Leaderboard

It’s been a long 12 yrs 🤣 I use to frequent ebuild ( I think that’s what it was called ) even before my build commenced . When that disappeared I did worry ! . But found the resurrection in buildhub . I knew I couldn’t do the build on my own . A non standard design with no help . I assumed ( incorrectly ) bco would be on my back with a self build and ‘help’ me … the opposite occurred . Everything in life I do on my own ( no rude jokes ) ; I can learn what I need to get the job done ( this does not make me an expert ! ) . Buildhub has been invaluable - I built a house via the internet . I think that’s (expletive deleted)ing amazing tbh ! So for all the noobs with no experience etc I do have advice ! You are either cash rich and time poor or the opposite. Cash rich you can pay others to accelerate your build . Time rich you do it yourself . As I am self employed and didn’t have the cash ( no (expletive deleted)er is going to give me a self build mortgage ) then time is my friend . Remove stress points . A self build mortgage will put you under massive pressure - to release the next payment . Don’t rent temporarily when you can buy . To partially fund our build we sold our house and bought a shitty flat . This took any rental issues off the table and equity appreciation allowed the crap flat to add to the finance of the build once sold . We then lived on site - a cash saving for sure at the expense of ‘normality ‘ . By not being tied to a loan nor tied to time I (expletive deleted)ed about for a decade and got it done . Stress existed - but it was rare . This is the way ! I still have a hundred bits to fanny around with . Remove pressure , remove stress . Appreciate everyone’s in a different situation . But don’t let the build destroy you . It’s a bitch and you are the master ( bit of bdsm there for my followers ) . Ask for help on the forum always . (expletive deleted) things up - so what ! . Waste 1000’s on a balls up - so what . Haven’t got a clue ? - so what . Plan a strategy!

Look what I got in the email !!! Bco can (expletive deleted) off planning can (expletive deleted) off most of all neighbors can (expletive deleted) right off “To fight is foolish , to win is super mofo “ Pocster 2024

Small progress. Just because my LPA were teeling me off, I submitted an application and then an appeal to have my PD rights reinstated. This is for a barn conversion completed in 2017 (not by me). My LPA seems to remove PD rights on all new houses. So, one small step forward. I'll post up a sanitised version of the appeal docs and decision notice when I get a few minutes.

Winner winner chicken dinner ! Sent an appropriate email about poor service , lack of work required list after bco viewings etc etc etc Said once I get the G3 thing in then all passed and completion certificate issued . @ToughButterCup just checked the dictionary.. Legend = Pocster Pocster = ( see Legend ) .

Once again it's been much longer than it should have been since I last posted with my last entry being July, wow where has that time gone. Back then we were building the walls for phase 1 and installing the window and door lintels. Back then it was warm, unlike now and building could be done in shorts and T shirts Once these walls were built then it was time to think about a roof, even though it is going to be a temporary one for now as the whole house will have the final roof at the same time. This part of the conversion is designed to look like an extension as it did on the original. So, the South wall is higher and this 'hooks' on to it. We also have on-site building inspectors checking out their new home Then we had to start getting the rafters in situ, allowing for the overhang on the sides and end. The roof 'ladder' was built from the wood that was used to line the windows whilst building. These did take a long time as the roof is 4 degrees so slightly sloped so each block of both cavities times 2 had to be cut to the exact size required The weather wasn't always kind, but we did have some visitors to check out what was happening. Eventually, it was finished with the temp roof on. Windows covered for now as this will become our storage shed for a while During this time, we also had to move the stables. From this, already part demolished, not sure where the original pictures have gone. To this to this, luckily moved by a local farmer. Not sure when the horses will have them back though. Next is to start on the East side of the main part of the build. Originally our SE said that we had to have 2.4m deep underpinning foundations. But, our BCO had on on-side meeting with the SE as he felt this was over the top. We dug some example trenches to show what the soil was. He agreed with the help of the dog that it really is sand in this area. We do have some clay further on where we can have stepped foundations But he has agreed that we can have 750mm where it's sand so we are doing phase 2 which will be the office, master, bathrooms and 2 bedrooms. It will be the plant, another bedroom, family room and pantry which need deeper foundations. We have started digging out for the 2nd phase so will post my next update in due course. Thanks for looking and good luck with your builds

I can finally say something is 100% finished. Upstairs is fully done !

Well I took my own sweet time as ever but I've finally made it from SketchUp dream. To block built reality - and even a driveway going in after three years of occupation! The build was a long slow process, fitting it in between work, other projects, trades availability etc but I'm very pleased with the end result and so far it's performing as planned (should a garage perform?) One thing is for certain, it will never pay back the investment, a bit like the cars and motorbikes that reside within, but I'm not concerned about that. Anyway, it was not all 'standard' construction so I'll put a few posts up seperately highlighting the different stages that may be of use to others.

So I spent 3 days with a 1.5 tonne excavator and a pecker breaking up the huge amount of concrete slab. Thankfully, it wasn't reinforced and all I can say is that I didn't envy the neighbours. I am just finishing off pulling up the broken slab with a 3 tonne machine and getting the concrete collected with a grab lorry. There is about 5-6 loads to collect and that is going to cost me about £700. I could have hired a concrete crusher, but I calculated that to hire a crusher, 5 tonne excavator would have exceeded this cost. I also do not have any water on site for the dust suppression, and there was a lot of large lumps, that would have not fitted into the crusher without having to broken up smaller.

The roof rafters are being installed with the openings for the roof windows. LABC visits for the second time, there have been a few photos sent as well, they inspect the roof, anchors and fastenings etc. The internal walls are built up around the steel goal posts. Not as many hours on site this week were one man down, its half term here. I started a Gabion wall, filling it with rubbish stone and facing the front with nice stone from around the plot, it just separates off the garden from the vehicle parking area, holding back about 400mm depth of soil. You can see on the photo the remaining post of the old wooden fence which was behind a skip now removed. Total man days of labour for week 8 is 20 days.

