Ferdinand

The ones I am trying for will only be 2008-9 so microfiche should not be involved. I have heard stories on both sides. And I have never seen a clear answer from mine. A couple of years ago some BR information - eg if it had cavity venilation or not, suddenly came onto the website. When asked the rationale was budget savings so people could check themselves. It seems they had just added a layer of data. But at the same time the large scale maps (down to about 1:250 online) vanished, presumably for the same reason - and it now something strange. The previous ones allowed things like gaps between houses to be worked out quite reliably to plus or minus a few inches, which was great. Despite a convo with the Council's mapping officer I never got to the bottom of it. F

Has anyone tried obtaining the docs on an existing house, or know what their status is? My understanding is that Planning Documents are essentially public, and Building Regs docs are essentially private ie I can't get a copy. I am going to see what my Council says, but I have 2 agendas here: 1 - I am planning work on my house (rebuilt from 3 walls and a hole after nearly-demolition12 years ago by the previous owner), to extend somewhat and improve the fabric, and it would be useful to know as much as possible. 2 - I plan to write to my MP suggesting that all Building Regs documents become basically public, as one response to the Grenfell Enquiry. And as a way of introducing a culture to encourage scrutiny. Any perspectives would be most welcome. Cheers Ferdinand

Our Council made one not unlike the Russ video for our local duckpond after some were killed by dogs. Then the Council Leader made a video sitting in a canoe next to it telling us how clever he was. We expect a similar presentation.

Welcome. That would be ... quickly. And beware colleagues who pretend to be disinterested. (Not sure if it is genuine, but the soundtrack makes it.)

If the Environmental Scheme was not actually in operation at the time of Appeal it should imo not have been refused on that basis. But if that is the case it looks like a right battle to get that turned over. And it is probably a better practical option to get the Council to accept a payment, as the other arguments about planning principle and "where horses may safely graze" have now been won. If the payment is not prohibitive. They must want the money, so they should know how they want it to work. Could you try asking the Officer or the Head of Planning directly, or getting your Councillor to do so. (Bear in mind possible elections in May in your area, which may distract councillor.) Ferdinand

Missed that bit. It was a generic as I am not really acquainted with Free Go process, beyond that you get a second try with a little-changed project if refused.

OT: So what will you do when a roof tile cracks ?.? I try to have a couple in an exposed location so that they will vaguely colour match for replacements people can see. An option to get a few now, depending on relative cost, and use the rest for the edging if suitable?

But nicely built. Good job,

Bit phallic, that.

The rads are bled, aren't they? (Tops will be cold if not)

One question there is how much insulation is *under* the UFH. But that will not affect how you need to run it now as it is a sunk cost. It needs to be ideally about 125mm of PIR or 250-300mm of EPS. The chap who did my house just did 90mm of PIR, down there 10-12 years ago and I do not know really how good the attention to detail/cold bridges was down there.

Mine is currently running at 50C+ boiler temperature to keep the place reasonably warm (20C) whilst outside temps are just above zero, But my walls are 0.2 u value ish (floor 0.18) which is too poor, but not built by me. My problem is emitter area and not enough insulation under the ufh. Not much can be done easily, though. Total energy bills are not that horrible for a 200 sqm house, but I don't like it. F

Do you have roof tiles left over?

I was reading what I think is Tony's blog, and the heating system he installed a few years ago is interesting. The premise is a full basement with little insulation on the floor (I assume building regs minimum plus the 25mm on top of the slab), and shallow boreholes used to put excess heat into the ground under the house via waterpipe loops during the summer. Rather than the pfaff about mega-insulated tanks of water or blocks of concrete, there is a simple reliance on heating up the ground under the slab. Does anyone have any views on this, and @tonyshouse - does it work? ? Has it overheated, and if it did how would you manage that? The idea of just using less insulation seems quite good under "reduce" as the first circuit of the green spiral. As an alternative use of heat that would be vented to atmosphere it seems a decent idea. Articles: http://tonyshouse.readinguk.org/heating-the-ground/ http://tonyshouse.readinguk.org/interseasonal-thermal-store/ Ferdinand

Read that first as jaune...

2 acres may be over what HMRC consider as "garden" in this scenario.

If your laundry is upstairs then you need drying arrangements upstairs too. You don't really want everything to be tumbler dependent. Otherwise you are carrying the wet washing downstairs and outside every time. There are other variations we have not talked about yet. One is to do the full width extension at 3m or 4m, and have the utility room in the corner of the kitchen back to back with the improved shower room. That would also give you mops, buckets, food etc out of sight. That gives you the option of keeping the garage, or turning it into a long office, or a storage area plus an office. What I like about that is it puts your nonhabitable rooms in the area of the house with no natural light, and allows you to separate kitchen storage from workshop type storage. F

Remember the time factors that you cannot shift.. Anything you need PP for will be unlikely to get started before say June - up to 12 weeks for PP plus designing first and then getting trades and builders lined up. Permitted Development stuff may be quicker, but you will still have to do building regs. But both are dependent on lead times. I think the garage conversion may need PP. Both front and back will need Building Regs I suspect. The crunch may be builder availability. I think there is an argument for phasing it and starting the back first, and perhaps roosting in the existing dining room as the temporary office, whilst waiting for planning on the garage conversion. F

This is why I say your most important point is to take your time. Orientation to the sun is so fundamental, that it is absolutely the first thing that almost any architect thinks about. F

You seem to meet all the criteria for Grand Designs. The only ones missing are baby 2 on the way. And hills for your machinery to be sliding around on. Welcome.

When you get your original bat report, it may be possible to negotiate a modest update fee if you go beyond the 2 years which I think is normal for the validity.

So if a usual Google image, the back gets sun through the day.

I thought that was to make them line up with the one's on the wall.

The back of my house faces North, so I get very little sun in my kitchen extension, as the sun goes E-S-W through the day.

Post a Google Maps satellite view, with identifying information removed, would do.