Alan Ambrose

Well the CPR says somewhere (I paraphrase) that, to encourage rational thinking, solicitors must keep their clients abreast of total cost estimates and likely cost recovery rates (from the other side). I just don't like the idea that the lawyers are left, like unsupervised kids, to run off with all the gold. I believe that the legal establishment should take more ethical responsibility than it seems to. In practice, the solicitor's decision choice is 'bill some more to fill up their own pension funds' or 'try and reach a compromise deal and close the dispute out'. I would like to see the solicitors take part of the hit if they let the billing get out of hand.

It sounds good to me and I'm planning to put all our PV stuff in a similar space - and in the next place MVHR too. I don't know what geometry you have but it strikes me that this is potentially a very easy way to route MVHR ducting into some rooms. I guess it lengthens the UFH pipes a bit and means they want to be well lagged. The one thing you might need to check is adequate support for anything particularly heavy - e.g. cylinders and/or PV batteries. The gas boiler will, of course, need a vent / flue but shouldn't be generating a lot of heat when the weather is hot. Heat impacts the reliability of all modern-day electronics (e.g. the control boards), so it would be helpful to figure out a mechanism to stop them from getting crazy hot.

What is disgraceful is that the solicitors were allowed to run up a joint bill of £195K of legal fees on a £16K dispute. I don't see how that's even possible in the County Court (as opposed to the High Court). Both sides and the judge seemed to have completely ignored Civil Procedure Rules 44.4 (1): Factors to be taken into account in deciding the amount of costs 44.4 (1) The court will have regard to all the circumstances in deciding whether costs were – (a) if it is assessing costs on the standard basis – (i) proportionately and reasonably incurred; or (ii) proportionate and reasonable in amount, or ... see: https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part-44-general-rules-about-costs#rule44.4

>>> Care to expand on the question? I mean - "as none of these buildings have conventional gutters and drainpipes, what kind of arrangements for handling rain do they have?" And is it workable? Actually, there's an outbuilding near me that has an arrangement a bit like this. It does looks good. But, does anyone know what the engineering detail looks like?

https://pb-architects.com/ ?

Somebody has to take one for the team...

Ah yeah, many thanks.

@KelvinThanks for the example. Do you think it is possible to dial down the colour saturation in Virtual Architect?

Hi, I'm looking for software to do this kind of fairly professional graphic (below) and also the 'drop 3D design into context photo'. Anyone, done that, know how? I'm a dab-hand with Fusion 360 and other engineering-style CAD/CAM stuff but those don't do fancy renders with trees and shading and cars .

Yeah, me too.

I can't imagine that the actual camera / push button part is any different - it must be the plug-in sounder which would presumably have a UK-style plug built in. Nothing that a EU-UK adapter wouldn't fix. Silly really, there are lots of well-trodden ways of designing that country-specific bit out. Actually I'm getting 'not available' for US and German customers too. Sorry, to keep editing this - available from Amazon US for £99 (US version of course) and Amazon DE (European version of course) for £113 - both prices include VAT, duty, shipping etc.

It was meant to be Autumn '22 I believe. There were YouTube comparison videos 5 months ago - so they have at least got early models to reviewers. So, I'm thinking 'real soon now'.

My vote is for the new Reolink - no subscription and PoE, so no problems with WiFi or power. And Reolink stuff is cheap (not that I'm cheap).

Our council has a dedicated email address for CIL. Surprisingly as the rest of the planning department is crazy slow, you get speedy and helpful answers from the CIL people.

>>> Seems at lot of house for just 2 bedrooms? Ah 3 beds, the column headings didn't come out so well. We do have a crazy big sitting room now which we are quite used to - and actually like

>>> I like @ProDave's idea of building to a Council Band tax limit. Ah, yeah v. clever, though I can't find for the moment an indication of the valuation office council tax rates by m^2. Is there such a thing - I always thought it was some kind of black magic that we all just accepted? I did find this interesting doc on average valuation per m^2 by region: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/housepricepersquaremetreandhousepriceperroomenglandandwales/2004to2016/pdf Also this link for checking your neighbour's tax band: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-council-tax-band/search

Back on topic: as you said, it makes a lot of sense to figure from room sizes up - so based on the plans for a fairly spacious house that we saw which we liked, I'm getting something like: area # GIA Big bed + bath 30 1 30 Bed + bath 20 2 40 Sitting 70 1 70 Kitchen 21 1 21 Plant + utility 15 1 15 Snug 22 1 22 Study 12 1 12 Hall 15 1 15 Loo 3 1 3 213 ... plus outbuildings. This is for a spacious 3-bed with one of the beds being also used as a study so we can both work from home at the same time.

