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Da bungalow that is, not us mortals. We carry on sweating in our hi vis. We were pleased with how the timing worked out - planning to demolish during cooler months so all the neighbours will be wrapped up warm indoors away from the dust, plus it’s hard work so cooler temperatures help comfort. So much for that plan with our mini heat wave! Steve took pity on me by leaving me recovery time on Monday and Tuesday. Good news from a site clearing and tidying point of view. It gave me time to kick down the last of the ceilings, mostly while the windows were still in, and then for J to pick out all the lathes for safety and for disposal at our nearby recycling centre (I’m old fashioned, I still call it the tip!). Trevor the trailer was bought for £200 just over a year ago to help clear the mountains of brash from clearing the massive overgrown conifers. Skooby the Skoda was bought as a building vehicle for £700. We now realise that they have paid for themselves many times over in saving in skip costs. If I’d known how much we would be saving we might have bought a car with a working heater, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Monday afternoon was window removal time! Ben arrived bang on time and had agreed to help us remove the windows, though he’d never done it before either. I was relying on Steve’s knowledge. Shame he wasn’t there. So da bungalow now has a series of holes where windows were. Each neater than the previous one. If you look at them in chronological order you can see evidence of two keen but clueless numpties first hacking out a huge hole, taking forever, graduating in stages to the last one which was beautifully neatly and quickly and efficiently removed. Yet another example of experience being the thing that one acquires just after needing it. So by Tuesday evening we had a clear site, which is incredibly important on such a tight, narrow plot. And then next morning, Steve returned to the job, so progress exploded again. We stripped the felt and battens off, with muggins of course being the idiot hopping round on the battens for two thirds of the day, with the last third being careful removal of some of the roof timbers. Rather disappointingly, we found woodworm everywhere. So my plan to build my hideaway at the bottom of the garden from reclaimed roof timbers has gone. Some of the timbers came away scarily easily. But those that didn’t put up a hell of a fight - they used huge nails in the 1920s it turns out - and this wasn’t ideal as force had to be used in moderation in case of unseen weakness leading to accident or collapse. We were probably overly careful but better safe than sorry. The next two days are a blur of heaving and bracing and sledgehammering and chainsawing. Thank goodness for a decent twin battery Makita saw - saved us no end of time - and my little one handed chainsaw - AKA Lightsaber - was slower but brilliant in places too. It’s oddly satisfying knocking off the little bits of wood that hold up the soffits and facias and rainwear - sending the whole assembly crashing down in a plume of dust. Even more satisfying to push over the block gable - the thump when it hit the ground was like felling a big tree, primevally enjoyable. We did take a break for a site visit from the ground worker. He asked all the right questions which does give confidence, including asking me to gain permission from our neighbours for him to hand dig one shared corner of our frontage to carefully identify where our neighbours services are. He might even have a use for the roof timber mountain we now have! More skip cost saving. All this is punctuated with other strands of the project. They are vital but hard to find the will to divert onto when mid hammering. In that way J and I are working together fantastically. I haven’t the bandwidth to think - I run to keep up with Steve when he’s there - I run to tidy up when he’s not there to get ready for when he will be - I go home a bit too late each day and after a coffee and a discussion about the day I then bath and by the time we’ve eaten it’s bedtime. Buildhub, apart from my weekly therapy session (oh ok, blog writing) is a distant memory. So J does the thinking, I do the grunting. That’s a little bit of an overstatement as in my head, when I stop to access it, is a 3D model of everything and every junction and material and supplier and missing quote and little red flag of issue that might become critical path and hence needs sorting before it does. I can and do flick into ‘principal designer’ mode when needed. But the day to day scheduling and remembering is falling to J. J has given me a little exercise book and my own grown up ball point pen to keep my to do list in. It’s a bit year 5 but it turns out very effective, as long as J remembers to remind me to look at it. Between us we are working incredibly effectively. Long may it continue.

(There’s way too much verbage here - sorry - but it reflects the deep spring clean my head needed. Will try to make time for a demolition summary in another post which would be far more useful for others). Each Monday morning, since we started demolition on the 17th of March, at stupid o’clock, I shuffle round the kitchen getting breakfast ready trying to assess how my body is doing, physically. Well, sort of. What actually happens is I slowly get my knees and my back working while bemoaning my stupidity and sheer arrogance in thinking I can do this, convinced that my I am starting the week more tired than the previous Monday. In some ways, almost certainly mentally rather than physically, having a break really takes it out of me. That Monday restart is just simply tough. I could tell myself that this should be the last week of demolition. That this is the last push of the hardest bit of the build. But inside I know that it’s getting towards the end of one phase of a long line of phases each of which I’ll be convinced at the time is the hardest one. But two hours later, at 07:35, I’m on site boiling a kettle waiting for Steve to arrive and my head is in gear and my fatigue is mostly forgotten. My 20 minute meditation, aka the drive to the site, has done its job. I do know I can do this. Anyway, I s’pose I should write a few words about da bungalow. Today, the kitchen gets it! All that’s left now is most of the kitchen walls, composition uncertain, and the dunny. The end of the kitchen nearest the road is, we thought, mostly masonry. The other end is now naked studwork. We left the studwork last week as we suspected it was needed to help the 6m long part timber frame kitchen wall stay up, which is surprising given that this studwork waggles like mad when nudged. So the first task was to take some of the weight off of the 6m wall. We didn’t dare hack the plaster off as we had elsewhere, leaving clean-ish metal mesh to peel off for recycling. Instead we peeled both plaster and mesh together, piling in a heap for me to process later. That worked to start with, but as we made our way along the wall it became clear that there was progressively less strength left in the studs. In the end the wall plate that ran through to the single skin masonry section gave just enough strength to allow us to dismantle the wall in a controlled manner. At one point we did stop and consider just pushing down the middle section, but that could have destabilised adjacent sections and also given the likely state of the soleplate it could have kicked out at the bottom. With next door’s wall only 1,030mm away that felt too close, even with heras fencing between. So we carried on slowly peeling and it became evident that in that middle section, all that remained intact was the two layers of render, topped by a wall plate. Truly scary. Another thing not to share with the neighbours. That done we could then take down the studwork. It was by then wobbly enough to push over safely onto the floor, and a couple of well placed cuts meant it would fall the right way, so push we did. Timber frames falling like that just don’t give that satisfying thump that masonry does, but it does still leave a lot of clearing up of timbers bristling with nail heads. The nail points are, at Steve’s insistence, all hammered over safe. In fact it’s been drummed into me so hard over the last 5 weeks that I now referring to it as ‘Steve-ing the nails’. The wood mountain grows and we learn that the wood man is maxed out and won’t be returning. Would have helped had he told me that last week but that’s life. Back to faceache it is (other social networks are available, but few are as annoying). As we work our way along the kitchen wall towards the road we find a mixture of stuff. Odd bits of plasterboard. Glass fibre insulation as well as the nasty snowy type stuff we’ve had in many other places. Pieces of wood and brick and block and tile just shoved in to repair holes in the render. Satisfied that the remaining masonry end walls (a ‘C’ shape) are safe and stable, we stop for the night. Next day we have rain first thing - the first on the project so far. So we bravely don our hats and coats and bugger off to Cafe Nero to drink coffee and plan. That turns out to be fabulously timely. I have picked up bits and pieces over the years and I’ve recently read tons about building stuff but putting it together in the right order takes Steve’s experience and caffeine. We’ve now got our slightly unusual foundation design, and that enables us to talk over who should do what, when and how. Annoyingly, Steve, with his wealth of experience and such a brilliant, caring and dutiful attitude, would be the perfect ground worker to safely and cost effectively pull our foundations. But he’s semi retired and he hasn’t got the right PI cover and all that. Our party wall agreements (which I was pleased to get as at one point it felt like it might cost us lots and lots of time, money and angst) and our warranty provider (thank you Protek) require fully insured, experienced professional contractors to be used for the foundations. So it isn’t a good idea for me and Steve to do them, even though we’d probably do it more carefully and with less noise and disruption than a ground crew. Sigh. It feels like the litigious nature of our world is killing common sense. In theory the party wall awards required specialist demolition contractors to be used. We did get two quotes, each of which were going to send in a nice big machine with bloody great jaws to eat da bungalow and cause mayhem, and in my view, likely do damage to our neighbours. But we managed to get site insurance (thank you for real this time, Protek) which specifically covered demolition. But if we weren’t bloody minded enough to test and challenge then we could easily have gone with it and ‘done it properly’. Bigger sigh. OK, rant over (for now). The rain stopped and it’s back to site, having lost a couple of hours. We keep telling ourselves that we are not in a rush and it’s not sensible to set targets so of course Steve and I rush to recover the time and hit target for the day - the rest of the kitchen. We first hit single skin red brick, then round the corner, a red brick outer skin and under the internal stud skin, some very old painted plaster from the original outhouse. From the broken earthenware pipes I’ve found digging near there I now believe that this bit was originally the privy. Nearest to the road, so as far from the living rooms as possible, with sections of lead water pipe built in, it conjures up an image of such a different way of life. We find a ‘T’ joint in the lead pipe, simply sweated together - a wonderful illustration of what 100 years have done in plumbing technology terms. By home time we have a short lower section of red brick wall and a twin skinned block section of wall left, both stable but still irritatingly short of the target we didn’t set ourselves. Next day even though we want to finish the kitchen first it’s better to get the dunny down whilst there are two of us. It’s the last chance for a collapse to damage next door so I need Steve on site to blame in case anything happens. The potty is carefully pulled out (will be reinstalled in the house as temporary welfare suite - i.e. a pan, a bucket and for special occasions, a loo roll). The metal lathe and plaster remains only on the inside so is dispatched fairly quickly. Some hammering from a very mobile (but safe) bandstand removes the mostly masonry wall with the window and another sellable catnic is discovered. We now have a trio of them to clean up and sell on faceache. Thence the last studwork to drop. Just like one end of the kitchen, a couple of thought through cuts and a push and it’s down. Just like that. We tidy up, and quickly knock down the last little bit of kitchen wall thats next to a neighbour, and we stand back and contemplate for a mo what isn’t there any more. Steve won’t be back for nearly two weeks, and I think he’s a bit disappointed that he leaves one little corner still standing but he points out that even I can’t cock up taking that down. Personally I think he underestimated my talent in that. So Maundy Thursday sees me bashing plaster off of metal mesh, to get it ready for recycling, and generally clearing up and loading up for a tip run. And something very odd happens. I’m working at the front of the site, nodding at passers by, smiling with my eyes at them (isn’t it weird how a smile gets through a dust mask), when a chap from over the road I’ve not met before comes over. Richard introduces himself and I brace for what I know is coming, as in fairness the dust and noise can’t have been nice for the street. And he hits me with it, and I am taken aback but I try not to show it. He tells me how well we have done and how little disruption, mess and bother there has been. He’s impressed. Wow. Chuffed. We have quite a chat (after all, he will be one of our neighbours and it beats hammering mesh with a spade) and he leaves me rather buoyed up to say the least. Then a chap from three doors down comes and has a chat, just for the neighbourliness of it, and it reinforces how nice a community our new pad will be in. And then (how do I ever get anything done?) Monica stops to say hello and tells me that our demolition ‘is a work of art’. She walks past regularly (I have said hi to her a good few times) and she’s been watching and she is hugely complimentary. If the god of fat, little bald fellas had carefully planned a reward at the end of the demo phase she couldn’t have done better. Tip run done, I then felt I could reward myself by taking down that last corner. Rather than do it top down I stripped out the inner skin (more bloody snowy insulation) and one side to leave a bit of wall to go down with a satisfying thump. Next door have a couple of young lads, the oldest being 9. It struck me that at that age I would have loved pushing a wall down - so a quick convo with his mum, a hastily fitted hard hat and oversize gloves and with mum filming we rock the wall till I can let him give the last push - his grin was a fitting final smile for da bungalow to provide. Bye bye bungalow.

