took it all and I think it'll work out OK in our application - which was a permeable driveway. I've seen no standing water since, so it must be draining. I'm suspecting that as it's a more unusual material that maybe it has more variable quality.

>>> Will your trades be prepared to be nominated as principal contractors? In practical terms, I have not found a mechanism to tell BC that I've swapped from one PC to another.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Ubakhus seems to have found a moisture problem beneath the outer ply. Is this a real problem? Seems to me that whatever the most outside skin is, it would throw up this problem, no? Is the internal membrane doing anything useful given that it's backing some fairly air-impermeable ply? Is this the key sentence? During the winter season of 90 days, a total of 0,021 kg of condensation water per square meter is generated. This quantity dries in summer in 5 days (Drying season according to DIN 4108-3:2014-11). In accordance with DIN 4108-3, the maximum allowable amount of condensate is 1,0 kg/m² if all affected layers are capillary water absorbable, else 0.5 kg/m². That implies it's fine?

>>> get a surveyor to site to mark out the boundary according to land registry If you look at the land registry web site they say that the vast majority of the boundaries they have recorded are not definitive. Yes, they do provide a bit of a clue, but they can’t be relied on as an authoritative source. The whole area is a bit of a fudge at best. Possible to agree the boundary with your neighbour? That would be a good start. There is then a process for recording a definitive boundary with the land registry if you choose. I suspect the red lines on deeds are usually drawn in a few seconds by a junior lawyer without ever visiting the plot / looking at Google Earth / booking in a surveyor ~ and Google isn’t accurate anyway and subject to.optical distortion.

I have half a memory that the EA has an escalation procedure. You might call them and see whether they’ll do something promptly for you. Alternatively, if you can get an ‘expert’ to write something acceptable the BCO might accept that. Is there someone else using the same route? - I have a few neighbours who are, so it would hardly make sense to allow them but deny me. Once I got hold of a normal human at the EA, they were quite helpful and found the details of the drainage route they needed - I supplied the gist 400 metres or so and they figured it out to the final tidal destination.

We needed one as we were draining to an intermittent watercourse (if I remember rightly) - took a while as they ‘lost’ our first application. About 6 months - I’ve posted the exact time ere somewhere.

Don’t know how true it is, but I was told recently that power float skills are less and less common. Some people will try it on though if they have too much business / don’t fancy the job / think you’re a bit gullible.

We were working on this today. A properly anal approach, but I wanted to be able to get it out easily if there was a future problem. Very doable DIY - although it would be easier .... the next time 😁. Main issues were falls (courtesy of some earlier careless groundworkers) and, believe it or not, making the straps work sensibly. My digger skills are improving, although the original dig out was done by an experienced guy in one day. There was properly hard dried out clay that far down. The dry mix was done by hand on a piece of ply - we didn't even bother to get the cement mixer out. The perforated twinwall in the last picture is for checking on GW level.

Well I'm sorry to hear that and it's a good thing that someone is taking this nonsense on. >>> after submitting a minor amendment to our already-exempt planning permission, we didn’t realise we had to send in a second CIL commencement notice I've never heard of that particular excuse before - is it possible to say a bit more. What kind of amendment and 'non-material' or 'minor material amendment' and/or a 'Section 73 amendment'? I'm interested what part of the CIL law details that gotcha? Did the LPA explain with reference to the law or did they just assert their position? I know some LPAs do make stuff up / 'have their own special interpretation' where the law is a bit vague. Was the LPA's assertion challenged by a solicitor?

How big is the plot? Would it ‘make much difference’ if the dwelling was moved over a bit?

The thing to watch out for is the FX rates/spread - a lot of bank cards these days use the Visa or Mastercard rates which are not crazy bad (but not crazy good) at 2% of the transaction. As usual, financial services usually takes the micky on anything that isn't written in plain English in front of you. See e.g. Currency Converter – Exchange Rate Calculator | Visa Whenever you see 'zero or no commission' that means they're trying to fool you into thinking there is no transaction charge. Some people call that 'lying'.

>>> minimum of 10 minutes a day, talking to the plants, and stroking the bluebells It would be fun to sneak that into the statement somewhere - at least as a test of whether anyone has read the doc.

Maybe sheet piles would give you the room you need?

Errr, one method is just to use the piles as the 'shuttering' for the excavation, then a metre gap for working room, then the actual shuttering for your basement walls. Apply some external insulation before you backfill. What are you doing for the other sides?

V nice, btw are you pleased with your windows?

Ah, strikes me the HMRC rules are over-complicated. Also, if this is meant to put us on a level footing with small builders (who can presumably claim back all their VAT) ... it doesn't. I'm guessing our VAT reclaim/zero-rate is actually applicable to ~50% of our actual costs. Also, is the obvious 'mitigation' to get, say, a groundworks company to incorporate muckaway and labour in the same same job, which will then mean the muckaway is zero-rated?

See: Why are Solar PV Panels Getting Bigger? • Solar Energy UK It seems this is not helpful for later panel replacement, so I'm now assuming something like a 20-year complete rebuild of fixings + panels.

Ah, I found out why my joist manufacturers didn't call me back following my email enquiry with some teaser drawings. I broke down and called them both today. It's evident they regard the sale/purchase process as a power battle - I need to prove that I'm worthy of their product. If I can jump over their hoops and satisfy their requirements, they may deign to deal with me. I've never dealt with a Ferrari dealer (one day maybe) but I've heard they take much the same approach. Mutter mutter mutter, 12-week process, duty-of-care, British Standards, mutter mutter mutter. They both spent most of the call telling me what their requirements were, about the limitations of their software, how they need to avoid being sued etc. Why did I want roof joist that deep, that's very unusual (Passive house standards maybe)? The Easi-Joist guys said their software doesn't figure out the roof lights in their deep joists. They both ignored my stated needs and wishes. A good job we don't have all that BS when ordering standard timber.

Congrats

Looks like someone has had a look at this and not found the problem yet. Maybe check out other odd possibilities that have not been fully checked out. Is any silicone seal 100%? Possible that it’s a leak behind the mixer tap? I’ve seen both of those cause a hard to find leak.