Ferdinand

This is American Express Shop Small week. What that means is that if you have an Amex Card (except TSB), and register the card on the Amex website with the offer, you will get £5 back for every £10 you spend at participating shops. There are a lot of participating shops. There are more details over at Head for Points: http://www.headforpoints.com/2016/12/03/amex-shop-small-starts-today-get-5-back-on-every-10-purchase/ This *can* be really sweated if you make a small purchase on each of your umpteen Amex cards at each shop, but that is probably for rabid points collectors (*) rather than most of us. Personally I have only 3 Amex cards, so I will just put a bit of effort in for the fun of it. Ferdinand (*) eg " I just used 10 cards to pay the bill in an Italian restaurant. The patrone was a bit dubious, but ended up using two machines simultaneously. I have arranged to use all 16 at the wine shop tomorrow before going home. " (Wine shops sound like a good option).

If you buy the right box of hex headed fencing screws from Wickes you get one in the box.

I would say Makita not Dewalt of those two and go for one of their more recent battery systems. If you are looking for a range of tools over a period from scratch, then the "packages" and "kits" are worth a look, for example: http://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/kits-twinpacks/cat830712 But look at each tool for gotchas, such as a multitool which needs a spanner to change blades etc. For cordless drills, having two .. or a drill and a driver .. makes a real difference to productivity - one to drill, one to screw. It looks a little challenging, but add up the individual costs and you will have a couple of free tools. Others may have done this. If the upfront cash is an issue then there are any number of 2-3 year interest free credit cards available at present. The way is to take one out, and money you spend in the first couple of months or balance transfers may be interest free for a period of 24 to 48 months. Then you set up a payment which will clear the balance for when it is needed as a standing order, and put the card in a drawer or cut it up. Moneysavingexpert has the details. Alternatively Wickes currently have a BLACK20 £20 for £100+ orders discount code until 6/12. But don't rush on that as there will be other offers. My handyman got a midrange SDS drill 55% off last week ay B&Q, for example. It is a buyers market. Ferdinand

You may have a couple of options @ProDave if you have your wits about you. 1 - Can you use 11mm OSB2 instead? B&Q: OSB 2 Board (Th)11mm (W)1220mm (L)2440mm at £10.50 if you buy 5. http://www.diy.com/departments/osb-2-board-th11mm-w1220mm-l2440mm/27592_BQ.prd and Wickes has WICKES GENERAL PURPOSE OSB2 BOARD 11 X 1220 X 2440MM @ £11.55 if you buy 3. http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-General-Purpose-OSB2-Board-11-x-1220-x-2440mm/p/110024 You will get another 10% off the Wickes with a Trade Card; B&Q will be unlikely to discount further. If you do it tomorrow you can do multiple orders (I think) at just over £100 and get £20 off each one using the WIckes BLACK20 code linked above as well. Do it in store and it may take your Trade Card too if you have one. You may lose free delivery. 2 - Or you can apply the BLACK20 code to the £14.99 price for the 9mm OSB3. The website just offered to sell me seven for £84. In the shop I would get another £8.40 off that for Trade (if I have their offer stacking order right) = £10.50 ish each. 11mm OSB2 from Wickes might pan out at £8 per sheet with BLACK20. Just make sure you do it tomorrow and check their maths. I would phone up first if it is any distance. If they like you they may make it one order for free delivery purposes. If you end up buying online at Wickes you won't be able to use your Trade card but you would be able to use TopashBack or Quidco for a couple of percent. Not a lot but you could get a bottle of whisky for Hogmanay. Ferdinand

WICKES GENERAL PURPOSE OSB3 BOARD 18 X 1220 X 2440MM Wickes are offering 18mm 8x4 (General Purpose OSB3 at £15.00 a sheet if you buy 3. = £13.50 with trade discount. Nomal price £20 per sheet. We all use a lot of that, so a good chance to stock up? http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-General-Purpose-OSB3-Board-18-x-1220-x-2440mm/p/110517 Also their Black Friday 10 and 20% off offers run until 6 December. http://www.wickes.co.uk/black-friday B&Q have a slightly more expensive offer on the same sheet at £16.18 if you buy 5, and they will cut it up for you for free. http://www.diy.com/departments/osb-3-board-th18mm-w1220mm-l2440mm/27593_BQ.prd Free delivery on both is at about £250 to £300 order. F

^^^ This.

