Ferdinand

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 :-).

You need to work outhow you want to handle the limited company ... eg as a Ltd company you would be able to recover VAT during the build. It may be the way is to increase your own mortgage and put that in the CO as a Directors load or capital. Suggest taking advice from a specialist accountant.

Continuing to gnaw at this, I think that what it needs for effective propagation / harvesting is likely to be seed trays, hung off the wall or mounted at perhaps 25 degrees for better light, rather than the felt pockets. I'm reminded of the selection of picking trays that used to be used by operatives stuffing circuit boards in electronics factories. One hazard is getting bits of compost in your salad when harvesting - so that may say something about tuning the depth of each tray. It could be a case of angled staging, or some other system. Angled shoe rack? Retail display unit? Retail grid display of the type i use for kitchen utensils? Unfortunately peat based compost seems better, and Selwyn Gummer has just thrown his toys about amateur use of peat based compost in a fit of symbolic virtue-signalling. Processing .... processing ... 1m wide 1.5m high 350mm deep takes 5kg per layer £36. Suspect that it would need something a bit more industrial.

Very useful thread of different forum, especially the bbig post in the middle: https://www.thegreenlivingforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=112241&start=0

I went on the winter garden walk at Hardwick today, and it was lovely reminiscing with the gardener about the previous gardener who had been there in the late 1970s when my sister used to go along at the age of about 11 and ask about the herb garden she created at our childhood house. I can still remember her doing candied borridge flowers ... once ! They have competely redone it 2-3 times since. The list of herbs suggested for a herb wall was quite limited - as most herbs are either small perennial bushes or what the gardener termed "sub-shrubs" (new word on me). These were some of the suggestions - generally said the selection we have discussed on this thread is a good placed to start: Thyme - especially creeping thyme. Salsify (more suited for @AnonymousBosch's winter garden as it probably wants to be in a tub or raised bed) -- has edible roots and leaves. Fennel and Jerusalem Artichokes - but to be treated like salsify I think. Spring onions Chives Coriander Parsley Sorrel / lemon sorrel Beet for the leaves (ie beetroot) Radiccio or other types of chicory (had not though of that) Particularly edible flowers - nasturtiums, marigold / calendula, edible violets and a couple of others. Apparently these are fashionable, so I will need to grow a goaty or sparse neckbeard to be allowed to use them ? . Borage mentioned as edible flowers, but I suspect those require a container as it is a bush. I'm also aware that chamomile would work well, but I do not know of uses other than tea or lawns, and I prefer normal tea. I'm badly missing something with Italian type flavour. Also micro-veg suggested. Things like pea shoots - needs some thought. Reminds me of how students sow mustard and cress on their colleagues' bathmats in the holidays (not my students). I might try treetop onions (small strongly flavoured onions grow at the top of the plant not the root), but they may be a bit rampant. A few others I need to thinks about (from here? Micro chervil, whatever that is. Micro kohlrabi Chard (?!) Pea Shoots Red Mizuna Micro tarragon Micro watercress. I like watercress (but I prefer gin). Scallions. Arigula. Fenugreek Question: Are there any spices that can grow the same way? Ferdinand

How different are those from current building regs?

(Slight diversion)

Welcome. I am just over the border in Notts. 450mm deep topsoil? How much will you need? ?

YWorth a note that oil prices are on a steep downward trend while China is partially closed down, which may help in the short term as it is affecting heating oil too. If you are planning to stock up... Were there not news reports at the W/e of the Saudis having kittens?

IME rats will go under stone. To stop rats round here takes a concrete slab, especially if there is a potential food source.

Scaffold Planks might do it. 3m ones would go across the width and give some space for adjustment. And you might actually be able to ore level those by moving your gravel around. Another possibility could be 8ft concrete fence posts, which would fit exactly ... but prob too tight time wise now. Some people use these for sheds. Pesronally I might even use the screw adjustable heavy duty patio feet from Wallbarn, which cost minimal amounts .. but you definitely won’t get those.

The only downside I can see with those apart from the complexity of app control is that it needs a separate backdraft shutter in the system. Looking good.