Ferdinand

Have to get mine done again, so I can boast that it beats a Passivehaus. Currently 74 at 2000 sqft, but has had a 10kWp solar array added since ?. It currently says that 2.5kWp will put me up to 83 Hope it is linear, then I get 110. Bet it isn’t though. F

The shop girl makes the various ice cream confections and deserts and floats using a small row of liquidisers behind the counter.

The bar is tiny .. a couple of seats against the window and about 4 tables. The drinks below are Blood Tonic, which by rights should have blood in it to refresh the iron like a liquid black pudding, but did not, and Espresso served with a chaser of a tooth mug of water which I have not seen before in this country. It is in a place called Rawtenstall in Rossendale. Easy to divert there when heading M6->M1. At the end of a long cobbled shopping street with 1hr free parking ... so much easier than Lancaster ?which was very difficult. They served a nice big minestrone soup in one of those bowls which keeps it hot for about 15 minutes too long. And I love the China saucer. In some ways the feel is like the tea/coffee room attached to the Northern Tea Traders Ltd, which you go passed on Chatsworth Road in Chesterfield if you take the Buxton route across the Pennines. They have 20 or so types of coffee beans in wooden tubs lie a corn stores, but roast about a ton a week so it is always fresh. On t way out I nibbled another one of those chocs which was the last one left on a sample dish on the counter, which she then told me had been step one in preparing the next person’s coffee. Ooops. Ferdinand

Back in April @AnonymousBosch flagged up an evening event in Lancaster for self builders. I made it, and it was quite well attended with about a dozen organisations with stands. this is only some of the people. There was a window identifying architecture as an Art ?, though to be fair another one identified Science as an Art as well. Interesting roofs, including a roof-bush, And on the way back I fulfilled a decades old ambition, and visited the only surviving Victorian Temperance Bar anywhere. Was planning to have a Sarsparilla but I did not realise just how heavily everything was loaded with sugar. Instead I had a thing called a Blood-something, which sounded quite Klingon. I am happy to write a short report, especially on an interesting building society. How would that best be done ... perhaps as a blog plus a resource thread? Also there were quite a few who had heard of BH, so did a little propagandising. Ferdinand

It was quite some time before I realised that was not @Construction Channel, even though CC would obviously never fall through a hole in his own floor. The wide eyed “Qui? Moi?” expression looked similar to CC’s cheerfully ingenuous “You too can do this complicated impossible thing” wide-eyed look. F

Even the revenue projections line up: https://v6.upperbooking.com/en/booking/home/wrap/frittonlakeresortiii?presentation=true&Source=v6&_ga=2.41832994.165252310.1561107166-1424732968.1561107166 ?‍♀️

In this case the narrator mentioned Fritton Lake in the first few minutes, and Google has various things about this development as every entry on the first page of results for a search on ‘Fritton Lake’. Good SEO and ads. Including the interesting back storey. It looks as if there will be 150 lodges, though that may be all of them not just these high end ones. There will have been a planning permission for change of use, though it may have been for caravans not 1000sqft lodges on wheels. I can see an outraged-of-lower-twisleton-under-piddle campaign against these by the likes of CPRE before long. Lord and Lady Somerlyton stand to build a good endowment fund for their Estate, which must be good. https://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/fritton-lake-shuts-its-doors-on-day-visitors-ahead-of-becoming-a-private-holiday-resort-1-4961887 Though before long, we may have a National Trust Version at Hardwick Hall.They have more land nationally and country estates than any ancient nobility. F

i’ve watched that the AM whilst dodging Japanese tourists at the hotel breakfastime, and On a first look I am disappointed by the alleged premise of the programme. It is put over as pioneering couple discover hidden site in back of beyond in wilds of Essex and engage in an impossible build that stretches their psychological and physical resources to the limit dah-de-dah-de-dah yadda yadda yadda wibble wobble wabble. And it turns out to be almost a show home for something called Hill Wood Retreats which is the posh corner of an Essex version of the Cotswold Water Park, though involving 6 figure sums not 7. https://www.somerleyton.co.uk/fritton-lake/hill-wood/ There is even a picture of the cockerpoo. Fair play and congratulations to the couple for building it, but the storyline is in significant measure baloney, and for Charlie I am disappointed. They are on the surface normal customers for a normal, albeit posh, woodland lodge development. They are actually doing a different version of the build discussed on this thread, except with offsite build. Do I have this wrong? F

Don’t avoid alcohol. Or coffee. Buy in normal quantities throughout the project. Then invite all your BH colleagues for a week long party. The very thought !!!

Which does not seem to apply to baths themselves. The glass mosaic tiles at about £6 per sqm look the choice item to me, from a bargain searching viewpoint.

