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All you need for HSE is an F10 form completed, with a copy on display in the site office, as well as a copy of your Insurance and the HSE poster. It is unlikely that they will visit unless there is a notifiable accident on site or someone reports obviously dangerous working. As a minimum, get workers to supply risk assessments / method statements - especially if they are higher risk. Also get copies of insurances and evidence that they have attended H & S training. Also get them to sign in. Give a site induction to all new starters and get them to sign that they received it.

I just have a big first aid kit, bought on line from safety sign suppliers. No eye wash stations or fire extinguishers. Got all the safety signs up along with CCTV and keep out etc signs. Ours was MBC slab and frame and subbies. As far as I recall the people who we asked for H&S stuff were giving the RAMS for us to provide to the outside agencies - water, gas etc. I think MBC had some specific requirements of us and provided their RAMS to us as well. Took me a while to work out RAMS = Risk assessment etc.......one groundwork contractor put his RAMS in for onward transmission to some provider - when we looked later his RAMS related to a drive through burger car park. I don't think anyone ever noticed, its a tick box exercise....unless of course it goes wrong. People like brickies, plasterers, carpenters and electricians and plumbers ...all the important bods on site....never seen any RAMS from them nor given them any instructions beyond basic 'joining' info e.g. first aid kit in garage etc I was going to do my own but ended up not, it was given to someone else to use as a starter in setting up a new business and so heavily discounted rate, my time more valuable elsewhere. I think in the end it is just a paper shuffling exercise like so many of these things. If you are good at organising you should be OK. Lots of signs and safety notices makes it look good on site. I would do a pre printed sheet to hand out to newbies and put it up in your site office...location of first aid kit, nearest hospital, fire station etc. Most of these consultants charge a fortune to people who are time poor on their self builds. A whole industry has sprung up around regulations. One thing for sure is if its not in order your insurance will be void in the event of anything happening. I don't know if the file for a site has to be given to anyone but I think it can be requested at any time so needs to be done and available. There are some very experienced people on here who will be able to tell you whats what.

No not at all. There are no solvents in any can foam that will have any effect on any plastic used in construction I'm aware of - it's even (chemically) safe with PVC wiring (unlike EPS).

I think you probably need to think of something like PV with the same mind set as when choosing a kitchen or bathroom. Do you invest in a more expensive kitchen because you know it will add value to the house and give you added pleasure when living there, or do you go for a budget kitchen, accepting that by the time you come to sell it may well look a bit tired and need replacing, or a bit knocked off the sale price to compensate? In my view a fair bit of the value of PV comes from self-consumption, a little bit comes from the FIT and generation payment, and an unknown bit comes from the "feel-good" factor of doing something to reduce your carbon emissions. There's also the rapid drop in the price of battery storage - that's now down to around 8p/kWh lifetime cost, and dropping. When it gets down to around 5 or 6p/kWh then it makes sense to fit it to increase self consumption from PV, I think. I reckon that with about 6 kWh of battery storage at 6p/ kWh life cycle cost we would knock our electricity consumption from the grid, even in winter, down to virtually zero, nd would easily use no grid electricity at all for around 8 months of the year.

A bit of browsing presents this new Hitachi NR90GC2for £287.99 from a couple of places. https://www.toolstop.co.uk/index.php?option=shop&page=shop.product_details&product_id=77497&l=uk&utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1J6bur2K2gIVTrXtCh3-pAPqEAYYASABEgKMZfD_BwE https://www.mytoolshed.co.uk/hitachi-nr90gc2-gas-clipped-head-strip-framing-nailer.html Assuming a compressor is say £100 and an air nailer the best part of £150+ it looks like reasonable value If I want to avoid an air line. I know it won't resell like a paslode (around £520 new) but at this price it might not have to. Reviews seem decent enough and I'm tempted unless people say otherwise?

Oh, looks almost as red as my Mother's eye after her cataract operation last week. Man up, I used to work with polyester resin a lot, it can splash a fair bit. We used to wash it out of our eyes with acetone. I had my cataracts done at age 47!!

I cannot comment on the benefits of different types of floor makeup, as others on here are far more knowledgeable than me. What i I will say is how often do you go under your house to maintain it, I certainly can’t get under the one I live in now and I won’t be able to get under the one I’m planning on building this year, so I don’t really get why you are worried about getting under the floor.

