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Under no circumstances are you allowed to move into a house if it has not been passed as habitable.

The same stuff, Leyland from Screwfix mainly, plus two rooms where the walls were done with the Dulux Durable stuff. I can recommend the latter, it really does do what it says on the tin, and seems a heck of a lot tougher and easier to wipe marks off than normal emulsion, even the vinyl bathroom and kitchen stuff, plus it has a matt finish. The Dulux Durable sprayed just the same as the Leyland stuff, no change to any settings on the pump and I used the same nozzle.

We now have planning permission - Scottish Borders Council Planning Reference Number 16/00648/PPP. Scottish Power wires still to move but we're hopeful that this will happen within the next few months... Shortlisting main contractors at the moment. Should have tender documents ready to send out by the end of April. Quietly hoping we'll be on our way with the build by October....................watch this space. Lucy

I really don’t like the mats, loose wire every time for me. You can get it exactly where you want it and tape it down well. Then self leveller over the top. Much tidier (done today):

The fiddling of perc tests has been going on for decades. I remember when I was a small boy, and we were having a large extension and granny flat built on to the side of the house, that the builder fiddled the test (same builder that taught me how to lay bricks and gave me the bit of bent galvanised bucket handle I still have for pointing). He showed me how to do it, dig a deeper hole than needed, bury a large biscuit tin with nail holes in the bottom and no lid upside down in the bottom of the hole, and carefully cover it up so the hole looks like a standard perc test one. When the building inspector comes along with his stopwatch, pour the required amount of water in, which drains into the biscuit tin beneath allowing the level to drop within the required time limit. If it was going on in the 1960's, then I doubt much has changed since, especially as building control now seems generally a great deal more relaxed than it was back then.

Looking for some advice, I’m having a small wall built with a patio on the side of the hiuse. Without getting an electrician in now is it possible to get some cables put into the ground/walls for an electrician to sort later? If I’m choosing brick type lights, brick or wants one up front so he can work out how to accommodate. Existing supply options are: 1) existing light circuit - high level external wall with internal switch (lights seen either side of bi folds) 2) existing power circuit, low level external socket that comes off internal supply (grey box to right of bi folds) 3) my fabled unicorn summer house power supply that is currently terminated on the external wall of the house ( hidden behind black wheelie bin near back boor) see photo in this Post

Is this a busy road? Why will it take 3 days? Can they not mole under the road? for just over £3K I am pretty sure I could buy (or make) a set of traffic lights. Who gave this quote? When I was looking at getting the road crossing made for all 3 services, I contacted a local contractor with a minor street works permit as well as the Hydro and Scottish Water. The independent contractor was the most expensive as although he has the street works permit he still would have to apply for and pay for a road opening permit (even if molling under the road) In contrast the utilities hold a permanent road opening permit. Even if it is a busy dual track road, all it needs is to do one half of the road at a time with traffic lights. It should be comfortably done in a day. I suspect the 3 day thing is they cannot guarantee which day, so they will book and (you will) pay for 3 days. THIS is the bit I would be contesting with them. We had a bit of a similar farce. Open Reach would not open and work in a junction pit right by the main road, so we had a long delay while they booked and waited for traffic management. The traffic lights arrived at 10AM and set up. OR did not arrive until after mid day. The traffic lights left at 3PM and OR continued to work in the pit without traffic management. (the pit was in the grass verge not in the road) Ours is only a quiet single track road so no traffic management, they just pushed a big steel plate over the trench with the digger when someone wanted to go by. ask them if you can provide your own traffic management. Here you go, a set of lights for £211 for a week https://www.speedyservices.com/22_0248-h-xlite-traffic-signals-2-phase-radiolink You just need some cones and signs. Over £3K for 3 days is taking the urine.,

So that is me and @joe90 agreeing on the way to do it and I could always use my Jedi admin powers to make you agree too @Nickfromwales..... But yes people, you staple the mat not the cable ....

Ok, you got me on a technicality. BUT....you lose the point anyhoo because you should have said so in that post . Joe public could have easily read that as staple the wire down, but don't beat yourself up over it, allow me to do it for you instead

This is not the case in England.

Thanks. I hope to get it fixed in April fingers crossed!

Hi and welcome You seem to have the bedrooms facing the street with only arrow slit windows, and a corridor facing SW where you can have large windows. I would swap that around and have the corridor on the street side, who cares it only has arrow slit windows, it will give your bedrooms a sunny aspect overlooking your garden.

Planning permission GRANTED late FEB...

Nope, they will only sign it off when the building work meets the standards laid down. I lived in mine for over 7 years before I got the completion certificate. There was a reason for that, but building control never knew that until much later and no one seemed to care. They only cared that we were paying council tax. We moved in when the kitchen / family room was complete and the downstairs shower room and did everything else a bit at a time until work came to a halt. Maybe some councils are more worried about such things than others but mine certainly didn’t care. In fact my neighbours’ house is still not signed off after 10 years! They bought it from the builder who sold me this plot and it only came to light that it wasn’t signed off when mine was finally signed off (it was on the same building warrant). The council didn’t seem to care in the slightest but my neighbours are starting legal action against their solicitor as it was something that was supposed to have been sorted and they are now having to pay for the remedial work that the council wants completed before they will sign it off. One thing to watch for is insurance. A normal policy won’t cover you. I got mine as a ‘self build work in progress’ policy from QuoteRack who specialise in non standard insurance. It wasn’t particularly expensive either; maybe a bit more than a normal policy and I couldn’t have accidental damage cover.

