Ferdinand

TX.

Keter Factor Plastic Shed 8x11. For various reasons I am having one of these to store extra building materials, specifically big doors and space for 8x4 sheets. There are a couple of brands of plastic sheds - Amber Skylight is another which has a translucent roof but worse reports. Keter review better and also do a more expensive one called Oakland which is paintable. Normal price on a Keter Factor 8x11 is about £899, but I found one at Costco for £699. No delivery charge but I paid £15 for a 12 month membership as it was cheaper than the 5% non member premium. The one wrinkle with these is that the base needs to be very level. Arriving next Monday. Ferdinand (Just checked and the price is now £799 - oops). Still cheaper than other places.

Cheers - new one it is then. F

Once you get through the design, one option is to make up a pattern and manufacture the fibreglass bit in your workshop rather than pitter-patter about on the roof. Then you simply have to do the joints while outside. In that case you are able to make a couple of spares. F

If you are going to need a football or rugby team of consultants, then imo on a scheme such as yours it is a good test of your architect's suitability for managing the whole thing that he can come up with suitable recommendations. However, I seem to recall that your architect is one to whom you are particularly attached, in which case you may need a Planning Consultant type to help you find the right other consultants. Elsewhere I think I suggested building a relationship with a local experienced MRICS, who may be the person to turn to. Ferdinand

My good (Kent and Stowe) pruning saw requires a sharpen. Slightly torn about whether to just replace since they are only 10-15 ukp. Does anyone have a recommendation for a suitable file and where to get one. I think I need a narrow angle diamond profile file - a thing called a "Cant" file. Ferdinand

@Adamantium I think that those different drainage studies may be addressable by a single ologist, potentially in a single report or series of reports, and that you should get that ologist to recommend the sequence, such that one might demonstrate that you do not need to do the rest. Similarly, nature, trees, bats, and ecology etc may be addressable by a single person. Or as @JSHarris says, sidestep the whole caboodle. If you are going to need a football or rugby team of consultants, then imo on a scheme such as yours it is a good test of your architect's suitability for managing the whole thing that he can come up with suitable recommendations. However, I seem to recall that your architect is one to whom you are particularly attached, in which case you may need a Planning Consultant type to help you find the right other consultants. Elsewhere I think I suggested building a relationship with a local experienced MRICS, who may be the person to turn to. When we did an Outline PP on our (housing estate) site with the intention of selling to a big developer we used Mott McDonald for our drainage survey and design on the advice of our lead PM / Planning Consultant. They were not cheap but were good. I agree that there is an issue that the Plannign Conditions seem mutually contradictory. See the 6 tests: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-of-planning-conditions#Application-of-the-six-tests Ferdinand

Not sure on that, or whether the end panels are up to being a door. Slab internal doors from a house being renovated work well if you can find one.

Howdens do not do wardrobe sized doors - or didn't when I wanted some a month ago. They will offer 2 small ones joined together.

Is your build MBC? Do they have a detail?

Is that a reference to my post, or somebody else's? It should be a straightforward calculation based on the (horizontal plane) roof area it will be draining and the standard extreme rainfall case to be coped with (seem to remember 2 hours of x mm per hour), using 100% of the roof area above the dormer plus 100% of the area of the flat roof area. Can you use the numbers from a trad dormer with a gutter all the way round emptying onto the roof since this is identical to your worst case of 100% of rain ending up at the back, and since the horizontal plan areas receiving the rain will be identical? The roof down the side of the flat dormer will need the same detailing as trad, and should be a standard detail ... with added belt and braces if you choose. The tricky one us the back detail which needs to be deliberately robust. Fibreglass there going far further up the roof than anyone says is sensible should last a long time. Ferdinand Ferdinand

Can anyone comment whether those generators were good?

Highly intelligent question from a journalist demonstrating full knowledge of how planning and building standards work: "Do you know who wrote the Building Regulations Part B?"

Onto the roof?