This is a classic mathematics problem. One of the most practical uses of differentiation is finding the maximum or minimum value of a real-world function. In the following example, you calculate the maximum volume of a box that has no top and that is to be manufactured from a 30-inch-by-30-inch piece of cardboard by cutting and folding it as shown in the figure. What dimensions produce a box that has the maximum volume? Mathematics often seems abstract and impractical, but here’s an honest-to-goodness practical problem. If a manufacturer can sell bigger boxes for more money, and he or she is making a million boxes, you better believe he or she will want the exact answer to this question: Express the thing you want maximized, the volume, as a function of the unknown, the height of the box (which is the same as the length of the cut). Determine the domain of your function. The height can’t be negative or greater than 15 inches (the cardboard is only 30 inches wide, so half of that is the maximum height). Thus, sensible values for h are 0 ≤ h ≤ 15. Find the critical numbers of V(h) in the open interval (0, 15) by setting its derivative equal to zero and solving. And don’t forget to check for numbers where the derivative is undefined. Because 15 isn't in the open interval (0, 15), it doesn’t qualify as a critical number. And because this derivative is defined for all input values, there are no additional critical numbers. So, 5 is the only critical number. Evaluate the function at the critical number, 5, and at the endpoints of the interval, 0 and 15, to locate the function’s max. The extremum (dig that fancy word for maximum or minimum) you’re looking for doesn’t often occur at an endpoint, but it can — so don’t fail to evaluate the function at the interval’s two endpoints. You’ve got your answer: a height of 5 inches produces the box with maximum volume (2000 cubic inches). Because the length and width equal 30 – 2h, a height of 5 inches gives a length and width of 30 – 2 · 5, or 20 inches. Thus, the dimensions of the desired box are 5 inches by 20 inches by 20 inches.

So yesterday I had a busy day dot and dabbing and thanks to the guy on On the Trowel Youtube channe, I skimmed my first ever walls as I need to get this room finished in the next week or so to give my younger son a bedroom - it was supposed to be in September. The wall was straight, plumb and the plastering was not a halloween horror show - just a few minor imperfections. I'm most pleased about the clean top corner to the primed ceiling:

Moved the house 5 metres back. We have a massive garden now, way too big, but hardly any turning circle at the front onto a main road. I was so focused on the interesting stuff that I overlooked the basics 🙄 I would have said no to full height windows. Terrible to get the thresholds thermally broken, leak lots of heat in winter, too much solar gain in summer, and don't increase light much. But architects love big windows. Be warned! No bay window type rooms poking out. Nightmare. I would have thought about room sizes and solar panels earlier. I thought I did but we should have made the rear return wider to accommodate more south facing panels. If doing it again I would do things simpler.

Hi. We built a three story ICF house with basement, but not on this scale. (I'm a civil / environmental engineer, not structural, I'm sure our resident expert will comment in due course) With the scale and design of this structure you might beyond the realms of normal building methods, and builders for sure. The best construction method will be determined largely by the structural requirements. Your basement walls will likely have to be shattered reinforced concrete as ICF blocks aren't ideal and most won't be wide enough, you are looking at 400mm+ thick walls here. I'm sure there are ICF projects similar to scale, you'd need to dig in to it. Same for you floor decks. These will be commercial building / car park type affairs at ~250mm thick with a bit of chunky steel holding them up. These kind of things, plus the excavation requirements, massively change the game, and costs. There is little economy of scale when you jump from a residential brick n block to a pseudonym commercial type construction. Not going to comment too much on the design, but things like you have an unfeasible amount of glass (apart from being uncomfortable, unlikely you'll pass SAP assessment), and cars are waterproof and don't mind the cold Cost wise, you say you are prepared, I'm assuming you know this will cost about £4m? It's never too late to change a design. A full redesign could cost you less than 5% of the construction cost, but could save you 30% or more. I'd speak to an SE before you go anywhere, and another look at the design. You could shave off a £million and not lose any rooms /functionality for sure.

