Alan Ambrose

>>> Planning officers work to the policy in front of them and personal opinions don't normally affect the outcome. I'm going to beg to differ - but it may be that it depends a lot on the particular planner and the particular LPA. I've had a planning officer tell me in a pre-app that a design 'would not be considered acceptable' with 3 or 4 detailed reasons why ... and then in a full application tell me that they intended to approve the same design. That's with no apology or attempt at explanation for the change in 'policy'. The flip in that case would seem to be to my advantage, but I've also experienced the opposite.

>>> I cannot find another Reed switch that quotes the va switching For simple devices an approximation max VA ~= max W ~+ max Current x max Voltage and gets you in the right ballpark. I would generally allow a headroom factor of, say, x2. In fact, more modern things have VA > W as they have weirder power factors i.e. the voltage and current are a bit out of phase. LED drivers, PC PSUs, Wall Warts etc have 'dodgy' power factors <1. Simple resistive heating will have a power factor ~=1. You can kind of see that the reed switch is a bit small-ish physically which suggests it's a bit wimpy electrically. I see the RS menus don't let you search in max W/VA, so I can see how you got here . I guess you need 72W min / 150 VA min (0.65A x 230V). The highest one on Farnell seems to be https://uk.farnell.com/comus-assemtech/pra-sa-002/proximity-reed-switch-al-120w/dp/3762694?st=proximity switch - at 120W/VA - which is probably a bit low. Reed switches in general are usually smallish current but faster than a relay. Digikey / Mouser / Rapid etc? Maybe you need a different solution?

We have simple white aluminium on all our front windows. They're fine. Got a local blinds guy to measure and fit. Not expensive. Yes, if you are careless or it is windy you can bend them, but they mostly bend back. I've also used binds2go for vertical blinds on my mum's property. They were fine. I think expected lifetime is maybe 5-10 years depending on how rough you are with them.

p.s. routers need to run in a particular direction. I only realised this a year or so ago, duh...

OK well this does seem to be a perfect storm. But also we on BH have v little information to work with, so could you please give more info: + what kind of situation is this plot, town? open countryside? suburbs? + is your solicitor a one man band? simple conveyancer or paralegal? junior? newly qualified? partner? mid-range local with a few offices? national organisation? + what *is* the actual likely 'right-of-light' problem? distances? angles? history? Changes in design so far (should be on the LPA planning portal). + it's unusual to communicate directly with the seller about important matters without the solicitors knowing. How did that come about? Did you know any of the parties before the transaction? Was their a reason you didn't communicate the issue to your solicitor or ask for all the detail, history, docs etc directly from the seller? + etc etc etc - anything that might be relevant. The long and short is: + your solicitor's fiduciary duty us to protect you and guide you through the transaction. This would include all important matters (and a lot that is on their laundry list that may not seem important to you). If they fail in that, they have not done their duty, and you need to help them address their failing. + the seller's duty is to reveal any and all important facts and, in particular, any shortcomings. Property, financial instrument and insurance transactions are not 'buyer beware' style of transactions because it is expected that one party has much more information than the other. This is different setup to say, buying a car. If the seller failed to accurately bring the right-to-light issue to you attention or gave the impression that the issue had been resolved, they were acting unlawfully. + anyone (e.g. you neighbour) with a legal axe to grind needs to 'plead their case'. That is, they must provide the information and legal argument they are expecting to rely on. It's not acceptable to say 'we have a problem, but we're not going to detail what it is'. You have a reasonable case to make that if they cause you unnecessary cost or time delay by their action or inaction, then you have a potential case for costs against them. + what's the power balance here? Is the seller or the neighbour an experienced lawyer? Do you have the desire and/or resources to fight your way through this? I would write a tracked formal letter to each party giving the picture as you see it and inviting them to respond appropriately with a time limit. Then also speak to someone appropriately senior at the solicitor's practice to see if they agree they have failed in their fiducial duty. You may get 'yes, you're right' let us sort this out at our expense' or the run-around. In any case you will pick up useful evidence for the evidence pack.

OK, if you’re giving us a complete report, then you’re being misled on a number of points: + your solicitor would likely have been negligent if they hadn’t have investigated the right to light issue fully and demanded the report from the sellers etc. Talk to the solicitor and then the managing partner to get the ball rolling re their potential negligence. You’re doing the groundwork at this point and collecting evidence, no need to be aggressive. In fact, try to stay as calm and reasonable as possible. But be firm. + the sellers would have misrepresented themselves if they said the issue was closed when it clearly wasn’t. Hiding the report from you with some BS legal privilege argument would be part of that misrepresentation. No solicitor, worth their salt, would put up with that. You might want to discuss this point with your solicitor. + LPAs do often use right to light as one of their planning criteria. You’ll find examples here I think on BH. + the ‘legal privilege’ argument is BS. Your solicitor could ask for any and all info they want and decide (with you) not to proceed if the information was not provided. No solicitor would accept that argument. + you might want to get some evidence on file. Write ‘contemporaneous notes’ of all verbal communications and copy them to the other party asking them to verify the notes are accurate. Add a line saying ‘if you don’t confirm by xxx then you will assume the notes are accurate’. I would still ask the neighbours, in as pleasant a way as possible, what design changes they would accept. If they say ‘only for you never to build a house’ then that’s good to know too (and document). If they say ‘move this element a metre further back’ then see if that can be accommodated. You might also project that you’re not going to accept any more BS or sold anymore lines. Ask them to provide you with a history of their conflict/discussions with the seller and document it. Lastly, is there something important you’re not telling us here? Otherwise this situation would be one for the case law books and solicitor training manuals.

>>> A volumetric capacity of 146 kWh/m3. Compare that to the sand storage of 4.9 kWh/m2. I would have guessed that the sand would be about the same as brick thingys they usually put in storage heaters?

