Ferdinand

Thanks all.

I have no idea for the cost per sqm of these, but alternatives might be SiPs (talk to people who supply garden offices as self-assembly kits) or Block with external insulation, which would reduce your internal-finishes costs. There may be relevant thoughts on this thread: Can you buy your cat rooms as offsite-constructed cubicles for a competitive cost, delivered whole on a lorry? Have a look at companies that make student bedrooms or modular bathrooms for hotels or hostels. I assume that you have consulted with other catteries as to how they did it? Anything on cat forums? I am interested that catteries do not require a room with water supply etc separate from the kitchen, or an isolation facility. The difference between contractors and self-management is a risk-cost sliding scale. You have to decide where you fit on that. For some ideas (a lot of work for you) check out the blogs of @Crofter & @Triassic (the cabin part) Ferdinand

Welcome to the Planning System ???.

Once the tree has gone, your No-Dig Planning Condition is likely to be unenforcible, and you may be able to ask for the Condition to be removed on the basis that it is "no longer necessary", and in fact would fail 5 of the 6 required tests: But your blowback could be instant TPOs on all the other trees, which would then be confirmed or not depending on their evaluation of public amenity and tree quality. And perhaps attempts at enforcement. How to play it? I think I would think through, and create if I could , a "landscape strategy" (ie a draft or prepared plan of your proposed garden and attached words, in a report format), which I would then if necessary use to show that it was reasonable to remove the tree. That may assuage any visiting Tree Officers who appear out of holes in the ground with itchy trigger fingers, indeed they may like it. I would apply that to the other trees too, and I would consider doing the works before I talked to the Council to make sure that I wasn't going to get any TPOs that were showstoppers. I would also make sure that my new garden was more nature-beneficial than before eg genuinely appropriate planting (eg undergrowth, bushes and trees with food, and some taller dense stuff for nests, hedgehog holes in fences, and swift boxes etc). Our birds are currently gorging on the Pyracantha berries. A further advantage is that were you to attach the Plan to your PP in an appropriate manner if possible, it may bring some of your landscape works within the scope of reclaiming VAT. (Make VERY sure that they are not protected before you do works; to prune or remove a TPO tree is an offence, and unauthorised works done during a building project are exactly the circs where they would seek to enforce.) This is a strategy to be considered carefully in the light of the local circumstances and the trees concerned. A half grown sycamore that cannot be viewed from a public road is a different situation to a fully grown Turkey Oak that is loved locally, for example. F

Welcome, Iain. This is your biggest enemy at present. No good learning things after you have committed to, or started, a course that will prevent you doing them. So it may be a good plan to take a little more time or learn faster ?. Don't overset your expectations if you are planning a full renovation, or you might suffer from 'bugger we only just started'' syndrome at 6 months. That looks like a spacious small terrace (reminds me of some of the early c1800 ones in Hammersmith), rather than one of the hoofingly-large ones that there are a lot of in Scottish cities. Your thinking is a good start, but there are some areas you need to extend it into imo. Some things IMO missing so far from your list that it would be useful to know are: 1 - Just how far are you cutting it back ... eg are you going to brick or skimming. 2 - What are your plans for the floor wrt eg insulation? 3 - Are you in a regulated area wrt conservation etc? 4 - What are your plans for a heating system? 5 - Are youplanning solar? To my eye EWI (External Wall Insulaton) does not look feasible without doing the whole terrace, so also wrt IWI: 6 - How high are your rooms in general? 7 - Ditto the doors? Are they original and are you keeping them? 8 - How large are your rooms (ie can you afford to lose say 100mm to insulation if you need to)? Have aerogel on your radar if you just need to insulate the front wall and your rooms are small, though your bank account will know when you have bought some. In terms of where to start, I would suggest a Heat Model on the @JSHarris spreadsheet (someone needs to provide a link to where it is now), and also on the Stroma EPC software. That is to understand your house, and also to know where your target is. I would recommend aiming for at least a B on EPC, as it has to be a C for future rental if that will be needed, and is a decent place to aim for. If you are building a 20k-30k extension, then any extra money you spend to take your insulation from "good" to "very good" will be relatively small. ie so do it. If you sweat your extension budget just reasonably well, it should more than cover the other. On MVHR, you need to consider it and balance cost against benefit (including comfort), but you do need a ventilation strategy alongside your energy strategy. The ventilation strategy needs to address the extra difficulty you are causing for for both moisture and air to escape from your more sealed house, compared to the original permeable-walls-full-of-holes. That is, both heat and humidity. I find big benefit from a PIV at the top of the house, and some sort of outlet (eg Heat Recovery fan with backdraft shutter in kitchen or utility, and a low volume trickle setting) at the bottom (usually kitchen). It does make a material difference, either in the case of poor glazing (even single), or with well sealed 2G or 3G, as a intermediate between trickle vents (spit!) and MVHR. It is about providing an alternate route for moisture and air now that you have significantly sealed the walls. Others may argue keeping the walls permeable by choice of material as they do not like full membranes. My view is still to allow the walls to be sealed more but provide robust always on background ventilation. Finall,y remember to integrate your systems in space terms, and keep them maintainable. My last one I brought all the services above the underfloor insulation and plumbing / gas / electrics into channels in the insulation in my floating floor, which I think works. Had separate rockwool insulation under the suspended floor providing an overall insulated envelope. For the next one I will look very carefully at AHSP not gas, underfloor insulation, a floating-floor type underfloor heating system, and electrics running around the edge of the room under the floating floor. That will require good underfloor insulation, and careful tactical consideration for light switches etc. I'll stop there, but happy to answer any questions. My renovations have been mainly rentals so robustness, maintainability and resilience are very important to me. Ferdinand PS You need to decide how to handle those nice windows if you put 2G or 3G in if not there already.