The goal of this thread is to try and share topics for people to consider both in terms of their SIPS company and the SIPS system. I have tried to keep emotions out and try to structure the information so that it reads OK. However I'm sure some parts may appear random. Your mileage may vary and not all SIPS companies, and SIPS systems are the same. Likewise some of these situations could equally apply to non SIPS builds and just be good practice, however I would encourage the following: For many self builders, this will be their first time building a home (myself included) and therefore having the right things to look out for can be pretty useful. For context, my build was less modest than @G and J at over 300m2. 1) Understand how their contract is structured (and why). This is not the SIPS companies' first rodeo. Your SIPS company may want to sign you up for ‘Design’, ’Fabrication’ and ‘Install’. As a self builder, this can sound appealing as it means all this complexity is dealt with by one company and a single point for you the self builder to deal with. They may even offer to use their own appointed Structural Engineers as well. In this model, there are 2 key risks to watch out for. Firstly, their goal is not necessarily to design the physical house as you want, their goal is to design a structure that meets regulations, to the lowest cost/highest margin possible to them. So when discussions arise over compromises in the design, what you may find is that this package deal is compromised so you are the one making compromises. The 2nd and related risk is, they will load the contract with substantial fiscal penalties for withdrawal - such that your leverage to walk away from a design you many not be 100% happy with is left at almost zero. Same goes for using their Structural Engineers, as in this model, they are working for the SIPS company, not you. So their interest is in keeping their client happy - which is the SIPS company. So what can you do to avoid this? Break the contract down into smaller chunks that allow you to exit if your needs are not met. This will be a common theme in this feedback, but you need to be prepared that this will take time to negotiate and you need to be prepared that they may refuse and therefore prolong your search for a SIPS company. Same goes for the SE, find your own structural engineers who work for You - the paying customer. Granted, exiting at this point will still have a cost, but it is far far smaller than the potential penalties over the whole package value. 2) Design compromises, Steel and Timber vs SIPS public image In my experience, the value proposition of SIPS for large open spans and vaulted ceilings - especially on our 2nd floor did not reflect reality. What we ended up with was effectively a steel structure holding up SIPS panels. This was with even modest room widths (4.5m) and a 35degree pitch roof. (I will come back to steel later in the install topics). This room has both a Steel ridge and 2xSteel rafters, and its overall floor area is 20m2, so not particularly big. These steel components - more so the rafters, represent lovely cold bridges down through your SIPS envelope. In addition to this, what you may see in the pictures relating to joining your SIPS panels is the SIPS splines. In reality, what you may see is the splines replaced with timber. Again, some of this will be by engineering need, however in my case I have more timber than splines. Especially on my roof. This giving me in many places an effective width of 4 joists between SIPS panels (timber spline:rafter:rafter:timber spline). So again, rather than a complete SIPS envelop, you are left with more lovely cold bridges which will need more insulation (internal layer of PIR) to compensate, even with the thickest of SIPS panels - thus defeating a huge point of why you may have selected SIPS in the first place. How to avoid this? Again this goes back to contracts and breaking out at least the design phase as a single entity. That way you have a chance to force more of these topics and leverage to walk away. Ask for examples of final fabrication designs that are similar to yours (in terms of scale/size) BEFORE signing up. The final fabrication is important, as this is where the rubber hits the road and you can see how they intent to fabricate the kit. 3) Installation What you may find is your SIPS installers have no affiliation with your SIPS company and there may be several layers of subcontractors used, potentially ones that have never installed SIPS or worked for your SIPS Company before. In my experience, my SIPS company were an abject failure in managing the install team. Those failures were not limited to: No formal project planning of the install, around when installers would (or would not be) on site, what sequence of install events needed to happen in what order, how installers were paid, how long the install would take and large gaps between reviewing install accuracy and completeness. The net effect of this is that it is YOU that is left to manage the install team, and subsequent impacts and fall outs from install issues. 4) Scaffolding (and other ancillary dependencies like plant) Your SIPS Install team will need scaffolding to complete the install. Demand a scaffolding plan from the SIPS company a minimum of 6 weeks before install is due to start. That plan at minimum should cover the number of lifts, any initial gaps for access, at what stage in the build additional lifts may be needed. Going back to point 3) my experience was that the first time the install team looked at my design and any complexity was 1 week prior to arrival, where a long list of pre-requisite expectations were then given - over and above the pre-flight install checks I had already completed with the SIPS company. This is because in my experience, the SIPS company basically scoured the UK to find "anyone" who might be available to install a SIPS kit (more on this coming). The net effect of this is delays to your program - I had to get scaffolding basically at a weeks notice which then puts the pressure back on you and compromises how thorough you can be in securing those services. Furthermore, once install commences, demand ongoing updated scaffolding plans to reflect any changes they might need in advance (with a minimum 1 weeks notice). In my experience, my installers planned only from one day to the next. Meaning they could ask for scaffolding changes almost every other day. This requires you to then get your scaffolding company on a hotline - and costs a ton of money. As I'm sure applies to many of us, our designs are not square boxes, again, part of the value prop for SIPS was for creating interesting shapes, roof overhangs etc, all of which make scaffolding more complex than a square box new build from a major house builder. So there is an understanding that modifications in the scaffolding will be needed. However these cannot be managed on a day to day basis. 5) Timelines - Plant machinery Demand from the SIPS company a contractual timeline for the install. This needs to be done at the beginning of the engagement with your SIPS company. They wont like this, because it forces them to think and try and evaluate risk early on in their work and have methods to hold their subcontracting installers to account, which they are not used to doing. The numbers they generally provide are based on an average build and where everything has run smoothly. DO NOT assume this will be the case. It was not for me, and I know not for others as well. Any notion of a 4 week build for the kit is not realistic. Something large and complex may be something like 16 weeks of install time. This timing and planning directly relates to plant and machine hire (although I acknowledge there are other knock on impacts for when follow on trades can start and your overall build plan). DO NOT assume the responsibility for plant hire (cranes and telehandlers), push this back onto the SIPS company. Why? because when it's on you, you will be amazed how little bother is given to how efficiently this plant is used, whether it's busy or idle. Likewise when someone else is paying, the need to be specific in what is required is replaced by asks for the biggest (and therefore most expensive) equipment that takes any challenge off the install team. And of course, if the install takes longer, its you picking up the tab. Part of this experience is based on hearing about installers who more frequently work on building sites, where multiple houses are being erected, at different stages. Meaning they can hop between installs as they wait for something, or some dependency to be cleared. So on those builds, the equipment always looks busy as it's serving multiple builds and a) they don't give it a second thought to the use of the plant and b) they always expect it to be there waiting on them on tap. This is obviously not the case on a single self build (i.e. most of us). 6) Installer competencies Following on from my earlier comments around the volume of steel in my build. My installers had limited experience of installing steel at this complexity or volume (~70 individual steel pieces). I would have been bettered served with a dedicated steel install team. Why? My install team could not set out where steels would be placed, and therefore worked on a model, where a steel was placed, then SIPS walls added, until they needed the next steel in place. This stepwise fashion of steel, sips, sips, sips ... N+1 then steel meant the hired crane sat idle for most of the day(s) rather than placing as many steels into place as possible. Even simple concepts like pre-erecting joined steels on the ground prior to lifting was unknown to the install team, thus meaning each steel was lifted one at a time. Furthermore, this stepwise method prevented the steels from being bolted and levelled until after all panels were installed. This leads to panels covering over the steel pads and holes for bolting, which then leads to large sections of SIPS panels needing to be removed at a later date to access these bolt holes! What is most galling over this scenario (beyond the wasted crane time), is the tolerances that the SIPS company demand for your slab (+/- 10mm over 10m), yet they could not accurately place steels without this step wise build method. 7) Marking their own homework You may find there is no "formal" or "accredited" sign off for your installation. That process is an internal one where your SIPS company effectively self certifies their install is in line with the approved design (you can already probably guess where this heads). As the client - you need to find other ways (either yourself or through other professionals) to mark their homework. In my scenario (I ultimately feel lucky) I caught structural defects in the installation method BEFORE it was too late. This is especially challenging when some build parts do go quickly and large swathes of a building go up before you might get a chance to check. Those defects resulted (painfully) in a 2 month wait for the SIPS company to acknowledge (and no progress on site), and then further install delays as they removed panels and re-installed correctly. Roofing and Wall membranes can hide a multitude of sins. Don't wrap the building until you are happy. 8 ) Foam or no foam In my re-search prior to finding a SIPS company, I had never come across the idea of a dry fit SIPS kit. This is where NO foam is used during panel install, and only used sparingly at the end of the build. I came across DRY fit once my install started as that's what the SIPS company stated was their approach. This contradicts their public documents, every other kit I looked at, and also, any notion of having a (reasonably) airtight fabric. As i was doing some adjustments at the weekend to move a location for velux, here is a great example of what happens with a timber spline into a SIPS panel without foam. No whilst I know more of my kit is foamed than it may have been (as i caught it early), I know for a fact it is not consistently foamed with any quality. What can you do to avoid this? Get it in writing that the kit will be foamed on every join DURING install, and watch them like a hawk. This is probably a good place to end for the moment, needless to say, I am not a SIPS fan (for all of the above). It has brought needless delay, complexity and above all significant cost - you could realistically buy a decent home for the amount of money it has cost for this kit and its install, without any of the upsides of speed or thermal performance. I'm fully aware my experience is a sample size of 1 (with some other bits of feedback I've gathered directly) - however it is real world experience.