MAke sure you take your waterproofing a significant way up the roof so you are protected when there is standing snow on it. I would suggest 3ft up the slope if you can. That was the distance we did for difficult to access valleys. Ferdinand

Are you sure one of you isn't talking about the face of the wall angle and the other the light direction? Add. Reading your last post I make the light beam perp to the window as about 7:00 on a clock, which is ... umm ... umm ... 210 degrees. F

For a SIPS floor you will also need to take some care with sound management, since a SIP may resonate. Ferdinand

@Fallingditch It probably turns on your definition of Developer and Modernist Houses ! Not something I know a huge aamount about, but there are eg small cul-de-sacs of half a dozen being done who I call developers (have those near here), or serial one-at-a-time developers who like modern - places like the South Coast and London. We have a coalition of 4 locals here who have PP for about 22 houses in a wooded area around an old manor house, who are selling it as acre-plots with houses custom built to customer designs. Could go modernist, but stonkingly expensive, http://www.chad.co.uk/news/new-homes-to-be-built-for-affluent-area-of-mansfield-1-7985048 Here is one done as part of a 3 house garden development a few years ago near here: http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/43689787#eI6Pff4giHSQbvGt.97 Not really sure I call that "modern", and the HS2-East Coast Mainline link is going through 200m away. I recall that someone did a couple of Solar Hemicycle houses (in the Home Counties?) inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's work in the last couple of years. Being simplistic, I am not actually sure that it was different last time round in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s - Council Estates and eg SPAN aside. Innovative construction techniques, yes ... the trad looking Boots Estate near Nottingham University are steel-frame and quite modular iirc. The well-known innovative stuff I remember is architects and well-off developers, then innocative Councils, then rather downhill as the accountants asserted control. I would be interested to hear your further comments. Ferdinand

Somewhat political para - some may wish to skip. I would not call McDonnell a moron. When he was on Ken Livingstone's team he was competent at his job. I think he knows exactly what he is doing .. which is to exploit this to promote his political ends. And if that involves making untrue claims to whip up partisan audiences and fomenting whatever he wants to foment, that would be just fine by him. McDonnell has a record for that as long as Pinocchio's Nose. Now non-political Here is the research report commissioned by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, ad published in Nov 2016, showing that the "cuts" of 10 Fire Stations did not degrade the performance of the London Fire Brigade to below acceptable standards https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/mayor-london/our-publications/review-resourcing-london-fire-brigade and the press release https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/overall-the-service-has-coped-well-with-cuts The proof of the pudding is that Mayor Sadiq has not instantly decided to restore those Firestations, Fire Appliances and Firemen. The reason it is not necessary is because incidents have been on a downward trend for 2 decades, and there has been excellent general work around fire alarms etc. The last 5 years: To be fair to Mayor Sadiq, the report does suggest that the Phase 2 suggested by Boris Johnson should not be pursued. That however, is not what they are blaming. Personally I think that £50m of capital raised by selling 10 fire stations, and sites for a couple of hundred flats with their concomitant S106s and reuse of redundant buildings, was probably an excellent decision. I thought so at the time when I read the various reports, and I have not changed my view on that. Ferdinand

Have now done these, cutting 300mm down into a relatively new (bought late last year) 90mm x 1.6m round pole in 75mm slices, and into one which has been in stock for a couple of years. Interesting results ... blog article coming. F

Did they use Private or Council BCO? C4 News gave a platform to a Planning Officer this evening to talk about the perils of Privatised BCO !

I will slice up one of my posts into 50mm slices to see, and post results here. In the meantime I may do a blog or thread about building a Ferdipatio.

I was hearing reports on R4 earlier that the reasons for 100% failure so far (60 out of 60) were because the "flammability" tests were being applied to the foam core element of the cladding panel, not to the full sandwich as applied to the building. If that is the case, and the previous testing regime is deemed to be faulty (rather than faultily applied), they will have a difficult job prosecuting anyone.

Ouch. Gorse bushes are nearly as good as Pyracantha. Not quite the same, but...

@Cpd Mine come from an agricultural supplier and I believe their supplier is Richard Burbidge. Been using the supplier for decades. I can probably justify cutting down a 90mm tree stake to have a look in a couple of days. @recoveringacademic this particular need is for a post and rail fence round a patio. Ferdinand