Ferdinand

If you don't have downlighters your charge-by-points lecky will cost you less and you can put more insulation in the gap.

Your Council office or website might go back 15 or 20 years.

If you want something even more fun, then go with Tommy Dorsey and the Clambake 7 doing "Shoot the Sherbet to me Herbert". Bell with 8 uploadsble tunes: https://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Wireless-MP3-Doorbell/36-3998?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-Ii2msPN2AIVrp3tCh3FGwZdEAQYAyABEgKGLPD_BwE Can dance to that.

Isn't it @DeeJunFan who knows about Dormers? Or were hers too different.

OK @mike2016. Promised some more constructive thoughts. I am assuming you can get a self-build mortgage and looking at ways to smooth the process. 1. You are in Dublin where the rental market, should you need to rent out, shows signs of being tight for some years .... as the Irish Govt have only just started to withdraw the suppressive measures they brought in in the late 1990s which undermined new investment. 2. I think you want to (perhaps informally) risk assess your Planning Permission prospects given the plot space, entrance, policy etc. If you can do pics like that you may be able to do it all yourself for perhaps 2-3k (Euros?) rather than 12k. 3. If you want a lower risk process with some willingness to take your time I would think about keeping the build as 2-phase - initial build to regulatory / acceptable to you and girlf/boyf "move in" standard, then add your extra kit and finishes later. That is something like: a - Look at increasing current mortgage. That is probably the cheapest money you will get. 3-5 year fixed (with 2-3% cashback?) and flexibility to pay back after 3 years may be a good borrowing / risk reduction strategy. Probably the cheapest money you will get. b - Do *minimum* refurbs to your current house to make you not-uncomfortable, and make it saleable / lettable (regulations, minimum market requirements). This is usually a lot less than we think. When the House Doctor dresses things for sale, it is usually only hundreds of £££, not thousands. Focus your spend (and your *time*) on where you are going, not where you are leaving which will benefit somebody else. c - Do the build rapidly to what is acceptable to you (and no more). d - Move in, and rent out or sell the existing. Either pay back mortgage or get permission to rent out (criteria when choosing lender in 4a?) 4. Remember that if you have moved in there is nothing stopping you taking 10 years to finish it. This is how people used to renovate houses - apply to gold plating your newbuild. 5. Based on the plan above, suspect you need to spend on fabric (Irish Building Regs), but there is plenty you can delay on, for example: - Delay at least two bathrooms. Put a door through the utility into the Master 1 Ensuite and make it family bathroom, leave Ensuite 2 as storage, leave downstairs as a loo. - Use cheap 20 Euro doors and replace in 10 years. - Get a secondhand kitchen of ebay for <!000 Euro. Replace in 5-10 years. - Choose window spec carefully .. usually a big chunk of budget. - Turn that posh viewing window over the living area into a framed hole with a balustrade until later. - Simplify corner window? - Turn that fence into a post + 2 rails. - Forget the decking for now. If you must, get some concrete slabs for a patio and make paths with them later. - Finish your downstairs floor as painted concrete plus rugs or roll vinyl. - Similar upstairs. - Front drive gravel + kerbstones. And so on. So your 100% spend now might become 60-65% now then 35-40% over 5-10 years from income. Or the sale of the existing might let you blitz it. Ferdinand

Sorry ... thought it was an existing roof. My bad. Could you also or alternatively do a brise soleil like this to shade your windows, which would give you more solar panel area and perhaps fill an energy gap? Would give you 6-10 or so panels, perhaps 1.6-2 kWp or 3kWp+, depending on density of panels. It is at a Grand Design called Underhill House. Possibly the 1st certified ph in the country. More info. http://www.seymoursmith.co.uk/underhill-psv.php Just an idea. Attachment to the wall might skirt some Regs.

Can you fit an in roof system which is flush without pd? Would that retrofit? Or you could apply for PP.

Good counterpoint .

STOP GOLD PLATING !!! If it is as tight as you say you should be stripping stuff out, not putting it in. Pretending that we must have WIBNIs (wouldn't it be nice if...) is the worst enemy of all of the enemies of the formerly cost conscious self-builder who is soon going to be broke. There are lots of ways of making this possible and less onerous, but you are going to need self-discipline as the foundation. GO and enjoy window shopping in posh shops, and look at all the things that are only bought by people with too much money that you do not need to buy to enjoy your modest new house . (Outburst over) Will return tomorrow with some ideas. For a start you perhaps only need one bathroom not three, and a downstairs loo, for the first 5 years. Probably a 6k saving right there. I will comment from an English perspective, but the principles will transfer to Dublin.

Stairway to Heaven. or Dancng Queen if that is refused. Or make the other half agree to make the sign, then choose something with 43 letters.

