Ferdinand

Having written the original Wayleave thread after our experience, I would be interested in the situation under Scottish Law. Is there a similar process where they can apply for a "compulsory" wayleave, for example? Best of luck.

Recorded delivery is the usual proof of serving a letter, but a Certificate of Posting (free from post office if it is like England) can also be used. Ferdinand

Edited.

@AliMcLeod I am not *totally* convinced by that 40-50k extra cost of the extra basement, but I am not well placed to critique it since I have never built one. However, I make it about 5% larger than the double garage, at 38sqm or so. All the structural work is there, and you would have access from above, so it should be down to spoil disposal, drainage (and the system is in for the garage), waterproofing, finish, access and fitout. One option would be to leave it as an empty ventilated void without fitout but with the basic structure in just in case for potential later. I am not convinced by £1250 per sqm for that extra work; others may know for real. And there is all the stuff around builder relationships, and also how you are doing your insulation etc on the whole fabric, and how much of it, and how an extra basement room would change that.

Can I politely disagree with that? Maybe not much time, but in my experience they do look. If you have tiles of a different colour they (especially buyers) *will* notice unless they are hidden (inner valley for example, or facing the back of a chimney, or under solar panels), and they may need to be randomised. Or it might not be a problem. (Have to admit that I love the thought of a future person taking the solar panels off a house and finding that the tiles underneath are germoline pink or lime green !). @Dee Do you have any in less prominent positions that you could move around, or where the quantity you need could be justified as a one off "contrast feature" (eg line along a dormer that is a single not a pair, or at the side), and buy some not-quite-matching or different? I am sure you have considered that, though. Ferdinand

Time for the asbestos underpants and the tin helmet methinks. All the best.

Good time to buy this; coal is being phased out by 2025. Though you could be on the HS6 route :-) .

I love the "Servitudes" . Are the Vikings coming back to catch us?

Top hung are rather more difficult to clean outside, especially on a shallow pitch - particularly compared to "Scottish spec" windows (ie are designed to be cleaned from the inside). Bear in mind trees, leaves, access etc. Are you sure Z-Wave is available with Top Hung windows? F

No problems at all. It is always a useful exercise for me as well. I am currently musing either starting a blog or maybe even doing a design qualification - though it may be urban design - so I enjoy chattering and assessing designs from plans.

@AliMcLeod Thanks for the reply. I think your account is really well written. Having marched half way up the hill like that, I had better summarise my basic thoughts here in case there is something useful amongst the maunderings. There is never any issue if you disagree on buildhub ... that helps all of us. Comments: 1 - If your plot faces south towards the sea, then imo the living set rooms of where you spend your time should probably face the sea - especially given that here they are at first floor level and above the road. Here that may give a swap of Bed 4 + Bath and the Kitchen, and a front door coming into a 'dining hall'. IMO that would be OK. Or move the door to the side - more drastic, or entrance ground floor then come upstairs to the main floor inside. Rather than having the kitchen buried at the back facing North and next door's side wall. Given your mother-in-law moving in, I think the balance may be against that. 2 - Main bathroom directly off hall inside the front door does not work for me.Family bathrooms are, in the public ... semi-public .. private succession of space, for semi-public or private - not public. 3 - Kitchen as is, and bed 3, are rather denuded of light - slit windows notwithstanding. Bed 4 does not perhaps really merit a huge chunk of your main floor floorspace with sea views, nor does the bathroom. 4 -That is a huge amount of potential basement space not to be using, given that you will likely have to build foundations round it. 5 - Equally that family room balcony steals a lot of room space and is designed to prevent you looking along the coast without going outside. 6 - The plumbing seems to be very spread out. Lots of pipe noises, complex maintenance, and your plumber able to afford a bigger house than you. Juggle some ensuites etc and save a few thousand (?). 7 - Does it need provision for a future lift given all those steps outside? And to help you and MiL (?) to move in and out. Those steps may be the thing that forces MiL into a home a few years early. 8 - The reasonably generous spaces between the houses do not seem to be used to their potential. Suggestions to follow.

