Ferdinand

Welcome to the forum. Let me jump straight in. How good is the basic fabric of your house? The watchwords are "fabric first" and "attention to detail". How well insulated / warm is it? That is always something to reflect on before cosmetics. If we discover that we need to renovate the structure, we are all reluctant to un-renovate the things we have done on top first ?. Trying to think about this ... a guideline is that if you are on gas total heating bills should be not much more than £500 per year, though the biggest single saving is usually from switching the first time (normally saves up to 25-30% over standard rate). https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/how-much-is-the-average-gas-and-electricity-bill-per-month With normal renovations I do for rentals under say 900sqft I normally aim for as close as possible to £500-600 for total bills for both fuels on a gas heated house as I can. That needs all the usual renovation things to be done reasonably well, and I don't always make it. Ferdinand

Is it interesting enough to be a test project for a lab that they can use to demonstrate an application?

Can these be 3D printed in metal? Or is the state of the art not there structurally or economically yet?

I need to see the investigation report before I really comment on this. It was leaked and redacted, according to the Northern Echo, and the author of the report commented that there was no evidence of concealment or deception. That apparently knocks the "two sets of laws" narrative thing on the head. https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18560751.planning-report-breaches-dominic-cummings-cottage/ Aspects that interest me: - The second extra dwelling. That's new to me. - Why does Council Tax apply? - Why did it need Planning - the detail, and it what circs it would not need PP? - Is there a Right of Appeal? - Who actually did this report - VOA or Council? - Different aspects between what the VOA, Planning and Building Regs did. If it needed Buildings Regs, then signoff would have told the Council. Ignoring that on a dwelling is more important than Council Tax, as it is safety affecting. - How was it leaked, and by whom? Is this someone breaching professional confidence? I am also interested in Council Tax as an LL, which is far more grey at the margins than generally known. eg Up and down the Country random Councils randomly impose Band A Council Tax on individual rooms in HMOs. AIUI they have the power but most don't ask the VOA for what I assume are pragmatic reasons ie can't afford to lose all the HMOs - at a cost of £500-1000 per tenant (tenant liable) on varied grounds. Some do, others don't. Ferdinand

That's interesting ... it's only that bit of it. I wonder what happened

With George Clarke starts this Thursday October 15 on Channel 4 at 8pm. I think this is the one that shows what can be done with external cosmetics, but quite often does things inside too. Here is one former episode.

It would perhaps need to look roughly like a reflection of whatever is nearby? In that case take the approx colour from the landscape or sky - depending what they will reflect to the viewer. Paint the board before cutting it up?

Welcome to the forum. Have you considered a Juliet balcony there as a middle way? With children leaving, the priority should always be reducing the bedrooms by one each time so they can't boomerang. IMVHO ?. Ferdinand

Does anyone have a recommendation for any of the Makita leaf blowers / vaccuums. My requirements: - To use Makita LXT batteries, as I am now a Makita cordless shop. - The application is garden tidying up plus hopefully collecting leaves for leaf mould. I am not heavily treed but a couple of my neighbours have a number of mid-size trees on the boundary. - Probably blowing dust out of the garage, and bits and pieces in between tenants in rentals. - Probably need a midrange one rather than a mini or a professional level. Questions - Do any of these do anything useful as vacuums for autumn leaves which are slightly damp, or is that a dead loss given that they are mainly aimed as blowers? - Garden is roughly the same size as a garden for a typical 1930s semi plus 100ft garden - say 700 sqm plot size in toto, but I do get a fair amount of leaves. Not however the rolling acres of some on bh. All comments are welcome, as I know very little about these. Cheers Ferdinand

Was on a professional housing estate site this morning chasing up repairs where they were overenthusiastic taking tree roots out next to one of my Ts, and noticed the twin reen and orange lights on diggers for the first time. I had to wait for the site manager, and overheard a fascinating 20 minutes of complaints about the non-availablilty of skilled labour for more than about a fortnight each at the prices they wish to pay ? .

He had had digger for at least a decade, but I don’t know beyond that.

Just ran across this. Report on the Inquest into Johnny Kingdom. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/25/johnny-kingdom-tv-presenter-died-digger-accident-inquest Moving an over heavy load (log) on an incline, followed by 'crush asphyxia". 3.5T digger.

Welcome. There are a fair few here with Sunamps. In my view plumbing is evil, which is why I get plumbers to do mine.