>>> Were you at the blue parrot Friday ? I usually do one of my other rough looks when I go.

>>> Don't let anyone in the food-chain attached to your house know that. Oh yeah, I can look pretty penniless when necessary - particularly when I'm unshaven and in my builders' gear .

Hi, We have sealed units in Crittall window frames which were installed in the '90s when the building was built. Yes, they look good but were not a great choice energy-wise. This is in a 5th floor flat which is subject to quite a lot of blustery wind. The units fail at the rate of 2-4 units a year on an continuous basis. The biggest panes are ~80x170cm and they're 4x8x4mm spec. I believe I also specified toughened on both sides. Is there a way to specify higher quality units? I see in our local rag 3 companies that run continuous businesses just replacing sealed units. Can we really not source higher quality units with a much longer expected life? What to people do who have triple glazed units in low u-value frames? Do you guys replace your sealed units on a regular basis? Alan

I'm trying to decide the footprint size I want/we need. My natural inclination is to get the max size I can, both for valuation reasons but also because I've spent most of my life living in a city flat feeling short of space. The plot has permission atm for a single storey of 180 m^2 and the planners have indicated that a 1.5 should be OK. So, a 2nd floor / mezzanine should be fine. The ground is firm-ish clay so I'm hoping that a basement should be possible (we've still to do the ground investigation). This is for an active-but-will-be-retired-soon couple with no dependents but a bunch of hobbies. We would like to host visitors comfortably for short stays which we can't at the moment with ample room for storage / workbench / plant room etc. We're lucky enough to have no real budget limitations but would like the build to make approximate economic sense. I read here of some serial self-builders who have built smaller properties after larger ones. How big is too big

He's clearly not having a great time. Figure out what you want to happen and have a polite call / face-to-face and see whether he agrees. He may be resistant at first but come round to your way of thinking. In terms of contractual position: your original contract was with his practice. As the practice no longer exists / is in liquidation its almost certainly not possible for him/the liquidator to enforce anything. And unlikely you can realistically enforce anything against him either. If you just want rid with no liability either way, the solicitor's letter and/or a clear letter yourself (send electronically and by signed for post) stating the bland facts and that the contract is terminated due to frustration (as his practice has gone out of business) will do fine. No need to be emotional, blaming etc or re-hash old wounds. Just be factual with dates / copies of docs etc if necessary. However, one short paragraph will probably do it.

Looks fun to be able to cook on it I see for installation it says: British Standards BS8303 / BS6461 and ... combustible material should be far enough away from the appliance so as not to raise 60ºC above the room temperature ... clearances from combustible materials are 400mm from the sides and 500 mm from the rear for the Bakeheart. Should be a spec for your flue too.

I'm thinking towel rails need dedicated RCDs as well as a fused spur?

On the actual subject of stove clearances ... for a Rais Viva 100L stove and Schiedel ICID Plus flue: + Distance to combustibles specified by Rais is min 75mm behind stove. + Distance to combustibles specified by Schiedel is 50mm in free air and 60mm in enlosed shaft. BCO were happy with that, and in practice the measured temperatures after a long burn were: a) At closest skirting level to stove – 18.1 °C. b) On closest oak beam near top of stove – 26.6 °C. c) On closest plasterboard mid-way up flue – 22.8 °C. d) On closest plasterboard to flue at ceiling level – 42.5 °C. e) On outside of twin wall flue at ceiling level – 67 °C. - the ignition point of paper, by comparison is ~230C. I chose that specific stove bearing in mind its specified clearance distance.