Alan Ambrose

Thanks, I'll try both those services and see what happens. >>> But if Valspar was that far out there may be an issue with the sample. It was literally a 6x8cm piece of painted plasterboard from the wall we wanted to match. I see there a bunch of skill involved operating the spectro-thingy though re calibration, multiple readings at different angles etc.

I tried the Valspar paint matching facility in B&Q and took a few square inches of plasterboard from the wall with the paint on I was trying to match. It's a sort of greeny grey matt emulsion. They scanned that and made up a sample pot that was supposed to match. Way too light. I went back, showed them pictures and said 'could they make it a bit darker'. 'No' they said. So, has anyone had a better experience paint patching, or is it a fools errand?

I think gravel grids are ok for paths and driveways and car parks if the right duty grid is chosen and laid carefully on a solid base and with good edges. I have some paths in the garden I’m pleased with and expect them to last ok. An actual road with an occasional lorry? Less likely I would think. Also gravel grids are expensive - my back garden path refurb was £5K and it’s not a big garden and most of that was materials.

Maybe just block the outgoing traffic at your router and see if it acts fine as a local camera? I would think it would, but only a few mins to find out if you’re router knowledgeable - which it sounds like you are.

>>> I really doubt this is going to be raised by building regs. Yeah I was in a place yesterday where a refurb was done 10 years ago. The hearth didn’t conform to regs but BC must not have been that bothered. And the burner and flue was on the original planning docs so it likely wasn’t a later addition.

>>> Connect wherever you like I'm still investigating but I think it's a bit more complicated than that. I believe (a) the inverter needs a specific set-up in the CU re RCD/MCB, and (b) in a number of cases the inverter needs a current clamp on the meter tails, which implies the inverter needs to be close-ish to them. So, I'm wondering whether a separate SWA for raw DC back from the outbuilding to an inverter which is positioned not a million miles from the house CU is the best option.

Also: this may alleviate an immediate charge in favour of a small-ish penalty: https://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20798/community_infrastructure_levy_cil/1207/cil_surcharges - but the big prize, of course, is to retain your self-build exemption.

p.s. if you have the advice to build the soakaway documented you may have a PI claim against the advisor. This was the thread: Lastly, I see Nichola Gooch at Irwin Mitchell is one such CIL lawyer. https://www.irwinmitchell.com/our-people/nicola-gooch (I found her with a random search when I was trying to find about about this stuff) Do report back.

Hmmm, there is a possibility you might have accidentally fallen into a tax trap set (deliberately or maybe accidentally) by the drafters of the CIL legislation. Check the recent thread on a somewhat similar situation. Someone on the thread mentioned a good CIL lawyer - you may need their help. I have not actually seen myself where the CIL law describes this set-up. I think we need to determine where this trap is described in the law - if indeed it is.

>>> I found the planning portal invaluable for this Interesting, on our LPA's portal the BC docs are minimal - generally just a completion cert and nothing else.

https://blog.planningportal.co.uk/2023/09/26/details-of-the-forthcoming-planning-application-fee-increase/ Fees up 25% and linked to inflation for future years. No 'free go'. Fee refund after 16 weeks for 'non-major' e.g. full applications for single dwellings. This should be very helpful as hopefully it'll give LPAs a reason to be quicker to avoid losing revenue. That'll also probably mean than the 8 week 'limit' will effectively be 16 weeks in practice. Hopefully it should reduce the number of cases of 1 year turnaround for my LPA.

Me too please - I’ve just started on thus step.

Yeah agree with the last sentence. Or a call if they answer calls. If you can get a sense informally which way they’re leaning you’ll be ahead. BTW the non-determination appeal route is also properly slow - 10-12 weeks just for ‘validation’, and around 9 months for a decision. You can look your LPA up in the gov tables to see how bad they are re turnaround time & ‘accuracy’ i.e. % of decisions overturned at appeal. Table P153 I believe.

V. nice

>>> 400W DC and only 300kVA AC Yeah, I see, I'm looking e.g. at this: https://enphase.com/en-gb/download/iq7-microinverter-qdcc Maybe something to do with peak input vs. continuous output power? As @Dillsue said - maybe you just need to choose beefier microinverters?