The trouble with allowing contingency is that when you don’t need it then it feels like time wasted. I guess it’s a bit of a drawing of breath really, much needed, but one’s natural bent (in my case anyway) is to automatically reach for my spade and start work - thinking not required. Oddly, we aren’t in a rush, in fact, the faster we go the quicker we run out of money unless our house sells, which in this market is looking unlikely. So taking time out is a good thing, it’s just that it feels like I should be making progress regardless. We had allocated this week to a week away, maybe going on a tour of timber cladding suppliers in our campervan (who needs airport security checks when you can be rained on in a muddy field) but other events kicked that into touch. So doing nothing this week should have felt ok. Twitch. In the end I did just two half days to pull up the wooden floorboards. We put them on Facebook as free to good home and after our standard allocation of time wasters a lovely chap turned up and worked hard with me to carefully lift them, remarkably preserving the tongues in the process. The lesson is that I should have bought a pallet breaker as then we’d have done it in one afternoon, instead of two. We did discover a few wasp nests under the floors, one mummified rodent, and an uphill poo pipe - that’ll be fun taking out…. But no other surprises, thankfully. The flow direction is left to right…. But with that and some of the internal doors finding new homes we are pleased with the amount of reuse we have achieved for bits of da bungalow (RIP). Anyway, I promised a demolition summary, so…. We got two quotes for demo companies to do it. One definitely wanted protective scaffolding (we are extremely close to the neighbours) and the other wasn’t clear on that. They were close in price and cheaper of the two was just over £11k and probably scaffolding (undefined). The cheaper one wanted a welfare unit too. The dearer one was willing to do a part demo - he pointed out that if I took the roof off then we wouldn’t need scaffolding and he’d knock £4k off. So despite agonising over which was better we ended up using neither. As part of getting quotes we were told we needed a demolition survey (AKA asbestos check). This cost £350 (zero VAT) and fortunately returned very pleasing results. Steve, our guardian angel, however, pointed out that a demolition company would do it quick but very dirty and with the big machines they’d use the probability of damage to neighbours was significant. Plus about 98% likelihood of really pissing lots of peeps off too. Not good. After some negotiations it was agreed he’d work with me on a day rate and the rest, as they say, is either history or a trauma that therapy will reduce in time, but either way we got da bungalow (RIP) down. To be fair, there remains a small amount of woodwork (floor joists) to pull up which will take me a short day, and there’s concrete to break up and cart away, but the ground worker includes that in his price (partly as there seems to be a local shortage of such stuff), and I’ve three catnic lintels to clean up and sell, but I call it done. Costs: Demolition survey: £350. Demolition notice: Can’t remember, it seems so long ago, but we don’t think there was a charge. Man days: Neighbour (to help get roof tiles off): 1 day at a cost of a lot of tiles (we were robbed!) Steve: 16 days. Expert guidance; lots of hard work; wicked sense of humour but oh, the singing! Me: 25 days - General dogsbodying and everything no one else wanted to do. Why did it always have to be me up the ladder? At least my singing is tuneful. I think. Total man days: 42. The answer to the meaning of life - how appropriate. Materials: Dust masks : ~£30 Gloves: ~£50 Makita reciprocating saw plus blades: £115. Heras fencing: £120 Hard hats and hi vis waistcoats: £22 Angle grinder discs: ~£10 Diesel for umpteen tip runs: £?? - but there was so many it looks like I’m going to be invited to the tip staff meetings from now on. Bath water, washing powder, lecky for washing machine, etc. £?? Total known materials ~£347 6 yard Plasterboard Skip: £396 inc VAT Stuff sold: Scrap (so far, there’s still some copper lurking around) -£292 Roof tiles -£320 Odds and sods sold on faceache -£200 Total sold: -£812 So, if I ignore the cost of my time, it comes out less than £4k. Rather pleased with that, and as the neighbours appear to be ok, it’s a good result all round.

I DIY installed my Vaillant Arotherm via an umbrella scheme and it was cost neutral once I received the £7.5k BUS grant. Headline figures were £4k for 7kW heat pump (250 m2 property) , £1k for 250l Vaillant cylinder and £1.6k for umbrella side of things. I did all of the plumbing and electrics and it took me 3 or 4 days off and on, it was fairly simple as already had the underfloor side of things installed, I did take the opportunity to remove the mixer and pump from manifold, also removed all of the actuators. System has been running great with COP in high 4's I used : https://www.air2heat.co.uk/mcs-umbrella-scheme Paul was great, he does a site visit, does the heat loss calcs, all of the BUS application etc. He is also flexible as to what manufacturer you go with and as far as I am aware supports Vaillant, Panasonic, Daiken, Mitsubishi & Samsung. I had already set my heart on the Vaillant but I remember Paul being a huge advocate of the Panasonics. I also understand he supports most of the country but may be wrong. A really nice chap so well worth a call.