On Monday the internal structural walls are up to the top of the ICF walls and are tied in to the ICF walls. The windows and doorways have extra bracing ready for the pour. Nobody on site on Tuesday it rains all day and no more prep is needed before the pour. Wednesday starts with the last minute checks ready for the pour. The concrete pump arrives on site at 12pm it takes 30 minutes to set up before the first concrete pours out. We have 4 builders onsite plus the concrete pump operator. The concrete is poured into the ICF on all four walls in stages twice round and its up-to window cill height, the ICF cills are pushed into the wet concrete and the wood boards replaced so that the pour can continue higher. A poker is used to vibrate the concrete to ensure the concrete fills the ICF without any voids. At 4pm the pour is finished and the cleanup can start. The pump driver tests out our hammer head turn which was required by BC as we are so far from the road and Fire Engines are not allowed to reverse more than 20m. I think this proves our access works and it’s all down to the driver of the vehicles, the pump driver is great if only all delivery drivers are like this. The gables will be completed later so the concrete has rebar inserted, the other two walls are trowelled level. By the end of the week one gable is braced and poured. Total man days of labour week 6 is 17 days.

Hi All I just thought I would share my VAT reclaim timeline to let other people know current timings etc.. I completed the VAT 431c form using the online method (excel spreadsheet) on 4th September 10th September I received an email asking to submit 21 invoices, i sent these back the same day using the online portal I received a letter on 27th September saying how much they will be paying and queries they had regarding 5 invoices(not enough detail) Money received 1st October Re-sent the queried invoices with additional details on 9th October The remainder of the money received today (4th Nov) In all honesty I found this process very good with no issues, I rang up once to ask a question and got through straight away It certainly helped keeping an up to date record/spreadsheet throughout the build otherwise this would of been a mammoth task at the end and no doubt things would of been missed

It should cost nothing, just a try on - here is process we used. Ask to have the meter removed as you no longer want to pay the standing charge, wait 6 months and you will get a letter asking when the meter is being replaced, you say it isn't they write back and say in that case we will need to cut the supply off at the road - no charge.

Just to update on this. I lost confidence in the one man band I used for the original drawings. I couldn't find a planning consultant that wasn't inundated with work although one did recommend another architectural drawing company and gave some impartial advice that was useful. I went with the recommended company having held calls with other businesses too. It was the best decision I could have made. This business explained the original drawings were over ambitious and no LPA would give their support. We started the process again, having withdrawn the 1st application. So, the fencing wasn't moved out and retained the openness. Instead of 2.5m out that the LPA suggested 1st time around, we went for 3m. This was a compromise on the 4m. We also went for an additional single bedroom and ensuite, rather that the original design with two additional bedrooms. The bedroom would now have a dormer window like @DevilDamo had suggested. No garage to the side but instead a 6.6m x 3.3m summer house relocated to the garden. This was always going to be used for a home gym, so no issue for me to go with this. The LPA came back and insisted the trees were surveyed by a specialist. The arboriculturist did his report and one lime tree was in the RPA zone, so that was then put in to be removed. With that obstacle out of the way, it received an approval. Thanks for all the advice, it was greatly appreciated.

Designing my new build detached garage in SketchUp was easy. Finding someone to convert my fantasy garage into something that Building Control would be happy with was more difficult. I wanted the detached garage to be well insulated, and I may well have got a bit carried away. I wanted to use Geocell Foamglass for the foundation topped off with a concrete slab. I then wanted single skin blockwork clad with external insulation that married up with the Foamglass so that the slab and block work where inside the thermal envelope. I also wanted a warm flat roof. On top of this the garage was to be trapezoidal in plan to make the most of our odd shaped plot and big enough at the front to take a 5m garage door and finally I wanted a thermal break at the door between the slab and the outside world I contacted a local Structural Engineer who came round for a site visit. There more I spoke the more bewildered he looked. He'd never heard of Foamglass, not necessarily an issue but he didn't seem even vaguely interested in finding out more about it and its utilisation. I rapidly came to the conclusion that I couldn't work with him so I pondered my next move and decided to get in touch with a (well known on here) Structural Engineer/Architectural Designer who happens to live at the other end of the country. I wondered if he'd be able to help me out or steer me in the right direction. It turned out that he could. More than that, he took on board all the odd things I wanted to do and worked with me brilliantly. He's an absolute mine of information and had lots of great input with which to finesse my design and he clearly knew what he was talking about which is so reassuring. A site visit wasn't necessary, I provided a site survey and soil survey from the house build and then photos and Google Earth filled in any blanks. I probably drove him nuts, every drawing he sent I added to my SketchUp design because I really wanted (needed) to understand how it was going to go together and didn't want the standard "the builder will know what to do". There was a great deal of detail in the drawings: The upshot of this long story is that working with a Structural Engineer/House Designer who I'd never met and who never visited the site was a great experience and I'm glad I looked further afield than the local offerings and would recommend the same approach to anyone else looking for an SE/Architectural Designer. You’ll find him here:@Gus Potter and if you’re looking for a Structural Engineer/Architectural Designer I would heartily recommend you get in touch 👍🏻