I actually meant if eg Scrote gathers rubbish in England and dumps it in Scotland, or vice versa. Presumably laws are separate on even that type of issue. It wasn't a serious question. If they can't unify alcohol, then waste may be a taller order.

Snipped. Misread question.

Welcome to the madhouse.

Regulators making assumptions? Say it ain't so ?. F PS How does enforcement work across the border at Berwick?

I think that in law the person who supplies the rubbish which is fly tipped is responsible or co-responsible. ie your boxes - final legal disposal is your responsible. (Yes take the addreses off.) F

Welcome. Ask away...

I need to improve the ventilation of my own house (2009 chalet bingalow conversion, done to roughly 2010 regs), as it now needs to run slightly warmer for parent comfort reasons and is starting to feel a little stuffy (need to check humidity). In theory I could fit an MVHR, but it is a warm roof chalet bungalow conversion so that would be more than a little complicated, and also of course it would be a big disturbance. The plan is to try: 1 - a PIV unit upstairs - which will be on a wall on the landing not a ceiling with the unit in a space behind a stud wall in the roof angle, as nearly all the ceilings are sloping and if I get into the tiny roof voids it will be very tricky outside. 2 - Replace both upstairs and downstairs bathroom fans with (100mm) dMEV fans. 3 - If necessary trim a few mm off bathroom doors. I would welcome any comments. I am not expecting a transformation, just an improvement. I routinely fit PIVs in rented properties, and a HR fan somewhere downstairs, and all of the installations have worked well. Any comments would be most welcome. Cheers Ferdinand

If you make the plants ivy it would vanish forever in a couple of years. And so would the drive...

Starting at about £1350+VAT. Can anyone give a comparison like for like over the last 12 months?

I confess that I am still not *absolutely* clear which one you really want to change - the wall or the paving. Taking another tack, what about overhanging planting on the wall? It does rusticate it very effectively in a relatively short time. Personally I would do that and spend the 'perfectionising' money on a holiday or possibly a mistress. F

A BCO HOG? ?

+1. And I have recently had a conversation over the phone with a chap in the water company, which was helpful. This concerned their knowledge on a site which had been in the same ownership for a century and was now being split into about 5. They did not know anything so it was manholes and deductive logic. F

That's fairly extreme ... installing before the walls. A non-embarrassable workforce, and a neighbour who is a compulsory connoisseur in builders' cleavage.

Your problem there is that the sandstone is the same colour all the way through ... so it will wear back to the colour you do not like ???. Sandstone slips? (runs and hides) Could you alter the perception by repointing the mortar?

There is a product called Liquid Weather, that I know nothing about but the name. http://www.liquidweather.co.uk/liquid-weather-for-paving-paths-patios-and-driveways/ Or could you try something natural to stain it and encourage lichen etc?

Drafts = not finished ... sorry.

I did a series of blogs about things including hotel bathrooms (good places to learn about dirt traps and hopefully not phallic shadows from badly placed shower heads and lights) soon after this place started, but it stopped at 1 with an article about street furniture. There is still one in the drafts about bathrooms.

One way to sanity check that and also look for ideas is to allow yourself a few weekends away or citybreaks staying in AirBNB houses or modern holiday rentals, of which there are a lot around. It is also a lot of fun. F

Heh. Just looked him up. I meant Dr Kermode, with a PhD in Horror Fiction.

Personally I wouldn't paint them. Blowtorch to scorch? Or an external beathable dark stain? I think the stain would last better, and would darken further over time. (test first on an offcut)