A clip that came my way with Judith Hann. predicting in 1989 what the house of 2020 would be like. They are correct on passive (Passive Haus was being coined at the time - first one built in 1990), energy reduction to reduce fossil fuels (we have not far off halved emissions in the UK), LCD windows, intelligent house and other things. They have a piece of aerogel. They overdo embedded technology always simplifying things, and are wrong on decor, and that Electicity Sockets would go away. But there is no visible cat in the 2020 house, so no passive cat flaps. https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/cnk55nnnyxpo And the presenter is one Christine McNulty, who was I think visiting a conference at the Windows on the World Restaurant in the World Trade Centre on September 11th 2001. https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/christine-mcnulty

hopefully this will help others not do the same as me....... I have completed our VAT reclaim and one of the invoices they asked for was for our Loxone system. Initially they rejected the Loxone system as it wasn't covered under the VAT reclaim scheme. I argued that it 100% classified as "allowable" under "Intelligent lighting as shown at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/goods-and-services-you-can-claim-for-under-the-vat-diy-scheme#goods-and-services-g-to-i and without the system we wouldn't have any lights. They responded with the fact that the invoice shows "intercom" and "stereo" means that the system is capable of audio which isn't allowed. even if the system isn't being used for those things. So, long story short, buy the Loxone intercom, audio server and stereo extensions and anything else that wouldn't be covered separately so they're on different invoices and don't claim for them allowing you to claim for the other stuff. this mistake cost us about £1k in VAT reclaim.

Weeks 27 to 34 Cladding After securing our planning permission I arranged for a few samples of wood cladding from various trees and from a few different suppliers. I propped them up in the sun and watched for months as they changed colour and silvered off. We made a short list of which we liked, something with a definite grain pattern so not Poplar, not too knotty so not pine, thermally modified wood as it is less prone to shrink and swell and as it’s no longer sappy less interesting to insects and lighter for handling. We also wanted tongue and groove with secret fixings through the tongue and minimal fixings elsewhere if necessary, this often varies by supplier some say screw, some nail very few actually say nail gun as it can damage the brittle wood. We decided Ash was our favourite and got a few quotes from different suppliers, unfortunately when the time came to order prices had increased and we had to rethink as delivery became a big problem. We wanted it delivered by Hi-ab but most said the charge for hi-ab to us would be quite expensive or that they didn’t offer that service or it would be delivered to a hub then onto us and they couldn’t guarantee against damages. Read the delivery small print if you are thinking of having wood cladding. As it’s just me and my husband we weren’t looking forward to manually offloading the wood whilst the driver was waiting to make his next delivery and as no specific time frame for deliveries were available we couldn’t arrange for help offloading. A local company in Somerset could deliver by Hi-ab at a reasonable cost but it would be knotty pine. We really didn’t want pine but as it was cheaper and the delivery method ok we reconsiderd but still couldn’t make that final decision. Then I found Russwood after initially discounting them due to the fact they are in Inverness and we are in Cornwall and at the time I had at least 4 other companies all based lower than Birmingham some much closer to us. I spoke to Russwood and discussed delivery with them and discovered they deliver by Hi-ab on a big double length trailer but arrangements could be made that half of the trailer was left in a local lay by if necessary and our wood came on just the front half. They offered us Thermo Pine but it is slightly different the knots are fewer than on other pine samples we had from other suppliers Russwood describe them as butterfly knots, through the length of the knot rather than across the heart (round knots), you do still get some round knots. The tongue and groove is better designed in that each piece is fully pushed to the next but on the hidden side has room to expand. Most other tongue and groove needed a few millimetres between each plank for expansion which would slow the process down of putting it up and a bit more fiddly in general. Another difference in our wood is the face edges are rounded it gives a slightly more finished wood that could easily be used internally as well. As we we’re saving quite a bit on the Ash price we decided to over order enough that we can use some on the overhang, I don’t think we know yet how much spare wood we will have. A few comments from my husband are that it goes up really nice, screwing in the groove on the tongue with electric screwdriver so most fixings are hidden. It’s all fairly straight and not warped, some damaged pieces by handling but can be sorted into useable lengths over or under windows for example. On a sunny day he is enjoying this job. Cost to date Brought forward £207626 Cladding £5357 Cost to date £212983 I have noticed the Suffolk meet up chats and thought that If anyone is interested I could have an open day once we have done some more cladding and the rendered wall is complete and hopefully solar installation finished. The renderers are due to start soon so I was thinking May or June. It will only be for Build hub members so just PM me and we can all discuss dates that suit a few of us. If nice weather BBQ outside in the Bude sunshine.

Your over analysing this. I’ve got a 1-5tonne kubota, there’s only two jobs I haven’t been able to do with it in 6 years of being here. bulk excavation of house plot as it was just too much volume 300m + I could have done it but it was taking too long, 8 tonne machine for 3-4 days sorted that. then installing the septic, I could definitely have done it with my machine no question, but I had to hire in a box shoring system to hold the sides up, the 8 tonne machine struggled with this as well. so two weeks hire of a bigger machine in 6 years of owning our place. there’s not a single week I haven’t used the digger.

Hello Saul Sorry to hear you are having a hard time. Here are a few comments. They are just general but may help you, even if just to rule out. Often ruling things out let's you focus. I do a bit of Claims work now and again, not a lot as I would rather be having fun designing stuff. I'm off the day job so excuse the spelling, grammer and hope you get the jist of my comments! When you get sight of a professional report you must read the caveats and scope of the brief. But as a lay person you will still struggle to understand what these actually mean. This type of report is carefully crafted. You have a lot riding on this and so do the insurers etc. Ok I see you have gone a bit legal.. part of the torture these folk put you through. I was interested when you discussed about the diffferent views on the mortar compressive strength. There was professional who: Now that is almost / true in some context.. An example. Say you have a building that is made out of quality Bath Limestone. The beds are just there to keep the weather out and allow the stone to move so we don't get movement cracks...and shed some of the local stress in the stone. Anyway.. You are in dispute, your text and posts exhibit an often observed pattern from my end. You may be feeling that you are getting stuck as you are focusing on the mortar. Now there are lawyers and so on thta add to the confusion. I often feel this is a standard appoarch by say Contractors / Insurers. From their end it's about numbers, size and frequency of claims. Let me paint you a picture: Let's say you find an SE that is a crusty bugger and who does everything based on evidence, knows how the game is played. Let's also say that this SE knows how to inform your Lawyer, who may be young and wants to learn / win and pocket a bit of cash. For me as an SE part of my claims work is to provide the tools to allow the laywer to fight the case. I always go back to basic design principles and most laywers can make hay with that. You write to your opponent and ask to see the original design calculations for the house and if there are any "as built drawings" Now 99% of the time these will not be provided. No calcs / drawings you now have opened the door! Saul you are focusing on mortar strength, say durability, a professional report is introduced about 1:10.5 mortar mix. Your opposition is tying you in knots, taking up your time, causing you stress, potentially blighting the value of your house. This is standard fair and practice when you go up against developers and say the NHBC.. especially when there may be more than one house at risk. What can you do: Ok you are feeling that you are fighting a big wall. BUT it's an old expression.. just change the conversation!.. it's an old addage from I think 1960's marketing.. but still true to this day! Go around the wall! I do claims work now and again.. I don't take on a Claim unless I think I have a decent chance of winning. The NHBC et all have huge resources.. the trick is to find a way round their firewall. I focus on structural safety / fire safety and how all the other ements of the building rely or not on the wall and mortare for example. You can quickly turn the tables on them and rack up their costs! Importantly you can highlight structural safety issues which puts the shiters up them. They have to address this quick as you might report them to the HSE. You are concerend about say the mortar falling out over time.. I'm concerned as an SE about the current structural safety! To fix this the NHBC often need to fix the structural safety aspect which fixes the thing we started argueing about in the first place which is the mortar strength..there are different ways to skin a cat! Well as a home owner you can write, I'm just touching on a few examples here.. but in my day job I go to town! I'll go into any beam bearings on soft mortar, durability.. the whole lot. Once I get going with my SE design safety hat on it can be free for all. In my experience most insurers just throw in the towel.. but you must educate your Lawyer and a good SE for example will do that. Some question you may ask as a lay person: 1/ I know the roof sits on the walls and puts vertical load on the walls does this report (1:10 etc) take the behavoir i=of the buildingninto account. I would love to see copy of said report for interest. 2/ I know the wind blows on the roof and to stop it moving sideways or upwards it needs to be tied to the walls. I know that the regs require the masonry to be of a certain standard so the vertical and as equally important the sideways wind loads are transferred to the walls all the way down to the foundations. 3/ The floors tie into the walls and for these to work the walls need to comply with the assumptions in the floor design. 4/ The wall ties as recommended rely on a certain strength of mortar bed.. if my mortar is not strong enough then that invalidates the wall tie design. 5/ Fire protection. Now I can see the mortar is falling out on the outside. If it is happening on the inside then the fire pretection in the cavity may be compromised? How do you know it's not? 6/ Bridging of DPC's and wall ties in the cavity.. is the mortar falling out causing bridging? 7/ I have windows and doors.. my supplier needs to verify that the walls they are fixing into to comply with the standards. I've just touched in laymans terms on some questions you may want to ask. Gus (that's me) What I do from time to time is to phone up the technical department of say the wall tie manufacturer and say I'm in a bit of a bind what do you think unoffically ? Is this defensable or do you think I'm right? Remember folks that from time to time I may defend a builder? To close: To win this I think you need to change the conversation.. focus on structural safety and how the weak mortar has invalidated the rest of the design. Try and rack up the cost and time to defend for your opponent. At some point they will come to the table and want to negotiate. That is a story for another day.

