Ferdinand

The loo and price is also on my list...

No details on the spare box, and not clear where you are measuring from .. So piccies below. The loo model, seat and codes are in the sheet below, so you could order one and then return in 14 days.

I’m supplying evidence not opinions on this thread. I have 2 of these loos, and 2 spares seats, which are from Screwfix, and are listed on my bathroom refurb blogs with the model. I can confirm that D-shape high rise supplementary loo seats do not seem to exist; they are lozenge shaped. So bear that in mind for your dotage. So let the reader decide.

I would move that bathroom door towards the storeroom, and have it opening inwards towards the wall, which would leave you one useable corner by the web rather than two small corners. You might even get a separate shower in too. That 1360 French Window seems too narrow; your clear opening will only be 2ft for one door open which will annoy .. I inherited one and it is a pita. I would consider a normal width door or slightly wider plus a side panel of glass. Should also save 300-500 ukp. F

If it is a conventional loft, then you should I think still be able to get free insulation. Talk to the Energy Saving Trust for a local contact. Suspect the Hard to Insulate stuff may be means tested.

You are right this is all in the detail. 1 Have you actually measured it? Ie Sat on a dining chair where your car would be and measured the splays that you already have whilst your longsuffering (soon to be ex ?) friend wanders around with a bright jacket and a paintbrush? Has anyone told you what you do need, so you know your goal in comparing the two? 2 I think that if you have not done so, reading the relevant sections of Manual for Streets (MFS) would really help - there is a lot there. There are lots of things you can argue that might help, and it is the actual normal assumptions about those that would determine any appeal. There are several things that have not been mentioned afaics: 2 Two houses inside the same space that used to have one will not double traffic. It may push it up by 50%, but should not double it. I can see 1 x 4 bed going to say 2 x 2 and 1 x 3 bed. You need to know what assumptions are made, and how you can design or specify your house to work with that. 3 Is there a gradient? Stopping distances reduce uphill, and required splays are based on those. If it slopes the right way, that could help. 4 In built up areas the 'setback' (ie "X" distance) can be reduced to 2m sometimes not 2.4m. 20mph + traffic calming sounds arguable. 5 Remember that your splays will be set by the 20mph limit - though your survey may show traffic being slow, which I think you can use instead. 6 Where is the line to measure the setback from? Your minimal verge may or analogy with the general boundary rule may help slightly there. 7 Do you count the "centre" of your drive measuring point as between fences or the hardstanding? 8 Have you considered paying the other side to move their fence instead, and realign or splay the drive slightly? 1k to rearrange his dustbins plus a binstore built by you might be attractive. He obviously does not need to drive over the corner that is of interest to you as there is a damn great lamp post in the way. Make an offer that involves you getting what you need from that corner, which could be enforced via eg a covenant. Obvs if you get that the middle moves away from the wall so you can see more left. Question is how much you need, and how far back it has to go, given everything else. 9 The MFS has useful context words you can quote about how eg accidents coming out of driveways are very rare. May help you squeak through. And yes, I agree that once you have done enough research, it is worth having an assessment from a suitable consultant to see if you have a realistic case. (Update: on second thoughts I would just ask a Consultant for a 15 minute chat to 'quote', which I would make a fairly detailed chat, then be willing to pay say 300-500 for a short assessment report if they thought 'perhaps'. I would pay that to get more cetaintly and avoid the Planning Song.) @Sensus may shoot some of those down. F

That looks rather expensively fashionable for 600w ?. £50 per 100 watts. One of these at 10% of the price? Or several? https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F2H1WF8/ If it is 20sqm then you need to work out the heat loss through walls etc. I do not see 600W having a lot of impact unless you are passive, or choose to focus on heating certain areas, or use it constantly, or just want the chill taken off. Also, is this a garden building or garage? 2-3 kW may be nearer the mark for peak requirement. For a really low tech comparison, 600W is about the same as 20 tealights for heating. A tealight puts out about the same heat energy as 2 normalised cats (that's wasted someone's morning). I can't comment on the decrement delay of a cat, unless it is shaved. We use one of the above linked heaters in our gym to heat a 3m x 4m (ish) area for children, for example. Suggest specifying type of heating and amount needed and usage pattern first - have you considered if reasonably well ventilated (whisper it quietly) a calor gas heater? I would run it through the @Jeremy Harris heat modelling spreadsheet first, which is very good. If you actually want to heat the whole thing for extended periods then I think you are more into things like split air-con units or even storage heaters or a woodburner. Or very big electricity bills. 20sqm is not small.

for some reason we have a shortage of restaurants close to here ?