You have incorporated the SEF (Stool Examination Facility) just in case you have Germanic visitors, haven't you? "Further research has revealed that the German toilet is in fact designed to facilitate stool examination. This is a wise, healthy practice, argue Germans, a person's best defence against intestinal disease, water-borne parasites or worm-riddled, undercooked pork sausage. " Y http://asecular.com/~scott/misc/toilet.htm Once we have Brexited that could become a European standard. And you will need to instrument the digestive process by supplying a sweetcorn dispenser, so that transit time can be measured. Will you be enforcing Sitzpinken? I say install a urinal and issue SheWees, at least for your mancave loo. (At this point Nick's skin starts crawling.) Ferdinand (Update: should be Sitzpinkeln - that is a noun not a verb. Thought it looked suspicious)

I'll have those eyes for my next avatar. F

When I did mine I ran a bead of silicon along the understand of the overhang at the bottom a couple of inches back to make sure that any water trying to run back up there dripped off. Fedinand

God's Blood forsooth - BDSM on an eyebrow window! Is one of you called Max? Do not buy a house with an old one. They are sods to insulate later.

It is conditioned to be built "in accordance with (identified plan)". It would be an interesting enforcement case, because beyond the fence that now blocks off the "parking spaces" it is questionable whether they have any legal right to access the spaces with a car; it looks like the access *may* be by dint of long use. That of course is not a relevant consideration where PP is concerned , though that is not the sort of thing i would expect District Council to pick up every time. Potentially a veritable Knot of Gordion style tangle should someone complain to enforcement . Ferdinand

Indeed .. the space standards are Guidance, and the parking is the biting edge. However, I have seen previous Applications refused on this basis. Given that these guys are rack 'em and stack 'em merchants from outside the area trying to extract the most money from my town by walking the edge of the rules, and who are quite willing to ignore the rules / law and exploit others when they can get away with it, I am quite happy to make their life difficult. Unfortunately our council are not the most effective in this game. They have a conversion just across the road in this ridiculously congested area for parking where their scheme included 3 off street parking spaces. Less than 2 years later those parking spaces have been fenced off as a private garden. Elsewhere they have had properties occupied before fulfilling Planning Conditions, and required complaints and enforcement to require them to create their promised off street parking spaces. Such freeloaders are not welcome here imo. Ferdinand

An UNSAFE claim strikes me as meaningless without some evidenced or carefully argued basis i.e. FUD. Just gone to the trouble of measuring one of the proposed flats using the area tool on the council website and the living space is a third less than the recommended space standard in council policy. For some reason the area of each flat is not mention on the application, nor is the overall internal area of the development. These people seem to be aspirational tenant exploiting bastards. I reckon the development as proposed will give a return to investment of 20-25% at least. One and a half barrels and ideally a call in to committee required, I think. Ferdinand

Here they do consider comments up until the decision is made, though if it is going to committee you can miss getting proper attention if you miss the deadline for the circulation pack or the final freeze of the officer report. Extra bits of paper on the day confuse many illprepared committee members unless there is an engaged Councillor to lead them by the hand. Discovered that when they asked us on three separate occasions to delay our planning app because they wanted more time, and extra comments kept getting added, though ultimately our application was objector proof because it was very thorough. We had a petition and Lib Dems going ape (end of Nimbyworld leaflet 3 days before the meeting to place attention-seeking councillor at the head of the mob in the local paper), but no facebook campaign. I am planning to frame my objection in terms of the parking report being rendered out of date by subsequent events rather than mention the appeal as that will just stir up defensive thoughts and make them think about arguing that the Appeal wrong decision means they are bound by it now. Ferdinand

