Ferdinand

Just had this month's bill in. My export rate over the last week has been 9.14p per unit. Previously it was closer to the 15p, but since it is now minimal export month, and I still have other things to optimise (takes beady look at dodgy horse chestnut tree that needs to be removed before it starts dropping things on my roof), I'll not play with a switch yet to Fixed Outgoing. Presumably if it stays low, Octopussy will reduce the 15p back down a bit. My other interesting point is that I have been running the gas manually for an hour or so in the morning before the sun is up to prime the house a little, and having forgotten to switch off on a couple of occasions, my gas bill has rocketed to .. er .. £47, of which about 50-60% was forgetting to turn it off. Guess which days 😁. Time to reprogram the wotsit. Low export season (but I do tend to run the heat pump a little if I am exporting - ideally for 2-3 hours in the morning to get some heat in). The are export vs consumption for the last month. Obvs the missing one is solar self-usage. Yesterday may have been thrown off because I had quite a nasty hypo for about half of it, and the middle of the day was just lost, so I would be less aware of what was going on; it took some time for instinct to kick in and OJ to be drunk. And there may have been some things left on overnight by mistake from Saturday. Plus it has also been dark during the days with the sun on holiday somewhere.

Should be interesting. I like bloggers autrement. One of the basic plot-hunt principles is "if it's openly advertised, it is overpriced". F

In the past I have done B using normal plastic waste water drainage (110mm?) pipe with umpteen holes drilled in, and weed membrance as the liner, folded over the top, with a bit more gravel and pavers over to make a path. I now wonder about the Wickes heavy duty membrane and lifting the pipe slightly off the bottom of the drain via a layer of the gravel.

Won't that be an overestimate as it is covered by solar when you have insolation? At 1250 hours per year sun that would be about 15%. Unless I have misunderstood your DIY solar. F

I conclude that this was a day with a "D" in it 🙂. Welcome. The statement in the 'Best Practice' doc seems strange: My standard approach is to pair a PIV with a continuous trickle ventilation fan or two downstairs (preferably an HR, though sometimes DMEV). That may be combined with an IWI reno, including a warm-side vapour barrier, and perhaps underfloor insulation too, plus the usual 250mm rockwool in the loft. That ensures that warm wet air is ventilated rather than "pushed into the structure". Is that not blatantly obvious that a PIV setup needs outlets, given their comments about sometimes incorporating a vapour membrane and sealing the place from draughts? I've been doing this for 10 years, and it has proved robust. F

Good stuff - KISS. I think you may have to prod planning again in a few weeks. For now I would suggest a quick one para email to your Local Councillor with a copy of what you submitted. It should make it easy for them to forward to the boss in planning, which will give it some priority. Then forward a copy of your prodmail, too.

What are the odds of your Council issuing wider bins just after you have built it ? 😛

I've always found the best way with water / sewerage companies is to start with a phone call, if you take that route. But I think that potentially you are overegging this, and having slightly too many unnecessary kittens. Grab the other end of the stick - by the time whatever process that you have to deal with your .. er .. output gets to the 'property' it is no longer agricultural, commercial or domestic waste. Your treatment system has turned it into stuff that is no longer waste, and therefore OK. In fact Clause 5 specifically (on one reading) allows what you need. The clause does not say you can't install apparatus, it says you can't install apparatus that puts out pollution. Treat the bolded phrase as a compound descripiion: ..Not to install or use on over or under any part of the Property soakaways septic tanks or 'any apparatus that allows agricultural commercial or domestic sewage or storm sewage overflows or Hazardous Substances to enter the ground surface watercourses or the Aquifer'.. Since your apparatus will not allow it, and will only put out manna smelling of roses, it is therefore permitted for you to install that apparatus, and it is not caught. With one bound you are free, or rather you were never constrained. *If* you can get that clear and obvious reading confirmed for your worries' sake. And Clause 7 merely bans the act of actually doing what the approved apparatus prevents, which is fair enough. I would suggest talking to a local specialist solicitor (ie one who has done this before) or perhaps an agricultural land agent or MRICS for 45 minutes to establish what the clause means (written down in English), and then to the EA to see how they want it implemented, if you need an exemption, and whether they will give you one. That should include the technical standards you are required to meet, and how it may be regulated. Don't take the EA as gospel at first hearing - they may give you the gold-plated version that you can do otherwise. In principle if someone gets arsy you could install your apparatus in a runoff proof concrete basin, or on a waterproof membrane, to hold back any unacceptable escapes should they ever happen. HTH F

There's a gremlin in the Maths somewhere - the plan say 826sqm. On mowers, we used to have a Brott, which was a fearsome flail mower thing that was quite capable of throwing half bricks and shredded squirrels out of the back.

