Ferdinand

@Vijay Perhaps a small evergreen bush and a clump of something perennially ornamental in the summer needs to be applied in front, with space behind for access for the Meter Man? Or some other suitable structure such as a garden bench? If that plan is N-to-top the meter location could be an amazing little sun trap. Or grow a vine or some wall-fruit?

I would argue against cork, on the basis that - unless there is some new miraculous variety around - it will look the worse or wear after around 8-10 years, and then if it has been stuck down properly it is an absolute b*gger to take up if not sodden. So you have to go over the top or apply yourself with a scraper and hammer to take it up in postcard-sized pieces. I hope others had a better experience(?). If @JessieAndRoss are putting something down which is difficult to take up, imo make sure that: 1 - It will last long enough so that you will never need to do so. 2 - You can go over the top with the next layer (think doors to be trimmed, skirtings etc). 3 - Or SEP applies (c) Hitchhikers' Guide. You will be moving on so it is Somebody Else's Problem and you will not have a twinge of conscience. I would hate to be the person who takes up @JSHarris's bamboo floor in 30 years time :-). I bet it is stuck down a little firmly. I grew up with a cork kitchen floor, and parents also used cork in the following house and put Flotex Tiles pver the top after about 10 years. The Flotex was still fine 20 years laterm and I used commercial quality pre-sealed then post-sealed by me cork in my own house which became a rental. I agree it is comfortable Wood or engineered wood floor can be sanded and repaired, and can be supplemented with rugs. The other option I am starting to like for bedrooms is a full room-sized rug over whatever, because the not-too-expensive Ikea Persian-style rugs we have from years ago (perhaps £12-13 per sqm in about 2000) are still going strong, to the extent that the 2 spares spare are still wrapped up in its original packaging. That is in a lounge and hallway not a bedroom. But I perhaps have extreme views on long-term durability and maintainability .. Ferdinand

Grand Designs Australia beckons. Really hope it works out well. On paintings, I now have a George Hall original canvas from his gallery in Sydney last autumn. And several rolled up prints that are waiting for my office to be tidy. Like a mug I bought it in week 1, so I was carrying this extra parcel from hotel to hotel until week 4. F

+1 Better off in your hand, than in their bush.

Does anyone have a good source for Dura Spin collated screws? I think I want box of 1000 for drywall, and also a box of 1000 for flooring, to play with. I am guessing 35mm and 37-40mm respectively. It would be useful to know the codes, as the ones on the case lid (eg 06a162P) do not seem to match anywhere Cheers Ferdinand

This is a 100 sqm bungalow, isn't it? Did you put loft storage in in the end?

Absolutely, not regulated - which is the same category as Kevin McCloud's product. The one I was thinking of was folk2folk, which is a Cornish B2B peer lender with a good record who offer 6.5% secured against an asset. I think his profile - and to be fair track record now - lets him make it fly at a lower rate, as it is thought to have a higher likelihood of success.

The band Runrig are named for the same, for a Scottish version of a Digger-like land-politics reason (I think), but I would have to look it up. Diggers not JCBs.

Kevin McCloud's developments have got better each time. Notably safe, southern, areas, but I do not think that a 4.8% return is enough. I can get a lot more than that peer to peer lending to businesses secured against property. F

Strips as in strip farming, I think.

How bad is it? Will the thing be uninhabitable? Or can the grain dryer run during the day when they will be out (suspect you need the 24x7 ability just in case)? Can you use those weeks as "medium" not "high" season at say 25% less rent, or for "friends and family" at a smaller or nominal charge (which may help you with the availability / occupancy requirements ti to get the tax concessions - others will be better on these than me). Solid chunky wooden fences may be an option for reflecting sound, at perhaps 1/3 the cost of a wall, but the whole thing is a bit of a black art. Or well sealed secondary glazing (or thicker units) is good for sound deadening with a larger air gap of 100mm or so. Ferdinand

How much will your rental income be reduced by for those 2-3 weeks per year due to a temporary noisy environment ? £500-£1000 per annum? Or a lot more? Are the works justified?

My Senco collated screwdriver and drill/driver is here. Beautifully packed. And in clean condition, everything included. For £120 inc pp I call that somewhere between good and very good even if I need to spend £40-50 or so on new batteries, and I think I can recommend the ebay seller, who is unfortunately not a tool specialist. . Ferdinand

Cheers.

That sounds like a need for professional photographs for your eventual website (which will not be expensive), and rents priced accordingly. Excellent.

That is sad - clearly very good at the artisan type of work. Why do you think they went through?

Bearing in mind that interest rates are low and due to rise in the next 6 months, I would suggest considering getting a mortgage earlier. I would also suggest considering a longer term fix so you can budget predictably over the length of the build. Thirdly, I would consider keeping as much of your own money as you possibly can as contingency / flexibility funds. 20 or 30k is an amount that can be swallowed by a small number of surprises. Ferdinand

How committed are you to an unencumbered island? Could plan B be something like a set of display or ingredient shelves at one end with a concealed duct to the ceiling from a downdraft extractor? May be less intrusive. Examples F.

