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Hi everyone. We are just in the initial planning stages of building our new home. We have built once before and never intended to do it again. Then we decided to downsize and go mortgage free. A move from Denham to Christchurch happened and we now live on a beautiful plot of 1.5 acres, near the sea, in peace and quiet. The dwelling on the plot at the moment is classified as a temporary structure and is not mortgageable. However, it is very comfortable to live in and we can continue to live in this while the new house is being built. We are looking to build in SIPS but also interested in ICF. One of our big problems is going to be a mortgage, we are currently mortgage free but will need a mortgage to build. I am 55 and working, my OH is 57 and looking for a job but finding that difficult down here. We will contact BuildStore nearer the time but I can foresee issues with length of time for repayment. We know we will not be living here for the rest of our lives - 1.5 acres will be too much for us to deal with in future years and we are hoping for 10, maybe 15 years here. Planners are a bit “tricky” of course and added to that is the re-organisation of the local authority - Christchurch is going to become part of Bournemouth next year which I suspect will improve the situation. Finally, we are on green belt and within 400m of an SSSI - just to add to the fun. We are one of the few plots on this lane to have got planning permission so we are very lucky. Look forward to seeing everyone’s progress Sue

It was nearly 5mm low, bottom right corner. Had to come off. Showed up like a sore thumb when I put the bottom infill tile to the floor. Talking of sore thumbs, ceramic tile / glaze splinters are a joy! You can hear the needle against them as you dig them out!

If you are going for the "cap it off and use a bucket" solution then find out if it is 32mm or 40mm and buy the aproporiate one of these and fit to the end of the horizontal pipe 40mm https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waste-Pipe-Cap-40mm-42mm-43mm-Stop-End-Compression-Stop-Cap-for-Bath-Shower-Sink/281996806964?hash=item41a851cb34:g:RO0AAOSwMFFbrOr4 32mm https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waste-Pipe-Cap-32mm-34mm-36mm-Stop-End-Compression-Stop-Cap-for-Basin-Sink-Pipe/281996848267?epid=10019666338&hash=item41a8526c8b:g:bcAAAOSwCx5brOkt With the loose fit sleeved pipe as it has been done, if there was any condensate discharge, it would just have dripped onto the floor as that pipe joint would not have sealed.

I had a Welsh friend once that kept saying "I can see the one that I want"

Poor @Nickfromwales! @PeterW is very bad telling everyone he's a pie boy cos he's really not and nor does he wear a stetson. The horse, well I don't know if he has a horse. More likely to be sheep in Wales I guess .

Thanks @lizzie So the trap is part of the actual unit itself so can’t be replaced. It fits into a 40mm pushfit from the looks of it so it’s a relatively simple fix to put a Hep20 dry trap in the waste and let the u-bend dry out. It needs a slim plumber by the looks of it so @Nickfromwales your luck is out ..! ?

Cheers guys , my name is Alex and an owner of an IVT Ecolane heat pump . I want to tell you that I've struggled at the beginning with the controller that was provided with this heat pump . After a while I've looked for a solution and I managed to find someone that built a controller for me with an Arduino and an esp8266 . I want to tell you that now I have heating , cooling and dhw as options in the menu . I can set a certain flow temperature and the heat pump will keep it , I have attached a 3 way valve for hot water and the cooling option is useless for me as I have radiators inside my house . I can attach a room thermostat to the controller , it can be wireless , smart or wired and I can change the settings of the heat pump from my phone which is connected to the wi-fi's local network and by opening a browser where I can access the settings . I'm not trying to sell you the controller , all I wanted you to know is that is possible to obtain the same results with this pump as you would with a more expensive one that you pay considerable more . Cheers

Sorry for hi jacking your thread @lizzie but is there a way of plugging a shower drain to prevent smells when it dries out. There is one shower where I have to keep filling the damn thing up and given that shower isn’t used could I just put a plug in it?

Started ripping it up ??????

Hi and welcome A few comments meant to be constructive. Bathroom / en-suite won't work like that with shower next to bath, or it will work with a boxed in awkward to use bath. Plant an utility FAR too small. Snug lounge far too snug. Make the kitchen end of the familly room smaller to give more room for snug utility etc. A snug is essential. Once you have tried watching tv in the "family room" of an evening, competing with the noise of the fridge and dishwasher, you will be craving a quiet haven away from that. Anyone that s happy with just a family room must be a LOT more tolerant of noise than me. If space is tight, consider downstairs WC and utility all in one room. It may seem an odd concept at first but it is what we are dong. Address the offset front door, or if not possible forget the porch over it that emphasises the fact it is offset.

