Ferdinand

Returning to this thread - I have the new car. The car he is here: And the house door she fits: There's a snazzy underfloor storage method for that luggage cover that I have not yet got to grips with, and apparently some sort of divider net too. I need a couple of protective products for when I am carrying things: Protector for the top side of the rear bumber. Come sort of robust boot liner. Protection for the passenger seat when folded flat. And I need to give a little thought to a stronger 'variable boot floor', as the OEM item is limited to 75kg. A couple of battens sat underneath might do it, but I want a decent answer for the long term. Ferdinand

Serious question ... what temperature are these tested to? I ask because the rubber multisize saucepan lids I have claim they are OK at 260 C, ditto the plastic fish slice etc. Obvs it will be a combination of load and temperature that they can endure, but it will be one hell of a disruption to the manufacturers. Ferdinand

Didn’t that get screwed up?

I am ready to order my background-trickle fans for the 2 bathrooms. Does anyone have specific recommendations? I need 1 - 100mm size. 2 - 240V supply 3 - Trickle + boost timer that can be wired to the lightswitch. I have spotted a few options, all priced at around 80-100. Vent-Axia https://www.vent-axia.com/product/lo-carbon-centra-t-timer Nuaire Faith https://www.nuaire.co.uk/residential/extract-fans/faith Aitflow Iconstant (need to find 240V version) https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/ADICSTT.html Comments would be very welcome, as these are all new to me. Ferdinand

Leaving that one for @newhome.

Accrding As a Welshman he has good cause, according to the Super Soaraway Sun: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4429826/welsh-blokes-are-the-best-endowed-in-britain-but-east-midlands-men-deliver-the-most-satisfaction/ Around here it is the favourite word of the ladies. We do not need the extra 0.55 inches. F

I do not know of any other obvious sources, btw. One option is that you could use 600mm and a capping or bead at the back. I have one where I built a set of custom small shelves with a bottom to the bottom shelf.

Welcome @Jenni. That last barn photo looks like several houses built by Buildhubbers, albeit not in quite such good repair ?. Will you be maintaining the look? Make sure to enjoy the challenge. It'll be like "After Henry", but horizontal. Or the 1st Episode of Grand Designs this series, where they were into the third generation building on the same farm, and Kevin McLoud's wrap-up homily was about the fourth generation.

My comments. 1 - Echoing @recoveringacademic, the main thing that could mislead you here is that you are looking at detailed things, before the more contextual questions about orientation on the plot, responding to nearby features, direction of sun etc have been considered. On this thread we cannot comment on the more fundamental things as eg we do not know which way is South. 2 - If you brief your architect with too much detail, then you stifle their possibly brilliant suggestions that you have not thought of. Give them space, and use what you have learnt on this thread as knowledge to resource the questions you ask about details and practicalities. See what happens if you keep your brief down to one page. 3 - I would deal with the offset door vs offset porch thing by adjusting the relative sizes of the two front rooms ie study vs lounge, and the ancillary rooms around them, so in effect it is your hallway and staircase which are offset internally, not the porch and front door. Though there's nothing wrong with an offset porch - it just means that 4 year olds will not get drawings of your house quite right. 4 - I think the downstairs loo needs to be off a communal area not a study or bedroom, though there could be an argument for 2 doors. I think a shower would be good in there for frail visitors or guests. Two things worth reading that are examples of the optimisation process: This thread This blog (all of it) - a well done, modest project Ferdinand

They look a touch tricky to get at later. But presumably not as hard as it looks.

They perhaps would not mind if @pocster runs it well and communicates well. There is a fantastic HMO blogger called HMO Landlady, here - very straightforward and sensible providing tooms for Housing Benefit type and short term tenants, who did that. She wrote these posts about it: https://hmolandlady.com/2012/04/23/easter-break-in-an-update/ https://hmolandlady.com/2012/05/22/cctv-installed-but-theres-trouble/ https://hmolandlady.com/2012/06/20/cctv-babysits-while-hmo-landlady-goes-on-holiday/ Sadly the blog is silent for the last year or two, but is worth a read backwards. Housing Benefit Ts stopped being doable with restrictions to eg the lower 3 deciles of the local market rent and a multi-year cash freeze, so I suspect she moved into more pro-HMO lets. The last post s about a 1000 a month tax increase coming down the track from Mr Osborne. Here's a slightly old interview, which includes some interesting asides, and talks about HMOs, and a bit of self-promotion. Ferdinand

My slightly bluff parlance for Harrogate, York and such places is "a bit of the South, Up North". Totally unjustified, I am sure . We really need to get all those hips of marble off our shoulders. Ferdinand

This is ... interesting and, unusually for the Guardian, appears to be reasonably accurate on the subject of housing. There are loopholes which are not mentioned, and the "supersized" is a bit tabloid ? . https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/13/westminster-council-to-ban-super-size-new-homes

Assuming that all the OSB is the OSB3 version.

