Ferdinand

I prefer the other version...

Admit I found a well-discounted Malbec in Tesco this evening.

Niches are far too 1980s “look THIS Barrett house is posh”. A bit El Dorado. Will they be having gold painted papier-mâché Cupids in them?

The fitter says I keep changing requirements and adding things. eg I added in sound insulation when the self builder had left a lot out. I added half a day’s work to the other bathroom. Etc. F

One can always fit a bath that fills the for corner,and avoid all the fuss . Note to @Onoff My bathroom will be taking 12 working days to finish, including a totally new floor and ufh.

Presumably one blows it out with an air hose once every 5 years. At which point you notice how greyer your downstairs hair is than it was 5 years ago, and Mrs Pocster has a good giggle.

How will you clean behind the bath? Problem with standalone baths in a corne. Just asking...

Your content is worth exactly what you can sell it for... Interested how that compares to the walk-on windows.

??

Notes of an update, which perhaps would benefit from an article of its own. Before: After: 1 - Grabrails The older person for whom the room was adapted has spent a couple of weeks mainly in a wheelchair, following a slip off the settee (note to self: investigate a custom cushion with non slip fabric for the settee). This slip was caused by weakness following sickness for a small number of days, which caused some weightloss - only 2-3kg , but significant for someone weighing around 43-45kg. Recovering more normal energy intake will help that over several weeks. A couple of months in we have made adjustments to some elements that had been left in until we had decided what to do. We have fitted trombone-Hitler grabrails as per the photo below. I have no idea what the real name is of the piece of kit. On these grabrails we have fitted 2 types bought from Screwfix, Croydex have not been very impressive in this situation, Nymex have been. Croydex have more play at the hinges, whilst Nymex have rubber bushes at the hinge to hold the rail steadier. The extra row of holes is where we got it slightly wrong with the stainless steel grab rail. ( * The action is like a fascist salute, and it looks like a trombone; it seems highly appropriate to remember an evil Dictator in the name of a piece of kit to benefit people he wanted to kill, in the spirit of The Producers.) 2 - Radiator Width We have also narrowed the radiator, as the previous one is exactly the same width as the wheelchair usually used in the shower room, which has the effect of preventing the wheelchair backing against the wall by about 50mm. That may seem like a detail, however gaining an extra inch makes the transfer if the user wishes to do it sideways (rather than face on) feel more comfortable. That is an example of how tiny details can make a difference. 3 - Squeezable Wheelchair Another detail is that the wheelchair used for this bathroom is a folding wheelchair, and the width can therefore "squeeze in" by about 2cm, which makes it just fit between the loo and the shower, and also slightly wedge itself in, which also helps. I admit that that was not planned. 4 - Turning Space Remarkably there is also room to turn the wheelchair in the alcove by the shower, though this is miles from meeting regs for a turning spot. None of these details would work for a larger or taller man, but in these circumstances they do - a strategy of "marginal gains". 5 - Wheelchair Accessible Shower I also have a plan for making the shower wheelchair accessible should that prove necessary, which simply involves removing the end screen (about 4 screws at the wall end, the block at the top, and a Stanley knife cut along the silicone bead at the bottom), plus raising the floor by 125mm with a tightly fitting but non screwed stud frame, and a ramp from the door, which would then be topped with ply and tiled or covered with vinyl. This can then be removed to do a full restoration later. 6 - Individual Adaptations It is worth noting that some of the above is only possible for the particular small individual. If mum were a rugby player we would be whistling in the wind, and would have had to go with a full wetroom.

2G double glazing. 3G triple. If you take what us in there out, there should be a local service that will fit 250mm for free. You also need to consider ventilation if you insulate. You can model dewpoint, however. My normal approach (to solid walls) is 50mm of Kingspan plus a vapour membrane on the warm side plus plasterboard and skim, but there are many views on that. On the thread I linked I did not do that for room size reasons, and that the u-value was already down to 0.55 due to cavity wall insulation. Consider raising the floors, and put a floating floor over the top. Needs modelling. PIR or even aerogel? Plus one of the 18mm deep ufh systens? I gained about 60mm by trimming doors, and leaving existing frames. Ferdinand

