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Might also be a job for a Willis heater. Bit of pipework involved, but a lot cheaper and easier than replacing the cylinder.

Being blessed with a slightly perverse mind, the image that an "Essex flange" conjures up is definitely not safe for this forum...........

Rendering and all cladding completed. Couple coats of paint on the render and we'll probably give it another towards the end of the summer when we hopefully finish the build. Also Cecil the Lion is in place, this stone lion head is on every house that my family (my Grandad, Dad and now me) has self built, 4 in this town currently, 3 of which are still owned by the family. The story of how this tradition began is a little lacking in detail, but I did enjoy placing it 50+ years after my Grandad did the very same thing just a mile or so up the road.

Talk to your BInsp. Ours was very relaxed about the linings so long as we had well fitted FD30 doors.

This is maybe of a interest but I am planning a very similar door to the first one (black glass) from ecowin (uk agent for gaulhofer) in Fife, not a million miles from you. I would not have considered this style of door until i seen it a another new build .

Wash your mouth out ? All the girls from Essex are wholesome churchgoing folk.

Yes they are short 15mm fittings, but the things work like a dream, far, far better than an immersion in the cylinder, We stayed in a cottage up in the Antrim Glens a few years ago, lovely place, miles from any other house, All the hot water came from a cylinder with a Willis heater sat in the bottom of the hot press. The really great thing about the Willis is that you get enough hot water to do the washing up after maybe five to ten minutes, as it always heats the very top of the tank first. I'd strongly recommend one, based on our couple of weeks of using one. As a side note, I just really love North Antrim, one of my favourite place in the UK.

One of my MANY envisioned projects that never happened was to make a copy of the TARDIS door at the entrance to the full height eaves space off of my boy's bedroom and decorate a la Doctor Who. Now that would have been a secret room!

I think it's well worth thinking about fitting eaves storage space. I'm glad I took the trouble to put access doors into this space, as it's turned out to be quite a sizeable volume, and more importantly it's easy to access, so ideal for things like suitcases and Christmas decorations.

Busy week as I have been off for Easter. Long meeting with builder and architect. It was the first time I had stood on the first and second floors. One of the most interesting things was seeing the sarking boards go on the roof. These are 22mm timber laid with a 2mm gap to allow the roof to breath. I had never seen the traditional kind of boards, I assumed it was going to be large OSB boards not long timber lengths. The roof looks very robust relative to what I am used to seeing on most modern houses. Hopefully this will eliminate creaks as well as chattering tiles etc. It gets pretty windy up here, especially as we are 130m above sea level. If you look at the picture below, there will be around 900mm between the insulated plasterboard and the exterior wall. I wanted to keep the walls above head height before the roof encroached on the rooms. The architect asked if I wanted to use it as storage. I don't think I need the space, but we are hoping to create a little secret room for my daughter off her bedroom. They were still putting in the loose rafters on the other side of the room. The joiner's saw was not enjoying it one bit as he tried to cut the width slightly on what looked like a 5m long timber. I couldn't understand why it hadn't been ordered cut to width. Originally the architect specified 200mm Celotex insulation in the roof, insulating it right to the peak so we can use the space above the bedrooms. There is then insulated plasterboard below the trusses to reduce cold bridging. As you can see there isn't that much space and the trusses cut into it. I suggested that where the roof is flat why no just change to 400m of mineral wool which provides the same U-Value as 200mm of Celotex at a fraction of the cost. We are still looking in to getting Kanuf Omnifit Stud instead of Celotex on the sloped areas of roof. This is roughly two thirds the cost for a modestly worse U-Value. Omnifit Stud has a lambda of 0.034 vs 0.04 for normal earth wool, but for some reason seems almost impossible to buy. The stone has started to arrive to go around the windows. I love the variation in the sandstone. There were two pieces chipped on the front face which should be getting replaced. The individual pieces look incredibly heavy, I am glad I don't have to move them into place. View North from my daughter's bedroom window. View across the upstairs landing, they have filled the double height space with scaffolding so they can put in the windows. View from the top floor. Looking down onto the master bedroom. You won't be able to look down here once the walls are built. The master bedroom is double height. View down into study. We had to add an unexpected wall here to support the steel members for the roof. This made the room smaller but we are going to build alcoves with a library effect. Perhaps the one room in the house where we had unexpected changes that had a major effect. Important decision of the day. Roof tile colour. These are both supposed to be red, but the one on the right looked more like terracotta so we went with the darker one which we think will be less in your face over a larger area. Decision was made without the input of SWMBO but she thankfully agreed.

