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Dear All, I am now going through in detail the costings for the build and am looking to reduce areas as much as possible. i have looked at IDSystems and was pleasantly surprised by their quote for two sets of sliding doors (one four panel spanning 7.5m and one two panel spanning about 5m). I'm just wondering before I commit to them mentally if there are obvious other companies I should be talking to. I've been told that rather than a smooth gliding system where the weight of the glass is always on the wheels, I should consider a levered system that rests the frames on the ground when the glass is not travelling to avoid accelerated wear and mishaping of the wheels, bearings and carriages - any truth in this? Thanks in advance.

The underrated Mr. Luxton is self-building in the Cotswolds, as covered by the overrated H&R magazine. I thought the Passive Slab fans might be interested in the system he's using: Full playlist at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hiRazqQFrU&list=PLwMzOUIf2_b6FIG18FbvgQZUrBMxOsO_r

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to on the road to recovery. and no I don't drink too much!

Get on with it then !! The next challenge is working out guttering. When it rains (and boy can it rain up here) the amount of water that comes off that roof is incredible. It's like a waterfall.

It's worth a go at the insurers, quoting the Durisol information, before writing off £1200. With my semi-professional, expert witness, hat on, if this were my field of expertise, and if I were writing a report for an insurer, then I would make it clear that the liability rested with them. The majority of my work is for insurance companies, usually trying to avoid paying out claims, and, in my experience, they are pretty canny when it comes to assessing the costs, when faced with someone that isn't going to roll over and accept liability. I've seen many cases where I've undertaken a couple of thousand pounds or more of work, on behalf of an insurance company, concluded that the insurer had no liability at all, only to find that the insurance company settles for a few thousand pounds rather than face going to court. I get paid either way, but the first few times this happened I did get a bit annoyed, mainly because paying out when they didn't need to encourages more dubious claims. If I were in your position I would contest the surveyors report and the insurance companies initial decision, provide the evidence from Durisol, provide evidence that both you and the builder were trained by Durisol, and state clearly that if they do not settle this claim you will consider taking it through the small claims track at the county court. I will happily bet you a pint that they will just cough up the £1200, or something close to it, rather than pay out for an expert opinion. Expert opinions are costly - I currently charge just under the CAA rate, £160/hour, with no VAT................

You are not wrong! Thankfully the front was much smaller. It's what they call a "cat slide" roof round these parts. It's very much part of the National Park vernacular (great word!) hence why we were forced to have one There is some logic to it. They are generally sited North so that the North elevation is protected from the elements, that area contains the 'service' rooms and have tiny windows, if any.

The roof is finished! Hurrah!! I'm not doing that again. FAR to much like hard work. Actually there is still the porch to slate once it's built but I think I can cope with a couple of m2!

It's a sorry state of affairs but this is exactly what I would expect from an insurance company, any insurance company on any type of policy. They simply are not in business to give back money for any reason whatsoever if they can possibly avoid it, and it seems they can always find a reason to avoid it.

Not sure if it has something to do with our soil ( clay) but our local land drain expert told me not to put pipes in the bottom as they will block up, he digs a trench, lines it with membrane and fills it with 50mm stone and a little covering with soil ( and membrane ) if you dont want to see the stone. On my many many trips to sight this appears to be the way drains are laid at the side of the A30 going to Devon. ThIs is the way I have done the French drains around my garage and house and they work very well.

So sorry to hear of your chrisis, our up stairs westerly block wall blew down two nights in a row during the build, second time bending my tower scaffold propping it. Builders just cleared it up and did it again ( and again) the last time propping with shed loads of timber supports. I promised myself that I would not get stressed during my build as this has caused me health problems in the past and so far I have been able to say " shit happens" and move on ?. The above statement is ( in my opinion) flawed but must be tempered with common sense.

Was it crud in the water that actually ruined Xmas . Any contamination finds its way to the float valve in these AAV's and blocks the pins resulting in water coming out of the cap at the top. +1

@AliG Its well worth double checking with your BCO exactly which elements of steel need a fire rating (and why). For example columns and beams that are only supporting a roof do not normally need fire protection. Edit - extract from Part B of the Building Regs for houses:

I don't need to imagine. I've done it. The house we demolished had the cavities filled with loose beads on 2 elevations and what I can best describe as cotton wool in the others. The loft was insulated with loose polystyrene chips the type of which I've never seen before. They looked like pieces of shredded sheet, 10-20mm in size. What a bloomin mess!

God, can you imagine taking a wall down with unbonded beads in it on a windy day! ?

I think anyone who knew anything about the subject already thought that didn't they? Same goes for the retrofit of all dwellings, not just solid walled ones. It's only the government who see retrofit as a bunch of tick boxes. Cavity filled? Check! (Regardless of the thickness of the cavity) Solid wall insulated? Check! (Regardless of the OP) Replaced 1G with 2G? Check! (Regardless of whether the 2G is any good, the existence of 3G, and the fact that old 2G is not much better than 1G) Fitted a waste water heat recycler? Check! (Give me strength) Congratulations, you're energy efficient!

Okay do it. And waste no time. Start tomorrow. And remember with the builder it's your money and your house. You owe him nothing more than you a actually owe. Thanks and all the best but you'll take it from here.

Ian, it takes a big set of brass balls to undertake what you have so far, even if that's been quietly reinforced by the presence of a 'builder'......That has obviously boosted your basic knowledge and confidence in what you can, and more importantly cannot do, so as you already know in the back of your head, this is down to how you feel you will cope. Simple. To break it down into the obvious, it's apparent you now feel that you can overtake the builder by replacing him with yourself + necessary others ( sub-contractors as and when ) and are, from what I'm reading, being held back by said lack of competency / and commitment from Bob ( the builder ). If this thread is what you need to fortify your 99% already made up mind, then do just do it. Today. Sleeping on it is another 24 hrs where your pandering to someone else whilst they decide how and when your build will progress, whilst your sat around twiddling your thumbs ( ), keen to crack the fack on. The "Dear Bob" chat needs to be calm, quiet and stone cold sobering, so it soaks in quickly and stealthily. Best to prepare some of the major hiccups and issues as bullet-points before hand, as the mind gets disorganised when ( if ) placed under duress, and you need to keep the upper hand to carry it through. If you were clueless I'd probably advise otherwise, but with advice from here there's not much which cannot be solved, methodically, it's just down to how you will achieve it physically. All you need is one decent all-rounder as your +1 and you'll be fine. Contact Bob ( revisited ) on gumtree and sound him out ASAP. It's only a phone call. If you were planning on PM everything after weathertight anyway, there's not much left in between, so my 2-cents.... GO FOR IT. ?

Ian, You have gained a great deal of experience. You know how to build your house to the standard you want; that's clear from the way you've been picking up errors made by your builder. You can project manage the rest of the build, and hire sub-contractors directly; that will be less stressful than trying to carry on with your present main contractor. You have backup, in the form of lot of people on this forum who will respond to your questions quickly and openly. As a brigadier I used to work with used to say and who had a big brass plaque behind his desk with these initials on it, JFDI

October (Ha!) January Yes No Do it Good idea @'king good idea Done that. He's hitched to a local lass who's got a dog which was once owned by a farmer who had a goat, that in turn was once owned by a distant relative of the business owner. So I wouldn't want to embarrass him by asking.

Bingo

They can keep it. It looks like it's got a rusty shower cap on . Nice legs....shame about the face.