Ferdinand

Lots of excellent questions, but there's a bit of "Eric Morecambe" - all the right questions, but not *necessarily* in the right order. The mantra you need is "Fabric First" - ie you can't size your ASHP etc until you have sorted out the quality of the fabric, as you have no way of knowing what you will actually need. So start with insulation (roof, wall, underfloor), air tightness, and arguably 2G windows. Many of your questions will have very different answers once this is done. In any case, the funding for an ASHP will require you to insulate roofs and walls first as recommended by your EPC (they will make you get one) as part of the process. One you have sorted out the Fabric your EPC will be more like 75 or 80, you will have cut your energy demand by about 1/3 to 1/2 and you will need an ASHP substantially smaller than the one that calculations will suggest now. That will be thousands less expensive. The type of Rads choose, or ufh, will depend on your fabric quality. Also, there is currently a big funding package around which expires I think at EOY 2020-21 which may help with a lot of this, whilst funding for ASHPs etc will stay - it is a long term required trend for dealing with C02 emissions. So imo the way to go: a Get an EPC. Yours is horribly out of date and it may be useful to have a new one. The way RHI funding works means a further one may be justified after doing roof and wall insulation, and before the rest. b Address insulation. Talk to the Energy Saving Trust and see if you can get loft and cavity wall insulation free; there may be a body in your area. If you can, do it. https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/ Find out if any free assessment is available. Not a half hour EPC, a real assessment. c Wrinkle. Loft insulation may be dependent on less than 100mm being there already. If so, take it out before the survey, and you can use it eg underfloor later. c Look into the current govt programme. See what help you can get. Not sure if this is launched yet. Ask EST. You may want to consider other types of wall insulation. d Do do underfloor insulation if you can - worth it in a suspended floor, which is what you probably have. That is one to do early before you get carpets, decoration etc. e Wrinkle. The heating oil price is currently about 28p per litre. Autumn 2019 it was about 50p. Consider getting any oil you may need now. f Attention to detail is really important. Keep asking questions. To get attention to detail you have to take responsibility and MAKE them do it. g There will be lots of other stuff to think about, including ventilation. You could do all of this quickly. Your call as to how you do it. On your Qs in their order: 1 - Yes, after improving the quality of the fabric. 2 - Probably OK. Depends on the different house you will have created. 3 - TRVs are a basic to have. Will be different once you have restored. Think then. 4 - Yes. But you may prefer ufh. If the system is a few years old it would make sense to replace all of it - leaving pipework will save relatively little. 5 - Probably OK. Depends on the different house you will have created. Keep as a boost for now imo. 6 - Depends on the different house you will have created. 7 - Probably OK. Depends on the different house you will have created. 8 - Depends on the different house you will have created. 9 - Depends on the different house you will have created. In my view things like GSHP are niche things for special situations and WBS for a nice to have unless you get free wood. ASHP should do it you upgrade the house, but will need to be designed at the time. Is there a temporary fix you can do on your oil boiler to make it last a bit longer? For some reason I get a feeling that you have qs 10 to 678 on a list somewhere. Cheers Ferdinand ---------------------------

No one can give you that sort of detail without a lot more info. But given that only one place has done it, it looks questionable as an investment imo.

Are there not conversion kits to allow you to fit am intumescent seal? Would this do it in your circs?

That does not fall within the date window afaics. So no. https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/all-planning-permissions-extended-until-april-2021 F

This person needs to explain how condensation will form on the warm side of insulation. He's talking out of his Rs, unless there is something very very different going on. Suggest you do a little background reading on the physical mechanisms of condensation which will help you get to grips with the issue - condensation forms where warm moist air contacts a relatively cool surface, and if your insulation is doing its job the inside surface will be warm by definition. Example of difference : inside of a single glazed window, but less on the inside of a double glazed window as it is better insulated and the inside pane should be warmer. The sort of condensation he is talking about is called "interstitial condensation" (ie between the layers in your structure). But in an interior-plasterboard-service void-insulation-outside sandwich, the service void temp will be far closer to the interior temp than the exterior temp, so warm and should stay dry. Brief intro eg here: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Interstitial_condensation Ferdinand

I'd think about blown LECA (can be blown tens of metres), which will be less penetrable by Roland and his friends. It has been used to entirely fill underfloor voids in renos as an alternative to polybeads. Insulation values will be poorer, but it is still an insulator. It may be an alternative solution to just open a few small (ish) holes in the floor and put in through those. Also not sure about current prices, but give the circmstances it may be what you need.

Welcome. We need a good deal more info to judge whether it is a good price. Sketch plan and area, at least. F

If you have what you thought you were buying, then 98 times out of 100 it is unlikely to be worth the collateral damage / aggro (imo). I have been on Gardenlaw, which specialises in this type of debate, since (checks) 2005. It is interesting that over that period the general view has changed from the "war of attrition" end towards the "live and let live" end. In general that is my view, with a few exceptions. Perhaps plant a hedge your side and let nature have the strip in between if it is not an existential issue. Then enjoy your new house. F

Another possible piece of your toolkit is one of those dehumidifiers with a heating element.

Yay. Another posh-shed-o-skeptic.

I don't see why the normal operation of planning processes under the law should be termed a dispute.

Agreed. I hope winning this will be easier than you think.

Objections certainly have their place in giving neighbours and community an input; but they need to get only the appropriate importance in the process - which Councils sometimes get wrong.

Personally if it was me I might include a really really long thin plan down the side of an entire page to highlight how far away the troublemakers are, just to give the planners a giggle.

Trying here first is a good idea too - plenty of us have reasonable experiecnce, and there are also a few specialists.

You may get different asnwers for Planning and eg Estate Agent purposes.

Presumably having a 110m pipe might facilitate providing somewhere to pee should you drink it all in the shed...

You could put one of those viewing telescopes like Plymouth Hoe or Parliament Hill on the top so you can see them so far away. ? (Won't get PP for that).

Yep. Neighbour should be irrelevant in this afaics.

I think they have submitted under the extended PD rules, which requires the Council to do a simpler "auto-approve if no objections" process, then an 'amenity evaluation' if anyone objects. This Council seems to have not done a thorough (or perhaps any) amenity evaluation. (Assuming law in England; not sure NISW are on this extended PD).

Just added a bit more to my first post. This should be a simple application unless you have missed telling us something - close to side boundaries etc. May be worth getting a Planning Consultant to frame your Full PP application, just to make sure you dot i's and cross t's. You could supply all the material and get them to top and tail it. Would cost £100-250 extra for say half a day or a bit more (guestimating).

I would say you have 3 options to get this done. 1 - Reduce it to the size that is permitted Development. 2 - Persuade the neighbour. 3 - Go for full PP then if necessary Appeal if you think there are no relevant planning objections (I don't think there are based on what you have said) I would not worry about 2 and go for one of the others. As an aside you could take the Council through the complaints process (will take a lot of work and time and not get it built), or make them obey the law and do an evaluation of amenity before making a decision (talk to your local Councillor about them not following the process?). It may help to FOI for the evaluation using the bit of policy or law that requires it first. F

You are entitled to unload on a Right of Way, but not obstruct it. That is what you probably have over his drive (and he, yours). See https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14611 If N starts playing silly-buggers with parking their car, or elephant if they have one, to obstruct your deliveries, remember that he is not allowed to obstruct *your* RoW. F

Welcome.

Ooooh my poor head.