Ferdinand

Wimbledon Green ! (Or Soylent Green)

There is no such thing as a stupid question here ? . Welcome. You'll need imo to do all the basic structure first if you want the best outcome - because it needs to be all of a piece. Also doing work with a thumper can't be good for your new walls. You also need to know what you are doing with things such as insulation and services in the floor - eg underfloor heating or electric wiring, and have your whole thing planned otherwise you could miss something in the process. So that is stuff like wiring for lighting and other stuff you might want. I have done a couple of conservatories, including adapting a secondhand one back in 2012/13 as a sun lounge, and project managing my own more recently. An important thing in mine was to have tolerance in my structure to adjust some things slightly to allow tolerances for where the conservatory it didn't quite line up as it was supposed to do eg if your existing walls are not quite square. And also to consider how you will manage sun and heat economcally. Do you need any regulatory approval for the way you are doing it eg Building Regs? Some of the more experienced builders on here may be less cautious than me. Ferdinand

Coming back on topic, is "off black" a version of dark grey, or does it mean a really dark shade of any colour? Would (eg) British Racing Green qualify?

They sold their honey, And p*ssed the money on a beautiful pee-green float. That is I think an "Exclusive" colour that cost a few hundred extra on the MAMIL ("Sportline") version of the car. I'd say the aesthetic works on the Mediterranean Coast of Germany, without seeing it in the metal - which I have not done. It would get lost in the underwatered (very) giant hosta. In the full range 11 out of 15 are white, blue, grey or black. Like windows. And two of the others look like grey or black as well ? . Mine's petrol blue, which is darker than that looks on my screen. (At this point, half of BH turns out to have something that colour.)

Slightly surprised you didn't get done for that, absent explicit confirmation from the insurance company that it was valid.

That's 200ml of commission for me then. Good.

Let me add one further note. I see that the commercial property market is in freefall at present - 14% down on 2019. So if you are one of the few groups with the confidence to buy with a known long term use, it could be a significant opportunity if something comes up. Worth - as you say - a monitoring brief. All the best. Ferdinand

Reflecting a little, I cannot see why it would not be feasible. But I wonder about rapid timescales being possible - I suspect it will take as long as the COVID vaccine ie perhaps 12 months - and whether other options may be more achievable in a short timescale. eg Exclusive longer term rental rather than eg a school hall on Sunday (or whatever you do now), buy a disused church or hall and renovate etc. There will be numbers of empty buildings soon - eg numbers of gyms are closing permanently including Councils closing the entire service, and some of those are in portal frame or other industrial buildings. Access to these would be via normal property letting companies. Note that you may have much more flexibility following the changes to Use Classes on September 1st. Check with your Council or Consultant on this. Ferdinand

(* Apparently Acacia Avenue, Tunbridge Wells was the address given by Mr and Mrs James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service) (Goes back to sleep)

On 4, I don't see why you couldn't use eg a maiden name. Or even have a friend apply as agent. Planning permission is linked to the site not the name. I've no idea about the legalities of a pure pseudonym, but I think would be OK. ("Applicant for Demolition of Castle: Sir Oliver Cromwell, 48 Acacia Avenue, Tunbridge Wells.").

The last one will be - a - Sound projection and echoes etc. b - Keeping external noise out. c - Keeping internal noise in if they are the type to have a microphone on the drums. d - Making people who can't sing sound better. ? And welcome to the OP. F

Should we actually consider that colour change in the light is a good thing? That was the reason I chose the colour for my Skoda Estate.

incidentally, the sun is out so I popped out for a couple of photos of the same roof. To me the larger clumps of Moss are fewer, and it seems to have kept it down. For a roof which is very tricky to access ... top is at about 8-9m and there is a conservatory right across the bottom, I a. Reasonably happy with that.

Suspect not I'm afraid. AFAIK Glyphosate does not work on moss. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/roundup-safe-moss-103841.html And I'd say be very careful indeed where the runoff goes. Glyphosate is delivered via water solution, and you could end up with water butts full of dilute glypohosate if you left them connected. Don't water the leaves of anything with it ! If you did let it reach your butt I'd run it off into the ground or drains at once. I would forget and use it by mistake next week.

