ProDave

It is a shame BC and planning are not more integrated. Our planning had a proposed drainage system (filter mound) but that was rejected by BC and we ended up discharging to the burn (which is much better) I guess technically we have not built exactly what planning agreed because we don't have a big hill in the middle of our garden.

Here is another thought. Absent non communicative land owner next door. You cut the branches and roots of the tree and build your house very close to said tree. The tree dies. Landowner either does not notice or care and it stands there dead for a few years. A big storm blows through and the dead tree lands on your house. Who do you think would be responsible?

Post the pics here BEFORE you send them to BCO

Is it different in England? My last BC inspection was when the timber frame was completed but not insulated and no non structural internal walls. I asked him what is the next inspection stage and his reply was "Completion"

No DO NOT dig 2 metres deep right next to the house wall. Trouble lies ahead,. I don't think it is sinking in what could happen. The REAL risk of the house sinking,

DO NOT dig down ANY deeper there. A lot of houses that pre date concrete were built like that on a brick foundation. All that is underneath that is the earth. And it is not very deep at all, so that REALLY means this project is going to be expensive and complicated. You cannot just dig down deep and close to the house and expect it to stay standing. I do not understand what your builder is proposing but I have very little confidence that it is a good plan. You really need a structural engineer to design something proper, but I suspect it will blow your budget out of the water.

In a word. NO The overhead cable belongs to the DNO (network operator) and is before your electricity meter. Any power to the new garage would have to come from the house somehow.

Which if the boat never moves we all know is never going to happen. Responsible boaters always use the proper facilities.

Small offcut like that will be fine. Bit of a bugger being half a board short, post a pic when you get there.

Just back from fitting the new one. I have to say this new one is an order of magnitude better. It is the sort that has a flange that can be removed to replace the bladder. I still don't think it's stainless steel, it looks more like galvanised or some other plating.

You only need the long edge of make A to mate with make B You would then use the two rogue boards just for one row of floor, and in that case their end tongue and grooves would mate. And you would use the pair or rogue boards as either the very first row or the very last row, NOT a row in the middle. If you can't get make A tongue to push unto make B groove, try the other way, make B tongue pushing into make A groove. If one way fits but not the other, that determines if the two rogue boards will become your first or your last row.

We are in the middle of a lockdown. There are no merchants open here. The only place I could get floor boards if I needed them right now would be B&Q and I bet they would be yet a different make to the two you have. Frustrating though it is for all of us, you might have to wait if you really need some more. As well as the pictures that @PeterW asked for, try putting the tongue of one make into the groove of the other make and photograph it end on so we can see in what way they don't fit.

I'll have a try. Start your floor using the stack of "good" boards. There should be ZERO waste. What you cut off a board when you do the first row, becomes the starting board for row 2 etc, so absolutely zero waste. You say you have more boards than floor. So there is a high chance you will finish the floor and still have the 2 odd ones left over, not needed. Stop worrying about it unless or until you have used up all the "good" boards and the floor is not finished.

Okay found one. Only one in Inverness it seems. For those wondering, a summary of my findings: Highland pump centre, no answer assume shut City plumbing, open but don't have it in stock Plumbase, no answer so assume shut Plumbstore, open to account holders only, no flexibility. Dobies, no answer, assume shut Plumb centre, dud phone number on yell.com William Wilson, no answer, assume shut And finally Wolseley, open for contactless collection, only 1 in stock, paid for and going to collect it shortly.

When I was a boy I remember a case of someone built a garage and created access to it without planning. they did not force him to take the garage down, but they planted a cast iron bollard in the path so he could not get a car into or out of it.

The people in the example I posted a few posts back thought their builder had insurance,

It COULD if you dig to within 4ft of the bay window and 9ft down, without knowing how deep the foundations are. If the ground starts to give way under the house, that is EXACTLY what will happen.

This is what happened when a builder messed up building a basement. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3015425/A-suburban-nightmare-just-wanted-builder-create-little-extra-space-followed-rules-happened-child-blood.html That is what could happen if you get this wrong.

So 9ft high at the house, even if you only dig 20ft into the bank, that's a 6ft retaining wall you need. You really are not just going to build that with a pallet of ordinary blocks with no professional input, at least not if you want it (and your house) to stay standing. I think the best you can hope for on your budget is like your neigbour, a short parking bay to park parallel to the road. You might need to buy a shorter car and practice your parallel parking to get it in there.

Thanks I didn't know them, I will phone them tomorrow. Not looking too promising as all they have on the website have feet to make them free standing. And they don't state they are SS The one I want just screws into a female G3/4 thread on the top of the tank so needs no mounting of any sort. I guess I could grind the mounting legs off and invalidate any warranty.

There's an 18L SS one on the bay just now for a good price. I will have a chat with the tenant tomorrow and see if he is prepared to wait a few days to get a better one posted here rather than the tat the local merchants sell. But it will likely be the end of the week before it gets here. That's the trouble when you are fixing a breakdown of something that is urgent and the local suppliers don't stock the quality stuff.

You are going to need a LOT more than one pallet of blocks to build your wall.

I thought YOU had to put up the notice on the site?

It wasn't me that put the wall in, I am an electrician, I merely observed what else was happening while I did my bit. The wall was about 6 feet tall, and probably 4 or 5 feet in front of the house. It was built of concrete blocks laid flat and 2 blocks deep so quite substantial with buttress sections as well on part of it that got re buried in the front garden and at the two ends it turned in towards the house. If I had predicted it would have been of interest to anyone I would have photographed it. In this case I think the retaining wall was built so they had something solid so they could re fill the gap between the house wall and the retaining wall with solid infill laid in layers compacting as they went.

I did some work a couple of years on a bungalow on a slope like that. The whole front garden had started to slide down and come away from the house. It turned out the foundations were not that deep so there was a lot of work involved, underpinning the foundations, and then building a new retaining wall a few feet in front of the house to stop the same happening again. It is this situation we are trying to avoid you accidentally creating.