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You know when you are getting old, when you kneel down to do something, then ponder, "what else can I do down here before I get up"

MBC arrived on site, laid Type 1 and soil pipes pretty quickly and 50mm sand blinding and then set to constructing the EPS raft that is now our slab. Its been said many times on this site, but I will say it again. These guys work hard. They arrived before 7am each day and left at 6pm or later each night. They hardly stopped. And after a week it was assembled. Ready for concrete.

I was "screaming" at the TV get rid of the cantilever and don't build into the hill. You do need to question the original architects motives/mentality/intelligence/sanity.

A brief update on my inward leaning gable that I posted about recently. Just to recap, I spotted that the gable section of my west facing bedroom wall was leaning inward at an angle and made it look as though there was a problem with the window, which turned out not to be the case. Over the last couple of days I've been liaising with my timber frame company, MBC, and my window company, Norrsken, to see what needs to be done. I've taken plenty of photos to illustrate the problem and the MBC team will be on site week commencing 22nd October to put things right. They would have come earlier but I have some other things that are scheduled for next week and need to get those done first, so I requested the slightly later date and they were happy to oblige. It's clear enough from all the photos that the problem lies with the timber frame but it's still very reassuring that MBC haven't argued or quibbled over anything and have been positive from the start, agreeing that it does need fixing and setting about organising it. Because of the position of the section that is out of line, the window will first need to be removed. The Norrsken team were due to come back at some point to go through the snag list and they, too, are happy to come back that week so that as well as sorting out the snag list, they can assist with the removal and re-installation of the bedroom window. It has to be said that with the weather that we've had this year, I've had something of a charmed run on the build so far and given how complex and large a project building a house is, I'm amazed at how few problems I've had to date. Even so, I've always been prepared for something going wrong at some point and my view is that it was almost inevitable. What is less predictable is how the parties involved respond to the problem to get it sorted out. In this case, I have been really pleased with the responses. Pretty much as soon as I contacted MBC and brought the issue to their attention, the response has been to get it fixed. At that stage, they couldn't say what caused the fault and until they see it, they can't be sure. What they have been emphatic about, though, is that they will get it sorted and before the next stage of works are due to commence on 5th November. Norrsken also deserve a special mention as they haven't hesitated to co-ordinate and make sure that MBC can do what they need to do whilst the windows are taken care of. All that remains now is to see just how the Leaning Wall of Bagber will be rectified; it doesn't look like any easy job to me and I'll be interested to see how it gets done and greatly relieved once it is done.

Hi all, embarking on a demolition and (most likely) an ICF based new build. Pleased to have found this forum! Adam

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Would "it" have worked without that one specific component and her honed skill and dexterity in fitting it? Years ago as an apprentice there were mutiple companies vying for the same business. Movement between companies was rare, job security was good but if you left people would often take a particular skill (or design even) to the rival. Our top of the range system existed in the form of carefully stored drawings and velographs. An order would come in to the design office and we (me mainly) would wet print the drawings and deliver them to the factory. The in house joke was that you could give the drawings to another company and though they could make the kit it wouldn't work properly. This was completely true. Looking back then and departments were run and guarded like little kingdoms. Sales, Design, Works, Maintenance, Testing, Commissioning etc. Tbh the companies structured like that "worked". A lot of R&D was done on site. Something didn't work on site and an old hand from the factory would be brought to site by the Commissioning team bypassing the Design Office who were seen as "suits". It was quite often that the commissioning engineer had come from the shop floor anyway so had old allegiances. The required "mod", whether it be machining, heat treatment etc would be carried out on the shop floor when an order came down but never made it back to the Design Office to go onto the drawings. In effect the DO would issue flawed drawings everytime. Because of in house rivalries the shop floor wouldn't even divulge some of the mods. Gave a few lads terrific job security! "Young Jack" became "Old Jack" and was the only one who knew how to do such and such. Good times!

I've noticed that since starting the self build, pretty much everything aches, and realised that it's a shame that by the time most of us can afford to self build, the 20-30 year old body which would have been ideal for it is well beyond that sell by age and a bit knackered ?.

