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Yep, One of these. Tops! Yer thumb fits in the wonky bit at the bottom.

Things have been moving forward last month with the render on the gable wall finished. I think it looks great and so I was able to get it painted as we have had such good weather! Three coats on the new bits and one coat on the rest. And the idiot that I am, I have no photographs of the finished work from up the scaffolding. You will just have to take my word that it looks really good! But with autumn here and winter arriving far too quickly, it was becoming clear that we needed to get some heat into the house. We had had a quote for woodburning stoves for the front and back rooms but it was for over £6k so we said no thanks. After much researching online, it seemed that while we could do it ourselves, we would not be able to certify the work and I found no one was willing to complete a certificate if they had not done the work themselves, understandably, I suppose. A friend recommended one chap who came to have a look. He quoted around £2,300 for a stove, liner, all the trimmings and the certificate. After looking aorund online, I found the same stove for £130 less than he quoted and he was happy to order it for me, and even had it delivered to his address which solved the access issue at ours. So we went with him. And I made sure I was there to watch how it was all done. Before the installation, he told me I had to raise the hearth by about an inch to comply with regs. I managed to remove the tiles, only breaking a few (they had been there for years!) but as we had found a pile of spares in the cellar I was not too worried. So after buying a bag of self leveling compound, I set about edging the hearth with some wood and after mixing it up, poured a bucketful of the compound onto the old hearth. I guess I should have realised that the wood round the edge would not work very well as it was sitting on tongue and groove. Groove being the problem! It was like that chap who tried to keep the tide back.......As fast as I sponged it into the hearth, it seeped out again. Luckily it started to set after 10 mins and after I pushed kitchen paper into the gaps, it stopped seeping out. And I guess thats part of the learning curve! I returned the next day and mixed up another bucketful and this lot stayed within the wood surround but it was too thick and dried uneven. By the third bucketful, I think I had it right. Not too runny and not too thick. It leveled out up to the top of the wood surround and I was happy to lay the tiles ontop. However, when laying the tiles, I ended up being two short! After visits to several tile shops and quite a few telephone calls I discovered its quite hard to buy hexagonal quarry tiles of that thinkness. But I was not deterred! I bought another tile of a similar colour and after making a cardboard template, I was able to cut two tiles from the one larger one and fit them in. Due to the variable colouring of the tiles, I dont think anyone will even notice. Particulaly as they will be under the stove. We will need to edge the whole hearth evenually but thats a problem for another day. Our intention is to have bamboo flooring thoughout the ground floor and we may try to edge it with something similar. So the chaps came on wednesday and after providing tea/coffee and biscuits (and toast for elevenses) in large amounts, they seemed happy enought answering all my questions. And to be fair, I think we made the right decision to get the professionals in. Following instructions from Online sites and YouTubes would not have been enough and we would not have been able to install it as well. so we now have a working stove! Unfortunatly due to circumstances, we were not able to light it till today so I was quite excited to finally get it going. And with the drop in temperatures outside, the house is really starting to feel cold. And later we enjoyed our first lunch sitting in front of the fire. The OH had been busy making a log store using a load of featheredged boards that I had found in a skip. Theyre around 3 ft long and they filled the car boot. so for the price of four lengths of treated timber for the frame we now have a great store outside for when we get more logs. Picture to follow of the finished article - I was too busy gazing into the fire! Things learnt - slef leveling compound does not go very far. It took two bags for that small area. And when doing the budgeting, I did not include costs for things like the compound and the adhesive for the tiles - all of which will add up to quite a lot by the time we finish the house. They are more expensive than I thought.

Steptoe fan are we?

