Barney12

Hi Ian We have been granted planning permission but it is conditional on complying with all aspects of our ecology mitigation strategy. The national park are obsessed with compliance to ecology (and I guess they have good reason, too many rouges etc etc). I can certainly concur on the inconsistency part. What I'm trying to do is avoid a costly (both in terms of time and money) re-write of the mitigation strategy and then re-submission back to the LPA for them to agree. Its "the answer is "NO", now what was the question?" mentality that drives me nuts!

Good question. I don't know the answer. But modern breathable membranes are an absolute NO in the world of bat roosts.

In short; No. She is demanding that we recreate the roof space which is in the house we demolished. I.e. brick/block walls, timber rafters, natural felt and a 1.8m ridge height.

Which is exactly what im saying for 'no.2'. However it will need to have block dwarf walls and a cold roof (natural roofing felt only). Thus I need to effectively create a roof void which is standard construction at one end of the house. This in theory sounds achievable as presumably the timber frame and airtight membrane could stop and then the standard construction start. I'm hoping super brain @JSHarris might have a view. I'm not sure what I'm saying is entirely clear so I'll try and do a sketch later.

A very interesting question. The short answer appears to be "no" as far as the ecologist is concerned. They are licenced by Natural England and as I've said in my previous posts on the subject effectively operate a cartel. Worse still the national park support said cartel under the guise of slowing down planning applications! OK, maybe that's a bit harsh, perhaps they are doing it for the protection of the natural habitat of the park. The appeal process is effectively to find a new ecologist which will support a change to the mitigation strategy and resubmit our planning application. I have a sinking feeling that the park may do its usual trick and not consider this an amendment but demand a whole new application. It's helps there planning statistics and fee earning ability! Todays another day and I'll go into battle again.

I should have mentioned; I may need to factor in the cost of a divorce if I go that route

I'd be tempted just to leave it as it is and put some onduline roofing sheets straight over the top. Then a couple of new facia boards and Bob's your granny. No ripping out what's there and it will last a lifetime. Somethng like: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262522170307

Dragging it back to the problem...... you could do worse than: thoroughly clean both surfaces. grind some v shaped groves in both faces. bond it with a stone resin glue. Tenax is a good product and stands up fairly well. There are some better products but not so easily sourced. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131323847075 Ideally though those stainless rods I mentioned earlier should be included to provide strength. if you want a more "traditional repair then once bonded. Very carefully v out the cracked join and fill with mortar.

Today I reached a sense of humour failure only matched by @recoveringacademic ....... Its seems our ecologists is going to recommend to the national park that my plan to build a timber frame passive house design be refused as "it doesn't recreate the habit (including temperature variations) of the traditionally built building it will replace". When I tried to reason, including pointing out that surely ecology generally benefits from energy efficient building I simply had the "rules" chucked in my face. Of course she is technically correct, our original planning permission was granted based on standard design and the accompanying mitigation strategy. I then suggested that I build (yet another!) outbuilding further down the plot (goat shed!) using traditional brick and slate roof. Again refused as the "roost height didn't match the existing building". For flecks sake we are on the side of a hill, of course the site slopes! So I am now left with three choices: 1. Build a standard construction house. 2. Find some way of building a cold roof section out of block that is isolated from the airtight timber frame. I think this might actually be possible with a bit of thought?? 3. Sack my ecologist and start all over again, including a planning revision. Words fail me. Well ones that I can post here anyway

Assuming its natural stone there is really only one way. Stainless steel pins drilled and resin bonded.

That's a very fair point. Round here a builders skip (6 yard) is £230 (inc VAT) so there is an argument for not filling it so quickly. Our nearest recycling center is a good 30 minutes away by car and staffed by the Third Reich. Thankfully though this particular bunch have received additional Customer Service training from Pol Pot. I really can't stomach going within a mile of the place.

Why not just bolt one of these on. If it dies in 12m, bolt another one on. http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/mvf/store/products/eliza-tinsley-bzp-gate-wheel-267mm

When we did the renovation and extension on our last place we left bare earth. Nothing is ever likely to grow.

I was thinking more some of those sworskofski (spelt entirely wrong!!!) crystals inset into the treads for anti-slip

Reading the OP has made me realise that I havnt taken a day off (from either work or the build) since Christmas. I would quite like to take a few days off but I'd only sit and fidget fretting about the things I could be doing! Worse still is that I'm travelling overseas a a bit for work at the moment. Next trip is Miami, leave Friday PM work Saturday and Sunday, return Sunday overnight so I can be back at the office Monday PM. Glamerous it ain't

I really need to get into the GumTree thing. Only problem is that I have an oversion to allowing the "common herd" onto our property. I'm paranoid that they'll scope the place and come back and rob me

"Scrap Boys". Crikey can't remember the last time I saw the like pass our gate. 2 months ago I put a perfectly serviceable 12' 5 bar timber gate and 8" square post by our entrance with a "free to good home" sign. ITS STILL BL@@DY THERE! I'm going to have to go and retrieve it and burn it

Now why didn't I think to Google. OK, so nearest scrap metal merchant is about 30 minutes drive. So that's two hours on my time plus a gallon of diesel. Skip is looking likely!!

I've just googled and apparently steel is now 5p a kilo! I think I'll chuck it in the skip!!

I've just started striping out the electrics on the house we are going to demolish. i seem to remember someone saying that scrap prices for the stuff was so low these days that its hardly worth the effort? Straight in the skip? Or collect it all up?

LOL. #busted! Not even the Cornetto I've just devoured is helping

The finest "Jaill Ale" for me tonigh from the Dartmoor Brewery. There is simply no finer ale and at 4.8% it achieves a lovely warm glow after 3 pints. By 4 I'm nicely relaxed

Unfortunately you can never trust a powdercoat to match a chart. Powerdcoating is what is often referred to in the paint/coating industry as "bucket technology". I.e. The colours are often mixed in a bucket! One batch of a RAL powdercoat is likely to be different from the next and different manufacturers are likely to have shade variations on standard. As others have said sheen level also plays an important part and again unfortunately there isn't an industry standard. Furthermore most matting agents used in wet paint products can cause variation by something as simple as how well the agent was stirred. Even a physical sample is not going to guarantee your windows will be "exactly" as the sample but it really depends on quite how accurate you want to be. However, on Windows installed into an elevation you are going to be hard pressed to really notice.

Wow thats a big bathroom

I think sometimes glues are a bit like tool brands. You get to like your favourite For me its always Titebond for all joinery/wood tasks. Absolutely bulletproof. I tend to use Titebond II by default these days which is an exterior waterproof grade and buy it by the 3.8LTR here: http://www.isaaclord.co.uk/titebond-ii-premium-wood-glue-3-8-litres Of course you simply MUST also buy a GluBot. No discerning tool geek should be without one http://www.isaaclord.co.uk/16-ounce-glu-bot-adhesive-despenser But being serious they are seriously good. Anyone who's struggled with a standard glue bottle when it starts to get empty would welcome one. Very clever but simple.