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The stove manufacturer will specify a "distance to combustibles" for the back, sides and top. of the stove. That is your guidance. Alternative is cut strips of left over tiles and have a tile skirting in the alcove.

Hi all, Been a while.. Ive just come accross the pics i posted on here quite a while back.. I just wanted to thank everyone for all the input regarding sorting out this house.. Heres a couple of pics.. been finished now a while.. and its been lived in again. :)

Then I would install a full soakaway, possibly with the backstop of a pipe from the very end of it out to the ditch just in case. Definitely install a treatment plant not a septic tank.

I don't think I slept more than 2 or 3 hours a night when it all kicked off. Still waking early but at least I feel more in control during the day and getting around 6 hours LOL My control board at the moment is a big mirror in my lounge and multi coloured sharpies. it's my 'in the face' TO DO list . People to phone; issues to raise; supplies to buy; questions to ask; all get scrawled on there and every 2 or 3 days I remove the resolved issues and make room for more. One of the big issues of doing it yourself is making sure people understand from the start that YOU buy everything. You have to make the purchase in order to reclaim the VAT. Get yourself accounts set up with Toolstation, Screwfix, Travis Perkins, MKM (if there is one close) and Wickes at the very least. You can then order stuff online for them to pick up if necessary. If there are any close to you definitely register with them - you can pick stuff up rather than the trades doing it on time you have paid for. From my (very limited) experience. Toolstation is cheapest on the things they supply but them and Screwfix are fixed prices. MKM, Travis Perkins etc can negotiate so always get quotes first.

Thanks for the support @Hecateh I am feeling more positive about managing the remainder of the build. The tiler that is coming is on a day rate of £180 which is what was quoted earlier. Just getting quotes independently for all of the other work and take it from there.

@vivienzfantastic I have to get one tomorrow eventually persuaded hubby that I really need to get up there so hopefully my branch will have one

It depends where in Scotland you are , we were not in an area that we could get a grant and that is why as a last resort I had to make an official complaint about the £25k quote they gave us, luckily I was successful and got it down to under a fifth of the price!

Abso-flippin-lutely! Mine is all in place now and doing a splendid job.

Oh - and share with the people that come to quote that you want someone you can trust and then share the quotes on here before accepting. If you are going for a day rate - ask approx how many days - ok that's not fixed but it gives you an argument if they say x days and are slipping a long way behind

Your situation is sounding more and more like mine. I had to stop payment before my builder would come up with some prices. The prices he then came up with were stupidly excessive. At that stage he was wanting an extra 46k (on a 90k house). I got him to finish the roof whilst we 'negotiated' and then told him 'NO' and since then I have taken it on myself with considerable and essential help from the fabulous people on this forum. I had a similar experience with carpenters - I'm told not their fault which may be correct but it still cost me. I would like to think that professionals time estimates shouldn't be too far out. I have been getting quotes for specific work - which I am getting better at being very specific about. Mostly I have had firm price quotes, being very upfront about any potential issues that I am aware of AND clear that if there is something that couldn't have been foreseen (- not just wasn't; but couldn't have been). EG the spark said he hadn't accounted for the extra cable with a split level house (being fair this was a justification for the time taken rather than a request for more money.) You are a genuine professional - some aren't. AND I have done it (knocking them off the job) but it ain't easy (especially on my own) and there have been sleepless nights and money paid first. spoken as a true bachelor although to be fair my kids would have done it happily when they were younger (as preteens though rather than teenagers) ----- way before I would have dared taking anything like this on. The only person, after the main contractor, that I have outright sacked is my plumber - the partner of a friend, who gave me a fixed price of £1200 - and then did 15 hours work for it - £80 per hour NO NO NO. I've now got 2 experienced plumbers with way more knowledge and experience and the price for both of them per hour is less than her. You CAN project manage this yourself Jude and cut out his percentage, now that you have the great people of this forum behind you. PM me if you want to talk further

