Ferdinand

Square it off and put a triangular cupboard or shelves in the office or hall.

OK. Sunday morning think though with a croissant and a cuppacoffee. AIUI in a sentence you want to support a pair of full length approx 5.4m L x 0.6m H x 0.4m ish W planters with a base approx to support the planters, prevent the patio in between wobbling, and compensate for a (very) slight slope (7cm over 5.4m). Is that right? You are dealing with slightly under 1 cubic m of volume on each side for the supports if they are solid, and just over 1 cubic m for the planters. Let me ask a couple of questions: 1 - Does it actually wobble? Have you tried getting 6 people to Do The Locomotion (*) or the Conga on it? Admittedly I use pavers on mine that weight 60kg each and nearly kill the handymen when they install one, but I have a wheelchair path made from them and they are as solid as a rock. If it is solid, then your anti-wobble spec may be unnecessary. Are you planning to mortar all your blocks together? That may be unnecessary. Do Eterno specify lateral reinforcement? 2 - Are they single piece planters? A little maths suggests that each side will have a weight of a tonne just in topsoil. Even if they are a low density alternative, unless they are in about 5 sections they are never going anywhere ever again without a crane and you will be maintaining around them (which may be fine). Given your attention to detail I expect they are in sections. It is possible that something loose plus the weight of the planters will prevent any potential wobble? Huge things - you have got space to vanish an entire planning department without trace ! These are my thoughts a - Your blocks will work to be the right width and height if you lay them on the flat at right angles or lengthways, as they are typically 215 x 440 x 100. Though that is a bit of a squeak to your 44cm gap. But 100mm thick blocks on the flat would give you a nice 3-4" level below your patio level for the trough base which lets you sweep debris off and uses the planters as anti-wobble, as you suggest. The small gap doesn't matter if the planter is never coming out again ?, and you just have piers not totally solid. There may be slightly difference size blocks somewhere if you look. b - However, there is no need for it to be continuous imo - I would have thought a 2x2 'pillar' every 1.3m or 1.7m would be fine, as a planter is an area load not a series of point loads. If you need distribution then consider something like plastic decking boards or gravel boards as you say. Fibreglass sheet may be an option. c - You could also do anti-wobble by finding a way to brace against the fenceposts. If they are concrete fenceposts, then a wedge of an appropriate sort may be all you need if anything at all. d - For the slope. You have already mentioned that you are planning to perhaps use small pedestals. One suggestion is to use something called a "self-levelling head", designed to give a flat terrace on roofs with a say 1:40 fall underneath. Wallbarn do these nearly for pennies that can handle up to I think 5 degrees. See if Eterno do, or switch system if you need for the sides. https://www.wallbarn.com/pedestals-2/balance/ Another option is just to use some offcuts from your patio tiles, and slates when you need them thinner, not big enough to poke out of the sides. e - Personally I would go with pedestals and self levelling heads, just held down by the planters. But I would devise a test before I irrevocably committed. Ferdinand PS Remember drain holes in the planters. There may be an argument for having them 20mm up the side so that a water reservoir accumulates if that helps your planting. *

Good stuff - most informative. Looks well-considered. My setup is similar but I use pavers. (Also a slightly apology as all that is in your OP, and I try and catch all the detail 'cos it annoys me when I sweat over an OP and people only read 60% of it. it's easier to be incomplete or waffly, and yours is neither.)

When the snow starts, Heidi will be moving in ....

This particular post about upfront spending may be of interest, just as a sighting point for a lot of items.

There are toy ones that go through your front door. Then more useful sizes 1.5t to 3t, that will go through perhaps a 1.2m gap. Then the serious ones. I used a 1.5t to do a slab for a big conservatory, and it was fine. One thing to think about is whether you can tow it on your license with your vehicle.

