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Just been reading through my last post from end of May, and thinking how on earth did it take me so long to get to this one 🤣 A lot of blood, sweat, tears and swearing later, and i've finally finished the bathroom, which has exceeded what I imagined i might be able to create, I still keep walking in and thinking, naaa this can't be my bathroom. So another room brought to a close 🙂 Those panels on the wall were actually meant for the living room, sound absorbing panels for the home cinema, but despite having ordered 'Natural' and them looking off white on the internet, they came with a blue tinge to them so wouldn't have gone. When i asked for a refund, they didn't want them back and just sent me the money, so I thought they'd be useful in the bathroom, and have massively dampened the echo in there. Aside from not plastering the sloped ceiling, everything else you see internally i've done myself, including the cabinets, which I really enjoy making, i took woodwork at GCSE but was at school at the time when IT was just getting going and consequently we were all pushed down that route. Walls are painted with F&B Ammonite, and the ceiling is F&B Wevet, mixed by Johnstones Trade Best success? Probably trusting myself to measure 4 times, cut once, and actually get it right for once...The solid oak top on the toilet/sink back, £130 alone that cost me, but it came out bang on! Total cost for everything was just a shade under £4k. Onto my new snug next which is actually well underway, but i'll post another entry when its all done and dusted in a month or two's time!

To close off, planning permission was granted 2 days ago. A suitable drink was taken that evening 😁

Chuffed to bits, finally finished my diy install of my nice shiny 7kW Arotherm. Have only used for dhw but working a treat once I realised that my esbe diverter valve was wired back to front and I was heating the ufh ! Just need to finish off wiring the OEM stuff. Old boiler out : New unit : Primary Pro and anti-freeze valves

Each time I buy a resin shower tray 5 on this build They come supplied with a trap I always replace these with a Mcalpine trap Hand tightened But the best out there Around £20

Yes that sums it up but also the ground swells up.. some grund can swell / shring a lot.. several inches / cm! Things like trees and the desication of the ground are essential to know about. Nick makes a good point here. If your motivation is to achieve something close to passive then a raft is a good simple way of doing it. Yes the raft may cost a little more than a strip found but it can be much easier to build in some circumstances.. it's simple if you take care and lay the insulation and rebar correctly. All these things come with a lot of complexity. Say you are in a Radon area then a raft makes the Radon Barrier easier to detail out / buildability for example. Trees for example in clay soils can make things much more complex. But just say you have good ground and just want a raft as Nick favours and because YOU CAN and WANT IT.. no harm in that.. it's your house and your design decision. If you have good ground then this can be easy to achieve without chucking loads of rebar at the slab and making it massivly thick. You need some kind of floor anyway! It usually needs a bit of edge thickening in some form or another as folk want to put in big glass doors these days which cause point loads at the slab edge. One biggy that BC / NHBC ask about is cover for frost and height to DPC. Generally height to DPC from ground level for sensitive wall cladding is 150mm which is about 50mm less than the thickness of an ideal raft slab on good ground. Now add 300 mm of EPS to that takes you down to 350mm below finished ground level. Add say 150mm of type one and now all our materials (which are not suceptible to frost) extend to the min of 450mm required for frost cover. Box ticked. For all.. Raft slabs.. and a bit of info that may help. There are argueably three at least kinds of generic rafts. Within each type there are permutations. There are others but let's run with this for now. The main types are: 1/ A rigid raft. This tends to be a bit of a beast. We may use this in a domestic context where we have past mining that can cause the ground to move / crack horizontally at the surface. This used to be associated with long wall mining where you get a rolling wave of horizontal movement in the ground. We don't often design this way now in a domestic setting.. as they shut all the mines long ago. 2/ A semi flexible raft. Here we thicken the edge a bit but if you have heavy walls the EPS say at the edge compresses too much which causes the edge of the raft to rotate. To stop the rotation we reinforce the slab so it carries some of the vertical loads and stops the rotation of the edge. 3/ An edge thickened slab. Here the thickening at the slab edge deals with the frost cover and the differing line and point loads around the slab edge. The slab it's self is just designed so it does not crack thus has a light reinforcing mesh. Now within all these generic types there are permutations and the design is often driven by how good and consistent the soil is under the whole thing. If we have ground that has local soft spots then the edge of the slab and internally often needs to be thicker so it can span over the soft spots and thus needs more reinforcement. In summary it's a pretty complex undertaking in term of the structural / soil things you need to know about . but the solution is often simple once you draw it out. The main thing is to spend a bit of time and money understanding and investigating your ground as this reduces your risk and helps you design the right way. With a fair wind a raft slab does not always cost a lot more when you take everything in context.

