Ferdinand

I think this is getting close to an answer. I would make 2 points: 1 - Fit something at the front to prevent cars on their own or drivers with slippy feet-on-pedals entering your lounge window by accident. It needs to be aesthetic and discreet, but strong. Options are something like a lowish fence with strong posts, which would also help with the falls issue depending on the level change, or just posts. I wonder about knee high lighting posts? You need ones that are hoon-proof, and will stop the car. Perhaps the place to look is at attractive products from bollard-suppliers. eg https://www.lighting-direct.co.uk/outdoor/post-bollard-lights.html Or you could do something like a slightly ornamental bike stand so that visitors could lock their bicycle there. 2 - That set of step look to be 1.6-1.8, wide, so their should be space comfortably to incorporate a set of wheel ramps for your bin, and letting you trolley or slide big items into the house. This sort of concept but adapted for your dimensions and style. I think it needs to be at one side, so normal pedestrians have a clear path. You get a bonus wheel ramp for bikes, and potentially wheelchairs and prams and pushchairs if your dimensions and slope are suitable. F

I put it on the bottom half of a kitchen window when there were 2 kitchen windows facing across a path. I used a product by the Rabbitgoo people: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RDVE71W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Up 4 years. OK so far. The important thing is a clean, product-free window (use eg rubbing alcohol as your cleaning agent to remove any detergent etc left). F

I'd get a Statement of Truth from the existing users, dated, documenting their use and the period over which it has been used. Make copies for each user - just to spread it around. That will help if anyone moves away, and you find yourself in need of evidence at a later date. If you wanted to you could even get it notarised inexpensively. You can also play proof games such as getting a sealed copy filed with your solicitor etc. There is also stuff around Mitigation of Obstructions, but that risks becoming a touch confrontational. Can you dismantle the fence without damage, or take the gate of its hinges? This is a good question for the Gardenlaw Forums if you need more. Ferdinand

Does the fan have a backdraft shutter in it? If not you have a hole in your wall, Dear Soapstar, Dear Soapstar ... 😉. Fix is a replacement fan with a backdrafts shutter (from about £30), or even an HR fan - which I think would be justified in a utility. F

You could try putting in an FOI to your Council for records, and that might smoke something out. Or go and visit the Planning File. (WIth adanced earnign and an appointment).

This pole https://cpc.farnell.com/nilfisk/128470040/telescopic-roof-cleaner/dp/SI19150?ost=si19150 and this brush https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001U3X9Q8/

<visits thread out of respect> How goes the DIY plumbing? Do you hate it yet?

Though iirc if it is not part of the original house, you are perhaps more likely to need PP - as I think extensions that poke out both to the side and behind (ie cover the bit that is on the diagonal from the corner) require PP. @DevilDamo may know on that. From what we have on this thread, I think your way to avoid the paperwork costs is to put it behind the main section of your house at dimensions of say 4.7ma cross by 3m front to back. But the paperwork costs may be small enough just to swallow.

Just a check - are you sure it is an extension? The check would be that there are others that are identical, but without the extension. Back then a looks-like-an-extension utility / loo on the side would not be unusual. I suspect that it may not make much difference, though. F

I think you are answered on the PD question. My comment: make sure that your roof form is maintainable, that you can get where you need to get, that the form you chooses takes leaves and muck towards the outside not the inside, and that there are no inaccessible corners that catch material.

For amenity value, it would be remove the willow and keep the oaks, as the willow ha a short lifetime and the oaks should last hundreds of years. Is there a survey indicating remaining lifespan? Also weeping willows have a habit of growing sideways substantially. F

Via a not very expensive CO2 meter, which is reporting values up to the 000s in the kitchen. Reduction is slow ie hours - but quicker when ventilation applied, such as an open window or a cooker hood on max. Humidity has been normal. I have RH meters in the room as routine. It reads roughly that - 440. Will try it outside. It is one of these, which is cheap so I mogjht be inclined to get a better one before I commit to spending money. However, ventilation is arguably inadequate anyway - there is no kitchen extractor other than the cooker hood: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09MJ8KPZK F

Yes - but it's not one with the hall and landing stacked in the same space. Staircase runs off at right angles to the hall.