I’m with you @lizzie. I never ever use the dryer overnight or even if I leave the house. I only ever run the dryer, washing machine or dishwasher during the day when someone is home for safety reasons. Yeah maybe I’m paranoid but if I don’t have to take a chance why would I? In addition, I don’t want to find a crumpled heap of clothes in the dryer after they’ve been sat there for a few hours. Part of my ironing free strategy is hanging everything up as soon as the drying cycle is finished. I looked at the heat pump dryers when I changed mine about 3 years ago. The additional purchase cost was more than I would save in electricity, and the longer drying time didn’t work for me so I bought another condenser. Haven’t had a vented dryer since 2001.

Reading the info it could also be better for clothes because it runs at a cooler temp

This is a short update and precursor to the updates that will soon follow once the ground works begin in April. Having now finally sold our house in Milton Keynes, we have made the move north to the Scottish Borders. We are renting a small flat, few miles from our building plot. At £320 per month, I was never going to win the caravan argument! We lost 7 weeks due to the initial sale /purchase of our house collapsing at the last minute. Fortunately it was sold very soon after being put back on the market. On reflection, that was not such a bad thing as the weather in the Borders was awful during February and early March, so any planned works would have just been put off anyway. So, with less than 4 weeks until the ground works start, we have set about making the necessary preparations and will also use the time to visit various contractors, suppliers and utility companies to confirm arrangements. Such as – BT Openreach, Scottish Water and SP Energy. I have to say, my experiences with the utility companies thus far continue to be good – meetings arranged and kept, very informative and happy to help. All approaches were via the internet and their respective websites. Connection costs for all 3 will amount to less than £2k, as BT Openreach appear to be indicating that the connection costs will be covered by their allowances. We have paid a visit to the window manufacturer, based just outside Newcastle, to discuss lead times - All seems good. We will also be popping over to the stone merchants to ensure they are aware of the time frames we are now working to. To help cement in our mind that the choice of stone we are going for is correct, we will visit a couple of buildings in the Kinross area of Scotland to see it for ourselves. It’s OK seeing various stone options on a sample board but you really do need to see it on a larger expanse. It’s not like wallpaper, once the stone is up, you can’t take it down again!! We have met with the Timber frame supplier and our builder who will undertake the majority of the work alongside his various tradesmen colleagues. We lost our plumber two weeks ago due to unforeseen circumstances but thankfully we have another on board. The builder confirmed all systems are go for the 16th April - We will be travelling slightly further north to Dalkeith, just south of Edinburgh, to have a cup of tea with the guy responsible for making and erecting our oak framed car port, log store and man shed! His surname is quite apt – Mallet – I kid you not! I have also secured a site toilet on a long term hire - £25 per week was the best price I could find. This includes a weekly service. Just need to sort out the scaffolding company and plant hire for the TF as and when it arrives. Hopefully come mid April I will have some construction photos to post, so until then take care and thanks for reading. PW.

Hi @Plumbersmateuk yes a successful visit - It is a window manufacturer just south of Newcastle - Team Valley - they are the nearest stockists / suppliers of evolution windows - https://www.evolutionwindows.com/ the windows and doors we will be using. We looked at R9 but they can be made by any manufacturer and as a consequence the quality isn't as controlled as it is for Evolution Windows. I hope this helps. PW.

I used to by Candy Washer Dryers, they were excellent, both last over 10 years each and were probably repairable, but so cheap it was not worth the bother. Have a Bosch now, cost about the same as the Candy and is good.

This is a girlie view........I just want to dry my laundry, quality and time of drying is far more important to me than a few £’s on the electricity bill.I never use it in the midde of the night. I had aaa rated Miele before cost a fortune, had to leave it behimd when I sold the house. Bought a cheap as chips Candy condenser dryer B rating for rental house. Turns out it is more efficient at drying than the Miele and the saving in cost of equipment will pay for an awful lot of electricity. When I bought the cheapie stop gap 2 years ago I thought I would just use it until it died and then get a ‘proper brand’ again for new house. I am so pleased with cheap Candy I have decided I will do as planned and run it until it dies but then I will get another. I could have a new dryer every 2 years for 10 years for the price of a Miele and if the result is as good its a no brainer for me.

We had a glitch with ours around the two year mark. We had great service from Quooker - they sent out an engineer who replaced several parts at no cost. However, for the time we didn't have it, we were completely lost. Who knew that having to figure out how much water you need, and then waiting for it to boil could be so bloody infuriating! If I were building another house, a hot water tap would be at or near the top of the list of things I'd specify.

So are a lot of people!

With all these chips I'd just get a local fabricator to fold some say 1mm stainless sheet into a "20x6" angle - more a lipped strip. Then brush finish by hand and CT1 it on.

I would just leave it then and let who ever buys your house worry about it.

I better get you a monitor knocked up soon then.

