Ferdinand

Can you lower the ground level outside by say 300mm to help the walls be a little dryer? My standard strategy in restoring period rentals is to use heat recovery or DMEV fans with a trickle setting - as you outline, and then have a PIV fan in the roof to help out. In my own warm roof dormer bungalow house I have the PIV installed in the leftover toblerone roofspace on the landing where the low wall blends into the ceiling. Alternatively can you have a powered or manual rooflight that opens for 10-15 minutes in the morning? F

Going double off topic this reminds me of a famous family story from my niece (who is just going into final year at uni). (You need to know that in North Nottinghamshire 'aitches 'ardly ever 'appen.) Announcement from darling sister to family: "We are going to have an arbour for the garden." Niece: "With ships?" (Gets coat and exits, pursued by a bear.)

I think this is mainly meaningful once you have a list of what you want the rooms for and how you intend to live. Though I find that adding half a metre to once dimension adds more perceived space that might be expected, but that is in the context of contrasting to a normal practice. So eg a 4m x 4.5m lounge feels substantially spacious even compared to 4m x 4m, and you have something that is still a practical room once you have shelves or a desk at one side. Ditto 3 x 3.5m over 3m x 3m. Placig the door on the short side in that dimension may give a perceived extra size in a normal room as you are looking along something which you expect to be square rather than across it and your brain may assume a larger width too. Or it could work the other way ? . Also think about using circulation routes as dual purpose eg have a breakfast bar backing onto it if you know that in general you will not be sitting at the bar and wanting to walk past it at the same time. Particularly if you want a room of 2 halves the Golden Radio may be a bit short and fat. Remember that it has been used in design mainly for visual appeal when observed rather than utility for spaces to be experienced - which suggests more in proportions of your facade or garden rather than spaced to live in. F

Everest Hinge sounds like a likely name for a journalist from the Telegraph.

That looks like the type of dog that makes sure you stay fit and trim by eating everything. I can see the smirk.

True. But you, the wife, the mistress and the dog also each put out a couple of litres a day. Plus cooking. Plus drying washing if you do. etc. It's about keeping that moving to the outside. Also if you have all that water suspended in the air, you are paying to keep it all warm, which will add to your heating bills. I am sure that there are the calculations somewhere as it is a question asked occasionally. Pulling a punt out of my backside, I would say 10s of £££ per year. F

it’s about changing the background dynamic by give a constant slow flow of air. I had a property - 40s bungalow with single glazing - where it was not worth doing anything like 2G as it was about to be turned into a road. One cause was that T had 4 Golden Retrievers which gave more moisture load than before, They were having to mop the sills from pools of condensation every day and a PIV just stopped nearly all of that within days. F

isn't it more about clear decision making and compliance. Cynthia Whiplash and her current toyboy would be fine. ?

Two items there .. damp / waterproofing and ventilation. i would be having coughing fits with either of those levels. Short term inexpensive likely fix on that is to put in a PIV loft fan, probably from Nuaire, which will cost about £300 plus installation and should give you a step change in comfort. It will cover a multitude of sins whilst you work out the rest. https://xpress.nuaire.co.uk The sort of things they achieve is instant solution of condensation on singe glazed houses. If your house is in a swamp with external humidity the same as internal it may not help but often the impact can be nearly miraculous. Ferdinand

Back from blackberries after a diversion. Probably half of the first wave, and I have just under 2kg. Jam and vinegar making evening I think.

I had three cycles from some and more from eg lettuce. But very much learning. Just getting the armour on to go and get some blackberries.

Equally it is a set of skills sometimes shared by an Ecologist, if you need one of those.

