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That is fab news. It doesn't matter whether you are someone like me that chips in with a bit of free professional advice or someone that has just got together enough funds for a deposit on their first home. It's essential that we encourage and share ideas and most importantly the enthusiasm.. which can make you money. The easiest way is to avoid unforced errors, which is essential if younger and building a pot of funds. BH does this as you can see the other mistakes folk make. There are a number of members on BH that are wealthy, if you look back some have come.. milked BH and then gone. Some have stayed and are giving back. I don't resent that, it's just adult life. That said there are many that I know have saved thousands and can't be bothered ( or are just not socially educated) to donate a tenner. But the Mods really need folk to gather round them, give them some support both financially and morally. The current mods at some point will have to hang up their boots. I would love to see BH out lasting me!

Indeed it is 😁 It’s one of the things that keeps life interesting. One of the other things that keeps life interesting! Also the bit I still enjoy in my day job… You’ve very fortunate Gus. What I’ve done has treated me reasonably well but I would dearly love to make a living from something I really enjoyed. I am Good shout. Already done

It depends on the U value you're after re the batts. They get a lot dearer once you get better than a k value of 0.035W/mK but I'm told they are easier to fit. We used EPS bonded beads. Works fine.

Ask your SE, they should have detailed this out already for you. BC are not Structural Engineers. I might chip in as an SE but I would need to see the drawings first. There are lots of different types of raft. Until you know where the uniform loads are , where any point loads are you can't start on the drainage design.

No I haven't. What's involved in doing so?

Make the plywood a very snug fit and glue the edges to the walls of the cabinet frame as well.

Thank you for the kind words. To expand a bit.. I do this sort of stuff as a day job.. But once you have designed your first hundred steel beams the excitement kind of wears off. I has to be done and you have to knuckle down as it puts bread on the table and vitally impoprtant you are perfoming a Civil duty. You can't be lazy and drop your guard as folks lives are at stake. There is a common miss conception that SE's and Civil Engineers design for the Client alone. This is far from the case. Our primary duty is to the public, that can be anyone that later buys your house for example. It sets us aside from Layers, QS's etc. Architect's fall between the cracks @ETC. They also have to design so the building is weather tight for example, if it's not it can cause deterioration the the stucture. In the round the Architectural profession and Se is very much bound together. That is why you must foster a good design and professional team. At the end of the day they will stand the best chance of delivering what you expect to pay for. I quote Ruskin on the law of economics. There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.” My work is also my hobby. I love desinging stuff. I started out as a builder after getting an HND after leaving school, became an SE and then married up that with the stuff I learnt as a builder to become a designer that also does the Architectural side and everything else that interests me. The best bit of my job is taking on the hard an unusual stuff as you have to design from first principles and then justify your design to other professionals who may be critical. It's a test of my knowledge, my communication skills, a bit of diplomacy, presentation.. all backed up with hard maths and probablility. Yes there still is the SE sums, the admin, sorting out contracts.. but at the end of the day after forty years of learning I kind of feel I've arrived and I derive immense enjoyment from the creative side and working with folk who know I'm not talking shite. If you look up the definitions of what an SE it often says it is someone who practices the art and craft of design. This is what lots of folk are doing on BH.. they often just don't know they are! It's my job to say.. hey folks you are doing great work, lets see how we make it work to get buiding regs / planning approval etc. I hope you are in broad agreement with my above sentiments. Keep posting and don't be a stranger. Take note of this. I learn loads form BH, every day is a school day for me. The folk on BH are often advocating the latest design ideas and innovating. Many come from different backgrounds and are highly knowledgeable both technically and with huge life experience. If I want to keep up it would be daft for me not to take BH folks ideas and ask.. how to I translate that into something that can be practically built. Lastly.. a pure pitch for BH and the mods. They are doing a fund raiser which I support.