Me too. The plumber and I couldn't figure out how a properly functioning softener could cause corrosion of stainless steel when we saw the "no softened water" line in the instructions. I called them to ask for more info and was told that no warranty claims would be considered if softened water was used. Between that and not having time to do any research, we just went ahead and plumbed in unsoftened. I just had a look on their website and it includes the following: If choosing a water softener, it is important that you choose a system that does not remove all the minerals from the water, leave excess salt behind or reduce the pH-value of the water below 7 as the water will become corrosive otherwise. Reverse osmosis systems may not be suitable and are not recommended. Hydrogen Resin Exchange systems could rapidly change the pH valve of the water and are not recommended. Be aware that Sodium Resin Exchange systems can cause excess salt in the water which will cause corrosion on the Quooker tank. But then, Harvey water softeners says the following: Yes you can absolutely use our system with your Quooker (or other) hot water tap. Our technical director has verified that softened water from one of our units is fully compatible. My best guess is that Quooker is oversimplifying the situation for convenience, rather than giving tailored advice based on different softeners.

I don’t think so, fixings exist through the sheets, ridge in place, it’s the sort of thing I would do in my twenties!!!

I have both types of nail gun (as I need for my work) I would surgest Paslode if you want to resell after the other makes are not regarded so well in the trade. Have a gun that will take the cheaper makes of nailes, when useing the nails always keep them dry especially the cheaper ones. If they get damp you can get 2 nails fired at once and jam the gun. As the paper and glue holding them gets soft. Buy a new one and that way you know it will work and you can learn how to maintain it very important and not difficult to do. I find that when nailing up side down they need cleaning more offten (quick clean in side takes about 10 minutes on a clean beanch). During the cold weather I keep it in the house day before needed, and if necessary with a hot water bottle in an old duvet when not being used. I find the gas type better when framing as there is no cable/pipe atached as one is offten changing sides and posotions whch would get the pipe tangled up. For finishing nailer I have Dewalt battery and air nailer they have diferant uses for me. The nails for the air nailer are cheaper and I find better when useing all day. The Dewalt if I only have a couple of mouldings to do. There are now alot of types of nails out there which were not so easy to get a few years ago do your research. PS. I love tools.

You're still having a washing machine rather than a scrubbing tub though? I guess it's one of those 'lifestyle' choices about where the line is drawn on energy use. I like the idea of a pulley clothes airer in the utility room with the mvhr doing the drying job, but there is still a tumble drier going in for quick turnaround stuff (got teenagers; you know how it is...)

One of my favourites

The figures of £2,100 per m2 for the current build was based on gross internal area - just measuring from the inner face of the external walls. It includes internal walls, stairwell etc. , excludes party walls, includes all fees, ex. VAT, some small tools. Excludes balconies and terraces. WRT detached garages, I would tend to exclude these from both area and cost but include if they are fully integrated. Ours was high because we had 25m piled foundations, extensive river wall works, contamination remediation / reports and high quality finishes. @newhome building for £750 per m2 seems astounding outside of a Third World country. Fifteen years ago I think we did some for about £900. We are in the South East though and any trade wants at least £130 per day, many over £200.

This is the important thing, but even with figures it is hard to know what to do. One day, when I break a hip again, I shall sit down and work it out. I think on my usage, and lack of opportunity to add a decent amount of PV, I am better off minimising my day usage and hunting around for a better overall E7 deal. Of just swap my baths for a shower. Minimising usage is really the easy way.

It is still a tough one. I maintain with today's low FIT you need to WANT PV and be happy to spend the capital as just another part of the build. Otherwise if you look at it purely as a money exercise, the big question is "what if we sell before 11.7 years?" It will by that measure have been a "bad" investment.

Sure, it's here as a pdf on my blog: http://www.mayfly.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Elevation-Sections-for-BC-A4.pdf Here's the blog entry with some photos of the foundations going down: http://www.mayfly.eu/2013/10/part-sixteen-fun-and-games-in-the-mud/

We have a passive slab type reinforced raft over hard clay. The make up is 200mm of crushed clean stone (18-35 no fines) laid over terram in a 200mm deep excavation below ground level, with perimeter perforated drains just outside the edge of the building envelope, grit blinding laid over the stone and very carefully levelled, 300mm of EPS insulation laid directly on the blinding in 100mm layers, with the DPM being between the top layer and the lower two layers. The edge has a 200mm wide upstand that is 400mm above ground level, and creates a 200mm deep reinforced ring beam around the edge of the slab. Most of the slab is 100mm thick RC35, laid on to A142 reinforcement fabric sat on 40mm chairs, the ring beam is 200mm thick. The UFH pipes are tied directly to the 200mm pitch of the fabric. In structural terms it's an absolutely massive overkill, as the bearing load on the ground, allowing for the additional load spreading from the 200mm thick layer of stone underneath, is less than 15% of the max allowable for the actual soil conditions. The main advantage (apart from the main one of being very thermally efficient, with virtually no thermal bridging) is that the whole foundation laying process, from the start to the completed dead flat power floated concrete slab took four days, for three people plus the concrete truck.