Good evening all, just a quick note to intoduce myself. Currently managing our ICF self build, we went with a KORE insulated raft foundation and a Castleforms 360mm ICF block. We just (last week) poured the 1st pour in the walls and currently getting the block layer in for the internal walls. Looking forward to using this great source of knowledge to help us on our self build journey. Thanks Tadhg (like saying tiger without the er)

We used GRP angle attached to/cast into the slab for all our exterior doors. On our sliders I put 7 x 150mm M12 bolts through the GRP, threads extending into were the slab was going so that the bolts would be encapsulated in the slab when it was poured. It seems to have worked fine, no thermal bridge and enough strength to hold a big heavy slider. The slab was kept 25mm lower where the slider was going so that Compac Foam could be used under the sliding door threshold to insulate it from the slab. The front and back doors were much easier with their narrower thresholds. Sliders Front and back doors were simpler.

The week starts with the removal of the external walls on the rear half of da bungalow. That’s the fun bit. I’m armed with two chainsaws and a reciprocating saw (aka sabre saw, for some reason). I bought the sabre saw as Steve the builder recommended one for demolition. When I bought it I knew it would be useful, but I knew my trusty chainsaws would get more done quicker and easier. It’s not easy working with someone who’s right every damn time. Sigh. So the chainsaws remain at rest while we quickly get into a rhythm of joist then upright removal, working our way along the frame till the only part of the rear half standing is the chimney and it’s wings (and our neighbours wall are still untouched ….yay!!). The pile of wood at the front of the plot is now clearly tidal. We cut wood, the tide flows. The ‘wood man’ comes, the tide ebbs. The cycle disguises the sheer volume of wood we are handling. It constitutes an awful lot of skip savings. Next day it’s straight back to heavy spade work for me, knocking of plaster and trying to leave the metal lathe mesh stuff reasonably clean to make later processing for recycling easier. In the process I discover previously a hidden window and a door - it would be fascinating to understand the history, the sequence of events and the reasons, but we can only guess. Steve is straight into heavy hammer work taking down the chimney and wing walls, and he discovers thermalite block so that chimney isn’t original either. Most interesting. Nobody tells you about the dust when you talk about demolition. I thought I’d done dusty jobs before but not like this. It’s like you bath in it. Everything on site is coated and one touch leaves my hands feeling almost ‘smooth’ in a strange kind of way. The dust masks that started off annoying are now comforting, I now start the day clean shaven to help them work better. But they discourage hydration as lifting the mask up to drink means putting a sweat soaked mask back on one’s face. Less than ideal. Warm dry weather makes it worse, and when a stiff breeze gets up it really is the limit. My goggles fully protect my eyes from dust. Unfortunately they also protect my eyes from seeing anything, as they mist up in seconds each time they are cleaned. I sprayed them with de-icer and that did help - it trebled the time it took them to mist up - sadly that still only made about two minutes. So, back to specs type protection it is. The high velocity flying bits are deflected but the fine dust floats round and gently crusts, aided by the breeze which isn’t enough to cool me but is easily enough to ensure dust gets everywhere quickly. Skooby (trusty steed, or cheap ancient Skoda on her last legs bought for the build, depending on one’s point of view) now has a light gray interior. Not just from my clothes, though that would be enough, but also from the stuff piled in her for the tip runs. And the litres of moisturiser I get through is crazy - we never budgeted for that - the dust dries the skin like mad. But, one just carries on. So having removed the back half the question is what to do next. Steve is logical and methodical. So he advocates carrying on removing the rearmost and working our way forwards. That means the dunny. But I still have a bladder, and age dictates that that bladder is attended to regularly. And I’m tight and we’ve nowhere sensibly to put a rented thunderbox anyway. So the score on that one ends up as Common sense: 0; G’s bladder: 1. So, after adding some diagonal bracing ‘just in case’ we bypass the loo and work forward. Yet another carefully considered risk assessment debate ensues. These consist of Steve standing and looking for a bit while I remain silent. He then says what we are doing next and I say yes Steve. Simples. In this instance we are going to remove the lintel above the old front door as otherwise when we remove the studwork near it there might be instability, as one end rests on a tiny masonry pillar held up only by studs. It takes an hour to drop the blockwork above and the large catnic lintel we discover. More to clean up and sell, if only I could lift it. Then, finally, it’s back to studwork removal time. The ‘wood man’ has been again so the wood tide is thankful out, so there’s space to put the wood mountain. Another excellent four days, so much so that we all take the Friday off. It turns out that being at home on a day off is emotionally, much easier than visiting site. A few jobs need doing around the house which helps, but it’s basically ok. It tells me that I could never live on site and have any peace of mind. I already spend a lot of time thinking things through/worrying myself into a fizz when I should be sleeping, and I think that would be massively greater if we lived either in site or very close nearby. The 20 minutes in Skooby as she grumbles along is vital to prepare for the day and then later, to help me start to decompress. It’s easy to think about one’s muscles needing rest, but not so easy to think about one’s head, but I’m trying, and it seems that that drive, and a soak in a scummy bath, is as vital as talking the day over with J. It’s like mentally putting one’s tools away, clean and tidy. Cooking helps too… Saturday it’s time to get all the lead, the house wiring, and (as it turns out) 80kg of gas boiler to the scrap yard - no wonder the boiler was so hard to lift!

Just a mild update, I’ve managed to get a couple of windows boarded. Not going to win any competitions for speed, but checking levels/plumb/square and trying to do the best job you can when having a ‘go’ for the first time…. I’m relatively pleased with my first effort 35/36mm is what I ended up settling for, more by a result of the amount of adhesive I slapped on the soffit, rather than calculation. Good excuse to start eating into all those pb offcuts I had stashed away.

We never open windows. In fact, but for the requirement to have openers for means of escape, we could have saved a bundle by having all fixed panes. After 7.5 years living with MVHR, I can't imagine ever going back to living without it.

Thanks for the replies Nice to see Jeremy back on the forum (via that link, Jack). We visited him 8-odd years ago and were inspired by him to get a Sunamp! Good news is Sunamp have just emailed and are delivering a new on on Tuesday. Which is nice!

It's entirely possible that MVHR isn't the optimum solution for you. I'm going to make some wild (and inflammatory😈) assumptions here. You are a couple of 900 year old geriatrics rattling around in a huge house. 100m2 plus each to allow your dusty farts to dilute hugely and waft harmlessly into the curtains. You prefer to take a long sedentary steam free bath for your "bones" rather than a rapid steamy shower like those of us who have actual work to do. As you were born in the 1800's you still follow the daily routine of opening every window in the house just like your childhood chambermaid used to do to dispel the "pot gasses". You enjoy burning lumps of timber almost as much as you treasure the opinion pages of the Daily mail and mid afternoon TV with reruns of 1960's dramas. You suspiciously view an MVHR unit as "too good to be true" and treat it accordingly and think a much more decent, and honourable thing to do, is pay old fashioned British Gas an honest wage and not to cheat the system. You have lots of lots of Sterling silver and Kruger Rand still buried under the bed from when you were forced to sell the last of your slavery bonds by the "WOKE" government. Spending another token or two on the boiler churning through some of Putins gas isn't going to make a dent in the intergenerational wealth. You asked........I poked.............. ( actually that reminds me of my first GF.....)

