Mattg4321

A duct with a rope through it would be better.

Ants often get into bollard lights and build a nest in there, causing problems. I refuse to fit 230v bollards now. More aggro than they are worth. Extra low voltage or 230v lamp posts for me now.

Something like the one in your link will work well. Also paper suit and gloves would help.

Looks terrible. Needs replacing imo

The attitude towards asbestos is a bit OTT these days, certainly in relation to other potential dangers such as silica dust and also carcinogens released when working with MDF, both of which nobody seems to give two hoots about. The risk is probably not far off similar though. Asbestos in things like artex and corrugated roofs is fairly low risk in comparison to blue asbestos in boiler rooms for example, which is high risk. I’m often hearing of people buying houses lately and being scared by an asbestos survey that has identified asbestos in artex or the bitumen/glue under their flooring. They then have it removed at great expense. Mostly unnecessarily imo. Total overkill.

Fair enough, but I would suggest you’re being a little pedantic! It’s people, rather than houses that use water. The same link shows that the number of households has increased by a similar amount. We have a similar problem here with regard to wastewater. Southern water (the company that deals with my wastewater), received a record £90M fine a couple of years ago for doing exactly that. Those responsible should be facing jail time for that imo.

https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/17852/census_briefing1_population.pdf The population of West Sussex, where I live, increased by 9.4% between 2011 and 2021. Of course, it's possible it actually increased by more than that, since we don't know how many people are living here illegally. Either way, it's a big increase in a small amount of time, leading to pressure on services, when the infrastructure is not suitably upgraded, when evidently it has not been.

Nothing to do with a lack of water though. South East Water have imposed one on me yet their reservoirs are 97% and 82% full, due to the very wet start of the year we had. The problem is huge amounts of extra housing in the area, and not enough investment in the infrastructure (as with pretty much everything in this country). They literally can’t treat the raw water fast enough and get it to all the houses quick enough if demand surges when it’s hot and dry (as you’d expect it to do). Blaming climate change is a total cop out and let’s these incompetent clowns off the hook. Water should be really be nationalised (along with energy, rail and anything else that is vital to a functioning society) and run for the good of the people. Unfortunately, you’ll get clowns, charlatans or crooks running it most often whether it’s run by the state or the private sector!

Nothing wrong with that, but you’re designing out a ‘risk’ that doesn’t exist. Double sockets are rated at 20 amps. Those 2 appliances will go nowhere near this. Not so, You just need suitable local isolation. Most (not all) people prefer not to have a load of FCU above their worktops ime. The 8/12 gang appliance control plates are prime suspects to go wrong/burn out, so I don’t really fit them either if I can help it. They’re usually poorly made (the fuse holders most often, but sometimes the 20A switches too) and much more liable to fail than a double socket imo. I’ve probably only ever seen a tiny handful of sockets that have failed due to overload (rather than a loose connection). I’ve seen loads of FCU and grid switches/fuses though

Good points, but what’s wrong with a double socket for a dishwasher and washing machine? There’s absolutely no way that a domestic dishwasher/washing machine would exceed 20 amps when run at the same time. If by some chance they did, it would be for such a short period of time as to be insignificant imo.

I had this when we did our new build in 2017. 32mm for sprinklers and 25mm for general use. Much shorter runs than yours though. We paid to install the 32mm for sprinklers, but no ongoing costs after that.

I’ve run in loads of flex as specced by av guys on site

I’ve seen that table before. So if the tree is 10m away, then if it’s over 20m tall (which it probably is), it’s likely to need foundations deeper than 2.5m. Sounds like a soil investigation report is the next step. Meeting architect again on Tuesday, so will discuss a way forward with him. Anything I should be asking him/pointing him in the right direction with anything? Thanks for all the help so far.

I have been considering taking the tree out, but it’s likely to upset the neighbours. I’ve been there before and it’s not something I want to repeat. Maybe I need to start thinking of a way to sell a story to them and hopefully keep them onside.

Sounds good to me, but will I get away with it! Will certainly be suggesting this to architect though.

There must be a soak away somewhere I think as it definitely doesn’t go into the foul drains as I’ve just checked. Who knows where it is though!

Thanks, it sounds like it’s worth doing then

The neighbour’s opposite had an extension 13 years ago, but quite a bit farther away from any trees (and I think a less thirsty tree than an oak). I’ve asked them a few questions already, but I don’t think they got too involved with anything by the sounds of it, or they’ve just forgotten. If I need a soil condition report, are those the exact words I should ask for?

