Ferdinand

Depends on your measure ! I think in taps to a large extent you do get what you pay for, until the level when you start paying for the badge. Personally, for a house newly built I was living in I would want something good enough that I would expect to pay perhaps £150-250 if buying at retail price for a kitchen sink mixer. I think that is the starting price level for good ones. It is something to be used umpteen times a day, so it wants to be pleasant to use and just ‘work’. Similarly I would want an equivalent quality for bathrooms. one of the little things that makes the house enjoyable. But the last 3 lots I have bought have been discounted by 30-80%. My own came from B&Q of all places in a half price clearance 5 years ago. For a recent renovation they came from Wickes at 75% off due to a range change. So I say fix a level of price / quality that you are looking for, without being too demanding on individual model, then wait for a deal, and save enough for a theatre trip. Single single lever and with a pull out nozzle, and it is a basic spec that I can get a normal sized bucket or watering can or kettle under it to fill. It may be that you get satisfaction or a deal from a German superbrand; if so, enjoy them. I seem to recall a woman on GD with a tap fetish who spent £1500, and Kevin McCloud was finding it. That is not me, but good luck to them. Ferdinand

They are local to me. Here is a piece from the local press: https://www.chad.co.uk/news/business/thousand-jobs-saved-at-ashfield-company-1-9633055 As indicatesd, it has ‘saved’ a thousand jobs. It looks to me like a prepack, as the new setup is owned by the current majority shareholder and relatively new senior management. it has happened very quickly .. within a couple of days. It looks as though customers and suppliers may have been protected at the cost to the previous minority shareholders, but that last is speculation. It could just be a force majeure way of reorganising the business if the minority shareholders were reluctant. Ferdinand

Bored of your downlighters? Why not replace them with bulbs to give a different appearance to your ceiling? Just an idea that I happened to see in a house in Kent a couple of weeks ago. GU10 bulbs are available in shape other than downlighters, for example candle bulbs: It is far netter not to have done it in the first place, but at least there are ways to mitigate the damage. (No, GU10 downlighers are not my favourite. form of lighting.)

You could secondary glaze if you really needed to. Quite unobtrusive with just bevel edged glass and mirror hinges, especially for sashes. At the old house we used to put those on nearly all the windows through the winter, and some had them on permanently. F

Is that one of your new sash windows that is cool round the edge? And is that a fireplace or a blocked up fireplace? Will putting minimal something one window reveals help those pillars? Even minimal will increase the thermal escape path. Well done, Octopus. F (My octopus last week was as tasty as expected btw. Two tentacles left.)

One of these should do your conversion: https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/the-best-free-pdf-converter Or just a screen grab and draw a filled rectangle.

@ThePoplars How did you get on with the Trapezium window? Just interested if one of us came up with something that works. F

Someone will know a service tha5 will unlock them.

@Randomiser I am not convinced that your ‘demolish but keep it unaffecting the start of development’ argument works. If something is what the TCPA says as a matter of law, I do not think you can change it by writing a letter, and if a Planner agreed to the change they are probably Ultra Vires ie outside their authority. Then if it came into question later you would have been acting on a false assumption, and the start of development would turn out not to be at the point you want it - that would be construed according to the law not the judgement of the Planner who got it wrong. You can’t, unfortunately, create a legal bubble not affected by the word of Planning Law, unless there is an exemption or distinction built into law already. The only one I could see was if the demolishion and the rebuild were structure as parts of separate Planning Applications. It may have been that the best way to achieve this was to demolish before applying for PP. If you must do it this way, one thing to consider may be applying for a Variation of that condition, and apply for demolition separately. But you would then need to make it absolutely clear and understood by everyone that the demolition is not related to the Varied PP. To me that sounds like more buggeration than it would be worth. I think you perhaps need to ask your Planning Department or Council Legal Department for how it will be viewed (perhaps try the latter first directly as, perhaps unlike planners and depending on your Council, they may not have been trained not to talk to you yet ?). You would need to frame it as a request for clarification of the law in xyz circumstances, only mentioning your case in passing. Alternatively ask Planning Aid, who may be able to advise (Google it - free service). Alternatively talk to your own experienced Property Law Solicitor, or Planning Consultant, if you have such on your team. Also keep in your mind that the start of development date is fundamental to your Self-Build CIL exemption, so - whatever you do - make damned sure you get that one right if it is material to your project. Get it wrong and it could be a financial bloodbath if your local CIL is substantial. Ferdinand

Feng shui? (As opposed to Feng Hooey, or Hong Kong Phooey) It’s that Friday Feeling...