Finished connections to cold water manifold yesterday (last job of the week). Think I should put stop ends on the ones on the future proofing slots? (Rhetorical)

I found this relatively straightforward guide to the difference between heating demand and heating load. https://sustainableengineering.co.nz/qa-with-jason-explain-heating-load-vs-demand/ there is also a discussion here http://public.wookware.org/gbf/newforum/commentsbb9a.html?DiscussionID=13647 on GBF looking at the same issue. Essentially the two values don't have a direct relationship, and you need to know that the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) & passive house concept generally, has this concept of treated floor area (TFA) which differs from the more traditional floor area - but not significantly for most designs, in ours TFA is 139, and actual is around 150, this is used in PHPP for calculating both Heat Load and Heat Demand but that is where the similarity between the two ends. Heating load is: the number of Watts you need to pour into the house across each square meter of the building's TFA to keep it at set point temperature at the coldest point of the year (it has no time dimension so its an instantaneous thing). In our case this is 8.268W/m2 according the our version of PHPP. Given we have 139m2 of TFA we have therefore need a heating plant capable of delivering: 139 x 8.268 = 1149W or 1.149kW (Which on reflection is bonkers small but that is what PHPP says it is) and as you cannot get a ASHP below 4kW that is the size we we will need. Actuallly in our case, assuming we could get the flow temperature above 42oC space heating via a heat battery in the MVHR would be enough in our case but we have UFH in the slab anyway and will use that. Heating demand is: the total amount of energy required to keep the house at the set point temperature across the whole year, based upon: the average outside air temperature (OAT) each day / week / month (monthly and annual for PHPP) the amount of gains & losses from things like Solar gains (N/S/E/W + Horizontal / Ground) and internal heat gains (people / things / operations - EG Washing up & running the fridge and your mega sound system!) Here is what that looks like for our build in our version of PHPP : So we have will use 1465 kWh/a which comes out at 10.512 kWh(m2a) using the monthly method on our 139m2 TFA given a coefficient of performance (COP) of 3 we will need to pour 488kWh of electricity into our ASHP to keep the house at set point (without cooling - cos PHPP says it won't be a problem, even if I think it will) at 30p a kWh that comes out at £146 pa. Does that clear up the differences for you?

I had one BCO try to get me to change an RSJ after I fitted it, I had full plans, I told him my SE was more qualified than him and I would be contacting his boss if he did not pass it, it stayed and I am not on his Christmas card list now 🤣.

No planner is going to come down with a tape measure These things usually come to light when a neighbor complains Your pretty safe to do as they have told you Follow your neighbors line

I had to comment on here because the start of this gave us some inspiration for building our pallet woodstore.... for anyone who remembers the motorway barrier fence they will know we have a log store outside our bungalow back door but due to the huge amount of wood we had and 50 odd pallets from the block paving we built one at the rear of our garage as we have cut a lot of trees recently so have about 15 ton of wood all split. Lots of screws, brackets and bought the sheeting for the roof. Absolutely solid.... The 'container' next to it was our temp garge but now the garage is built it's not needed but it is stuck there so painted it and using it as additional storage. One day may replace with a greenhouse .... Progress of it is here https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-inkP7iC6L/?igsh=YmNwOXRwaDM0Z3k=

I am embarking on the unique and ambitious project of building.....yet another timber framed garden room based off knowledge from the internet. Yes I know, done to death! Over the weeks of researching I found this sub full of really helpful knowledge and thought maybe there would be a benefit to me being part of this community. I've done lots of DIY from joinery to electrics but nothing as big as this or that has put all those skills together. Should be exciting...

Go self employed, no boss, get a reputation for good work and you will never be short of work. If your interpersonal skills are good with customers you are on a winner. HINT, make your quotes comprehensive, no room for ambiguity with a Caveat that if unforeseen problems are found you will discuss how to proceed with the customer.

Definitely change employers.

