Tom

gc100, can I ask if your hidden gutter is an off-the-shelf system or fabricated by the roofers?

A chap came in with an apple up his arse when I worked in A&E. Wonder if it counted as one of his 5 a day?

Managed to get this bad boy on to our site a few days ago, needed to go about a mile over hill and dale, through some very tight gates and round some tighter corners, but arrived in one piece! Just need to position, level, and hook everything up. And work out how 4 of us are going to live in the thing...

The built value is essentially the same - it's the build cost differential that has essentially led the valuer to reduce their figure for the site. Perhaps you need to go back to Ecology again and discuss in further detail how your build costs add-up?

👍

It had the benefit of additional thermal mass, as I understand it

@ProDave Specific question about your Conder mate, did you sit it on a concrete surface, or simply excavated and plonked the thing in the hole? Intsructions seem to state a "firm level surface" at the bottom of the hole but the diagram indicates this should be concrete.

Awesome sounding project MrT, will be following with interest. Like Joe, would love to see some pictures of the bunker!

It does seem mad though doesn't it! Would save so much more time, money and effort if LPA's could be a bit more pragmatic. I think the lesson is to find out what your LPA are prepared to accept - find similar Part Q's in your area and talk to them, look on the planning portal etc. Every area seems to interpret the legislation slightly differently.

+1 for this. If you remove the barn structure there will be nothing left to convert. Definitely worth looking at full planning, and as suggested above use the argument for better insulation, eco credentials etc. rather than the difficulty in converting - you'd have had to prove the opposite presumably to get the part Q in the first place. I guess you have outlined your plan for conversion for the part Q, deviation from this might raise eyebrows - but as stated above, who would check? Full planning very much depends on your LPA though. Ours seem quite open to this as we were successful. Don't forget you'd save a bit on the VAT for a new build too.

Hmmmm, I think you're all probably right. What's different about the containers used at some self-store places?

So, we'll be moving in to a static on-site soon (as long as the house sale goes through), looking at probably January. We'll need to store lots of general house stuff, sofas, beds etc and are lucky that we have quite a few agricultural barns in which to do this. However it's all fairly damp, not rain-damp, more cold slabs and bare earth sort of damp. I've thought about buying a shipping container which I think would do the trick, but they are not cheap and I was wondering if any one had any other ideas. I've been looking at car port things, like a plastic marquee with zip-up door etc - but haven't found one with a floor, and this is the critical thing really. Any ideas?

Gus, thanks for your detailed reply mate, however what we're looking at getting is a twin unit, which is designed to join together and give you a 20ft wide lodge with pitched roof. Each half has the same metal chassis as a standard static and seem to be levelled with adjustable stands at various critical points. If I was going down the route as you suggested I can see that costing £2k as it sounds quite involved - but for a unit that is designed to fit together in the first place the quote just seems a bit steep. Can I ask re the MOT grades though, I have been told Type 3 to allow good drainage, but you mention Type 1. Am I right in thinking Type 1 is a lot finer? When would you use one and not t'other?

We have virtually no flat land anywhere so plan to level a good sized area near to the build (where the services already are) and put down 100mm Type 3 well compacted - I've been told that this should be sufficient (what do you think?). Each half is on wheels, same as a standard static, so should be possible to move relatively easily but can imagine getting them to line up well will be tricky - but two thousand pounds worth of tricky?!

Hi all - we're trying to sort out our on-site accommodation now that our house sale seems to be going through and we'll be homeless soon. Access is narrow - 12ft gateways, but only just, so we are limited to 10ft wide realistically. We're looking at twin lodges that come in two 10ft wide sections and are then joined back together. We're getting transport and siting quotes but the figures being thrown around for "siting" i.e leveling and joining the two together are £2000+ - which seems a lot of money to me. What exactly is involved? Is it reasonably DIY-able? Leveling is presumably just a bottle jack and stands, then joining together I guess with bolts and perhaps some repairs to roofing felt, inside some cosmetic tarting up, relaying floor etc. Is that right or am I underestimating the amount of work involved?