The question isn't really 'treatment plant or soakaway'- it should be 'treatment plant or septic tank'. Both solutions need to discharge the effluent somewhere, and the generally preferred method is a soakaway. You are allowed a 25% reduction in soakaway area if you use a treatment plant, but otherwise it's all much the same. The reasons for not using a soakaway would be if you don't have enough space for one, or if the ground conditions are unsuitable (e.g. high water table, slow draining clay soil, rotten rock which drains too fast). The backup option is to discharge to a watercourse, which I don't think is possible with a septic tank. From my experience of building in Scotland, you won't be allowed to discharge effluent (from either a septic tank or a treatment plant) straight into a drying ditch. I was allowed to use a partial soakaway which in wet weather overflows to a ditch- in wet conditions there will be plenty of flow in the ditch for dilution. The partial soakaway does not seem to attract the same degree of scrutiny as a full sized soakaway- I was given very vague instructions on what sort of size to make it. Plenty of people are still fitting conventional septic tanks, and they can offer the cheapest solution if you have the right plot. However there's no denying that the effluent from a treatment plant is far less nasty, and the difference in cost is nothing really in the scheme of a whole house build. Don't worry too much about avoiding electricity use, it's never going to add much to your bills. FWIW I went with a slightly unusual system called a Puraflo, which is quite popular on Skye. This involves installing a normal septic tank, and then downstream of this is a pump chamber feeding into a big box full of peat fibre. The outflow from the septic tank is pumped into this and it trickles down through the aerated fibres, emerging from the bottom as relatively benign effluent- on a par with the best treatment plants. I chose this system as it is supposed to be quite tolerant of intermittent usage patterns. Finally, when comparing treatment plants, you need to look at three figures: suspended solids, biological oxygen demand, and ammonia (abbreviated as SS, BOD, and NH3). If a supplier doesn't deal in these terms, run away, they are probably snake oil salesmen

Use DPM from the likes of S’fix as it’s cheap and easy to get hold of. The trick is to make a tent - higher at the middle than the sides so rain runs off and doesn’t pool. Even a small hole then won’t let water in. Easy way is a couple of lengths of 4x2 down the middle of any roof and pull it taught down the sides and a couple of bits of timber and some long screws to clamp it. Contrary to popular belief, those blue woven tarps are not waterproof unless they are very tight.

Very small amounts of well-diluted bleach you can just about get away with, but in general you need to avoid anything that has a powerful biocide in it from going down the foul drain, and that includes stuff like Jeye's Fluid, as well as any cleaning products that contain chlorine. If you use chlorine based products (as I do occasionally to disinfect pipes etc when doing any work on our borehole system), then you can just leave the waste water with the chlorine in it in an open bucket for a few days and it will break down, leaving the water relatively harmless. I tend to use any water with chlorine in to wash down our stone paths, as it's pretty good at cleaning up the sandstone.

Nope they don't seem to have to 'approve' that you can move it TBH. At least not in my experience. The completion certificate just states that the building conforms to building regs but I would expect that this may also be the trigger for a home insurance policy to judge that your house is insurable using a 'normal' insurance policy (others may have a different view). Certainly when our self build insurance ran out before we had finished the build we were unable to extend the insurance so I ended up trawling the market for another insurance policy that would cover the (at the time) empty unfinished property and then allow occupation with building work continuing (and contents included). Such a policy was hard to find but I did manage to find one. They wouldn't cover any accidental damage however whilst building work continued. What sort of insurance do you have now? See if that will cover you occupying the property. If not I used a company called quoterack to arrange my insurance through having been unsuccessful trying to arrange cover by calling various insurance companies direct. I filled out their Challenge Quoterack form and 3 brokers called me within 24 hours. My insurance was through Halifax so pretty mainstream, but it was not one I was able to arrange myself. https://www.quoterack.co.uk/ChallengeQuoteRack.aspx There are a few people on here now who are living in their not yet signed off properties. They will have more recent experience of insurance cover I'm sure. As an aside I'm sure that there are many people who don't tell their insurer that they are having major building works done on their existing property such as an extension, or move into a house where a completion certificate has not been issued for an alteration to the property. In each case they are leaving themselves open to not being covered by their household insurance. If an insurance company can refuse a claim based on the small print, they will.

I have no intention of installing any gas stuff myself, I appreciate the risks, so will have it done by a GS person. Although I have to say the new Sunamp box of tricks might make the whole plan for a Combi to supply DHW redundant.

We used acres of polythene as it rained solidly for weeks after our frame went up. Will see if I can find where we got it.

