Ferdinand

Welcome to the club. I spent 6 months living in a place called Llansilin, which was small but perfectly formed, on the edge of the plain. Lovely area. I think your architect supplies nice-to-understand plans. Ferdinand

(Declares victory and retires from the fray)

Personally, being a total eccentric I checked the English FAQ! https://www.megabad.com/p/faq#faq_en It gives minimum orders - €2000 - for free delivery to several countries next door to Germany not including the UK, and offers a postage calculator as part of the checkout process, so try that and see what it says. As for O level German, I was taught the basics of propositional logic that way ... Hier is Hans. Hans is NaB ! Bist-du naB, Hans? “Naturlich! Ich stehe unter einem Wasserfall!” F

Not on houses ??

This seems to iwork as well: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332895172548 ? F

Of those I prefer the green. The effects of tiny changes are weird, but to me the green door makes the LH corner of the RH gable much sharper / better resolved where it meets the window above the porch, and the others do not. It may be that the surroundings being set out in a tone of green make that seem better, but to me that shows how the details really matter. Can you do one with adark grey window frames and door (incl. side panels), and the door surround inside the porch in black or oxblood or dark red. That would be interesting. But I admit this is just a self-indulgence. It wants a few comments from others no imo, and then the inside. Ferdinand

I had not heard of these. The mechanism seems to be to circulate a cooling fluid, such that more heat is generated than used by the circulating pump. A relatively new addition to the solar panels market, solar dynamic panels produce hot water in all weather conditions. Attached to the roof of the home, the panels do not require a backup system of gas or oil and a single solar dynamic panel can provide 55˚C hot water sufficient for a family of five every day throughout the year. Has anyone used them, and are they still a thing? They seem to cost about as much as a big boiler. http://thegreenhome.co.uk/heating-renewables/solar-panels/solar-dynamic-panels-overview/ https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/buy-thermodynamic-panels/ Can @Onoff make one out of beer cans and an old fridge?

Congratulations on the results. Condolences on your loss. There was a Grand Design's quote from the boyfriend of the woman who designed a brilliant 50s inspired house in Falmouth, Cornwall. "The Scandinavian House", that might fit. "In some ways it feels like I am living in Kathryn's head." (paraphrase form memory - at about 41 minutes).

Ring the Council up and ask them what their policy is in general terms without identifying the site or perhaps even yourself. "Joe Bloggs here". F

Sorry - missed the update on March 7 ?. I agree with Nick. The second one is the better. The front door needs a strong frame. Details after the intermission: 1 - That facade feels at ease with itself, to me. a The roofline is progressive in profile - high, medium, low. b That incongruous mini gable has gone. c The consistent window subdivisions unify. d Skylights look good as a counterbalance point to the high RHS gable. That should be preservable even if you need to change them. 2 - The only uncomfortable elements to me are: a The 4 windows on the RHS being foursquare. Perhaps they are foursquare in 2d not 3d, and it is just parallax in the perspective. I would probably try and change that if not. b I am still in 2 minds about the different heights to the bottom edges of the cladding. You can argue that it reflects the graduated roofline, or that they should be the same. It might be good with cladding down to the near-ground on the LHS. One to think about. 3 - My further comments: a Whilst it looks balanced and comfortable, to me the visual feel us a little "flat" in this presentation, with pastel shades of cladding and a front door that does not stand out. b That is difficult to comment on in detail with the drawings we have, but I would suggest that the front door definitely needs to stand out more - that could be done by a strong colour front door say black or match the slates or dark red or blue or Wimbledon Green. It needs to be the place the eye stops when you look at the house from the front. I might be good to deliberately use a strongly contrasting material for the door surround inside the porch, so the eye first takes in the balanced whole, and is attracted in to the porch by the frame, then that material as the "mount", then the front door as the picture and subliminally wants to come inside your nice house. I am thinking of eg glazed bricks (black or grey to reflect the rook, or London Transport oxblood could work), or anything else that stands out from the facade. Or you could use a stronger cladding colour. But imo the porch / door needs to say "look at ME", or something else to say "look at THAT door, THERE". c But how that works depends on your cladding pattern and material and colour, so I need to leave that with you and the decision does not need to be made yet. But try a few colour changes to cladding and door and see what it looks like. Looking forward to seeing your interior. Ferdinand

if officialdom are concerned about appearance, there aris different finishes you could put on your EWI. I age never seen it pebbedashed, mind.. Welcome.

Who are you asking here. Mine was never built as we used a Leanto instead.

Welcome.

Welcome, Ms DIY. 1-2. I would say replace with good double glazing, which might not be that much more than secondary depending on the system. Do it gradually, according to how much a room is used or where other work is being done. No need to be messy. Choose a local supplier, carefully, and you can get a window done when you have a couple of hundred free. 3 Can be good, but relatively expensive so need a very good reason on a limited budget such a burglary area. I think these need to be electric, And built flush into the wall / window opening. 4 As pointed out, these need an outlet for the air. I have installed a number ... what I do is have a outlet trickle ventilation fan at the other end of the downstairs such as a Vent Axia Lo Carbon Tempra HR fan, or simple fan equivalent. Seems to work well, and I have been doing this for a few years. 5 Air sealing floors is good if you have proper ventilation, but lifting the floor and insulating ... even rockwool and a staple gun would be good ... is better. 6 Agree with your architect. Sun-pipes are for special situations or Grand Designs posturing. Ferdinand

I believe that we’re it in the PP, they could have had the VAT back on those as well. Were They adaptations to an existing house, I think te( access work would not be VATable. Ferdinand

I guess it would make sense to make it a very light colour under a clear coating so you can see things that you drop.

Colour me just a touch sceptical on this one ... I really cannot think of anything to put on the floor of a garage. I think I would be more tempted to have attractive walls and a plain floor. F

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I am not really sure what you are after. These people do refurbed cabins and modular buildings. Available 8n 2 storey if you find the right one. https://www.wernick.co.uk/refurbished/latest-offers/ https://www.portakabin.co.uk/refurbished/products.html and there are various sip small bldg suppliers on eg eBay. Perhaps you want to look at something like a secondhand overflow classroom, which are everywhere but tend to be a little knackered. On square meterage at £400-500 per sqm, it seems to be about 25-30k for a single storey. F

Normally you could do a 30sqm cabin without PP, but I expect that because of the Listed Status you are probably clucked. So it would be a sectional building on a movable chassis, or Planning Permission for a cabin. Ferdinand

You are correct.

is it a situation where you can just chance your arm at 6am one Sunday morning? It would be a trespass, so all they could do would be to chuck you off the ransom bit and be hostile in future.

Question: does eg an undocumented piece of electricity supply equipment develop the right to stay there after x years, as I can get the right to keep something attached to next door’s wall if there is no complaint?

The Wayleave Team are the people with the database and the files, who coordinate the info, if not the project implementation. F

I see that Neff, Bosch, Hotpoint, Samsung built-in appliiances are on a 10% cashback at Currys via Quidco at present. https://www.topcashback.co.uk/currys/ There are also various current offers at Currys, which *may* stack. Ferdinand