Ferdinand

Welcome. Are you buying coatings etc? Might it nit be a good idea to wait for at least Outline to be approved? Just in case... Or did you mean costings and got mugged by automisspell? Edit. Just like I did.

Good price ... who was the supplier?

Herb tea or a glass mug.

OT. FOUR hinges on the door? Wow. I am just putting in some of those and have gone for 3 x 3" ball-bearing hinges. My doors are 30kg - how much do those Firedoors weigh? F

Good condition Billy's are often available for a song on Ebay. As ever, the way will probably be to buy somebody else's entire study.

The solution is perhaps an insulated lorry-driver's travel cup.

An appropriate Construction Cocktail would dissolve the concrete into something that would reinforce your teeth and give you a sultry beatific smile . Just like Steptoe.

Presumably for a Campavan you drive it on then declare SORN (?), to save a few hundred £££.

I think the negotiations and checks will take at least a year :-)

And ... are there bats.

I can help here ... have been on PCCs and am a bit of a Church of England nerd. It has water and gas and a drain of some sort, so service access may be possible though it looks like a long approach. Trench Arch systems have been used for loos in churches; no idea whether that would be allowed. 2* listed including aspects of interior so you will be circumscribed, but no tower. Listing entry https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101121876-church-of-st-leonard-wetheral#.WfNoOtHTWhA You need to get to grips with the CofE independent Planning System, to understand the building history and assess your risks, and talk to the Diocese of Cumbria. You may need to talk to the Secretary of the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) and find out who the Professional Adviser for this church was. This person advises the parish and may have written the periodic reports - see next para. Then talk to that person to explore the maintenance history... it may be worth paying for a couple of hours of their time. The DAC is the body that will have granted PP for past works to the church, but if you get it you will be in the Council Planning system and dealing with English Heritage and / or Conservation Officers. You need to get copies of the last several Quinquiennial Inspection Reports, which are condition reports required every 5 years for churches, and probably have read, marked, learnt and inwardly digested them before your meeting with the architect. For how these reports and the system work explore the Churchcare website, especially these pages http://www.churchcare.co.uk/churches/guidance-advice/looking-after-your-church/quinquennial-inspections/quinquennial-inspections-the-report If you can swing it, it will be of huge benefit to talk to a former Churchwarden, who are responsible for the physical assets and administration of the parish. Be polite to people - they will all love the building and mainly be dedicated volunteers desperate to see it well-restored. They may have been round this loop several times already. The Church authorities are likely to be professional and sympathetic, as they will have explored lots of options and want to get it away. I think you can probably be quite open in your discussions, but they have a legal responsibility to maximise return as consistent with their responsibility for the building. I wonder if you get the right to impose a Chancel Tax on your neighbours :-). Ferdinand

What type of church is it? Age? Materiall? Listed ... what grade? What is listed? Who are you buying it from? What parking?

Indeed. I have updated.

[Edit - Aha having read more carefully i see that it has gone. Sorry. If nephew putting foot through asbestos cement once and no fibres are obvious I think you are okay. Sorry - trigger subject for me since asbestos got my dad.] Ferdinand

Does anyone have a build nearby that the Harrogate party could visit?

My answer to that one is that we need to develop sufficient hinterland / nouse to give us the confidence level we require. Pinning tails on donkeys is a favourite party game (for those watching) for very good reasons .

My larger Makita one only cost slightly more than that Ryobi one, and seemed to be much higher quality. I think I will stick and paint. Thanks for the comments all.

Interesting views. Largely agree. I think self-builders as a group struggle to deal with architects for a couple of reasons: 1 - Architects have a huge hinterland / experience, but are hugely *varied* but have an individual design language/style within that which is personal and often quite circumscribed. eg if I examine a Lutyens house or a Michael Hopkins house or a <name current architect> house, I know roughly what I am getting if I do not brief them otherwise. But most self-builders only build one house, and while they are struggling with the Planning and Plot swamps it is difficult to focus on finding the right architect that matches their own taste. Quite often, we do not know what is even possible. 2 - I think of the partnership as two people on a seesaw, and the self-builder needs to grow a hinteland and learn architecture-ese very quickly, to keep it in balance. That is not that the architect will seek to dominate, but just that there is an imbalance of experience and therefore power. 3 - There is then the money thing, and us not wanting to spend it. Personally, I would use artictects as another specialised consultant rather than a designer plus project manager. If I want a project manager I will hire a specialist project manager, and I am unlikely to have projects with big enough budgets to afford a full-service firm. There are some architects in larger-than-small practises and who specialise in individual clients. One prominent at the moment is George Clarke & Partners. Interestingly they only take on projects over £200k (= minimum fee = 20k-ish ?) and place a heavy emphasis on removing risk from the client. Though iirc they have a getout clause. Another interesting one is Allan Corfield ,who has modestly more staff than 5 and a growing practice, who declares stage payments based on the project cost up front in £££. http://www.houseplanninghelp.com/hph168-an-example-of-how-much-it-costs-to-hire-an-architect-with-allan-corfield/ There are also ones who deal with rather richer people. The king thing to me is those who educate the customer about the process, and are good at encouraging the customer to understand design / use of the building. Ferdinand

Will probably use this https://www.amazon.co.uk/400ml-Direct-to-Vinyl-Black/dp/B001W03PQS

So I have one of those lovely Makita tool holdalls for my cordless Powertools, How do I prevent it screamnig "I am full of Powertools, steal me"? I think I need a suitable black or grey fabric spray colour. Any suggestions?

Two identical ovens. If you have two, I would say that they should be complementary eg one gets really really hot for pizzas. And is the fridge sticking out?

I have watched this in the background this PM. 1 - They did not seem to say much about ventilation. 2 - I thought it was built to the boundaries, yet at the end McCloud seemed to be sitting in the landscaping. I missed the detail of that. 3 - I think the interior decor was quite impressive. Ferdinand

I do not think they are public. Hope I am wrong.

Not our caravan. We bought somebody else's self-build, and the address was still on the Bin Rota. There are detailed threads elsewhere on the forum.

On the address, the Council had the address here as "The Caravan, xx xxxxxxxx Lane ..". I think once you are assessed as Band A Council Tax, you have an address. F