Hi The law on such drains changed a few years back. I'm not 100% on the technicalities but, all foul drains in the ground that serve two or more properties is now classed as a public sewer. So if a drain was laid as private and served just one house, then later a second house was attached, then it becomes public. This link shows an illustration:- https://www.stwater.co.uk/help-and-contact/faqs/are-my-drains-public-or-private/

With each appliance a Benchmark certificate is provided. Its usually the last two pages of the Installation Instructions. Link

The only ass would be the guy taking any assumptions about the integrity of the pipe and the way you fitted it. It would be like you being asked to connect a fuse-board in a finished house and to put your name to the cables all being of the correct integrity and in the safe zones / not buried in insulation etc. Eg you'd be an ass to agree to that, with your own business, family and the fact you'd be prosecuted for doing so. Having registration with such competent installers schemes is the thing that ordains you to do the correct thing, without exception. If I, a non GSR fitter went and connected a boiler for someone, and there was a death, the courts would give me a lesser sentence as i would be deemed to 'not know any better'. If the same happened with a GS Registered agent they'd lock him up for 10 years for manslaughter because hes been trained, is aware of, and should be operating within the guidelines of the correct legislation as set out at the time. Its not open to interpretation, its the law . The person who turns the gas on is the person who turns a heap of metal into a lethal installation. Again, legislation commands that you do neither. If you killed yourself or your family in residence then you'd just get a slap on the wrist, but they'd all still be dead. Yes, correct. You need to be at least ACS ( your qualification prior to becoming GSR ) and be working under the supervision of a GSR agent to carry out the installation of the boiler. That's why the Benchmark requires a section filled out by the installer, and one for the commissioning agent, even though they can be the same person. How people can be so ignorant of this is beyond belief sometimes if I'm honest. This only needs to go wrong once. Save money somewhere else.

Actually illegal as your not the only person residing there so cannot demonstrate that you did the gas work "for yourself only". If they caught him he'd get kicked off the competent persons scheme ( GSR ). Theres been a massive shake up around this, so beware. Its Gas Safe or UNSAFE. No middle ground there regardless of whats said at the pub bar.

Say renovation cost of 50k inc all materials and labour but exc vat. Rather than personally you pay 60k i.e. 50k + 20% vat. Take 50k, add 10% margin 55k then 5% vat 2750 £57750 saving of 2250 up front plus 5k in company which is now profit. Less corp tax of 20%. Just a quick back of fag packet calc. I've not done it personally but that's how I would want to structure something. As I say probably not worth incorporating over but if you are already a vat registered contractor or subbie

Hold your horses, Fanny Blankers-Koen! ? Aren't you driving this bus now? If there are no cost penalties to you in delaying or other BFO (eg contractual and you pay anyway) reason for doing so, then tell them to delay. Do not "offer an option" - you are the client, you now hold the swagger-stick, you are the project manager, so you decide what is going to happen. Then step back and do some reflection about your priorities - assuming that it is still all about cost savings as per last week. Why do you need an ensuite now, and to pay for it, now? Is there not going to be a family bathroom? Can you not put the ensuite in 2 years after you have moved. Delaying it will probably save you about 3-4k from this year's spend, that you will have more easily available in 2019 or 2021. At the very least it would be a little risky to go full steam ahead with this spend if you have not completed the evaluation and costing out we were talking about on the other thread. Is that 3-4k better applied somewhere else eg filling the hole that it will leave in the bank account? At least delay to think about it once you know the size of the hole you have to fill, not before. (*) If you are planning to save say £30-£60k on your (guessing) £350-£450k project (or whatever the number is), then this is the sort of thought you need to entertain. If you have to go ahead, then I see no reasons (plumbers such as @Nickfromwales may contradict me from a high tower of authority) for not doing the walls first. That is how I normally do it, in my case to avoid the risk of gunk or droppages ruining my nice new floor). If they must do it, then you could tell the tiler to leave 25-30mm at the bottom for eg a subfloor and tiles, or plywood and roll vinyl. Buying from what the sheds have in is the most expensive way - out of time, quality and cost you can only have two. And if your time is limited to "today", and your quality to LVL tiles, then you will get clobbered on cost and the limited selection may mean you do not get what you want. And I think good LVL is £25-£40 per sqm. Take off the time constraint and you will get your desired choice at perhaps 30-50% saving, or may discover something at £10 per sqm that is just as good, or put roll vinyl at <£10 per sqm down for the first N years. Ferdinand (*) It will also signal to your builder that you are deadly serious about the cost-savings.

