Ferdinand

Impressive presentation from the landlady. http://www.roomsinreading.co.uk/

It is a bit early to say it to this detail, but perhaps my greatest annoyance is the changed flow to the drainage. We have a large roof area - something like 100 sqm, and where it runs down the valleys from the now high roof it scoots over the edge of the guttering in a rainstorm. Not enough to be a problem, but it means i have to pay attention to keeping gutters clear. Do not underspecify gutters etc. Ferdinand

Absolutely. Horses for courses and polytunnel structures for weather regimens. It is a potential use for all the left over waterpipe from that big reel we all bought and were left with 25m or so. Alternatively one could use the compressor, some gubbins and an appropriate ball and make some sort of neighbour annoying Iraqi-style supergun embedded in the verge of the roof. Ferdinand

Excellent things. We used to have one for veg for years and years. One side was entirely strawberries :-). Can make your own eg by using water supply pipe slotted over tough stakes driven into the ground for ribs and wrapping in polythene or fruit netting can be used. Good for the UK climate. Or get a real one. The main problem was that some vermin e.g. Foxes might eat their way in. Ferdinand

Is this like ufh? Put the hidden ducting in but leave it sealed and a future owner or you if you turn to be Escoffier can fit the hood. F

= Vacillating Added Time

Still going strong... http://www.tufnol.com/index.aspx

Naive question. Is it functionally useful to provide a diversion by either trees close by or a mast of some sort (we used to have our satellite dish on a 6m metal mast near the house)? I expect the answer to be ... it might help, but only randomly and sometimes. F

Welcome. Our conversion has gables to front and back of a former bungalow. A huge amount of extra space over hips.

Apropos of a previous thread I cannot locate, Curry's replaced my suspected killed-by-a-power-cut 6 month old microwave without turning a hair. All I did was turn up at the shop with a copy of the receipt and the corpse of the microwave, and they gave me a new one on the spot. Technical explanation was limited to "it died". Impressed. Ferdinand

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Until the 14k quote arrives and you realise that the payback might benefit your children if they stay until 2050.

The other test to apply to a proposed staircase is the normal length of your nearest and dearest's comfortable steps walking in the house, and to compare that to the length from one step to the next on the stairs. That is sqrt (rising squared + going squared). Can also be done with arc tan if you are a masochist. I suggest that the step up the stairs should be a little shorter. Having said that , I have never designed a staircase :-), so just call me an architectural consultant. Ferdinand

Ono. Cue dismantled bathroom and more airproofing...

Care to identify?

Lock bumping was warned as my main hazard. So I specified anti-bump anti-snap cylinders. One comment on no. of keys - when I ordered 3 keyed-alike thumbturn cylinders for home iirc we were given 2 keys per lock ie 6 so no need to order extra. Ferdinand

A staircase with a shallow slope is one of the great hidden luxuries that makes a house feel sumptuous imo, even at the cost of an extra square metre of space (or two). It is like getting the orientation right - people who instinctively like the house may have trouble noticing why. And it makes a significant difference to whether people can keep going upstairs easily when old; we reckoned our parents found it convenient for an extra 5 years+. And far better for the fat people we are all becoming. I lived with the one below for several decades. It is a magnificent bruiser of a thing - Jacobean oak and pine with a gallery but sooooo comfortable. The shallow angle allowed my parents to keep going upstairs comfortably for a few extra years. Originally it had about 28 layers of paint from the Victorians onwards and we had two slaves architectural students who spent a whole summer restoring it. There were 18 steps between floors, which were a little shallower than usual and I think the angle was under 35 degrees. Suggest go for roughly that. And a generous half landing with a window seat, or space for a resting chair, is good :-). But that is more difficult in a modern setting. My other favourite is generously shallow and wide open well circular staircases. Suspect also that when falling down shallow staircases less damage is done as you go down less height for a given length of horizontal travel, as do half landings and curves (you stop quicker hitting the wall or floor less hard). That is just me guesstimating but feels about right. Looking at Jack's numbers, I think I might try for something like 165-70 rising and his 270 going if the house could take it. Ferdinand

Welcome. This is all interesting in a nerdy type of way. The only thing regulated is the title "Architect", and ARB (Architects Registration Board) * occasionally gets into a flounce about the wrong people using the title. Since I am not in the Profession I can afford to be both a) mused and b) mused. eg Renzo Piano and Daniel Liebeskind (https://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/09/watchdog-apologies-for-saying-renzo-piano-not-entitled-to-be-called-an-architect/) or John Pawson (https://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/01/arb-threatens-dezeen-for-calling-john-pawson-an-architec/). Pawson has the Architecture degree but did not complete the professional experience requires. I appreciate that the law makes it very tricky in only regulating "Architect" and not "architectural" etc, and EU mutual recognition requires EU-qualified architects to be recognised, but ARB only recognises them when they are actually written into the UK register (probably hence the above), and some of the consequences are a little peculiar. I feel sympathy for ARB on this score: In the piece linked above, ARB actually suggest that Pawson be referred to as "Architectural Consultant". I can do that, and could call myself "Architectural Consultant". I may even be able to market my business as an "Architectural Practice" (haven't checked that all the way, though). Personally I think that architect should be allowed to be a generic, and "Chartered Architect" be the term that is legally protected - to be more like other Chartered professions. But this has been an issue since forever. I know architects of 40 years standing who are not allowed to use the word even though they still do jobs occasionally since they are not registered with ARB. My own father had a spat with ARIBA about this in the 1970s. Lord help us if the Chartered Institute of Builders tried to create a parallel practice . Ferdinand * Nice paraphrased quote from Arthur C Clarke in A Fall of Moondust. "Boards are hard and unyielding. They are made of wood".

I would take a little care to say "main entrance" in your Planning App, just in case :-) .

On the other hand some cheap wooden doors bend like bananas in the humidity, so the fitting could more than cover the difference :-).

A Preference is not compulsory. Kittens are unnecessary here imo. Door at the side and staircase across is a pattern used on many (millions of?) small houses from the 1900-1940 period, particularly terraces and semis. Still used more recently eg http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46867593.html. Brand new chalet bungalow: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-41266902.html

Everything is negotiable. +1 for JSH comments. I would just ad an aphorism (?) that the easiest negotiated reduction is the one that the contractor has already taken off the price. Comparison: when buying a car we look for an already offered good value price, and start from something already in our favour.

40% off B&Q Celotex Offer Still running. Just noticed that this is still on. 50mm Celotex in size 450mm x 1200mm @£3.42 when you order 10+. Free home delivery for a £100 order. B&Q have about 40% off 50mm Celotex 1200x450mm insulation sheets if you buy 10. 0.54sqm each, works out at the equiv of £18 for a 1.2x2.4m sheet and goes in the car http://www.diy.com/departments/celotex-insulation-board-l1200mm-w450mm-t-50mm/307375_BQ.prd I had 70 sheets of this when I first spotted it, and will go back for more if it stays on. Either order from stock in certain stores or phone 0300 303 4481 . Ferdinand

Aluminium is massively recycled which reduces the impact. I can't find a number for the percentage but at school they told us 90%. Anyone have a current figure?

I read that as Chartered Accountant . Welcome. It is useful to have a rough location .. say county or region.