Also bear in mind that for an island you will need to design the extractor ducts into your slab - or mess about with stepped floors etc. Also, there are length limitations on the ducting. @Plumbersmateuk Agree entirely. So where is the centre of the ball? Each cross wrongly placed will cost £100-£5,000. Ferdinand

Jeremy is right. The 3.68 (or whatever) limitation on PV is on "right to connect". We have 9.98kwp of solar pv on a single phase, and had to ask the DNO. And on of the faster of the normal car chargers, that was £100 extra when they were installing the normal ones free. Think it is a 7kw device. Ferdinand

Decided I needed to know about these, so I went looking a little. Boras start at about £5k iirc for the "Bora Basic", though I think that includes the hob too. Apologies for food porn video at bottom. Personally I might baulk at that, as it equates to £1 per meal spent on the capital cost of the extractor hood / hob if I use it 10 times a week for a decade (!), and I would prefer one or two extra ensuites. But people who have them, love them. Correction: Actual prices for Bora Basic start at around 2k-2.5k. My 5k is wrong. Siemens brands have things such as the Siemens LD97AA670B Downdraft Cooker Hood which comes out of the worktop like a James Bond television, at a little under £2k. Very cool. Vid at bottom. There are also a Neff one at about £1500-£2k: https://www.johnlewis.com/neff-i99l59n0gb-downdraft-cooker-hood-stainless-steel/p1629490?sku=233668456&s_kwcid=2dx92700024773953252&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CjwKCAjwranNBRBhEiwASu908JZzOAr5z6j3NN4yrp5H2vVuyZQCPb4yDShkFUW9TvjVJLM-cM0ZexoCByUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds If Siemens and Neff are in on it at that price, then there will soon be occasional offers at under £1000 for those at places like Curries and Applicanes Direct. Aha - I see that Appliances Direct already have a Smeg one (another Siemens brand) at £1200, and a Miele (also Siemens iirc) at £1600. http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/ct/cooker-hoods/downdraft-extractors If you are taking a couple of years to build, they will be rotinely under £1000 if you look and can accept one of those brands. And there are a couple of cheaper ones from lesser known brands: B&Q £592 - http://diy.com/departments/cooke-lewis-cldh-14-stainless-steel-downdraft-cooker-hood-w-900mm/291234_BQ.prd Flavel £430: http://www.shipitappliances.com/cooker-hoods/90cm-cooker-hoods/sia-dr91bl-90cm-touch-control-downdraft-black-kitchen-cooker-hood-extractor-fan?gclid=CjwKCAjwranNBRBhEiwASu908K441DOmm57S6DxnWVYj2TRAIh2FvjFDN7t4ueZoWZYHvZB_pFQgQhoCR8cQAvD_BwE Ebay deal: £350 (like the look of this) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MyAppliances-REF10219-60cm-Downdraft-Cooker-Hood-Extractor-Fan-Stainless-Steel-/272765613569?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368 Capel £640 https://www.appliancehouse.co.uk/shop/Caple-DD903BK-Downdraft-Cooker-Hood.html?utm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=XMLbase_feed&utm_term=Caple&utm_campaign=DD903BK&gclid=CjwKCAjwranNBRBhEiwASu908GpFXdPg27RifOmJMOLdbtyN_nEZR9zZW8RA7i0_iAmCF8x_118TOBoCO6wQAvD_BwE

I can confirm the last paragraph. I had a pile of Rockwool on our drive taht was for insulating under the floor of the Little Brown Bungalow. When the handyman got around to taking it over, he complained very slightly about the (small number of) lone-living bees from our old stone wall that had taken up residence. . Ferdinand

You can have an opening in the roof like Asterix . Alternatively, there are extractors which suck the fumes down through grills in the worktop, and a few people here like those. But they are not cheap either. Someone will be along in a minute who knows about them. Ferdinand

Congratulations on getting it through over (I think) the officer recommendation - I think that is quite remarkable even if you were landed with a reasonably large S106. I would have assessed your chances at about 12:1 against, or higher. There are a couple of people around, but no one I know who had actually done one themselves. On Ebuild there was a chap up in the lakes who was doing a similar cul-de-sac in the country thing, who was knocking around for several years making changes to his plans. I think his development was Flosh Meadows. He was selling off individual plots. I think it may be useful to have slightly fewer simultaneous threads than you have launched. Project thread plus extras for significant issues? Ferdinand

I think ours is 3 minutes, and it is one or two speakers for each side - objectors have to select one. If you have not won the argument in advance of committee you will not win there. It is about reminding them of your case - you cannot build a substantive argument in 3 or 10 minutes. That should have been done in your Application and in conversation with Councillors, Objectors and the Planning Officer first. However if you annoy them they or insult objectors they may get narked. Do not waste time on peripheral matters which are not material to planning, beyond a 5 second dismissal. That is for Officers to educate councillors and to be swatted on Appeal. So it can be important to have a Councillor on your side, as it is stand up, speak up, shut up - so if anyone spouts gibberish you cannot correct it. Also write to all Committee Councillors a few days in advance (or hand deliver) with a *concise* statement of your case. If it is more than a couple of hundred words they will not have time to read it. You should have already written to them in advance of that. If you have you could write individually composed letters to tickle their predilections and hot buttons. I had my agent speak for me, but it was an intricate argument based on no Local Plan (for some reason the Local Plan dog's breakfast had been on the front page of the local paper a couple of time in the months before) and National Policy presumption to develop. And it was politicised so we expected to lose.And we had Lib Dems on the case using us as a whipping post to place them at the head of a crowd. Ferdinand