Leaderboard

I'm going to jump right to the current status on site and at some point will go back and fill in the gaps. A summary of major jobs completed to date: - access created - water and electricity on site - septic tank and 'Puraflo' secondary treatment/filtration system installed and signed off by BCO - footprint of house laid with membrane and chips - concrete footings and piers poured - Douglas Fir ring beam installed - JJI joists installed on hangers - All four walls of the frame built and sheathed lying flat, and now lifted and fixed into place - Ridge beam built and installed - Windows delivered and now stored inside building - Rafters cut and installed When you list it like that, it's no wonder I feel like I deserve a cuppa now! So what's left to do? The pressing thing is to get wind and watertight whilst we continue to have good weather. This means installing the sarking, and breather membranes on wall and roof, and the first layer of battens to hold it in place. I will probably then board over the window openings temporarily and crack on with installing the floor. It's a bit lethal working stood on various temporary boards on top of the joists. Once we are wind and watertight, I can start working on the interior, and get on with the cladding on the good weather days. This is the site ready for installation of the ring beam. Ring beam and most of the joists installed Frame starts going up Ridge beam and rafters on- this is as far as I have got so far. It's been fun!

For mine, which has been installed, but not commissioned (I'm just up to floor level), the calculated 6* layout was 300mm centres within a 100mm thick slab. I went with 200 centers for better cooling performance, if it is needed. Thickness of slab at the footing shouldn't affect heat loss assuming EPS thickness is maintained, however the retaining wall may as it is extra connected area that is unheated. This will need to be taken into account for your heat loss calcs so may require closer pipe spacing in the floor to make allowance. My pipe is clipped to the EPS, with mesh over, and I do have a pipe run running under a load bearing wall. For me I was told I only need sleaving if there's a joint in the slab, which I haven't got. Here's my a link to a thread showing my floor:

Ed - you can download a product called loopCAD free for 30 days which allows you to play with the layouts. When you provide the u values etc it can calculate heat loss and therefore heat load based upon the number of loops in a slab etc and the temperature of the water. I've done a couple where it suggests 150mm in some rooms and 200mm in others. As long as you use a sleeve you can go through walls however it's usually easier going through the doorway if possible Couple of schools of thoughts on the rebar and cable tie solution as some have done it (Jeremy I think) and some have put a clip system in first and then put mesh over which lifts the mesh but protects the pipes.

I was trying not to politicise this thread. But Jeremy has hit the nail squarely on the head. In my line of work as a self employed electrician, I get to see a lot of people in a lot of different houses. If I am called to a detached house in the countryside I am 90% certain the occupants will be English. If I go to a terraced house in town, I am 90% certain the occupants will be Scottish. Now since the referendum, it was "decided" that Scotland would remain part of the UK, in our "once in a generation" referendum. The trouble is, the SNP still don't accept that and are not prepared to honour the once in a generation bit and are just looking for any excuse to have a re run. The result is that while Scotland it technically in the UK. I can't believe that many people in England believe that, and while once moving to the Highlands was a desireable thing for English folk to do, it is not so at the moment. It's very telling, that the three viewings we have had, were Scottish people, so rather confirming my view that 90% of the people that previously would have bought this sort of house are now not looking in this area (probably not anywhere in Scotland) The only consolation is the situation could have been a lot worse. In the run up to the referendum I met a lot of English folk who said they would move back to England if the vote had been for independence, so if that had happened there really would have been an over supply of houses on the market and a lack of buyers. You can probably guess I did not vote SNP/

Dare say you'll have the camera running. You & anything involving chocolate, ice or whipped cream all at 1080P....No ta! EDIT: Mind you I did film our second one being born.