Alan Ambrose

Can I ask - are you planning to replace this later, or will it be your driveway base in future?

Worth it just to see their eyes light up

OK hold my beer.... Get your sparks to disconnect and measure the cold resistance of a heater and the voltage you actually have there on no-load (or if they're lazy, just assume 230V). Divide one by the other and that's your inrush current. If you've ever seen an old fashioned resistance heater heat up, you'll remember it takes a minute or so to do that. That is, much longer than any RCBO curve, which are designed for machinery in-rush currents. While it's heating up, the resistance goes up and the current goes down ... until it reaches a steady state. Measure the current at this stage with a clamp meter and you'll know the steady-state current (and hot resistance come to that). Now you've got inrush current and steady-state current. Just size your MCBs/RCBOs accordingly to fit the inrush current (actually cold-state current - there's not really an inrush currrent - that is usually associated with sub-1s timescale). Yeah, probably 20A, but worth checking to avoid further problems. BTW, worth the sparks checking the nominal power of the heaters - on a 16A trip, each is probably 3kW. Yeah, I appreciate they probably dont glow...

I think in practice you may get cracking around the edges, probably not a problem. There's a chance the cracking will venture away from the wall, again probably not a problem. I think you normally put foam e.g. in doorways, to control where the cracking is. Maybe down to thermal, maybe just slight differential movement. Precision machinists have a saying along the lines "everything behaves like rubber in the end" - meaning however stiff you think the part is, it'll bend a bit when you machine it, even if only by microns. If that doesn't bother you, fire ahead.

How the revised formula for assessing housing need is set to leave more councils vulnerable to speculative development The finalised new formula for calculating local housing need has boosted levels in many areas of England, leaving increased numbers of authorities without the required five-year housing land supply and therefore vulnerable to speculative planning applications. And I thought all applications were speculative.... It obviously means something specific?

Interesting ... would you mind reporting back when you're done. Bear in mind: "The pitch used for sett jointing is a specially modified bitumen, intended to be stiffer and more resistant to penetration by spiked heels than a standard bitumen." 😁

>>> the windows can have bats fitted Suggest much easier without bats, newts, otters, voles, crayfish, owls, badgers etc.

Lovely location

>>> I'm fairly sure that the case officer will have to arrange a site visit as the area in question can't be viewed from the road but I have no idea when this will be - will it be after the final comments? Believe so. I think if you say 'I need to be present' then at least you'll know exactly when the visit is. >>> Can anyone suggest when a decision might be made after the final comments? A couple of data points - my householder appeal decision was 2.3 months after final comments (9.3 months after filing), my 2x S78 full appeals were 5.5 months after (12 months after filing). I've no idea how representative they were, but they were not very complicated.

Nice idea for kids . Hmmm, bolts in shear, preferably into steels? Yes, SS if you like, they are used in high load marine environments. If no calculations are done, you could always load, say, 3-5x the kids weight onto them (you and the missus?) and then dynamically load (jump?) to check they're sound.

Yep, I understand the pragmatic approach and therefore just observing and living with the 'rules'. But ... sooner or later you might have the time & energy (or need) to consider who makes the 'rules', who they impact, how they are 'policed' and whether the 'rules' are well made or need changing. I guess that's called politics. In this case I think the CIL laws (The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010), like a lot of housing 'rules', were made by central government and heavily influenced by the LPAs and big housebuilders to suit themselves. I think CIL impacts the small builder most. I don't know whether they apply to the big builders or whether they get negotiated away in S106 agreements. Maybe someone else can comment. You can bet that small builders and self-builders had little or no influence or consideration. It would be interesting to find out how the self-build CIL exemption came about.

1.5 weeks now and they still have not corrected the CIL figure that they made in their favour by 9%. How did they do that? Oh, by measuring external area, that's how. Any only other people or organisations who would say 'you have to sign this promissory liability note and then, maybe if you play your cards exactly right, we won't charge you?' 'And f... any little thing up, and you can be sure we'll nail you?' The mafia maybe? Drug dealers? Loan sharks?

Thanks. Was that LA or private?

That's it really. I was hoping to use a phased approach where we sorted the structural and fabric stuff (say to watertight stage) first. And leave the MVHR calcs etc to later. Also, what is there to say about, for example, Part P except use a P-qualified electrician, Part Q except use off-the-shelf doors & windows etc? What have other people done? Does anyone have a good approach to this with a definitive list of BC docs - it all seems a bit vague to me.

OK, your aforesaid mentioned malfeasance warrants my forbearance

Guys, I haven't had my tea yet

@saveasteading 'whomsoever' 😁 You've been reading Dr Johnson's original dictionary?

>>> crane Or depending on your beam length and weight a telehandler?

Bug him until it's easier to answer your question that keep fielding your calls? @LnP - thanks, that doc looks great - 7 different kinds of timber frame re fire already

Sounds a bit high - that's an average of about 130W on 24/7 i.e. a couple of old 60W lightbulbs. You can probably get away with an average of 10 mins every hour (total guess). See what duty cycle it's on and check with the manufacturer's instructions?

>>> very few people give a toss about climate change Well, it's sometimes hard to care about climate change when you're trying to figure out how you're going to feed the kids / keep your job / pay the gas bill / and get the car you need to get to work fixed cheap .... That is, for a lot of people, there are other priorities.

Agree - the implementation of CIL is complete BS. My LPA apparently doesn’t even know how to measure GIA and completely ignored the accurate figure I gave them. So, why did they ask for it?

Pair of mole grips?

Yeah +100

@marshian Yeah, the more the merrier