ProDave

It used to be more clear, simply putting a fence anywhere between the building line and the road needed PP. Then it changed to "adjacent" which is very subjective. I remember one similar case here, where they had set the fence back from the road / path slightly, and the planning officer stood at the edge of the path and reached out and he could not touch the fence, therefore it was determined not to be "adjacent" If it would not make your garden too small, you could leave your low wall where it is and place a taller fence, just on wooden posts (in case it needs moving again) say 1 metre back from the low wall. But you still won't know for sure if your particular council claims that to be "adjacent" unless they come and inspect it. Or just plant a quick growing hedge right by your low wall.

If it is only the landing window, you could probably get it passed by putting a ballustrade in front of it and then (cough) remove it later. We did this to get our completion certificate without having the balcony build

Have you tried that odd cafe, run by some religious group where they don't have set prices, you just donate what you feel it was worth.

So I have been tinkering with my collection of "stuff that will come in handy one day" Anyone reading beyond this point has to make a promise not to laugh, at least not out load. So put together a test water wheel entirely from bits you have to hand: The business side, that will collect the water. Yes that is a bicycle wheel, and the trial set of "buckets" that will go around the outside to collect the water and so cause it to rotate, are indeed baked bean cans. Looking at the other side, that is the pulley and belt from a dead washing machine. It is driving a little DC servo motor as my trial generator candidate. Initially I tried the pulley from the washing machine motor, but that only gave a 9:1 ratio, I felt it wanted more, so I made a very much smaller pulley for the servo motor and I have got to about a 17:1 ratio. The whole lot is mounted to the end of a length of aerial pole. The shaft is a length of M12 threaded rod and the bearings are old idler bearings left over from a previous cam belt change on my car. They mount to the aerial pole with a heavy duty aerial pole clamp set. The proposal is to mount the aerial pole pivoted about it's mid position giving somewhere for a counter weight and easy height adjustment. And since the motor is right in the "splash zone" it will have a plastic cover to keep it a bit dry A similar one will will also be fitted over the bearings We need to eat some more baked beans before there are enough cans to give it a water trial.

Thanks. I will be interested in how you get on with building control? My only comment (and this applies to all GSHP's) is you spent £1500 on the pipes in the ground (which is less than i would have expected) I paid less than that for my ASHP and did not have the work of laying the ground pipes.

That sounds like they were thinking of a heat exchanger in the air stream? My idea would be a Fgas to Water heat exchanger on the "output" of the chiller. Then the water can do a useful function like heat an adjacent building or some hot water, and only dump the "waste" heat to a radiator and a fan if there is nothing else needing to use it.

Another fine day on the boat yesterday.

Possibly then breaking the plain glass middle pane which might not end well.

Let the architect and SE seal with structural elements of the building. You need to know all the accessibility stuff, like design of staircases (width, tread heights, rise and going etc) obviously socket and switch heights, door widths, accessibility to bathrooms etc minimum windows sizes for means of escape, fire protection of escape routes etc.

I believe for a "low level window" it has to be toughened outer pane and laminated inner pane. That is what all ours are, and the BC inspector made a point of checking the markings on every one. I think the laminated inner is if someone falls against it, it does not shatter into pieces that could then injure them.

Interresting story, but lacking in details. " Octopus has pledged that homeowners will pay no bills unless they use more than 10MWh of energy " is about the only statement. So are Octopus offering up to 10MWh of free electricity if the renewables fail to meet all the needs of the house?

Reading this thread has got me thinking. Has anyone built a heat pump actually designed for the needs of a hot country? It seems the standard design either heats or cools water, by switching over some valves to swap over which is the condensor and which is the evaporator. But for a hot country where heating is never needed, then surely what is needed is a water to water heat pump that cools the house and the "waste" heat removed, instead of just being blown outside, is used to heat the hot water. Both functions all in one go. and if the hot water tank gets too hot, only then dump surplus heat outside. Does such a thing exist? (if not I better delete this post and start writing my patent application)

Is your concern the gap between the bottom of the capping and the wall? If so take off the existing bit of weathered OSB strip and fit something thinner instead like a fresh bit of 9mm OSB would that be enough?

Yes the weather was dreadful.

I won't post you a picture from my window, it would only upset you. I'm off out on the boat this afternoon. Mustn't forget the sun cream.

In our last house, we had a constructional hearth of the required size and I tiled it with ceramic tiles to give the finish. the rest of the floor was wood, and I chose to tile the hearth so it was dead level with the wooden floor. The building inspector did not like it, he huffed and puffed and grumbled, but it did have a clear change of colour / material and in the end he accepted it and issued the completion certificate.

Discuss with your SE for guidance. He is the one providing the design and certifying his design is safe. Do not remove any of the walls until you have full plans from the SE saying what can be removed what cannot be removed and what alternative support he proposes where a load bearing wall is removed. Nothing unusual in non load bearing walls being made of 4 by 2 timber, in many cases you can't just tell by looking at the wall if it is load bearing or not.

Not sure why you can't find the PM link. Click on a members avatar which takes you to their profile page and at the top is a sens message button. If you can't get that to work follow the link at the bottom of my posts to my blog and at the bottom of my blog is a link to my business where you will find my email address.

Re the hearth thickness. That depends on the stove manufacturer. Generally most of the ones with the firebox raised up a bit don't require a constructional hearth, but do require a 12mm thick hearth that can be stone or glass and can be laid on a wooden floor. That 12mm rules out a lot of floor tiles, unless you try counting the thickness of the adhesive in that 12mm? The flue pipes for my stove cost over £1000 just for the parts, more than the stove.

On a personal note, if you get the chance, could you raise my issues with the Baumit product failing and ask what advice they would give you to identify why it has failed and how to rework it so it won't fail again. and please let us all know if you get a chance to do that.

Not only do I still have ongoing unresolved issues, I am devastated to announce that a few weeks ago, the plasterer that did all my work, passed away. so not only have I still got issues to resolve, and some more rework needed, I don't even have the faintest idea who I can call on for help and advice and to actually do the work now. It is a very lonely feeling here right now. But I would repeat my personal opinion that I would not use the Baumit system again, because you don't want to use a product where the manufacturer or their agent has no interest in the performance of their product and will offer no constructive advice as to what went wrong and how to correct it.

I can trump that. I was out in the garden the other day and heard something splashing about in the burn. It was an Otter.

Hi and welcome, I am interested in your wood fibre EWI plans.

There must be builders merchants in Wick who will deliver?

My guess is the ceiling is lath and plaster and in danger of collapsing if he tried to skim it. Best solution strip the lath and plaster off and plasterboard. Quicker less messy solution plasterboard over the old lath and plaster then skim or tape and fill. Did the sockets work to start with? If so what happened immediately prior to them stopping working? Did you get an EICR done? What sort of fuse box / consumer unit (will give a clue to age) Is that only a total of 7 sockets in the whole house? If so you probably want more so at least a partial rewire is probably in order. (my previous 1930's semi had a total of just 4 sockets, 2 double 2 single, when I bought it) If you are doing a full renovation have a long hard think what you want to achieve? rewire, new plumbing, extra insulation and detailing the air tightness, new heating, change of layout etc etc. There could be a lot more than just patch up the plaster and re paint.