Ferdinand

Thanks that is a series of alternatives. So 220m of 6mm draw rope should be a little under £20 in your hand.

That's Aldi. @Onoff wants his welder and a profit.

Cheers.

@Tom In addition to policies etc, you also need to go into your Local Council office and ask to see the entire Planning File for that site. It is very variable what is online, so you must look at the Planning File. As a second best, put in an FOI request for the entire file, which will probably come as a PDF. But that may have missed out bits by mistake - what you want is to be alone in a room with the file for an hour or two. Ferdinand

OK. Been through the stuff. The cordless tools seem OK though may not last years and years and buying all 3 means I have 3x batteries. The rope is not as cheap as can be done elsewhere. Will be returned. The packs of grinder disks seem fine. The saw horses will be OK, but are not any cheaper than similar at other places. I have yet to test the vaccuum cleaner, but about £30 is impressively less than a Charles. The (£25) steps are very impressive, not hugely high but solid, and have treads which are 30cm x 20cm so suitable for people with Clown Feet like me. Ferdinand

Does anyone have a good source for buying rope to put in ducts for future cables etc? Normally I think this would be the blue polyprolylene stuff in 6mm-10mm I bought a couple of 20m length x 10mm blue polyprop and 10mm braid rolls from Aldi this w/e at £3.99 each, and thought I would check prices = 20p/m. It is now going back. The best source I have found is Timko Ropes of Tarlporley, Cheshire, who do 6mm, 8mm and 10mm blue polyprop draw rope for around 5p -> 12p per metre in lengths of 220m, 500m and 2km. Plus postage of £7->£11 if you cannot visit. Surprised at the light weight - 500m of 6mm only weighs 7kg. So for example 500m of 6mm blue draw rope delivered (not NI, Channel Is, or the Highlands and Islands - sorry) inc VAT is around £38. 220m delivered inc VAT would be around £18. Any other recommended sources? Ferdinand

As it happens I have to buy fire alarms today. Might try a different branch :-).

Good work. Is old granite as straightforward to cut? Thinking granite from EBay I would probably have avoided cutting the holes by using a sit on top sink and range cooker. I am lazy that way.

They have 5m hoses and accessories under separate cover.

Bound to be less random than B&Q. I can predict the phases of the moon. Listen for the Husky down the road howling the the night before .

I am working on a Screwfix Trade Account, which give discounts of up to 35% (they said) but it is not clear what selection of products attract a discount. They were saying that if a qualified electrician or Gas Safe engineer opens one on my behalf during a project I can continue to use it afterwards. Ferdinand

A reminder that the Aldi DIY Special Buy is today, including: Welder for £70. 24l Compressor for £80. Mini Bench Grinder for £27. Cordless 20v tools including Recip Saw, Grinder. Air tools. 20m extension reel of air hose "10. Also consumables such as: Pack of approx 150 x Welding Electrodes 3.2 x 350mm £8.99. Pack of 11 thin cutting disks £3.99. Assorted pack of 11 disks also £3.99. 20m ropes for £3.99 - duct cord perhaps. Puncture proof wheelbarrow wheels @£15. And lots of types of tape. Website: https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/diy I find here, with about half a dozen Aldis in a few miles, that there can be a significant time difference before they sell out. Some things go in a day in some places, others stick around for a week or more. I am heading down, and probably coming back poorer. Add: the coming back poorer hunch was correct . Ferdinand

I would say that the answer to such comments is either to educate them or ignore them.

Hope she likes it ... and it is a good job you did not meet Esmeralda.

The copyright laws include an express exemption for private research, study and commentary. F

Interesting 63-page Phase 2 report, of which about 2/3 to 4/5 are references, appendices and the normal stuff. And it ends up recommending NO ACTION. Google and the map interface on the council w/s are useful ways to find things sometimes. In your shoes I would very carefully consider employing an appropriate professional to review my application before submission, as a quarter way house between self-planning and getting a professional to do the whole thing. I would want someone with significant (= 5+ years) local experience of this type of development with this particular Council, and ideally in the same geographical area. I would find one by asking in independent local estate agents for their MRICS, and then have a conversation with the MRICS to see if they are appropriate or can recommend a professional colleague. You could also look at people who wrote reports for previous applications that impress you. When we did our (housing estate on family land) Planning App I chose the chap who was in the local paper stories who won the permission for a controversial housing estate. Should you go down that route, the brief of what you want to know is crucial as you need to use their time efficiently. I think I would expect to need up to a day of their time, including a detailed 1-2 hour feedback and questions meeting, and budget up to £400-£500 - perhaps making clear that it was advice for which I would not expect liability cover. Negotiating your terms is quite tactical. The benefit for you would be a better understanding of how the LA will approach it, and more corners k ocked off your planning app, and what areas you can de-emphasize etc. eg You could potentially save your barrier and soil costs if they know information that helps your case. That is for your judgement on the Time and Cost/Benefit and Risk Management triangle. On the topsoil, whether they ask for a landscape plan or statement or not, you can include one (and to design your house) which involves removing minimal topsoil during construction and afterwards. That is *if* you are confident that the soil is OK. You could design it as a family football garden (ie the existing surface as lawn and raised beds) or similar. Personally I dislike the habit of micromanagement of developments years after completion - it is another example of planning overreach. Apply KISS. Like the Heritage Statement, it could just be a para in the D&A perhaps with a sketch plan. You may need to exclude most of the back garden from construction traffic to prevent disturbance. Would they buy that? What does your Soil-chap say when you ask him how much soil would need to be removed? You could of course also use your dug-up topsoil for reprofiling areas of the garden. Not sure how it is handled, but I can see someone deciding on the basis of the Soil Report that it must be treated as Controlled Waste or something similar, just in case - I have infinite faith in the ability of big organisations to make excessive decisions because it seems sensible at the time. At which point your skip bill becomes a little larger than it was before. Perhaps other BHers know better on that. If you want certainty then it is one of your two options. Over to you. X marks the spot :-). F