Mine is 1370mm toto, with an opening of 480mm, which is tight. Position of shower head and trajectory of water is key. If you have more room then all the better, but remember that you will need to take up some of your space to fit the shower gubbins, and that you need to make it maintainable without dismantling the whole thing. Slightly more thought needed if it is in an alcove. Imo important with panels to have the last panel as the one that allows total access to the gubbins, not the first ?. Or potentially you may have to dismantle all of them to find a leak. I had to allow space at the end for a pair of stop valves since the self- builder who did the room as a bathroom did not have them anywhere else. That cost be about 150 mm off the length. The issue I have with shower doors is that there is no need for them and the moving parts or runners break and/or turn into gunge traps, so it ends up with the feel of a communal shower room in the YMCA. F

Good. Big couple ? TBH dunno. No idea whether I even have it in mine. If the routine is to clean after each shower, or by a regular cleaner, or if your water is soft then perhaps not. Unless it is only a few £££.. Get your mum to experiment. I say walk in and no door. I say go trad. Mine is a double shower - wand and overhead, at under £100, and it has a "stop" at a comfortable temp but which can be overcome. Details in the post series you already know about. I say good quality wall panels. Just think about your handrails and seat which need a full 75mm in the brick or block, on top of all the framing and panels on top. UFH is good, and electric ufh if you are not building a slab is cheap, thin and and works, and no reason not to have it. But I'd say that your floortile texture will have more impact on slipperiness. Usually it will be made slippery by someone coming out of their shower, so will be unlinkely to go back in before it has dried in the ventilation. But ufh will still help it dry. (Might be different for two people) In my 2 showers, one floor tile was specified as "anti slip", and has a fairly pronounced texture. The other was just selected from the standard range as one of the matt textured options, and feels rough. The anti slip is a little more time consuming to clean (steamer helps), but you want the right product. You need a couple of samples, make them wet, and get your parents to test them. These are the grab rails in mine, and there are couple of fold down trombones by the loo now too - if they are not frail I would leave space to add these later as they are the bit that says "frail" most clearly. Need to think about getting around as well as the shower itself. The rail on the right on the shower entry is not one I would use, but I was reusing an existing screen and it was attached. Take care to get a shower seat they won't slip off (and fit a way to recover in case they do), and that they can use the shower comfortably whilst sitting on the seat. The weakest point here is the step into the shower, but I was not going to dig up the concrete slab. F

Welcome @Nigel59. It's useful to know roughly where you are. If you are commencing in Jan, does that mean you have planning permission in place? Ferdinand

Howdens sales are very good if they are close enough to what you need / want. It's an annual October thing and they stick to the dates. I have had about 3 in the last few years but none very recently. As kitchens they have been fine, but I tend to follow the "go part way up the range" guideline. I have one with their own brand appliances, and that has been alright for 3 years but I don't expect them to last a decade (though they might do). I don't think you get much option to upgrade the "package" if they are offering particular combinations (as was my experience). If there were items I would spend a bit more money at, it would be a posher tap, a better sink (0.9mm not 0.7mm thick), and a thicker worktop if going laminate (38 not 28mm). And I would check that the cupboards are the 18mm board variety not the 16mm. They are the things that are touched most often and give perceived quality, and make sure it is very solid. But you can touch stuff in the showroom. Their branches can quote independently so it may be worth talking to 2 if you have 2. I have got an extra 1-2% off (by asking say for 2030 to be rounded down to 2000), but they don't really do that. ATB. Here their coffee and biscuits is good, and they do (did?) free bacon butties on Friday morning. F

I think you promised it to someone as an inheritance. And I think it was @Thorfun. (Is Thorfun a Timmy Mallett version of Thor's Hammer?)

Make sure you know how you will work with these. eg How will you cut the compound foam + alu sheet sandwich without the thin alu folding up at the slot. Used a version of this on an s/s extension back in 2000, and it was a sod. May be doable, just make sure you know how.

The level of insulation helps, but the problem is when it eventually heats up and toasts you the heat stays. This when we think about how long the heat pulse takes to get through - and for that we look at the "decrement delay" number for the material to be suitable. For that the stuff in SIPS, or PIT if you are using it, are not that suitable. In a shed garden room it is more difficult than in a house as it is smaller space (surface area:volume ration etc), so it all works more quickly. My house is bricks, mortar, and PIR, and it tends to get uncomfortable for me by mid afternoon in a real heatwave. With a different insulation material and more of it it may have taken longer, but it is built as a good quality conversion only 10-11 years ago, so I am not about to sort that out. A split aircon is really just the currently cheapest and most flexible elastoplast to manage the issue using the least energy.

Amazon have a "Prime Day" coming up Oct 13-14. I am not really clear what this is or does, but it seems that money spent on other things first gives £10 of Credit, and I think there is 2% off or extra Amazon points. https://www.amazon.co.uk/primeday/ Some benefit especially if you have purchases planned.

Correct. My bad. Should be times 0.05 not 0.002.

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Hmm. Do you have any local allotment areas? Can you walk in and ask a few people for recommendations? If you are out this way I can point to a couple of places I have used - some distance away but not too far if you were out for a day doing something else as well in the Peaks if the rules permit.

Excellent idea. Everybody building 4 sided Ha-Has. Ha-has : the new walk on glazing. (Not that I’m claiming any credit...)