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In the real world these decisions are really a dialogue, not a mandate. But can be an asymmetric dialogue if the customer isn't informed of the alternatives. Either way point is to start that dialogue early rather than push it into brinkmanship. Many self builders are not in the position to be able to fire their electrician on a whim over the position of one isolator switch, so better to have the conversation at first fix rather than after the walls and floors are sealed

Air paths. every one. Seal them up with acoustic sealant . Be picky around pipes etc. Noggins between roof and floor joists above and below too and more acoustic sealant . Then add mass. Simple rule. More is better. Plasterboard is cheap as is OSB per kg. Anything would work mind you. You could fill the wall with gravel or magic beans. Mass is mass . Mineral wool will help with the reverb. The extra dense stuff is an expensive way to add mass. More plasterboard is cheaper. Break any noise travelling through the structure itself by breaking the solid path through. Double studs. Resilient bars. Rubber strips on the joists.

To say the elderly account for the overwhelming majority of death is erm 'ageist'. Is to say the overwhelming majority of olympic sprinters are black 'racist' ? Truth is truth. Truth is necessary for progress. We are all going to die, every 8 years our chance of death doubles. During covid idiocy ruled, in essence spending half a trillion pounds trying to stop old people dying. Will the government spend £1M trying to keep me or you alive when I'm elderly - nope not a chance - that's what they spent during covid. All those young men arriving illegally on our shores that are given free accommodation, free food, free mobile phones, free health care, free legal aid - their risk from death in a heatwave that would look like a cool day in their country of origin...is a particular danger. erm. Calling out the bullshit. Alec Luhn is a left wing reporter writing worthless propaganda.

I’m planning a loft conversion, rear extension and substantial renovation of a Victorian house in London, and I’m trying to sense-check whether some form of shell-only or hybrid main contractor arrangement is realistic. By “hybrid”, I mean a builder taking on the main structural/building works and other agreed core items, while I separately procure some specialist packages and selected internal works. About me I have a day job, so I cannot be on site full time. I can commit some time to managing the project, but probably not as much as would normally be needed for a pure shell-only/self-managed route. However, a close friend, who I trust, is a self-employed carpenter and runs a carpentry/renovation business with his business partner. They do not normally operate in my area and they do not have the experience/capacity to take on the whole project, but they do have good experience working on renovation projects. My idea would be for him to take on the elements he is comfortable with and help me coordinate some other packages. Why I am considering this route Cost is obviously one factor, but the other reason is that I have already identified a number of packages/trades that I am likely to procure separately, mostly specialist items. These include: cellar waterproofing/tanking; potentially cellar dig-out/underpinning, if not within the builder’s scope; ASHP and UFH throughout the property, by a heating specialist; windows and steel rear doors; wood flooring, at least to the ground floor; kitchen fitting, likely by the kitchen supplier; solar, batteries and EV charger. I have also found a plasterer and decorator. My carpenter friend should be able to carry out a lot of internal carpentry and fit-out work, potentially including internal stud walls, plasterboarding, insulation, doors, architraves, skirting, boxing, access panels and similar works, subject of course to agreement with the main contractor and Building Control requirements where relevant. On electrics, I have found two potential electricians that I would like to use. I understand that electrics probably need to be treated as one coherent package, with one electrician responsible for first fix, second fix, testing and certification. My reservations The biggest gap is bathrooms. My carpenter friend is not comfortable fitting bathrooms out, and I am not sure I want to leave bathrooms as something to find a separate trade for later. My instinct is that, even under a hybrid route, I would need the main builder to take responsibility for the bathrooms and associated domestic plumbing. I would also want the main builder to own certain key items, such as the roof/external envelope, flat roof build-ups/VCL/weathering, main structural works, and ideally the staircase into the loft. I could possibly source a staircase specialist, but I would rather not add another separate package. Generally, I do not mind that this route will cost me more time (though, as I say, I'd hope my friend can take some of this burden) but I would not want to do it if it prolongs the build by a lot (if it takes me a few extra months, that's fine, but if it takes an extra six months that would be a problem). What I am trying to work out I am trying to work out whether it is realistic to find a builder who would be happy to take on a defined main contractor package – structure, shell, roof/envelope, weather-tightness and selected core items such as bathrooms/plumbing – while allowing me to procure some specialist packages and internal works separately. I would be grateful for views from anyone who has done something similar, or from builders/PMs who have been on the other side of this kind of arrangement. Thanks in advance.

