Ferdinand

For drying I have a sponge mop in the bathroom, or put down a towel or bathmat outside the entrance that can be stood on to dry. Do not leave it down if you have ufh esp. electric ufh as it can cause that bit to run hotter. OTOH electric ufh is cheap so you could whack some in for a few hundred, just in case you want it on for an hour in the morning for heated tootsies. Personally I suspect that unless they are open at the end you will be absolutely fine unless 2 heffelumps have a water fight in there. That is quite a bit bigger than my screens. But I do not do water fights. Ferdinand

And I have a different Senco and my chap said he was able to do I think 55mm screws by removing a bit from the front end. So it may be tweakable ...the Senco ... but perhaps not for 65mm if you really need those.

Does 12V lighting offer much benefit over the energy reduction of modern LEDs? Suspect that it is a bit like trying to use solar for heating - in the seasons you need it there is 90% less energy from sunlight.

I agree this is tight, but otoh you only need insulation on one or two walls in each room, so something like Insulated Plasterboard with 50 or 60mm of Celotex incorporated will only cost about 3 inches in one dimension - the long dimension ? - and give you virtually modern standards. I think the plan is the right way round - lounge sun in the evenings, bedroom in the mornings. I think that knocking through kitchen to lounge would be a very beneficial and perhaps not very expensive (probably) thing to do. I think a possible big advantage you have is being the northern half of the semi, which will reduce potential temperature swings summer to winter - especially during short intense heatwaves. A downside is that you may be a little starved of sun, so I would think about a seating area outside in a sunny corner of the yard if you have one. In my experience people prefer the Northern half. Remember ventilation as well as insulation. Best of luck. Ferdinand

This is true. RHI grant relates to the before-after improvement. However you make sure you do your "before" EPC (ie pay £50 for an extra one) just before you put the extra insulation in and do your works, and then make sure you don't bust the allowed timescale, which iirc I think is generous. I believe you get 2 years (ie before EPC can be 2 years old), but DYOR.

>Delete Hmmm. Friend of cybermen. Welcome. Pushing the boundaries is good, as long as it is in a good direction :-). At this stage my brief comments would be: 1 - Fabric first. Fix the structure before you add the ASHP and gubbins. My experience says you should be looking to reduce bills by 50-70% on a reno. Part of that will come from playing the supplier market. 2 - Most of the stuff is pretty much standard practice as has been done for decades. Grand complications not required. Pay equal attention to ventilation as well as insulation. 3 - Thinking time even more first - the most cost effective way to fix a mistake is in your head before you have made it :-). 4 - Remember this when doing your ASHP, and check precise terms. I think this is still the case. Best of luck. Ferdinand

Where do we sneak in at the weekend and swap all the labels?

Spring loaded NRVs would be one way. But you need a comment from someone who knows more about balancing pipe runs than I do. Ferdinand

It is an Apple iPad translation of “to” . (Sorry) ?

I think the master en-suite and dressing are not a happy arrangement .. not least because the loo flush backs on to the spare bedroom guest pillows. I would try and swap those two round somehow perhaps or adjust the plumbing to the other side of the en-suite away from the guests.. and imo you want a widow maybe 8n the dressing area so you can check your beauty in daylight. Leaning over the bath that window looks a sod to clean. Ferdinand

You would need t9 make sure that none of your bathrooms are open to the outside for draughts when the fans are not running.

Very possible. if the bills are acceptable I would leave alone. When an elec company did things to my neighbours supply not mine by mistake it took an incredible time to sort out.