A couple of weekends ago, my wife and I spent some time at the MBC factory and got to ask some questions of the team there. There were quite a few different people there; sales, design, windows, even Kevin Blair, son of the founder Joe Blair, who took us on part of the factory tour. We were there for over 2 hours, including a 1-1 session where I covered any outstanding questions I still had. It was an informative day and great to see how they've developed and expanded. Seems they just keep buying more and more space whenever any adjacent units become available! Great session and I took a lot of photos. A couple are attached but the remainder can all be found at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/11i21jn1n6ko1uclcbrm7/AMtb-Jt48ljlTc0lPfiQeKk?rlkey=f08zqofj4l1qllgrxphtnawtc&st=uxhdqk71&dl=0 They seem quite busy and are seeing an increase in demand from people building lots of houses, especially in the social sector where they explained it is easier for a company to secure any additional funding required for Passivhaus standards as they can offset it against potential future requirements to help with heating costs etc. From a pure materials perspective, they acknowledged the challenges of Brexit, COVID-19, etc. and how that initially affected costs and quotes quite significantly but things are a little more settled now and as they expand, they're able to secure pricing for longer periods as they're able to commit to larger orders. They're also sourcing from multiple suppliers and multiple regions as costs and availability flex due to growing seasons etc. Process Pre-start meeting - they discuss design guidelines and decisions with you and get your architectural drawings if available. MBC redo the designs in their software, including the 3D roof design. This takes about 4 days and they can then be provided back to your architect (if applicable) to update anything that did not translate from your original vision into an engineering specification. General arrangement - that design is then turned into the build instructions for the factory. The full structural engineering package is provided by Adept who MBC have been working with for over 22 years. They have 20+ engineers. Once erected - cut all your holes for service penetrations etc. and then MBC will come back to tape etc. and provide their full airtight package. These teams are all employed by MBC so are well versed in airtight requirements. PHPP - standard MBC timber-frame features are available for PHPP modelling, but they don't do any modelling themselves; you'll need someone to do that. Building Regulations - MBC don't do building regulations drawings/documentation so your architect or an architectural designer would need to do those. File ownership - MBC don't provide you with the source files from their various software packages but will do exports in various formats for you. General MBC Passive Foundation - they don't subcontract this (technically) as they own the company that does it. This is the same for the timber-frame insulation - they own that company too. You excavate the ground to (mostly) a 100kn bearing capacity and backfill with MOT Type 3. MBC then come along and puts in MOT Type 1, sand blinding, EPS etc. If you're putting UFH in the slab, you need to do this, MBC doesn't. Then comes the concrete. Site access issues - they can work around most issues. They've not been able to find some way to make it work. They send someone to the site to investigate constraints and then plan accordingly. What things influence higher cost - big open spaces, the weight of things (like green roofs) and features that require hidden fixings or complicated connection details. They have not seen any issues with mortgage companies or warranties concerning their timber-frame installations. Materials and Sources They source their materials from different places depending on the market and where things are growing. All timber is FSC sustainably harvested with documentation. They secure pricing with suppliers based on estimated cubed usage, and swallow any pricing fluctuations once a price for your timber-frame has been agreed. External walls and floors are treated. Some locations require additional treatments for things like longhorn beetles. Windows They supply and install Rationel and Velfac windows. Solarlux (generally aluminium) as a gap filler when there are requirements that can't be met by Rationel or Velfac. The Rationel windows are primarily timber/ali-clad with a larger profile, whereas the Velfac are composite, aluminium/timber and have thinner profiles. MBC are of course happy for you to choose windows from someone else so long as you use an installer that is manufacturer-approved and that they are installed to MBC airtightness specifications which they will provide. Choosing MBC to design and build the timber-frame and to install the windows can save some time in some situations; MBC will happily place the order for the windows based on their design drawings. Some window companies will want a structure to measure against unless you are willing to take the risk of measurements being incorrect. Furthermore, there is no possibility of the timber-frame supplier and the window supplier blaming each other for any issues if MBC does both! Installation of windows is by NKG as sole installers. They are very experienced with housing and deliver consistently good quality installs. Their window systems manager, Jason, was at Rationel for 15 years, was an installer himself for 3.5 years, and before that was a carpenter. How can you save money with windows? Bifolds are more expensive than sliders. The taller and wider the glass, the more expensive it gets, large spans especially. Openers are more expensive, but only marginally so in the grand scheme of things.