The three of us (me SWMBO and 12 year old daughter) spent 18 months in the static caravan, including last winter. We briefly toyed with the idea of sleeping in the house over last winter, but we would have still had to use the caravan for cooking, eating and showering etc so ruled it out as we would have to be heating both (and the heating in the house was not set up then) We moved in a few weeks ago. Bedrooms, main bathroom, and kitchen / diner are all operational (I won't use the term "finished") and heating and hot water are working. It's a lot more comfortable than the caravan and feels so spacious compared to the cramped quarters in that. We are still very disorganised in terms of furniture etc. We want all new for the new house but making do with the bare essentials of the old stuff. We don't have carpets upstairs, that is an expense that has to wait, as does things like skirting boards etc. So the static caravan is still being used for storage, mainly for clothes as we don't have wardrobes in the house yet. I am just completing my garage now. Up until now I have been using one of the rooms of the house as a work room, and moving around as we go. But now we are living in it, I don't want all the sawdust, and in any case with only 2 rooms to do we would be running out of work space. So getting the garage sorted to use as a work space before we start the push to "finish" the last few rooms.

OK get the ply screwed down, then tile the walls, then grout and polish, then fit shower screen and complete plumbing and wiring, then paint ceiling, then fit LVT, then mastic.

To move in you need: Somewhere to cook. Somewhere to eat. Somewhere to shower. Somewhere to sleep. And you probably want heat and light in the relevant bit of house, and some doors on, and at least one cold tap. Plus any others you feel you need eg clothes storage (in extremis a suitcase under the bed unless the bed is a blow up mattress) and food storage (in extremis a fridge next to the camping stove you are cooking on). If children desire more comfort then not having it will be a character-building experience that will stand them in good stead later in life . You would have a fighting chance of raising not-snowflakes. If you have a caravan you can have a holiday-at-home for a bit, but I would not suggest that heading into winter. That is a bit tongue in cheek, and most people would have a bit more. F

When we had Kardean type tiles laid in a previous house, the chipboard floor was prepped by screwing down ply, screws every 100mm, then all the joins filled and feathered to create as flat and level a surface as possible. In our case the Kardean fitters did that work.

Autodesk Sketchbook is now free - only requires registration https://sketchbook.com Via hotukdeals

Yes, and when I get the time I plan to do this, it just means sitting down and writing up everything I've done. I think that I can also re-sell the parts, just as components, the question mark is over whether me re-selling programmed PICs with the code in to drive both ends is OK. I think it probably is, as the only bit that really infringes the EU regs is the mains related stuff (there is a power supply built-in to the remote unit, inside the IP rated enclosure) and the radio modules, as although they are legal and use the ISM band, the regs require that the completed equipment must comply with the EMC Directive, which involves a high compliance test cost. The reality is that these radio link modules are the same as those used in thousands of remote control devices, so the risk of them not being compliant with the EMC Directive is near-zero, plus there are already many millions of counterfeit CE marked devices on the market anyway, and no one seems to do anything about it.

Not quite right. The controversial comment - whatever it was - has not been quoted. The technique is to leave it just long enough for someone to quote it, then you can delete it and still claim to be morally virtuous because you had second thoughts. ? ? ? (*) F (*) I love these new avatars. There's one for a bunny-boy now, as well as a bunny-girl, they are so PC.

Lots on Amazon. I have mine set into one of my gate pillars (postie cant get through the gates as I don't have it set for trade entrance) I didn't want anything visible on the outside other than the letter slot. I went for the Stamford as it was the one that fitted the depth of my brick pillar. Glencall do quite a range not sure if there would be anything to suit your TF house wall. https://www.glencall.co.uk/1gi/king/stamford-menu.html

DJ ‘Scratchinmynuttsack’ rides again. “Put your hands in the air if the cream worked” ?

I believe that Howdens do them ?. But they do seem to leave a lot of space unused for the gubbins, and have fairly low weight limits. More practically, I get to use the top shelves while my mum who has now gone to under 5ft uses the others. The same even applies in the Bear-Fridge, where my frozen low carb breakfast portions get exiled to the top, whilst the cornettos are lower down. I am sure you have lots of stuff that is not of interest to the boss. Alternatively, do not forget that glass shelves can be a less expensive alternative for top cupboards for things like crockery, and your teapot library (should such exist) - as long as they can be identified from below. For base units, deep drawers are a good alternative. I learnt that from a nice Scottish lady in the Edinburgh 'burbs, who had her mugs and tins arranged on their sides in drawers below the workstop. Again a possibly money-saver, perhaps used in combination with some of the pull-up shelves. I think that pots and pans and tins and crocks (ie heavy or bulky) would be good in drawers below, whilst lighter stuff (dried ingredients, herbs, tea and coffee and so on) would work quite well on these. Cocktails and chocolate, obviously, should always be out on the worktop. Ferdinand