There's a pool in my cellar Dear Lisa, Dear Lisa...

What happened to this thread? It has turned into Toxteth circa 1986.

The carncil will want the footway reinforcing for that, and the cost is likely to be £1000 ish I would say. You may be OK as it is a minor road, but they may also have views about enter-and-leave-in-a-forward-gear ie off road turning space. The easy way for that may be either the @ProDave idea, or possibly a sweep driveway if ProDave would impact your back garden. F

My view is do the comprehensive PP and do the drive + wetroom now. If you can put up with a manhole in your utility (if allowed now - don't know about that) then it could be done. You need to work out a table of you options and what is required for each, and the various costs. Not too diifficult and estimated from online tools (eg whatprice) should be good enough to give you a feel for the possibilities. Start a thread about the overall project and ask for help. F

Suggest a separate thread or on the other one. Ideally you would tell us where the existing drains go (look under the cover and see the directions), and where your plans would send the black and grey water from the new shower room. F

2 hours could put you as far away as Chesterfield or Colchester, so I think you probably need more criteria to avoid diluting your search. I would develop some criteria for the place you want to live - coast, walking country, shops, flatland etc. IMO the budget should be possible depending where you look and what you want, as by the time several years have passed you could have saved more. I have a perfectly acceptable 670 sqft bungalow with 3 double bedrooms, but most people want more. I could point you at a plot that just got permission for a 2 bed detached dwelling that is on sale for in the 30-40k range that may be replannable, but I am nearly at Chesterfield and that is 1hr 45 says Google. There may be much to be said for buying somewhere with a garden, then living in the existing and selling off afterwards - or similar schemes. The budget you need imo is an elapsed time budget to find the best solution for you. For 200k and those criteria you could probably buy a very nice house outright as an alternative. Ferdinand

I do not think you will get that drive - far too close to the junction. I have a number of 15m in my head for the minimum distance, but I have not looked it up. Usually ones closer were there already. You will need to be the other side of the path, or as @ProDave says off the existing next to your new extension. That side the kerb already looks to be at dropped height more or less, so you could just JFDI and see what happens. Perhaps not while you are the subject of planning's attention already, however - ie maybe leave it some time after the existing project. BUT consider your extension project. You can probably stick this drive on the same Application at minimal cost, once you have decided how you are doing it. Then if you delay one for >3 years, building the other will lock in the permission anyway. I'd go further and say include the new space for your eventual kitchen extension on the same application as another volume like the shower/porch, to give a symmetrical double roof and a nicely articulated attractive facade. Then you can build that as and when without more Planning Faff and Cost - just be careful to do it in a way that you know will be what you want in the future. There is usually no regulation for when have to finish the implementation of a Planning Permission. Your bloke doing the PP may well have suggested doing it in two planning bites, if he is not aware or is locking in future work (which is unworthy of me and probably casting an entirely unjustified nasturtium). Even if you never build it, the PP will always be a selling point worth 2-5k or as a persuader. Now, having addressed the other issues, what about this permeable driveway surface ?? What about the alternative to permeable from your document linked - traditional with surface runoff management which keeps water on your plot, which can be a soakaway or a flowerbed or similar. Why not use that huge lawn for what it does best and take the runoff there? It may need a conversation with the Planner as to what they will not quibble about. Elephant Trap: That manhole on your plan on the other thread looks as though it may cause issues for your extension - consider carefully what it is and what it does, and how you will integrate it. It may be that you need to move it - which will be easier now if that is where you plan to take the output from your new wetroom. Ferdinand

Welcome, Chris - I am just the other side of Mansfield. Don't do what I did once and put a foot in a half meter cubed test-hole half full of water in the dark whilst wearing posh trousers. Ferdinand

My estimate was out of pocket cost - £1800 per sqm * 303 sqm = approx £550k plus a plot which would be the thick end of £150-180k maybe. Equals 750k or so, which could easily be the "best part of a million" once it has had fees and more fees and extras and higher specification and more charges for getting bits done quicker and budget-creep and contingency and necessary breaks away and supplementary kit and repairs to the supplementary kit and gold-plating :-). Nothing wrong with gold-plating of course if you do it at the end after you have paid for the rest. > playroom could become fifth bedroom/grannex since the bathroom is next door Good stuff - the detail of different views may throw up other things. Best of luck, and spend spare time on thinking first not regretting later in all aspects. F * £1800 per sqm is reasonable for a complex-ish self-managed build. My plot price could be some way off as I am not that familiar with the Scottish sub-regions - except that Edinburgh seems to be expensive !

I would say that it is better to bring it to a head, but you also need an eye on the old friendship and how you will preserve it (or not). Difficult to advise on the latter, though it could end up as friends who disagreed one and move it, Christmas Card acquaintances or never-talk-again, and how you handle it coupdl determine which. F

Is there a chance that you could get the bit extra via a Non Material Amendment, under an explanation such as making it more thermally efficienct? F