The VAT registered sole trader cannot also be the self builder without a lot of other problems. A VAT registered sole trader must charge vat on invoices to other customers unless it is for a new build which is zero rated. This is why most tradesman are self employed but not vat registered. I was vat registered because I could recover input vat and all of my customers were vat registered and they could recover the output vat I charged them. If you complete monthly vat returns you increase admin time/cost, I would have thought quarterly returns are more sensible on a cost/benefit basis but can be used if cashflow is very restricted. Similarly accounting for vat on invoices received is called completing the vat return on an 'accruals basis' and will help immensely, i.e. you can get the vat back either after paying the supplier BUT also before you pay the supplier if the invoices are dated (Invoice Tax Point) before the vat return end date; effectively an interest free loan for a short time. I think a self builder can also use this but I am not sure. Efficient businesses wait until the last possible date to complete their vat return to ensure they receive as many supplier's invoices as possible that are dated up to the vat return end date.

"the VAT registration threshold" is irrelevant, you can voluntarily apply to be vat registered, similarly you can choose to account for vat based on invoices received (not necessarily paid) or invoices paid; the former can give a very much better cashflow and is the most common method of recovering input vat for businesses, it can also help self employed people. I have never been a self builder, nor have I been an accountant or auditor of a builder, so my knowledge about this sector is Limited (pun intended). Any individual, but not the self builder, can set up as a vat registered, self employed person, it is VERY easy. But if they decided after building one property at a loss, there is nothing stopping them closing down that business, no tax should be payable. A person with a personal tax allowance that is not fully offset against income gives further scope, i.e. some one who is normally a non tax payer. A self employed person can recover more vat (only a minor advantage) than a self builder but more importantly they can recover vat earlier, a significant cashflow improvement and can be recovered in a less onerous way, i.e. A self employed vat return is much easier to complete than the self builder's vat return. I believe a builder has significant advantages over a self builder; this proposal merely levels the playing field slightly. I have previously suggested to Admin that parliament needs lobbying about this unfair treatment of self builders.

Boots do 3 tubular bandages at "large knee" size for £7 or one for £3.49 online. http://www.boots.com/boots-pharmaceuticals-tubular-bandage-size-f-10146378 Or you can get a 10m roll of 12cm (width) for about £15. F

As above, I use professional diver neoprene knee protectors, left over from when I used to go caving. They look like this: https://www.wetsuitoutlet.co.uk/knee-pads-c-24_370_409.html

The key is the use of the word "appoint". A domestic client (i.e. a self builder, whether doing the work themselves or contracting with others) cannot appoint anyone, they do not have the authority to do so. They can, and most do, contract with a wide range of businesses, and by doing so they should have a reasonable expectation that those businesses are aware of the law and assume due diligence when it comes to ensuring compliance with it, in so far as is reasonably practical (the underpinning principle of the H&S@WA 1974, that empowers and enables CDM 2015). Self builders are not employers, and are not clients (as defined in CDM 2015) and they are not employees of a building related business. They are usually ordinary members of the public, not engaged in building a home as a part of a business or related undertaking, but as a personal endeavour, outwith the realms of business. As such, business-focussed and related legislation does not apply to them, and CDM 2015 does state this, although, as I wrote much earlier in this thread, the wording is nowhere near as clear as I believe it could be. The normal law that makes each and every one of us responsible for our own actions, and inactions, applies as much to self builders as it does to car drivers, cyclists or pedestrians. As private citizens we all have a limited duty of care to our fellows, whether they be going about their own lawful business, or whether they are engaged in unlawful activity. It is this duty of care that means that a self builder has to take reasonable measures to ensure that their land, and everything on it, is as safe as they can reasonably make it, bearing in mind that "reasonable" will be the standard "man on the Clapham omnibus" test in court, and as such there will be a much lower level of expectation than there would be, for example, from someone employed as a house builder.

I don't agree. "** CDM 2015 applies if the work is carried out by someone else on the domestic client’s behalf. If the householder carries out the work themselves, it is classed as DIY and CDM 2015 does not apply." applies to me. " Though in scope of CDM 2015, their client duties are normally transferred to: the contractor for single contractor projects the principal contractor for projects with more than one contractor However, the domestic client can instead choose to have a written agreement with the principal designer to carry out the client duties. ' Also applies to me. I'm with Jeremy here - CDM does not apply to Joe Public who is untrained and unqualified to enforce it. That's not to say there is zero responsibility but not in terms of CDM.