At the start of lockdown in March 2020 I decided to try to see how well I could grow what are termed Microgreens. What are microgreens? At a simple level, these are a posh version of “mustard and cress” that we all grew at school, and comprise several dozen different crops that can be grown indoors at eaten very young – usually when the cotyledons have grown, and sometimes when a few leaves have also developed. Typically these are nutritious and flavoursome, and perhaps colourful, small plants that can be used as a garnish or flavouring, or as a portion of salad. Some of the microveg are “cut and come again”, so several cycles of harvest are possible. The time from planting to harvest is anything from perhaps 6-10 days to 20-30 days. So by planting in waves every couple of weeks, it is possible to keep a continuous supply of microgreens rolling. Examples of microgreens are mixed salad greens, water cress, beet, dill weed, rocket, mizuma, coriander, alfalfa, basil, various other herbs. The current header picture for this Gardening blog is a closeup of Dill Weed and Watercress from my second batch. Fortunately I was able to get to our local 'hardware and everything' discount store (“GJ and Daughter”), and buy a selection of seeds etc. just before everything locked down around 20 March. There is also a category known as “sprouts” (sprouted seeds), which are consumed even younger. My drivers were a desire for some more difference in what I eat, a reluctance to go into the garden every time I want a herb, and a north facing conservatory that was ready for a new purpose after my mum passed away in November 2019. I started with a goal to experiment and see if I could grow the equivalent of one portion of veg a day in my north-facing conservatory in a space about 2m wide and 2m high, using a couple of bays of (yacht varnished) IKEA IVAR shelves as I have umpteen of these available. There is still a long way to go, but I can see a route to get there. I am now into my third cycle of experiment. 1 – The first was a couple of trays just to get an idea as to how it works. 2 – The second was about 10 types of microveg planted in early May to be a bit more systematic. 3 – For the third cycle I have a few growlights, as my lower shelves get significantly less light than the top shelf, and I will be buying seed in bulk to grow the plants close enough to be self supporting. Photos to follow. For this first article I think there are two or three major insights worth mentioning: 1 – The amount of seed needed is startling. To grow a normal 18cm x 50cm seed tray of microgreens, which may give up to (I hope) 150-200g of crop, will require around 10g of seeds. This is about the same amount of seeds as 4-5 packets, which makes clear that seeds need to be bought in bulk, as otherwise it may need £5+ worth of seed per tray. Bulk seed is many times less expensive. Packets of seeds is fine for playing or going for garnishes to add interest to salads or soups or smoothies, but bulk suppliers are worth investigation. One supplier I am looking at is Moles' Seeds, where 50g of seeds for eg Sweet Basil is around £5, compared to approximately £1-3 per for about 2-3g of seed if bought in a packet. An official “5 portions a day” portion is about 70-80g of vegetables. 2 – There are a wide variety of systems and growing mediums that can be used. I am using – as mentioned – IVAR shelving, and conventional potting compost. There is no need to feed as I am replacing the compost each time and putting using the compost in the garden. It works with normal sized seed trays, of which I inherited approximately 30 in the potting shed. The site I mention below uses a system of 4” x 2” shop display racks, and large 10” x 20” trays, using a growing medium of COIR (made from coconut fibre) with hydroponic chemicals. They use shop undercounter display lights for growlights. 3 - The thing can be done with relatively little time, but regular input – essentially daily – is needed for example to check whether watering is required and misting. A 48 hour break is possible. A one week break is likely to kill some things. So timing is important. A auto-watering system may help, and is readily available. 4 – There is a potential small cost saving here (or at least a lower cost for interesting flavours and better food) as microgreens from supermarkets can be quite expensive, in addition to the benefits of growing our own. For example a portion of microveg can be anything from under £1 to about £2 or £3 depending on the shop and the product. I have gained quite a lot from a site called “On the Grow!” which the story of a couple who grow their microgreens in a specially fitted out small-container-on-a-trailer, and maintain a videoblog. There is also their excellent written walkthrough / get started article here: How to Grow Microgreens And a particular video walking through how they do one particular crop. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcqnIHnK-75WdpaVPQOUxtw I’ll post further articles about my experiments over the next weeks. Ferdinand * Blame the title on a youth spent p-p-p-picking up penguins and being asked what I would be doing when I reached n-n-nineteen.

I'd suspect your silk paint - if it is full of sticky gloop then you are f*cked trying to spray it anyway no matter how much you mix it. You might as well be spraying pizza dough or flattening bubble gum with a rolling pin.

The subject and object in that first sentence are reversed. You are not the protagonist. You can't be - it is a cat. I think they have reopened beauty salons ?. I will soon be looking much more alluring. Nice to see progress. Hope your cat is a real bastard of a canal moggie.

If you want windows they do ones called kiosks or cabins.

