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I am fitter now than I was 4 years ago because of the build. Knees and back were knackered last century. I am well aware of the signs and need to '' listen ' to joints and muscle groups and adapt what I'm doing accordingly; spend the first few minutes of each day cleaning up ( to warm up - get slightly out of breath for 10 minutes) mixing concrete - use a mixer scaffolding - use proper ladders (well-designed steps) and work slowly parging a wall - break it into sections and taper the work kneeling for extended periods - use proper high quality kneeling pads have a day on paperwork if I'm tired enough to be unsafe lifting (scaffolding for example) - straight back, bend knees or get the digger, or use a pulley have a quick 10 minute kip after lunch if needed if it's really hard work, get Debbie to do it.

I am sure getting fit before working on a self build is a very good idea, personally after three years on my build I am now just old and knackered (and looking to sub out the heavy work left ?).

If you’ve not already done the connections I would take the 3Ph to the garage and run a single phase back to the house. Other than incidental stuff like induction hobs, house loads are usually much smaller than garage loads such as machinery and having the hassle in the house of 415v potential and the other stuff isn’t worth it in my opinion.

Oh yeh - buy Hep2O next time too... ? Floplast push fits are made from recycled pot noodle tubs....

It's a weird Scottish Regulation about the ability to clean windows from the inside. Have a look at this link section 5. Probably due to either there being no window cleaners in Scotland as its always raining, or that the Scots are too tight to pay to have them cleaned...

Our efforts in the latter part of 2018 was spent on getting the exterior properly wind & watertight. With just the render left to do, we could now concentrate on the insides. Starting to insulate the suspended timberfloor was the first job to do. We attached some little bits of timber to the underside of the joists, which will keep the insulation boards in place. Our primary insulation for the groundfloor is Quintherm 65mm (another two layers of insulation will be added later). Once ordered these were then cut to size using a piece of wood to score a mark and then cut with a handsaw. We left a bit of gap either side which will be filled with expanding foam to ensure a tight fit. The other insulation ordered at this stage was the Frametherm wool which is the primary insulation layer between the studs. But some will also be used to top up the gap left in the joists. The width is already in the correct size so it was just a cut for the required length and then you can pop into the studwork. Compared to the Quinntherm this is more quicker to fit. And that is that for 2018. Reflecting on the build process to date: We are exactly where I hoped we would be at this stage. A proper wind and watertight shell that can stand up to the Hebridean winter weather. Reviewing the finances we are about half way through our build budget. We have been fortunate no real issues. A problem with a wrong size velux flashing and the metal flashing provided for utility roof was provided at the incorrect angle, both were the suppliers fault! At the start of the build, I had visions of the concrete wagon sinking in the road, the windows being dropped on arrival and the trusses not being able to fit down the access. The lesson here is watch programmes like grand designs and building the dream, but don't let the drama put you off, self building, it is achievable by anybody!

Hi All, Happy New Year to you all! I will shortly be having the final meeting with the groundworks team before committing to the start. I attach the designs for the foundations from the architect/SE. I am particularly interested in ways of improving thermal performance and of course cost. As a reminder it will be a T/F house with renderboard cladding, MVHR and UFH. Any thoughts or concerns from you band of brothers/sisters?

Just musing. @Sue B said on another thread. This is a comment from one of the thirty-something girls at our gym after New Year. We have seen a few injuries reported on BH around backs, lifting, muscle pulls etc, in addition to the rips and cuts and falls and cracks. Is there mileage in specifically looking to get a bit fitter, learn about lifting etc before starting, especially as there is something of an overlap between self-builders and the type of people who perhaps have more sedentary office-based jobs? I have done more gym-ing / cycling / dancing and so on over the last several years, and I find that while I am not comfortable moving eg plasterboard around as my builders tend to be, I am much more comfortable hefting things like 20-30kg packs of flooring etc around, than used to be the case. Having done some weight-lifting and flexibility work at the gym has been a real benefit. Professional tradespeople, another self-build demographic, are probably better on the general fitness and manual handling side, but it seems to me something that professional chair-sitters, keyboard warriors or more elderly potential self-builders might find a benefit here. Thoughts? Ferdinand

Certainly on programming I dont know about install though. Its a great system you can even integrate the Hue range of lighting if you have any of those.

As above - can’t point load concrete, needs to be a steel. 178x102x19 would probably do it, other option is a box lintel off the shelf and give Catnic a quick call as they will tell you what theirs will take and if you can point load them with 6 courses of masonry on top. Is it bricks or blocks as bricks have a nasty habit of moving if they are point loaded.

We had to have a lintel over an upstairs doorway in our new build but the B.I. insisted the concrete lintel installed by my builder was replaced by an RSJ. Reason being you are not allowed a point load on a concrete lintel. B.I. Said 100 x 100mm RSJ was sufficient. So question is, is this being covered by building regs?

Environmental health monitoring would be on my list for a deluxe home automation setup e.g. internal particulate monitoring and CO2 level to allow fining tuning of MVHR down to lowest healthy level. I have never suffered from asthma but I want clean internal air if only to deter its onset. I will also be looking for intelligent control of my MVHR based on external conditions because since living onsite I can now predict the climatic conditions when wood smoke hangs over the village. Another issue is a chicken farm about 600m away. Think we should all consider old age and technology to help with independent living, this is where I foresee a growing role for voice control. I take the point about external service dependency though the major chip manufacturers like Intel are presently working on silicon chips for embedding AI neural nets cheaply at the IOT edge (think 1980's EAROM). Voice recognition is going to get embedded in local devices. The question is how to provision a selfbuild today for voice control hardware that is yet to arrive. Another old age provision would be video cam aided front door access control. Finally and at the old tech end of home automation with consideration to the continuing demise of high street retail. I will want to facilitate home parcel delivery which will consist of a metal parcel drop built into a garage wall.

