Ferdinand

If you aren't buried in the bodies of the millions of birds that are killed by the turbine in the 10 minutes you are there.

Try 1: FOI request submitted to my local authority, to see what they will send me:

Generally agree on EPCs. Some landlords are wanting more exemptions, and at the new cost cap that you don't get an exemption until you have spent 10k - consultation is out to increase that from the current 3.5k. They are trying to shoot the messenger. Presumably falsifying an EPC is essentially fraud on the person buying the house. On the approved designs my view is that the common good simply requires these to be public documents. As for planning. I can see no good reason for concealment. If I can take a building to bits and discover your detail, I don't see why the docs held by the Council should be hidden. That argument is strengthened by eg Grenfell. If those docs had been public, would it have been spotted? The Mail argument that they make no attempt to evaluate lifecycle carbon use is as relevant as arguing against cats because they can't fly; that's not what it was for. And of course it does assess carbon usage, as there is an Environmental Impact algorithm and number included, and even the RDSAP method is full of it. And if they want more they can pay £300-400 for a full SAP calculation.

Engineering Approximation of 100% ?

2.5 kWh per day is only 204 W ie 0.2kW, so that is quite possible. In old money it is 2 lightbulbs. If you put a 25% tolerance on your guesses, that could be half of it.

1.The plot already has full planning permission , we would just need to make some design changes to meet our needs, how long could that take? 2-5 months once you have your changes in your hand. Depends if they are minor or major. 2. Anyone had success with getting decent broadband into a rural area? How did you do it? Running a business and 2 kids makes this as essential as running water! Yes Others will comment on your area. 3. Living on site? If we bought a static, how easy is it to get connected , permission to live on the site and can you have a caravan as an address so you can get post? Living there seems to be JDI in most of Scotland. Usual for power on Buildhub is I think to connect to a kiosk at the boundary, then get your lecky to run what you want where you want it. 4. Self build mortgages for people who run their own business, where to start? Small building societies UK wide, search on here, esp. try Ecology BS, or a broker. Avoid Buildstore. 5. We intend to do a lot of the work ourselves, what is a realistic cost psqm? My architect reckons with current rise in costs the lowest we could aim for is 1500/sqm. Others will comment. 6. ANy other general advice? Take time to get it right in your head. Cheaper than building it and having to live with a cockup or redo.

Thread is 2 years old.

Are you sure he didn't mean improve either a) the EPC number or b) the environmental impact, as solar panels don't really reflect on energy efficiency, as they generate extra free, clean clergy which is pumped in? Solar panels are a well-known EPC level dodge. A bit pedantic, I admit. (Interestingly, my EPC advisor today said that he thinks non-MCS installed solar panels do count towards the EPC improvement.) @micheal300 Is that Heat Pump a bit small? (Just my gut feel). Imo 15 years ago was before most of the significant improvements came into Building Regs (I would date it at around 2010 when energy efficiency became required to a half-decent standard): https://cambridgeenergy.org.uk/is-this-the-biggest-change-to-building-regulations-in-the-last-20-years/ That suggests that you may need to look for tactical improvements - eg insulate more properly as you open up things to work on etc. One other alternative is to see how good your airtightness is, which accounts for a good deal of heat loss. Why not get a test done, and see how good it actually is?

I suspect that is the policy in many places. Whether such a policy is lawful is a different matter - local authorities constantly get away with breaking the law because it is almost impossible to hold them to effective account short of a many months long campaign by letter or the High Court. For me, the idea that in 2021 with all the environmental concern we have, I can be denied access to the information used in a public process to define *my* house, is *incredibly* offensive, especially as an explicit provision in Copyright Law grants an exception for private study. This is as bad in principle as MPs concealing their expenses information as a means of continuining to break the law. Disagree on EPCs. In many ways they are a very useful, inexpensive, tool. I have been discussing how to raise a particular rental property from a D to a C with my EPC adviser this week. In landlord-land we are regulated on it, and if a property does not meet the required standard it is illegal to rent it out (on an increasing quality ratchet E .. D .. C towards 2028-30). Some stone-age landlords who have not wanted to invest in their properties can see the (see Goldfinger) laser beam getting closer to their balls. But this has been known about since 2012/13, so zero sympathy is deserved. But there is some squealing in eg the Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10028271/Government-urged-scrap-Energy-Performance-Certificate-expert-slams-rating-system.html Another EPC will not help - as they are required to follow a process, which includes defined assumptions in the absence of specific evidence. One is that in the absence of a FENSA certificate they have to assume poor quality double glazing. In this case I have a house with 50mm of dot and dab insulation on the back of IPB as drylining and I want to get that acknowledged in the EPC without demolishing my decoration.

