Ferdinand

If they protest, is it a viable Plan B to have a name and address stamp, and just ask the sales person to initial over the top? Or even just to stamp it?

And there was me thinking that Leica suffocated in a space capsule . You really want one of these vintage things. Mint condition and under £5. Now you can measure an imperfect nonagon of fixed perimeter for your not quite perfect surroundings. Or if you want to waste the whole day have a schlepp over to the Sippican Cottage - he makes things, in the sticks. And he writes well: Nearly as good as some of those off-the-beaten-track self-builders. Ferdinand

I think the issue with wooden worktops is a hard finish and be clear how you are handling food prep ... hygienic wood or chopping boards etc, which might enable a slightly softer finish. We had a softwood + polyurethane worktop for a few years when I were a lad ... not really a success as the surface was too soft. Oak goes like iron, of course. I worry about low-impact people in yurts or roundhouses in the woods who use too many secondhand scaffold planks etc. I trust they do not them for worktops, but they have all sorts of 'orrible stuff that has been absorbed into them. You could go really trad and eat off trenchers .

You need one of these to go with it.

I think if I was doing a "rustic + wood worktop" kitchen, the I would make sure the worktop overhang was 50mm+ to give me the opportunity to completely change the finish by putting something on top of the breezeblocks at least twice without demolishing it first. It would be wonderful to use your own oak, which I think would be OK (check) - get a man and a minimill in to plank it for you if it is large enough, or have someone take it away. Ferdinand

Have you determined your material? That is concrete done in situ. What about rendered or painted breeze block and a hunky-chunky wooden worktop? Londonerati would pay 10k for that. At least. Or get the counter from a defunct butcher in a right-on area for the worktop. We had one of those once. 4 big men put it in the small Simca van sticking out, and the only way we could unload it at home was to tie it to a tree and drive away. Or the slate from a snooker table (often 1" thick). My other favourite is stainless steel units from commercial kitchens (bankruptcy auctions). They have an industrial but glamorous look that is very attractive. F

As an example of what you can do with GRP, this is an example of an experimental GRP pantile-like roof made from approx 8x4 workshop made GRP panels. They built a section of roof in the factory. This is an example of one of my father's (architect turned GRP specials manufacturer) projects. This is a 2009 (ish) photo of a roof installed in the early 1980s. As you can see the individual panels work well, but the connections - while being acceptable in practice (it was a pitched roof on a previous flat roof so there was a waterproof layer underneath) - are not good enough aesthetically after the time. To work long term it would require better waterproofing and better attachment to a structure. The issue is resilience of the shape under environmental influences. The individual panels are ideal for eg porch canopies, cost considerations aside - would be a good solution where you need a lightweight roof section which would be suitable for a conservation area or similar, if you can get the Conservation Officer out of the coma they may enter when you suggest GRP. This bungalow was completely renovated in about 2011 with the roof off, with the roof being taken to traditional pantiles. I wrote a blog about that here back in 2014. I would be interested in @SteamyTea thoughts, but if no one ever tried this kind of thing, we would lose some of our innovative new ideas.

The one thing I would add is that GRP is an extraordinarily useful skill to have for any number of jobs that you do not expect, since it is a waterproof robust surface which can adapt to any shape, and can be eg translucent or fire resistant etc with the correct materials. One technique is to make a pattern in a controlled environment and then fix it afterwards. At one time we did an entire roof from sections of GRP pantile like surface made by building a section of roof in the factory, or slate looking translucent panels used to provide light into traditional roofs. Worked a treat.

Your other option if you happen to forget to get BC involved is to go 'omigod I forgot to get BC involved can I ever forgive myself?' when you sell it and buy an indemnity policy for your buyer if it is within about 5-10 years of installation. If it is a serious project you will quite probably get the certificate as part of the quote. F

I think that replacement windows are subject to regs, but a registered installer is a competent person to certify their own work. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/14/doors_and_windows/2 If you use an unregistered installer you are supposed to get the BCO involved. The ones I have just had done my installer advised me for example to make the openings on some vertical not horizontal to form escape windows from bedrooms, which was different to the existing layout.