Understand totally and agree 100%. I’ve been a director for 23 years. Used to love it, briefly loathed it, now mostly a means to an end… enjoying this build project infinitely more, even though we haven’t broken ground yet. We’ve been gradually clearing our site for well over a year… today I was pulling the guts out of an old caravan and putting in my first ever field gate. Now knackered, but looking forward to more of the same tomorrow… a great way to spend the long weekend Gus… Thanks for taking the time to add your thoughts. It’s all informative and interesting stuff, and one of the reasons I frequent this forum

Post a photo of where you are are the moment.

It's hard to argue with something like this, best is to just smile politely and wish them the best of luck. Well done you. Big savings to be made here. One practical example is say you have to deal with the water board or other service companies You can be hanging on the phone for ages, then get cut off!. When, I can, encourage Clients to do this initial work but brief them first on the right questions to ask. I get paid for guiding, you save money, doing something yourself and being proactive. It is also beneficial as Client gets a deeper understanding of the project mechanics and who the desing all fits together. They feel they have more control and are better informed. In the example above I allocated 8 days of director time. I had a feeling when I wrote that it would provoke a response, probably incredulous mostly, some may have had a choking fit. But I set it up in the context of a small practice. The director is not trousering £100.00 an hour. That rate has to pay for admin, PI insurance, Software ( expensive), unpaid time spent generating the buisiness in the first place and a whole host of other expenses. Actually the £100.00 an hour is likely too cheep. I allocated 15% profit. You can in life work for someone, often with less financial risk. When you run a business you have to build some capital to cover bad payers, the govenment changing the tax and rating system .. and its fair you should be able to take some reward at the end of the day, maybe have enough to build a pension fund similar to what someone in the NHS may have? Your point on enjoying working with your Architect and have enjoyed working together is hugely valid. This has hidden value as they are invested in the project. I engourage this. Often I keep an eye on my projects even though my formal brief may be concluded. Clients often phone me during the build and say.. Gus what about this? Often with a comment I can save thousands or just reassure them.. and that kind of puts my design fee into perspective. Another way of looking at this. If I save two weeks of tradespersons time that can amount to often over 2.0k.. On BH there are a few folk that do desing / project management as a day job. There used to be a guy called the R_Sole ( something like that) who worked in Scotland, highly knowlegeable but got hounded / many thought they knew better and.. he left. There was a bit of a gap then @ETC turned up with his valuable Architect input. In terms of fee rates for SE's / Architect's I am confident we can justify our rates (which may not be the cheepest but maybe best value) and what you get for your money. Of course there are bad Architect's and SE's, but this is often due to a lack of experience rather than them being chancers. One key thing that can cause you to fall is poor communication with the Client. Fom time to time a Client may ask me something that I can't answer straight away. I just fesse up and say I don't know! , but I'm going to go off and find out, then work it out and give you a reasoned and evidence based answer. If you are generally happy and have a good personal relashionship then grow together, pay their current rate. Last thing today I got asked by a Contractor I work with to come and look at a job where the Scottish SE (SER Engineer) has been sacked by the Client, from my initial findings I get a smell of profession incompetancy. Their Architect has dropped some clangers. They are in mid build. They told me what fee they had paid to the SE (SER Engineer) .. I can't see straight away that it's unlikely they could have produced an competent design for that amount of fee money. I'll not post much more but my initial suggestion was let's see if we can find some tools that might encourage the SE to want to be "unsacked" and the Architect to come back to the table in an "enthusiastic manner" on our terms.

Im just about to use your method but has me wondering. The fibre board back is slid into a Channel. So if I glue plywood onto this, the fibeboard holds the weight in the channel?

Had many wives, just not mine.

You need a wife mate. Get on Tinder asap. We’ll provide character references.

It’s just about when 2 pipes need to converge, where you’ll need IC’s at each instance or any time there’s a change in direction. You can run one pipe from A>B for some distance, but getting most BCO’s to agree to it is another thing. IIRC the last one wouldn’t let us go more than 8m (in a perfectly straight line)….. so ended up with 3 IC’s between the house and the road.