How things can change on a six pence! After deciding to go for the ASHP, I had a couple of local firms in to quote. CVC did come back with a quote of around 20K but without a site visit, I was worried things could add up and that seemed too much. see the whole ASHP saga here; So next week, the new ASHP is being installed. And the unit is going in the back garden, under the kitchen window. This is not where I wanted it to go but the company were adamant that we could not have it at the front of the bungalow. And with certain changes in the pipeline, I am not sure now that we will be doing the extension at all. therefore I am going with the easy option for now. If at a later date, we DO decide to add an extension, we'll just have to move everything. 🤔 The reason for the big change is that the property next to this one came up for sale and after looking at it, we decided to put in an offer. It is larger than our current bungalow and while my parents need help and care, it makes sense to be next door, rather than a 20 mn drive away. It ticks all the boxes for our current situation, garage, workshops, as well as being next door so seemed the right thing to do. We now have a complete chain so are just waiting for it all to happen - hopefully January 2025. Fingers crossed! Looking to the future, we will have the option to choose which we live in and which we sell. OH prefers the new one already....... and we arent even in yet. 😁 I'll update things once the ASHP is in. I just hope it works as well as they say it will.

Don’t t discount that option, it brings many pluses. Not least being that the services will most likely be there. Getting services to a virgin plot can cost bucket loads. We were looking for a plot for decades and that’s finally what we found a bungalow that had reached it’s ‘best before, date. It wasn’t falling down but definitely had had its day and we got it for not much more than a virgin plot with planning permission would likely have cost. Good luck, it’s definitely worth the not inconsiderable effort.

Probably best not to do that. Many heat pumps (it is said) want to be exactly horizontal to balance the fan bearings. I certainly wouldn't tilt the pump without asking the manufacturer if its OK.

I'd have preferred to see a middle ground where a small wood burner was still allowed to provide backup heating in remote areas at risk of power cuts. You could achieve similar redundancy by mandating substantial battery storage, but that gets pricey. I'd like to think that a house built to proper levels of airtightness and insulation, with a correctly specced and installed heat pump, will be so warm and comfortable that most people would quickly get over the novelty of lighting their stove anyway.

NO I would lay flags like that Whilst voids behind wall tiles to really matter He’s making work for himself A nice even 10 mil notch on the wall and a 5 mill lick on the back of the tile

Hiya. Hope this helps. Bit of theory first and a few general comments. Excuse the spelling and grammer please! A gabion wall is fundamentally the same as what we would call a gravity retaining wall. Its weight does most of the work to stop it moving. The difference is that gabion walls move about a lot more and often they are designed for a 20 -25 year life span rather than a 50 year life span which houses are designed for to meet mortgage requirements.. Now for all. If you truck about you'll see many more developments by big house builders where they have big high gaboin walls to retain gardens, the houses themselves are set back. Can you smell a rat? The thing to take away from this is that gabions have a time and a place and much is to do with how much they move and their seviceable life.. before serious maintenance. Ok how do we design a gabion wall.. 1/ We need to know what it is holding back. @Great_scot_selfbuild it's your driveway. Now if its gravel then I would say.. how much do you want to spend.. do you mind if the gabions moves a bit and you need to level out the drive every 5 years? If you say I'm ok with that then I know I don't need to worry to much about movement (serviceability). I also need to know how long you expect it to last! The building regs can be a moot point here in terms of movement.. the regs aim to make sure it will still be safe! To design a gabion wall we often apply the same principles as we would use for a concrete or brick gravity retaining wall. Rule 1.. we need to make sure it does not tip over. Often walls have drainage behind but behind the drainage layer we also have a bit of sideways soil pressure. The drainage can avoid hydrostastic water pressure and having a "funny" effect on the soil. Rule 2.. there needs to be enough of a key and friction load at the bottom of the gabions to stop them just sliding sideways. For all types of gravity retaining wall design we allow for a surchage load ( a load applied to the top of the ground) of roughly 1000kg per square meter on the drive way in this case.. thems the rules folks! Drianage or not this surchage load causes a sideways thrust on the wall. Rule 3 / This is a biggy.. we need to watch put for a global failure (often called a slip circle) where the whole wall, driveway and soil above up the slope just takes off and moves down the slope. This can be a catastorphic failure and very dangerous. Some times to mitigate we need to drain the soil much further up the slope.. even then we are taking a risk. If you have challenging topography then I would need to know what is happening further up the hill. You may need to extend the scope of any site investigation. Now most SE's should have a grasp of these basics. But its your vegitation, could be trees an local topography that needs nuancing. I see you are using a Fittleworth stone gabion fill and probably you SE will just design these gabions as having no intelocking effect.. so the design will be standard. Theoretically the design can be realtively easy.. but for economic design.. that requires you to to identify what you expect and balance that with how much you want to spend on ground investigation. To sum up.. I've given you a few tips. Have a chat with some SE's and say.. I've read this and that, here is what I would like to do and what do you suggest would be a good balance between soil investigation and practical common sense design? Once you can get a handle on what your expectations are in terms of long term perfomance of the gaboin wall then most SE's will be able to handle that kind of design. What they will do is make sure is does not fail dangerously and if it moves about a bit, then you now know that .. and everyone is happy.