I have been to Grand designs a few times - I live less than an hour from the NEC. I wouldn't bother again myself unless I had a day with nothing to do but thats because most of it is stuff you can find anywhere plus the candle maker, glass pictures, vegetable choppers et al....those even seem to find their way into Crufts these days. My top tip if you do go is to get there at opening time, the place is heaving by lunchtime and its difficult to get to see much with the crowds, also take your drinks and snacks in with you if you can, the queues and prices inside are horrendous. If you have never been you will enjoy it but not sure you will come away with much of any real use. If you are looking for interior design ideas then as well as the usual Pinterest Houzz etc I would suggest you do a tour of the show homes in your area, go to see the pricey ones with more upmarket finishes too there is nothing like seeing things in the flesh so to speak. If you are unsure of yourself on interior design then yes go on a course if there is one available, it may give you confidence. You could always employ an interior designer to give you some pointers, you don't need to employ them to do the 'scheme' just give you some ideas on things and help in pulling the look together. Would probably cost less than your trip to Birmingham. Very worthwhile going to upmarket kitchen and bathroom showrooms too, ideas are there for the stealing. A good independent is very useful for kitchen planning - a cut above the sheds etc, you dont have to buy just get ideas ditto on the bathroom showrooms. Get tester pots of paint, paint onto big pieces of card or the back of a piece of wallpaper and pin up on the wall to see how it looks, get samples of everything, paint, flooring, upholstery etc and put them together, you will soon see what 'goes' and what doesn't. Its easy to do mood boards - just get a big sheet of card and from your short lists stick on the paint swatches, flooring, carpet and curtain samples etc, photos of lighting, all that stuff it gives you a good idea of how things come together and you can note details like suppliers etc.................I prefer an actual mood board that I make myself better than a virtual one on the screen because I think you also need to consider the feel of things not just a flat photo. Texture, not just colour, is an important part of interior design in my view. When we moved a few years ago I came across my mood boards for the house we built in the late 80's........Hoarder LOL When I am doing something be it a whole house or just a room I always carry with me samples of my colours, bits of wood, tile etc (very heavy handbag) so that if I chance upon something I can whip out my samples and see how they look, you never know when you will spot a gem that is just the piece you need. Don't be afraid to mix bargain buys with more expensive designer options along with a few treasured pieces that you already have. Confidence in your own personal taste and style is what you need, who wants to live in house that looks like its come from a catalogue, you need to inject your own personality into it, make it yours.....but not lime green and purple of course! Anyone visiting the NEC for GD wants to pop in to me for a visit and a cuppa you would be welcome.

I have visited 3 self build shows this year and Grand Designs London (Excel) in 2014. The talks at the 3 shows this year were the highlight and one day would not be enough particularly if booking some free expert one-on-one consultation. As my plot was still a green field at the time, every aspect of self build was of interest. NEC in the spring wins for sheer scale. Swindon was good too and has a niche feel plus lots of informative fixed exhibition displays. Bicester Build It was a dud as it was about 1/4 the size of NEC and seemingly relying on its proximity to that large self build site Graven Hill nearby. Grand Designs was a disappointment as it feels like a confused hybrid of a self build show and the Ideal Home show. Grand Designs has for too much generic show filler exhibitors selling ceramic knives, loft ladders and inflatable hot tubs. I have seen those each year at the Southampton Boat Show. My tip for interior design is artistic theft, just copy stuff you like.

Join the queue, Jude, join the long line. It's so long in fact I can't see you way down there at the back. Let's keep it simple. Turn the guilt into determined useful behaviour ; that was then, now is now. Forgive yourself. Move on. Take cost control into your hands. That means hard work on both your your parts; OH and you. Break the job down into chunks that are meaningful to you. Get a price for those. Make sure the price is agreed. Take notes, and share them with the trades person. Do not allow the trades to ' .... It'll be Ok, I'll get you a better price for that ... ' find out how much before mandating the work. You hate your rental . Move. Caravan? You won't be the first or last to do that. Communication; Very brave of you to be that honest and open. It's not an option to load one party with appropriate levels of responsibility. Being over-stressed at work is normal. Face it, own it, do something about it. Take control. Keep coming back to us all. Ian

I know . That's how I felt paying the joiner but felt I had to given that he had quoted an amount and I had accepted. He rushed everything dreadfully, didn't sort the level access as I requested (luckily BC accepted it but they weren't truly happy about what he had done), he left a crazy mess everywhere as he just sawed literally where he stood (fixing skirting in various rooms) and chipped one of the tiles in the vestibule.