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I Thought I would do a little montage of pics, showing this summers progress.. another day on the sofa and I think I will go mad, I’ve been allowed to venture down to the garage for an hour, before I get summoned and told to be polite to more bloody relatives descending on us.

OK, so we have a hole in the ground. It's a biggish hole - the basement is only half the width of the house above ground, but it's still 20m front to back and around 5m wide at the bottom (and battered slope on 3 sides at around 30 degrees). By this point, I have also spent over 8 weeks arguing with my structural engineer about some of the steel he's put into the ICF parts of the build. Arguing to the point that I get my builder-turned-consultant to meet the engineer to explain what he wants by way of reinforcement is neither possible nor necessary. The engineer refutes this opinion, so I get the ICF manufacturers to tell him he's mistaken, whereupon the engineer withdraws his services and threatens legal action if I use his designs... Even at this point, he hasn't twigged that I couldn't use his designs any more than I could fly by flapping my arms a bit. (In case anyone thinks I am being harsh here, the engineer has specified 16mm steel every 150mm vertically in a Logix ICF block that spaces the steel every 203mm. There is no physical way to insert at least 5 of the steel loops because they fall in exactly the same place as the plastic webs that hold the ICF blocks together, without which the blocks simply fall apart.) The next engineer took 3 days to spec the steel reinforcement for the same columns, and came up with calcs that justified 12mm steel every 203mm - fancy that! The lesson here is to find an ICF specialist engineer not just a regular structural engineer - it will save time, money and possibly your sanity in the long run!) The 300mm slab gets poured - another mistake: we should have insulated under the slab. However I didn't think it'd be cost effective because we were 3.5m below ground and therefore insulated by Mother Earth already. If we had insulated under, our energy bills would likely be quite a bit lower, but you live and learn! Oh, and maybe I should have paid more attention instead of getting all giddy like a teenager at prom, because if I had I would have noticed the groundworkers slopping waterproof concrete (that cubed as C68) into the sump pit at the back, where the perimeter drainage emptied into! Have since had to break that slipped concrete out with SDS chisels and a breaker bar... December 2017. We build the ICF walls for the basement. 10" thick with 2 faces of 12mm steel debar at 200mm centres both horizontal and vertical. Our onsite training in ICF construction has the boss of the ICF firm himself on site, helping to build the walls... Except he misread the plans for the house. At the back of the basement, we have a lightwell, which serves as a 2nd means of escape from the basement, but it's clearly an external area because there is no house above it... Only our onsite training guru treats this as an internal wall, and has us construct a T wall joined only by pockets of concrete, instead of a full joint that would be watertight... My fault - I should have realised at the time that this was idiotic, and would completely negate the point of using waterproof concrete because there would be a gaping hole in the back wall of the house (which we are still fixing now, though having internally tanked the basement at least the water isn't visible any more!). January 2018 arrives, and we pour the rest of the footings for the house (the basement is only half width). All goes well, apart from a tremendous excess of concrete dropped into the concrete pump hopper. He dumps it in the front garden (and nearly a year later, it is still there - I call it "the monolith" for no other reason than it's about 2m long and weighs around 5 tonnes). Then the house starts to fly up (comparatively!). Well, once the ICF blocks arrive anyway... But at this point in the build, I am getting very used to delays, even if it does take 11 weeks for the blocks to arrive from Dorset...! Tune in next week for another thrilling instalment!

Hi all. 2 years ago, my wife and I put in sealed bids for a 3 bed detached house - which needed a lot of work doing, but had plenty of space to extend - and the plot of land that used to be the side garden of the same house. Our plan was to extend and renovate the house, and have a nice garden for our 2 girls, my observatory, etc... Only something didn't work out to plan. We got the plot, but NOT the house. So we decided to build a new house. We are fervent Grand Designs watchers/readers, so we thought "ooh let's do an ICF build". We found a specialist ICF builder, recommended by all the big ICF firms in the UK. All our plans seemed foolproof - good builder, decent plot (11m wide and 55m deep, perfectly level) and me to project manage (I have project management skills from my day job developing software). What could go wrong? A good question... Here's the list (actually this is just the first part of the list - there will be a LOT more to come in later posts) : 1. It took 5 months to complete the purchase because of issues relating to the deeds for the neighbouring house, and party wall negotiations, and things of that ilk 2. Having taken 5 months, our builders had moved on to another job, so they would only be able to advise, rather than do the work. That meant I became the builder (albeit only part time because I was keeping my day job) 3. Local planning dept prevented us from accessing site (we had to cut down a hedgerow to get access, but we had now entered bird nesting season) until August - another 3 month delay 4. Our groundworkers had to move onto another job because of this 2nd delay, so we ended up finding a firm from 40 miles away to do the works,... But finding them meant more delays, so we didn't break ground until 9th October 2017. So 10 months had elapsed, which was pretty much our projected build time for the whole project... Now we were digging out our basement (oh yeah - my wife thought a basement would be a good idea) in the horrendous rain from the end of last year. We were short on money so had opted for a battered slope excavation, rather than sheet piles (2 separate firms had suggested prior that any sheet piles would be sacrificial because we'd never be able to get them out of the ground again - more on this later). 2 months and 74 wagons (of the 32 tonne variety) later, and we had a hole (2 actually - one in the ground and a bigger one in our finances!) Oh, those sheet piles we couldn't afford... We ended up with 22 sheet piles in at the front of the excavation to shore up. This was necessary because the 13-tonne excavator was trying its hardest to slide in the mud into the hole we dug, and the clay banks kept caving in. As it turns out, the sheet piles came out fairly easily. So if anyone tells you sheet piles are going to be sacrificial, they're probably lying so they can sell you steel. We pulled ours out with the excavator, but if necessary we could have cut through next door's phone line and got a 50T crane on site that would have plucked them straight out of the ground, and the cost to repair the phone line -and- hire the crane would have been under £3k as opposed to £50k for the steel. <deep breath, before part 2>