On Monday the second gable is poured and most of the internal bracing, corner bracing and window shuttering is removed. Tuesday rains all day so no work on site. The internal floor is under 1 inch of water with no way to escape, without us brushing it towards soil pipe. Good to know we are airtight at the floor/wall joint. The steels are installed, we were supposed to have wooden roof beams but somehow this was not calculated by the architect who insisted the roof truss company would do the calculations later. The roof truss companys only want to do the calculations when they know you are ready to order and they said the beam spans could not be done. So on the last minute we had to go back to the SE who worked out our steel beams and the total cost of roof went up £8k. I wish the architect had suggested the SE looks at the roof calculations earlier but unfortunately we just have to move on from this, and up to this point we have had no other extra costs. Since we are no longer working with the architect I have had to find a new SAP assessor who I can engage with as the build progresses. We have been discussing how changing the steel beam might change things as the vaulted ceiling can now be higher if we want. This gives us more space to heat up. I also wanted to know the effect of not putting as much solar on the roof or not having the wood burner changes the SAP results. Since having a smart meter fitted at home we have reviewed our current electric usage and decided that less solar (7.5 kwp instead of 11 kwp) but with the ability to add a battery. Also I think aesthetically one row of 15 panels will look better. Total Man days of labour week 7 is 16 days. Total to date b/f £44925 New Design Stage SAP Calculations (previously done by architect) with ongoing advice about changes that will affect the SAP and to include the As Built SAP documents and EPC at completion £720. It does seem a lot compared to online prices but for peace of mind knowing that we can if we choose to only put 6kwp of PV on the roof instead of 11kwp, is an overall saving. Total to date £45645

UFH mats just under the bathrooms tiles/lino for a quick boost to toe temperature. Probably TF it. Timber is much nicer than concrete to work with. Avoid the design temptation to keep making everything bigger. 186m², 150m² would have been fine. PM it myself the next time with the knowledge of hindsight.

Would have 100% been more demanding to the builder to do what I had on the plans. I ended up with a lot missed off, things slightly out of place that had massive knock-ons, and just generally it was a bit shit. At the end of the day I was paying them to do a job, and it went on for that long I just wanted them gone but it's cost me months (years?) to work around the issues I was left with or rectify them.

The value of this thread is a legacy for future buildhubbers. I relied on previous such threads, and as a result we now have heating mats going under the bathroom tiles for nice cosy toes in the mornings, which was not in our original plan.

A total of 19 'C' Section steel joists were used for the roof. We had two different sizes, the taller ones were for the larger span at the front of the garage and the smaller ones at the rear. The joist were mounted side to side and the 'fall' of the flat roof was to be front to back of the trapezoidal garage. To get the required fall I needed firring strips on top of each joist but with the fall being front to back and the firing going side to side each firring would be a different size. I couldn't get a saw mill to cut me 19 firings that were all completely different sizes so I did it with a skill saw. I also put a slight taper on top of each firring so that the roof boards would sit on the whole of the firring. That all seemed to work a treat and was less tedious than it sounds. The rest of the roof was standard warm roof build up: OSB - Vapour Barrier - 120mm PIR -OSB - EPDM. Getting 56m2 of EPDM up on the roof proved tricky. It arrived rolled up and I thought it might actually roll. Not a bit of it, it was reluctant to go anywhere. In the end we placed a couple of ladders against the roof and then used ratchet straps to hoist it up bit by bit. Once the EPDM was up on the roof the rest was a breeze, really easy to work with and stick down. For the external wall insulation, we started with a 300mm high band of XPS around the base, sat on top of the foam glass. Above that was Rockwool for the breathability and fire resistance. The XPS was finished in black render and the Rockwool in white render, we then filled the trench around the garage with gravel leaving 150mm of the rendered XPS as a plinth. I couldn't quite get my head around how the finished rendered rock wool would feel, it's quite amazing, solid as a, well, rock. You'd never guess it was rock wool under the render.

So after three years of planning shenanigans, plenty of back and forth over designs and a house sale that is (hopefully) completing soon, we're finally doing something meaningful on the plot. Last week saw us mark the foundation outlines, set up a few levels and work out a plan of action for clearing the site. First up is removing the leftover brick supports and plastic sheeting from an old summer house/chalet, then on to the the overgrown brambles and finally clearing a tonne of dead wood from years of blown down trees that were cut up and left in place. But the biggest and most precarious job will come when we try to move the tree house my late grandfather built back in 1992. It's stood the test of time, providing many adventures for both myself and my brother, and now our two young boys. The fact that three tress around it that were felled in numerous storms over the past 30-years managed to just miss it is a bloody miracle. So it deserves all the care and attention to move it to a new safe spot, and receive some much needed replacement legs, boards and felt. No idea how we're going to do that though... Next week we hopefully start the dig out, ready for the piles - but the rest of this week will be clearing, laying some hardcore and marking out some of the drainage/utility runs. More to come!