Hi, I maintain an, as yet, incomplete file. It's a work in progress. It isn't perfect and probably won't be. My status as Admin on this site should not be confused with expertise. I am not an H+S expert. First, the file doesn't have to be printed. I maintain a Box account (others providers are just as good) because I expect the vast majority of people with whom I work to and who need documentation to be connected - through our WiFi if needed . It works across the whole site, and as luck would have it 4G is occasionally available in line of site. (Why occasionally only?). Putting it all online saves my sanity. And where we need to print, we do. This answer is not definitive: please treat it with 'respectful disbelief' and cross-check my answer with others and refer to other H+S guidance available online. The most useful direct answer to your question is to reproduce the Index to the file I maintain. INDEX Sections 1 to 6 - General & Hazard Information Section 7 - Fire & Emergency Information & Records Section 8 - Operating & Maintenance Information (Electrical) Section 9 - Operating & Maintenance Information (Mechanical) Section 10 - Operating & Maintenance Information (Heating, H & C Services, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning) Section 11 - As Built/As Found Drawings 1 General Information 1.1 Site Location 1.2 Summary of Works carried out 1.3 Description of intended use of the facility 1.4 Existing H&S Files / Building information for structures, services, etc which tie into or affect this building 2 Hazard & Risk Information 2.1 Emergency Shut Down & Isolation Procedures 2.2 Residual design risks & controls 2.3 Safety data sheets 2.4 Building hazards & surveys 2.5 Permit to Work Requirements 2.6 Critical Structural Information affecting future works or demolition 3 Key Personnel 3.1 Building and Maintenance Managers 3.2 Design Team 3.3 Contractors & Principal Suppliers 4 Commissioning, Test & Inspection Certificates 4.1 Project Completion & Handover Certificate 4.2 Building Commissioning Certificate 4.3 Electrical Services 4.4 Gas Services 4.5 Water Services 4.6 Fire 4.7 Mechanical 4.8 Building Control & Planning Permission 5 Services & Utilities 5.1 Electric 5.2 Gas 5.3 Water 5.4 Waste 5.5 Communications & I.T 6 Construction Information 6.1 Design Criteria 6.2 Construction Methods 6.3 Schedules 7 Fire & Emergency Information & Records 7.1 Emergency shut-down procedures 7.2 Emergency call Systems 7.3 Register of fire/emergency plant & equipment 7.4 Operating & maintenance manuals & instructions (Fire/Emergency) 7.5 Maintenance schedules (Fire/Emergency) 7.6 Equipment Warranty Contact Details 7.7 Test Certificates (Fire/Emergency) 7.8 As Fitted Drawings (Fire/Emergency) 8 Operating & Maintenance Information - Electrical 8.1 Safety Provisions 8.2 Emergency procedures & isolation procedures 8.3 Register of electrical plant & equipment 8.4 Operating & maintenance manuals & instructions (Electrical) 8.5 Maintenance schedules (Electrical) 8.6 Equipment Warranty Contact Details 8.7 Test Certificates (Electrical) 8.8 As Fitted Drawings (Electrical) Where the content refers to large documents, I merely hyperlink to it, or where that isn't possible I create a subfolder with the same number - for example 2.6 above. A good deal of work and money has gone into reducing the build risk by doing a Topographical Survey, a Soil Investigation and Structural Calculations. Copies of those documents are just 'dumped' into 2.6. Where I can easily add information to the main file, I do so. Hope this helps, Ian

Work continues on site with our foul and surface water drainage now installed; Following an initially negative assessment of the treatment plant design by the digger driver, its installation worked out far better than he or I expected, causing him to take back everything negative he had said. A hole was dug out to the required depth and the conical shaped treatment plant lowered in. Naturally it pivoted about on the point of the 'cone', but all it required was four lengths of timber to prop it in place, then backfill with a dry mix concrete / fill the plant with water. Our foul water and surface water soakaways were dug out and filled with aggregate, in the case of the surface water, mixed size aggregate I had picked off the spoil heap on site, and for the foul water soakaway, clean aggregate bought in. Slab laying followed the completion of drainage works, and we now have a 600mm riven slab path running right round the house, as well as the landing/access area at the main door; The slabs were laid on a dry sand / cement mix, mixed on site using a mixer scoop fitted onto the loadall; The slabs give us a nice clean edge to landscape up to. The digger is due back shortly to finish digging out / creating our driveway and turning area, and to do the basics of landscaping / earth moving ready for final landscaping in the spring, once the winter weather has done its job and everything has had a chance to settle: Inside, the joiners have finished off plasterboarding, fitted the kitchen units and staircase. The kitchen has been fitted at this stage as it's being 'built in' with enclosing partitions; The staircase; The joiners have built some shelving underneath the stairs, and created a solid balustrade using MDF and plasterboard, topped with an oak handrail. As you can see, I've primed the newel post ready to paint in to the adjacent plasterboard, the idea being we will have a seamless appearance. I'm not sure yet how we will fill the join between newel and plasterboard - flexible filler or caulk. Oak veneered MDF shelves have been made and will be fitted into the unit once decorating has been completed. Oak veneered MDF faced with a solid oak apron has also been used for the shelves you can see in the kitchen, and for all our window cills. This next picture shows the stairs after a coat of osmo oil. We had initially been thinking of painting the stringers and risers white so that the oak tread would 'float', but in the end decided to go with the two tone appearance. I spent half a day sanding it all down, and have now applied two coats of oil. The final couple of pictures show the mezzanine area accessed by the stairs and the view down into the main room; Where we have solid balustrades, they will be topped with oak to tie in with the other internal finishes and stair balustrade. The decorator has started and will have the bedroom and link section of the house taped, filled and sanded for me by the middle of the coming week, which will let me get the first half painted while he tapes and fills the other half of the house.