Speaking on design. (Deliberately not talking about aspects of the plans, rather thinking around the box.) I think that one risk of your narrowish (and not *that* deep) plot is that the house will look (and feel) like a big shoebox for storing people in. Having said that 10.5m width (or 8m for the house, or 7m for inside the house) is more than most people have, but is not generous. Oversized-shoebox is a classic shape for a pushed-slightly-too-far selfbuild. The house is half of the length of the plot. The front is 10m deep, so you risk the backgarden feeling very short. The surroundings are ribbon development both sides of the road, detached houses of varying age and the rear facing North East. In Lancashire (Q: are you windswept?). One neighbour is close, the other is a drive width away on their plot. OTOH, you have open fields to the back. I think that is actually quite a challenging context, and there are a lot of limits on what you can do. The design needs to be creative in getting light into the middle of the structure, and making it feel like a house-nearly-in-the-country rather than something that could be in a former factory in inner-fringe London where it all has to look inwards. So IMO crucial aspects to do carefully are: 1 - Connections inside to outside - for light, views, and movement. 2 - Face to the street. 3 - Using the countryside outside your garden at the back as part of the garden. How you view the countryside from the inside. That all on top of the basic functional requirements. What would I be thinking? Different from the neighbours not fit-in, maybe non conventional roof shape - possibly with routes to get light in, big roof terrace at back (might even consider a roof-garden over the whole thing or smaller footprint and basement), look for my own aesthetic not try to be polite, try and make the ends articulated not flat - to minimise garage at front and make garden longer at the back by entering through set-back part. Small court / light well half way down one side. Articulate the front so sunlight reaches farther back? Inspiration? Whilst thinking about this I thought of the roof terrace of the Grand Designs "Ice Cube" house in Brixton, and the roof shape of the Wiltshire Grand Design barn conversion near Marlborough. Just thinking aloud Ferdinand

Land Registry for about £4 these days. ? Unless you are one of the holdouts who has not registered it. F

It's like the base colour range of VW cars, or Trousers worn by Mormon Missionaries or IBM Salesmen pre Julian Clary, isn't it? The standard less expensive, potntially less offensive ones dominate. At this point I admit that mine are all white or brown upvc. They are right on get a sample - if you even print out that image above on your own colour printer the colours will be quite inconsistent. I see no safe way to buck the trend except wood, or accept that you are a "sod you all" self-build eccentric. (I think all selfbuilders want to be a little eccentric, but not very eccentric.) Ferdinand

(Please). Sorry - lost further edits. I think the design and concept for the house on this particular plot need some thought - before it gets down to detailed interior thinking. IMO wind back slightly. I feel that the interior is perhaps better than the exterior, which can't quite decide whether it wasn't to be 70s inspired (front), maximise light 2010s, or more form-follows-function (sides). I think there's perhaps a need for a more unified concept, and some unifying features throughout and perhaps a more interesting overall shape. But I think we need the info I requested above to give more useful feedback. How do you plan to live in this house? F

It is a tight plot so the plot has more impact on the design than would be usual, so we really need the Location Plan. And your narrative about why it is where it is one the plot. F

What about rolls of weed fabric, which you can repurpose to use with your garden later? Should get fewer tape marks on your windows.

You can use the Elephant Technique. Drill a hole at either end. Connect your elephant at one end, then make it sneeze. Sorted. (You can do it the other way by squeezing its trunk with a clothes peg to prevent an intake of breath then connect it very quickly so that the insulation is sucked out. In this case you need to be fast runner as the elephant will be quite grumpy.)

If it is a very windy area. I might make it a little permeable.

There seem to be 2 of these threads.

Good

Try just phoning up the main number and asking (?) That is how I started. What does your circs do to a CIL claim on the other plot by a future self builder if the build has started? (Aside)