Hello all. A Client of mine asked me why I had only put reinforcing mesh in the top of the raft slab on XPS insulation and not in the bottom as they had seen many details where there was steel mesh in the bottom and top of the slab or just mesh in the bottom. One underlying reason for the good question was.."what kind of temporary construction load can I put on the slab? .. as I want to run a machine about on it" The following is a bit of an introduction to the theory on how you can place the reinforcing mesh (laymans terms).. the experience bit I'll leave mostly out for now. Please remember that all raft foundations need to be designed on a case by case basis. Also raft design (particularly on thick insulation) is a dark art in that we design them partly on theory, partly on experience and by adapting standard design guidance to suit the particular site and your (often self builder's) requirements.. Please note that non of this covers.. difficult ground, made ground, sloping sites and so on.. there are many types of raft foundations.. I'm just talking about mesh reinforcement here and assuming a fair wind (in terms of ground conditions) below the insulation layer. This design is a essentially a passive raft on XPS insulation on CLAY soil. I use capital letters her as when you look at any ground investigation report the dominant mater is captialised. The soil description is wriiten in order of priority. This particular raft has to take some point loads from a structural frame around the perimeter and a modest loading from the external walls that sit on the edge of the raft. This raft has an edge beam to carry the column loads to spread them about. Below is a rough drawing of the slab away from the edges, I've ommited the mesh, DMP etc for simplicity. In the case above there is a capping layer of 6F5 as the soil contains organic material, a bit of made ground and so on.. we kind of need to dig that out as if not we would have to have a much thickened and more heavily reinforced slab. We are aiming for economy in the round here. The capping layer is there essentially stop excessive settlement caused by say made ground and any organic material decomposing. Forgive the lack of brevity but the concrete slab does not know what it is resting on.. it just wants to know what is holding it up, how squashy it is and how strong it is. What we often like to do is to make sure that the type one and capping layer is stronger in terms of compression strength than the insulation and also settles less than the insulation. In other words the stuff below the insulation is less elastic. This lets us concentrate on how the insulation behaves. Ok lets look at a typical insulation, say an XPS. Now when you look up the manufacture's data tables the will often say our stuff is rated at 300Pa at 10% compression. Now 300 kPa is 30 tonnes a square metre! Now that is a great headline figure! But on a 300mm thickness of insulation that equates to 30mm of downwards movement.. just imagine what that is going to do to your doors and windows, drains, finishes etc. What we do is to say.. how much movement can we live with. Say we can live with 6.0mm of movement when the building is subject to it's full load. The sum to get a reasonable load bearing capacity of the insulation is: 300 * 6/30 = 60 kPa.. which still is a lot of bang for your buck if the loads are spread about evenly.. which often they are not. Anyway we now know if we put 60 kPa on the insulation how much it will squash down by and from that we can calculate its elasticity.. how squashy it is. On top of this insulation we put a concrete slab. Now plain unreinforced concrete has a small capacity to resist tension.. not a lot but it does do something if we have tension loads spread over a wide area.. it can hang in there! There is a design guide that is used by many of the big industry suppliers of software (TEDDS/ TEKLA for example) to the SE community is called TR34.. Concrete industrial ground floors. In this design guide is a brief mention of concrete slabs on insulation. What many folk like me and other designers / specialist Contractors do (the Americans pioneered this so I use their guides as well) is to take the basic equations and adapt them in a conservative way. To adapt the equations in principle is relatively simple. Below is a simple model of how an unreinforced slab fails away from the edges under a point load. One way of appraoching this is to assume that the first crack in the concrete happens in the bottom of the slab, now we are adapting conservatively the standard TR34 rules. But we need to know what distance "x" is. This is called the radius of relative stiffness. Simplistically the insulation under is pushing back up as hard as it can (remember it is elastic like a pencil rubber) and the concrete is bending down but it is less elastic than the insulation. We need to find the "balance point" where the insulation and the concrete have equal forces to maintain equilibrium. Like below and then we can calculate the tension in the concrete in the top of the slab where the circle is and check to see it is ok. You can see how the circle, the tension in the top of the slab, is relatively large and that is why we are allowed to take the tension properties of the concrete into account. Here is an important bit for many of the raft slabs you see on Build Hub. Steel mesh is often used for crack control. Say A142 mesh, but often there is just not enough mesh to turn the concrete slab into a fully qualifying reinforced slab. But intuitively we know it will be helping a bit wich add a bit of a safety net. In the round though. I've had a look at what folk are getting designed by their SE's on Build Hub, qualitatively. You can't take too much of a view as there is often no quality info. I've also had a look at the AFD ( Advanced Foundation technology) offering. Lots of it is good stuff with plenty detail. Hopefully the above will give you a bit of an insight into how they (AFT et al ) achieve their thin slabs. BUT.. Often in this passive raft or just any raft foundation design there is no free lunch! DO NOT make the mistake of trying to get you budget figures to work by shaving a slab down to 100 mm thick for example unless you are confident on the ground you are building on, know what kind of insulation you are going to use and you have no funny loads from the superstructure! These loads include uplift wind and point loadings. That's all for now folks.

After what feels like forever we finally started real works. We’ve done lots to the plot, tree clearance, root removal, digging out beds, planting, etc. but little to da bungalow itself. We held off stripping out ‘til we were sure the project was viable, which was über cautious but that’s us. Selection of timber frame supplier wasn’t straightforward. It came down to a local-ish company (ETE) who supply a panelised frame for manual erection on site or stick built on site under the supervision of an SE. Most frame companies require crane assembly, which we can’t have due to overhead wires. But once we felt we were in the right place, planning, party wall agreements, demolition survey, site insurance, timber frame supplier, the main peeps to help us build, etc. then we got down to it. That initially meant selling/giving away the kitchen, a fireplace, the conservatory, the UPVC windows and door, an electric fire and even a garage. I had intended to do more stripping out before the cavalry arrived, but there was always a more important task: digging test holes for the structural engineer (needed for the foundation design, so vital); getting the gas meter removed/capped off and the pipe cut of at the verge annoyingly costing £1,700 (not safe to have gas on site in the way, so vital); replacing fence panels including digging out big roots (to keep the neighbours on side, so vital); erecting a shed, with of course a base (to keep those working on site happy, so vital); moving the water supply (to avoid it being trashed by the groundworks, so vital); digging in (by hand) the 10m of electric duct, casting a concrete base for and installing a huge, but apparently necessary, meter kiosk to comply with the DNO requirements, enabling them to charge us £9,500 - ouch - so vital); dismantling the garage (which was in the way and we wanted it to be reused, so vital); and finally, dismantling the conservatory (which was also in the way and we wanted it reused, so, you guessed it, vital). Turns out breaking up concrete by hand is exhausting, but oddly therapeutic, even if you do bend your ancient trusty steel spade. I wonder, have I got so used to digging foundation test holes and digging soakaway test pits and digging out roots and digging in pipes and ducts that I’m actually going to miss digging? Scarily possible! Who needs a mechanical digger when you’ve a mattock from Amazon and a new steel spade from Toolstation? But then the real works start. 34 years ago we built our current house helped massively by Steve the builder, who was a bit older than us. This time round it’s a repeat, as the same Steve is helping us and given that I’m nicely in my 60s and oddly, Steve is still older, it means that none of us are in the first flush of youth. So my theory was that Steve was the brains and I would be the brawn. Wrong. Steve is both it turns out. Monday saw us stripping off roof tiles and after a day on the battens I was wiped. Tuesday saw me on the battens again for half a day stripping the rest of the tiles and then, just to vary things, I then spent some time on the battens stripping off the felt on one face so we could get the chimney down and kick down some ceilings (overboarded lathe and plaster). Whilst we were out on the tiles UK Power Networks, our DNO, dug up the road and put in our underground electric feed. And a quick bit of begging over the phone got the meter moved that afternoon, so we had site power again. Bliss in a coffee cup. So by the end of Tuesday I was pleased with progress but exhausted. On Wednesday we started stripping out walls and we discovered that there was a lot more plasterboard than I first thought. Damn. Pronto plasterboard skip ordered, we estimated that we’d need a 4 yard skip, so to be safe a 6 yard skip was ordered. Which meant we needed easy barrow access so we removed a window and cut a new front door. Wednesday night I went home totally exhausted and less than pleased due to all the newly discovered plasterboard. That night I came to terms with my limitations, so I messaged Steve to suggest he do a 4 day week to give me time to tidy up and recover. He agreed and offered to buy me a pipe and some slippers. (Pic of new door) The skip arrived promptly arrived at 07:30 next morning. There then followed a rabid day of plasterboard removal. Incredible how effective a spade can be indoors when instructions are given to the novice. By the end of the day we’d nearly filled the skip and had just a hallway ceiling left covered in the dreaded plasterboard. I could hardly raise my arms. One of Steve’s endearing features is his sense of humour. One of his most irritating features is his sense of humour. So as I’m on a step up, gritting my teeth and willing my arms up again and again yet another joke prompts the giggles. That was it, hopeless. My giggling got him giggling and progress paused. Priceless. But determination sustained and the skip was filled. Thank goodness for over-ordering. I went home a zombie, but with less energy. Friday and Saturday were tip runs and tidying up, and now on Sunday I sit quietly reflecting on a week that was unbelievably productive, thanks to Steve’s experience. But oh my, it starts again tomorrow. I have no idea if anyone will find these ramblings of interest, but they are, much like digging, remarkably therapeutic too!

