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Don't have the Lidl Woodgate cider ffs or you'll cut your tiles wrong...

Game on. The setting out for the piles is happening on Friday afternoon, 20th July. The piling contractor will also be getting everything to the site that day so that they can start bright and early on Monday morning. The piling is likely to take most of that week; I will be around at various times, but certainly Monday and Thursday, with a couple of hours here and there. If anyone would like to come along, PM me and we can arrange suitable times.

Thought you'd been quiet tonight .... I am a Cider Drinker I drinks it all of the day I am a Cider Drinker It soothes all me troubles away Ooh arrh, ooh arrh ay, Ooh arrh, ooh arrh ay

Same for me. I can recount endless things I would have, should have done differently and I will share them all here if it helps those who come after, plus I am getting endless help with the bits that have turned into a nightmare too. Pay it forward is how it all works here. There is no shame in asking for help, the only shame is not sharing what you learned. I am really enjoying your warts and all blog and you are creating something wonderful at the same time.

Hi @ProDave This is exactly why I am doing a "blog" detailing my experiences and routes for various aspects of the self build. We will never be embarking on such a project again which is a great shame when you consider the "learning" one gains from such a venture. Yes, I can sit back and reflect on where I could have made a saving and or used a different approach but as long as we get over the finish line without breaking the bank, I shall consider it a successful mission. I just hope others reading this record will be able to consider options they may not have considered, as explained by either myself or contributors such as yourself.

I’ve had voddy, 3 in fact. All will be well now

I think it is a bit like gynaecology

female plumber - dirty toilet and sparkling nails ?? @Nickfromwales you know what she's like after a voddy! @newhome working from home today were we?

OK the roof truss design was finalised and I built 2 gable end trusses (slightly different design to mid trusses) and 2 mid trusses which sit 750mm apart centred on the middle of the garage, this creates fairly short purlin spans for the 6x2 purlins. All feels very solid so I am happy. I have 11mm OSB sheet ready for sheeting, I believe I am meant to leave a small gap in between the sheets to allow for some air movement and so the edges, if they get wet can breath but what do I do at the ridge? I did a google image search and saw various "methods" some seem to leave a fairly large gap, where the sheet maybe only comes to within 40mm of the apex and some where it looks like they more or less bring one sheet up on one side and butt the other up from the opposite. What have you guys done? I will then staple tyvek breathable roofing membrane on and get some battens (verticals for now) to ensure the membrane stays put until I can get my tiles chosen. Anyway, here we are as of now:

Potential for a by bulk purchase later in the year?

Thanks for the quick correction. I just twigged and was editing out the thickitude from my post. ? Light, heat, services eg boiler and sewage plant if fitted, sufficient cooking, sufficient water heating in case of gas loss, and selected mains sockets. PS And the cat shocker.

First fix the plastic plumbing and the electrics and MVHR ducts. Do some carpentry - plasterboard noggins etc. Fix fascias and gutter and fit temporary downpipes. Properly secure the site to prevent unauthorised access.

If this carries on then you are going to have a hell of a house. Er in doors is lusting after that stone - we havent had feellings like that in this house for years! ?

The government seem to have given a boost to small scale battery storage, as they've announced that not only are they scrapping the FIT subsidy next year, but they are also not going to allow microgenerators to be paid anything for any electricity they export to the grid. So, if looking to fit PV, then several things become paramount. The first is to maximise self use, which may lead to the adoption of East/West arrays, or even flat arrays, more useful than South facing arrays. Secondly, not fitting a PV diverter system to heat hot water with excess generation would be daft; it becomes essential to try and use as much electricity you generate as possible, as there is no merit in giving the power companies a free subsidy with energy they don't have to pay for. Finally, with the price of battery systems dropping, this move may well swing the balance to make home storage more attractive. Losing e few pence for every unit exported to the grid effectively increases the return on any battery system. That could make all the difference in terms of cost effectiveness.

