Ferdinand

It is to divide off 1/3 of an 8x4m storeroom to create a usable space, and a smaller store. The plan is probably to board one side on ply, of which there is some available. I should have said that the floor is a concrete slab. I was planning concrete screws for attaching the wall plate. Do I need a 4m length for across the the top? Thanks F

As sketched, I think the join is clumsy ... especially that triangle at the top of the wall/ That may look different when built. F

I need to construct a partition 2.4m high across a 4m run, which is free at the top ... ie a high ceiling with a space above the partition. I have not built one of these before ... can anyone advise on any extra measures I need to take for extra rigidity or intermediate support? I am thinking 63x36 timber, normal spacing, and perthaps extra noggins. DO I eg need a joist across the top? Cheers Ferdinand

I would prefer the massing with the two roofs the same height.

Can you just turn the supply pressure down at the mains instead? Obvious question, but do they check that?

IMO really work at it and you can save enough on materials to cover quite a lot of specialist Labour. Obvs it depends what you compare it with, but I think that 25-35% is possible as an average. I tend to use Wickes retail prices as a benchmark. F

if this s the same as graphite vs normal EPS then the difference is marginal - of the order of 10-20% - so it is A relatively small benefit in heat terms, but the marginally thinner wall that results at the same overall insulation may be worth it. F

Can you not sell Walk-on Glazing to an obtuse person who runs a theatre?

Nah. Always leave 'em suspended...

Heh. Also bear in mind that there are some cost-saving threads around, so you can probably get up to a third more material for the price you first look up in Wickes, and that it is also useful to do a heat model on the famous @JSHarris spreadsheet, and that it is worth taking a few years .. say 10 ... heating bills into account for your lifecycle cost. eg You can get a routine 10-20% off at Wickes itself with a Trade Accoutn and a Reloadable Cash Card, for example. The thing about the fabric improvements is that you only get the chance to do them once, and only have to pay for them once, so some bullet-biting helps. it particularly helps when you are half under a floor at arms length with a staple gun. F

I assume splay means the dimensions of where the cone of light will ‘land’? Bit what do you want to know? Working that out should be mainly 1-2-root3 ie 30, 60, 90 degree right angled triangles if you are using lights with a 60 or 120 degree cone, and they are mounted pointed down. So the dimension you need as input is light source to incident surface vertical distance, and you can work out the horizontal distances and where the light falls from there using ratios. I am sure someone can link to a guide .. cannot draw on my iPAD. F

You remember that blog that republished Pepys 300 years later? This is the building version.

What are boats made from? Is there anything that might make an interesting cladding ... presumably we can exclude Teak and Oak. Can you repurpose a former boat, or boat deck? /tangent If HMS Victory suddenly vanishes, we know where to look...

How are you going to calibrate your concepts of "sensible" and "OTT"?

You are not clear whether this is 1 - A flip and sell, 2 - A short term (<5 year) investent, 3 - A long term investment, or 4 - Somewhere to live for the short term, or 5 - Somewhere to live long-term. That affects things significantly. I have recently been investing for the long term (=10-25 years), though could sell earlier, which means I have an eye on what the standards will be in say 2030, and how I want to balance off more investment now against whether my typical tenancies will be 1-2 years or 6-10 years. I have turned down possible purchase of several renovated properties on the basis that the basic work (eg IWI or UFI) has been done, or not done, to a poor or typical standard, and that money has been spent on making it posh no top of that, so that the net result has been a tarted-up old house that will need to be fundamentally gutted in 10 years time in order for it to be legal in 15 years time a rental. IMO You can sell lower standard refurbs more easily to owner occupiers than to knowledgeable people who will rent it out, because required minimum standards are higher in rentals than Owner Occupied dwellings even now. I think you need to take time to look at your overall goals and how to get there before you do anything. The problem is that you are presumably already paying Full Council Tax on it ! My normal current mix for long-term investments is roughly: Target at least current Building Regs standard, and an EPC C grade. Do Underfloor insulation anyway if a long term refurb. Do IWI if solid walls, with 50mm or 75mm of Celotex or PIR insulation. That is, highly insulating stuff. Smaller rooms reduces sale price. Do not necessarily do IWI if cavity wall where cavities have been filled. Fit good well-sealed windows - better quality 2G. Do Underfloor Insulation of some sort if floating floor. On slab insulation if solid floor - but needs to be quite tactical wrt door, ceiling height. Bring services inside the insulated envelope. The last one I ran them in voids in a floating floor. Not sure about this yet. 250mm loft insulation - usually done for free. If too much insulation in loft to get it free, but less than required, use existing loft insulation to insulate under floor if possible. Obsessive attention to detail wrt gaps etc. Deal with ventilation separately, usually via a loft-fan (Nuaire etc), and an outlet fan or two on permanent trickle, either HR (Heat Recover) or not HR. My next one I will probably use UFH and a boiler that modulates down, or a ASHP if I can be confident enough. The usuals - Rewire, Replumb, Kitchen, Bathroom, Plaster, Redec etc are much more run of the mill stuff. Assuming no pratfalls on your part, that mix seems to keep Ts happy and deliver bills around half what they would be in a non-renovated house. The question is whether that matches your identified goals. Tenant management is an entirely different shark-infested custard. Ferdinand