Hi and welcome to the forum. It is certainly the place to be - We too went down a TF route and have project managed from thereafter. Some TF companies offer plan drawing options so it might be worthwhile looking into that - Fleming Homes are just one - As for your plans I would make the following observations - The front door looks odd being off centre - I appreciate why you have done this, to accommodate the stairs but from an external view it might be niggling. The Boot room, utility and upstairs DHW room appear a touch tight - are you planing on having a cylinder? If so where is that going. I'm not sure there would be sufficient room on the spaces mentioned if indeed it was going to go in one of them. A Snug and Lounge appear to be an extravagance and perhaps a large all en-compassing utility room / boot room /plant room and cloakroom could be accommodated. We have a 165 sq metre house, albeit 3 bedrooms but conscious of costs etc,. we built / building a fairly rectangle house - see my blog for details. It might help. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/entry/127-base-camp-finally/ Good luck.

Welcome to THE forum for self builders. Plans look like a great starting point but if you are appointing an architect you don't want to tie them down too much although you can insist on things like Timber frame, triple glazed windows, not too much glazing facing south and even less facing north if you are going passive. We were very clear with our architect about such things and they went away and started feeding back ideas which I then checked against the passive house criteria and eventually we ended up with a design. In choosing your rchitect you need to be clear about the budget while remembering that, in the main architects don't do money, and make sure you meet more than 1 so you can be sure you will 'get on'.

As long as you follow the guidance in building regs you should be fine. The relevant details are in Part H, sections H1.29 to H1.33: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/442889/BR_PDF_AD_H_2015.pdf

You don't want a trap in a soil vent pipe either, as that also prevents the pipe from venting to atmosphere. Part of the function of a foul drain vent is to allow sewer gas to vent away to the atmosphere, and not build up in the unventilated section of drain.

The snag is that an external vent has to work both ways, so that it can release any pressure build up in the foul drain. An AAV only works one way and is only used to prevent a partial vacuum from forming in a vertical run of soil pipe.

Not sure why you'd want to fit an AAV externally. Why not just have a standard soil vent pipe grill?

You seem to have done more or less what we did, we had self built twice then decided to downsize and bought a cottage with two acres, within a very short time I realised I couldn’t live in the small space so We chanced our arm and applied for planning, it took two applications before we were successful as the two acres was classed as green belt .we are both 58 and working but again we didn’t have long left to take out a mortgage that would be affordable so we split up the ground and sold the cottage with some of the ground and moved into a caravan and that’s where we have been since May however we’re on the home straight now and hope to be in soon, it’s been very tight getting it in on budget (what we got for the cottage) but it is do able and I don’t think we’ve compromised on the spec, we have oak finishings and will have an oak staircase and a bespoke kitchen, it’s been a roller coaster but all in all I’m pretty happy with what we managed to do, a 260m2 house for the price of a 95m2 cottage.Hope all goes well for you,

Hi Sue. Youll have a bit of company as a few members are in your locality. You’ve found THE forum so ask as many questions as you like. Measure thrice, cut once, cut well.

Chambers such as the one linked usually come with 4 or 5 bungs fitted as it’s rare to use all of the inlets. Bear in mind it all has to be a minimum of 50mm above the main sewer level - you can’t rest pipes on each other so all of your house levels have to come in I would expect 200mm above sewer level to start with. I would also put long slow bends on any run into the chamber so they can be rodded easily from the chamber. No idea why your architect is saying use separate flows for the stacks either - I prefer using a combined stack as you know it’s going to be continually flushed through and less likely to get blocked by infrequent use.

a modern plastic chamber looks like this, so as @Mr Punter said pipes can enter at 90 to the main drain run, you can also add an angle joint on the entry and exit pipes to vary the inlet route. the ic in the pic is a 320mm a 450mm looks a little different as they can have a lower exit pipe. Have a look for some images and it will give you a feel for the parts available.

Most of the plastic 450 chambers have inlets at 90 deg to the main channel. The outlet has to be from the main channel but you can put a 45 deg bend on it and still rod OK. You can also put a 45 on the inlets, so lots of flexibility.

