Ferdinand

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Lyme Park - an Italianate Country House owned by the National Trust near Disley, Stockport - to rendezvous with an old friend. However, it is not necessarily the best idea to visit somewhere at 800ft elevation in February; it was significantly cold on a day such as the one we selected, which did wonders for the cafe trade in soup and coffee. Lyme Park was built in the 1720s, after possession by the same family since Medieval times, when they became much more wealthy due to the discovery of coal beneath their land during the industrial revolution. For more information on Lyme itself try the Wikipedia article. It looks extraordinarily posh and huge, from the lake side. We approached from the back - the North, which is far more modest. And into the enclosed courtyard, which feels surprisingly intimate. I have not reflected on it often, but the landed aristocracy, or newly rich industrialists or robber-barons, are all self-builders. And that like most Buildhubbers they only ever build one or two houses, and that therefore like us they have little chance to learn from their own mistakes, as they have little or no experience. They are sometimes like all of us are sometimes - feet of clay and heads in the clouds. There are exceptions, such as Bess of Hardwick who probably built at least 6 houses (Old Hardwick Hall, new Hardwick Hall, Chatsworth, a lesser known one at Oldcotes near Hardwick which has vanished, a Town House in Derby, and a Hunting Lodge in the Peak District), and also her own memorial which is now in Derby Cathedral. That is one way to control your reputation. At Lyme a range of special events and tours had been laid on - including one looking behind the scenes at the house, where the guides have plenty of time to talk and answer questions. The house was heavily remodelled by an Italian Architect Giacomo Leoni, who designed a number of Palladian houses in England, to a Palladian form but incorporating much of the existing building. He added a new frontage to an existing C-shaped plan to create an enclosed courtyard accessed via an entrance archway. I would say that the owner of Lyme was a victim of architectural fashion here. A number features are perhaps inappropriate, and quite major changes had to be made to parts of the building a century later. It was noticeable that the courtyard was *much* colder than the already cold weather - entering through the archway felt as if moving from a fridge to a freezer. It would be more comfortable, at least in a Stockport winter, if the "inner court" were still part of the wider countryside - the previous plan. I have no idea how this design works in Italian conditions; it does not work here at this time of year. The Guide remarked that Lyme is different in that it is characteristic for many large English country houses to be entered at first floor level - consider all those sweeping staircases such as at Keddleston Hall in Derbyshire, or even Town Houses with basements, or half basements. (I am not entirely convinced by the whole thing here, as the main entrance inside the Courtyard *is* actually at 1st Floor Level, but he does have some valid points. At Lyme many service rooms were built on the Ground Floor, and it seems clear that there were at least some design problems,.) In the 1800s' further remodelling many of these rooms were moved to separate buildings, and they even burrowed into the hill like hobbits to build a tunnel to move in supplies. The entrance sequence was also adjusted, to give a practical route to what was the Estate Office. It seems to me that here the self-builder of Lyme made exactly the same mistakes that can be made by modern self-builders can on a smaller scale. So what are the lessons: 1 - Choose an architect with experience that is as comparable as possible, and that can be demonstrated to be such. 2 - Self-builders need to self-educate as far as possible, to be an engaged and knowledgeable client. One job of the client, as the Plot Expert, is to help the architect avoid applying boilerplate ideas from elsewhere. 3 - Do as much work as possible on paper, on computer, or in the head. As the project progress, changes become rapidly more expensive, and mistakes less likely to be corrected. Once it is fixed in brick, stone, wood or concrete, it becomes ...fixed. 4 - Ultimately, it is the client who has to live with the results of their collaboration with the Architect, and the buck stops with them. 5 - Whatever you do, do not be a fashion victim.

I have had LED GU10s in since 2013, and I still have a pile of original spares because they just don't pop very often. I have not noticed a loss of brightness either. The one problem I have noticed with LED bulbs is getting big ones over say 100W. The type with the strings of LEDs seem to cost more and go pop more often in my experience.

Yes, it sounds like it. I think time is the lever they are using, and disruption to your project is the wedge to encourage you to do what they want. An FOI on the numbers of Necessary Wayleave applications may be interesting.

Interesting electric vehicle sales numbers (SMMT). https://www.smmt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/February-Fuel-2020-and-YTD-cars.png

I have put this thread here, as it really belongs with the CDM role / Health and Safety. Has anyone considered this? Though the numbers are small, we do have people coming on and off site - and some of us sometimes have a number of different subbies over periods of time etc. I have been consulting an expert over the gym where I own a small stake, and where the activity is as vigorous as any building site, and the points made have been: - Washing hands is still the key. Traditional soap is as good as gels etc. Having hot water is not quite as important as I thought it was. - Regularly wipe down areas touched by a number of different people - especially door handles and light switches, but also taps, electric sockets, whiteboard pens, buttons on drinks machines, handles on doors or equipment if used by different people etc. - Corona Virus lasts up to 48 hours on a surface. - Laminated signs with instructions on doors where people enter, in the washing hands / bathroom area, and on noticeboards. - Make a summary note in any Health and Safety manual / file / procedure. - Encourage wearing of gloves where possible / appropriate. (Either a gym or a building site probably have some glove--wearing anyway). - Have a supply of robust disposable gloves available, in case you need to insist. The reasons for self-builders to pay a modicum of attention seem to me to be twofold: 1 - For its own sake, to keep things rolling / be on top of things in a safe working environment for staff, and any regulators etc who visit. 2 - To have a suitable set of reasonable measures in place in case there is any attempted comeback later from any source (though it is unlikely) - the famous arse cover. Does anyone have suggestions / comments? Ferdinand