I, and my regular tiler for decades, have always used a regional supplier called Tiletown, who are based in the Midlands with an online presence. But I have always valued being able to go in to the place and ask lots of questions. So I would suggest look for a trade supplier you can talk too candidly. So I suggest go for who to ask, as well as a brand. Find your tiler by local recommendation from clients for past good work, and then take their advice once you are confident in the person. F

In the quotes above we also have no clarity with the definition of curtilage This 2021 version links to a definition on the Scot Gov website. Curtilage curtilage is not defined in the 1997 Act or 1992 Order but it is accepted to mean land which is used for the comfortable enjoyment of a building and which serves the purpose of that building in some necessary or reasonably useful way. It need not be marked off or enclosed in any way. Normally the curtilage would relate to the property boundary of the dwellinghouse. The 2020 version - rejected by the Chief Planner for the other point - is different. I think the second one was a summary written by someone who did not have enough knowledge on this point, too. So we should use the first, although that is itself ambiguous in its use of 'private space', which puts a small time bomb under regulations which we have (at least in England and my LPA) about required private amenity space * for a dwelling. It looks to me as though using that definition one could argue that private amenity space can be in public view, with a fair shot at winning. Ferdinand * I used that to stop one of my tenant harrassing neighbour from recasting his bungalow as a row of 3 flats when he was moneygrubbing.

The roof is actually quite strong - it is 2-ply chipcutter polyprop across 6x2" joists, and can be walked on with care (I always do them robustly). The plan is to put a couple of 8x4 sheets on it, which seems OK. I hadn't considered acros - that would be a good idea if we need to do that. That chimney pot will come down in bits. It is perhaps less difficult to access than it looks - the front to back outside dimension of the house is 3.8m, so the roof is *really* small. Thanks all. Ferdinand

I need to improve my ventilation, and I am thinking about options. My house is a 2010 extended-upwards-sideways-and-backwards bungalow with three bedrooms and a bathroom in the warm roof - and I only have a limited number of remaining triangular roof spaces to play with. The house is reasonably well insulated, but was not targeted for near passive renovation or similar standards. One driver is checking C02 levels, which in a couple of places go up quite high, and do not come back down again swiftly (==> more ventilation should be considered). I do perhaps have room for the MVHR unit in the garage or planned to be extended utility, but also have limited spaces in which to put the ductwork etc. downstairs. Clearly an MVHR needs balancing etc, but how much benefit will I lose by not installing one in all rooms, if I can get to say 2/3 of the house? Perhaps an alternative is to adapt a strategy of a PIV upstairs, and constant HR low volume ventilation downstairs. I'm going to need to spend some time thinking about this, so I'll welcome any thoughts from anyone who has not quite been able to do a full MVHR, or has installed one in an older house. Cheers Ferdinand

Just after a sanity check on a price and job proposal. Meet my chimney which has been dropping bits of mortar for a few months. I need to have a chimney reduced to just below the protruding course and above the flashing, and capped / ventilated as per usual. As you can see access is a little awkward, and will ideally need to be done from a roof ladder, since scaff would require the leanto roof to be dismantled or finessed. I couldn't easily find a roofer willing to do such a repair job. I do have a a pro-handyman who has just done a good job removing ivy growth from a roof (so I have reasonable confidence) offering to do the job in one day with one colleague for £450. He confirms he has the proper insurance. I'd expect a bit of incidental expenses on top, but does anyone have any comments. Is this a decent price. The chimney is low at approx 20ft height. Any comments would be welcome. Cheers Ferdinand

PIVs usually have an minimum inlet temperature at which they cut out to prevent making the house much colder. Likely to be something like 5C. Alternatively, some have a heating element in the airflow that can be switched on. I presume that may also be triggerable on the temperature, but I have not checked any models. F

That sounds like an argument for *precisely* why they will use complex electronic control. :🙂 Now having read the spec, the max power usage of this Combi Microwave is listed as 3.25 kW, which is a lot.

Does anyone have experience of one of the Bosch "Built-in microwave oven with hot air". Does the hot air make a difference eg does it do air frying? eg https://www.bosch-home.co.uk/product-list/CMA585GS0B#/Tabs=section-technical-overview/ Ferdinand

Looks good. Now to hope no one hops over the rope anyway.

Someone's gonna be busy ... 😁

Where have you put the bell? Like the look of that.