Welcome ROB - suggest an intro in the intro section, and perhaps a project blog (PM an admin). You can do airtightness with either, but don't overfocus on the walls - you will get better resutls first with floor and loft if it is already 0.46. Do not forget the bit of wall between the floors, though. Work out your whole programme before you start, and build a thermal model using the @JSHarris spreadsheet produced by a member here. Take time to think it all through and do your homework. Of those go internal - external will cost at least 10-15k, and by the time you have done 2G, normal insulation plus underfloor, etc, new CH, and so on it will not be worth it unless you get a grant, or there is a very good reason. Perhaps for a forever house. I have costed up for 4 or 5 over the years, and it has never been able to justify the cost. Then spend money on doing all the obvious usual things, and you should get to an EPC B or so. Two threads, about reno of a 1970-ish bungalow in 2017: And some possible quick wins. Ferdinand

is that actually that different? You are putting the flashing on before you ave finished the wall, then building the last layer of wall over the top. That is not istm functionally different from the slot and wedge approach. F

Is there an opportunity for any education, here? The big issue with residential planet-killing is owner occupied not renovated from before 2013, and more horribly as they get older. Suspect that his house costs as much to run as 5 of yours. Has anyone tried this .. I chat about it as and when I can, but have not been more systematic than that except with tenants. F

Depends entirely how you handle it, and is why the fluffy soft stuff matters. If you go in with eg ‘we are SELF BUILDERS and we KNOW WHAT WE WANT and that’s our DETAILED SPECIFICATION’, with or without the Dom Joly telephone, then the A will correctly assume that anything left out is intended to be left out. And the responsibility for your missing hall light switch on the landing will be yours. If A is already alongside then she can appreciate the process rather than just the stack of docs. You now need to supply top notch coffee or bubbles. There is a need to be definitive, but also warm and fluffy so the architect will engage as well as obey. If you are going in with the above caricature approach then you would need a plans-drawer or technician, not an architect, as they A would charge you A rates for a T job, and be unhappy and frustrated. F

According to the Rich List the 2 founders sold the business for 30m each in 2008 or so. F

Missed the Pipe Organ. It had better be a Father Willis. Organs are really good value from converting churches, but they are like mistresses and traction engines ... the pleasure is intense, the expense is immense ? I think perhaps the most important thing I do not see, but you may be planning, is that you need to explain your understanding of the role of an architect in your project. How would you react if someone gave you your package?

Looking again after an hour, my further comments: 1 - I think your first 4 tabs would be really useful for the architect, but still perhaps as supporting information to a 1-2 page brief with some indication that these are how you have developed your thinking and not a set of "rules". 2 - You do not seem to have covered house automation (unless I missed it). F

That's quite Roman. The 'Pyramid House' at the Homeworld Exhibition in MK in 1981 was like that with a single space in the middle (iirc). Ditto houses which are centred round a conservatory. F

Someone has been collecting all our bees and now you have a bonnetful ! I agree that it is an excellent list of wants .. meaning that you have collected all the details that you have identified, and rationales etc, into a systematic form. An architect will need something higher level, as they will come in with concepts and ideas, a framework to hang the detail on. But they will start from the concept "forest", rather than a big list of individual trees. You now need to talk more about what sort of forest you eg dark and intimate or broadleaved with nuts to eat - pick up on concepts such as your love of light spaces etc, paths to the back (rather than a "1.1m path for diggers etc"). Two risks of supplying so much detail are firstly that that gets treated as all of it, so you have given an excuse if things you have missed get missed completely, and that you unintentionally limit the architect's creativity. So I would be planning to either supply more of a summary, and say that your supportive thinking is attached, or holding off slightly with the full information. Depends on the individual you are dealing with. In any case, you have an excellent checklist for practicality of design. Can't imagine living with only having one shelf for wineglasses, though. What about whisky and cocktails? F

Naturism is so much less expensive...

One of the two founders of the White Stuff fashion chain seems to have build a tennis court, pavilion, and skate doodah on the cliffs near Salcombe without any PP whatsoever, and has been told to demolish them. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-49878737 Rather outrageous. Personally I think he probably needs his nuts roasting for that. I am not sure what the basic building is - demolish and replace or is that a Martello Tower? Looks a bit like an accommodation block at a ski resort. Apparently White Stuff are fashionable; that will be why I have never heard of them.

There's also things such as approximately double the population growth rate in England vs Scotland, different age structure, and different illness / disease levels by ethnic community. F

What my fitter said. But mine is quite a bit thinner than yours. Others’ comments?