>>> run back to the garage CU. I was pondering something similar on my shed. I have a similar set-up with a small garage CU which runs via ~20m of SWA back to the house CU. I see that it's on an MCB, itself on one of the two RCDs in the CU. I suspect it shouldn't be on that main CU RCD as it has its own RCDs anyway. Question is (I think you may have the same question) - can you direct attach the inverter to the garage CU, or do I (you) need to run a separate SWA back to the main CU? Re: having a lower inverter capacity than the peak output of the panels you have. I don't think this is as much of a problem/waste as it might seem - losing a bit of the peak output isn't that big a deal as (a) by definition the peak doesn't occur very often and (b) when it does, it's almost certain to be electricity you can't use and/or have to sell off cheap to the DNO anyway.

>>> not that it addresses the original question here Banish the thought. Anyone? Is it related to this question below or are they totally different? Does ‘comfort’ (in the original question) imply lack of temperature variation? “What's the target for phase shift / decrement delay? I can't decide whether the optimum is 12h based on the idea of 'cancelling out' some of the dailytemperature swing or 'very large' on the basis that the interior temperature swing will be super low?”

Well congrats. If you can get the roof edges to drain properly so that any ground splash won’t soak the lower 6 inches of walls, that’ll give it a long life. I was not convinced about the pva stuff, did they supply contact adhesive for the edges? Probably not a big deal anyway as it’ll lie flat (ish). There are some good stainless nails with rubber collars to hold down the edges of the epdm - you probably don’t need many. I also used ss staples in the non-critical parts.

>>> Use resin and screwed rod +1 something like this: https://www.screwfix.com/c/screws-nails-fixings/resin-fixings/cat840022 Sometimes called chemical anchors. Read and follow all the instructions exactly, including the bit about sweeping the hole carefully with a bottle brush. Discard the 1st bit of resin from the tube if it’s not mixed thoroughly. You might want to plan for the rod being not exactly centred in the hole, but you can jiggle it into centre when you first put it in to help. Forget the screws and rawlplugs unless you want to do the job again later.

Think you forgot your attachment. I have a vague memory that these quotes were meant to use a standard price list? Wouldn’t surprise me if the DNOs tried it on though - monopoly pricing and all that.

I've used a dremel with a cutting disk to cut new slotted heads before to get purchase on various screw-like thiings. Takes just a few mins, wear glasses.

Of course, if you calc the quantity of soil removed and bulk it up by a fluff factor (say 15%) you can figure the increased depth on your paddock. I used a density of ~1.3T/m^3 and 11 £/T muckaway for comparison purposes. This was for clay.

Yeah there's some special rope and cement - check out any stove supplier. Check out the brand Vitcas. https://www.modernstoves.co.uk/?s=cement&search_id=1&post_type=product Also, the instructions for the stove model / flue will detail how to seal it.

A bit in the Times yesterday: the article wasps on about adding new storeys, up to two storeys in rural locations, seven in cities! No other 'use case' examples. A kind of 'street planning application' which still gets voted on by the council. Plus a bunch of detailed rules about sizes, angles etc. Weirdiama - and it kind of assumes most property has man enough structure and foundations to handle the extra weight or can be upgraded. I can't figure out whether this is (a) government's idea to allow 'more community involvement' in something (that'll never get used); (b) the thin edge of the wedge giving us the UK equivalent of the US 'Home Owner Associations' (much derided), or (c) simply a bad bit of legislation with no obvious purpose. Here's a summary of the current permitted development re extra storeys: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/additional-storeys-extending-upwards/planning-permission ‘Street votes’ to allow seven-storey extensions on homes Plans laid out by Michael Gove’s levelling up department aim to boost ‘gentle’ development through local referendums Neighbours will be able to add up to seven storeys to their homes by holding local referendums to avoid the need for full planning permission. Under government plans to encourage “gentle densification”, ministers will allow residents to band together to vote on allowing extensions, basements and loft conversions along entire streets at once. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/street-votes-to-allow-seven-storey-extensions-on-homes-rj2qxvth5

A stainless sheet might also reflect heat back into the room