The road the self-build isn’t straight. While our actual build was relatively quick (14 months start to moving in) the whole process from when we decided to make the life change of moving from England to Scotland was stressful. I quit my job, and we put our house on the market. It sold within a few weeks. However, the sale fell through twice. We uncovered a load of legal stuff that our conveyancing solicitor missed when we bought the house that nearly caused the sale to fall through a third time. The plot purchase took longer than planned and we couldn’t find anywhere to rent for months because of all our animals. At one point I was unemployed, we owned an expensive house we couldn’t complete the sale on, we owned a plot of land we couldn’t build a house on and we had a house we’d rented we couldn’t move into. However, I got us through all of that and things settled down. We then go into the design and planning stage to find out that our architect was incompetent so what should have been relatively straightforward took 10 months. We then got into the build to find out that the builder the architect used was also incompetent and caused some serious issues. We dealt with the issues but the delay caused us problems all the way through the rest of the build. However we are now in. Did I ever consider throwing the towel in? Not once but I did get very frustrated and pissed off at times. However, I could see what a wonderful life we’d be able to build for ourselves here and I knew the final result was going to be exactly what we hoped. We’ve made some brilliant and supportive friends. My long term friends were also very supportive and my wife was awesome throughout. I’m retired so having the time and head space helped enormously. That said, there’s no shame in quitting. It’s easy to say keep going. But ultimately your health and wellbeing matter more. Just make sure you are completely honest with yourself.

These numbers don't stack up! Single digit percentage premium on price for a far superior, longer lasting product. As per my earlier comment, if a house has 3, professionally fitted bathrooms and a professionally fitted kitchen to a medium spec, the client will spend more on these than the shell. All four will probably be changed within 15 years. You need a shell that will last that long. You can build a shell for less, agreed, and ICF doesn't suit everyone, but saying it is at least double the cost for negligible performance gain is poppycock.

Measuring/monitoring CO2 is the best way to check that your MVHR is running properly.

Based on that design you need to get a different person to design your drainage scheme. Drainages fields for treatment plants and soakaways for rainwater are two completely different things so solve different problems. Unfortunately the terms are generally intermixed though which confused me at the start until I understood it all a better. https://www.wte-ltd.co.uk/soakaways If you need any more info to sway you away from a biodisc to an aerobic system then visit the NSBRC in Swindon. They have a cut away of a biodisc and as soon as I saw it I thought what if that fails and you need to get in there to fix it. No thanks. Plus Klargester is part of Kingspan and I wouldn’t give them £1 of my money. There are a few common treatment plants used on here which are typically Vortex, Marsh or Graf One2Clean. We have a Graf system with a remote blower unit. It also has a built in sampling chamber.

I had never heard of them until they kept getting mentioned on here. Wife and decided where we wanted light switches and lights, I marked on a plan, electric contractor quoted and installed. If you are using a plumber, mark on drawing where the cylinder and heat pump goes, put UFH manifold in same location. UFH install at 100mm centres in bathrooms, 150 to 200mm elsewhere. Operate single zone. If you want cooling consider installing fan coils in bedrooms, plumber will sort out pipe size and routes. M&E Consultant will tell you less than above and charge you £10k for it.

Keep as simple as possible. Blending valve, buffer and all additional pumps delete. Run direct from heat pump circulation pump. Tee rads in upstream of the UFH manifold and the return after the manifold. Run all as a single zone. Have radiator valves to control bedroom temps. Upgrade rads if needed. Run Weather Compensation (WC). Set the flow rates for the UFH at the manifold and then heat pump circulation pump, if not a modulating circulation pump, set the speed to get the correct flow through the radiators. If modulating circulation pump it will sort itself. I have a similar set up, getting a CoP for heating at 9 degrees outside of just under 6. Mine system consists of an ASHP, fan coil, UFH manifold, 3 port diverter valve and a cylinder.

To get back on topic😁. I didn't have 16k to erect, so erected in an more agricultural way. (Ropes, pulleys, harness and caribeners🫣). Wind was the only issue that stopped progress of sheeting on several occasions. Just finishing the electrics, and still have a hard standing to concrete at the front. Apart from some help erecting the rafters, and some help on the last few roof sheets and gutters all this was done by Mandy and I. Not going to blog this due to the methods employed, however, at no point do I think what we were doing was dangerous. Time consuming yes, tedious yes, but primarily safe. For those interested in costs / figures. 218 tonnes of type 1 and type 2 hardcore. 32 cube of concrete. Project cost so far £27k with about 8 cube more concrete needed.