Via PM I have been reminded i never updated this thread, and to avoid that annoying situation when someone tells of their problem...but not how resolved, ill update here. Coming up to +2 years on now!!! Excuse the rush, got a busy day in the garden I want to get into...excuse grammar & spelling. The builder met with the architects first to put forwards his opening position, prior to me meeting with them. Before this I had very firmly coached the architects on my expectations. The builder & architect had a long list previous projects, but my prior engagements with them both over the build didn't overly (!) worry me about it...but obvious bias is inevitable, the industry works off it. When I met with the architects, with my view being I wanted 50% of our costs refunded for the delay (£5,000 to £7,500)...following the initial niceties they updated me with a ''following our initial negotiations with the builder have had us come to a middle ground of....you paying c£5,000 for the 9 month ish delay' . Suffice to say I ''politely'' went through the roof. I was furious of that as an argument & after much ''polite'' fury directed at the situation, I Iet them explain why....and it basically came down to the fact we chosen/walked c10-15% additional cost into the project (with another c10% what we paid over the fact due to inbuild problems) over the duration over & above original agreement (family bereavement mid build meant we put the money into the builder), some line items individually adding a few weeks to critical path without breaking a sweat. The vast majority being relatively 'small ticket' items ('extra retaining wall round patio, wood burner fireplace... 60-70 line items on the cost sheets) but they did chip away at any argument we had for the delays being because of ''builder's slow progress''. They also acknowledged that Builder was third generation, family firm...and that we have benefitted immeasurable from his professionalism & experience dodging, resolving and fixing headaches along the project as successfully as he had & the great working relationship we had....and the 'hang over' to that is from an evidence lead approach to this negotiation, any mediation or formal resolutions to this situation would have him in a powerful position to professionally explain, with ample justifications, his position to this settlement. Needless to say I threw this out the window and assured them even a penny more then a ''call it quits position of £0'' would have me expecting a detailed line item by line item, evidenced position, protracted negotiation, in person for every £ & penny..... knowing full well that the Builder utterly HATED anything that wasn't a short, polite, value add, straight to the point, no bullshit or emotions type conversation....which id benefited from before via plenty of phone calls with me going ''I disagree Builder, Id like you on site to discuss this in more detailed please...when can you be available.....'' which inevitably had him sighing & just agreeing to meet ££ half way. Needless to say, this is how this situation went again.... Everyone agreed to ''call it quits at £0'' and walk away with a balloon, even if they didnt get the party bag they wanted. I'm sure Builder & architect knew this would be the end position, but needed to 'put on the show' for me....but I was happy with how it all ended. Sometimes the game simply needs to be played, even if the result is pre determined. Ironically enough though, just this Friday gone (without any fight) the builder's team came out for 2 days to replace a slab of the garage floor due to cracks, because they acknowledged their contractor had ballsed it up....no hesitation even 12 months past the snagging point. So...... all ended happily ever after, even if at the time the emotions felt/feel very very heavy indeed!!! For those in a similar circumstance, trust me when I say whatever happens, it will all be worth it & the hotter the the fire...the better the story you can tell with a beer & plenty of laughter!! Also, projects rarely ''fully finish'' and knowing you part ways with a (good!) builder knowing you can pick up the phone to him when all is said & done, carries value in itself.

The rust showing is caused because the 2 metal sections have only been tacked together and then painted, leaving the joint open to ingress and unprotected. You need to clean the area with a wire brush on a grinder and then if it's a structural joint, weld it fully, if not structural, seal the joint with a good quality paintable sealer or automotive seam sealer, before painting.

Screed laid this morning, all good, no leaks no issues, no pressure increase. Remarkably smooth & uneventful. Big sigh of relief.

Whilst I have a heat pump and think they are good, in the right circumstances, I find it hard to believe for most people, that swapping a gas boiler for a heat pump will reduce bills by much, if anything. I have always believed a heat pump with a SCOP of 3 will deliver similar running costs to a mains gas boiler. You would have to achieve a much better SCOP to achieve a saving and I just don't believe the average retrofit ASHP can achieve that.

I'll give you my 10c on this subject. Feel free to comment and disagree. This is all my opinion and the experience of participating in half-a-dozen small claims and a couple of bigger claims. I'm not a lawyer but the wife is and, in addition, I was well schooled by a litigation lawyer on a bigger case. OK the preliminiaries: Do the dull work to avoid getting into disputes. Be clear and thorough, read contracts, check materials, dimensions, specifications. Describe jobs thoroughly. Use contracts or detailed job descriptions. Think about and document insurance, timescales, liability, accidents, contingencies (what happens when things go wrong like illness or absence), disgreements over quality, delays. Think about dispute resolution e.g. mediation up front. Try to spot what's going to go wrong ahead of time. Often, you'll have an intuition about a risk, a person or a behaviour - follow it up, even before it's caused a problem. As a defensive policy: document as much as you can. Emails, photos, dates, text messages etc. If you have an otherwise undocumented call, then send an email 'confirming' the details so that it gets documented. Be business like, polite and prompt at all times. If you're worked up, don't respond until you've calmed down. Take the time to 'plead your case' with cold facts and logic. Try and eliminate any emotion from your argument. Be reasonable. Projects overrun, get delayed, work is sometimes not perfect, mistakes happpen. Address them promptly, be understanding and prepared to meet the other party half way. That is, try to negotiate disputes away even if it means sometimes taking small losses on the chin. Encourage the other party to explain and propose a solution, listen and try to understand their point of view. Be sure who/what the legal entity is (and their formal address) that you're considering taking to court. This must be accurate. If a person or sole trader, you need to know their legal name and home or business address. If a company, you should be able to find their registered office address on companies house website. Beware social media arrangements - you may simply not accurately know who the other party is. Do a fair amount of polite (or increaasingly less polite) reminding, badgering, invoicing etc until you conclude that you've exhausted all non-court options. The courts expect you to try very hard to sort our your disputes and only come to the court as a last resort. Write a 'letter before action' with a date that you're expecting the other party to respond, pay up etc including a short description of the 'claim' (e.g. you had 30 days to pay my bill and we're now at 60 days and it isn't paid).

The BBC should be banned full stop There miles away from the BBC of thirty years ago Far from impartial

We had to make all sorts of design trade-offs and TBH sometimes "shooting from the hip" decisions during our build. Sometimes these were driven by Local Planner push-back and sometimes to avoid exacerbating relationships with neighbours that were getting fed up with the new build going on next door. Good examples here are (i) PV: we wanted to have cassette in-roof PV (similar to JSH) but the planners really didn't like the visual impact on the street scene, so we gave up on this one; (ii) ASHP: my modelling showed that we would be hard pushed to get a 10-year payback for installing it and it would have to be installed quite close to a sensitive neighbour's boundary, so I took the easy way out an put in the pipework and electricity supply but installed our Willis Heater, and deferred the decision on the ASHP unit "until we had a enough data to make an informed decision" -- 9 years later and I still can't make the investment case. In our case MVHR was an easy decision. We had ecoJoist floor voids and this was before boarding out, so this was one of the jobs we could do ourselves, so the cost was in the few £K range and at that time we could self certify for the BInsp. The modelling showed that we had a clear case for putting it, so for us it was a no-brainer. And we've never regretted that decision. The entire house is always fresh smelling and mould-free despite it being pretty airtight (about 0.5 ACH). The system does need maintenance but that's one of Jan's jobs 🤭. And when it comes to the warmer period (maybe 6 months a year), we just open doors and windows if we want direct external ventilation; I don't turn off the system because even if the kitchen patio doors are open, say, you still notice the street noise etc. even in what is basically a quiet village, and it can get stuffy in the bedrooms on the street-side with the windows closed overnight. But in your case Ian, this might be your equivalent of my ASHP decision. The fact is that you now live in the house and have over-wintered without it, so your heating can cope with the heat losses from non-heat recovery air exchange. It is more an issue of CO2 build-up and moisture control. In your OP, you mentioned that you haven't got BCont sign-off. The reality is that there are two design modes for ventilation: the leaky model where all of your windows have get weep vents etc, and an airtight one where none of fenestration includes vents. In this second case you won't realistically get sign-off without an MVHR system installed, and this is a big problem for you. You need sign-off, so unfortunately MVHR isn't really negotiable. My BInsp went through my report in some detail and asked some supplementary Qs on it. Your inspector might be a bit more lax, or perhaps you could just fabricate a piece of fiction, but IMO that's a dangerous path to try. The least risk root is to self-install properly and go through the self-certification exercise (if Bregs haven't closed that path now).

