saveasteading

Because it's cheap. It's easy. The planners have an overview policy but trust the water authority to advise, and they accept the 5%. Because there is pressure to maximise units* on a plot, so there is little room left for lagoons, crates or soakaways. * housing needs, local preference for fewer new estates, and the value of a plot depending on maximum coverage. In the latter case, the landowners maximises profit and the rest of us pay for infrastructure in the rates.

Just after the above, I read this about tacit knowledge. Very relevant. What is tacit knowledge It's sponsored (ad at the end) but interesting. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/tacit-knowledge-further-education-teaching-careers-skills-learning-b2825537.html

Such a good example of incompetence. I get your point. As a newbie you don't contemplate for a moment that supposed experts can be so incompetent. Can't read a drawing. Don't understand what they are doing or why it matters. Don't know how little they know. You don't dare question them or you get abuse, condescension or simply ignored. And now you deal with it how?

Thanks @dpmiller. A nice clear website. But the form is just going to invite a callback from dome random local fitter, I feel. I'll do it later. Can you advise the cost level? How long were they on site?

I think I lost some contracts from being too good at it. ie if I'd added another 10% (enough for a very nice car) I'd have een closer to the next quote got the work and the client would have benefitted too. The difference being it perhaps wasn't for exactly the same thing: it happened to be my niche thing and not the competitors'. But I think Ruskin was largely right. Caveat emptor.

Such useful responses thanks. The @nod one is like I want. I've gone on the Garage Doors Online website. There is an immediate difference between them and most others. Information on the products. They have an address. Their enquiry form is interactive and there was an immediate quote for supply. Unfortunately that quote is nearly double what I've had before. But then they are an intermediary and have a web presence to pay for. @nod are the laths insulated? Was it the model flagged as diy friendly? And i can't resist this, sorry: How durable is it in use? Because " He who's laths last, laughs longest."

Extreme storms seem certain to increase and the drains were never designed* for them. Add extra housing and roads and it becomes a real problem. * quite a job surveying then calculating flow capacity all the way from thousands of sources to outfall. I've argued with planners that allowing 5% flow off a new development is still too much compared to the field that was there before, and the reason that rivers flood....but they don't get it, and the developers are happy-ish. For some reason the water companies don't object either. That may be government pressure as we "need the houses". @FarmerN if you are indeed a farmer, do you know the recommendation that fields be ploughed along the slope, to retain rain? I see many fields where that is not done And rain will rush doen ghe slope. Is it a practicality issue?

Bravo. I'd give more than one heart if I could. .❤️♥️💙 There you are. Unfortunately I haven't yet met a Planner who remotely understood that it all adds up to a flood further down. I suspect their skillset is procedure and doesn't include this sort of thing. It can be, but on an appropriate plot with skilled design it is easy enough. Unfortunately the non-expert designers tend to throw bought 'solutions' at it, at the clients expense of course. On a tiny plot it can be near impossible, so planning permission perhaps was misguided. The cost should come off the plot purchase price, but not enough people will know that, and the agent won't be saying.

@nod where did you get the door? Was it one complete kit, and well thought through? I've had a quote of £1,200 + vat, delivered. It's 3m wide which is more than the standard. As an industrial door, in plain galvanised slats it would be £400 cheaper.

For commercial buildings with square metal downpipes I developed a standard detail. The dp joined into a plastic pipe in which we cut out a mousehole opening, a big mouse. Then that sat just above a grated gully. Thus the leaves that came down were caught and removed by hand. And if they weren't removed, the water still escaped to ground. The plastic shoe can be the difficult thing to find to suit the dp.

We will be installing a roller door to convert the smaller shed to a garage. All the web searches seem to result in spurious generic ads pretending to be local but with no contact addresses. They all seem to rely on me filling out a form and they will then arrange an "engineer" visit. We have no existing garage to inspect. I tried one and got lots of emails about having arranged a visit but nobody came. I suspect these are all agencies selling on the contact. I don't like that. I have contacted a maker who has been great and so could have it made and delivered at a decent price. I am fairly confident we could install it. I met an impressive supply and fix company at an exhibition ( from Sunderland, but said Kent was no problem) but have lost the details. Any experiences or suggestions please? BTW I have had hundreds of industrial loading doors fitted so know the principles. But garage doors seems to be a very different (and a bit shady) market. We can make the frame to suit and I'm thinking 8 x 2 timber will be easiest for a goalpost opening.

12mm indeed. The rod will probably be undersized a tad anyway. If you need to tap it through then fit a nut first, or maybe two, so that you hammer the nut and not the rod. Otherwise you damage the thread and will take ages to get it on. If you put the washer on first then that also saves undoing the nut..... but that's what I always forget.

Politics aside, ( which would encourage me to find any alternative) he seriously could do some drastic policy reversal, but I guess the worst case is having to find an alternative. Is there a satellite competitor? Politics not aside: is the article that he thinks Brits sit outside hovels, smoking pipes real?

If that was the case, then every contractor's quote would be the same. Detail and extensiveness isn't the same as accuracy.

I think my previous comments all still apply. Your internal gutters must be made for the purpose, ie not intended as external gutters. So it is a formed shape, sealed with roof membrane. And overflows

That's very promising then. I was imagining it seeping out of a contour on your slope. Get your spade going for the tests. Even if you plan to get someone else to be involved, it's worth doing these yourself and having a think first.

That sounds useful. Would I find these by googling? I'd like self cleaning gutters too please.

Thanks @ADLIan I wasn't aware of this change, which has to be a good thing. I've got part L up on my phone and it maybe isn't current the current efition, but I don't see these words in the regulation... the green background regulation I mean.

My hunch is that this hyped by the mvhr industry. If there is knowledge on mould in newbuilds then of course uI want to know. Black mould is commonest in old houses with dampness and poor insulation... ie condensation on cold surfaces. So we may have trickle vents, will have the usual wet room extractors, which draw loads of air in from adjacent rooms and of course will have opening windows and people moving around. dMEV, is an acronym I only discovered on BH last week. I've looked briefly into dMEV and am astonished at the variety and range available. I guess when things are simple and economical they aren't so much publicised. Seems ideal to me, especially when it's your own house in design and construction.

..and potentially down the slope, along the clay surface to you. Any sign of that or does it seem to go away?

Give him a heart and the useful answer will disseminate among more bh members.

We have looked at the sundries costs of getting ducts invisibly through ceilings and beams, and it's a lot. It's a big house. It's a holistic decision though. Our plan is great insulation and airtightness, ashp and ufh. Solar and batteries. Thus the cost of generated heat is low, and the value of recovered heat is also low. Ventilation? High ceilings, possibly old fashioned vents in the windows, a few extractors perhaps added later if necessary. Over decades I have found that the non radical, holistic design tends to work better than the latest fashion.

That's the answer to so many queries! I'm thinking your fill will change to clay somewhere on your slope so dig the clay there. It will probably fail but that is a start. Then we can look at options. At the bottom of your hill, what do we find? Fields or houses or what?

Aircon is bad. Design the house to avoid it. There are options. Minimising S facing glazing OR fit external roller blinds. Purge fans as required.* Curtains in theory don't help but in reality do. It doesn't cost much to extend your ashp heating upstairs, to radiators or even ufh. I'm working on options for that atm. * we have decided against heat recovery ventilation ( £12k or so is not justified) and will retrofit fans to remove excess heat if necessary. There is a risk but I am generally "lucky" with such decisions. That's according to rhe people who failed to sell me the latest 'must-have'. You don't need to heat stairs and corridors. Bedrooms are debatable. Design for the ashp heating everywhere and you get the grant.