I'm with you if it saves the cost of "fixing this", but a PITA if @Mr Blobby needs to isolate 1 room. @Mr Blobby Assuming these don't have isolators means your plumbers have installed isolators at each termination point; where this is possible eg kitchen / utility / basins / behind bath panels for bath & showers?

Comparing this to the concurrent discussion on insurance of non-standard construction.... how many online questionnaires will have this option to tick?

From memory the regs for an ensuite are less strict, the door is the obvious weak point. My normal minimum spec for an ensuite wall is plasterboard each side with a minimum density of 10kg/ sq m (see Gyproc Wall 10) on a minimum of a 70mm deep wall stud. Then 50mm of Rockwool RW45 acoustic insulation. If you can stretch to a deeper stud then all the better. Depends on you ceiling height as there is a bit of structural design creeping in here as you don't want the wall too slender so the whole wall vibrates as a unit. . You need an air gap between the Rockwool and the plaster board as the air gap filters some bands of the sound frequency. If you pack the wall tight with insulation it has a detrimental effect. If you want to keep your guests happy then fit a good solid door, a good lock that gives them confidence, a good fan and a nice handle on the door! The regs between rooms are often different.

Keep asking questions here The most stupid questions, are the ones you didn't ask us Help is here by the bucketload, so measure twice, cut once!!!!

Try a broker that is Scottish based, we have lots and lots of timber clad houses. It's worth a call just to get a bit of advice.

Amazon do some cheap digital ones, but then you are replacing the batteries periodically. The stock ones that come with the manifolds are pretty accurate, but not like an IR thermometer etc; #manageyourexpectations

Turn the fan speed down a lot lower, and try again.

Location of isolators is wide open, and only stubborn electricians would try to polish their sheriffs badge over this tbh. These are there ONLY for localised disconnection, and not for safety etc. Sounds like either a lack of education or dick-swinging went on there. If a sparky told me these were going next to the CU, he'd be going...................on the next bus. As above, in units / cupboards immediately adjacent is my go-to solution; so put the hob one in the island. Ask your spark to connect the hob with some HO5 flex and leave enough length to completely remove the hob and set it aside on the island, upside down, for future-proofing. So, brain-dead then. Off to the side and up very high is the order of the day. The lack of GAF or joined-up thinking with trades still astounds me. That's what keeps me in a job, so, long live the muppets......

I was driving through France twice last week and on one of the journeys the exterior temperature was shown as 41C - the a/c in the van couldn't cope and it was just getting hotter and hotter inside but it was a shock to the system to get out on a quick break.

We have just taken building insurance with LV. Timber frame, part block skin part timber clad. Standard terms, remarkably good value. Such good value that I rang back in and checked that they had noted the timber cladding.

Very much agree here. Most self builds are unique, start with a basic design that has a fighting chance of working and then adapt for specific design.. that is the fun part. They are indeed. I've done some adjacent to mine shafts with highly contaminated land, one on really soft sand on an airfield up near Nairn in Scotland, one daft one next to a canal in the Norfolk Broads, they really are bespoke animals. Down Norfolk way I did one where we basically "floated" a single storey building on the peat. This leans towards folk doing straw bale or oak frames with wattle and daub as it really maintains the design and environmental ethos. This takes a leap of faith and careful design of the drainage and service connections to a building that can rise and fall quite a bit. The building itself needs to be pretty flexible. The movement can be huge! But these are worth a shot when the piling option may be expensive. Piles in deep peat also need to be designed for bending as the wind pushing on the side of the house needs to be transferred to the competent soil deep down. I don't think it's conservative per say, we know the mechanical properties of their insulation. Things can start to go wrong it there is a late design change, poor design coordination between the different work packages or unexpected ground conditions, or most common a setting out error. That is why I want to understand the Client's capability, how much hands on control they have. Using PIR insulation sheets and fitting them together on site allows for flexibility as you go, maybe you need to pay for a bit more labour but at times the risk / economics stack up. Some Clients want fast and quick and are happy to take the risk that something minor can throw a spanner in the works. They rely on the Contractor to sort it out.. but then a dispute can arise.