Work needed on con-artist detection skills 😛.

If you are looking at floors as well, guess where you can put the old insulation you remove from the loft? (If you consider that, ask here again.)

1950s house should be OK. Becomes questionable before say 1925, as cavities were still somewhat experimental.

That's probably because the Council did not consider ventilation properly. Sealing in a house that was designed to "breathe" through the walls makes it damp.

You should perhaps have used a corner loo and a corner whb for that.

Agree. The top one looks 1940s/50s which looks like the age of the house; the other looks 1970s. TBH, neither of those dates qualifies as "old" - a significant fraction of the UK housing stock has roofs put on before WW1. Suspect that if you work on it, the 70s roof may suffer from broken tiles and it will be a self-creating piece of work. Concrete tiles have a shorter lifespan and do that. Unless you have rooms in the roof it is about insulation up there and attention to detail. Have a word with your Council Housing Dept about free schemes in your area, probably ECO3 or ECO4, or something local. Some elements may not be means tested. You may need to remove any existing insulation first if there is more than perhaps 50mm of it. F

We'll I'm just under 3 years into my mum's estate and we are only now making *real* progress - beneficiaries paid etc. That is solicitors.

Potential red flag there. It is not imo worth risking your relationship for - hope that it is not the case. You may find it's a decent investment even if you do not build, mind. Though make sure to get things in the right order, so as to lock in PP whilst not torpedoing any of your self-build subsidies such as exemption from CIL. Is the issue arguments amongst Executors - there's nothing stopping probate sales? F

I was confused, but then I realised you mean the door frame at the *bottom*. 🙂 The path to my front door is done with slabs on ASP (Adjustable Support Pads) from Wallbarn with river pebbles filling the gap to the wall. I think that or similar would meet your needs. I even have a disabled ramp to the front door on the auto angle adjusting ones. Since they are adjustable I have just set them at gradually higher levels, and the adjustable angle heads give me a wheelchair suitable slope, to boot. It's as solid as a rock, as cheap as chips, and completely dismountable so regs should be of less relevance. Since the river pebbles section is mainly air it should be OK. Here's a thread with some piccies and one added below. In your case you would perhaps want cut stone slabs rather than my 2" thick pavers. The one note I will add is that your surface below needs to be firm. You can adjust, and I have a shed on these on a sinking fojundationma nd just wind them up a bit every year or three, but I think your entrance patio needs to be smooth - unless you deliberately make it rough to conceal changes. Ferdinand

Only triplicate? @Onoff is not a planning officer, and I rest my case.

A note to say that I appreciate the gentle, but long-term, reflection that @TerryE has put into this blog. Cheers - just re-read all of it.

What do others do? My supplier, who is mainly trade, lets me buy take complete packs of tiles (unless it is a special) or complete bags of adhesive back - as long as it is within a day or two. So I just buy a couple of extra of each to make sure I am covered. Ferdinand

On the length and poking out into the road, some said would that be a problem. Checking your drive as is is 5.7m long, and I think you are getting a bit more at the house end, but losing a touch by the shallow angle. Since a huge estate in this country is under 5m, I'd say you will be fine unless you plan to obtain a Lincoln Town Car, a Humvee or the Batmobile. The Panther Six would fit. So for the length one, I'd be inclined to use a variation on the old tyre in garage on a rope trick, and have something initially soft then solid than can be nudged, so that you know the rear end is not outside your boundary, yet they don't appear in your lounge. I'd do that as a supplementary to two ridges in the surface - say at 2m and 1m from the end, chosen as appropriate. So normal cars could either just utch up to the first, over the first, or up to the second. If you want to stop tyres at ridge 2, it could just be a set of your driveway blocks on edge or on end. F

/offtopic Nah. Get a Toyota.

For things liek microwaves, it will also be condensation in the cupboard.

Talk to your local insulation chariy or council to see if you can get insulation in the roof space bit. Often they will require there be minimal there at the start (so you check what their conditions are and remove to use somewhere else before the survey).