Ferdinand

I have hedgehogs everywhere, from perhaps 2-3 years ago, and huge overhanging trees - though now fewer. Hedgehogs are great in maintaining a flow even under a pile of leaves, but some leaf matter will still get through. This year is the first time I have blockages inside drainpipes, which is why I am trying to fix it permanently. Ferdinand

If the peak of your loft from the joists to the top of the roof is less inside than about 9ft, you will struggle to get a non-compromised room or two in, without a new or raised roof. Can still do it, but more difficult. Useful rule of thumb. Measure it. It is because your roof will need a lot of insulation, plus the thickness of a new floo4 and reinforcement. And welcome. Your next step is t9 do the homework to the point where you have a confidence in evaluating what people tell yo7, and judging their recommendations wrt your needs. A good place to start is to work to create a one paragraph then one page ‘statement of requirements’. Ferdinand

These are the two with which I have to deal. The easy one which was wedged on the grill. Now propped up a couple of inches. May just need a pipe trim or one of those chute things. Difficult one. pipe runs down the wall, and along under the gravel, round the corner and on to the drains 6m away. That wall also has to have my split aircon going through it. F

I have at least one of these to do, too - which is backing up and filling the secret gutter arund my conservatory (don;t ask). And one where the naked drainpipe goes straight onto a grill. Hate crawling around on conservatory roofs.

Who wants grotesques for their gateposts? I

Is there such a thing as a "air block" to avoid messing about with lintels?

The hearing was by District Judge in the Magistrates Court. In a Mag Court the fine is £20k. In the Crown Court it is unlimited. I am not clear what the powers of a District Judge in a magistrates Court are, or whether it can be transferred for sentencing. Surprised that this one was not heard in the Crown Court. Ferdinand

That looks *very* similar to @Grosey's in Cornwall, who also came out with very good numbers but built himself. No idea why it is upside down; stand on your head to look ?, or "right click open in new tab) His blog is here:

It had better be good quality. Heard yesterday that a T bought 2 of these for her new burger cafe on my suggestion. If it isn't I'll be banned from cups of tea for a year. ? F

I would move the door to the bathroom up, and that to the study down, so that by moving the door to the top bedroom down by 1m there will be the option of a second posh master suite like the one downstairs. Gives your parents similar suites upstairs and downstairs including the bathroom as a wardrobe should they want it. Not sure if that will help them, but gives a more flexible design. As to bathroom, one option we worked out for somebody else was put plumbing in behind walls, and use it for now as whatever you want ... of which above I give one example.

My last one was a vapour membrane on top of the existing floorboards, with rock wool between the joists and nothing below the rock wool except the ventilated space. Then a further layer of Celotex .. 25mm .. above the vapour membrane in a traditional battened semi-floating floor, and my new floor on that. Cannot remember if we taped the Celotex .. we certainly foamed it all carefully. Generally I do not believe in ‘trusting the Belgians’. That concurs with some of what you are doing, and disagrees with other bits. All effectiveness will vary according to the level of draught, and I think Best is impossible to define. I used rock wool cos I needed it out of the roof to empty the roof so they would install 270mm for me under the free programme, rather than the 100mm that was there, and because it is a hellavalot easier in a Reno than crawling around underneath. What I do suggest is that you instrument it for temp and humidity to a moderate degree. F

Interesting hour spent using stainless steel screws in oak... quite surprised by the size of the pilot holes needed.

Cheers. Doing the next bit of accessible house, in the form of a oak grab rail. F

Cheers.

A quickie. is is there a knack or trick to this DeWalt bitholder. It has come back from a loan to someone doing a job for me, and I am not totally clear if a thoroughly attached bit requires something to be pulled or pushed or twisted, or if it just indicates a bit of brute force with pliers. Chap got through 2 entire batteries just screwing and drilling ally and wood, Any advice welcome. Cheers F

In this setup I am not clear what the breathable membrane achieves that eg garden netting would not. I wonder whether even a breathable membrane will inhibit your ventilation too much. AIUI the underfloot joists need to have sufficient access to ventilation (which a breathable membrane may not provide), where the trad suggestion has been do not insulate below the bottom edge level and make sure your airbricks are clear, plus airtight the floor. Or make sure that no moisture at all can get in by filling it all and seal it up completely. Which is where Leca or Pumped Beads between the underslab and the suspended floor apply. F

