Ferdinand

I thought that female pee was not suitable for compost. Number 2s are probably OK. Says the National Trust: https://www.treehugger.com/is-male-pee-better-than-female-pee-the-compost-conundrum-4857550 I have a (female) friend with about 9 female dogs who asserts the same opinion about canines. She paved her entire back garden 'cos female dog-wee would ruin any grass. Perhaps this is Mansplaining ?. Though, @Jilly, having had horses you may have a larger scale experiment. Was it a 'mare? F

Agree with you there. There's lots of story-for-TV, and normal feet-of-clay image-making ,and marital tensions etc. But it looks like a setup that has been years in the preparation, and a rapid swoop taking good advantage of lots of circumstances when it was found. They know exactly what they are doing, and there are not many opportunities like that around. Of course, having just cashed in £3-4 million of capital gains helps a bit ?. Getting away with planning for a private 6000sqft mansion in a secluded bit of a 200 acre estate in the countryside, and getting planning in around a year under the John Gummer clause in 2020 for considerably less than the £100k budget normally recommended? Not quite a blinder, but very very close. (Interesting that there do not seem to be too many Para 79 homes in that area.) And all within 5 miles of a direct London station, and George Osborne's private vineyard. I'm mainly interested in how they did it. My main criticism would probably be of the Council for being a little bit too keen - Celeb Tarts? I'm not yet convinced that it is outstanding. F

I'm interested in the process that will happen with those German discount plumbing suppliers. Megabad and so on.

Can we have a rough site sketch, and orientation - North etc. If you explain your wider aspiration, we may be able to throw other ideas in. Some places - eg 30s London suburbs - going up to the plot edge and feeling squeezed is acceptable. In other places not. This may be a case where a single storey "across the back" could remove pressure and general complication from your realignings. At present it is feeling like one of these: Ferdinand

I am not clear what the "body temperature" is - is that the temperature of the metal body outside the firebrick liner? Or of the surface that your cat will only land on once? 230C is about the max temperature of most ovens, which probably does not help as a comparator. We did once crack the cast iron body of a wood stove, but that was (at least 3) decades ago and we were filling it with stacks of plywood offcuts. It is also less variation than the speedometer on cars of equal performance.

Install a urinal and a bush.

I'll do a check after supper. There were 2 planning apps involved. Watch this space.

One option to consider is to save 0.5 by ejecting passengers before you put it in the garage. I would have a careful look at how other people have done it. 2.7m is wider than mine, but the car I am planning for it is only 1.5m wide ?. F

I'm taking a little look at the new Sarah Beeny mini-mansion in Zomerzet near (approximately) Bruton in (approximately) celeb-central, whilst locked down solo. There are some quite interesting little details. I had a look at the first 3 episodes last night as background TV. There's some obvious story generation happening - Sarah Beeny having kittens over planning process delays a mere 2 months after submitting PP is pretty transparent. But can I ask a couple of questions on areas of self-build I do not know: 1 - There was a lot of stuff about NPPF Paragraph 79 (the "exceptional houses isolated in the countryside" one), also in the Officer Report. But NOT in Planning Decision Notice. I don't think I have seen a Decision Notice over 19 pages long previously. (Both Attached). Does that mean that Paragraph 79 has been applied? 2 - The Environmental Assessment This is the environmental assessment (Full Doc Attached) wrt to the "Reference Building". Is this good? 3 - Good Piece over at Homebuildinng BTW. Though I do not think that they have all the planning detail correct. https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/news/sarah-beenys-house Ferdinand decision-notice-document-9521597.pdf env-evauation-document-9019839.pdf Public reports pack 13112019 0900 Area East Committee.pdf

@Temp I think that list is things which is subject to customs control. I read that as "declare as it may be liable to duty". Ferdinand

Personally I would try and arrange my kitchen such that there was a natural break in it.

Somewhere there is a national map of all the boreholes. Is this it? https://www.bgs.ac.uk/information-hub/borehole-records/ F

Welcome. So this is a good time to learn. Read some blogs here - very good experience on many. Trades may be a struggle as there is a lot of work around aiui - especially with GHG work starting to ramp up. F

I would recommend becoming the strong, silent type for a day or two.

Just don't do a Jonny Kingdom / John Archer; we want you here.

I think some complication may be necessary for washing machines (the only word in the world where the German is shorter than the English?) How else will you wash your Hermes Silk "Moderne Wash" scarf? Can you live without your "velvety wash scarf. Washed by our artisans' expert hands, the scarf is transformed into a relaxed, mattified, and ever so slightly faded piece, gaining an irresistible downy touch. This exclusive process makes each scarf unique and can slightly alter its dimensions"? Life would be meaningless. (Tr: They all shrink slightly differently, so you know that yours is unique.) (Puts on tin hat, to avoid being kebabbed by all the BHers with cupboards full of Hermes scarves.)

This thread has now been negotiated to a standstill and come to an agreement. It's time to move on. The new "Self-build outside the EU" thread is here:

Now that the EU-UK Trade Agreement is finalised, and due to be signed, this new thread is about self-build in the new environment. There is a decent summary of the agreement here: at the Institute for Government, which has both the salient points of the agreement and an interpretation in human-ese: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/future-relationship-trade-deal We will keep the focus a little (!) more tightly on self-build than the previous threads. Ferdinand

I find the key with microwaves is never to spend more than £50 on one.

Can you not just slice the top (say) 80% off the parquet with an appropriate fixed saw (table?) with a guide, then lay that back on a flat base? Call them Parquet Slips. Swerve the bitumen. That way you know exactly how much oak or pine or whatever you will have to cut through by checking the area of the room ? . One thing that always happens is that you lose some, so you need to have a plan for using 5-10% less.

Can I ask, roughly how much of the cost of an ASHP is covered by the grant? Very, very ishly.

Looks good. What's in the Jynnan Tonyx?

Am I correct to think that this is the market (hopefully) finding its level? What we need is perhaps a longer term scheme, and more suppliers in the market.

Personally I think a system starting from scratch is the way to go before long. Perhaps at the end of the taper.

I still cannot tell whether that is 25% of EU current catches in UK waters. Or 25% of all catches in UK waters. But then I thought we were at about 25% already, and +25% would take us to 50%.