We used the Powermid XL remote control extenders. Linked here from the first one I found on ebay, but I bought them from CPC where you can buy the transmitters and receivers separately of you want to control from multiple rooms https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marmitek-PowerMid-XL-infrared-extender-set/263746787472?epid=1405455327&hash=item3d68889890:g:JL4AAOSwUwlbG2OM:rk:4:pf:0

I have lighting items 1-5 pretty much as you have written. We use Phillips dynalite system for automated part I can also control that from an app. I have the cctv and alarms hardwired and can also see/ control on phone etc I did not want audio as had it before and never used it. Didnt want the auto blinds either after seeing friends. We have a data cab in the plant room. All our cat cables (every room wired) go into a board in the cab. Our router is in there as is the sky box. We control all our tvs just from remotes no boxes in any rooms all run from data cab. We decided against ASHP and went for mains gas to run our ufh and dhw. Heatmiser system can control from wall stats and app.MVHR in as well of course, can control that from ipad/phone too.

8: Wall mounted tv. Don't just provision for a sound bar. Install cabling for a 5.1 or even 7.1 surround sound system, even if you don't install it straight away. The biggie with a wall hung tv is where will all the boxes go? dvd / blueray, sky box, freesat box, DVR, and even the surround sound box? All mine are under the stairs and long hdmi cables from there to the tv, except the surround sound that is below the tv, partly recessed into a pocket built into the wall.

Something I've fancied for a while is bedroom blackout blinds that open a short while before the alarm goes off. Managing storage of energy, thermal for DHW or heating in tanks or the slab and/or battery storage in the home or car, seems like the “killer app” for home automation to me if you have any sort of variable rate energy supplies which you almost certainly will have with an ASHP when the temperature varies outdoors, never mind PV, E7/10 or smart meters.

Thanks, not sure what on earth happened there. I haven't checked my profile for ages, so thanks for spotting that it had somehow got messed up. I've added a bit of up to date text in there now.

@JSHarris your 'about me' section seems to have got messed up as this is what I see? About Me <p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2016_05/573eec7b190c1_Croppedpictureforavatar-1.jpg.ddce6c04bada76e7f9084efdd5664dff.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="11" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2016_05/573eec7b3c539_Croppedpictureforavatar-1.thumb.jpg.82bf4596124b669fa8c295c37295ec21.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt="Cropped picture for avatar - 1.jpg"></a></p>

Thank you TheMitchells for your comments and included links. While not quite what I had in mind right now, that list of trade TLAs and accronyms will be super useful. When lurking and searching previously, I'd found some threads with nothing by abbreviations and it was a foreign language to me. I've already had to get my head round ASHP, MVHR and SIPs, but there are hundreds and thousands that will surely come my way! And I just emailed our planning consultant about the CIL exemption (fingers crossed). newhome - thank you, I think that's just what I was looking for. The bell I had just about figured out but there's more to learn as I navigate my way around this website. While I use my PC all the time for research and email, I'm not exactly a techie - whether in relation to IT or the building trade! I noticed, for example, that I have a post count. But under the word members I have a grey blob with a zero where most of you have a different number count, and that's a puzzle, for example. Now to work out how to extract some data from technical drawings and other plans to show you where the entire doc is not my intellectual property to share, or where to do so would compromise my privacy. I have a very long 'to do list' for the next week or so. No. 1 on the list is to learn how to use the action camera we bought in order to record the whole gory process, and I need to get going on that so I have a record of the whole site as it currently looks before any ground worker sets foot. Some trees and a bit of a hedge have already gone, and that's not been recorded so we're already behind the curve. It was one of MrDHD's tasks, but he failed and put the camera back in the box after declaring it too hard to figure out. You can see we are seriously technically challenged. It's as well we plan to remain armchair builders. DHDreamer

wait till you get to my age you just a boy 67 and starting to do a build this year --.LOL must be nuts!!

I suspect that to see a real benefit will take at least several months and probably a year or more of proper training. Learning how to lift things would be faster, and certainly worth doing imo. That said, I firmly believe that everyone should be lifting heavy things and doing high intensity interval training, no matter what their age or current fitness level.

@DaveH I have had a 3ph connection put in. My set up at the minute is that a Hager 4 way distribution board is installed in an external kiosk. I then intend to have sub mains (seperate 3ph distribution boards) elsewhere - I.e. I will run a 3phase connection to the garage where I intend to have a 3ph electric car charger, and then another to the house. As an aside I don't know the extent of your knowledge but you can run single phase connections out of the board as well - I.e. a 4 way board gives you 4 x 3phase O/P or 12 x 1phase O/P or any combinations therein. I currently have a single commando socket connected with a 16a Hager RCBO in the board. I settled on Hager as a decent quality make for all things electrical - no other reason than I'd seen it mentioned on here a few times. My sparky seemed to agree Hager is good. As far as cost - yeah 3ph boards are more expensive than single phase but in the grand scheme of a self build I see little impact on the overall spend.

Sue, it was great to meet you both and I hope the rest of your day on the Island went well. Best wishes for this year!

Thats the converse with me as I have to remember if I’ve done the lock up ..! I like the fact that with Hep2O it’s push, twist, done...! Same with compression - I only buy decent ones with copper olives and use PTFE paste on them and never had one go on me.

PEX as water pipes is fine but also invest in some blue and red insulation tape and mark all the pipes as you go.

No reason not too at all, other than converting to 15mm. Done it a few times where the pipe was over-ordered.