Panels are on our roof but we haven't purchased the inverter yet. Theses are the panels we have on the roof. https://leisurepower.co.uk/solar/solar-panels/rigid/15139/10-x-aiko-455w-all-black-solar-panels-aik-a-mah54-455-ab-g2?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwodC2BhAHEiwAE67hJIC4gQq28yAfvy0rndgda032mOLPHGcf0UW0m6trniTA3LBsW8jIqRoCGsUQAvD_BwE ... we purchased the panels from an installer who put them on the roof for us. We're very pleased with his work so far. We used S5 pvkit clamps onto standing seam. The UK suppliers only sold the old version so we ordered the new version 2.0 clamps direct from the US. Our installer can't source our chosen inverter within the UK but he is happy that we supply it and he installs it. This 3-phase hybrid inverter has been available on the continent for over a year but the last time I looked all the UK suppliers were selling the old series 5 model. Which is no good for us because we want the latest model with >2 MPPTs. https://etronixcenter.com/en/8176291-se307-solis-solis-s6-10kw-hybrid-inverter-compatible-with-pylontech-force-h2-hv-battery-including-logging-stick-wifi.html Yes its fully G98 compliant... https://connect-direct.energynetworks.org/device-databases/search-gen?model_number=S6-EH3P10K-H-EU We will be plugging in a pylontech H2 battery. Probably this one.... https://etronixcenter.com/en/8173159-pyl-h2-1421-pylontech-pylontech-force-h2-hv-system-1421kwh-1x-fc0500m-40s-v2-4x-fh9637.html ... and conected to this will be a couple of zappis. And maybe an Eddi.

Time of use tariffs will always be available. Here in Ireland (NI is part or the Irish market, not GB) demand falls off a cliff at night and wind generation is curtailed. Regardless of how many EVs are on the road there will always be a need for an incentive to shift load into the E7 hours. Little and often is ok if you don't do many miles. If I were to commute to Dublin three days a week then I would need to charge my 75 kW battery at 11 kW every night and that would only just fit inside the E7 window. (thankfully I don't do this any more, but I did in the past) The problem I found is that here in the UK the PV suppliers have no clue and don't want to sell 3P hybrid inverters. When I approached UK inverter suppliers they just wanted to flog me three single phase inverters, which is fiendishly complex and crazy expensive. There are plenty of good 3P G98 compliant inverters, its just that UK suppliers don't stock them and don't want to sell them, probably beacause there is too little demand here to make it worthwhile. Look overseas however and it is a different story. We are getting our 3P inverter from an EU supplier where there is lots of choice at good prices.

Hello! Thanks for letting me join the group. I am currently renovating a 1960s bungalow with a dormer which was added in the 80s! I have renovated 2 properties previously but this one is going to be home. I was working in hospitality until 2020 then lockdown gave me a break to reassess what I wanted to do in the future. As it was impossible to find tradespeople at the time I ended up learning to do most work myself with ongoing help of family and friends who are in different trades. I definitely surprised myself as I love it!

Mcalpine traps here as well. all solvent welded.

Hello, Thank you for letting me join the forum. We broke ground on our ICF self build near Newmarket in March 22. Currently at first fix, cant believe its taken over 2 years! Hoping to learn lots about ASHP, MVHR etc in the coming months.

I have just completed a multi year battle with a window supplier for a faulty pane. Just like you, their initial response was "send a photo" and like you although it was plain to see with the naked eye I could not get it on a photo. They would not budge on the photo requirement. Ieft it just over a year and contacted the supplier again, but not wanting to enter the same silly send a photo lark, I said I have a window pane that I think might need replacing can you send someone to advise. I carefully did not say which window and what i thought was wrong. No doubt thinking they were going to get a sale, they sent someone. As soon as he saw it he said "you want that replacing because of the fogging between the panes." I then wrote to the supplier telling them one of their surveyers had pointe out the problem and seen for himself what the problem was I expect a replacement glass unit under warranty. It was fitted last week.