One reason to go for an HMO is that the furniture and services are supplied, so it becomes a pied-a-terre not a main home. That is a different market than say someone who cannot afford a house and the HMO becomes the main dwelling. An example might be a mature student at Canterbury University or a South-East rep, both of whom have family and home in the West or the Midlands or the North and commute weekly. They are not struggling for somewhere to live, but want somewhere where they can just land temporarily as a compromise between a hotel or B&B and a rented house where they have to worry about lecky suppliers and finding furniture. Some of the same type of tenant may have their wares and stock kept in a small unit at a Big Yellow Self-Storage. One step further on the spectrum towards hotels or B&B is that as the campaign to make it harder and harder for LLs has continued, more are now using properties as Holiday or AIRBNB lets, as these still get generous tax concessions. The other sweet spots currently spare bedroom tax allowances and being having lodgers to just below the HMO threshold. (That is one reason why I would carefully at potential developments before jumping on the Holiday Let bandwagon as a self-builder. Holiday lettings LLs may be next on the hate-list). F

I'd agree to splitting the kitchen, and consider carefully how much "walkway" you want to leave. You could even put a similar thing the other side and leave the walkway in the middle ?. And I'd hope that "narrow" meant at least 300mm (ideally 600mm) - ie at least the width of wall units, so that it could function as something useful in the context - either as a slimline BB or a shelf to put things on. You could perhaps use wall cupboards or shelves to give extra space. Where it joins the side of the kitchen, you could just take out a 600 unit and leave a small gap as say a hoover or bin space. Yep - that is the type of thing I had in mind. It will make them walk diagonally a little less, and act as "punctuation" in movement around the kitchen so there is a slowing-down and consideration at the hazard point. If it were so narrow as to only be like a fence or a set of banisters they might protest :-). F

Just check that the tape is non abrasive ie textured rubbery like teh back of gym-matts not sandpapery like some of the stuff on yachts. The last thing you want is tenants with a sandpaper-graze on their backsides. That was just one I picked off Google. F

You want practical protection as well as visibility - it could be 3am or they could be tipsy or on the phone. So I would also *firmly* stick something high-friction as a strip along the top edge of the step, probably in 150mm or 300mm width. eg One of these or similar. https://www.floorsaver.co.uk/products/safety-grip-anti-slip-tape?variant=43373952530&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiA4OvhBRAjEiwAU2FoJcXcgLEksxhOORd-0Is7m292Y7FNvuqhEvvOCQmwZTrjzzR4toiukBoCS8UQAvD_BwE F

Looks sharp. What is the square frame on the island? A bin shoot? It looks like the top of one of those "scopes" that double decker drivers used to use to monitor the schoolboys upstairs, but that we used to look down instead to look the driver in the eye, and to see how fast the bus was going. That freezer looks interesting. F