First things first. No it isn't; it's an efficient and appropriate answer to your requirements. ? Second things second. On damp, I think what you want will be OK with whatever method, provided the stuff is off the ground eg on racks, or designed for a wet environment like bikes. You won't be able to change the humidity (will diving hoses and gaskets rot?) short of a ventilation system, which is not doable without power. I am not quite clear about the hierarchy of needs between security (is the garage secure), visibilty (does it matter if people see what is in it?) and other factors - can you drill into the concrete to bolt it down, for example or are you relying on weight to hold it down? One solution would be to model it on a secure cycle storage, which are more like a small fenced enclosure with a roof - and are permeable so the draught blows through eg: https://www.bikedocksolutions.com/recycle-shelter-10-bike-shed But I think the best suggestion I have is what are called "flat pack storage containers", which are used by people who have a garden but poor access. Doors can be in side or end. One of the standard sizes seems to be 2.1m x 2.1m x 3m, which seems to fit the bill. eg https://www.portablespace.co.uk/shop/flat-pack-units/flat-pack-containers-for-sale https://www.shippingcontainersuk.com/m28b0s69p2144/Flat-Pack-Containers-3m-self-assembly-green F

No - but more that once one has the low hanging fruit and decent practices in place it is subject to a law of diminishing returns. So occasional checks is sufficient for say 80-90% of potential gains.

I have one which I use when tuning (Meter readings and OWL and digital plug monitor), but not something I do all the time. Insufficiently dedicated for that.

Not clear which one you mean by "East". If it's the one on the RHS of the plot as you present it above, then the approved-by-planning row of trees will ultimately overshadow far more anyway. Also you have space to leave a buffer. If it is the one at the bottom as presented, then he is quite a way back anyway, and by the time you have left some space your side it will be perhaps 8-10m away, and it would only apply at a small part of the day.. Though you could design to mitigate. I am not aware that plots have a right not to be overshadowed - perhaps through rather farfetched argument based on "residential amenity". Light into windows off habitable rooms - yes, but I doubt whether that would be a major impact here. Need to evaluate the exact policy and worked it through. F

It would depend on what the hole patterns and fittings were for me. I the last 2 match, then I would put that in the AirBNB room and keep the spare so a replacement is available instantly when it gets broken, without the need to delay the next guest. Alternatively get rid of the Mira so that you can have similar fittings in both showers.

TBH I think it should be possible to work with those constraints successfully, and give you something very interesting. I would have have a good look at orienting it NS ie Katy-cornered in the plot, as far down the garden as possible, with non habitable rooms across the back upstairs and working to whatever constraint is imposed by Council Policy on overlooking to windows at an angle if you have an6 such windows. If push came to shove the back upstairs could be a longish landing with bedroom doors on the S side, and a laundry room and the family bathroom on the overlooked side. And if you want it windows designed to minimise overlooking. If you have a 2m fence then downstairs overlooking rules would be scoped out entirely. Then you have as much space as poss on the S elevation with your cars down the side of the house on the plot. If they want an interesting design, give them one. Why not a generous loggia on the S side for your intermediate living? The hoi polloi upstairs on the bus would get intriguing glimpses of your facade from the road and die of curiosity. F

On the HMO front should you go that way all those en-suite mean you risk being assessed as 5 x Band A single units for Council Tax purposes. The VOA have the Power to make this assessment, though it is fairly random and dependent on area whether it happens or not, and most places don’t seem to use the power but it can all change on a sixpence. Longstanding issue. Examples https://www.propertytribes.com/hmo-per-room-council-tax-killing-the-deal-t-127637484.html https://www.property118.com/hmo-council-tax-changed-room/comment-page-2/#comments Renting to students would dodge this as they have no Council Tax Liability ... yet. Also quite a few HMO rules change between 5 beds and 6 beds. Lots to research.

You have your architect backwards. Their particular skill is in concept and design inspiration, and perhaps in doing the application. If you give them a basic design to detail, then you have scoped them out of the part of the process where their expertise will add most value. In those circs I suggest an Arch Technologist, unless you need someone with architect skills to solve very difficult constraints. Ferdinand

(Note to say that I have asked for this thread to be removed in a day or so rather than left forever due to the personal content) So don't be surprised when that happens. Ferdinand