>>> I am not permitted access to the right to lights assessment that was carried out before because apparently it is legally privileged. This was done by the previous owner, the one who obtained the permission? But not made available to you? I think your solicitor should have insisted. And you can still ask. Goodness the Mail article makes sad reading - what nonsense. 'Right to light' in a garage occasionally used as workshop and office? Maybe ask your neighbours to detail exactly what the problem (and solution) is. I think some people will try all kinds of tricks so it's worth pushing hard into all the detail. Re the foundation - ask your BC (maybe informally) if they have any knowledge to offer in that specific geographic area. p.s. this self-build game seems to be full of existential challenges. Assume you'll prevail, you just have to figure out the best way to do that

You want to add another contact to an existing reed relay? Hmmm, reed contacts are not sold separately so much. The conventional way would be to see what voltage is being used to drive the existing relay and then put another relay with that drive voltage in parallel. Are the motors driven with 240V also, in which case, can you not parallel the led transformer across the motor cables (it'll probably take little current compared to the motors)? Another possibility is to exchange the relay for one that has several sets of contacts, then use one contact for the motor and one for the led transformer. We might need more info to be more specific.

Obviously a quality product

I'm sure there are a million and one youtube videos. I think there are some 'down cutting' blades for jigsaws. Also, I know cabinet makers use various types of tapes e.g. masking tape, to resist chipping. Maybe some subtle lubrication e.g. rub a little on the cutting blade with some hard, colourless wax e.g. a candle. Practice a bit on some off cuts?

>>> Requested cut-over to Agile tariff. Confirmation of the switch by email return. Can I ask - you did the cut-over via the website or via email request? I'm finding the email responses to be inconsistent and complete gibberish. p.s. thanks for putting the code up.

>>> Who’s this manufacturer please? I can't remember where I saw the article last week, maybe Forterra - https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2023/10/11/forterra-to-mothball-another-brick-factory/

Yeah, and not far to go for a beer.

>>> 350mm Icynene foam Sprayed in?

You may be underestimating the likelihood / cost / ease of find a plot that you can get planning on / has got planning on by a factor of 50-100. More opportunity / cheaper / prettier in Scotland, of course, than Bucks. 😎

They can experiment on a single door of course to see if they can find a paint scheme that works.

OK as en ex-designer & software developer, I'll bite. Yep, you may be asking the wrong people, although self-builders often do spend a lot of money themselves, so they could be users. In fact they may have their own particular requirements compared to builders. My 10c: + there are a lot of 3rd parties who want to do 100% digital disintermediation and take a margin. And that's against the general transparency thrust of the internet, so you have an up-hill battle. Every time I Google 'concrete pipe suffolk' (or something) there will be a bunch of sites wanting to take my lead info and sell it to someone for a margin. Yeah right. + So if you want it to work, you need to offer a significant benefit to warrant the customer's set-up time, difficulty communicating with the end supplier, difficulty checking delivery status, restricted UI, limited list of suppliers etc etc etc. And you need to understand the customer's buying process very well. For instance, as self-builders, when we buy taps, yeah we may want cheap, but we also want quality functionality and at least a little bit of design quality. I may choose mid-range, or I may go Vola. If we're a small custom builder working for a client, we will need to show these to our customer and get their buy in. A lot of trades will get their customers to buy 'customer-facing' items like taps directly to cut out all the buying and ordering faff. Yeah the plumber may buy the pipe, joints etc without consulting the customer but they'll often get the customer to choose and buy their own taps, baths etc. A small builder, building houses on spec will make their own choices, hoping their eventual purchasers will like them. But if the plumber is working for a larger developer, the developer's design and buying people will make the selection. Are you seeing there are different 'user journeys' here. They're all 'builders' though. + So, it's all in the detail. I don't think anyone buys taps by specifying a search radius. Do you think we don't buy anything from the general internet? And, if we're in a rush, do you think we don't know which local suppliers have good taps? Not that there isn't value add you can deliver to this segment: selecting, ordering, checking and receiving deliveries, disposing of packaging, keeping the paperwork under control, returns, customer billing, maintaining inventories of small parts and regular consumables, reconciling and paying supplier accounts, visiting 'sheds' to pick up parts etc are very time consuming. And we spend a lot of money. But I don't think a generalised shopping cart is what we want or need. Maybe you need to do a bit of market segmentation and focus on a chosen segment's buying processes for various kinds of products.

Well I still can't fathom how you can do that with a conventional diamond disk. Certainly, if I did it it would end up being a bit of a mess . I'm always impressed with a contractor who can do that good a job and I can't even guess how.

>>> How about I run my required cable inside an MVHR duct. You'll need to convince your spark as it's a bit unorthodox, but can't think of any real reason why not. Some fire reg detail maybe? SWA cable possibly?

Unlikely unless it's within an existing village boundary. You could ask a local planning consultant or your LPA (if they are friendly) for a first-cut impression.

>>> it's Planning (potential breach of PD conditions) that the OP is concerned about, not BC. Yeah, you’re right. Presumably, if pd, it’s not recorded in the planning system. So, planning will only be interested if neighbour complains to them. If neighbour can’t measure without trespassing, then presumably not a problem. I did though once have a neighbour that complained about a beautiful pd oak cart lodge I built. (Neighbour was a bit slow, but had an evil sister.) Planning had to check, and asked for the drawings. Well it was a cart lodge so there were no before-hand drawings. The drawings, after the fact, met pd though.

Re the Norslo boxes - good find.

That looks very neat. Know how he did that?

If these are not on the wall already and you feel you can mark them out accurately (even better if you can cad them up), then your local waterjet place may do them in a few mins for cash. A good option, especially if you have a few to do.