I use coconut oil and sand as hand cleaner...! It cleans the crud off and then ordinary hand soap and cold water gets the rest off. Hot water opens up the pores and drives the dirt inward I’ve found.

I still use washing up liquid and sand. I make up a 5 litre container filled with a mixture of the cheapest washing up liquid I can find in bulk, plus some clean white play sand. A pot of this sits by the sink, as it's the best hand cleanser I've found. It will literally get damned near anything off dirty hands. Also, as another chemistry tip, no need to buy Swarfega, you can easily make it using cheap washing up liquid and naptha. If you choose green coloured washing up liquid the resulting gel even looks like Swarfega, but is a bit more runny. I prefer the sand and washing up liquid mix though, the sand really grinds the engrained dirt out well.

I did a load of heat loss calculations for a pile supported passive slab for an Ebuild member, as he was concerned. If the pile diameter to insulated length ratio is high (i.e. a long length of the pile is externally insulated) then the heat loss comes down to just 2D, in effect, and is surprisingly small. I probably have the calcs I did for this a few years ago, and might be able to dig them out from my old PC, but I do remember having a long phone conversation with the chap whilst he was driving back from Italy and being surprised at how small the additional heat loss through the piles was. If you have all the dimensions and number of piles I could do the same for this arrangement if you like.

Thanks @Nickfromwales - we'll be getting the bottles and the man to check it all out and connect it properly. Wise words indeed and your guidance is much appreciated. Going to need a twister to move that playhouse - it's now on mains drainage and doubles up as site toilet and teenage boy toilet ? as well as a laundrette / first aid station and general site storage. Figured it saved us the site toilet rental though it has taken a lot of time to sort out.

Very interesting and good to know, as always so much useful information on BH and people willing to share there wisdom. The gas cooker and heater were archaic at best and i was just glad of a reason to get rid of them ! I will hold off launching a national campaign......

Just buy another tower shower and you'll need to do no such thing. Prob best to try and strip and service that one before writing it off.

Oh I could do with some of that right now Many thanks for the advice it sounds a bit technical so I will have to do a bit more investigation and reading

We had an LPG detector in our last house.

I think the opposite.... the big boys are being caught our time and again now and I think the attention to detail from self builders is recognised as being a good thing. But building control is far too lax - some due to cost I expect - and whilst the standards are there, in a lot of instances they are not enforced. What is needed is a set of more reasonable and more useable building codes similar to the US system and better enforcement by building control - why shouldn’t every building on a development be inspected ..??

But where would the need for professional sign off end? Foundations, the construction of the structural elements of a house, windows, plumping, gas, electrics, insulation, air tightness. Could be the death nell of self Build.

I think ours is left in a bucket of water overnight and is fine. Would not leave it for several days, but the amount of masking means that I would block-schedule it anyway.

But accurate other than that then?

Not this then?

For a minute I thought you were showering with warm beer, I don't know what made me think that.

Some one was chatting to Robin Ince about science today. He said that you have to read science at a different pace. Good observation, it is not really like a story book.

Hi again Firstly I should say that spraying emulsion paint on to interior walls and ceilings is at least semi skilled and That these machines operate at very high pressure therefore can be dangerous if not used properly. Mix the paint in a 30 litre bucket, 20 litres of good quality paint to 6 -8 litres of water, stir with a paddle on a drill for 2-3 minutes. If you do the painting at the optimum point in the order of works this minimises the need for too much masking. I usually just mask the windows and external doors with sticky back film and tape and chuck a dust sheet over any stuff that is in the room. Overspray will go on the floor and on to skirtings and architraves, as long as these are pre primed then a light sand and top coat later the overspray is covered. Its not a deal breaker if sockets and switches are on, it takes about 30 seconds to mask a socket with 50mm tape. Setting up the machine is a bit too complex to explain just with words. A typical room can be first coated in about 5 mins. With regards to those who say that the finish is so good that it is a problem then this is a nice problem to have. I’d say get everything two coated for speed, move in, then when you’ve got more time paint the walls in your chosen colour or special finish with a brush and roller. I hope this is helpful. @Ferdinand

Thank you both. I was planning on starting one here, although a pointer as to how I do that would be handy! Picture below gives a wee idea of the site. It will be a fairly small timber frame project, probably stick built on site although we're still pondering things like that. Plans to follow shortly.

Real men do not pee in showers. They might use a chamberpot, though.

Two Nun's are bathing at the convent. Sister Theresa says "where's the soap" Mother Maria replies "It does, doesn't it"