Better people eh? Well recently (the last fourteen years) we've all had a first class demonstration of what some '... better people...' can do for Britain. They went to the best schools , the best universities, had the best tutors the best opportunities - and added thousands to every single one of our mortgages, preferred millionaires to tradesfolk. And brought early death to too many. As for increasing dishonesty, tattoos and decreasing church attendance.... Please do a bit of reading on Logical Fallacy. It'll help you to be kinder to those mendacious tatooed traders. And everyone else - BuildHub members included.

bending down for an oven is bad design

I personally would not share with neighbours --they could sell up and you get a real nasty one unless you have an legal agreement where everybody pays into a maintaince fund -- every month ,£20-30 a month so when it needs servicing there are no problems and you put it in a separte account if they don,t want that then let them sort their own problems this needs to include any successoors to the other properties or I promise you when it goes wrong they will cry poverty that should also take care of the yearly empting that is now required same as with access shared roads would avoid like monkey pox

Sorry for threadjack - it happens it's not meant to Sign up here https://heat-engineer.com/home Pay £12 and use their online tool - all you need to know is house dimensions and u values for the fabric of the building It will give you your heat loss at pre-determined external temp and annual energy demand

We have started on our journey of Enerphit retrofit as we are in progress with purchasing a bungalow built in 1995 and extending/ changing rooms to meet our needs and desires. Our goal is to reach the EnerPHit standard with a retrofit plus utilise every single grant we can get and ideally get off the gas grid and bring an old house into the low energy world. Very early days but have been reading a lot already around the forum.

I used the BUS Grant and got a Veismann system installed for a total cost to me of £1800, the retail on the system alone would be in the region of £10k so I was well happy. The best advice I can give is to design your house so the ASHP is just the other side of the wall from the plant room. My installer said mine was the simplest install he’d done, hence the labour cost was low, and he only charged me cost on the system

Thank you all. So it seems the best course of action is to repair/rebuild as close to original in how it looks. And to keep quiet and hope no one complains. And in the meantime I should gather evidence/aerial photos etc to prove it has been used as storage/workshop in previous years.

White. Everything white. Just white.

Build the footings either side of the channel, and bridge the gap over the channel with reinforced concrete lintels. Build wall off the lintels. Why make it difficult?

Google is amazing, but sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees. Too much information and many hours lost trying to find the answer you need. Then the inevitable happens and you get side-tracked. The sun sets and you decide to put that darned DIY job off for another day. All you wanted was a simple answer to a simple DIY conundrum. Hopefully, I've found the right place for tips and advice, so no more excuses and no more delays!!!!! I've renovated two old properties and still feel like a beginner. Hopefully, I can find the answers to some DIY problems on this forum, and perhaps.... I can help others too! Thanks to all, for this fantastic forum, I wish I had found it sooner.

Subtle details will cost you money, do you have the budget for an architect that will include lots of nice subtle design features. they will look amazing, but this is where your £100,000 overspend goes. just read the rest of the posts, with your budget I think you need to forget the expensive architect immediately.

I don’t, I would repair it as near original as possible and carry on using it like the previous owners, only if someone complains will the LPA get involved then you can say it was repaired and continual use.

The word "reasonably" doesn't appear in the Class E PD legislation, and adding it changes the meaning of the sentence. It is not required to demonstrate that the Uses of the planned buildings are "reasonably required for purposes incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse", they just have to be for a Use incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse. For Class E it is also not required that the buildings are "Subordinate" to the main dwelling house, the size is controlled by other means. Ref. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/schedule/2/part/1/crossheading/class-e-buildings-etc-incidental-to-the-enjoyment-of-a-dwellinghouse Sorry, can't help with the Statements of Case examples, but on the face of it, it looks like you have an easy win at Appeal.

@phykell What’s wrong in submitting a Householder application? That’ll be a lot quicker than going through the Appeal process.

