Ferdinand

Do not run the, bare .. put conduits in. Am stuck with tiny cables in my kitchen floor because they did not conduit. This is the stuff I used for runs within my conservatory for electrics. About 20-25mm, flexible, inexpensive of whatever sort.and the foam should get a key on the ribs. If necessary use similar but larger as I think I did when provisioning for Virgin, with cords pre-installed.

(*) Four times the nuptial bed she warm'd, And every time so well perform'd, That when death spoil'd each husband's billing, He left the widow every shilling. Fond was the dame, but not dejected; Five stately mansions she erected With more than royal pomp, to vary The prison of her captive Mary. When Hardwicke's towers shall bow their head, Nor mass be more in Worksop said; When Bolsover's fair fame shall tend Like Olcotes, to its mouldering end; When Chatsworth tastes no Ca'ndish bounties, Let fame forget this costly countess. Note: The Cavendishes, still ensconced at Chatsworth, seem to have outlasted the Walpoles.

HI again @Falesh. I've been thinking on this, and I have the following further comments. I think the conversation perhaps needs to be a bit deeper than "finalising", though this is all your choice. Feel free to take this along as thoughts, if there is anything useful. I am assuming you have a short "Statement of Requirements" (1-2 page) that you will take along, and that you have used as the basis for your designs. If it is in your head rather than on the page, then it would be a good idea to have it written down - as that will help the architect get a grasp quickly of what you want. And save you both time, and hopefully you some money through using them efficiently. Can you find an architect who is a wheelchair user, if that would be beneficial? I think you may find that an architect asks more searching questions than finalising, but a second perspective is probably useful. Personally I would recommend going to see the architect in your wheelchair if you have the option, just to make the point as to how important that is and so you know they are aware of the size of your chair (just in case it doesn't fit well later). My mum was in a chair and it worked in our downstairs bathroom as she (4'10", 7st) and the chair (16" width) were both diminutive - but the bathroom would be too small for me in a chair. Don't let that happen. You need your design to work for a possible electric wheelchair, which are larger as we all know. Further comments: I don't think any of your bathrooms meet regs for an unencumbered wheelchair turning space (though I believe only one must), and that the doors will perhaps need to open into the corridor to create that space (and in case someone falls against the inside of the door and wedges it shut which is a Health and Safety risk). To my eye that would then need a bathroom redesign, and put a question over your door arrangement in the lobby, and may open a can of worms. I think you will get better feedback from your architect than I will give here, but let me mention a few of points: Will a huge 6m deep lounge-kitchen work there for daylight? You have one relatively small North window above the settee and a glass door at the end of a long corridor. Is that enough? (Think skylights or more windows, perhaps). Where will you eat? I wondered about a flip over snooker-dining table, but if it is your getting-elderly dad and you who can do things out of your wheelchair (but quite limited) i do not see that being practical. Is sofa and bedroom suite eating enough? I have had my frail mum living with me for the last few years and meal times have been an important time for social interaction. Is that linear kitchen well designed for someone in a wheelchair or who prefers to keep distances short? Might not an alcove or corner or peninsula plan be better, where you can reach all the key things by spinning on the spot (or having eg a perching stool), or taking a single step? Perhaps with a 720mm high breakfast bar as a separator from the room. If you plan to spend time in your bedroom-suites, then I might want them longer and narrower, to allow "zoning" - ie sleeping, sitting, studying / working. To me the square plan feels like a big bedroom, rather than a small studio suite, and has a feel of "always walking round the bed". If you have a space budget of say 19sqm, I might suggest 6m x 3.2m or 5.4m x 3.6m rather than nearly square. It would also make it more usable by others should you ever move out - 6m x 3.2m would make a double and a single, or a nice work-from-home space or second reception. Personally I am not convinced that bedrooms (or guest bedrooms) should be directly off a living area. Do you really need 2 guest bedrooms rather than one, given the beds have study / work spaces? If you want to keep the external corridor (which clearly you do), the other option to taking it away or covering it, is to make it wider and create a south facing suntrap courtyard garden. That would let your living area get sunlight, and let you have longer narrower bed-suites should you wish. It would only need to be about 3.5-4m wide so could just about squeeze into the existing footprint, thouugh an extra 1-1.5m would help.. Then you can have a separate roof on each side rather than a complex cut structure or cover for the corridor. You and your dad get your own "bedroom wing" in a classic South facing C-Plan. You also get a second socialising space in summer, and for all weathers if you add a say 2m awning / veranda / open porch. Would also keep summer sun out but allow low winter sun in. The pic below is a compact 3 bed bungalow on this plan that my dad designed way back (1970) following this approx. pattern. Here one arm of the C is bedrooms, and the other a car port and entrance, but it clearly works as a design as the business lady who commissioned in her 40s it is still there in her 90s now - and has happily lived there with 3 husbands and now as a widow. I tease her that she is one husband off being the new (*) Bess of Hardwick. It is smaller than your plan - I think each wing is about 4.5m wide, as is the patio garden, so I believe the living space is about 20% smaller than your area. (For comparison the road on the left will be 5 or 5.5m wide between kerbs.) ATB Ferdinand

