Ferdinand

I have 9.98 kWp on a single phase, which needed a different extra procedure. Not sure whether it is a procedural or technical thing. IIRC the process is called G83. The installer did everything. F

If the problem is that that particular space is cold and you need to warm it up to a few degrees when it gets too cold, I would try a traditional loft heater as a first inexpensive fix, with a thermostat control. Will probably cost around £30 and use minimal power - 50-100W. eg https://www.screwfix.com/c/heating-plumbing/heaters/cat831056?calcheaterproducttype=tubular

How have you dealt with potential moisture permeability in your new floor? Was the strategy been with close off the airbricks to keep moisture out, or perhaps deem it to be marginal given the use of PIR?

Always a good idea to jump up and down on each suspended floor. If you can get away with it. Ideally take Giant Haystacks along with you to do it ?. Very good piece, Mike.

One line of argument which has been known to work is - "I can do this the day after completion under permitted development. Why make life unnecessarily difficult by not letting me do it when we build it?"

I have written a number of articles about adapting a house to be more suitable for use by people who are frail, older or disabled. This is a list so that anyone interested (or not interested) can find them slightly more easily. Converting a Downstairs Bathroom into an Accessible Shower Room Cost for this was just over £2k, including about £1k for the Fitter Labour and £250 for a shower seat and grab rails etc. A full replacement would have cost about £2500, with perhaps £1250-£1500 of materials. For a DIY version it would have cost £1200-£1500. A detailed set of 6 articles about my downstairs bathroom being made into a shower room: Accessible Ablutions - Strip OUt Accessible Ablutions 2 - Ducts for the Future Accessible Ablutions 3 - Half Way Photos Accessible Ablutions 4 - Finished Photos Accessible Ablutions 5 - 3d Printing Accessible Ablutions 6 - Costs and Components Project Discussion thread: Recommendations for Bathrooms for Elderly / Disabled A forum post where I reflect a little after some time of using the new shower room. Adding a Bath to the a large upstairs shower room Before and after articles with 3-d model, finished video, and debate leading to design changes: Bathroom Refurbishment Project (1) - Comments Please Bathroom Refurbishment Project (2) - Proposed Design Bathroom Refurbishment Project Finished More will be added as and when. The next projects are a further bathroom refurbishment upstairs and an accessibility ramp on the front path.

For where to go, ask your local double glazing manufacturer / fitter - they are everywhere - or find a local little man glass-cutter and ask him. Or if you are rolling your own, then look to conservatory materials' suppliers. If you are being really cheapskate, then look at secondhand or spare shower screens ... again edgings etc are available, Andy they tend t9 be easy-clean. May have potential. F

Some time ago dad made some replica roof tiles out of translucent tinted fibreglass, and put the, in to give Incidental light in a dark attic. These were in a slate roof. After a time they were really quite discreet. The things that matter are probably tint and surface texture. F

Or obey.

The two that I have found most enjoyable in the last year or six have been garden creation ones, not self-build. But then I have seen the size of your garden ? . A Garden and Three Houses, which is about an architect and partner (who did most of the roof) who built their very modest house in about 1965, and still live there, and their developing pattern of life over the time. A couple of years ago I asked him how he dealt with the current planning system. Came the reply: "I got out of that side in the 1980s". https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garden-Three-Houses-Architect-Aldingtons/dp/0956495303 And Gardens of a Golden Afternoon, which is about the collaboration between Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardens-Golden-Afternoon-Partnership-Gertrude/dp/014008021X Both very very good on the art of combining indoor and outdoor living, and the littoral zone in between. Not sure if all my arch. books are in one shelf, or would fit in one. F

1 - Does it include install? 2 - Working back the numbers, a basic standalone 6x4 carport like that would be £1400-1500 maybe, of which the roof (basic 2 ply pvu roof would be ~£250 which comes off. 3 - Solar panels - I had a quote of under £5k back in 2015 for 4kwP array installed on a bungalow. Current good price is what - £4k installed? Take out the install cost and that becomes £2500-3k. I think that leaves a potential kit input cost price of 4-4.5k give or take. F

85+ as a required threshhold for EPC by Ecology is interestingly low. That is only a mid-range B, and I would be interested to know how different that is than a Building Regs House. Are they acknowledging that the EPC is a very clunky measure? As a comparison, the Scottish Gov are planning to require all existing owner occupied properties to reach C ie 69-80 by 2040. That standard is essentially already in place or expected for rentals (expected by 2030 in England) and the UK Govt is thing about bringing the timescale forward significantly even from that. F

You also very much need to be sure that it doesn't have an underground main sewer or electric transmission underneath.