Thanks for the advice, the red circles you have drawn are foul drains manholes. I think there is also a dotted line connecting to the storm water drains (in green on your drawing) from each property. Just to the left of the red line leaving my property. I’m going to try and lift the ‘green’ inspection chamber to the front right of my property in the next few days. Is it possible that my downpipes eventually connect to this (along with presumably the rainwater drains from the side of the road etc)? Edit, on second thoughts, that could just be the driveway being shown!

Following on from my other thread re foundation design near a large oak tree, I will also need to think about dealing with rainwater from the extension. I'm told a soakaway is not possible, because it will either be too close to the oak tree, the extension, or the boundary. This seems like it's probably true, but is there a set distance a soakaway must be away from a building/oak tree/boundary? I'm not sure what the current setup is, but I'm pretty sure it's not a combined drain. Property was built in 1970. A 'stormwater pipeline' is shown on the planning drawings we have from when the house was built - unfortunately not all that clear. I've not got around to it yet, but we are plot 8 in the picture and the manhole cover shown to the front right of our property is there. I guess I could lift this and pour something in the downpipe to see if that's where it goes. If so, can we just connect on to this same system in general? Architect was going on about having to pay the water supplier a monthly amount to discharge into the foul drains. Something I'd like to avoid obviously! The one shown in our rear garden definitely isn't there however. I've dug out a whole section of ground more than a meter down in this area (don't ask) and found nothing! Thoughts welcome

Hi all, I've been lurking here for a while and trying to contribute where possible, but it's now time to start asking some questions of my own. We are about to have some planning drawings done for our rear extension and having worked in construction on domestic properties for 20 years, I'm quite confident in my knowledge of a lot of things construction related, but foundations/groundworks are not one of them! We have done various other projects in the past, including a new build in our garden a few years back, so I'm not new to this, but this time we have a large oak tree roughly 10m from where the closest point of the extension will be. I know from experience that architects/structural engineers etc will generally look out for their own interests/do what's easiest/just not have a clue. I don't want to be spending any unnecessary money going down blind alleys. I don't know what the existing foundations are, but with no evidence whatsoever, I assume strip foundations. Existing house is 13m from the oak tree at closest point and was built in 1970. Anyone care to comment on this assumption? Would piles/a raft have been used in 1970? Either way, I think for an extension a raft is pretty much off the table. From using the LABC online foundation depth calculator, it does appear very likely we will need to pile. The ground is clay (we're just north of the South Downs and the whole area is clay) and with the tree the calculator is showing that it's outside the scope/deeper than 2.5m for strip foundations. To get to the point of my post, should I commission a ground/soil report, and what exact tests do I need to have carried out? Alternatively, should I just accept now it will need piling and go straight to a specialist and have them design it after their own ground/soil survey presumably? Will the piling companies want a report to have already been carried out, or will they want to do their own? Sorry for the rambling post, thanks in advance for any help offered.

This won’t comply. If cables are run less than 50mm within the wall they need 30mA RCD protection. Either run swa, bury the tails deeper, or cover them with something impenetrable by sds drill - 3mm steel plate etc.

I had a similar situation. Both sides had already done the same thing. An obvious plot. One pollock neighbour in one of the ‘new builds’ (by now a couple of decades old) kicked off and got his mate the councillor to call it into committee. Said councillor had his councillor mates refuse it. Didn’t even give a reason at the meeting. Said one would be provided at a later date by the planning officer. Same planning officer had already recommended it for approval, but then had to make an argument against it to the planning inspectorate at appeal. Pillock neighbour is lucky his house didn’t mysteriously catch fire.

Try and get the neighbours onside. May not be possible, but will be a huge help. If someone kicks up a stink and puts pressure on the planners and/or gets a local councillor to call it in to committee it makes things much more difficult. Have a look at national and local planning framework - neighbourhood plans etc and try to comply with them. Focus on sustainability and being environmentally friendly.

Not too far away from you in West Sussex (albeit on the border with East Sussex). We used Peter Ranier at DMH Stallard, although regrettably not until the appeal stage. I think we would’ve had permission much sooner if we had. His team demolished the planners arguments against our application. There’s no other word for it. I think it was about a 40 page dossier with no stone left unturned. Cost was about £3-£5k, 5 years ago I think. Not sure what the cost would be if used from the outset. No harm in asking, although I’m not sure what area these guys cover. He and his team have represented Brighton & Hove Albion a few times I think (with some extremely contentious applications). Anyone whose services are employed by Tony Bloom is very unlikely to be poor at what they do!