Bramco

No - it's to prevent any future fall out. The percentage split was agreed before we took over our half of the plot and we 'paid' the other 3 members of the family our share. One of them now owns the existing house and half the land. All 4 came out of the transaction with the same amount based on valuations of the land and the existing house. The overage is to protect the families of the 2 who weren't interested in the land or the existing house. On both halves of the land there's the potential for further subdivisions, all the families should be able to benefit if either of the current land owners decide to subdivide. Fairly straightforward. Simon

Sometimes they are there for a good reason. We split the land my father in law bought years ago when he died. So there are overages on both plots in favour of the remainder of the family were either of the new owners (us and my brother in law) to sell a parcel off for development. Different scenario but they can be useful. Simon

Yep, new house will be ASHP, Solar PV with divert to 2 immersions. Much simpler. Simon

I wish PV had been cheaper before we installed solar thermal (our PV came a few years after the s thermal) - I'd have done the whole roof in solar PV rather than half solar thermal and half PV. With PV divert and more than one immersion you can get a tankful of hot water with a much simpler installation. It's also a bit of a nightmare when it comes to selling. Our current house will go on the market next month as we hope to be in the new build early next year. You should see the looks our heat bank gets from some of the locals who know we'll be selling who have asked for a preview. I can see most prospective buyers thinking - you know what I'll save the space, put in a combi and I'll be fine. Of course they'll lose the mains pressure how water, the fact that we get as much in FiT payments as we are charged for gas and electricity.... Simon

they don't, they won't until they either like or dislike the new plan. Good luck! Although given the size of the plot, you should have gone for a mini estate with at least 3 dwellings - you'd have got that no trouble.... Simon

In some situations, ISPs will have a fair share policy, so if everyone on that bit of the network is trying to do lots at the same time, your connection may be throttled back. And I think some email systems have time outs built in, so if your connection has a hiccup for whatever reason, the server or your local email may time out. I have more trouble with large emails not working than with downloads etc. and we're on the original Virgin Media cable at 60Mb download and about 5Mb upload speeds. And in your case, it could just be a few crows resting on the wire making it sag ? Simon PS Have you tried using a 4G connection on your phone - or are you that far away from civilisation that the phone signal is also weak.

Yes but they won't deliver and install until the beginning of October, so can't say anything about what they are like in use. The sales process went smoothly but then it did with the other companies we talked to. We chose Express because they were a similar price to others that could do the sliding doors we were looking for and the fact that they are a UK manufacturer - probably get the profiles from abroad of course... The showroom in Leeds has all of their window and doors styles installed, so you can get a good idea of what things would look like and how they operate. Simon

They kept directing us to a local agent who was just someone who once upon a time had ordered a door from them and thought he could start a business - we insisted that they dealt with us through the head office in Truro. Worked, once they realised we wouldn't deal with the chap they said was their dealer. And yes - it's called the 'day release' option... Simon

Fortunately we asked about this and they can fit the latch for the electronic door control, without the electronics - this allows you to put the door on the latch by making the plate floppy - not a technical term but I'm sure you know what I mean. So you have the same lock but the bit it goes into in the door frame is different. Not sure if you can retrofit this, there's a channel for the electrics which goes with it I think. That part of the ordering process was a bit opaque. Truro gave us a list of accessories and parts etc. then the order confirmation came back from Poland with more stuff, different numbers and descriptions, so there were a few anxious days making sure the order was actually correct and matched what Truro had sent through. Your door looks like the one we ordered with the indented handle - if so did you go for the leds? And have you tried them out yet? Simon

Wow! That looks like exactly the same door that we've ordered from RK Doors. Ours will sit on the concrete slab though with a packer which they will be supplying to bring the bottom of the threshold level up so that it will be level with the tiles internally. I think all their diagrams show the flush threshold sitting on the tiling or flooring giving a v small upstand. Simon

We had a cost plan done - maybe not the wisest choice of people to do that but... The daftest numbers they came back with were for the ASHP, MVHR and Solar PV, barmy numbers. I think the lesson we learned was that for electrics, plumbing, tiling, plastering, landscaping folks are in safe territory. As soon as it gets a bit beyond that they rely on sending out aspects to 'specialists' and they load up their quotes when things can be done much more economically. ASHP and Solar are good examples, we all know that if you aren't after the RHI or FiT type subsidies, all you need is a good plumber and electrician and it's just connecting stuff up. Simon

