Ferdinand

Just floating a few ideas: I am not capable of putting in a concrete fencepost on my own; they will weight up to a hundredweight. Have you a solution for doing that safely? If you use wooden ones, perhaps use some PostSavers (best direct from the manufacturer). Because I am a little lazy I would look, depending on circs, at putting a couple of bigger ones in the existing fence first. Not optimal, but potentially much easier. TBH i am not sure I would be able to handle the fence panels on my own, either. Certainly not ones the weight of the last ones I had. Have you considered doing it with high quality timber posts and featheredge boards? One alternative. I bought one of those post-hole diggers for my last fence, and I think it was one from Amazon that only cost under £30. F

Welcome. Indeed, the only place.

@Margaret dailey You now need to see a way ahead. The Council do have some sort of duty to help people with disabilities continue to live at home. I am not familiar with the details and I do not know whether it covers disabled parking spaces. You would need a justification in disability access terms, such as "no longer able to walk to where I have to park the car now" for the space, and "unable to walk up from the road" for the steps or lift and handrail. An advisor will help there. It can involve major structural alterations, which is where you may be here. Grants can be up to 30k. Have a look at this document, particularly pages 38-51, which are about adaptations. https://equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/housing-and-disabled-people-your-rights-england.pdf Page 50 has a list of places to get more information. Your Council (go in either through Building Control or ask switchboard / general email for help on adapting your house for your / whoever it is needs) really will be helpful on this. (If you find you need to talk to them before you have started, then profile that bank and sew some grass seed on it, which you id "to improve the garden".). Ferdinand

Welcome to the Pleasuredome .. er .. lockdown central.

I would start off by a conversation with your Council - drop Building Control an email to ask what the requirements are for your proposal. They should be happy to engage, and may even visit depending on whether we are all still under house arrest. They need to know the level change, and the other dimensions. Personally I think that a vertical retaining wall is perhaps not the best, as the house will exert a significant horizontal force - a sloping wall may be less expensive and I think there should be space to fit it in. Ferdinand

Lots of factors here, including the type of soil and the detail of the foundations. If you have any neighbours who have done work at the front on similar houses, have a chat to see if they know anything about foundations etc. It will not be definitive, but it may be an indication of what yours is like. As a joker in the pack, do you happen to have a basement or cellar aligned to the front?

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Unless it stops in less than 1% of the thickness of your finger in chain travel that might not help....

I think you are making this more difficult than it actually may be. The series several years ago Meet the Planners had one like this ... chap who wanted something to keep his vehicle collection in went through the normal processes and got it. I think what you want is something with say half an acre and preferably some trees round it, where you can put it behind the house. If you meet the planning policy tests then I do not see how they can refuse. Or something with a big old stable or workshop, which I seem to see everywhere. Especially where people have been running businesses from home. There have always been a lot of sole traders running their businesses like this. My dad's last place of business was a 3000 sqft workshop build over the back gardens of 3 terraced houses; we sold it for 35k in 2010, as it would have had a negative value as a plot for a terrace of 3 houses. Or could you get a defunct Social Club or shop? The transaction will be tricky if you are requiring the seller give you 6 months to get PP. Why would they? When we were in the old Hall (small village manor), my parents bought the bungalow next door (on half acre) to prevent the restaurant the other side buying it, and a few years ago it was sold on to a chap who had 2 traction engines, because he thought he would be able to build a big workshop / garage so he could move them from the industrial unit he was renting. The other type of place that might come up is a small petrol station site - these will be becoming available more. I think refusal on the grounds of "we think you will run a business" is a red herring; probably not a relevant planning matter if your application states that the purpose is for a personally owned car collection. Such an assumption is imo unlawful if there is no evidence (and against the rules of procedure to make), and would get quashed on Appeal. F

That rather laissez faire attitude matches my impression of France. My friend who lived there remarked that the normal practice in rural France if the house is too big is simply to close off the top floor and live downstairs, rather than moving to somewhere smaller. There are vestiges of the practice here (Tony Benn in his house near Holland Park comes to mind, or farmers, or country piles). Also, the UK has for years had I think the smallest number number of empty houses anywhere in Western Europe, and taxes are now set up to maintain that. One reason why Mutti could invite a million immigrants to Germany in 2015 was because they had 4 or 5 times as many long term "empties" as the UK. There's an infographic somewhere from 2014. I think the concept of "Bush" does not really exist in the UK any more. Needs quite serious money to pretend that it does. We had had a couple of interesting people here recently - the Home Farm self-sufficiency people, and the people with the Holiday Accommodation Treehouse. Both are relatively isolated at least on the outskirts of town or in the country, but to do that you need the equivalent of the proceeds of selling a decent sized house in the South East - £250-750k depending. Parts of Scotland are an exception, probably. Or you can find a wreck and self-restore. Still not cheap. Ferdinand

Backwards is fine if you take your time and go through it forwards as a proper check before committing. Most of us do it in circles.