We are just commencing our second self-build (started onsite last week). In both cases we have used Architects and in both cases have been very happy with the results. We have outlined how in both case we selected and worked with our architect which we hope will assist other people starting out on their self build journey. 1) Start thinking about which architect you are going to use when you start looking for land and not when you have found land. 2) Draw out a requirements list. My approach is to provide a brief / framework for the architect to interpret rather than prescriptively dictating to the last detail. Requirements should be no more than 2 pages. By making the requirements generic, you can apply them to most plots of land. Include in the requirements why you are building as well (develop and sell, house for life etc) 3) Checkout your architects previous designs. There is likely to be a common design pattern and if that is way off what you want then maybe the architect isn't for you. Also go and see a couple of houses - just viewing from the outside can tell you a lot. 4) If you see a plot that is a potential candidate, email architects on your shortlist for feedback. Most architects will provide feedback for free within reason and the reply will help you to decide if the architect is thinking along the same lines as you. Also, meet with your architect before you engage formally to check that they are a person that you can work with. 5) Be completely upfront with the architect about your budget, put it in your requirements list and be very clear what that budget includes and doesn't include. 6) Be completely upfront with your architect about their fees. Fees based on a %age of the build cost are OK as long as the build cost used is your budget for the build at the outset (fixed) rather than the actual build cost (variable). 7) Good architects are in high demand and don't need to advertise so you will need to research (a lot) and do your legwork. Be prepared for the fact that you might need to wait for the architect you want to become available. 8. Check whether the architect has any experience in the build method you want to adopt and the energy standards that you want to achieve. Find out what the build costs have been on recent build projects and how these compared to budgeted costs . 9) Check with the relevant boards that any claimed registrations are correct. 10) Fees may seem expensive, but for the amount of work that goes into a design I have always felt I got good value for money. In the context of the cost of the project it is a small percentage much of which can be quite easily recouped with a little restraint on the fixtures and fittings. 11) If you use an architect local to the build, it is more likely that he will be able to advise on securing good contractors based on experience of previous builds. My architect has more than recouped his fee by drawing up an attractive house that is straightforward to build. Insulation is what we need to get to passivhaus but no more and the size of the house is what we can build to meet our budget (based on his previous build costs) and requirements. Listed below are the requirements we drew up which may assist others going through a similar exercise: Build Budget: £325K (House, Garage) excludes landscaping, external works and professional fees. The Plot There were a large number of objections to the development from residents but planning permission was granted on appeal. Plot width is around 16.7m. Plot length is 44m. Electricity, Water and mains sewerage (but not gas) available at the plot boundary. Functions of the Building Home for ourselves and the dog. Enough room for friends, grown-up children to stay and family get-togethers. Building a house for life as we can’t get what we like on the open market. We love cooking and the outdoors, so it should support that. Combine open plan living combined with a segregated quiet room downstairs Provide a comfortable and healthy interior environment with a stable temperature and no drafts. Design Direction and Requirements Good natural light to rooms is really important with dual aspect windows in as many rooms as possible but not too keen on huge oversized windows that require complex and expensive shading solutions Designed to Passivhaus standards in a cost-effective manner but don’t over-rely on technology that has high cost to install and maintain. Downstairs Open plan kitchen, dining room and seating area Utility room (able to dry clothes in using pulley) Lounge Small Study if possible WC / Washbasin Good Storage – larder cupboard, cloakroom and cupboard for cleaning utensils Somewhere to sort out a muddy dog and muddy boots (A covered porch with a stone floor and bench maybe). Sliding doors or similar out to the garden from the sitting area. Bottom of kitchen window to be level with the kitchen worktop. Back door into the utility room No large step into front or back door WC away from front door if possible Upstairs 3 to 4 double bedrooms. Small study if not room downstairs (or 4th bedroom) Built in wardrobes Cathedral ceiling. Master bedroom should be able to comfortably take a king size be. En-suite in master. Separate shower in bathroom. General Heating / DHW – no mains gas. Solar PV with a diverter? ASHP (noise?) Consideration given to some acoustic insulation between rooms and between downstairs / upstairs. Doesn’t need to be completely soundproof however. LED lighting throughout and up the staircase Point for charging electric car. Ability to use battery storage in the future should it become more cost-effective. No requirement for chimney or wood burning stove. Agnostic about whether the garage is attached or detached, but should have storage for bikes and a little workshop area. Could be modified for easy access upstairs in the future (Straight staircase maybe). Point for charging electric car. Low maintenance exterior for windows and wall facings. House to have a more contemporary feel inside. Outside to tie in with planning / design code. Window frames recessed into the openings. Other Stuff Recess in shower wall for soap etc. Built in bookcases Lots of sockets Sockets in cupboards for charging hoover etc. Room in utility room for dog crate Built in water filter Water softener Lighting on dimmers with switches that gradually turn LED lights on so they don’t blow. Good outdoor lighting (pathways) Outdoor power point / tap Phone point in every room

@JSHarris built his own rig for doing a blower test from an old car radiator fan. Not sure he has put the info on this site but am sure it's in his blog somewhere.

Hi and welcome to the Forum. Regarding the group approach, I’m not sure I’d want my retirement project to be tied to the whims of others, you could be waiting a long time to get anywhere. If I were you, I’d be looking for my own plot and be the master of my own destiny. You did not say where you were in the country, might be worth mentioning as someone here might know of a plot etc.

Hi Gudji Good luck in your ambitions for a group build. I think getting a group of people to agree everything necessary to buy a piece of land, get the finance together etc will be pretty much impossible. Its difficult enough when you can make your own decisions and act quickly.