Oz07

In my mind, that's exactly one of the things I would expect them to tell me. A fixings schedule. What's the point in employing them otherwise.

Yeh I'd heard councils differ in how much they accept through non mat. You're right though be doubtful I'd get it. Now the BIG question. Have to pay for more bng credits on a new application? Surely not!?

Kept mine for a year then binned off. Way too heavy. I've got the 360 now. Its better performing but the gas is more expensive than normal. You can find deals on eBay.

When I looked into it BCO was the most important one. Planners just seem to use guidance and plans can look like they comply (as in the case I was interested in) but even if you have correct width and gradient access along with turning circle, the distance from a hydrant point can still kill it. So planners will pass without ever speaking to fire service. It is up to BCO to be happy it complies before they sign the place or design off. I forget what section it's in but think its specifically mentioned in the building regs doc. I had a look at the thread I posted but it wasn't quoted in there.

Yes the only problem with this is presumably they have a relationship with the vendor or their agent. I think it's better for me to find out if the credits apply to the land or specific permission first. I need to know if it's going to cost me extra 10-20k in credits

annoyingly the council doesn't offer any pre app service either to ask the question

I must be the only idiot here who put in a non-mat ammendment for 100mm. This is when drawings allowed for 100mm cavs and I decided to build with 150's. I didn't want some clever clogs to come out with a tape and cause me pain afterwards.

You'd have to osb the lot I reckon for decent protection. Probably could source some second hand boards from an old hoarding job. I think the finish would be ok but you'd still need some kind of sealer on it surely? @nod what time of year was your floor done? We've troweled up a garage floor before the next day morning but it was like Jan/Feb, this was after pouring at around 9am too. I don't think you'd get away with it in summer

I was looking at a plot with this problem a year or so ago. Ended up leaving it. The vendor couldn't convince me that I wouldn't end up in a situation whereby the house would be built (at worst) or plot purchased and the BCO would refuse to sign off on the design because of this. You can use alternatives such as sprinklers or mist systems but when I looked into this it is still only up to a max distance from the highway. I think the ideal route would have been to take the plans (or in your case some indicative sketches) and have a meeting with Building Control and potentially the local fire service and see if you can get some agreement before purchasing. In my case it was falling on deaf ears with the vendor, their plot is still for sale today, surprise surprise.

Think I've finally found the next plot which is suitable for us. Viewed it yesterday, good location. The planning on it is ok ish but as always seems to be the case I would like to change. The planning is for 1 1/2 storey with no garage. I'd like to change to full 2 storey with adjacent double garage. The planning has been passed quite recently and the off site biodiversity credits have been purchased by the current vendor. The main question is if I change the planning with a full new application, can I still use these purchased off site credits for the new permission? Are the credits site specific or planning application specific? The other option I may have is to see if I can persuade the planners to accept the changes on a material (or is it non-material) amendment. The new dwelling would have pretty much the same footprint, in the same location with the same number of bedrooms so maybe there's a slim chance. The ridge and eaves height would end up a lot higher so that may be the killer. Neighbouring houses are all full 2 storey so i'm not sure why its been planned this way. I'll probably have more questions but this is pretty crucial for me to know first. I've done a web search and used AI and it seems imply the credits could be used on a new application. However i'd be keen to hear from anyone with more knowledge or first hand experience. With the credits for this having cost in the 10's of thousands I don't want to be paying twice. I suppose I can tentatively ask the vendor for some paperwork about the credits. The planning portal has a confirmation letter saying that the habitat bank would be prepared to sell them the credits but no further confirmations. Obviously i'm not keen to show my hand at this stage that I would want to change the approved planning. Thanks

Why would they do it like this just sounds like aggro. I can understand the other way round waiting till roof is on and pour a slab/screed that is pretty common

I think it's all cyclical. We've been so long in the time when land prices are so high. I remember early 2010 you could haggle for prices with plots on open market and there was a lot of meat left on the bone for whoever built it out. Nowadays builders seem to be almost buying the work with the plots for sale on the open market. All that risk and capital tied up for 20 maybe 25% with all the time it takes and regulations to comply with. God forbid there was ever an accident with all this principle contractor and designer nonsense. I'm sure it will go back the other way at some point.

Channel it with a saw and breaker it out or deeper than 6" from top?

Joe90 had a simple wide cavity with solid eps fill. Off the denby wood design or whatever it was called

Yeh wasn't it terrye that rings a bell

Oh well you can't bring another up now but one near opposite corner or in stud / plant room behind would of been helpful. I think you are limited to how close connections can be on the horizontal level. Ie a branch connection has to be so far below a toilet waste. Check out the build regs doc it has these dimensions in

Do you also have to consider what your cladding the frame with? Lightweight works well with raft, brick or block can be a bit trickier. Didn't someone here have a bit of bother with this and cold bridging years ago?

Why is you waste pipe miles away from where it's needed? I'm not sure you can have 2 appliances into a single 40ish mm pipe? Building regs doc is pretty helpful. Check that out.

No. Sometimes I rethink on self build. For the price you pay for an older property, I think especially with some of the nicer period ones, you literally couldn't rebuild them for the price you can buy them for. The skills are not there. That's before you consider the quality of the materials used compared to now. Obviously there's cons to an older house but I'm not sure energy efficiency is the be all and end all it's made out to be.

I think even the quality of clay is not as good as it used to be. I've chopped into old clay before to make connections good as gold tried it couple of years ago on some modern clay stuff, supersleeve? It just went dead brittle and splintered into a million pieces. You can probably find some better quality stuff though. Was on a job where a 6" public drain had to be diverted and that was all in clay so must be a reason the water companies prefer it.

I set ours too high in last place. Got used to it but would've been better lower. Can't remember the best angles for watching but available online.

I think deciding on shower tray is a pretty crucial decision very early in the process. My last place was a bungalow and I decided, and maybe bought it before even coming up out of the ground. Got the 110 waste pipe bang on centre of the shower waste I'm sure there are enough different layouts of tray to get you out of trouble on a first floor but for gf showers in solid floor it's especially important.

Thanks for detailed reply. Looks like heat pump is the winner for new build if you are on the right tariff. I will consider for my next place. Maybe bottled gas is the way forward for cooking. In those articles are they saying that the price difference between gas and leccy is growing? To me it seems like the more renewables they turn on the higher energy prices go. Subsidies and linking the price to gas is killing us on these. I remember years ago jeremy saying how the gas price was only going to increase relative to leccy. My argument was if it went too high the govt would end up subsidising it. When the Ukraine business happened and energy shot up this is exactly what happened. It's stupid because we're only subsidising our energy bills with debt or future taxes but that's how daft politics can be.

I just came across a post on x and it had both these articles linked

While browsing online this afternoon I see this crop up. Apparently govt chef scientist says heat pumps won't save money. I'm sure there are nuances and I know that the high performance houses being built by members on this forum would be more suitable than others. How does this link square with what was being said here @JohnMo? Are they referring to cop with the figure of 2.8? Are they saying that it would have to be 4 to match gas? Excuse my ignorance I've never never ran a hp before. https://thegwpf.org/publications/new-paper-reveals-governments-heat-pump-plan-as-uneconomic/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/not-clear-heat-pumps-save-people-money/