I am Neil, and this is the story of my self build - warts and all. First, some background. My wife and 2 girls and I live in Lancashire, in a 5 bed detached modern build house on a smallish estate. For a few years, we have looked around for somewhere a bit bigger, but in the same village. We had no luck for ages - everything was either too expensive, or too small, or too near a busy main road (and frequently all 3). Then in December 2016, a house with a large garden came on the market only 4 streets away. Perfect location, and it needed a load of work doing to it, so it was going cheap. We went to have a look. House was perfect for what we needed. Ok, so it needed extending - it was 100m2 of floor and we were thinking of making it more like 250m2... but the garden was easily big enough to make that viable, and we had the budget to do it. Better yet, there was a plot of land for sale (with outline planning permission) which used to be the side garden for the house. We put in offers for both of them at the asking prices... So did several dozen other people. It went to sealed bids, so we offered 17k over asking for the house and 15k over asking for the plot. We got the plot but NOT the house. Hmmm, what to do? Here's the plot and the side door of the house - it doesn't look much, but both sides go back another 25m behind those trees... total of approx 600m2, and a snip at £100k plus fees for the plot...

So after a month or so in the house, the time has provided us with an opportunity to reflect on what we have achieved and what if anything, we would change or could have done differently. In truth there is very little if anything that we would change. The rooms flow, the doors open in the right direction and the lights can be switched on and off in the appropriate places. Even the WBS has proven to be a worry that wasn't worth worrying about, as it's position within the hearth is no longer an issue due to it being vented through the back as opposed to the top. Some jobs have been completed such as the down pipes and a few jobs remain outstanding but nothing that has an impact upon our daily lives. One such job is the porch that needs to be slated. Thankfully I still have some financial leverage over those various trades so I know they will return. Our satisfaction I suppose, has to be routed in the preparation work, the research and being a member of this superb forum. None of these elements should be underestimated. Therefore I would like to sign off this blog with a heartfelt thanks to all those who have contributed, not only to my issues over the past couple of years, but to all the other threads, as they too are just as relevant / enlightening. I have also attached some images which complete the project, namely the WBS chimney installation and the erection of the much mentioned porch. For a final time, thanks for reading, and given the date, seasons greetings to you all. Paul.

Right I suspect the thermal mixer cartridge has died. Either mess about trying to find one for that particular mixer, or just replace the whole bar.

I'm almost sure the answer varies by organisation providing the service.

Good news (hopefully): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-46685387

Did you think this thread would be either a) simple or b) straightforward ? "sucker!"

I can just about work the camera on the phone so that’s a no.

Brilliant...well done you!

@Ferdinand we got planning permission for reserved matters 18 months ago, based on outline permission from 2015 IIRC. As it happens, we had already been told by the planners themselves that CfSH was unenforceable... Their (cunning) solution was to include a planning constraint to achieve 19% more efficency than the DER/TER that was previously mandated by CfSH level 4, which our planning officer said would make us effectively as energy efficient as a home that achieved level 6 (but without all the woolly bike shed nonsense). Regarding the insulation, it's 50mm of PIR under the floor and 125mm of EPS70 over the floor (and under the UFH set in Tarmac Topflow). It was what the EPC consultant advised would get us through planning, so we blindly stuck to it. Its got a U value about 0.14, which isn't great but will suffice. Our roof is designed to be 0.1, and the walls 0.17. Glazing is pretty good for double glazed at 1.2 (which would have been better if we hadn't sunk so much money into groundworks). Neil.