Well you could try arguing paragraph 3) of Regulation 4 which states: (3) Building work shall be carried out so that, after it has been completed— (a)any building which is extended or to which a material alteration is made; or (b)any building in, or in connection with, which a controlled service or fitting is provided, extended or materially altered; or (c)any controlled service or fitting, complies with the applicable requirements of Schedule 1 or, where it did not comply with any such requirement, is no more unsatisfactory in relation to that requirement than before the work was carried out. (my bold). So basically you would be saying that this new field is no worse than the original and with little alternative as to location, you do actually comply with the regulations. Hopefully BC will see this as a convenient way of closing the matter and moving on.....

You'll need 47mm for the cooker / hob cable

I HAVE JUST HAD A DRAINAGE FIELD REPLACED AS THE OLD ONE HAD FAILED AFTER 30 YEARS OF USE AND ITS WITHIN THE 15 METRE RULE . BUILDING CONTROL ARE DRAGGING THEIR FEET SIGNING OFF. WE LIVE IN NORTH WALES. THERE WERE NO OTHER ALTERNATIVES BUT TO REPLACE THE FIELD WITHIN THE 15 METRES. MY NEIGHBOUR HAS HAD A WHOLE NEW SYSTEM INSTALLED DUE TO HIS SEPTIC TANK HAD COLLAPSED AND HE IS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH BUILDING CONTROL. BOTH PROPERTIES HAVE BEEN SOLD AND BUILDING CONTROL ARE HOLDING UP SALES COMPLETION. IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE WHO CAN HELP ME. REGARDS MIKE

two switches for ovens, why make it any more complicated.

Our old member @Jeremy Harris used an ozone generator, instead of a UV lamp, to kill the nasties. Worked well. Having said that, it was before cheap UV LEDs were available. I like the ozone method as it, by it's very nature, gets well mixed in with the water stream, and works better at elevated pressures.

I completed my own house in December 2025, using a very similar system to yours. For insulation, I selected Rockwool NyRock Frame Slab, combined with a thicker OSB layer to enhance structural performance. The majority of the building is finished with Hardie VL cladding so no external (EWI) system. I used the same construction approach on a house I built three years ago, which has performed faultlessly. Based on that experience, I chose to adopt the same system again for my own home. I stick build this project using kiln dried treated timber, at the point of the build the timber was at 12.8% to minimise movement

Sometimes I have had the sockets on a flex under the units. Quite a few appliances have moulded plugs and it may be that any warranty can be voided if you cut them off. It is not simple to anticipate what is needed. I have had induction hobs needing hard wiring on a separate circuit where others are plug in 13A. I like under cupboard lights to be switched from an extra gang on the main light switch, which can also be a challenge.

Hi Gballam, Just reading this and the comments and want to put in my 2 cents. Outside to in: Breather Membrane - W1 or W2 depending on where you are 9mm OSB 140mm timber frame with 140mm 0.035R between studs 90mm PIR insulation to face = No thermal bridging, and keeps it thermally broken down to the foundation. Reflective vapour control layer Standard Service Battens OR theoretically can use a partition to save making any penetrations through the VCL but may affect sequencing! Plasterboard Gets you 0.12, keeps it simple and follows passivehouse principles. I think it would be more cost effective than going down bigger stud or other forms of timber frame construction but open to debate! Obviously will come with it's own problems. I also saw a comment about Frametherm 32 insulation, I just want to put a note on it I think it's mega expensive for the performance gain it gives. Fraze

I was kind of expecting that kitchen companies would have this nailed. If they are installing maybe 100 kitchens a year you would think they would have a neat, tidy, ultra aesthetic solution. I may be pedantic but I was expecting there would be some approach where we would end up with a neat labelled brushed steel grid switch flush with the back or side of the cupboard. Time to get the kitchen drawings out again. I think there is a 15mm service gap behind the cupboards. So by chiselling off some plaster I guess we might possibly get 33mm to recess most of a back box ?

I put it in the most convenient position on the way to the sewage treatment plant. I don't think there are any set distances.

Indeed. The Durgo (AAV) needs to be above any 1st floor WC, and needs to be accessible; eg if it fails and starts letting any stink out. Ground floor WC's don't need an AAV if the 'drop' (invert) is less than 1300mm.