Hello All. My wife and I are about to embark, somewhat late in life (71), on the roller coaster ride that is self-build. It is something that I have always wanted to do, but made it difficult by only wanting to do it in Milton Keynes, where decent sized, reasonably priced plots are about as common as unicorn droppings. However, we have found one, purely by chance, but it is proving to be less than straightforward to complete the purchase, so I shall be raising a topic (or two!) to seek advice. The plot does have Planning Permission for a bungalow though, which is exactly what we want, and which is all the local council will allow anyway. In the meantime I am having lots of fun drawing plan options and researching the different building systems available. I have already been to the NSBRC in Swindon - fascinating, and very helpful.

Having just found this excellent forum and also a plot of land near to my house in Milton Keynes, I am in need of advice about one of the conditions the local council has imposed on the Planning Permission that has been granted to the current owner of the plot. The plot is at the end of an unadopted road which leads to a large commercial property, the owners of which also own, and are responsible for the upkeep of, the road. The are several houses on the road already, the last one being built in the 1970s, although the plot I am wanting to buy used to have a large barn on it, belonging to the bungalow opposite. The condition states that before any house built on the plot is occupied a turning area has to be provided, apparently sufficiently large to allow a 7.5 metre truck, which will use a fair chunk of what will be the front garden. I understand this is calculated using a standard template. My question is - can the council insist on this condition for an unadopted road? I also notice from the approved plans that one visitor parking space has to be included, which the seller says is for the benefit of the whole road - is that right? I have also raised another topic about a small strip of land next to the site - adverse possession?

Hi, I'm just starting a new build holiday house in Argyll although live in Oxfordshire - bit of a commute for building work but we love the west coast and hopefully it will be worth it. I've already found lots of useful information on build hub as a guest - thanks to everyone who has contributed - and expect I will be using the site more and more as I get into the build.

I’m fairly sure it’s Threshold

The red shaded area is already part of the plot - I understand it was acquired separately many years ago by a previous owner. So yes, it is just the grey shaded area that the plot owner is trying to acquire and which will eventually be included as part of the sale, should he succeed. If he doesn't then that could be a deal breaker.

Passion, drive, talent and enthusiasm.....I USED to have them.....before the bastards ground me down.....

Pop one out from the ceiling and look again with the flir at the empty hole. I suspect something (hot pipes passing through?) is making the ceiling - floor void very warm and it is that warmth coming out that you are seeing.

Here you go, two pics. Scruffy, white brick wall after 40 years After restoration, painting and anti-vandal paint. now on a 5-6 year painting cycle.

Lol, every job advertised where I work seems to be for an engineer these days; Java engineers, Dev Ops engineers etc. etc. Mind you I don't give 2 sh*ts whether someone has a piece of paper or not. When I interview someone what counts for me is passion, drive, talent and enthusiasm. I've had people come in with IT degrees and some have been worst than useless (not all before anyone yells at me ). One of the very best guys where I work came straight into the company from school at 16 into the lowest grade in a non IT role in customer services. Since then he has had 6 promotions and at 27 is a shining light in IT, proving that pieces of paper are not necessary to succeed if you have the talent and are willing to push yourself.

Agreed, but the point I’m making is that as much as you can try and guide, sometimes you get a brief that just doesn’t fit the customers pockets or they just don’t want to hear that they can’t afford it. ’... let’s get the design sorted, we’ll value engineer later...’ it’s wrong, but it does happen.

I would say look at glazed white bricks. With standard white bricks there is perhaps more to think about wrt detailing, staining, and long term wear. White, like white paint and white cars, look very scruffy as soon as they get slightly mucky ... it is less tolerant and may need more mantenance. You also .. depending on location ... need a strategy for when Johnny Plonkalong comes past at 2am and spray paints a bright purple 6ft tall phallus on it in paint that sinks into the brick. White brick also perhaps has something of a negative historical association ... community centres and shopping malls on sink estates and so on. You also need to think how you are using the material, whether as individual bricks or more as textured surface. If if you have a fairly protected or secluded location then there is a lot of potential, but everything needs to be considered. I have a white non-glazed brick bungalow built back in 1970 as my dad’s architectural studio, which you can see in its 40-years-later state here on Streetview. As you see it looks scruffy. It has now been restore and has a combination of a painted and clad finish. So I would is ncourage you to pursue it, but to do it with care and thoroughly.There is potential for an outstanding result. Ferdinand (Need to update that link. Will post later. Sorry) .

I'll PM you with the whole story, as some of it is a bit sensitive as far as this forum (and the demise of it's predecessor, ebuild) are concerned.

Looks like it should be OK. Because of the services and allowing for the house to be roughly 2m from the boundaries and 9m from the boundary with the house behind it has to fit in a space roughly 17.5m wide by 14.5m deep. We will apply for something covering 155sq metres which is 20% of the area of the plot.