Maybe you haven't got the right shaped bin? Simon

I'll PM you if I can work out how to do that. I'll have to go back to the bits of info we collated. Simon

It was a couple of years ago that we visited. Sounds like they've got their act together. Simon

My point wasn't about them being tired, it was more about the workmanship, eye for detail and I guess attitude - why have a show house that has so many snags? Simon

Indeed. We looked first at German kit houses but given Brexit and the Euro/£ exchange rates were driven away from that. We actually visited HanseHaus and Schworer. Both were very impressive. Schwoerer for example sources all the wood from within 40Km of the factory which employs more people than live in the village it is located at. We discounted Hanse because theirs is primarily meant for a render finish - the insulation is on the outside of the frame. Anyway, having discounted the Germans and really anyone else in Europe, we looked at Potton. Obviously they can do any style you want, from the beams, beams, beams look to a more modern look but.... on touring the show houses we were really put off by the very poor finishes. Light switches on skew, really badly finished skirting boards etc. etc. Our thought was, if that's the level of finish in the show homes ours might turn out to be a Wimpey nightmare. So given the kit house route was going to be a non starter, we started getting quotes for the design from timber frame manufacturers. But given we wanted to chunk the project into a few large chunks we could put out to tender, we chose a company that would take on both the insulated slab and would erect the timber frame for a fixed price. Lots of timber frame companies are supply only, or have a complicated formula for how much erecting the frame would cost. I think if we stripped out the slab and erection costs, the quotes we had wouldn't be far from each other although there were differences in terms of the U values of walls and roofs. Some couldn't get to the levels we were aiming for. Not sure if that helps, but it's how we went about things. Simon

I've no idea what the surroundings are like, so not a clue if it really is or is not in keeping with the area and the throw away comment at the end of the letter that it is 'rather busy' and therefore they will recommend it for refusal is the usual hogwash. Ask them to give you the reference in the Local Plan where 'busy' is set out as a criteria for allowing permission and also where the definition of 'busy' is. Better still use their term 'rather busy'.... Unless they can state chapter and verse what specific policies in the Local Plan this would fail on, it will be passed on appeal. If they can't then they are toast. Although personally I hate those pointy windows..... But everyone to their own. Simon

Surely not - that would be the heating sorted ? Simon

Plug in solar seems expensive. We'll be installing a 4kW ground mounted system. Solar Energy Store is £3150 - https://www.solar-energy-store.co.uk/home/4-0kW-Solar-PV-Full-Kit-ground-flat-roof-mounted-p142551649 Plug in Solar £4680 - https://www.pluginsolar.co.uk/?product=plug-in-solar-4kw-diy-solar-power-kit-with-adjustable-ground-mounts Obviously plug in solar has micro inverters while the solar energy store has a single inverter. I should add of course that we will be installing the system, so I have no experience with buying from the solar energy store (yet!) Simon

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/11/tell-us-have-you-installed-an-electric-heat-pump-in-your-home I'm thinking there may be a lot of members who might want to contribute... Simon

Try Roofmaker in Leicester - imho much nicer than Velux as there's no weird bump along the top of the frame, they are effectively frameless. Simon

Thanks for the input and good to hear you've done lots like ours that have worked. It was an option to have the plant room where the utility is but then we wanted the ASHP on the side wall and wanted to keep the runs to that as short as possible. All these variables that affect the design. My thought earlier though on the manifold, was to have 2, one in the plant room for everything left of the hall/utility wall and one in the plant room for the utility and everything to the right. Will talk to the folks who are doing it about insulating the supply runs in the hall. Simon

Thx. Simon

You can say that again !!! But more on topic, what you are saying is that serpentine is fine with their slabs.. so 'Don't panic!' as the famous H2G2 quote has it. Simon Simon

ASHP - the heat loss analysis indicates we'll only need a small one of course. Did you simply tell the timber frame folks to do the loops the way you wanted them? Simon