I did smile at the developer comment: ""The flood defences that were put in place during the development build performed as intended and successfully prevented any water from entering the homes in question." But it is interesting that this decision goes back to 2005, and 2007 when the Welsh Gov overturned it. Their statement only relates to 2020 - classic diversion tactics. This is the relevant bit of the report from ITV: Newport City Council who own the bank turned down developer Redrow's original planning application, but it was passed by the Welsh Assembly Government on appeal. A Welsh Government Spokesperson said: “The recent flooding is a stark reminder of how vulnerable many communities are to flooding, and how important the planning system is in managing flood risk whilst ensuring that we continue to build the number of homes needed. "Our policy framework clearly states that houses should not be built on flood plains.” And what the Council said: Following the devastating flooding last month, Newport City Council is working with the landowners, developers and statutory partners to facilitate any additional measures required to protect people and property. In 2005, Newport City Council refused planning permission for a residential development on the former Tredegar Park Golf Course on the grounds of the flood risk and the loss of the natural floodplain The applicant appealed and a planning inquiry was held when the inspector broadly agreed with the council’s decision, However, the Welsh Assembly’s planning decision committee considered the case after being called in by the Welsh Assembly Government. It concluded that the risk of flooding would not be unacceptable and placed considerable weight on the applicant’s claim that new flood defences would provide enhanced further protection further downstream. The application was approved by the Assembly committee in March 2007. – NEWPORT CITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2020-03-04/homeowner-s-warning-about-buying-on-floodplain-after-garden-of-dream-home-swept-away-in-floods/ Ferdinand

Slightly offtopic. How do they deal with this in similar European - say the Netherlands? What about similar but dissimilar countries, such as France? F

if you are buŷing several, take a careful look at the sets. One may match.

@ProDave is sensible. For gaps, my golden rule is that it needs to be wide enough to be maintainable or not exist. What will you do when a small cat falls down it? For the soffits, you would need an agreement to overhang into their airspace. I think what you need to do is give them a quid pro quo big enough so that you can do the optimum. eg Rebuild his garage such that you can go on top of it to maintain your wall, and a suitable agreement in the package. But also need not to be a doormat. If you fall out, all he has to do is ban your builders and scaffolding from his land, and it will become much more difficult. Ferdinand

Further thought - do you have a particular problem with one half? Can you go for one of those with a full width freezer drawer at the bottom, which would give you more than half freezer - or vice versa if such exist.

Really not sure what to suggest here. You are going to compromise on something here. It is an important one since a definition of house is "a group of rooms arranged around a fridge", I think I would look into redoing the whole thing, and looking carefully at what the different elements cost. Cupboard doors and cupboards are not expensive. Fridges are, depending on the fridge. My 'American Style Fridge" is actually German and 610mm deep, and the thickness of the doors need to stand proud, but they open to 170 degrees on stand-forward hinges - not sure if they are all like that. But a new one (actually a fridge freezer pair in a frame, so that only half of it loses power if a motor dies) is nearly as much as the one mentioned above. Personally I went for a model without gadgets for low maintenance and long life, and my watercooler is a carafe in the door. But that is personal taste. There is the option of choosing the ff your really want and building custom around it; but unlike slab doors, those cannot be butchered and look OK easily. You also need to allow enough space to the wall in case your fridge doors do not open fully and you can't get your shelves out. That may argue freezer on left as they have thicker walls and narrower shelves and are more tolerant in this respect. Ferdinand

I think it depends on the surface. If it were smooth I think I would do it with Osmo. If natural sawn or whatever I would leave it. Also dependent on what it is - beams and posts I might leave. Floors I might do with something. Thinking back to our house with centuries old oak, we had treated all of it for woodworm, and all the floors and some of the beams had a slighty glossy finish - not sure what it was. Also consider potential stains, and how easy to remove they will be. What does eg red wine or frying fat do to untreated oak? I would be oiling not polyurethane-ing or varnishing. F

Welcome. I think we need some photos, and ideally a sketch plan. Ferdinand

I would say yes ... but you need to be sure. Risk and reward are perhaps both higher than usual. Perhaps also some finish items, such as tiles and floor products and silicone and so on. Ferdinand

Mine is driven by the water butt being a couple of feet above the garden soil, plus the water level in the butt. I leave it on for the morning then turn it off, when the birdbath is empty. Plants get watered simultaneously. The birdbath is a biggish plantpot saucer at ground level.

I believe you are on raised beds. Have you considered an auto-watering system? Not expensive - I have one linked up to a waterbutt in my front garden - surprisingly effective and I have a birdbath on the circuit so that I have a flag as to when X amount of water has come out. F

I would think you should be able to do a mixed development, but I do not know this in detail. I think the environment after Rona will be different such that the sweet spots in type of development may change, which brings both risk and opportunity. My suggestion would be - in addition to continuing to listen here - to also frequent a couple of more development oriented forums, such as propertytribes.com (lots of relevant content, and good ethics). There are a lot of sharks out there. If you are intending to do this yourself, then I would suggest a period of learning and being mentored by a HOG - hoary old git - if you do not have relevant and significant experience, as there are market, legal and taxation issues that will affect everything. Ferdinand

3' X 2' and 50mm thick. I did do a patio with them a few years ago on my own. My main concern would be that I live alone for now, and do not want to risk serious injury in the current close-down. For the pile of 20kg bags of river pebbles on the pallet, some wag at the gym suggested a Workout of the Day involving 50 lifts of 20kg each...

A lot of mortgage valuations are just drivebys anyway.