In most places it is likely that you will make nearly as much or more from selling the plot with Planning Permission rather than spending 1-2 years running the build of a new house. To a degree that depends where you live. In some places unencumbered plots for new houses are like hen's teeth. Check the numbers. Ferdinand

If you go for the oscillating saw, then they usually come as one attachment to a "multitool" as linked above. Multitools often come up in Aldi and Lidl special buy days, and can be quite reasonable in price. It is also a tool you may find many other uses for. F

We have always had a butterfly net to catch things than come in. At this present place I have maybe one a year in he conservatory, but open the door or an upper window and they have all found their way out. The butterfly net costs about £10-20. eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Telescopic-Butterfly-Catching-Insects-Stainless/dp/B07QTKHCPX/ You won't catch a golden eagle with it, but for sparrows and small birds it is ideal. F

Remember that caravan usually means a 12 x 40 static rather than a towable one. It is bearable (I am told ?) for a time. Winter, multiple years, lack of careful planning, mud and the bracing weather of the Highlands are the challenges. F

To me that looks pricey, bit depends on the scope. Can the tree survey be done by the ecologist in one package?

Three things for my perspective. Slightly contrasting view. 1 - Is it listed? Need to consider that if so, but you still get to do repairs. 2 - If it needs to be done it needs to be done. Dry rot is cut out and / or repair plus treatment, depending on the attack. Hope it is not dry rot. 3 - y perspective is that a necessary repair is exactly that, and a modern repair is part of the rich story of the house. Don’t cry over spoilt milk or sunk costs (even if not spent yet). If it needs to be done it needs to be done. I am sure you can get a hand crafted thing, but imo a thing done using the modern materials in the modern age is quite possibly more appropriate - unless it is a conservation place. Personally my taste is towards an honest modern repaired that is appropriate, rather than a simulated traditional one.. It is what it is. yes appreciate the craftsmen, but current craft is just as honest. Hope it is not dry rot. F

At least you are getting options :-). It always goes No No No No No No ... Yes. ?

My niece used to do that when you took her for lunch. She sort of had an internal spreadsheet that would absorb the entire menu in 15 seconds, do a sort by price, and choose the one at the top without any visible action ?.

I would expect a survey to give both an 8 or 10 figure grid reference and the GPS coordinates, plus ACAD to let you specify the origin point - and for that to be in the survey data. But I have never used ACAD.

Todd Doors have a whole page here at that bigger size with quite a few between £100 and £200, and more at 826, but perhaps you have seen these. https://www.todd-doors.co.uk/internal-doors#/specFilters=96m!#-!427&pageSize=30&viewMode=grid&orderBy=0&pageNumber=1 Don't get too enthusiastic until you have talked to them and checked the quantity as it is quite possible that for certain ones they only have a few. I love the pun of a flush door on the loo. TBF here, we are all running through door suppliers we have found to be OK. Ferdinand

I assume internal doors are what you are after. Is the main issue that no one does the size, or that everyone does the size and no one does a style you find attractive? Can you give an indication of what you are looking for eg is it an unusual wood or unusual style or different material or colour etc? Does there have to be a Firedoor version? Is there an approx max budget - eg £50, 100 or 250 per door? All that info would help. Sorry for the questions, but I don't want to pepper you with suggestions that are wrong for reasons we can know first. F

On the ducting stuff, there may be something in Jeremy's blog at mayfly.eu, as he seems to have everything everywhere eg I believe he has electrical power in 3 separate places in his garden. But I am not aware that he has listed everything in one place. When I put ducts in I usually use the blue water pipe with nylon rope as a pre-installed draw string. As said above, you suck one or two through with a hoover and a moving plug such as a cloth. On occasion I have put an empty duct in the same trench as the one in use just in case the first goes tits-up, and the prices of the pipe are such that it uses a larger quantity up. The possible reason for two is because some clown will always forget to tie another one on the other end at some point in the future. But you choose your level of redundancy. F