I think it is something you can tackle yourself once you have learnt the skills. Perhaps do a roof for a garden shed or a gazebo or similar first as a trial. @SteamyTea has much more personal experience than me; we had a family business in fibreglass specials that I watched. Ferdinand

This is the point at which I admit to being a nincompoop. I ordered from the Amazon page below when rushing, looking at the big picture of the 5l can not the "1 litre" in the text, and this morning received a surprisingly small parcel which will be going straight back. This is why bikini models work at car shows. I will be going for the Wickes one mentioned above at £21 each. Ferdinand

Hi @Lucy Murray Someone on the forum wrote favourably of the look of dark coloured upvc. In that case grey. My estimate of lifetimes is: UPVC - 20-30 years Softwood - 20-30 years. Aluminium on Wood - 40-60 years. Hardwood - 40-60 years. With appropriate maintenance, which is more extensive for wood. Depends on how it is treated, and weather conditions etc, and there are exceptions on both ends of the range. Do others agree with those numbers? For budget reasons, I would say make sure to get quotes from independents as well as nationals, and see if you can trim costs by small specifcation changes. There are a couple of threads around trying to compare costs, and it can be +/- 30-50% for not incomparable windows. Wood style finish to the UPVC is 25% to 50% more on the frame element of the price.

At a quick check I see there is a Howdens on Skye in Portree. My current Howdens catalogue, in addition to Lamona their own brand, includes ranges from AEG, Bosch and Neff. Prices should be good if you or a friend can be trade, but the guarantee is only 2 years. Another option. Service details are here, and not as good as I wished for above: https://www.howdens.com/appliance-collection/howdens-appliance-service/ But they cover appliances in Boats ! Ferdinand

My thoughts @Crofter- I would emphasize maintainability and local service in addition to price, and deemphasie brand if it is at least 'acceptable'. IMO your guests want / need for appliances: a - Simple things that can be used with zero instruction, or no more than a flash card. I do not see them cooking more complexly than say a roast chicken. b - Stuff that works. c - A viable instant alternative if it stops working. d - A repair that will be in place to benefit the remainder of their holiday. On supplier etc, I would go for someone who can mend / replace the same day if necessary. Your guests will be paying £300-£700 a week (?) and it only needs a 10% requested refund once or twice to cover a rapid repair or better service warranty. On (a) and (b), that says "basic plus one". For an oven, for me that implies single, quality, oven, easily controlled and with nothing more complicated than a timer. A fan oven with a decent grill may be good. For a hob that means ceramic for maintenance, perhaps knobs not touch-buttons so easy to see "on or off", effective "still hot" lights and perhaps easy child-lockouts. Does it want a "zone" ring (not sure what they are called)? Given the choice of induction hob or pyrolitic oven, I would take the latter to save cleaning time for me in case they do something horrible to the oven. (c) I think you want a microwave from day 1 for resilience and convenience reasons, perhaps with a grill. (d) Rather than ebay and gumtree I would look at local suppliers on the Island or just off, where maintenance is close. Either a local independent if such exists and can do a rapid response, or a multiple if such exist. I am appalled that no one has mentioned coffee (*). I would suggest a large double walled stainless steel cafetiere (I have ProCook), and an Aeropress, which makes amazing real coffee in a single mug. Both are about £25. Ferdinand (*) PS Apart from @divorcingjack.

I think they are good for studio flats, too. F

Thanks. You can create Activity Streams to watch, or one of the forum gurus may reply. I'll stop there with one further note. IMO one easy way to manage your bedroom overheating will be to have a canopy of some sort protruding at a suitable height and distance to keep the summer and shoulder months sun from penetrating your window, while letting the low winter sun in. It could be a thing which looks like a modern version of top of the kind of 2 storey veranda they have in the deep south of the USA or everywhere in Sydney, or think of the way Georgians did wrought iron verandas in Brighton, or even an awning or fabric. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@-33.8847748,151.2141381,3a,75y,137.36h,86.48t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0qkmkM0EqYR-QCJx3L3xkw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1 And I'll leave it all there. I had ideas about a double storey boardwalk on that side of your house (wild west hotels / deep south), but the extension makes it mainly moot. Now build it :-). Ferdinand

All true. The window is so stonkingly high that the 6" or so sticking out of the folded door should not be material - you will get enough back in the angled portion. I would make one out of corrugated cardboard or insulation sheet to check clearances. If hinged on the axis suggested with no changes to the opening it will be roughly 450mm one way and then 1050 the other way which leaves a 600 wide triangle at lower height which could bark your shins. That could be managed by eg: - adding 650 to the opening so it would line up, - having a narrow balcony (projecting Juliet) balcony if desired so that the triangle was flush against the side of the balcony and it is impossible to get past it unless you are in the prcess of defenestration in which case you would probably want it there - arranging the fold such that the projection is on the inside then creating a design feature eg built in wardrobe against which the trip hazard would be flush - have a third leaf so the triangular trip hazard folds back on itself. Lots of options . Or making the opening a bit wider and fitting a normal door and triangular fixed window :-). Ferdinand