I am a Chartered Architect and also carry out work regularly as a CDM Principal Designer. Within my company I also employ CDM specialists who do nothing else other than working as CDM Principal Designers. In my opinion the guidance in this thread by @JSHarris is correct.

It is not in the CDM Regulations, it is a principal in law that applies to a wide range of circumstances. I quoted earlier a case where a man found himself charged with double manslaughter because he freely offered to help a friend, and by doing so he assumed a greater duty of care in law than he would if he had just walked past without offering to help. A domestic client cannot "appoint" anyone. They do not have the authority to do that. They can contract with someone to provide a service, or supply goods, but that has a different meaning in law and carries a lesser responsibility for the domestic client. As an aside, you're the expert in this, selling that expertise in order to earn a living, so why is it that others here are having to give advice on laws that you profess to be a subject matter expert in?

If a self builder was to take such a rash and foolhardy action, then they would be accepting that they were not a domestic client, with all the added responsibility that brings with it. This is all a lot of hot air about something that has no direct application to self builders at all, other than that they should be aware of people trying to make it seem as if they should accept some responsibilities under legislation that is intended for, and aimed at, the construction industry. There is a long standing legal requirement that everyone has a duty of care to ensure that their land and home is as safe as is reasonably practical. This applies to self builders who are required to make sure that their sites are as safe as THEY can reasonably make them, accepting that they may be limited in their ability to do this, due to the fact that they are amateurs and so domestic clients for a range of businesses that will be working for them under contract. This duty of care is not something that falls under the CDM regulations, and predates them by decades.

In not the main contractor I'm a domestic customer. When I go on Trust a Trader I don't get a huge pop up warning that I'm a main contractor.

Here's a thought - if it's not already subject of talks at the Homebuilding and Renovation Shows this year, how can we get it on? DIY Selfbuilding, Project Managing Self Builder, Main Contractor Self Builder? I've never attended any but that's one I'd be interested in...who knows anybody who has anything to do with them?!

All this stuff on CDM I've been seeking pastures new! You might like this ref (paddling?) pool heating: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/PoolHeating/pool_heating.htm

We're so happy with the Cedral, particularly with the white render now in place it really makes it "pop". It's amazing how different the colours of the cladding can look in different weathers / lights. The pure brilliant white may have been an error, it's been a bit squinty on site in the past few days of sunshine.

@Alphonsox my first bit of advise would be for you to have a really good look at what is being grown locally, this can help you to create a safe list of plants that you know are going to work in your area. Then its down to the micro climate within your garden, sheltered corners etc can give you more options. I have an exceptionally large garden with many diffrent aspects and at least 3 major changes in soil type (rich volcanic - peat - clay/shale) there are two springs on the property and a large pond and marsh area so i get to really play around with what trees i can grow. However in the more exposed areas prone to south westerly gales and salt laden winds........ i am growing silver birch (betula pendula) Rowan (sorbus aucuparia) Aspen (populus tremula) cherry plum (prunus cerasifera) I have also having success with griselina littoralis but its only been in two years.... there are many types of willow that can grow well in the right location and worth investigating. on the small tree / shrub front the best of the pick for me would be New Zealand holly (olearia macrodonta) its pretty and supper hardy and grows quick ! I am also growing sea buckthorn on my dry slopes. Hawthorn and blackthorn are both doing well as is hazel. I can and am growing a couple of hardy fuchsia with great ease and proppergating cuttings is sooo easy, they are great for hedging and for providing protection for other plants. I have hundreds of scots pine but the ones in sheltered corners are really doing great, the others get salt burn every winter but then get away in the spring.... i intend to plant some larch as it does well locally but like so many trees there is disease within 30 miles..... anyway as i said look at whats working locally, i have planted apple pear and plum but they are tucked in and surrounded by sacrificial trees, ie trees that provide shelter now but will get cut back or removed as the fruit trees develop. There are many really good hardy salt tolerant trees but they are specialised and come with a hefty price tag, so out of my reach.... try and get a wide variety of trees in if you have the space as disease is spreading so quick and if all your eggs are in one basket..... apologies for bad spelling i am a stone mason not a words smith.