Good shout on the scrim in the corners pre tiling! Nice to nearly have a corner of the room again:

I used a company called Excelclad for my box profile roofing sheets. http://www.excelclad.co.uk Even though they are based in Shropshire and I'm building on Skye, they were cheaper than Planwell and the local merchants, even with the delivery costs. My roofing contractor was most impressed with the quality and reckons they are superior to anything he has used before, so much so that he said he would use them on a regular basis. Also a very helpful and friendly company to deal with and they offer a greater range of colours than most.

She's definitely a keeper .

If there isn't much flex you could always put some scrim tape into that corner junction. Then once you put tile adhesive over it it will tie the corner in. A bit of no nails can't hurt either I guess.

LMAO. NO that's an icecream!! Try Kitchen Maid

That's what we have and it works very well. contrary to what everyone says, in a moderately well insulated house, it does not cause condensation and mould.

I have told my swmbo that we are NOT having a tumble drier in our new air tight build but a " lazy Susan" ( is that correct) in the conservatory. Many on here and other forums talk about how MVHR units dry washing very effectively.

Hmmm. You don't have to have a fully up to date file on site.... and since I know that by definition you have access to the Internet you could simply maintain it in the same way I do. PM me and I'll give you access to my H+S folder on Box for a short while so you can have a look around if you like.... Ian

We usually use tin snips/aviation shears https://drywalltoolsdirect.co.uk/stanley-fatmax-steel-aviation-snips-straight-cut-2-14-563.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwqfvABRC6gJ3T_4mwspoBEiQAyoQPkQJ6s0V-wuh-YZDTCkyu3yyHoFvV1_fpO9s9EZa-xcoaAkdD8P8HAQ

Surface water runs to a surface water soakaway in its own set of pipes. Round the house, the pipes are side by side in the same trench. At the front of the house, foul water pipework all links up and goes one way, surface water pipework links up and goes the other way, both soakaways being as far apart as possible.

The power of the fans in MVHR is negligible - if you feed it into the back of the heat pump you will have a real problem balancing the air flow as as the MVHR will create significant negative pressure. There isn't enough heat in the air coming out to be of any real benefit. If you read JSH blog there is lots in there about balancing the systems.

I am building in floodzone 3a, with trees, on an insulated concrete slab (so its considered more risky). When I went for quotes, there was a wide variety in cost, and time to process. After trying a few, Premier Guarantee turned it round quickly, and just over the £2k mark, without requiring extra surveys etc.

Hi my house is 253 sq mtrs and also a detached d garage Buildzone said that they will knock me something off on Monday Could be 50p But hey It all helps Protek were 2k Site insurance is 500 for 12 months Prices don't include Building control I chose my local counsel for convenience Will keep you posted Gary

I have one --. tonyshouse.info See

Wickes seem to have 4 for 3 on most rock wool insulation - 100mm, 170mm, 200mm, and 200mm wrapped - until nearly Christmas. Also recently on 50mm celotex. A Trade Account and a relevant cash back Amex or Credit card might bring that up to nearly 40% off. There is also about 3% via QuidCo etc, but I can't work out how to combine that with the Trade Discount. Any ideas?