First 2 seater gone, so now I can get my prototype Green Wall going. They turned up at this AM having taken Tetris to the top, saying can we have the first one early to sit on. Goo-do The rest goes tomorrow.

I’ll try and come back with come some comments on this over the weekend. Ferdinand

I sympathise to a degree with frosted bathroom windows - unless you made it above shoulder height. Hairy Rs first thing in the morning in the window across the road are not my thing, either :-). Though you may get away with a relatively mild frosted pattern.

The Impact Assessment for this measure with a huge amount of background info (eg: Household in Englannd using Coal as main energy source = 49k) for this issue: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/867428/burning-wood-consult-ia.pdf

Yep. That would be more OK, We used to know Sumac as "Pussy Willow" when we were children.

And if you cut it down you will get 20 or 50 from the suckers ? .

If that is Sumac, then make sure you keep it at a distance. It is a weed once it gets going.

It turns out that the father in law of the chap who is dismantling it fancies leather electric recliners. So good home found. Thanks all.

Out of interest, which type of willow? My favourite is probably Cricket Bat Willow, which as a tree is unusual and attractive, and straight and fast and ultimately 20m high.

Enjoy your stove :-). The one that is wing banned though is only the sale of wet timber in small volumes, so donations (or poaching or pickups) would still be OK legally.

Season it for 2 years ?. Then burn it.

Should've called it Dennis the Menace...

It's like twitter - people only read the Headline ?

The ban is essentially retail and small quantities, and is only England (yet !).

Perhaps a built in unit / dressing table / wardrobe / srorage ottoman or window seat in the Master Suite to hide it within, depending on what is above it on plan.

What is above this WC? I am thinking ceiling and to a ventilation tile.

Since Councils are already responsible for bonfires and (?)smokeless zones, they would pick that one up, I guess. The initaitive sounds to me like the kind of thing that could have come out of the Behavioural Insights Team aka Nudge Unit (no idea if it did), which has been successful with small changes.

I think it won't include charcoal - which has been purified by the manufacturing process.

Newspaper Maths. 1 .... 2 .... 3 .... "lots" ! They need to start measuring it in acre-feet, like the American Farmers, so no one else can conceptualise it.

This is an interesting proposal. The announcement is that coal will be banned for sale from Feb 2021, and unseasoned wood (moisture <20%) in packages smaller than 2 cubic m (*) from Jan 2024. So it will be anthracite or similar, dry wood, or have space to store it whilst it dries (challenge for posh inner London eg Fulham perhaps). Graphic below is a bit simplified (different emissions from different coal types). There is a Beeboid piece on it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51581817. It was announced by the Ag & Fish Minister. I am assuming this is devolved, so this would be England only. Sounds like a not bad idea - I think, though some dwellings may need upgrading. What a difference to the arguments that used to infuriate my dad as a Council Architect around 1970 when the argument against insulation and gas central heating from some ex-mining Councillors would be "we have infinite coal and many of us get it free for life from the NCB". Ferdinand (* does anyone have an easy way to do superscripts from a normal laptop keyboard? I am sure it exists)

I was alighting on what seemed to be @Falesh's scepticism as to alternatives, and wondering if the actual subjective experience would help.

Two pieces of information that it may (or may not) be helpful, but expect you are on top of this already. 1 - Is he actually still registered, and which organisation is it with. Worth a check? You have probably done this. ARB have an online Register of Architects here: http://www.arb.org.uk/public-information/finding-an-architect/ May affect the likelihood of whether he has insurance. If he is not and still saying "Architect", that is some sort of offence due to the reserved-in-law word. 2 - Which organisation is he a member of. They may well have a dispute resolution service. RIBA do, for example. May be too late for that. That is correct, however the quoted 42.5 degrees is marginal as a breach over the max 42 degrees. I do not know how that would be handled, but I would guess that it may be "we will draw a veil over that if it is acceptable to you", unless you had a tickbox warrior. Not sure how that point would go down in Court - whether the small violation would be significant or the Judge would harrumph, or whether it is useful as leverage. Ferdinand