Ferdinand

Edited: Must not divert the thread.

Interestingly it was bang in the middle of the purchase price ranges for the Pet Walk passive pet doors. It was the former showroom demonstrator model at Appliances Direct in South Normanton just off M1 J28. It has been there for at least a couple of years to my knowledge, and came with a normal 2 year warranty from the Manufacturer. I am in there several times a year so I spotted it, and a new Siemens fridge at about £600 was on the agenda anyway, and the existing freezer is about 25 years old, so it seemed to be a good idea. Website price was £2362.97, reduced clearance price advertised in the showroom was £1700, and they went down another 10% when pushed to £1530, which was a hard limit at which they could not move further. Very much "computer says". Ferdinand

That is exactly the point. You don’t know. At the LBB renovation, things that could have used spare bricks have included: - replacing bricks damaged over the years. - blocking up a gas vent to outside that was for an obsolete wall heater - replacing air bricks which were no longer needed. - supporting extended thresholds put in in case I do EWI in the future Other uses I have seen recently - Repairing spalled bricks where someone had not paid attention to or noticed a leaking gutter. - Changing the design of a threshold - Repairing a brick badly damaged by a cable installer - Repairing What was left behind when an old wall mounted installation was removed It may not be for any of these, but it may well be for something you have not thought about yet. Your esteemed visitor may drive into your house corner by mistake, for example. I invite you to take the risk and prove me wrong . I am just about to block up a couple of gas vents not needed now a bungalow has had a vertical flue installed, using white bricks my dad put aside in 1967 when he build what was then a cowshed he converted into his architectural office. Since then it has been a practice office, rented out office, granny bungalow, and now a rented studio-bungalow. God knows why he used white bricks, but I am glad I still have a dozen or so. Ferdinand

It is down the hill behind the old house in the garden and the most prominent gable is at the back, which may be part of the difference.

Small but important. Put a few dozen aside now, so that in the future you have matching bricks to hand for when you need them. Then build your retaining wall from the remainder .. unless it really does undermine the design etc. In that case, get a few more for spares when you can. There is even something to be said for leaving them in a one deep pile somewhere so they weather with the house. F

@nod I think the key insight here is Don’t be a Fashion Victim. Meet the needs of the self-build customer ie you or your boss, after taking any advice you may need. You want polished brass like the Edwardian Navy; you get polished brass and enjoy polishing it. One consideration might be to make sure that you can switch faceplates later, just in case the eventual purchaser of your house in 20xy *is* a fashion victim. @lizzie How do these floor sockets in wells cope with spills and leaks? Perhaps like most electrics ... let it dry out properly and it will usually work just fine after checks if the leak wasn’t something sticky or flammable. At home I have flat metallic steel in the kitchen and white with curvy edges everywhere else, plus something nearly the same but squarer where we have added a conservatory and in the utility. I am now standardised on Hager white for everywhere in refurbs, mainly as I quite like the robustness of their Consumer Units, and that the Electrician did not come out in hives when they were mentioned. Ferdinand

Are we actually saying that @newhome is the ghost of Imelda Marcos? It is a bit suspicious ... that racing simulator and the name Marcos, who used to build car simulators out of GRP. I recall that they even had a fixed seat and adjustable pedals. And a footwell requiring small feet. (Correction needed. No ghost, Imelda M is still alive.)

@PeterW is Donald Trump standing on his head. With a chainsaw, a Landrover, and possibly a real pelt like a bear.

Thanks. Success.

Just in case anyone wants to post a cat, how to wrap it (Very resentful looking cat) How not to wrap a cat. Maybe. It sounds like a small swarm of bees.

Well, the Liebherr fridge-freezer is here, and is a stonker. . It is also an ex-demonstration one, which I assume has a battery or a capacitor somewhere as it is still in demo mode (ie refrigeration not engaged) on being plugged in and turned on. Does anyone know how to get a Liebherr reliably out of demo mode? Otherwise I will have a chat to customer services on Monday. Also about the bulb which is non-functional, and a couple of missing screws and a missing manual. Small sacrifice for the small fortune that was off the price for something I would not normally have really considered. I also need another bottle shelf as it will not hold enough wine/beer. Awesome machine, though. Ferdinand

Far too complex. Occam says the cat goes out in the evening as comes back in in the morning if it is good. Since the cat here popped it’s close clogs I now have a spare cat flap in my shed if one is needed. You will be required to supply and install a blanking plate. I will not be accepting any parcels making meowing noises.

It depends on lots of thing, and coverage could be Half of that or 50% more. One trick is to buy more paint than you could possible need and take the leftover back. Suggest starting with this thread, as it is probably the most comprehensive. Any advice I could give is on that thread, though I am having a 100-150 sqm wall spray painted tomorrow or Monday and I may post some photographs. When we are up and running and using the right throughput on my machine to minimise offspray and paint bounceback, we will be using about a litre of paint every 3 minutes or so (which is slow).

