Ferdinand

It looks to me as though the area you have got for your Jack and Jill - 1.5m x 3.7m , should be perfectly adequate for two ensuite shower rooms, one for each bedroom. If you nicked an extra bit of width and made them 1.8 x 1.8 each, you might even have space for 2 bathrooms. Personally I'd go for 800m x 1.7 shower trays back to back in the middle so that it would feel really spacious though a smallish room - ie make each bed about 2900 not 3000 wide, then you would roughly 1.7m x 900mm for a loo (corner loo?), vanity and whb in each one with a sliding door at the end. That's not particularly tight, you just need to take care where you place the gubbins. Giving a house several ensuites really affects the feel of the place. Why not turn the main bathroom above in to an ensuite for Bed 3, or give Bed 3 a small ensuite shower room and make it a study? Ferdinand

A workshop the same size as the house has precedent. Can I take the opportunity to repost a linbk to one of my favouirite pieces of writing: http://annaraccoon.com/2014/09/14/one-man-and-his-shed/ Ferdinand

Perhaps by tile 34.

For a number to demolish and cart away, I'd guess 15-20k plus asbestos would be a ballpark, but that is just my guess. That looks - depending on area - that a clad + reroof refurb may be better value, possibly. Or perhaps demolish/replace just the extension to leave (guess) 2000sqft, then insulate/render the rest. Coul be cost effectrve. I am sure there is a TV programme about them. Pure white with a flat roof - 1950s international style. Though you might get 3-6 on the garden. I hope you wouldn't be responsible for replacing the fence ! F

Does SPONS have a figure? Ferdinand

Don't know - I have a big box of spares, so I might try it. F

Has anybody here used / does anybody use the Two Hammers technique? Obvs no good if the tile is already on the wall.

What is the cost of hiring a scissor lift? Or buy a secondhand one? eg £400 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pop-Up-Scissor-Lifts-Push-Around/122031549118?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D37803%26meid%3D75b6b86896154c9081a7fc3673f15242%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dlo%26sd%3D262526603025 Ferdinand

I thought you *could* download from Youtube. Ferdinand

Aside - payment method is one to watch. Banks and suppliers very much like BACS and Fastpay these days. Neither has even the protection you get with Debit Card, never mind Credit Card. Had a long conversation with Nationwide about this when I took out my Flexdirect Account. Ferdinand

Does anyone have experience of splitting titles? The situation is that I am looking at a detached house with a separate cottage, currently on a single title. The plan might be to extend the cottage, split the titles, and sell one or the other as a separate property. I am estimating 10-12k plus 5k contingency for service splitting (elec, gas, water, phone) and fees, given that there is nothing difficult (it is all in the nearby road) and no insurmountable planning constraints as far as I know. The only new gas supply I ran in recently to a property was Am I allowed now to leave 2 properties teed off a single shared water supply with separate meters at the property? Obviously it may make sense to move into one or the other first for CGT reasons. I don't need advice on that point. Thanks for any experiences. Ferdinand

Welcome. I love the title quote - it could once have been said to Trotsky by an innocuous man holding an ice axe !. Ferdinand

OT: Have we got a sticky for useful software packages? I have never heard of loopCAD, but then mine was installed by the previous people :-). Ferdinand

Or you could use an agricultural wire tensioner or turnbuckle. Or build the little darlings a capstan wheel so the big one can enslave the little one. Ferdinand

I'm quite possibly out of my depth on this one, but the latest version of the General Permitted Development Order seems significantly to extend the definition of "Public Highway" to things that were previously private roads etc, and therefore brings more projects within the scope of Planning etc under "fronting a public highway". I picked this up from a thread on Gardenlaw where a Council has decided that Planning Permission is necessary for a front dormer window overlooking a private road on private land that was not thought previously (by the Council! in writing) to be a Highway. The thread is here: http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=20055 Quoting two relevant bits: http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=196575#p196575 and this: http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=196630#p196630 Some of us renovate on private lanes and paths, so this could be significant. Can anyone comment, or have the time to explore this a little? Gardenlaw's resident Planning guru, Pilman, was reduced to "probably". You need to read the thread. Thanks Ferdinand

I don't see any problem here in havinig a candid conversation with your planners - they should be willing to give a straightforward answer. When they have given you an answer, confirm it in writing referencing your conversation by date and content, and officer name. Also check your "pre-commencement" conditions, which may identify things that you must also have done and evidenced. Ferdinand

I seem to recall griff Rhys-Jones stating that his vintage wooden yacht had absorbed half a million, to be worth £195k. http://www.classicyachtargyll.com/q-a-by-griff-rhys-jones/ My most favouritest self-build *ever* is the chap who decided to build a shooting punt and punt gun from scratch, after he'd built the workshop to build it in. The thread is here but since 2012 the pics seem to have vanished: http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/217901-making-a-gunning-punt-and-punt-gun/ How many self-build houses have all the screw heads at the same angle? (Expects at least one person to go "meeeeeeeeeeeeeee !! " Ferdinand

Rockwool probably good and cheap, if you have enough thickness. Space blanket (=multifoil) is best left to spacemen and mountain rescue people, as being very expensive for the insulation it actually provides. There should be lots about this already here, even though we have just started. Try a search for multifoil. Ferdinand

Need to know about your area and prices of 2 vs 3 bed houses. My guestimate, as a LL, would be make it 2 bedroom and put ensuite shower rooms into both bedrooms at the lower end of the diagram, then make the downstairs bathroom into a wc/utility for all the kitchen noisy things. Ferdinand

How does 30cm x surface area plus 50% sound?

I honestly don't know. You need someone else to chime in here who has more experience. Ferdinand

Serious warning. DO NOT skimp on water resistant underfloor in the bathroom, loo etc. Our previous owner who renovated seems to have cut this corner, and we now have entire rows of cracked tiles on very neat 8x4 centres. Ferdinand

I guess you could use it eg for a non-grid connected solar setup. But it is pushing it now. Ferdinand

Hmmm. Don't know how the Planning Inspectors approach batmen and their recommendations, but they are required to follow only Planning Law rather than politics and personalities. We won our (non-bat related) Appeal in a few weeks (perhaps 10-12 weeks from receiving Refusal from LPA to receiving go ahead from Planning Inspector), but the Council case was a mess of pottage and the refusal was before an election in the face of a 200-300 sig petition. And we had a hot planning consultant who could have been a barrister. Obviously there are still problems such as the ridiculously low levels of proof required of bat activity before the monkey jumps on your back, but are there any cases about alternative mitigation strategies being allowed if they are as effective? Would it be a case of find a more appropriate expert Expert then Appeal? What is the general level of training of Bat Experts? Do they just have had to go on a couple of courses for the Bat Conservation Trust? Ferdinand

I refused a Smart Meter, and they accepted my right to do so. Ferdinand