Back in ‘91 we self built the house we now live in. Block, render and pantiles. We were both working full time in those days and we did as much as we could, but that doesn’t include groundwork, blockwork, structural carpentry or plastering. Rural location, fields front and back, nice big garden. A third of a century later, at the end of September ‘23, we found ourselves in the back garden of a small, run down 1920s or 1930s timber framed bungalow. It’s in easy walking distance of the centre of a small market town, even closer is a lovely riverside walk, on a quiet-ish road, near a park, and the long, narrow, over run back garden in a quiet little oasis made of half a dozen other long back gardens. For us it’s the location to die for. Especially with our first floor bedroom overlooking the back garden. But the dark and sad and unmortgageable bungalow is not to our taste and crucially, it doesn’t have a first floor. Yet. On one side is another bungalow (a matching pair to ours) but fortunately on the other side is a two storey house (phew!). So we bought it, and put in a pre app during the buying process. The feedback came in (with some gentle, respectful encouragement) just before exchange and that feedback was generally very positive. Between exchange and completion we worked out what we wanted to live in and we met a couple of architects on site, one of which we were happy to work with so we engaged them. As soon as we completed in mid January we submitted our planning app, and we felled some trees and cleared lots of shrubs so we could start to see the garden. I quickly got to know the guys at the tip and I got much better at reversing Trevor the trailer. Our planning design is v close to the pre app design save changes hinted at by the planners, and in early May it was permitted without modification. Woo hoo. A few conditions (e.g. can’t start till September) but nothing too onerous. So, that means lots of time to research, plan, analyse and generally overthink just about everything! Now all we need to do is sell our house….

there is nothing dangerous about my site. It is secure and insured. The council said "Please note that should you fail to comply with this request, we will consider what further action is appropriate to address the breach. This could include the service of a formal enforcement Notice pursuant to sections 215-219 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), which would legally require you to undertake the works set out above." I have replied to them asking for them to meet me on site to show me the issues they need resloved

Rightly or wrongly a self build is what I have always wanted to do. More to the point there was a very specific property that I yearned to build on. This week, almost 25 years after fist imagining it I agreed the purchase of the plot, a listed threshing barn with a smidge under 1 acre surrounding it. And so with my Wife and 3 year old son beside me we will set about making the property an economical, comfortable family home which will provide for us in years to come. Excited isn’t the least of it. Interestingly, despite my existing knowledge of the construction industry as a PM (and everything which is required prior to get to this point - Joiner, Supervisor, Site Manager etc) and the long standing desire the opportunity is also extremely daunting. Wish me luck, I’m sure we’ll need it!!!

Yes, listed building consent and planning permission. The design has had to be extremely sympathetic to the surroundings (i.e no new openings and no out of character materials externally) and there is a measurable positive impact due to the proposed demolition of an adjacent agricultural building. In fairness I can thank my father and his partner for the work that has gone into that. It certainly didn’t come first time around and there was, how to phrase it, a significantly protracted review period. Sure, I don’t have many but here’s a teaser, there will be more due course!!! I’ll be back in a few weeks to meet some architects to tender for stage 4 so I’ll be taking some then.

November the 5th. baked potatoes and a few beers. invite your neighbours 😂😂

Good plan but you just can't beat hours in the machine. Was the fourth hire or so before I came what could be considered competent. Just keep at it and get the feel. Fyi the larger the machine the easier it is.. more stable. It's fun. Enjoy.

It’s only a few mm but it does make a difference ( said my ex wife) 2915 overall would be better. 552 each side of the door and an 1810 structural opening. Above 890 brick pillar and 1135 opening. Also the overall measurement of 6750 would be better at 6740. Trust me I’m a bricky. 😜

Lots of good advice so far @Ed_. Most self builders have a finite budget and have to build to it. It’s easy to get carried away (per many episodes of Grand Designs) then face genuine financial hardshape or even bankruptcy, or an unfinished house. Don’t be that guy. No house is worth that. Better to build smaller with good design, and good quality. We were tempted to build bigger than we did (214 sqm) as at the time each extra 1sqm was going to cost us an extra £1k, due to economies of scale. It took real self discipline to say no and stick to budget/size. The day before we moved in, my wife was made redundant. We coped financially because to self build was a heart decision, but the choices we made were head decisions. As it turns out we could have had a great house for maybes 180sqm so could have gone smaller. Even turn key as we were there’s lots of ways to save money. Make good choices. what size house do you wish to build? And for how many people? And what’s your budget?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/permitted-development-rights-for-householders-technical-guidance/permitted-development-rights-for-householders-technical-guidance#class-a-enlargement-improvement-or-alteration Where the original rear wall of a house is stepped, then each of these walls will form ‘the rear wall of the original dwellinghouse’. In such cases, the limits on extensions apply to any of the rear walls being extended beyond. In the example below showing a plan of a semi-detached house with an original ‘stepped’ rear, each of the extensions (shaded) would meet the requirements for a single storey extension as they do not extend more than 6 metres beyond the rear wall (or more than 3 metres on article 2(3) land or sites of special scientific interest). Looks pretty clearly covered in this technical note