Spoke to the Council. It feels that they don't want their nearly-made decision on a further application for an intensification of the development derailing by someone pointing out in writing that the Parking Survey they have accepted that allegedly demonstrated around 40 on street spaces within 100m is now out of date because about 35 parking spaces it relied on are no longer available because they have gone or because demand has increased :-). The Appeal which was approved for the less intensive development also accepted the same inaccurate parking survey. Not sure where that leaves it for the new application, which claimed the Appeal Approval as a legal demonstration that there is no parking problem. Shades of King Canute ! Heh. F

A quick procedural one. Can Third Parties give any input into Appeal Hearings? Clearly there is only a right of appeal for the party that had their Planning Application refused, but if the applicant Appeals to the Planning Inspectorate, can a third party make a written submission? I ask because my Council just lost an Appeal for an application refused on parking and amenity grounds for a large HMO conversion in an area of terraced streets, and the Inspector accepted what is patently a dodgy "available parking" survey from the applicant. IIRC it even included several reserved disabled spaces as part of generally available parking. The Council lost because: 1 - The Inspector accepted said survey. 2 - The inspector did not account for the loss of 23 offstreet parking spaces leased by the previous owner of the building (Medical Centre) to relieve the parking problem, which the survey identified as currently available in the survey, but which are about to have houses built on them. 3 - The inspector relied mainly on calculations that the two-person room occupancy routinely used by that LL was a "worst case" to work out new vehicles. In effect istm that the Council perhaps didn't sweat the detail properly. A two page demolition of the Parking Survey and a proof of the existing LL policies would have done it. It will be chaos, but now this bird has flown - short of a High Court action or restrictions through HMO Licensing. Hence my question above. Plus one other - is a subsection specifically for "Planning Appeals" appropriate in this part of Buildhub? Might be useful. Ferdinand

I reckon I would want 50 years "expected" life. F

There is probably a value in writing a DAS in tandem with your early sketches even if only in outline and with yourself and your close commenters as the audience. A good way of framing your thoughts.

Follow up note after 6 momths. I fitted the fan called the Airflow Icon, where the aperture opens like the petals of a flowers of a flower, and it fixed the problem 95%. Has been reliable, and I am now fitting them for tenants s an anti-draught while not running device, I bought mine from Amazon at slightly less than the price quoted above. Ferdinand

Cheers. Ferdinand

9% discount card?

MIstress is a far less stressful option. For a time, anyway.

OBviously intended for use in wet rooms . Ferdinand

DRemel Platinum Corded £100 not £180. https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/c7h/Dremel-Platinum-4000-6-Corded-Multitool-Attachments-Accessories/B007651OPW/ref=gbps_tit_m-2_f0d5_a28893f7?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=4808a463-9983-450d-b1a6-173fab8df0d5&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=193201031&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=QNPD9XBHSN2CDXFGMH97

The point about Ex Planners from an LA is that they can easily be either Aristotle or Mr Magoo. What you should get is someone who knows either the law, the local policy and the hot buttons of the staff, which is why previous successful appeals and applications of the same type are a key place to research. Our previous Director of Planning went to be a senior manager in a planning consultancy, and I would characterise the guy as a pretentious t*sser. SAw one application he had coordinated for a difficult Housing project and there were a series of schoolboy errors and some basic documents not even included. We paid a large sum for our Planning Consultant as the Local Plan was up in the air and we needed to argue the presumption for susrptainable development principle in the face of its sudden exclusion from the next version of the Local Plan. Happy to forward copies to those interested as a different example to the one linked in this thread, but I am still not willing to link publicly to our development. We also won on Appeal. IT was a Housing Estate site, not a single dwelling, but an interesting contrast. Our PC routinely appears in Public Enquiries and Courts, and would be an excellent barrister. I also wrote about selecting consultants etc at some length here: DIsagree with the comments about underpaid public sector in general. E.g. Our Doctors and Teachers are some of the best paid in the world. Ferdinand