Hi Nick. Not sure the moderators want a photo of them on here! ? Besides, it's too cold for that kind of malarky - there would be condensation all over them in a flash! So @Ferdinand said to speak to @PeterW about the blog... What happens to my (apparently well-regarded?) introduction? Should I just write the blog, and put a post at the bottom of here directing anyone who wants to share more of my suffering to the blog? Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride! And don't worry, I am away from the build for a few days (enforced break to see family down south) and so plenty of time to get onto heating design! FWIW I have lurked here for many months, and fully intended asking you guys about my ideas for heating! ? Neil.

A problem shared Welcome, and please do a blog. We can start with a picture of your giant brass balls maybe? ( you self building, basement digging lunatic ) Youll fit in nicely. Grab a chair.

Ooh good questions. 1. We have 125mm of rigid insulation between slab and concrete floor - Building Control signed off on that quite happily (as did the planning dept, who get to stick their oar in since we have a planning condition that states we have to match or exceed CfSH level 6 in terms of overall TER/DER/EPC... Otherwise we can't live there!) 2. Ground level is split 50/50 between an internal floor over the basement, and 175mm of rigid insulation on the "non basement" side of the house (50mm below the block+beam and 125mm above). 3. We are watertight, first fix well underway, kitchen installed and part plasterboarded. I am doing the plumbing, electrics, heating design (although I am at an impasse with that atm) and lighting design (we have to have 100% LED lighting as another planning constraint). Neil.

Hi Ferdinand, Thanks for your kind words. TBH I was just writing a brief summary of the events to date, and would then give me a reference point for the multitude of queries that are building up as I approach completion of the build. I've already glossed over some of the anecdotes and minutiae that have sent me round the bend. If there's an appetite for my ramblings here, then I will gladly look to make it a blog (albeit written with the benefit of hindsight, since the events documented so far are all from a year or more ago!) As for pictures, those I can supply by the bucket load once I migrate them from my old phone... Neil.

Welcome to the forum. WE love new people. IT sounds as if you have been a little derailed by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but at least there wasn't a badger sett where you wanted to dig your hole. IT happens to the best of us, and if you are managing your own build you should at least be aware that it could be 2-3 years not 1, and also that taking time gives the opportunity to spot an issue before the next issue appears on top of it. But this place has a range of experiences and professional opinions that can help if you ask. The South and Lancashire? You are now double enemies in Yorkshire unless carrying a pudding and wearing a cap, or at least bearing a stick of rhubarb. THis looks like a well structured story, so may I suggest you get a blog from the off (ask a moderator such as @PeterW), which will help keep a coherent account rolling?. The first two posts here would be fantastic starter articles. And we love photos, too. Ferdinand

will be a gas boiler, size/brand I'm open to suggestions, however most of the gas safe fitters around here have their fave to fit for what ever reasons. There's only 3 of us so no real heavy use but thus may not always be the case. what I mean is since it's directly above the garage it would seem a little daft to run this from the single proposed manifold in the upstairs cupboard? Would this just be run from the cylinder/sunamp position straight up? ? I'm trying not to dwell on it to much, however I'm fairly sure its going to end up as the biggest mistake of the build! Oh well at least I won't have to wait for hot water to wash my hands after a jimmy riddle ?

+101 CHampagne, wine and Rupert the Bear outfit. Essential items that must always be easily accessible without fail.

Saw something similar to that and they built a pair of slide out shelves below them for the basket to stand on. Brilliant idea ..!

Yes, we had that in a hotel recently and I have wired (yet to be installed) for exactly this with a small movement sensor just inside the bathroom door that illuminates a row of LED,s under the mirror edge to give a glow in the en suite. ?

My hall lights are on a pir, light comes on as soon as I go through the door, great when hands fully of shopping I have done that too, bed side wall lights, on an adjustable arm (thanks Newhome) plus can control the main bedroom light from there too Yes and Yes Plus remember that common sense isn't common and someone else's common sense is not yours. Don't just agree something and think it will get done that way, make sure it is marked on a plan that you have given them, and where possible on the place itself as well. So many things are in not quite the right place because 'someone' decided without asking me - or even after asking me still doing it the way they had already decided. For example I have a pir in my dressing room/ensuite for a low night light (got some ultra bright LEDs in there that would blind me at night). Pir put just inside the door, the room is U shaped, when I go round to the loo I am out of range of the pir, tough if I am longer than 2 minutes I'll be plunged into darkness. No big deal now but as I get older. Pir for the outside lights is out of range of the front door, gets the drive great, but step outside and it doesn't come on until a couple of steps away. Luckily the door is reasonable lit from a street light but so frustrating.

We've found that the pulley maid thing we have in the utility room, with an MVHR extract above, dries everything, even towels, very quickly. The towels still have to go in the tumble dryer for ten minutes to get them fluffy, but that's far better than having them in there for half an hour or more as we used to at the old house.

That is a usual symptom of getting the themostats and actuators mixed up, e,g living room thermostat controlling snug zone. One of them will overheat and the other will go cold.