Lewis88

Yes it does, I was told by the planning officer that the land is deemed to be brownfield.

Hi everyone, sorry forgot to keep this updated. I’ve no idea why the council classed my plot as brownfield. My plot is a segment of 3 acres of very hilly land. We used to keep horses on it but that was about 20+ years ago. As kandmitchell has stated I’m worried that by applying for a CPH licence it would automatically change the class of land to greenfield. Would a plot classed as greenfield be any more problematic to obtain planning permission?

Thanks farmerN, I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find the answer to it either.

Hi, I have secured planning permission for my own self build, the land has been split into separate boundaries however the land is in my family’s ownership. The land that I have secured planning permission on is deemed to be brownfield by the local authority. The land surrounding my plot is riddled with brambles, in an effort to control the brambles I am looking at potentially applying for a CPH to keep a small herd of goats or pigs. Can anyone advise if this could negatively affect my chances of obtaining planning on said land in the future. Would applying for a CPH and keeping pigs/goats on the land immediately change the use to agricultural or greenfield?

I think that I will just be better off keeping the garage outside of the thermal envelope, leaving out the insulation in the floor and screed layer. That way i could always add it in and put UFH coils in the screed at a later date. On a plus side, I also get a bit more head space in the garage from the insulation and screed that was planned for the floor. I’ll still be insulating all of the walls and ceiling though

I will also be having a log burner at the other end of the house so I was contemplating whether or not the UFH for just the garage could be connected to this but I don’t think it could due to its distance from the garage (13m). if I could this would be perfect as I’d only want the garage heated in winter when the log burner is lit. However I really can’t see any feasibility in getting this to work due to the above.

@JohnMo and @Conor the floor will have 200mm of insulation on top of a raft foundation with UFH in 50-70mm of screed. The walls will likely be 200mm full fill mineral wool batts. I agree that it’s going to cost a lot to heat but I don’t want to regret not doing it especially as I may find an alternative way to heat it (if funds allow, such as solar thermal). Like Conor said, it could potentially be converted at a later date to habitable space so I want to make sure that I make wise decisions rather than regret in action. The ceiling of the garage will be very well insulated and plan was to keep it separate (other than the foundations). I know it will never be as warm as the rest of the house, nor does it need to be. I have at least two cars that are used daily and will likely bring a bit of heat to the garage once parked.

I have a large attached garage in my plans and I will be looking to lay my best in the new year. I have toyed with the idea of leaving it unheated however it will negatively affect the heating of the house as above the garage are two walk in wardrobes from two of the master bedrooms. I’m still trying to decide whether or not to lay under floor heating pipes in the screed to match the rest of the house. Are there any UFH manifolds that you can safely switch off a loop long term? i’m not even sure how I would feed it heat yet but I will have solar PV but I wouldn’t be adverse to fitting solar thermal later on down the line on the south facing roof of the dormer. what are peoples opinions on my options? And would you add the pipes in anyway - even with them potentially never being used? I’d guard to look back and not fitted a few hundred quid worth of pipe that could have been really useful. roof space isn’t an issue, I should have plenty even for the tallest of cars.

Thanks everyone, I’ve decided to up the insulation to 200mm, we don’t have our current house too warm (usually about 19-20c) and will have a small room sealed log burner for the coldest of days. so the OSB holds the first layer of MWB and then it’s back to business as usual for the wall ties? Did you choose to use the basalt rods or just stainless ones?

@joe90 that sounds like the way to go. as I’ve only been reading about all of this for half a tomatoe season, I didn’t even know you could have lintels that only span one skin. I’m presuming they rely on the wall ties to make sure that the walls stay plumb? Out of curiosity what did you put in the top of the window reveals to stop the insulation falling through?

@Iceverge and @joe90 you both make a really good point, about the warranty being not worth the paper it’s written on. I think my wife sees it as a comfort blanket. I believe I read that you could buy an indemnity should I ever want to sell (if before ten years). timber framed has been discussed but I’m not too keen on the idea if I’m honest. I have this preconceived idea that it could rot even though I know that this isn’t the case. This house will be passed to my children so I want to make sure that they never have to put their hands in their pockets. I don’t think there is really any valid options for me to have an NHBC warranty with what I want so I think that’s probably the best idea, I have enquired about other warranty providers. is there a sweet spot in cavity sizes for things like lintels etc? Thinking that a larger cavity is probably wise. My only concern with going larger than 150mm is the cost and availability of thermally broken lintels. I had seen the Denby Dale passive house and I think that’s what sold me on the idea of having full fill mineral wool. It’s not a million miles from what is considered the norm and it looks easy to do.

Unfortunately I warranty is a must for me, my partner is adamant. I’m not opposed to making the cavity larger with more insulation but the NHBC strictly rules out full fill with fair face masonry. @Iceverge are you saying that I should do the stone and glass gable as the following internal block, full fill insulation, external block (with render applied) then a cavity and stonework? If so that could work. I suppose that the render would mean that it is no longer considered ‘fair faced’ and just had a stone skin?? I’m really not au fait with any other form of building than brick and block, but that all any of the trades do around here. Could it be easier to do this part in timber frame? My architect tells me that build systems can be joined/interchanged.

Hi @saveasteading I’m not on the coast, but at 1300 ft above sea level so i believe that’s why my area is counted as ‘very severe driven rain’. I will definitely the two companies and see what advice they can come up with, no harm in a call or two. like you say the full fill method looks easier and if it looks easier I’m sure that I’ll end up with a better final result

@joe90 I’ve probably not explained it as well I’d hoped, essentially I’m looking for full fill to stop the air movement, make it easier to build and more cost effective. My issue isn’t that I could pass building regs with 150mm cavity of full filled mineral wool batt insulation. The issue I have is that if I built it to this spec it would mean that I couldn’t get a structural warranty through NHBC due to them not allowing full fill insulation on fair faced masonry in an area of very severe driven rain. Im trying to work out how I should compromise, whether that means changing my plans and use another form of insulation or slightly change my plans in that part of the building to a different cavity setup. This will be my first self build so it’s all a learning curve to me. could the block work behind the stone be wrapped in a membrane like timber frames are done? That way it wouldn’t be classed as fair face masonry as there’s a water barrier (I presume)

@Redoctober no I hadn’t seen that before that is interesting! I can’t imaging it works with mineral wool batts but it could be a good compromise on that part of the house! @joe90 thanks for the tip👍 @Redbeard I’d considered it but I think that MWB would be cheaper. I’m now thinking that the part of the house where the glass gable is located can’t be full fill so it will probably be easier to treat this an extension and give it a larger cavity (maybe an extra 50mm) than the rest of the house to maintain the same levels of insulation but allow for a cavity of 50mm. Does this sound logical or am I missing something?