Our local library let you print A3 B&W for 30p/page...you could print a lot of pages for £200 - £300.

Powder coated aluminium made by local fabrication company...bespoke because the overhangs on the eps were not uniform all around. Works well.

This post is summary of the Principal Designer thread. The purpose of this summary is to assist members and guests decide for themselves how CDM2015 impacts their build project. The summary is offered as is and should not be interpreted as authoritative advice. As is normal in asynchronous online discussion, the thread sometimes changes its focus a little. Where those changes occur, the content has not been summarised. Discussion of this issue is particularly relevant to us because we are a self-build forum, whose members are assumed not to be professional builders, or -in relation to building- have any technical understanding or capability beyond simple DIY . To be clear, the following assumptions are made; · A client is a Domestic Client. The distinction is central to all that follows · The Domestic Client can choose to apply for VAT relief in due course, whereas a Client cannot · The Domestic Client is not engaged, or about to be engaged, in a business related to the build (because they will then be a Client, not a Domestic Client) The thread started with a question about the role of Principal Designer. The examination of that question inevitably lead to discussion about how the role related to other key aspects of the legislation. There was some reference to the history of Health and Safety legislation, but it was pointed out that over time, the general emphasis had not changed. If you qualify for Domestic Client status, then a contractor working for you carries the main responsibility for Health and Safety. It was in the detailed examination of the term ‘responsibility’ that a good deal of discussion arose. Several members agreed that the legislation was poorly drafted for our sector of the market. And in the context of a self-build forum, where many of us will be doing things for the build on our own (DIY) as well as employing contractors, it is easy to see a rich source of confusion. For example, self-builders might be tempted to become involved in the build in a way which implies technical competence and so enhanced H+S responsibility. A strong warning was given to self-builders to avoid becoming involved in technical aspects of the build to the extent that they might be considered ‘ a responsible person’. And that includes the self-builder being trained in a relevant build subject to the extent that he or she might be assumed by the courts to have more responsibility than a Domestic Client would be expected to have. Perhaps the simplest articulation of how CDM responsibilities can be operationalised was in this post (@jamiehamy) ‘… We have only used contractors for the steel frame, lifting in floor beams, ground works/drainage and electrics - and each time I've made it clear that the contractor is responsible for operating safely and I do not dictate how they complete the activities. I don't supervise on site and most certainly do not manage their work or how they work - they have a deliverable and it is their responsibility to complete that. Where required, I offer safety equipment, ask what they need me to provide to work safely and healthily, I find out if they are dependent on me for anything and let them get on with it. Maybe I should do more in writing but I choose reputable contractors and all work is fully invoiced…’ In terms of prosecution for H+S breaches, providing the Domestic Client has fulfilled their duties (not covered in detail in this summary) prosecution is highly unlikely. Domestic Clients should make sure the site is safe and secure, tidy and clear of obvious hazards. There was some discussion based on the meaning of a series of CDM-specific terms; Project Manager, PD, PC, Client, Domestic Client, Business or Business Activity, Contractor, design, designer as well as others. Please refer to the full discussion for a more detailed discussion. But it was convincingly argued (with supporting evidence, and some unevidenced dissention) that a Domestic Client cannot be either a Principal Contractor or Principal Designer. Additionally, there was some discussion of official legal documents related to CDM2015. In summary: be sure to understand the meaning of the term Domestic Client, and to maintain that status throughout the build. Any competent person with whom you have a contract to complete work on your site should be capable of working safely. Offer support to fulfill H+S requirements, but never offer advice or direct work or manage the process. If, after reading this summary you feel you need to, take care to seek advice from more than one reliable, authoritative source. Paying for advice does not guarantee its accuracy or authority. Source url forum.buildhub.org.uk/ipb/topic/2376-principal-designer-role/ Bibliography. HSE (2015), Managing health and safety in construction. Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, HSE Books downloaded 04/05/2017 http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l153.pdf See especially Appendix 6. HSE (2015), How CDM 2015 applies to Domestic Clients Appendix 6, Figure 1, in Managing health and safety in construction. Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. Download the flow chart (from our server) here HandSforDomesticClients.pdf HSE Construction Discussion Forum (accessed 04/05/2017)