Yes, we have used that acoustic pipe wrap for ensuite soil pipe running across a ceiling. The Mass Loaded Vinyl does seem effective. We found we had an issue with rain noise beating down on a singly ply warm roof like a drum, so we are sticking a layer of adhesive MLV internally to the underside of the deck between the joists. We tried it out in one room and it was very effective in reducing the rain noise. Agree with all comments above. Obtaining the right materials at the right time is a hell of a challenge. Builders & trades are often completely uninterested and unwilling to obtain anything which isn't immediately available off the shelf at any builders merchant. If you want anything other than the most basic spec items it is highly unlikely to be stocked by any standard merchant as they all seem to focus down their stock ranges very severely. The internet amazon style delivery model has taken over for anything beyond basic items. Often there will be a weeks lead time. And our builders were constantly over optimistic about when they would need items and we have stuff stored all over the house for months. I have had to help unload and carry stuff delivered on an artic lorry that couldn't get down residential streets. Unfortunately I consider the building materials market as pretty dysfunctional. Most materials are purchased by trades people and not the building end customer. This means many manufacturers focus on the needs and interests of trades which are distinctly different to those of end users. Trades want - off the shelf, low discounted price to them with high list price they can charge their customer, to use the same stuff on every job, stuff which is very quick and easy to cut, handle and install. One product variation, not 15 different colours, and 10 options. They don't care about 'nice to have's' or 'bells and whistles' or 'detailed spec requirements' etc. They are not going to live in what they build. They don't want 12 different trade accounts. This makes the building industry very resistant to change, and makes it very difficult for manufacturers to get products which benefit the end customer, but not the tradesman, into the market. I have used habito plasterboard...higher spec, higher price, heavier, and you have to work to source it and no tradesperson knows or cares that it exists. https://youtu.be/VltFR-kXtcw?feature=shared

As someone who has built my own house from start to finish, AND work for an ICF contractor I can safely say that there are very few self builders who become repeat business. I'll never build another house for myself, I've got one! Overheads do obviously contribute to the cost of service, whether that be advertising, equipment, office staff (🤫) or profit(🤫🤫) but a significant factor is also the uniqueness of every job. Architect's first time, owner's blue sky thinking and the idyll is generally not just off a trunk road with ample parking. Cost is therefore reduced by simplification and duplication and adoption of ICF for these sort of projects is critical for bringing product costs down for individual consumers. As a contractor, approaching developers comes with it's own set of overheads; h&s being a massive one and the corner most likely cut by a self builder. Not to be dangerous but there is no commercial risk attached to not having a risk assessment or all the other paperwork. And that costs. Therefore a reputable ICF contractor aspiring to deliver commercial multi unit projects is always going to be more expensive than someone with little experience or not concerned about working for the larger clients. The irony is that plenty of developers see ICF as a self build product and not a serious mass build option. Compounded by a potential labour force made up for first or part time ICF contractors. Until large scale opportunities exist nationally, offering repeat business, this isn't going to change. Chicken or the egg? There's a massive difference between too expensive and unaffordable and if a contractor quote comes back as high, it's important to acknowledge why; too expensive or just unaffordable, all risks covered? There is a reason why nearly 30% of the new housing stock in Ireland is ICF. It is because once economies of scale are reached, cost ceases to be the prominent factor. And anyone quoting embodied carbon stats as a reason not to use ICF needs to give their head a wobble. Rant over

@flanagaj, for me the procurement process was the most difficult and fatiguing part of my build. Every week across my build I was having to buy something, or researching buying something. It was very draining. Inevitably you sometimes get the wrong stuff delivered and have to sort out the returns process. Three toilets were wrong (wall mount vs standing), ordered 10mm Fermacell, they delivered 12.5mm. Very carefully specced order for all SVP materials and they delivered 1 wrong item. For the insulated raft foundations, the fitter told me on the day, he needed the DPC, so off to the BMs to get it as quickly as possible, all ideas of any cost savings out of the window. Many times trades will need something, where time is the most critical factor. There are £000’s to be saved with good procurement practices, like at least 3 quotes, asking for discounts, large volume orders, etc. But these things are easy to say, but hard to do week in and out during the build. I could not get a bathroom tiler for love or money, had to beg one guy just to do the plant room. Another big issue is what you choose to spec materials wise. If you go off the well trod path, then you lose all optionally with pricing. For example I wanted to use Siniat Resilient Metal Framing for my stud walls, this is a product aimed at student accommodation market, schools and hospitals. The amount I need for the few stud walls, meant I had no leverage. You can get free shipping if you meet the minimum spend threshold, this sometimes means you have to bunch items together, even though the BM might not have the best price for all items, but you make the saving on no delivery charge. I wanted a particular material to sound insulate my SVP pipes, the only merchant that would sell it online had a £100 delivery charge, the materials were £150. Sometimes you just have to take the price hit. They sold nothing else I needed, it was a specialised item. Did I need this solution to sound insulate my SVP? I don’t know, but I did not want to finish the house and have noisy SVPs and regret the £100 delivery charge.

For the walls where we didn't put in steel mesh ties before the pour, I cut back the inner insulation and used galvanised L brackets approx 150x150mm at every other course. I'll put up with a minor cold bridge with 175mm insulation on the outside, losing a strip of 75mm in the inside is preferable to a wall falling down.

Great to see you being on top of this. I get the impression that threshold thermal bridges are frequently an afterthought, with professional builders happily slapping down concrete and creating a bridge...

Dear all, I am sharing my experience of replacing a worn bearing of a Nuaire MRXBOX95AB-LP1 MVHR fan/motor. Hope this will help someone someday. Note that this particular motor model is Torin-Sifan MIB190-045 EC . The manufacture really went out of its way to make repair difficult!! You will require soldering to access the bearing, so if you can source one on ebay, maybe just buy one (costs ~£200). Also, pole star told me their bpi-ec-190-44 motor is a compatible replacement that costs £120. Back story A few months back my NVHR is getting noisy and noisier. After contacting a third party (HRV-group) engineer to have a look, they said the bearing is worn (not surprising) and told me the motor needs replacement. While I was waiting for a quote I contacted Nuaire for the model of the motor to see if I can source one. They are not at all helpful and quoted me ~£1500 to replace the entire unit! A few days later HRV contacted me to say basically the same thing, as they also contacted Nuaire. I am of course not going to spend that amount of money just because one or two bearings are worn!!!! So after reading a few helpful posts here and Youtube videos. I decided to take things into my own hands. Step1 - Exposing the motor Since neither Nuaire or HRV-group can or willing to tell me the motor model, first step is to dissemble the the outer casing of the MVHR, this is the easiest part, just beware for this exact MVHR it is celling mount, so be careful unscrewing, don't let the casing fall down. After this the fan can visible: There are two fans, I turn on the power to determine which one is noisy. Continue to unscrew all 8 screws to fully expose the motor. Step2 - Taking the motor off It is not easy to disconnect the motor. The wires are soldered into the PCB board at the motor end (unlike some other models where it disconnects when you unscrew the motor backplate). While the other end can be disconnected from the main unite PCB, it is impossible to take the wire out or insert back in as the cables are tuck deep behind the MVHR metal casing, probably require to take the entire MVHR unit down. My solution? simple, I cut the cables near the motor. And re-connect them back in when I am done. Step3 - Disconnect the motor PCB board/Exposing bearing With the motor isolated. unscrew the backplate to expose the PCB board, you can see how the wires are all soldered in! First disconnect the earthing connecting the PCB to the backplate. now the PCB board is fully visible. Now the PCB board is loose, however you won't be able to take it off, as there are two wires from the motor is soldered (again) to the PCB board (as highlighted in the picture). You'd need to desolder these two contacts to disconnect the two wires in order to take the PCB off. IMPORTANT: Make sure you remember/mark which wire goes to which contact. I bet you will forgot as they look the same. If you re-connect them the wrong way I'd bet the motor will spin the wrong way. Now the NSK 608Z bearing is fully accessible. Step 4 - replacing the bearing There are two bearings, one at each end. For me it is the front one (under the PCB) that's rusty and needs replacement. First you'd need to take the clip off and make sure you don't lose it. For me I need a bearing puller to take the motor core out first. You need one whose grab is very thin as the motor gap is very thin! I used this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WFYXHJQ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 With the core in your hand, it is now easy to hammer to take them out. I bought the same NSK 608ZZ bearings from https://bearing-king.co.uk/ Step 5 - put everything back The hard part is done! now you just need to put everything back. Some tips: looping the two motor core wires back to the PCB board front will be difficult as the two holes are small. I used two threads to tighten each of the wires first and through the two small holes to guide them out back to the soldering position. Since I have cut the wires, I ordered some wire connector so that I have an easy time connecting the fan back into the MVHR unit. After thoughts While I am happy that I managed to save the motor at the end, it really is a tough job. Nuaire/Torin really make sure nothing is easy. But recommending your customer to replace the entire unit just because of a nosy bearing is absurd and extremely wasteful!