We hit 36.5C here in South Yorkshire on the 26th, the humidity was an absolute nightmare, glad of the cooler weather now but it seems the next heatwave is just round the corner 😭😭

Thanks for your comment, much appreciated. Yes, we need to be cautious here. One thing I don't want to do is level false accusation, or identify any specific claim. As I've got a bit of experience with this stuff it's not always the case that the Client has covered themselves in glory. Sometimes they have inadvertently cut corners (just made a genuine mistake), not followed the design drawings, or just don't disclose to me the full facts. While I decidedly don't like the approach some of the warranty providers adopt (deny, delay defend) you need to get to the bottom of how the Claim comes about and the prior communication between the parties. Only then can you see what you have to work with, worts and all. This is a summary I generally agree with. Now faced with this often the home owner does not often know where to turn to. More potential expense. Some warranty providers sub contract out the site inspections and the inspector has to hold a certain amount PI insurance cover. The warranty providers shed as much liability as possible onto the inspectors and their (the inspector's) insurer's know this. This may be prompting the request for additional reporting.. driven by the inspector. You need to ask if the inspector is covered / employed directly by the warranty provider or if the are sub contracted for example. As a word of encouragement I have come upon this kind of thing before. It often takes few frank phone calls to sort it out and the actual reason given for asking for additional reporting.

I just put a 22mm isolating valve on each of the manifolds. Not the end of the world.

OK, I’m going to risk sounding dumb now, but is it really worth the effort to replace the manifolds? Maybe ensure a few isolators are put in so that just the cold or just the hot can be shut off, but given that the horse has bolted will enough time be saved in the future to repay the extra time and delay (and the knock on effects of a pissed off tradesman)? If there’s a leak you shut down, deal with it pronto or whack a stop end on the offending bit till you get the parts. I maybe guilty of Hep2O think here, but I put isolators everywhere in our last house and in 34 years most of them never got closed off.

We peaked at 26.4°C, in NE Scotland - different world temperature wise.

Language matters. Reading it with care matters more. Thats why any text should be read with polite, respectful scepticism. Hardest of all is reading ones own words with the same detachment.

Hoping to do as few operations to this gutter as possible. A one coat solution would be welcome. Any suggested products? I last did that about 10 years ago using something like hammerite. As you can perhaps see it was onto variously the previous finish, an undercoat, or iron. Did I do a primer where it was rusty iron? Can't remember, but certainly only if the tin said I had to. Clearly the paint didn't adhere as hoped, or fade as anticipated. So, suggestions for minimal prep, over any surface, in green. Please. 🤞

I have been advised (off the record) that none of the wall constructions perform as well in real life as in acoustic tests. This is because the tests are not between real rooms, but through a central area of a panel. ie no flanking sound. The difference between grey and blue will be fairly accurate though.

You speak sense. Insurers know nothing other than statistics and minimising risk (theirs). On the same course they advised that all the protection specifications are conservative. Eg a plasterboard manufacturer provides a wall panel for testing to half hour exposure, and it gets tested. After half an hour the test is halted so as not to survive an hour and confuse us with the possibility that fire board or thicker boards aren't needed for 1 hour. Similarly whether any jointing at all is necessary for fire purposes.

The 16mm soundblock (blue) board I used does what it says on the tin.