Alan Ambrose

p.s. while the ‘fall not protected by handrail’ look is cool, a friend had a horrible accident where they removed the handrail in their home and a couple of years later she slipped off while carrying her motorbike gear downstairs. Broke both wrists and was lucky she didn’t break her neck.

You might be able to run this past your LPA’s building control people informally and ask which regs they need you to meet. Or a private BC if you prefer. The ‘fixing to this and that’ may raise the spectre of a structural engineer if BC are a bit bolshy / nervous / jobsworth. Not bad in itself but a bit of extra cost. Look up the stairs and balustrades regs on NHBC for a simple explanation. I imagine the design is for industrial use and therefore not immediately fitting domestic regs - probably some simple mods will sort it.

I have the same problem - on what basis does the LPA approve or not a planting scheme? Maybe they won’t like the colour of your geraniums? Agree that it’s all a bit bollocks. Scatter in some detail to satisfy the 5-second optics test? Sizes, heights, species etc? I’ve seen a whole complex para on plans that just means ‘typical country hedge’.

>>> I suspect lenders will only lend for standard long-duration mortgages and will frown on my plan That might not be a good assumption - the market seems to be set-up these days for re-mortgage churn every few years with all the ‘fixed for a couple of years deals’. I suspect the number of people who have the same mortgage company for 25 years is miniscule. A broker might have some useful insight as yours are particular circumstances.

Fork handles? What? Possible to line up some mortgage finance as a buffer? £2K a m^2 is at the low end but plausible - you'll see a bunch of discussion about build cost here on 't 'ub - it's well worth reading through. There are various estimators / QSs who'll give you a build cost estimate given a design. How will you build? - let your architect sort it all out / use a main contractor and give them a design / project manage yourself etc and call in trades / do every damn thing yourself? That makes a 20-30% difference.

Just to add a little bit of spice into an already complicated situation: The lines drawn on the title plan and/or filed with Land Registry are not definitive. This is not usually a problem unless there is a dispute. See the land registry site for explanation: Your property boundaries: Overview - GOV.UK You can agree an exact boundary (a 'determined boundary') with your neighbour and file it with the LR. Or, if your neighbour won't agree, you can file and a LR tribunal will decide.

FYI It’s easy to add your own materials to ubakhus if you need. it also has some moisture calcs. It’s useful with the expanses of flat walls / roof / floor with consistent make-up. But the thermal bridges at the ‘corners’ might also be important in an older building where they wouldn’t have been comsiderad originally.

Ah thanks.

Is there any penalty to over-sizing a bit to get longer pump-out gaps?

Bio-Pure - 14 Conder - 111

Anyone here used a 'Part 7: Prefabricated tertiary treatment units' after their standard PTP?

Missed: Harlequin - 6 p.s. here's the updated link to British Water's tables, we want the table for 'Part 3 PTPs': List of Certified Small Wastewater Treatment Systems Up to 50PT

Thanks - funnily enough, I had Owls over for a site visit way back for which they charged £100. They added very little to my knowledge bank re drainage, PTPs etc and said: 'we don't do consultancy or drainage design and can't recommend anyone else either. Or any contractors'. So much for their 'huge knowledge and experience' of drainage. They we're hot on the blower though within a few days trying to heavy sell me a treatment plant. So, I felt I paid £100 for a sales visit. Thanks for the ref to the BH threads.

One of the many subjects I know nothing about. Scanning the forum, I get this in terms of number of hits: Marsh - 51 Klargester - 84 WPL - 18 Tricel - 17 Graf - 79 Clearwater 9 Biorock - 22 WTE - 28 I expect that is roughly the market share - at least among self-builders. I don't have biases except against the idea of the Klargetser 'biodisc' mechanics. This is for a 3 bed. Ground is clay. Drainage to a culvert that three neighbours use already - I have EA approval for that already. I expect we'll install this ourselves. All thoughts; biases; positive & negative experiences; tips, tricks etc gratefully received.

I can do some basic trenching with my 3T digger. A week ago we had to move a pile of soil from one place to another in a hurry ahead of a delivery and I was pleased to see that went OK and was fairly quick. But the finer arts e.g. grading something level and not roughing up a level surface of hardcore when turning are evading me atm. I'm a quick learner but the kind of subtle dual hand coordination and feel are not coming naturally. Commercial courses all seem to be about a week and £1K and I don't really have the time or the inclination to sit through a few days of H&S and theory. I expect if I just sat and did a whole week's worth of practice, I would figure it out fairly quickly. Thoughts? Here's a typical commercial syllabus: Relevant health & safety regulations Understanding operator’s responsibilities Hazards and danger in the work place, risk assessments, SSOW Machine type and uses, controls and safety features, SWL charts Use of Manufacturers information & Pre-use inspection, PUWER & LOLER forms Carry out manoeuvres, setting up. Excavating of trenches and backfilling. Grading out Loading and unloading of vehicles Use of attachments and buckets Safe parking of machine Theory test Practical test Course close and review

I think this puzzle over the exact way to solve particular connection constraints to loos is not uncommon. I’ve certainly been there before.

A lot to be said, for us older people, in getting some mechanical help. One twisted back and you'll wish you had.

Well that sounds an interesting project. Torque settings, to me, suggests a rather finer level of engineering sophistication that I associate with residential construction. Maybe steel frames for skyscrapers would? But I suspect not. >>> Is there something I should be considering? Well obviously the thermal detailing is hard around structural members that are good heat conductors. I expect some marmox blocks somewhere involved as a compromise. You’re happy with the expected life of screw piles? Sounds a great project, have a drawing or two?

Well that’s the real question - besides the obvious (barriers around holes etc) how do you influence people to be safer. I finally convinced someone on site to use a face shield with an angle grinder after I described how thin cutting disks can break up and fly everywhere if you’re unlucky. Getting 60-something year old groundworkers to use sunscreen - that might take more work.

That's a slightly tricky / non-standard problem. Give us some more info, so we're not playing 20 questions. How big is the potential array? How many flats? Animal, vegetable or mineral etc?

>>> who owns the CAD files and can I request them from the architect? If the architect was just doing look-and-feel drawings for PP, they they'll want re-drawing anyway for BC and/or construction.

The result of the new rules following Grenfell where nobody wanted to take responsibility for anything is (wait for it) that people want to take even less responsibility for anything. Who would have thought.

They were the architects but not the principal designers? I think they are taking the proverbial.

I don't have a roof rack on my van, but can probably arrange for them to get to Kesgrave. Tile tape too?

Funny how these schemes benefit farmers and other landowners, no? It's almost as though they were well represented in parliament.