Thought I would drop some information in to a stand-alone topic, about unvented cylinder (UVC) choice, be it for a heat pump or fossil fuel boiler. The normal advice from a plumber is to use gas/oil boiler specific UVC, when installing a fossil fuel boiler and a heat pump specific one for a heat pump. The primary difference is coil surface area, used to heat cylinder. However I would advise anyone to install only a heat pump specific cylinder, with any heat source. You generally get a huge 3m2 heating coil, which allows the cylinder to be hot without excessive boiler flow temperatures. This was mine this morning - running in hybrid mode (gas boiler and ASHP) Cylinder temp at 53 Deg, but more importantly the boiler flow temp was only 56 degs. This ensure good condensation while boiler is running for improved efficiency. Also if you are using S or Y plan heating schemes it allow a good reduction in flow for both central heating and you can have a hot cylinder.

I find mvhr invaluable. zero mould / moisture issues air is fresh also ; look at the pollution removed …

This is a copy of a post I put on here seven years ago which may be of interest. When I was researching into how to install MVHR around eight or nine years ago I made a list of rules I found relating to connecting the unit to the outside. I'm sure these are not exhaustive and nor are they prescriptive, but it's what I used to install mine. 1. The inlet and outlet grilles should be 3m apart to prevent cross contamination of air. 3m was the distance I found mentioned most often. 2. The inlet and outlet grilles should be high enough (2m) to prevent interference by animals or children. 3. The inlet and outlet grilles should be on the same wall so they are affected equally by the wind. 4. The free flow area of the grill including insect screen should be at least as great as the cross sectional area of the duct. 5. The duct should be smooth wall to reduce air flow restriction. 6. Any ducting bends should be large radius of curvature or two 45 degree bends to reduce air flow restriction. 7. The ducting should slope downwards slightly to ensure any moisture drains to the outside.

The drawing Key helps you here: First figure is dead load, second is live, the units will be kN/m.

Come to Ireland where people love to turn off the bathroom extractor, dry a week's washing in the living room and bolt every orifice of the envelope closed. A smoky oil boiler is fired intermittently, never long enough to warm the house but just enough to take the relative humidity below 100% momentarily to allow the air to absorb even more damp that instantly gets redeposited behind the curtains. The mould on the plaster gets so thick you can't tell where the carpet ends and the wall begins. As condensation waterfalls down the windows, the witless inhabitants phlegm cough and complain about the rain making it's way through the walls again. Give me "Luften" any day .......

No, it's never a problem that I've come across when the timbers are in good order. If everything had to comply with the latest Regs then you'd be demolishing the lot! It just needs to be safe and, if there's any doubt about that, then you'd need a Structural Engineer's involvement.

For most, if you’re clean shaven or even if you're not but your chosen style sits entirely within the skin to mask contact area without fouling the seal you’d pass a face fit test. If you were doing a face fit test you’d likely find that different disposable masks have vastly different fits and qualities which would result in a pass/fail which changes for individuals based on their face shape etc. My experience is that a rubber half mask see far fewer failures in testing and in practice is easier to use, getting a good seal. I really like the force 8 press to check system as it’s great for checking each time you put it on that you’ve got a good seal. Essentially you squeeze/close the filters and breath in to check if a vacuum is created, any air sucking in around the nose or chin means you can adjust the mask position, tightness etc. and then recheck. When I was doing fit testing I never had one fail after showing the user how to fit and put it on correctly. If you’re working in a really dusty environment another indicator is after use, if you have any specific lines of grime within the mask area, it’s not working properly. Next step up is forced air. On site we never really use them unless we’re looking at someone who can’t shave or we’re starting to look at confined spaces which is a whole different ball game. Ultimately you have to ask, is this a token gesture or do you want it to actually work. If the latter get a rubber half mask and if possible, find some way of checking the fit or a the very least, be observant.

Most of the sites insist on us using these for cutting and mixing plaster Rechargeable Charge lasts for months Pick them up for about £150

FWIW your new neighbour is an inconsiderate dickhead. Just thought I'd clear that up.

This product solves every problem you mentioned. Not cheap but probably the best solution,other than doing EPS beads. Just to add,you’ll need to impress upon the Brickies the need to actually bed these in,rather than poking them in afterwards.

Just to close off this topic from me, in the end we agreed to reinforce the grass verge with plastic grass grids which was considered adequate from building control and the fire service.

Yup, the forum went offline. Some gremlin still TBD. We are peaking at something like 5 topic views per second during peak hours these days.

A big thanks to @ETC for spending time over the past couple of weeks to produce drawings and provide suggestions to improve our initial ideas! Really appreciate the assistance!

The difference between Robin Clevett's version and what typically gets done on site is vast. The solution needs to be much simpler to allow widespread adoption. The average site worker is not going to cut insulation with a Festool to a precise compound angle. Just not achievable or affordable.

Hello Good People I don't use forums so this is a bit new to me but very much looking forward to being here. I'm planning on building a small single storey extension this year. I've been through all the new building regs last year and submitted plans and building control drawing which have all now passed. However there are details that I'm hoping that the knowledgeable people on here may be able to help me with

100% agree with @Gus Potter When we settled for ICF, the first thing I did after learning the basics of ICF, was scope out contractors. There were basically four guys in the entire country that did icf at the time. One was discounted due to not so great reputation. Other was just too busy. So was down to two. System didn't matter, as Gus says it's just formwork to hold the business end of things together. Drawings based on generic ICF and requirement in the contract to meet the required U values, so was easy to send out and get prices. Building again, first thing I'd do is look at what is done locally, and take it from there. Personally, I wouldn't use ICF again, primarily because of the huge embedded carbon figures, I'd be going timber frame, cellulose insulation, with brick outer skin.

This is so true. For all self builders. My advice is to take time to understand what the drawings say. Make sure that gets delivered otherwise.. I have this on my website from Ruskin. Please take some time to read, especially if you are doing a first extension or doing some DIY with a bit of help.. It is even more applicable in this day and age. 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.”

I hadn't realised that my last entry was in Nov last year. Where has the time gone. As with many self builds, particularly those on a DIY basis we have been very subject to weather slowing things down, not that it could be much slower. But, in fact compared with last year we have done loads. The NOT wall (the side of the barn that was open) is now a wall. This wall is 16m long, with 4 lots of French door gaps. double skin block with 150 cavity and 4 heavy lintels. It then turns the corner to head south. We also had a big overgrown bank which we dug out and cleared. Then out next door farmer came and took away all our soil spoil which we didn't need for some holes in his field. About 40 ton we think. And in the process flattened the bank. I then planted a hedge and seeded the bank. Inside what was the barn we have started digging down, in total it needs to go down 500mm so this is just a start The back bank needed digging back to allow for the digger for drains when we get to that stage. And finally in March we've started taking some of the remaining roof off, to be the stables roof in due course Hard to believe this has gone from bog to beach in a couple of months. Once the roof is dismantled then we can start with the trenches for phase 2 of the build. Thanks for reading. See you next time,.

Find the most idiotic person you know. Bring them to your house, get them good and drunk and let them loose. If they fail to operate any part of the house then it's too complex.