Time for the sign to go up?

Oh, was there a flexibility test too?

And brief.... as an architect (albeit of software) you’d be surprised what people ask for...

Or get told to go away in short rhythmic jerks. The Full On DIY experience is almost as painful, just as slow and costs far less. 1000 times more fun. I could not contemplate DIY without knowing BH is just a few clicks away.

Think you are right lizzie, it could look stunning, due to some factors timber frame is out the equation, I have seen people do this though. Any photos thersole

@Sjk need a really good brickie for those, very unforgiving I imagine, mortar colour v important too. Could look stunning on the right build. Do they come as brick slips? You could timber frame and then clad in white brick slips...might be cheaper no idea.

I had a physio review yesterday and was measured on a few strength tests. Despite not having got to the gym much since my last review due to a frantically busy period on the build, I aced a couple of the tests and this is purely down to shinning up and down scaffolding ladders and temporary staircases for much of the time I was on site, so self-building isn't all bad!

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Maybe worth delving into the section on lightning protection zones too? Nick, with his eidetic memory will be able to reel off the relevant sub sections shortly!

Reading this, is there any wonder why most installers just stick these units in with default values and walk away.??! There is a real market opportunity here for tuning ASHP installations properly .....

The SE suggested digging 900mm deep because the soil survey said we had clay. And we have trees. I used the NHBC foundation depth calculator and did alot of reading around foundation digs. Overthinking it all, alot. BC said to dig to 700mm and see what was there. Guess what? No clay (well, only a tiny patch amongst loads of gravel). So the SE suggested a new depth of 200mm. But we are already at 700mm I said. No problem he said. Fill it back in, with crushed concrete and then Type 1 on top. So £5K for muck away and another £7K to fill the hole we didn't need to dig. Did I mention our contingency was gone? But we have extra secure foundations. BC happy. And we have moved on. A photo blog seems like the simplest way to show what has happened. So here we are digging it out. We even shovelled a bit by hand late one night. We laid some ducts. Thanks @JSHarris for swift assistance on getting those in properly. For about 10 days we got up at 6am, worked on site for 2 hours, went to work, got home, worked on site til 11pm or later. Couldn't have MBC turn up without it being ready. Then we put the crushed concrete and Type 1 back in the hole and compacted it to level. Just in time. MBC arrived the following morning. Its now 4th July.

Nope. The fact that it’s upside down and wrong way round marks the scribe perfectly Even if the floor was at 45o to the wall tile the markings would cut for that scribe. Been doing it that way for over a decade after watching an ‘old legend’ do it that way These days I bang my £370 Bosch laser up and cut the bottom course of tiles in first. Same principal, turn the tile upside down and back to front and then mark the laser datum line onto the tile. Cut and flip over and hey presto. “Roberts ya muvva’s bruvva guvenor”. ?

Hello and welcome. Good for you, we embarked on a build at not much different age to you (OH nearly 70 me a tad younger). Retirement house dream bungalow. A few years on many many heartaches and lots of overspending we have the home, not quite the dream as compromises inevitably had to be made to accomodate planners, practicality and purse but it is a now a home we are proud of and love living in it. If the years of hell and impact on health with all the stress was worth it is another matter. Pretty much behind us now but I would just caution you to be very aware of just how stressful this can be. I dont think anyone can really prepare you for it.......would you do it again is an often asked question........maybe but differently is my answer. The help and guidance I received from the lovely folks on this forum was invaluable to me, they give generously of their time and knowledge to help fellow self builders, you are fortunate to have found us so early in your journey. Look forward to hearing about your progress.

If an offer has been made to buy it you cannot make a claim for adverse possession. Adverse possession means you have taken over the land without knowledge or agreement from the landowner and that has continued unchecked for x years therefore you have acquired a right to possession (if upheld). The person who may have had the claim has now asked the owner if they can buy it so acknowledges they have no rights to adverse possession.

@Digmixfill that floor make up is barely building regs and with UFh that’s going to lose a lot of heat. Have you spoken to your architect about changing any of that design and losing the lower slab in place of more insulation ..??