I return... nearly 18 months later. The project is still ongoing, but I thought it was worth updating everyone on our experiences so far. I admit we've probably made a few mistakes but as a first attempt at a big project I'm pretty happy how we've dealt with issues and moved on; every day is a school day! If any of this helps anyone else then it's worth it even if I look a bit daft during it! So - onto the project. We started by demolishing the old extensions since the foundations for them wouldn't be up to supporting a floor above them, plus they were built inadequately for our needs (solid walls, weird floor buildups, even weirder roofs). There was plenty of advice on this site around the existing foundations and how to proceed with them which we really appreciated, but in the end we were led by the structural engineers and underpinned the property for peace of mind to avoid any differential movement. The extension foundations are piled down to about 8-9m and the existing property was cantilever underpinned using piles too. Overall we're pretty confident the house won't be going anywhere (we now have 36 piles!) We've then wrapped a fair chunk of the house in a new extension to better use the space, and put the poorer performing old external walls further into the property. Cavity is 200mm with 190mm PIR made up in two layers incl interlocking boards and tape, and the flooring is 240mm EPS insulation in the new areas, whilst we've just finished digging the old flooring out of the house which should be insulated to 170mm. I'd like more here but we're restricted by the depth of existing foundations which is a shame. The old electricity supply has gone from overhead to a nice new underground supply, complete with 3ph up to the DNO supply head so we're future-proofed (still only 1ph currently) and I'm waiting for a response to my request for a new water supply. Wet UFH is throughout, with the oil boiler gone and an ASHP to replace it (When I can get an installer on the BUS grant that won't rinse me). Spent a fair bit of time playing with Heatpunk and Jeremy's spreadsheet for heat loss predictions which is fun when half the property is 200mm cavity and the other is 50mm. I really wish here that we'd stepped the walls outwards and then EWI'd the older walls but I didn't think about this until it was too late - a good reminder to plan ahead here. I'm also scheming for 10kWp of PV to go on since we're having a new roof fitted. The savings in tiles & labour lets me man-maths my way into some GSE trays and panels 😁 My current focus is looking at the air tightness, not as much of an issue in the new section but the older part of the house is good fun, so I guess there will be updates on this part from time to time as I'd love to get MVHR fitted as well. Words can be boring sometimes, so the tl;dr is: should we have listened to you all knocked it all down and started from scratch? In hindsight, Yes 😂 Did we? No... (Be gentle 😳) time to learn from it and make the best of it! And the pictures: Steel reinforcement for ringbeams in place after piling at the back Starting the build to DPC Second lift and on the way to wall plate. Will maybe dump a few more before & after shots in the coming days or a specific focus on parts if anyone is interested. Poor house has been battered about a bit - for the greater good I hope!

I’ve been meaning to put up a thread on that subject for ages. OK here:

More or less done these two rooms now, which after finishing the bathroom were basically just flooring and decorating, making a bit of furniture and then moving some other furniture I already had which was always destined for the dining room. I’ve got planned some bench seating for the wall side of the dining table to make it more space efficient, but not any time soon. I think this will be the first time, certainly in the last 10 years, where I have no outstanding ‘filler that just needs sanding down and painting’ kind of jobs, everywhere has skirting board which is painted… the little things in life. Everytime I walk in the bungalow and see the French dresser, it just melts my heart, knowing that my late wife would have loved to see it where it is now, we did buy it while she was still alive as they were stopping making it and was perfect for the look we were going for, managed to bag the dining table off eBay from the same range for around £200 I think brand new, and the chairs were ones we had from ikea which I upholstered and painted white to match. I know the plug sockets need covering, managed to locate them just slightly too high! The bookcase is to be backlit with an LED strip light (awaiting Black Friday being the right bugger I am!) and then will be filled with all my books, photo to follow at some point. The hallway has also been redecorated and the floor sanded and reoiled - out of anywhere this small passageway has suffered the most during the works bringing everything in and out, so was nice to get it back to 100% again

Have you thought about putting integrated PV on your roof. That way you will only have a few tiles to fit around the edges, on the sunnier side. Will get some electricity as well.

We sculpted out a hill quite a bit more extreme than yours. So anything is possible. Formed out a platform for the house to sit on, moving many thousands of tonnes, but took nothing away from site Retaining walls were done with gabions near the house, and wooden strainers elsewhere (8" wooden posts) A before and after

Oi @joe90 !!. Waiting on my final sap and epc and then SIGN OFF! . Doesn't mean it's complete ; but technically finished!!

Conversation with tiler went OK so that's now closed. I'll need to find another one though. Thank you for everyone's support!

Took from about 7pm to 3am to take the tiles off and clean them and the walls. Back up at 6am for the kids school run. On fumes and a tricky conversation in about an hour. The weekend is almost here!

On a similar theme, a nephew of mine got a roofer to repair a leak but found extensive rot and a quote for £20k for a new cut roof. Said roofer has done good work for my nephew before and he took my nephew up on the scaffold to show him the extensive damage he found. As my nephew knows nothing of building and prices he contacted me. Knowing the size of the roof and lead work etc required I think it was a reasonable quote. On top of this the roofer could do the work immediately (before winter sets in) and has a good reputation locally and with my nephew. It can be a nightmare out there regarding trades people and when I was working ALL my work was from recommendations which IMO is the best way to pick trades people.

I've decided! I'm going to char the pallet cladding on the cat tree house. It seems fitting as he is part Siamese.