That pattern is called "how to fold the lid of a cardboard box such that a small child cannot get back out". I am not sure what they are called, but I have a friend who gets his electronic goods delivered to his company in interlocking foldable wooden 4 sided collars with hinges at the corners, which turn into planters or compost heap holders just by stacking. I have yet to obtain more than about two, such is the demand. I quite like the "hinges for corners" technique. Ferdinand

Two to add to that list. "Unknown unknowns - o feck skippy felll down the mineshaft we just discovered." "Planner requirements, which may be justified - you shall reopen that quarry in order to get the matching stone" , and so on. I wonder if there is also the "once we have started they cannot go back" thing, that happens in politics. F

Is that not what GPs are rumoured to do with alcohol consumption self-estimates? Hands up anybody who halves it first ?

I wonder if the local policy of reuse says anthing about reuse when it does more damage to the planet? Best of luck.

You need to choose your battles. Some you can win anyway, sometimes.Soem you might win. Some you may lose. What do you want and what can you live without? Some you can split up. For example, is there any reason why you cannot just replace that garage door with a big window in the same opening now or as a separate project? the whole thing? I do not know the rules and the conservation area rules, which I assume you are in if the CO has weighed in. Can you replace the garage door with another garage door with windows in it now without violating CO regs, and then say in your PP that you are preserving the appearance (with an even bigger window than the one they hate) because of the conservation area ? Or do that as Project 1, and the extension as 2 . Saw one here where County would not change the parking setup because there was no access into the building. So he got a door, and screwed it to the wall, which presumably covered someone’s backside sufficiently to avoid blowback and prevent the inattentive authorities discovering the questionable decision ie they can blame him and claim Nelsonian, because they then changed it. Screwing the door on the wall was suggested by County people verbally... If you get into detailed and open ended arguments you than have to close off all their escape routes t9navoid your proposal or an acceptable alternative. Or you could get a basic pp then go back for a variation etc. How much elapsed time do you have? Can you manipulate the CO to get what you want from the planner? I think the Planner sticking his head down an ostrich hole is unacceptable. Perhaps try via your local councillor or the Planning boss .. “I wondered whether your planning officer Courtov Caractacus was on holiday” etc? That is an escalation, though. But you need to choose your points to dispute or it becomes a game of chess where you can lose sight of the overall thing. I think you will have to give them the smaller 1st Floor window, in exchange for the bigger ones downstairs. An objection to an Appeal just lost here cos the Inspector decided that my temporary close board fence to mitigate the current disturbance for a T was good enough that the Planning Conditioned Acoustic Wall the developer was trying to avoid building would be insufficient improvement over the existing to justify the condition, which has now been erased Win some .. lose some. Now the Dev has got to go back and agree something suitable with the Carncil from scratch, so back into the planning machine it goes. F

Better news. Since you know a lot about your house, why not get the Jeremy Thermal Spreadsheet and build a decent thermal model of it? Then you will know where you are. JSH will need to post a link, as it is currently not linked from his blog afaics. http://www.mayfly.eu/2017/02/downloads-from-the-top-menu/#more-802 Not quite as planned as it looks. The place where the ventilation tile needs to go currently has 28 solar panels on it ! It is doable but intricate, which is why it has not happened yet. F

Need to ask the painful question. How much insulation in your downstairs outside walls, if any? What is the typical u value of such?

I have a horribly complex room in roof setup, and my Nuaire Drimaster something something is installed in the toblerone space, entering the landing through the wall. Through the wall is iirc in a FAQ somewhere as OK. It is in a sealed in compartment inside the space made out of Celotex, and is supposed to draw its air through the roof. I suspect that to finish this off it will require a ventilation tile connecting from the outside due to the membranes as much of the air may be recycled from room leakage etc .. a little similarly to the way flues can go out through the roof. I think the bits are all available. I do not see why similar will not work for you. But access for filters etc will matter for you. I have the hall control version .. buttons under the cover ... but the remote and perhaps monitored version may be worthwhile. F

it may well be better, but you may run into a constraint in the capacity of ufh if your walls are not insulated well. The next step to have an eye on could be skirt insulation with eps in French drains round your house perimeter, but unlikely to be viable unless you are doing other groundworks such as eg replacing paths. Unless you have a minidigger and a lazy couple of weeks. Ferdinand