The RICS are consulting for new Information Paper which aims to help valuers and consider the implications of Japanese Knotweed – an invasive plant feared for its damaging effects and ability to grow through masonry, concrete and we suspect kryptonite.

“>The Japanese Knotweed Manual: The Management and Control of an Invasive Alien Weed

Apparently house values can be increased by improving insulation – here.  We’ere not too sure about this, it may crop up on a building survey – we still find quite a lot of roofs without thermal insulation, old insulation such as vermiculite granules and loads with minimal insulation that needs improving but does these make a big difference to value?  It’s unlikely.

Some local authorities may be about to knock down vacant council houses when there is a shortage of affordable housing in an extraordinary approach to complying with recent legislative changes and adjustments of budgets.

According to this we buy 69 million books at Christmas, that’ll be about 450 miles of shelving that will be needed.  Bets make sure the walls are suitably string and that you stack books in the middle of floor spans then so that any odd floor and wall structural loading issues can be avoided.  We once designed a house extension for a chap who had a collection of 50,000 comics and had to include extra steel beams and structural members to ensure that the first floor could support this sort of weight.  Amazingly there is an extensive website about Designing Libraries in the UK.