glass blocks to glass panes

Detail is so important, imagine your favourite dress without the killer shoes and accessories.- or if frills don't do it for you..imagine your favourite car without the alloys and colour coding.....or worse still now imagine the wrong shoes, wrong alloys, too much bling,too much flesh, too much exhaust! What do I mean? too much of something can be as detrimental to the finishing as too little, after much thought,driving around, web searching, uming and disagreeing, we have now decided:

• Roof trusses will sit on the internal wall- There will be no overhang, thereby no fascia, to upkeep, paint or polish!
• Along the wall plate we will have a brick detail which will have recessed bricks, similar to owl air bricks, these will be interspaced with glass. We wanted the recess to look frameless...how can we achieve this? Glass blocks? yes these will work well with new blocks being capable of low u values , no cavity bridging & cold spot problems. However, after 'picking' the ideas from Pearsons joinery, he gave me an idea to fit the glass in the cavity, whereby eliminating the need for any frame...Easy peasy, problems are designed for solutions...on to the next...
• Amend the truss plans to specify loose rafters in the voids to provide an open void above the stairs and in the lounge...all sorted.

Episode 2

Any policy and law is up for interpretation. Which is proved by the fact that planning officers from other towns are able to interpret' the policy and find 'material considerations' to allow people to rebuild their barns. So this has led me to think about how the personal values, experiences and ethics of an individual can thereby effect the quality, financial lives of many people and families. The very sad part is that i do not think that these people actually realise...or maybe they do! It does raise a very debatable question..how answerable are they and to who? Our own life experiences shape our character and effect any professional decision we make, let us hope that future decision makers have wide life experiences.
Which brings me on to the next episode-
I am speaking to planning, actually that is not entirely true as they do not want to speak 'please put it in writing' So i have put pencil to paper and drawn a garage with a rectangle attached- i wait with baited breath for the predictable 'your kindergarten drawing does not meet with the Wrexham development plan policies'

So if this happens we will then appeal, if this fails we will sell - I caravan site in the countryside will probaly meet with their policy.

"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price

Thoma Sowell's words not mine! I have been thinking and trying to take a step back, While thinking and dwelling on the psychology of committees (yes I know...but I need to make sense of it and understand!) Allen defines committees in one short sharp sentence:'Committee--a group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done.
(Allen, F, 1894 - 1956)


Perhaps I am being too harsh after all what is probably true here is that 'Any committee that is the slightest use is composed of people who are too busy to want to sit on it for a second longer than they have to' (Whitehorn). So considering this in relation to our refusal, out of 20 members only 7 were present at the site meeting, which means a majority of 4, which actually amounts to only 1 fifth -1/5th of the committee 'sitting on it seconds longer than they had to' -This does make me consider the democractic validity of the decision and brought about reality...the magnificant 7 decided our future!!

Perhaps some training from Freud would have helped 'When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however,... the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature."

Click here to see the minutes for the site meeting http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/MinutesData/Planning/pl18072008m.htm

Planning update

Planning committee on Monday, 3 minutes of begging and putting forward a 'passionate plea' (committee member who was against us, 2008) for a home and financial survival, the entire situation was not dissimilar from holding out a hat and earnestly appealing for survival! Normally pride would have probably got in the way but i was not begging for a handout, freebie or to be given anything physical, just a word...'Granted'.
The democracy was evident and i was pleasently surprised-with numerous positives and some council employees negatives but the overall decision was for a site visit...to see what is left...oh,... dearrr, A gable! I doubt the 'deserted travellers site look' will prove favourable for us.
Oh, that reminds me, the good news is at least we have some people who want to buy Loweroak, as to comply with council policy it is no use to man, goat, pig, industrial, haulage, sheep, martian or dog as it is outside the 'settlement' and in the 'countryside' emmm this makes me ponder i have a title for the wxm leader (incidentally they called today for a story!I could not think of anything worse than me standing, pointing to the fallen bricks.....cringe)

Another idea!

I would like to plant some fruit bushes, so to soften the blow to David i am very kindly saving him £30 (lorry tyre disposal fee) and I am going to use them as planters and they will also save on posts, to hold up the bank!! I am so considerate, David used another word...
Also a path would look good, we have some old black bricks and red tiles which need using...i've also decided that i like the number 3 (it is my birth path number, the difference between lana and chelsies 7 & 4) - so i have themed my 'sanctury area' on 3. It also stands for:

• Past Present and Future
• Mineral, Vegetable and Animal
• Solid, Substantial and Entire
• Fairies are meant to live between 3 trees, oak, ash and thorn.

If you look closely at the picture on the left by the carrots, my bees have a new home...thank you Louisa.

Winds and decisions

High winds were forecast so yesterday was spent scaffolding the 2 A frames and the East wall.
Not the most lady like of jobs...but needs must! The winds came and went and so do my ideas!

I have decided that insulation insulation insulation is the key to a warm home, so thermalite blocks and kingspan in the floor and perhaps in the south gable to bring up the uv values.

I feel that solar slates can meet our DHW demands and i am going to look at a log burner with a boiler for winter space heating and DHW.

Red sandstone window ledges I think!

Even Harold Wilson said...

'He who rejects change is the architect of decay...' I must quote this to our building inspector and David, they keep suggesting that it is time I stop changing the plans! I was thinking about having an internal wall ( the gable in the lounge) in face brick! To save on painting in the future as it is 2 floor high- Which of course has the depleating effect on the U values, there must be a way of offsetting this,I am sure Mr Kingspan could help, I will not mention the cost to David, or I could leave the receipt in the same pile as the Kelsa light bar reciept!! I feel some research coming on...People are so patient with me, it's a good job really

The clouds are moving

As i have said earlier( i think). Goggle is great but too much info becomes very confusing...thermal stores, khw, controllers, zones, How confusing! But Mark Brinkleys site has blown away the clouds, well, for today anyway. I am now thinking 'no ground source heat pump but solar slates, Eco Cat thermal store and wood burner...' we will see. I'll probably be back to an oil fired boiler tomorrow!

A house!

I really am 'fickle' sorry moles you are no longer my favourite bees...Steve has been on site for 1 day and already I have a house, ok slight exageration but Steve builds with real bricks faster than I can with lego! However, he's brought along with him more decisions, what style lintels? brick work? etc etc. But I do like the fact that he does not 'sit on the fence' singing the 'it's your choice' recital.

These bloomin' gates!

which ones?

• Ball in sandstone or


• cast iron flats or


• sandstone flats?

vote on the right...

Decisions Decisions...

I've been thinking, there must be more sociable and modern ways of reducing our carbon footprint and being planet friendly, than taking the light bulbs out and boycotting supermarkets. David and the girls are a little fed up of being in the dark with no 'food'!. So i'm considering ground source heat pump and solar panels for the hot water. The solar panels can be quite ugly but then again so is a world without trees, so i really must think green!

The Ground source heat pumps will take about 5 yrs to re-coup the costs but there is so much mixed info- Google just does not help! So my My bed time reading IS REALLY BECOMING EXCITING 'The Green Self Build'

click on the green books icon for website to buy.