A few photos of the stone work that has now started on site, whilst others continue to prepare the upstairs for the first fix. I have also included an image of the "biscuit screed" laid upstairs over the UFH pipes. Close observers and those who have read previous entries, will notice that the windows have been corrected with fire battens fixed. Anyway, the stone is called a local blend and is made up of Perthshire stone, Cumbria stone and Borders Buff. The Quoins have a hint of lilac to them, to have blend in with the colour palette of the stones. The Red things seen in the photos are glass fibre Fire Socks - They fill the cavity at the corners and other strategic locations. Either these can be used or indeed 45mm x 45mm battens.

It will lift up when the float hits the top and then the lever lifts and the valve stops.

Think I’ve spotted the issue. The float should lift the lever marked with a red arrow. It should be between the two flanges arrowed in blue. That’s why when you lift the rod it shuts the valve. You may be able to push the rod sideward a little to get the lever back in.

That looks to me like the float is wedged against the side if the cistern at the bottom and not floating up. Turn the whole fill valve a little anti clockwise to clear the float away from the side of the cistern.

Turn it ALL the way. One way will shut the water off. Is the float free to move up and down? Sometimes things can get assembles wrong so the float is not free to move up and down, then it will not rise and shut the water off, so make sure the blue float can freely move up and down. If it really won't shut off, then the problem is with the fill valve and you need to start examining that.

Both I understand ...

Screw the big valve back in... turn the arrowed thing so the blue float goes down. And no, won’t come off

I've delivered babies - and at least there, there is no pain involved (for the obstetrician anyway) I've also given birth but that's not relevant seized nuts and gynecology - what a wide range of topics we cover

Surprised you had 38mm battens. I found 25mm is plenty for 16mm pipes and the pug mix. I fixed mine down with plastic P clips (cheap as chips from CPC) and large headed screws. Last time I used the nail in clips and found they had a tendancy to pull out easily when just nailed into OSB Our first house had the same UFH system and just had standard timber joists. The frame designer was aware of the UFH method. This time round they specified JJI joists downstairs and and Posi joists upstairs. I did our UFH mix 5 parts sand to 1 part cement, and to do our living room took just over a ton of sand. That was a dry mix, well just using the moisture in the sand no water added. It has set hard. Easy to mix in a mixer and barrow in, and because you are mixing dry, a joy to clean the mixer afterwards. I chose the pug mix method as we had the sand and cement left over, so cost was £0 I would have had to buy some spreader plates, and then dispose of all that spare sand and left over cement. Of you paid £4K extra to upgrade the josts for pug mix UFH, I think I would instead have bought the spreader plates.

Where the hell have you had your hands?

Hi @Christine Walker yes the downside to having UFH upstairs with the biscuit mix was the fact that we had to upgrade out joists to metal web joists. In our case the additional costs for the upgrade came in at around £4k. ?

Have a friend whose partner is a plumber. Obviously can't post photos but let's just say they are both xx but one is all sparkly nails and the other is short back and sides, piercings and lots of tats

Ha ha! Day off today! I'm bloody sure those bits sticking up have to unattach somehow and a voddy would clearly make that happen .

Nails are getting wrecked . See, women can't be plumbers, it messes with their manicures!

@newhome loving those nails!

She says that also ...

It all comes out. That's the design. Have a single voddy and then revisit it.

I still don't see the attraction of the pug mix for UFH when spreader plates are so quick and simple. And not a bucket or cement mixer in sight. Plates, pipes and boarded in a day and a half. Agree though, neat job and a good clean workplace. What's the intended floor covering over the pug mix?

I love the way the regularised corner stones contain and frame the organic looking stones.

What a wonderful looking bit of work. It almost seems a shame to cover it all up. Love all the photos, as well, just so useful.

Gorgeous - beautiful colours and so substantial looking.

Ok so the isolator works, turn the silver knob 45 degrees til water starts flowing. Now give the circled bit 2 full turns anti-clockwise.