Try asking your building control section. For a recent new house they will hold that information, though they may want to keep it to themselves like a squirrel with a hazelnut.

Thanks.

I'm after the BC information for a house I own, specifically because there are various features not listed on the EPC report and I need to be able to evidence them in order to meet the coming requirement of rental properties to meet a "C". Does anyone have any experience of this? What lawful access rights, normal policy and processes are, for example? The initial comment from my Local Council is that the information is kept restricted for 'commercial reasons' (ie BC services are chargeable), but that it may be obtainable under either a FOI or a Subject Access (Data Protection Act) request. Just beginning to explore this, so any comments are most welcome. Ferdinand

Hieronymous Bosch knew the answer to this as far back as 1550. It is rank and they are all going to hell. https://www.hieronymus-bosch.org/Tondals-Vision.html where they will be punished in a bizarre satire of their hot tub activity (on the right), by being boiled alive in a Hot Tub by demons. ? Now, why can't we get Extinction Rebellion to protest all this waste by squatting in all the nation's hot tubs to make sure they stay unheated? I'd support them doing that.

In relatively the middle of nowhere I do not see how increasing the height of say 0.01 Ha by 45cm increases the chances of flooding elsewhere.

Also have a look at commercial mezzanine systems designed to install office floors in industrial units.

One other thought is do your gutters overflow in heavy rain? (Solution might be deep flow gutters)

Points not raised. Writing as a small landlord... One cause may be that the render makes it more difficult for moisture to escape, and so moisture tends to hang around more. I note that your 2G windows do not seem to have trickle vents, which will have helped seal the house even more compared to how it used to be. Useful test: What is the humidity in the house like? If it is high (which means perhaps 65-70% or above, ideal is 50-55%), that suggests that ventilation may help. You can get min/max humidistats/thermometers from Amazon for £10. I have about 3 of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ETI-Ltd-thermometer-hygrometer-indication/dp/B017KNQNZA/ My only warning is that they don't bounce off tiled floors. Do you have any lifestyle habits that would cause problems - eg drying washing inside, tumble dryers that vent to inside, bathrooms without decent ventilion etc? Find alternatives. My best anti-moisture measure to make my rentals more resilient to tenant lifestyles is to fit a PIV loft fan, plus a constant ventilating HR fan. That maintains a slow throughput at minimal cost. I also do things like fitting small shelves immediately over all the radiators. Examples would be: This: https://www.nuaire.co.uk/product-list-page/drimaster-eco-range?v=DRI-ECO-HC and this: https://www.vent-axia.com/range/lo-carbon-tempraselv That has been my policy for a decade now, and it works ime. While you are at it, make sure all your fans have anti-backdraft shutters. F

I have a chimney which is dropping little bits of brick and mortar off. Photo: Is it a better option to repoint, or to remove the stack and seal / ventilate the top appropriately? Originally the chimney had a cooking range below, then a gas flue installed, and is now unused since an electric fire is in the fireplace. The place was built in 1850-ish. Access is a little tricky, since there is a leanto on the side, and a sun lounge at the back. Can anyone give me an indication of what the costs would be for this? I'm guessing I am looking at approx £750 and maybe 2-3 man days. Any thoughts are most welcome. I will be getting in a couple of quotes this week. Cheers F

I think I am declaring the benefits to be de minimis. Now, I have a confused but highly intelligent bee that needs convincing it can fly...

I usually do these by putting a knocker-post in, then trimming it off at the correct height, and putting in a hook to the gate. You need to make sure it prevents the gate swinging in a dangerous manner (eg over the road). The other item I have used to provide the hole for the monkey tail bolt to fix into is a normal brick with 3 holes set into the ground. May or may not work here. Ferdinand

Is it an acceptable strategy to raise the height of the house a foot or two to make it at the same level as Zone 1 50m away, if it is that close?

Does that mean that they want you to identify different places to build? @saveasteading it sounds from above as though the increased risk is de minimus. IIRC isn't @nod doing 2 houses? Like the traffic reports requested where the underlying assumption seems to be that adding 5 or 6 traffic movements per day to a road that has 200-300 already will cause the sky to fall in. How would I play it? Not sure. I think I would perhaps consider relying on the argument that this ship has now sailed, and that its not something for detailed stage (having looked at Appeal precedents first).

There are 18mm thick systems, but if you have no space for insulation you are probably better off with large radiators.

Eddi device? Now you've done it ? I know one of those.