Totally up to you. I do the whole floor if the floor will last longer than the fitted kitchen eg if porcelain tiles, and if I have time to do it first. The last one I did I used a floating laminate floor up to the plinths and into appliance spots, but I put a 600 x 600 black porcelain floor tile where the tall fridge would be. F

I think one routine with brambles is cut via a strimmer or brushcutter then weedkill with a weed killer that penetrates to the roots when th3 new shoots hav3 grown a bit. Brambles were done at a former house by pulling them up wearing leather gloves. Ferdinand

I am short of time today as am on a course, so no time for a Planning-Speculation session , but It seems unnecessary to me to give up the PP. I think I would get documentation that development has started in accordance with the PP ie Certificate of Lawful Development,. That gives you or your children the right to continue to build the house in the future. Then build your garage as you are suggesting a bit later. It is a fairly normal nothing to put in foundations for the future, then bury them, to lock in a PP. Councils may not be delighted but I do not think there is much that they can currently do about it. I do not see this as much different. One potential fly in the ointment is if they try to enforce on the new interim garage, but that is probably unlikely as it would not be expedient and could turn into a paperwork mud-wrestle at much cost in Planner-time. I do not know what the outcome would be should they try, but it could potentially be one for a conversation with either Planning Aid or informally with a Planning Officer. The extant and valid PP would be a significant value and selling point. You would need the docs to prove it, though. Beware the Council purging it’s files in x years’ time, and saying Dunno Guv. I think an FOI for your planning file and decision notice might be a good way of keeping proof in the system as well as in your files, perhaps even via the WhatDoTheyKnow service which will archive it online. I think that if you choose to walk away from the PP as if it never happened, you mayl need planning and or B/Regs approval for a garage development as if you were applying in the situations as it is now, unless it is possible under Permitted Development? The less expensive way to take that route may be via an application to vary your current PP or an Amendment to it, though a full new PP should be possible. Some neighbour-nurdling might be useful just to keep then happy and / or slightly informed of not particularly happy. Ferdinand

Let me just check ... are you dealing with poles on your land or just oversailing cables? The existence of an agreement to me implies the latter. Sorry for the supplementary questions ... you must feel like the Aprime Minister On a Wednesday . [Update: Aha. I see from your previous thread that the poles are just not quite on your land, which makes the existence of a Wayleave Agreement strange - to my understanding at least. Are you sure it is not an Easement? If this is correct, then the action may be needed by the person who owns the land and has the Wayleave.] For us, Notice periods were specified in the wayleave agreement, though there may have been some statutory rule involved as well. Would have to dig quite a bit to find the scan perhaps. They asked us to work with them, which was not a problem as we were selling with Outline. I take it you have a copy of yours by now? Can you post a pic or the text? Ours was very short, only a couple of pages. I have no idea whether it can be deemed that building close to a cable such that it becomes ‘unsafe’ can leave a civil liability for moving it. F

Three? Three! Colour me sceptical, as I seem to recall pictures of about twenty-three.

I do not think I have a huge amount to add to this. You may be off the common process map for resolving these situations. I would probably try talking to the wayleaves department at some stage (but see below), and exploring how one gets equipment moved if it is there without permission. Are you sure that that is the case? Depends on succession rules, and in my case it was the Wayleave Agreement signed by my Uncle in 195x (and the property had changed ownership 3 times since within the family) that let me just tell them to move the High Voltage line (after giving 12 months notice of my intention, then 3 months notice to move it). Ours was a high voltage out-and-return on several pairs of poles, with similar on neighbouring fields both sides, and they dug up the best part of a mile of road, some of it very busy former A-road, to put it underground and run through the new estate. Must have saved us a fortune. At some point you will have to tell them to move it, or come to an agreement that will involve one or both parties spending money, but that may make them apply for a "necessary wayleave" - in which case you could be in legal schtuck. At some stage your MP or local media may become an option. Given the amounts of money potentially involved (high 4 figures to low 5 figures?), I think I would want a consultation with a relevant solicitor first as to the status of the agreement. Depending on the content of your agreement it may be to your advantage that it is not void. I think I could find such a solicitor via an infrastructure consultancy. Or have a conversation and then cut a deal without legal advice. They will, however, deal with these every day so you may be entering a game of poker alone having experience only of ludo. I wonder if @Mr Punter has any experience of these? He is on a larger scale than me, so perhaps delegates . Best of luck. Ferdinand

That would normally be more like "f&^%$£$ w&^%$"$ c*(^%£&> roadhumps".

I think this is the one: The parking/manoeuvring facilities, indicated on the submitted plan, shall be surfaced in a solid bound material (i.e. not loose chippings) and made available for the manoeuvring and parking of motor vehicles prior to the development being brought into use, and shall be retained for that sole purpose at all times. Reason: To ensure that satisfactory off-street parking/manoeuvring areas are provided, in the interests of highway safety and the free flow of traffic and in accordance with Core Strategy Policy CSP 26, New Development and Highway Improvement.

I hate iPads and their spelling incorrectors. Gerard Hoffnung would have been redundant had they existed in 1938 (from 3:00). Still think that “disposing of old widows can be an expensive business” (windows) was a better one, mind. F

I think it will be that there must be an escape route from the bedroom to outside without going through a likely source of fire eg a kitchen. So you can have it down the hall past the kitchen door but not through a room which includes an open plan kitchen. Five stairs are not .. I think .. a problem. Alternatively there are things you can do to make such a route acceptable such as sprinklers in the open plan area. Alternatively I think you could provide a direct escape route from the bedroom which could be French windows or an escape window. And I think that locks with keys are acceptable, though you could always provide eg thumbturn locks if required or possibly even some approved rapid window-smashing device if such exists. There are many options. Ferdinand

Are there not versions of road humans then are put in with fixings eg like thunderbolts? That plus sika at the joint? eg https://www.barriersdirect.co.uk/traffic-management-c1220/speed-bumps-flow-plates-c1098/speed-ramp-complete-kits-p708

Leaving it as a sub base may be the best option for a bit. Grid paving to be filled in with gravel is a permeable option. Things like TruckPave come in at from £30per square meter, but not really ideal. Discussed here when I was looking for a perforated wall: