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

A couple of supplementary questions: 1 - How soon after spraying should a coat be "backrolled" to slightly de-smooth the surface. If it is say a paint that should dry in 2-4 hours, is that something to do immediately, while it is touch-dry etc? 2 - I will need to do the same to the skirtings, which we are pre-spraying. Is the a rule of thumb (or intelligent guess) for "back-brushing" sprayed skirtings? Cheers Ferdinand

@recoveringacademic I have a couple of concerns about using concrete screwbolts in Durisol, and possibly the cost. I have used the hex-headed screwbolt on a number of occasions, eg to fix a wallplate for a conservatory roof onto brick or for fixing bolt down "post supports" for fence posts to a slab, American-style. Questions: 1 - Gripping Strength into Durisol, and size of hole ISTM that these (and concrete screws) rely on a really tight fix to the hard material - brick or concrete) where they are screwed. I am told (not sure that I have always done it) that Thunderbolts are put into a slightly smaller hole (eg M12 into 10mm hole), and the thread is self-tapped. In my experience just a hole 1/2mm too large will make a concrete screw much weaker, so is the concrete infilled matrix of Durisol strong enough everywhere for these to be put in anywhere? I have not done a test with Thunderbolts. I can see that fixing into the solid concrete in the Durisol voids would be suitable, however that could mean 30mm long Screwbolts, which could add quite a bit to the cost. Perhaps one to check. 2 - Cost. It is dead easy to end up paying 70p-£1 each for these, as prices are highly variable. Mine have usually cost more than the wood in toto, but I am probably being cautious on the number used. There are a couple of alternative brands to Thunderbolt available. One is called Lightning Bolts (same manufacturer?), De Walt do a range, and Screwfix have a product called "Easyfix". I usually use the Screwfix one, but no longer (unless I wangle that Trade Account and it applies): Have a talk to a company called Bapp Industrial Supplies who style themselves "The Largest Independent Fastener Stockist in the UK". @PeterW and others I know swear by them, but I only found out recently. They have a Preston branch. Just talked to them about Thunderbolts and their price is £45 per 100 for M12 x 100mm bolts, which go in a 10mm hole. 3 - If using these for mounting a wallplate I also get some large washers to prevent it sinking into the wood - say 2-3 times the screw diameter. Ferdinand

For information - is this 65% post pour, and is it based on wall volume, block volume, or just the content of the 'shredded wheat' part of the block, ignoring the void which fills fully with concrete? I would love to see a cross section of a post-pour Durisol block, but have not been able to find one. F

Good point, but I would counsel slight caution on the interpretation of Which? reviews for the long term, unless it is supported by long-term surveys. Their long-term surveys (particularly for cars) are imo more reliable. I would perhaps put more weight on mass or long-term web reviews, or the reliability of the manufacturer of the gubbins (not the badge), and the availaility of support should I need it. I see that Samsung's model numbers are now as incomprehensible as Neff's. Ferdinand

:-) (which is where we all are in some way or other)

Reporting back on the Wagner Project Pro 119 from @alexc. That is a £600 machine when new. My handyman did his first ever session earlier this week, and did 3 rooms with 2 coats of Leyland Trade Contract White over new plaster - walls and ceilings. Total surface sprayed was about 140-150 sqm x 2 coats = just under 300 sqm. That took 5 hours of actual spraying using a total of around 27 litres of paint, which had been diluted 10%. I went with Leyaland because current Wickes offers gave a good price of £1.30 per litre for an order of 30 or 60 litres (10l tubs 3 for 2) - about 30% below the best price the Johnstone's Centre could do even with a Trade Account unless I bought pallets of it. That is just about 1 sqm per minute, which is probably slow in the scheme of things - as we ran it at a lower pressure setting than Alex said was possible. So coverage was just on 10 sqm per litre - a little low but one coat was the first one on the plaster. We deliberately took an elapsed day or two to learn the system and work out the tricks and let the knowledge sink in. Masking the rooms was done carefully, and took about half a day, and cleaning the machine afterwards took about an hour. The estimate is that overall it is probably 3 times quicker if including the masking in this case over using rollers etc. We mixed the tubs for about 15 minutes with a drill paddle immediately before us, and had a bucket of water to submerge the gun when not actively using it - that may be overkill. There was quite a lot of overspray, but that is probably partly down to the learning curve. Masking the floor with building membrane would fix that. i think the easiest mistake to make would be to dispense paint into a bucket which has been used before and not cleaned *really* thorough - the little bits of paint which flake off are exactly the right type to block the gun and waste half an hour cleaning it. We just diluted the new 10l tubs 10% and put the paint pipes in there. Were I using buckets I think I would use a new one every session; the 75p or 99p for the bucket is cheaper than time cleaning out blockages. A good purchase, which will pay for itself within one job just in saved time. And I want Alex's plot moved to Derbyshire to build a house on. Ferdinand

I think your idea is more cost effective, and your price is good for new timber. However, cheaper is available on eBay depending on delivery or collect, and as low as £1 per metre for reclaimed. Or try a request on Freecycle ... people have to pay to dispose of old timber or take it in themselves sometimes. And are 18mm OSB or chipboard sheets cheaper than loft flooring ... your space is almost exactly 2 x 5 8x4 sheets, which would be about £15-18 each or a bit less for OSB3 Wickes or chipboard B&Q? COnsiderably less at Wickes if you nurdle the discounts and trade account etc. B&Q cut it up for free in many stores, and at Wickes you take a saw and horse and cut it in the car park if no van.

In many areas of the country there are setups that will insulate your loft for free, regardless of circumstances - even now. Call the Energy Saving Trust to check: In some places it *is* means tested; in others not. The same applies to Cavity Wall insulation iirc. More information is here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-cavity-loft-insulation Quite often they will want a partial contribution if you have over 100mm. One way to deal with that is to decide that your shed / downstairs underfloor / whatever needs insulating, and recycle the existing insulation for such a purpose. But check in general terms first :-) ,or you may get a warm shed and a cold house if they say no! Some might suggest this is a little marginal, but it is funded by us. There may be building regs records of what was done to your house in the past but that probably will not be a problem. On loft legs - what is too expensive? The cheapest I have seen is about 85p each delivered if you order 120+ from here: https://www.lbsbmonline.co.uk/loft-flooring-leg-175mm I hope that is helpful in finding possible alternatives.

Laundry chute in the Hot Press or corner of Landing :-). (Edit: Or dumb waiter.) F

@Ryan8087 You may find this "spending regrets" thread helpful: Somewhere there is an excellent post about overdoing the future-proofing, but I cannot find it.

@Ryan8087 I think that has come on significantly - looking really good. I love the variation of the S-facade. Further quick comments: 1 - You have not posted details of tech spec, but if it is anything towards what is "good" these days, those fireplaces will be mainly ornamental. I think I would argue for doors to outside and a terrace outside the 'living area' to give a good flow to the back garden for BBQs etc. Brick pizza oven outside ? 2 - Personally I would also argue for similar French Doors from the playroom to the garden. 3 - Playroom/study. Perhaps you need to think about how that will cope with being on the phone to a billionaire client while the kids are murdering each other in the background or practising the trombone. There are ways ... or the lounge could be an alternative study. 4 - For the showers, you have space for bigger showers (ie bath sized footprint) rather than cubicles except for the master ensuite. It makes a big difference, and in the one downstairs you may need room to shower down a large muddy dog. I like fixed screens not doors. 5 - I think now would be a good time to think about house / garden integration - axes, views and outline design of your garden and the landscape, prevailing winds and shelter/microclimate, vistas, what is hidden to be discovered later as you go deeper in, hiding or showing sheds and garden buildings, playing with the route followed by visitors and what they see, inside/outside living and so on. Lutyens was really good on this on a larger scale. 6 - What about all the things you will need to store, and where they will go. eg If the width of the porch was increased slightly, does that give you a place where potentially bikes, mobility scooters etc or other stuff could go at some point. A bike store is likely to be a planning requirement - but that could equally go at the back. Quick points: 7 - If you are planning for sprinklers, then just check your room sizes. I may be wrong here, but I think that some of those sizes may be just over the line to requiring an extra sprinkler head in practice. May or may not be significant. That is based on a nagging memory of a project. 8 - Pair of ensuites between bedrooms 3 and 4, or built-in wardrobes? 9 - The potential grannexe. Perhaps bear in mind the idea of a door in the hall corridor and a potential future door into the lounge opposite the d/s bathroom such that it could be a 1 bed annexe if desired. That really means do not put any infrastructure across the potential door that is expensive to move later eg core electrics. Ferdinand