I think the cistern is continuing to fill, and then overflowing down the flush pipe. Turn that bit Peter circled clockwise until the water stops. You might need to then experiment with it a bit as it sets how full the cistern will fill before the water stops.

The two white threaded bits turn 90 degrees and they should pull out, then the plastic plate will follow

As requested in a thread about battery storage of renewable generation: DoD -- depth of discharge (essentially the opposite of state of charge) SoH -- state of health (a percentage of how much charge it can hold, compared with the as-new spec) Wh -- Watt-hour (a measure of energy) BMS -- battery management system LiFePO4 -- lithium iron phosphate (a rechargeable battery chemistry)

Soz. DoD -- depth of discharge (essentially the opposite of state of charge) SoH -- state of health (a percentage of how much charge it can hold, compared with the as-new spec) Wh -- Watt-hour (a measure of energy; a thousand Wh is a kWh) BMS -- battery management system LiFePO4 -- lithium iron phosphate (a rechargeable battery chemistry)

@newhome try here https://thinkrenewables.co.uk/sofar-ac-battery-storage

It is, you have to fit a changeover switch, but that's pretty easy. In the specific case of the Sofar system with the Pylontech battery packs, it has two 230 VAC outputs, one is grid tied and complies with G83/2, so turns off when the grid tie is lost. The other remains up and can be connected to power-critical systems, so the system works like an uninterruptible power supply. In practice, what I'd do is take the feed to the circuits I want to remain on when the grid fails out of the main CU to an auxiliary CU that is connected to an automatic changeover switch. That way, when the grid goes down those circuits just switch over to being run from the battery pack inverter. This is the same way that generator back up systems are connected, and the automatic changeover switch would be a standard generator backup one.

I was in a similar position to you 6 months ago and the Self Builder's Bible was the most effective book I purchased to demystify the whole challenge. Even if you contract the whole house build it pays to understand as much as possible since you will then be able to call a swift halt on any rogue tradesmen doing the wrong thing. After reading the books and watching the YouTube videos there will still be a myriad of details to learn as you go, take for example my current thread on block footing design.

And me. Taking shape and looking great

Fabulous!

Git! I've been thinking the row from the top of bottom? 2nd in from left or right?

We are currently building in what was part of our garden, this is our third self build and it’s the second time we’ve stayed in a caravan during the build. I suppose we may have been lucky that both times the buyer of our old house had no qualms about us building.We would not have had the income to support a loan to do the build before selling the old house so it was our only way forward. The first time we spent 18months in the caravan as we did a lot of the work ourselves mostly due to tradesmen who wouldn’t commit to the job but in the end we ended up with a 385m2 house which cost us well under its value although we did end up with a small mortgage. This time we had no mortgage so all the money is going into this build but we have employed a main contractor to get it done quicker with us supplying all the materials, there can be no mortgage this time as we haven’t enough working years left. I agree with everyone else though, no matter what route you take there are always problems and plenty of stress!

Am building in my side garden but will sell the house before I start. Means the tender quotes from the builder will expire and go up but there's no way to bridge the financing and get anywhere decent without risking both homes, new and old. There's a buy to let mortgage I could convert to but I'd only be able to use it to borrow a small amount of the build cost and the bank wouldn't go for that as they'd have a half finished house. I got the old house priced at 300-310K (minus side garden), side garden 120K with planning, new house worth 345K currently. Will be able to get 80% of 345K in a new mortgage once I sell old house and finish the build which I expect to be around 250-260K. Currently at the stage where I have planning and am heading out to tender next....sell old house early next year and go from there.....

Do away with the tiles and use rubber backed carpet. Shag pile. Could be multi use ?

Welcome. I think your best answer to the q in para 3 is to go and talk to the most local hire firm, if you have one ?, because they will know the streets and give a better rounded answer, perhaps from experience of jamming a Scammell in there in 197x. If it gets closer, then it will be worth looking therough the LPA planning records for a similar restricted access site, and perhaps even talking to them about what they did. Ferdinand