We changed architects and it was one of the best (if difficult) decisions we made. We got on brilliantly, but she just wasn't designing anything that inspired us, even after three full rounds of redesigns with several layouts per round. The first design from the second architect was just "oh yes, of course that's what we should do". Not saying that course of action is appropriate here, of course! The second architect had been our original choice, but he'd originally turned us down on the basis he was concerned about building to passivhaus standards. He was a lot more comfortable when we came back to him, because we'd found a building company whose standard construction method dealt with the basics of insulation and airtightness.

Leave a gap about a credit card thickness or so, eg just enough to get some grout rammed under. The CT1 goes over the grout

How much money did the first architect take them for, designing a £500k build when their budget was £250k and then they spent more on several additional iterations of drawings before getting a new architect.

From this To this The demolition guys worked alarmingly slowly. They didn't bring any machinery in until late on when the slab needed to be dug up. Unbelievably they were loading the skips by hand, brick by brick, concrete lump by lump. Anyway, we ended up a bit behind schedule due to them taking 3 weeks longer than planned. If we were ever going to do this again, which we are not, we would know better. I would drive a digger into my flat pack bungalow myself.

So, as I am backdating this blog by 6 months I need to catch up quickly. I covered alot of our demolition in other posts due to the asbestos issues. The bungalow was encased in plastic sheeting and over the course of three weeks amosite asbestos was removed from the soffits, chrysotile asbestos from the roof tile edging and from inside every internal wall. We left this job to the professionals and were pleased to do so. It whacked up the cost of our demolition by about £20K in the end and the contingency was dipped into straight away but best off done properly.

Back in March our new home arrived. Manoeuvring it into place took more time than we possibly imagined. And we looked at our snow covered new home from the relative warmth of our 1960s flat pack bungalow and wondered if it was too late to turn back. Thanks to fellow buildhubbers we got it safely hooked up to gas. Thanks to You Tube we got it levelled. Thanks to him indoors it got all plumbed in to mains drainage. We moved in in mid April.

I think your being very harsh on yourself. Have seen tiles done a lot worse by so called professionals.

I have a reamer that I got with my manifold etc, I will donate it to the forum and people can pass it around if they want, I don’t plan another self build (at my age ?).

His blog can be found here http://www.mayfly.eu

About 8" long? It's a reflection, I'm just out of the shower...

Not done that BUT go on ebay and search underfloor heating co and see if what you are wanting is available from Ebay. I have just bought an electric mat and kit from them. £150 on their site. Exactly the same thing from them on Ebay £89. I couldn't believe how different it was

I support everything that the Js say. Our MVHR stays at 30% except for the occasional boost, and doing the airflow calcs this does a complete air change of the house roughly every 4 hrs, so the house smells airy and fresh all of the time. When we do our 3-monthly clean of the MVHR filters, we still get a covering of fine white dust on the outbound filter which I suspect is a result mostly of the rubbing down as we finish off our P&D. What horrifies me is the black particulate matter on the inbound filters. Our house fronts onto the street through our village, but this is quiet except for the ½hr rat-run period morning and evening; and the inlet and outlet are 5m up and ~12m from the road, but we still clearly get diesel particulates (and perhaps wood smoke) being taken out by the MVHR filters. As the slab, our ground floor is slated, but Jan prefers to walk around bare foot in the house because it is a nice steady ~23°C. We haven't put in the upper control on our UFH, so we still do fixed heat chunking over night. The conversation that I've just had with Jan went along the lines: "the average temp has risen by 0.8°C over the last 7 days because the average temp outside is starting to climb at last -- OK, I'll trim the overnight heating from 5½hrs to 4½." Life is tough in a passive house. We used to live in a traditional farmhouse: wavy floors and walls, draughty windows, wood-stoves, classic CH, walk from one room to the next and the temp drops by 5-10°C; within 1hr of the CH going off overnight, ditto. Do I miss it at all: not one jot.

Neighbours can be funny things and often won't do simple things to help themselves. I came home one day, to find the party fence between my garden and next door missing and a skip in next doors front garden. The skip lorry had cracked my concrete drive in the process. I made a lot of fuss about that resulting in the contractor doing the job next door digging up and re laying my cracked concrete drive, and fitting a shiny new fence to replace what he had taken down. Unbelievable how he could have done that and thought nobody would mind. From the other side, I was doing a lot of work to my semi detached that I knew would be a noise issue for the house next door. So I made a simple request, that they inform me if they are going out any time so I can do the noisy work while they are out. They went balistic along the lines of "why should we have o go out......." That's when I gave up trying to be nice.

Put a static van on the site and tell them you are living in it