Or have a day at Diggerland, which reopens on 11 July. https://www.diggerland.com/ If you plump for one, then they are very very useful - Salamander Cottage blog has a couple of posts about it. (You need to like grease)

What I mean here is that as a self-builder you need to develop the skill of looking down the other end of the telescope. About a decade go, Wales decided that all new houses have to have sprinkler systems rather than fire alarms. You can look at that two ways: 1 - "Bugger -that's about 3k off our budget spent for us." Yep it is. 2 - "Hmm. Using fire alarms lets us design without some of the traditional limitations which using a sprinkler set up lets us use. Since we're forced to do it, let's take the chance to be more creative". The backstory is that using sprinklers allows some of the fire safety requirements to be relaxed, so you can probably relax those anyway, and start thinking more out of the box from the start. (You need to check that that is actually the case in Welsh regs, but the example stands). And that applies to all sorts of things. Get a notebook and tape measure and your smartphone and nosey your way into all sorts of houses - from friends' homes to show homes to for sale homes to instagram, and go in with your design-head and look for things that interest you. Then by the time you finalise your design you will have a list of 587 ideas, and you will use 30 or 70 of them. And you'll be able to talk any bores to a standstill. Ferdinand

I see your point (p24 in your doc), and I bet it has been done to death in case-law. To me the rational interpretation is that something wholly behind a house should not be a "side extension", but that is not the case. Sometimes strange byways of Planning Law work well and sometimes not. Here - not. F

OP says that the stepped out bit is original. Point one third bullet here:

Off to a hosp appointment, but see page 28 in your doc. F

The Spinklers ! The Sprinklers ! (Code for: you may as well consider making it open plan ? . You will understand that one as you learn the ropes. ? ) Sprinklers inhabit the nightmares, and trigger the dreams, of self-builders in Wales. It's actually a really good example of how regs can guide your decisions and help you be more creative because of external limitations. I'll explain tomorrow evening when I am back from hospital treatment. Your Mission, should you chose to accept it, is to find out what is distinctive about how self-builders handle Fire Sprinklers and Fire Alarms in Wales.

My understanding is that the practice will be to use the main plane rather than the smaller plane, and I think here the distinction is clear - and it is well within the 4m limit. AIUI the interpretation may actually allow a further section projecting back to follow the extra bit using the same limit, but I would need to check the dot and tittle.

AIUI understand it the half width rule applies to side extensions not back extensions, but this is ironically more discussed on the other thread. Ie the wrong one ?.

Welcome.

I can't see from that where what the planter outline will be exactly. In particular, how will you manage the base in with the fence, and eg future maintenance of the fence? (Arguably you should have used gravel boards up to the level of your patio or even the top of the planters.) What is the ground the whole thing is sitting on? How rigid are your planters - do hey need support on 100% of the base? (I am thinking about suggesting my favourite Adjustable Support Pads (patio feet) at about £5 each, that I use for a patio support, a support for a wheelchair path made from pavers, and also an adjustable support at corners of my shed as the ground moves, which are cheap and strong but they do need a decent base.)

I must be at least several weeks behind that...

Why not cast a support in situ? You could even reinforce it. (Though make sure you are happy for it to STAY in situ - 'cos they are interesting to move later.)

Quite possibly on that point. Which is why I am sceptical about the reports.

And the Treasury isn't QUITE saying what the Teleflap said they said:

Interestingly the VAT holiday also applies to BTLs and Second Homes (it seems). Which makes sense if the aim is to encourage the overall market. The Daily Telegraph is having a minor "tax breaks for landlords" flap about it. Though she may be wrong. Will still be charged 3% more than everybody else however .. due to the 3% Osborne surcharge, which applies from £40 purchase price upwards iirc. F

Welcome Abbi.

In the spirit of encouraging the live theatre... OH NO WE DIDN'T

To me those look good except perhaps for the Stamp Duty, which will help relatively wealthy people.Should have capped it at 250k-300k. It is good that they are all short term, as it will force rapid spend. The Green Package for housing is good and I assume is targeted at renovation. It is good that there is a decent contribution from the owner, and that it is relatively limited at 5k for most people. I hope there is something to drive higher EPC grades from this.

When did you receive the doors?