Houston, I think you have a problem. I got myself a spiral fracture of my metatarsal going down a step of about this height back in 2002. It was a pain, as it was just after Golden Balls did his metatarsal, and I got ribbed horribly. All I did was miss the edge and stamp hard on the lower floor in my slipper. I think at the very least you need specific comment from a Lettings Agent on the step, and probably from the Council HHSRS person in EH - perhaps the latter by phone. It is a nice HMO so there is nothing to be defensive about. My opinion is that if you couldn't have got rid of it (you say it was impossible), then the hazard could have been designed out, and risk minimized, more effectively. I think marking it is a bit "sticky-plaster"; but certainly check what the regulators say. As it is.. 1 - This step is across the middle of the kitchen, and is not an expected height for a step. It is too high (>15-20mm) for something that your shoe just slopes over. 2 - The kitchen design maximises traffic on the step, because it is bang across the middle of the work triangle. Fridge below step ... sink, cooker above. 3 - The floor materials are hard and slippery, which will maximise slip risk and impact of landing. Never mind things like damp floors. 4 - There is no floor colour contrast so it is camouflaged. 5 - The step is full width in the kitchen, so people will traverse it at an angle ==> trip and slips more likely. 6 - Everybody who comes in or out of the back door must traverse it, which includes all the visitors who are not familiar with the house. 7 - It is in an HMO, where risks are known to be higher. Ideally I would deal with 6 at design stage by swapping the window and door over, so visitors enter the house below the step. But that is a sunk cost. Given the step, or as things are now and based on what I can see from the pther thread, I would probably want to do these things 1 - Make it a 2 part kitchen (cooking + eating) by dividing it along the length of the step with a wide peninsula unit / breakfast bar. The "sink" side of the BB would be along the line of the step, leaving perhaps a 90 mm cm passageway at the end. 2 - I would put my 2 fridges under the BB on the "sink" side to constrain the work triangle, having built up the floor level with a platform to the level of the upper floor. I would probably leave the freezers where they are. 3 - I would have a BB eating section on the other side. As there is a BB now no one needs to carry anything down the step, which will help with heavy things even of ignored with light things, and gives you a denfence-narrative if ever needed. 4 - I would make my passageway round the end into a shallow ramp (1 in 12 or less) with a non-slippery (prob. textured rubber) surface and a discreet handrail. I think 1 in 12 means your BB is 1.2m+ from side to side; an ideal width. 5 - I would have colour-contrasting and foot-feel contrasting surfaces in the two halves of the kitchen. 6 - I would then arrange things like the table appropriately. If you wanted to do those changes, it may not be too expensive, but the place to start is a risk assessment from someone who will be doing the marketing or regulating. But mitigating any of my list 1..7 would help. As LL I would be a little concerned about a scenario where someone breaks something, and decides to pretend it was the done in the kitchen. I could not disprove it. As LL if the step is still there, I would think twice before renting to older tenants. My take. Ferdinand

PS I would be thinking about things like spreading Junipers that will be 20ft wide and up to about 5 ft high, in 12-15 years, and a huge bank of different-coloured Pyracantha in front of the garage (heaven for birds). This is Landscape Design not gardening - go to town on it. F

Lovely job. I just happened to glance in the mirror; I have gone slightly green. The language ... esp. the heavy eaves, and window / door proportions and placing eg heavy chimneys, mullions and windows continued to the roofline: for me that look is Lutyens or Arts/Crafts inspired .. looking at places like Deanery Garden or Fig Tree Court. The marker is heavyset vertical proportions but still an emphasis on the horizontal as the frame. I am sure that someone can identify parallel comparators in Scotland sure that. William Kerr and The Gean? I would be interested to hear a bit more about your inspirations. What is your landscaping scheme? To me a key element is how you are going to handle those large pieces of blank wall next to the front door, and on the face of the garage. Not having features on the wall there, to me it needs a concept or something to root them into the plot. I would look to something quite architectural as the core, to provide a counterpoint to the smooth texture of the walls. Good job. F

I normally leave those hidden as far too easy to delete by mistake otherwise. Do Microsoft still have Delete next to Rename in the Right-Click menu?

Having been of slight help to a member of the community, I am cashing in my right to make a horrible pun. ? Twas in a restaurant they met Romeo and Juliet Having no cash to pay the debt Romeo'd what Juliet. Ref Chivers Jelly Bumper Book of Fun, in my possession when I was about 7. I hope to remain about 7, except for the uh-hum. F