On the awful weather, I was trying a day by day forecast using Alexa, and it kept saving "clouds", "rain", "clouds", "clouds", "maximum temperature (<8C)" for the next week. Depressing. Yet here we are and it is crystal clear cold and sunny this morning. And I have to do PC work. I'm sure it will improve. Slowly.

If it is PIR won't that be Building Regs minimum ish?

Would French drains be a better option?

You may getaway with fencing of the footpath if your drive is wide enough. If you can put knocker posts in 80m should be pretty quick to do a post and rail or PST and tensioned wire fence, not expensive and you can reuse it all later if you take it out again when done. Ferdinand

There is at least one item missing from that list.

There's a thing called a "quasi easement" that is relevant here, but I cannot remember the detail. I think it has to do with intention to create an easement.

As in "supply a copy".

Does that mean you can get some numbers from that extension informally for a comparison, and then adjust for the time since and differences in your secret cell? You don't necessarily have to tell them why. Another data point. F

Welcome to the forum. You may find it helpful to read some of the project blogs, where there are a couple who have basements. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/search/?&q=basement&type=blog_entry&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy Ferdinand

Welcome. If you read a few build blogs on the site, and Jeremy's offsite blog here, you will see that slightly obsessive attention to detail, and good "write it all down" practices, repeatedly saves current and future issues. You really cannot overdo the staff work in advance. Unfortunately for rapid reading, the most important lessons of all the blogs are also all in the miniscule details so you need to read it thoroughly ?. Ferdinand

Clearly you need to triangulate the single quote you have. OTOH you now have a detailed spec - can you get one of the online cost / QS services to give you a number as a target. They are not very expensive compared to the differences in quotes - a couple of hundreds iirc. Ferdinand

Sorry to hear your news, @Simplysimon. I don't think I can see a way round it short of finding the party who got it wrong - or cutting a deal. But I like the sound of that. Self-build beer goggles work the other way round. ? Minor disasters are an excuse for a series of medicinal beverages.

Not until later. It does not become known until you find out that your your cat / car / pallet of paving slabs has been replaced by an empty space. F

Um. These events never happen. My bath's plughole had definitely not been disconnected from the pipe since 2009 or so :-). To be fair that is not a Schrodinger - it is more like a mugging; our cat which was our cat but we did not know it yet a the cat had not moved itself in. That is more an unknown unknown. F

Thanks all. Always useful to have a range of opinions. Unfortunately since having a range cooker, all the drawers are now at the far end of the kitchen from the food prep areas ?, so options may be limited.

Yes, however cars have a far shorter replacement cycle. 83% of cars are less than 13 years old. (Daily Telegraph), and therefore benefit from improvements far more quickly. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/04/12/average-age-car-uk-roads-highest-level-since-turn-millennium/ Only about 15% of houses are post 1990.

Agree in some things - however, I have no mass data on that and its impact. However, even if you assume they are all actually Ds as well, then the huge bulk of the issue is still legacy stock, just on sheer numbers of houses (90%). This is rather different in other European countries, either because more of the old stock was destroyed in WW2, or because the culture is more frequent replacement.

I don't think carrots always work either. Free loft insulation has been continually available and has not been taken up widely. I think it needs elements of both - perhaps a neutral stick that gets equivalent carrots post-facto when implement, but that causes a cost if not done. Sticks worked on car fuel consumption. Witness how when VED was based on CO2 emissions, within about 15 years half of the new cars were paying £30 or less. Or that overall efficiency is far better than it was in 2000, despite the quarter ton (?) of safety equipment we are all forced to carry around now.

The thing there is that newbuild is basically irrelevant to reducing emissions. * Already newbuilds are a B on the EPC scale (give or take). And newbuilds only add at present - after output has almost doubled from the lowpoint - around 0.6% to the stock. As the BBC piece put it (or the background work) 90% of houses were built before 1990. A newbuild - even a bog standard building regs newbuild - uses roughly half as much energy as an average legacy house. And 85-90% of them are legacy houses, which are therefore responsible for perhaps 95% if emissions. Legacy houses are responsible for virtually the whole housing elements of emissions. And even if my assumptions are some way out, that is still the landscape with which we are working. * I am ignoring workmanship and attention to detail factors. Ferdinand

Welcome to the Madhouse. It looks like a project - and a nice looking pub within staggering distance. I would say one important thing is not to rush too much ... allow yourself plenty of headspace and time, so that you catch potential mistakes rather than having to live with them for 25 years. Ferdinand