Normal practice is to cut and stack firewood to season. I recently ran across the technique of ring barking a firewood tree, and leaving it standing for 1-2 years. Has anyone done this? I can see the advantage for storage space. I also remember just how thoroughly dead elms dried out after being hit by Dutch Elm Disease. Ferdinand

Sounds like a tricky situation - sorry to hear it. Get your seller to provide something you will accept. Or evaluate the quality of the builder and the build and make a judgement call if you have an alternative. Choose a few real details and drill right downn to give yourself confidence. eg "Show me the individual cutoffs for water and electrics for that shower" (properly built will have ones for both for the particular shower in addition to the stop tap and fuse). I am in a self-build purchased from the self builder and 6 years in I guess I have had to spend a few thousand sorting things out that were cut corners or substandard. It would have been possible to to knock 2-3 % off the offer, but the poor chap was already down from his i itial £325k price from 2 years before to £250k, as it was 2013. To be fair to us, we had reduced ours by significantly more than than to shift it - 25%+. Ours was a small listed Derbyshire Hall that people loved but feared. Ferdinand

Would something to just improve the circulation make a difference? Not sure what such a device would be. Tempted to say get a £10 min/max humidity + temp meter and get her to see what the levels are at various points. https://www.i-sells.co.uk/healthy-living-hygromoter-dial-with-comfort-level-indication-and-thermometer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz8_Q5PW85wIVirHtCh0VOwsVEAQYBiABEgJj_PD_BwE

usually at least Improved, yes. But also interrogate lifestyle, humidity etc ... how is washing dried etc. And before that do the usual watertight visual checks on the structure (binoculars). Roof, gutters, drainpipes, running Down outside walls etc. F

May actually run a prototype of this with some spare ikea IVAR... which I have coming out of my ears.

(T = Troy ounces)

I am limiting myself to your particular point mainly. In Layout 1, if you want to feel there is a stronger distinction between the family area and the kitchen, consider making the kitchen more of an L shape rather than a galley, with a wall or short run of tall units splitting the k from the f. Your divider could be 1,2m or 1.8m or full height and as long as you like, but needs to prevent the view of eg piles of washing up from the family room. I am not sure how high the existing partition is, but with an L shape the feel will be more of the kitchen turning it's back on the family area, to be self contained. With that feel the family area could develop a "snug" atmosphere. I think I might also look at making the family are a but more generous by shrinking the kitchen a bit. One more: on your spare room consider where you will be should you end up disabled or 86. Write some use cases considering the rest of your life, or at least how long you have a realistic expectation of staying in this house. Lots of other stuff to comment on, but others have done that really well. HTH Ferdinand

Nice to see graduates of Ecole Ferdinand have reached Cornwall.

Forgot to add: This is a continuation of the ideas on this thread:

Working this up into something that I think will work well. I think this is the best rack I have seen with mesh shelves, modular, strong, adjustable, available in various sizes and not too expensive. I think it is powder coated. Will take 10kg per shelf. Risk of rust but could just be resprayed. https://www.amazon.co.uk/SONGMICS-Stackable-Organiser-Adjustable-LMR08B This version has 7.5m run of shelves. Dimensions are .74m wide by .3m front to back. Will happily take full or half size normal seed trays. Would be possible to mount grow lights or a watering system. I would see it being used with one lot of microveg / herbs growing and eaten, and another one germinating in another lot of trays next to it - varied for each item depending on timings. Ferdinand

In a similar situation - half brick gable wall on 1850s cottage - I dry lined traditionally on the inside using wooden frame plus celotex plus a dampproof membrane then plasterboard, leaving a continuous cavity against the brick, then ventilated the cavity to outside using high and low airbricks. Don't skimp on the celotex in that strategy. Has been OK for a few years now. Suggest you also properly ventilate the inside. F

One point is that in the Buy to Let market the number of mortgages going to limited companies is now more than half. This is driven by ta changes clobbering individuals with mortgages on BTL property. It is therefore conceivable that one of these lenders may have a willingness to do it for a self builder, or you could call it a BTL and remortgage afterwards. You would need a good broker for that, or a lot of luck finding them. Ecology will not touch it with a bargepole without changing the ownership, as they do not dance with anything that looks like a developer.

There are people around on the forum with this knowledge, but it tends to be very hard won and very specific to circumstances, plus the rules change regularly - so it is usually better to mention vague possibilities and recommend advice :-).