No apology needed. We all do it all the time. Project vs topic. Tricky decision. I usually end up with 2 of each as a compromise :-).

It looks more thought through but still pricey. Does it include VAT? What brand of alarms - is it an OK one? How many days will it take to fit? Does it really need those banshees? Presumably the alarms are all linked anyway. Before you were outraged at £3000 + VAT. This is £3400, which is nearly the same assuming VAT is included. Is it? @PeterW thumbnailed it at around £2000 + VAT iirc. Another data point needed? Ferdinand

Take great care here, or you could create rods for your backs. It is shorter to take the time you need now rather than spend 2 months doing gas monitoring later. Soil Conditions At this point step back, take a breath, and over the w/e read what the report actually says - eg what is a "must" and what is an "ought to", a "could", and what is a "perhaps". Remember you do not *have* to submit this particular report. They are your consultant and you can have a conversation with them about more appropriate wording (or omission of some parts), given any further information you find out. Watch out for the box-tick reflex here. The Council's easiest response will be "he should do what his own consultant told him to do", which will translate to a Planning Condition. If you do not want to do a Phase 2 + monitoring then you need to be able to justify on balance not doing one. I think you need some more data eg are you actually in the Landfill buffer, or is it just the bottom of your garden, have tests been done before, have other developments (esp. single houses) between you and the Landfill been allowed with only a Phase 1, and so on. You should be able to access public data on eg monitoring points on public land or the landfill itself. You also need to watch what Council policy was back then vs what it is now. No good arguing on the basis of a policy that has been superseded. I think you are going to need some sort of Ground Conditions report a a separate item. Take care with what it says. Did not @JSHarris note that you could do your own Phase 1 report somewhere? Suggest you re-read Jeremy's Food Risk Assessment linked earlier in the thread. It is a good example of how to use official data to argue for your own justified conclusion. Even the last para is designed to use the existence of official data, as well as its content, to create the path of least resistance for the Council to be to follow the Applicant's desire. There is no pussyfooting "in the opinion of the Applicant" here. Heritage Statement Though this is flagged, the need has also been undermined by the Pre-App, so you will be quoting that for a start. I would work out why it is supposed to be a Heritage area, what the relevant Heritage Assets are, and show how that is not affacted by your plot (hopefully you can show it doesn't, otherwise you may be employing Archie the Ologist to watch your builders dig holes). You can do things like choose a method of construction which involves less digging. I would make the Heritage Statement a carefully worded section of your D&A explaining whatever it is you find out, and how that means it is appropriate to do 'X'. Ferdinand

Do you want this here or on the other thread, as it relates to the Pre-App Advice you posted there? FYI My comments are over there.

You need a paint spraying machine . There was one for sale but it has gone . I am managing my stress by not going to the Local Council Landlord forum happening next week.

I am sure those small rooms could be further optimised to give you a door from the hall to the utility. The WC, the Heating Store, the Bathroom and the Hall can probably be juggled to save some space. Get that WC nearer to being back-to-back with the bathroom one and you will make your soil pipes less complicated. What is in the heating store? One option could be a corridor straight from the hall to the back door, but it perhaps all needs playing with on graph paper. Another could be to turn the bathroom into shower room, with shower where bath is now, shunt Heating Store at same dimensions 1-1.2m to the right on plan, and make the utility L-shaped extending to the hall with a door opposite the stairs. If you feel something straight off the Hall needs to be a little more important than a utility, then make it a walk through wine store, or something else you need more. (What do you need more than a wine store?)

Get it in writing. And keep you eyes open for sales on 1m long masonry drills :-).

Heh. The difference being that in Spot the Ball you got perhaps 25 crosses and 10 bonus crosses for £2. If we get our one cross in the wrong place it can be more expensive :-).

Yes. Chatting with the professional disaster recovery chappie who sold me those dehumidifiers last week, he said this was a standard technique to provide a short term fix underfloor. It also makes it easier to see where the water is coming from, of course. If is is inaccessible then a length of flexible duct can be used to channel the air from the heater. F