Interesting. Thanks. F

A lapse not a joke. You are right of course. Lack of adequate checking on my part. Will edit. But the main statement is correct, according to the Batmen: F

This thread has prompted me to start one on pacement etc of Bird and Bat boxes.

Thinking about Bat and Bird boxes. The only stuff I know is my general impression that bird boxes need middling temperatures rather than hot and cold, so they should not face directly north or south, rather east or west. But I do not know about Swift Boxes. And my general impression is that bat boxes need full sun for most of the day. And do these local authorities that demand bat and bird boxes actually hand out any advice? Has anyone had any help on this stuff from their Local Authorities as part of the deal when conditions are imposed? What did they say? Ferdinand

I would like to hear chapter and verse on this. Is the road classified? I have a house on a 100m stretch of unclassified road between two pieces of B road, and the Council told me they would have trouble refusing me permission to open up my garden for parking therefore (ie no PP required on unclassified road).They could only demand a level of quality in the construction of the drop kerb and crossing .. like Building Regs. In the countryside I believe you do not need anyone’s permission at all if the road is unclassified, and you have direct access. For example see this page: https://www.thwlegal.co.uk/about-us/news/public-highways-and-access If there is a verge you will probably want permission of the Highways Authority to cross it. Who owns the ditch? As for what to install, I would just think about a BFO checker pattern steel plate and go straight across everything, or at least the ditch, making sure it is suitable anchored. If steel plates work for roadworks ... Perhaps it would need some reinforcing with hardcore. But I have not done this, and others will tell you if my suggestion does not work, and why. If discreet, JDI and wait for someone to go Oi! might work. After all, you already have permission in the PP as a defence. Your call. Ferdinand

For some reason @JSHarris is reminding me of Sir Richard Mottram: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/mar/03/labour.byers To wit: “The permanent secretary at the DTLR (Department of Treachery, Lies and Resignation - lack of one, in the case of Stephen Byers) has booked himself an entry in dictionaries of modern political quotations. Displaying the dry understatement, smooth urbanity and coolness in a crisis for which our alpha civil servants are so renowned, Sir Richard Mottram, Knight Commander of the British Empire, turned to a fellow mandarin and howled: 'We're all fucked. I'm fucked. You're fucked. The whole department's fucked. It's been the biggest cock-up ever and we're all completely fucked.'” F

So plant some trees and wait ?. Or get a car that comes with a brolly pocket in each front door, complete with brollies ?. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9eplEBb4m5E

If it is like a sea wall can you put a overhang along the back of your upstand? Something like a wooden batten, or some sort of L profile or gutter mounted upside down, on the back? If it is too big there are shed gutters. Perhaps you need to experiment?

There will be a section in The Local Plan all about that. It was a clock-up sustainability analysis which caused our LPA to drop our land out of the Plan, which was one reason we went for a rapid Application back in 2012.

The real solution is to grow a shelter belt or barrier round the other end. The short term way may be an upstanding is or some sort of thing on the roof, to stop the water or diffuse the wind. I guess you could so something that looked like a Breeze (!) Soleil that would help, or some invisible thing on the roof, which would really be a bit of a bridge. F

There is also a language / marketing question. "Meets the Building Regs" is often translated into "Build to the latest environmental standards" in the literature. Ferdinand

Different coloured dyes should do that?

I think it may be beneficial to go through that list ... which looks like a boilerplate list,, and see if you can pre-emptively demonstrate why certain aspects do not require to be done, or have been already addressed. That may reduce the work for your ecologist, and may save money or queries. eg It may be a good thing to have identified how your site will work, so as not to threaten the canal. Once thIngs get into the planning database, they will raise to the surface again. So take care what you tell people or planners. Ferdinand

it’s a LiebHerr, pronounced Lee-Bear, and it probably would store a medium size bear. If you leave it on super freeze by mistake, the freezer is at about -30 by the morning. As for large, hairy men... ???. Ferdinand

@Radian I cannot comment on the item, though I have a tenant who bought an air conditioner from them last summer during the very hot period. I am a couple of miles from their warehouse, and they have that and a 4-500 Sqm showroom nea m1j28; my bear-fridge was an ex-demo from there. I have been buying from there for a few years, and I would trust their own brands as much a S any others. I have a couple of own brand 5 burner gas hobs, which have been in student houses since 2012 and we’re not going expensive. Not sure whether I have used the Electroniq brand, however. I put a non branded ceramic hob and hood in the Little Brown Bungalow project from there, but they were their unmarked own brand. They do not negotiate very far in price ? . My only success was an extra 10% off the ex-demo fridge, and I think free delivery when I ordered a lot of appliances, ie 8 or 10, at once. They may have a good value extended warranty, but I think those have gone. Ferdinand