Cheers for the reply. Leaving aside my own slightly tangential opinions, I think that protective films applied to the roof dg units may have potential, or perhaps an oversailing awning - but that is less aesthetically appealing. Jeremy specifically mentioned the "too transparemt to notice" brand he uses on the bedroom window here: Ferdinand.

Hmm. Difficult. Can you put a name to them (will the oldest BCO in the Council know?) ? How many do you need? And are all houses in the area similar? My BiL added a new tile hung dormer recently on his 1930s semi. He did it by knowing what they were and watching Ebay like a hawk for about a year first, and buying anything within range across Surrey and South London, and further afield for the specialities such as corcer-cappers and valley tiles.He ended up with way more than needed just in case and flogged the hundreds leftover off again. If you only need a few and they are used within your area for similar-looking houses, then I might try doorknockiing up and down the road, or putting a card in a newsagent, or even Freecycle. Ferdinand

I'll dip out of this one, because I think the basic concept is mistaken, as to my eye it looks like accepting a compromised - perhaps unusable - conservatory and trying to put a sticky plaster on it. People should not be living in a conservatory repurposed as an inefficient air to water heat exchanger. The better way is to catch it on the roof, and keep the living and heat gain separate. Make it a faux sun lounge which is suitable for summer use with a separate roof or canopy or put the conservatory where it belongs .. on the N side .. and have solar panels. But do you have a calculation of how much water can be heated by air extracted from a conservatory as a sanity check? According to my information x volume of water raised by one degree stores the same amount of extra heat as approx 3000x volume of air raised by the same one degree, and the volume of your conservatory is approx 60 cubic m, of which perhaps 12 cubic m are above head height, but there are many other factors involved, from insolation to efficiency of your heat capture process, at which point I decided I am offered more personal utility by going to bed. Though crudely that implies with 20% system heat collection efficiency you will need to reduce the temperature of all the air in your conservatory above head height say 10 cubic m by approx 15C in order to add 1C to the temperature of a 100l bath of water, ignoring running costs. Does @JSHarris have a suitable spreadsheet :-) Sorry for the ramble. Ferdinand

Most of that sounds sensible but would it be more efficient to have panels outside and a usable conservatory? You could probably mount PV panels on a separate frame above the conservatory ... or perhaps on the wall above as a Brise-Soleil, which would come out over most of the roof. (Underhill House on GD did this and it is a still one of my favourites.) And could you use one of the anti-solar films to help keep it cool? Ferdinand

Clickbait has been a thing for a loooooonggg time. Here was one from the Guardian: "Five reasons hen and stag parties should be saved" But the Mail, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post are probably the best outrage-trolls. The Huff Post specialise in outraged complaints about women as sex objects and their own pieces about bikinis and side-boob. No - OnOff - I am not finding you any. If you want something really funny, try this ... a greatest ever from Buzzfeed, The 29 Stages of a Twitterstorm Savour the detail. We had one last weekend when a poor guy called Neil Taylor was roasted on Twitter because he had the same name as that footballer Neil Taylor who broke the other footballer's leg. Ferdinand

Interesting site, with oodles of potential. However (if I may) ... are you going to tell us you changed the house design? The practicality and utility of this one looks to be quite compromised to me - are you the victim of "Mirror Image Pair" house design? Has someone really thought how it will be used, and to make best use of the context of the site - relating the inside to what exists outside. If this is architect designed then imo it is a shocker with some really basic errors. I would apply a few changes to the facilities for a start. You have to tramp through the gym with your muddy boots, sandy wellies or oily overalls on to get to the loo :-). Then anyone wanting the loo while chillaxing in the family room has to go downstairs or use an ensuite - not ideal for a cocktail party. But I won't start on that if that is your future story :-). Ferdinand

Personally I probably would pay the extra £15 for a Mira and the 5 year over 2 year guarantee. I have one Mira that has been going strong since 1994 with only new shower heads. Ferdinand

What do I look for to see if mine has any flow regulators in the house? Will they be under every sink? (Do not like plumbing).

End panel from left over cladding?