From the HB&R article I linked: F

Examples of pivot doors. Article in HB&R about pivot front doors: https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/pivot-doors/ 12 Examples leading to patios: http://www.stevewilliamskitchens.co.uk/an-alternative-to-the-sliding-door-12-pivot-doors-leading-to-patios/ Domestic British at the house of Peter Aldington. This has been there since the 1960s. Photo credit: Turn End Trust http://www.turnend.org.uk/charitable_trust/ Frank Lloyd-Wright at Biltmore Hotel I am sure that Frank Lloyd Wright used them in domestic settings in the 1930s and 1940s, and finding some in Arts and Crafts or historical settings would not surprise. F

If you just want to do the window as is, here are three more types of door which would work fine ... 2 and 3 are perhaps much more straightforward than anything suggested so far. Both could be fabricated in steel or hardwood, and done in hardwood by a local skilled chippy with DG units from a local company (I would go laminated to be anti-shatter just in case). If you are sensible you would have a vertical glazing bar where the fold or pivot occurs for robustness and stiffness, and have 2 DG units - or do very careful calcs. The company I linked upthread may have the kits. Phone up and ask, then if they say no ask who does have them. 1 - Concertina. Bad Idea. 2 - Offset pivot - basically the hinge is part way across the door. Make larger doors more manageable. One issue is that your resulting opening is only 18". My solution to that would be to enlarge the opening to line up with the one below. Work really well paired as narrow French doors too. 3 - Custom bifold. You can do offset bifolds, where the track leaves the door more outside than inside or vice-versa. Again, completely normal. But I still say that you need to think carefully about the whole scheme first not the window.

I think there is value in displaying the island OS map, too, so that they can plan their day like Magnus Pyke, and see where they went. F

Interesting.

@ThePoplarsBrief responses to your suggested options. 1 - Rejected 2 - A door on a sloping hinge is a nonstarter imo, since no BCO (and you will have BCOs as a balcony is involved) will touch it. It will weigh a hundredweight - 50-60kg, and when open the corner will be 4ft out and 3ft in the air. You will need assisted opening (hydraulic or power or winch) and it will have to be failsafe and industrial strength, since that lot collapsing back could cripple someone. 3 - Rejected. Also UPVC would not imo be adequate for a door that size and you may need to do a lot to your wall structure to support such a weight. 4 - I think a modified 4 is one of your serious options - with enlarged opening, a normal door and a fixed light on the right. 5 - You could get a custom door from your local UPVC glazing company, a local chippie, or someone like Crittall (remember those steel 1920s-30s windows?), who are still going - or any other number of companies. If you have someone like Crittall your 10k budget for the whole shebang will not last very long . 6 - No comment. I think there is a very good reason why Velux only make them the size of a single doors width, and give you 2 or 3 if you want it wider. 7 - Out and Slide or Top Hung and Glide door. This could be done, using standard components when you find them. eg Barrier Components supply kits for patio doors and pocket doors and other things. http://www.barrier-components.co.uk/ But that would commit you to a 4m wide balcony. As to advice, you will need a Structural Engineer and maybe an Architect on board anyway, so find one early and ask them to use their knowledge. I think you need to consider more than just the window, and are perhaps focusing too tightly on that one element. Perhaps muse on how it fits into the facade, what overall look and feel you want (eg idiosyncratic, modern lived-in like Aldington *, or Shiny Shiny We Are Obsessive like some Grand Designs, or something else), and what else you are going to do, and then focus back on the window and what it needs to look like in the overall picture. If you don't look at the slightly larger picture I think this project could expand sideways of its own volition, and you may end up doing that anyway. To me at the moment that window looks uncomfortable. It cannot decide whether it is part of the upper half of the facade, because it does not match the cladding in colour and with that horribly untidy set of truncated panels to bodge the grid into the edge of the window frame; or whether it is a unit with the patio doors, but the sides of the opening are not in line and nor are the glazing divisions. I have a few design thoughts which I will put in a post later with the aim of provoking your thinking. And I wonder what is under that cladding. Why did they put cladding on just the upstairs .. to hide something? That is often why people render or clad things. Ferdinand * I listened to a presentation by him last week, and I am still reflecting on it.

Noted :-). We have a big freecycle group here.