saveasteading

The colour I need is Buckingham Green, like the lighter colour on the photo. Hammerite only make it as "garage door paint". There isn't much said about it's properties so I'm guessing the name sells it to the diy shopper and it sticks to primer or gloss. So I'll try that but with rust converter first.

That's great. We can see so.much more now. My immediate comments are . 1. This is a small fiddly job, all edges and no middle. So it really needs to be by a general builder who does the lot. 2. I see and understand the drain now. I was thinking of it being beneath the canopy, not beneath footings, but OK. It's a hand dig. Structurally this isn't difficult but will be adapted on site and the Engineer will inspect the excavations and possibly revise to suit. Is the drain just yours or serving other properties? But permissions-wise is a concern if it is on the ownership/ control of the drainage company. What has your Architect said? If it needs permissions then that should have been dealt with as a priority. 3. It's a small job. The fees seem steep unless you have been changing your mind a lot. I wonder if this discussion can be moved to its own place.

In all my jobs, hundreds, and bigger than this, I never chose to tell electricians or plumbers how to do their jobs. Because i couldn't. They did their own design. We might say where we wanted anything specific. But anyone can draw crosses on a drawing. Bothers me too. Ask them whose list and what they will be sent. Builders of the size you need will not welcome fancy contacts or bills of quantities. They just need the accurate drawings. "Building over". That should have been considered already. What if the authorities refuse? But why would they?

Another option is to discuss with a very experienced builder at this stage. It's a different way of working, through discussion rather than a linear process. To my way of thinking, the building control drawings should be working drawings by default, ie not just generic statements. The builder may also have practical methods for the process. But.... how good is the builder? How good is the Architect? We don't know.

If you've a kitchen or lots of doors in the project then make sure they know, and that might change. Or try another branch, having a detailed look at their small display and showing/ feigning enthusiasm. we had a proper stair from a kit supplier, because it needed a landing, even though temporary. Still worth it.

Yes, batten the walls leaving gaps for cables, sockets and pipes. You could provide some insulation using plasterboard with eps backing and perhaps more where there are no services, but the void itself has some benefit. Yes the window sills and surround would be deeper but perhaps they could be stepped to avoid a tunnel effect.

This is what our chippies are using on site, with 2 bits of 4x2 on the brackets, and a sheet of osb. very sturdy. Roughneck sawhorse twinpack. £120 but I've seen them cheaper.

welcome and we look forward to your company over the next couple of years. 1. Living with it. You will be short of at least one room at a time so you need space. Putting stuff into storage gets it out of the way but the cost adds up. A shipping container would cost £1,000 but will have a value at the end. Or it could be your workshop. 2. Plan everything in principle as the priority. Insulation, draughts, heating system eventually. 3. Insulation . a) I'd avoid EWI as it is complicated (too complicated for many installers) and it requires the roof to be extended over the width of it. eps beads is prob a good option and doesn't reduce room size ( and it can be done at any time.. But others are more expert than I. b) loft easy to insulate? If it has any it is likely very thin. This is the easiest place to get a good value increase and before winter. c) what is the floor construction? There's no point in ufh on a draughty or otherwise cold floor. d) making a service void over the walls will make services much easier, and help the insulation a bit. some photos would be good. Not showing the whole property unless you don't mind the world knowing your business. but a bit of wall/ floor/ roof/ loft. Or describe. I wonder if anyone knows of an old textbook on how the bungalows were built? I have some old books (MacKay etc) that provide great info, and came from second hand shops.

When we converted this house about 30 years ago the system was different, and any conversion was a low band (C? from memory) , presumably to encourage change of use and retention of buildings and we have benefited all that time.

No, I'm not against this. I'm just considering that the average person perhaps does not have £300 to invest (which is what it is) and the space, and the available socket to spare. If we were to add interest, labour and a lifespan cost the numbers wouldn't look great. But if every developer fitted an automatic one (linked to detect the optimum times to charge/discharge) then the cost would maybe be £300 all up, and it works x the number of units. New houses 10,000 p/a??? .. a lot of power used more efficiently, and we turn off a gas turbine.

That's good and also a tidy sum due to scale. But would you bother for £60 a year? To which apply that it takes space, needs funding which not all can afford, and of course the risk of failure. But perhaps if all new homes had one fitted as standard that would be 1. Cheaper, 2. A big deal on the national scale.

A couple of comments. Thd article says a £300 battery is sufficient to run a fridge for 2 days, and pays itself in 3 years. But this month's which magazine says a fridge freezer costs £30p/a to power. Does not compute. 2 fridges cost £60p/a. 5 years. So a decent return but not ground breaking due to the small scale. Add financing the £300 and it's not great. This also assumes that it's all automatic. Recycling. I understood that I take batteries for recycling rather than for safe disposal.

How high will these new trees grow? You won't be seeing that sunset for ever. Are they fruit trees or other? May I say it all looks great, but when I first saw your pic of the kerbs going in on 1/2m of concrete base, it made me think of a bobsleigh run. all rather splendid now.

Not a blog, but a few words would be interesting. Then in a year you can reflect on those notes and realise everything is fine really.

The house building itself is ancillary and a bit of a nuisance. Buy land, get houses built, sell houses. The money will be made by getting the land at the best price, then squeezing more houses onto it, combined with rising demand when there was some. Would the developers take turns at getting the land so as to keep the price down? I wouldn't be surprised, but the chances of proving anything would be very small. It will have been doe by some 'understandings' and nothing in writing. Only very big developers can do it because there are a lot of funds tied up for a long time. Thus it will really be the lenders who are doing well. At present there are developments around here that are on hold because they aren't selling. 3 year old houses on the same estates are selling at 10% less than they cost. There are too many units available and also some doubts among potential buyers about the future. The land and building cost the developers too much during a boom period. Then the subsidiary of an arm of a contractor can be allowed to go out of business while the ownership and profits are already elsewhere. But if the price rises then they do not spend more on better quality, but keep the money. But still there are big sites getting planning permission.