There are standards which apply (see the Building Regs docs or your council website) if you do more than a certain amount of work on a "thermal element". I trust you have looked at the possibility of renovating *both* as dormer bungalows and selling the other one on. That way you will bet savings by ordering double the amounts. Ferdinand

DIY EWI is quite possible - you can buy kits. Or plan it for later. I have now looked at EWI on three different houses over the last several years, and in each case doing the basics properly (insulation, 2G, appliances) has at least halved bills, and destroyed the justification for EWI unless 50-70% reductions eg grants were available over commercial quotes. Ferdinand

As ever with selfbuild ... do the homework and map out the elephant traps, with professional advice where necessary. Of course, you may end up selling for reasons you do not know about, or dispose to kids if you need to end up living somewhere else, or a CGT liability may attach to a future sale depending on what happens, so keep the records anyway. Best of luck. F

Read this thread to help you develop the necessary scepticism muscles and sense of guesstimating reality:

See eg 2nd last para here https://www.primelocation.com/discover/buying/guide-to-the-3-stamp-duty-surcharge/#7KgouIrTHFQLRVp4.97. and here Check with your accountant or the HMRC, but that is what they say. As we know it is *freaking* complicated. F

Were it to end up outside the reclaim period you could offset the expenses of purchasing the second house against the cgt you pay on the huge price increase you will make because you chose it so skilfully . Expenses of purchasing includes stamp duty. I think.

Then marzipan, icing and a chocolate Christmas Tree on top ! I have a Tenant with a buildup of inside to out cladding, membrane, 100mm rock wool, 4 ply polycarb (do not ask - conservatory conversion), ventilation, metal cladding ... on a sun lounge. She does get noise through the roof in the rain / hail but says it is acceptable. That suggests that you do need something more towards the type of thing @JSHarris is suggesting if you want to be much quieter. My only comment would be that acoustic plasterboard may be a possible shortcut should you need to simplify; It can be effective. F

I would say get the self-build one first if you worried. But also talk to a broker to run your numbers on Btl first ... due diligence is much more than it was. Also if You are the higher tax rate bracket your mortgage payments over the basic rate threshold will be treated as if they were income not expenses within a few years. So talk to your accountant to make sure that you will actually make an income. And think about the management and the mountain of regulations too, attending an appropriate suite of courses. If you are in a landlord registration area in England it will add £10-20 per month. Cheaper in Scotland. You may find this appraisal calculator helpful, as a calculator or checklist. I think it will do the calculations without requiring your email address. https://www.property118.com/calculating-rental-yields-and-returns/ Ferdinand

Maplin have a £4.99 one that seems networked. https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/foxx-project-water-sensor-a76wa

Yep. Modern and complicated ;-). For the substantive point, what about the normal aluminium sealing tape - though it may be a sod to get off again, or cannibalise ribbon connector or 2 or 4-core phone wire? F

You seem to be buying excessively new or excessively complicated cars .

@HerbJ What is the low walled area on the right, please. A pond? Ventilation for a basement swimming pool? Looks interesting.

Dad used to argue that the space was always more useful inside the house for British weather reasons, and say to fit French doors with a 'fence' aka Juliet balcony. There may be exceptions eg south coast or other coast or views or rivers or town-centres. or perhaps for outdoorsy people or for dog space. I have argued for something more like the two level + canopy boardwalk on a Deep South house which is more useable and really nearly part of the garden not the house; perhaps even to be structurally separate from the house in these times of wall penetrations being bad. Were I to go for a cup-of-tea-and-newspaper balcony, I think I would want a combined one across rooms or more for the kitchen or living room to get wider potential use. Think of the tendency in Eg Grand Designs to have French Doors in Ground Floor bedrooms eg Underhill House in the Cotswolds. http://www.seymoursmith.co.uk/underhill-psv.php F

Welcome. I think your single most important step, if you have not already done it, is to go and look at one for your ultimate size of application installed in a site as similar as your requirement as possible which has been there for 5 years, and have an in depth conversation without the presence of a rep, particularly about the reliability, ongoing maintenance, and install costs on top of the supply of the unit itself. And about space requirements, since the 16 person Clearfox seems to be a bit of a chunk once assembled. I would be interested to hear the Clearfox price, as it does not seem to be widely advertised. We had a normal Aquatron at my parents home for up to 4 bedrooms, and that did fine for decades with zero maintenance except a once a year minor dig-out for compost. I am not clear why you are thinking about the stream - if it is as good as you say it is and you are on 20 acres, then a leach field or land drains should probably be good enough. I think simple septic tanks are now ruled out by regulations on output quality. On the electrics, the Clearfox EW16 Nature (is that the one?) technical data seems to talk about a "dirty water pump 230V", which is far better summarised by the German word "- Schmutzwasserpumpe 230V". "Ew" seems an excellent model name for such a device. Not sure what that is about. Check the datasheet section on this page: https://clearfox.com/en/domestic-wastewater-treatment/ . One question that some here have prioritised is whether you have to get down and dirty when doing maintenance. We have some threads which touch on this and some questions around sewerage treatment, regulations etc - I have linked a couple below, but you will need to explore if you have not done so already. The old Ebuild checklist has links to regulations. Ferdinand http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/18509-checklist-in-preparation-off-mains-drainage/

That was The Triangle in Rugby - at least the plywood chimneys were. They are now on about site 8 or 10. I tracked the the first few, and they did get better each time. At the start they were a bit gimmick-driven eg pocket orchards. Now they do far more in-house, and particularly thorough engagement and Design statements. But they are still in expensive areas. https://www.habhousing.co.uk/projects I am quite impressed with how he has driven it on. It is the type of smaller company we need another hundred of. Ferdinand