Only brief as I am just about to swan off to interact with the savages of Timbucthree, ie Manchester. Looking a bit more widely at the plan, which I really like the feel of - esp. the basement and courtyard which reminds of that very early UK passivehaus under the barn in the Cotswolds from GD, I would perhaps consider some element of interchangeability between top floor beds, guest bed/study, and TV room - such as to support: 1 - Kids upstairs now and potentially in the basement later when they start playing trombones or drums needing a bit more freedom. That would be divide up basement, give kids more space, and create parent-snug elsewhere say on GF, but that undermines my point 2 a little. 2 - I like studies to be on the ground floor. I think they (and the TV room) are semi-public spaces and need to be available for visitors rather than locked away. Plus be near the door for callers should there be a home based business. Perhaps studios and writing nooks or craft rooms are different. 3 - Future granny flats etc - which would to my eye naturally fit in the basement. That all depends on which extra items make a TV room for you, and how you will live. Just thoughts. Ferdinand

Up to 80% off at Bathstore. https://www.bathstore.com/sale Includes things like mosaic and tiles at -80%, but about 300 separate lines. Designer Rads look interesting. Not baths by the look of it.

I thank your idea could work OK. However, looking at the plans, I would say that you can get bigger bedrooms where they are. At present Bed3 and Bed4 are approx 10sqm and 9sqm, plus the roofs are into the roof. Your wet room is 8sqm and your laundry is 3sqm. Plus there is all that whatever it is around the flue. I would suggest a look at replacing the wet room with a pair of en-suite shower rooms between the 2 beds. 2 sqm or so will be ample for each of those with a nice big shower say 1.2*0.8. Then take the laundry out of where the wet room is now if you need it up there, and that leaves you at least 4sqm to boost each of 3 and 4 by 20-25%. Is that enough? You might even be able to nick a little from the 2.2m wide mezzanine. You would get 2 larger, similar but interestingly different, rooms, with equivalent facilities. If that staircase is steeper than 40 degrees, I would nick a foot or two of space and make it less than forty. That is my hobby horse, but you will not regret a relaxed staircase.

For some, that would be a usp ?. Can you point us to a plan you have posted? Is there a possibility of reconsidering the roofline?

I think the first thing to do here is work out how far up your walls are damp so you can monitor it. Moisture meter. Start by by lowering the outside ground level back to where it should be, leave it for some time eg until next spring, and see if you need to do any more than repoint. Do the necessary. Ideally the necessary will require you to sit on your bottom. Potentially you could backfill your trench with some decent sized gravel, or start the serious business of DPCs. DPCs are not that expensive to install, and personally I would see that as a painful saving. Ferdinand

And here is the BRE relevant Guide. https://www.isse.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-08/3.%20Rising%20Damp%20in%20walls%20-%20Bre.pdf

Here is an explanation https://www.dampcoursing.com/physical-damp-proofing-installation/

I have the numbers nearly in on this. The basic project came to £2250 including parts and labour. The whb, mirror and storage caninet were not replaced, which would add about £250-300 and were all from Ikea. F

Ikea 10% extra off sale prices for Ikea Family members until June 30th, says the mailer I received. In my experience you can sign up to Ikea Family when you visit the shop, and use it at once. F

Could that be challenged on the same basis that "thou shalt get thy slate fomr 'x' quarry" was challenged in a National Park previously?

If it is structurally sound (?) would not one of those mechanically inserted DPCs (with a saw) be a better proposal? Replacing bricks 2x2 like Noah's Ark sounds ... hard labour. Ferdinand

Cheers, all. F

These arrived this morning from @Temp. The one one of the left has a couple of springs built in to help it grip on the shower screen. An extra 0.5mm seems about right to give a little play and space for glue in the slot. The springs work really well to hold it whilst glue and screw happens. In the next pic the tape is to give the iPad an edge for focus. But I think I am 2-3 mm out on the screen to slope dimension for the screen to be exactly right, so I will re-measure carefully before pushing the button on the stronger version made with the other filament. That points up the value of a prototype. As it happens, my bathroom fitter brought his invoice 2 hours after the parcel arrived; he was impressed. Ferdinand

I went thIs morning to Sheffield to collect my booty from the second of these sales, and it turned out better I am glad to say. I bought these 3 x kitchen mixer taps for stock for refurbs. and these bathroom counter taps incl. a spare plus a waterfall bath filler for my upstairs bathroom redo in Sept. Total paid including the rather hefty charges and VAT, was about 35% of retail, which is OK but I would not want to pay much more in an auction. I would go again, but I am only 45 minutes away. Ferdinand

Toolstation. £25 off a £150 order until June 23rd. https://www.toolstation.com/news/article/june-promo-25-off-150-spend?&promo_name=FlashBanner&promo_id=promoBanner&promo_creative=25offPromo&promo_position=Desktop JUNE19 code, redeemable online, in store or by phone. Check details first. (Just used this to get 25 off this rather tasty (bushed) Makita drill-driver set which comes with the more powerful tools within the Makita options, and 3 x 3.0Ah batteries, and a 22 min charger, and a MakPak. Good for £215, since it was already reduced from 299 to 239 before the 25 extra off. https://www.toolstation.com/makita-dlx2131jx1-18v-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill-impact-driver-twin-pack/p94935 ) F