Big FAQ in English, plus try Google Translate. Also, SkyBad exists. (Bad = "bath") Quite a bt of info on BH

Finally, quite a few here use German suppliers such as Megabad, but that has been somewhat poleaxed by the currency decline.

You could box it in and insulate if you need. F

Ron Currie's are actually huge on ebay - 21000 feedback ratings in whatever the period is. at 100% positive. They tell me they have several staff just processing orders. That is a good telltale.

There are some suppliers on my costings piece for my recent b/room on the blog. Some stuff is commoditised - eg shower screens from well feedbacked ebay suppliers. I use Ikea for whbs, stands and cupboards but have the stainless steel legs and doors that you are sure will not rust. For showers and baths and taps, decide what you want and then find the best supplier for you.

If it is a restaurant take a mini saw and trim the others instead. Permanent fix. Paddington Bear Rules.

OK. This is a PITA. The good news is that the boiler has not died. The kitchen room temperature took an hour to start going up (by 0.2 C). Was out for the morning, and despite running the water circulation in the ufh at 55C and it on on manual, the kitchen temperature of the floor tiles has not gone above 25C (actually measured with a flat thermometer sitting on the floor so may read a little low), and the room temp has stuck at 19C, despite having the biggest Combi boiler in the Worcester Bosch range at the time on the end of it. I need to be able to run the rooms where mum is at 23-24C throughout the year, *especially* in the winter. The first place is to rebalance and checkover the UFH, but I do not expect that to be enough, and I suspect I am losing a lot of heat downwards (90mm Celotex iirc beneath the ufh). So I am going to need something supplementary in place fairly pronto. Hmmm. Rebalance and see. Ferdinand

Find out what the rateable value is - may be below the small business exemption level. And the liability should fall on the tenant (once you have a tenant), which may affect what you do.

Why is the entire population of BH not surprised ? ?

Good call by @Onoff. I usually install a walkway at joist level in a loft, and arrange the top layer of insulation so that one run can just be whipped off. (And put an obvious sign and arrow so it is clear where it is). Costs little and adds convenience. F

For example, an Outline Application could be for Building Houses and the Design of the Roadway, with everything else reserved. You might d9 that if you had doubts whether they Council would approve the roadway, so that you do not pay for archaeologists, tree surveyors, naturalists, drainage designers etc if the road not being possible would stop you anyway. Then you could do all those at the Detailed stage. Or getting an Approval at Outline will convince a potential buyer that the development can be done, and leave them able to design eg the precise mix of houses to meet their needs, without you having to waste money doing something they would not agree with. Ferdinand

I was going off point 6 ... details not submitted ... plus the fact of Approval, and thinking that that left Reserved Matters for those items. I guess that that it could be that there are conditions we have not seen. Though I think the same points about timings probably apply if Detailed is in place. F

IMO the convert to resi for 18 months is a red herring for reasons you state. If you want some revenue before the project I would say rent it out to someone for storage or storage + admin office, which the Council have probably acknowledged as an existing use by granting you Outline on that assumption. That will bring maybe 5-10k in Enfield for no trouble on your part. I would worry more about the Outline Permission expiring, if the chap still has that stuff to do. If the PP runs down to 6-12 months left, it is arguably worth less. Have your Detailed Application ready. You probably need to speed him up. Ferdinand

Hmmm. Upstairs rads are working after several resets. Need to get an eye test, so I will pop off and see if the ufh has heated through in an hour.

Will try that, but 2 separate timers - upstairs is rads, so I would expect to keep one though there may be a funny pipework config. Separate room thermostats and 2 timers ? - both currently set to manual "on".

"Retrospective TPOs" do not exist, though there may be some ambiguities in process timings. What are they going to do once it's gone - make you build a new one out of matchsticks?

Not apocryphal. I think that in some places it is Standard Operating Procedure, and in some places in the normal practise. To op: imo do at least what you need to do first. But bear in mind that if you get it wrong you can't reverse it. IMO if there TPOs then do not break the rules. You can check either online in some places, or by asking for a map of the area with TPOs, carefully asking for an adjacent address that will include yours. F