A standard bar mixer. That looks impressive, and the one review likes it. And a 5 year warranty. Given another £5 off that by various means, it is tempting to buy a couple for stock. Can anyone shoot the product down in flames? Ferdinand

@Crofter Responding to various but not clipping all the comments - busy day. You may still want a lockable mini-store or cupboard for eg cleaning materials or spare crocks and glasses etc. On suitcases, that means you need space for them to be stood on something for the stay where they can be opened easily. The other type of unit which I think may help would be the slide out larder type from kitchens. Are you planning a dryer? I am guessing that in the location normally a line is ideal, but there are some occasions when all the wind does is blow the rain in horizontally through the fog. Personally I would not delete the washer - for some people (eg with a small child or baby staying for a week) that may be a show stopper. I have family who simply put the washer on a trolley similar to one of these with a flexihose and have the dryer stacked on top - easier for access and could just exist with the wheels locked in a 2m high 600x650 cupboard: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Washing-Machine-Universal-Appliance-Trolley/dp/B01LZDCNPK?th=1 I think if you have time to reflect on furnishings I would say visit a few hotel rooms and see how they do wardrobes and bathrooms - both because of design ideas, but also because these days facilities are much improved. Now real coffee machines are standard in mid range hotels. A nice permanent offer is Use the Accor Hotels Happy Mondays offer and you can eg bag weekend overnights close to the Royal Mile for £25 or a little more per double room in nice hotels eg Mercure booking on the preceding 2 mondays or Tuesdays. You need to join the Club but it is worth it. If i recall the space you have a mezzanine over the bed and shower room? One thought on open plan. You could not include a wall between the shower and bedroom, and instead go for low 1-1.2m wall or storage divider (does that help with the wardrobe?), or even a variation on the feature as included on the recent House that 100k Built (Series 2 Episode 5 I think - excellent house): If they are couples (which they are unless you have having push apart beds) maybe then only really need toilet/shower bottom half modesty rather than a cubicle. That one, while it looks chunky, is studwork with a skin of painted mdf over to curve. The round terminus is a seat to perch on, and has a hinged lid to be a laundry basket. Something like that between the bed and shower but less expansive could give a good suitcase rack cum built-in seat on the end with storage under. It would just need a little care integrating with your shower screen. On the doors, I agree they take up space. 1200 sounds good for a double :-). I *hate* double doors where they are so narrow that any normal sized person has to turn sideways or open both even if only carrying a small box; people who install those should be fed to rabid dogs for elevenses. They had a pair on Homes Under the Hammer this morning. Admit I would be tempted to move those (the issue is wallspace?) - but perhaps not until it was proved necessary; the stove view is good if you can do it. Ferdinand

@CrofterI am not sure I was clear. My suggestion was to put the shoe rack on the other side of the outside door as a set of shelves under the end of the worktop (if that is what it is). Our student bathrooms have a 760mm x 1400 mm shower in, and I do no think the 760mm has been a problem. However, the extra may help disabled access for "holiday home" mode. My other last comment is that if the division of the wardrobe is awkward and deep, you could use a tall set of freestanding shelves, or even trolley-shelves on wheels. Like this one designed for shopfiting (1.875m high, 1.2m x 450mm plan) but chosen to fit your cupboard size. They could go in a slot end-on and roll out to get to the stuff at the back. Your shoe rack could be similar. I think your 1.6x1.1m space will work .. it is just how to do the jigsaw. I suppose one other point is that if it is a holiday let, you perhaps want somewhere lockable that is off limits to guests to keep your own stuff and whisky. For me that would be important. Ferdinand

A good idea. But I would be inclined to make it as a separately mounted piece inboard the 3G or 2G unit, so I could consider changing or moving it later or take it with me - treat it like secondary glazing. Only problem would be the need to dust it. Mine is inside a 2G unit made by a local manufacturer. There is a photo somewhere. is HUT3 celebrating Bletchley Park and the decoding of Planning Law? Ferdinand

Coats would hang above a washer, if necessary split but a shelf halfway with the door on the other side. Or the washer only needs half of it at 1100x1600. A shoe rack would fit in an open unit in the end of the run of kitchen units by the door ... or just open shelves across the end 400 deep.