@ToughButterCup Your guidelines in the first post seem to be about right. I'd only make the following comments. These are based on my experience with the charity Wheels for Wellbeing for whom I campaign in the public realm, who promote accessible wheeling and cycling. A few links below if you want to rabbit hole. I'm not sure whether your path is "to the front door" or "round and round the garden like a teddy bear". This is a bit related to both, also for future readers. - for widths, the maximum size mobility aid you (or your friends) are likely to be using is a Class III mobility scooter, which has a maximum width of 0.85m (these are the ones with lights that can do 8mph on the roads). The biggest of these are usually Trampers (the SUV of mobility scooters), which are the ones you see for borrowing at larger NT properties and are specced for 1 in 4 slopes in steepness or crossfall. - pay attention to outer turning radius if your path has curves in it. Outer turning circle probably wants to be ~4.5m ideally if you have corners. - A 1:50 slope is great if you can do it. Or for 1:20 you would want a flat "take a rest" bit every 10m or so. Consider a seating area to the side in case anyone might want a rest (especially if you have a steeper part) or to sit with a cuppa to admire the newts. If you do, leave a space next to the bench for anyone to park their mobility aid. The recommended path width dimension 'minimum gap' is usually 1.5m between posts in the public realms. But 1.2m sounds fine in general - 1.5m is needed for more unusual things like side-by-side tandems. For the path to my front door (which is over a concrete path) I did a perfectly good wheelchair ramp by using Wallbarn Adjustable Support Pedestals and Pressed Council Slabs. Wallbarn do things like Megapads to take heavy weights, and optional Universal Joints at the top that let it self-adjust to whatever your needed slope is. I did the 10m run to my front door and platform outside, for around £400 including hiring 2 friends for half a day who have more muscles than me (2018). It wouldn't take someone doing a drag race start on a Tramper - the pavers might shift, but it has been great for what I need. I don't think I've done a blog about this. Make it hose washable to clear debris, and avoid features that will catch accumulations of leaves etc - provide a gap so you can wash or sweep then off the path. On surface, you could do something like scatter pebbles and wash it back, or just score the surface with a trowel when half set. Lots of options. But at 1:50 you should not have a problem. Finally, give a bit of thought on recovery if someone falls over, especially in the circs that they may be alone in the house - that might be having 2 handrails so they can pull themselves up, as well as things like always having a phone to hand or a rape alarm to call the neighbours. Links: Wheels for Wellbeing design guidelines for 'Inclusive Cycle Parking' Sounds off topic, but has a lot of relevant info in a small doc. https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/14-features-of-inclusive-cycle-parking/ Index to their resource sheets: https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/our-campaigns/resources/ Tramper Mobility Scooter with dimensions and specs: https://4zn.f0c.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/tramper_brochure.pdf Public realm recommendations: Guide to LTN 1/20 https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/wheels-for-wellbeing-guide-to-ltn1-20/ Govt Inclusive Mobility standard: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61d32bb7d3bf7f1f72b5ffd2/inclusive-mobility-a-guide-to-best-practice-on-access-to-pedestrian-and-transport-infrastructure.pdf HTH Ferdinand

I've been continuously building for just long enough now for us ( well, HerInDoors) to want to change the gabions we installed 9 years ago. Annoying doesn't come close. The job of removing established gabion baskets was so much easier than I thought - shove two crowbars through the basket, digga, straps , snap shackles, normal shackles, a bit of Oomph - jobs a goodun. 4 gabions; several GCNs, a good few toads, a Jeremiah (Bullfrog), loads of snails eggs, lots (3?) of frogs and a pissed off normal newt. I should have remembered to classify our gabions as a hibernacula (newt refuge) for our Ecological Mitigation Strategy. When almost constantly wet, gabions are an excellent refuge for wildlife. Loads of mosses in the gabions that remain.

An old mate of mine designed radio & TV studios most of his working life. He said - 'there's no substitute for mass'. I'm thinking sand... I might also check out the sound booths that wind instrument players can practice in.

Assume you have zero floor insulation? If so don't do it, you will spend more money heating other things and not the house.

Early on in our build I would occasionally go and stand outside the HERAS of a local building site. And I would look really carefully at what everyone was doing there and see if I could apply any of the things that I learnt on our site. Occasionally I would pop in and see the s ite foreman and ask if I could have a look to see how the site was organised. As a result of those visits I; Made myself a site stillage Made a site storage plan. Made a scaffolding store. Stoned the walkways around the outside of the build Bought track-mats to put in front and behind the stillage so that access to the contents was quick , easy and cleanable Kept the road outside our site spotlessly clean no mud, no dust, no stones. Put some flood lights up, battery ones with a Bluetooth connection so that over the winter they came on and switched off randomly. (Bosch) We could also switch them on from inside our house. Made a concrete overspill 'pond' for the when the concrete wagon mixer needed to flush its pipes. Later I turned that concrete 'pond' into a flat area for storage and for a temporary work surface. Stupidly I put a whole load of waste rebar in it without thinking through the consequences of what would happen when I came to break it up. Live and learn eh.... I put some wheels on the bottom of for HERAS panels so that moving it was quick and easy at the beginning and end of each day. I also made a safe place for van drivers to pull off the road and make their delivery in safety.

Hi All, just came across this very helpful forum and wanted to stop by and say hi. A little about my journey so far: I purchased a bungalow in Berkshire with a reasonable plot in 2022, got planning a year later for a replacement dwelling - 4000sq ft over 3 floors, started the building works only a couple months ago. So far the bungalow has been demolished, trenches dug and filled and all the utilities have been run to desired locations. Currently we are completing the install of beam and block which is nearing completion. I’ve got a main contractor who is building the shell but I’ll be looking to pull in on your expertise on this platform to source everything else I need, from roofing, solar panels to bathrooms and decorators etc etc. And of course share my journey and document all the highs and lows that I’ll most likely experience. Elevations attached for your enjoyment 😀 Thanks, Gurpaul.

Indeed you have. And deliberately, politely we ignored it. We have about 16 square meters of glass facing south west. And every single person who visits us comments on the large expanse of light, the views, the engagement with the colours and shapes in the garden, the easily visible bird life, the sudden but brief shaft of golden sunlight at the end of a depressingly grizzly, grey day. I'll pay a few extra quid for that. Houses are for living in.

Agree with all the above, especially the advice re ditching the gas, an induction hob is superior in every conceivable way. Work on the insulation and air tightness. If you can get the 3 phase for a few grand more I think it would be well worth the expense to future proof your house. Who knows how many EV’s you’ll be charging overnight in 10 years time, or how big your household battery is that needs charging overnight etc etc.

No negativity taken at all. To be honest what mostly let's us down is the gym/garage door - It is insulated, and has a "seal" at the bottom, but is by no means a 'passivhaus' rated or designed door. Partly due to the fact that we couldn't find any roller doors which met this standard. And we couldn't have a sectional door overhead, as the MVHR ductwork was in the way. There was also no loft hatch in place at the time of the air test. Albeit the internal loft is sealed, the air tester said it would make a difference, but I don't know if that is true. Being first-timers, we didn't know that typically you can do an air test before everything is boarded/sealed up, to find and remediate leaks, and then do the final one at the end to get the as-is value. Lessons learned for next time, I suppose.