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The Mods are running a sweepstake on who manages to delete them first.

Erm I have a special discount code of FUP for some walk on sky lights ...

You are looking rather fit in that picture Jeremy.

This is the sort of frill that architects love, but that you will find a total PITA when you actually come to live in the house. It will add a lot to the cost of the build, the complexity of the structural engineering and the thermal management of the lived-in environment. Think of a number in the region of £30K+ and ask yourself: is it really worth spending that sort of cost to be able to look out of the corner of the room -- including whilst lying on the floor or standing on a step ladder.

Christ on a bike you've actually started grouting!! Looking good! Not long until the naked shower photos get posted!

I would say mice too and they can climb! You want to be sure they're not getting in that flue too!

One of the impressive things in 3D printing is "print in place" which involves printing moving parts ready assembled. One of the most impressive I've seen is this "iris box". Skip ahead to about 2:15 if you get bored watch it being printed.

I think the first most important part is to get the money right from the insurance co. I am guessing they think it is cheaper to just give you money and walk away than rebuild . so you need YOUR OWN quotes to re instate as it was before ,including all site clearance costs . And will SEPA require removal of contaminated ground from fire ? --include those costs so you will need a good claims adjuster+ solicitor that YOU are paying for to get best deal and if possible and you are going to take the money you want to have the option to sell the site on as it is could be it would be cheaper /better to buy somewhere else and sell that ?. I am aware that normal terms of insurance always say it must be rebuilt --but if they wanting to do a deal --then no reason why you shouldn't have it to suit you all insurance is interested in is doing it as cheap as possible My experience of insurance companies giving payouts rather than actually paying for reinstatement is they are looking to get it cheaper--so get the money bit sorted --do not be in a hurry to go started ,they will use that to get a better deal once they pay you any other problems will be yours !!!. you get one bite at the cherry

???????? You are amazing Sue ! I’m not really that worried about them - my fiasco with them is just a long running joke. ?

We are just about to appoint the architect to draw up our plans. I will give them the sizes and see if they will work. We have 3 bathrooms and then the landing that would all work with sky lights. Maybe, just maybe, you may have a buyer.

Will try and post updates. The A8 is a real experimenters project. It has problems which I'm sure you wouldn't have difficulty recognising and solving but it wouldn't be something I would give to say a 14 year old as a present unless they understand electronics. The mains power supply for example just has a small plastic flap covering the 220v screw terminals and no mains switch. The FETs on the control board are also prone to overheating so many people fit add-on MOSFET boards. I'm doing that from the outset. Again I know you could do this but it gives you an idea of the overall quality. I'm also replacing the supplied linear bearings with Drylin bearings. Reviews say that if you put in the effort the A8 gives good results for the money. To be honest I think printers like the Creality Ender 3 are probably better if you want something that needs less fettling. The main difference between the two is that the Ender 3 already has a metal frame. The Extruder is also a remote/Bowden tube type where as the A8 has the Extruder mounted on the head (eg a direct type). Both have advantages and disadvantages. The Bowden tube type has less precise control over how the filament is extruded/retracted but the head is lighter so can be moved faster...or so they say. Think it will be at least a week before mine is ready for a test print.

Or if you really want a full 6m opening build the corner in block and use a heavy duty steel catnic or a rsj beam.

The before picture before the stress of a self build had took its toll.

I found that one or two of the frame suppliers we approached were able to recommend a project manager, although in the end I opted not to go down that route. I also met up with one project manager, who I'd have found easy to work with, just by doing a web search for project managers within reasonable travelling distance. That chap had set up a small business specialising in project managing small building projects, and IIRC there were three of them working out of a small home office.

You need a mixing or blending valve not a 3 way here as otherwise you will get whatever temperature the tank gives you and that’s not a good idea. Modulating pump speed to make the temperature differential won’t work. Pump per manifold circuit Single blender on the output from the tank coil zone valve per zone. Easy to set up and should work fine.

Your structural engineer wouldn’t take on the role, it would have to be the architect

@Radian where in the UK are you ..?? Those steel sizes are very odd - they don’t match anything in the blue book and the closest sizes I can find I am struggling to really see how they can support the weight of the roof and the wall on the corner. Assuming that’s a 178x102x19kg UB and a 203x102x23kg then the quick fag packet I’ve just done would mean the 178 lightly loaded over 6m would exceed the l/360 limit for deflection and the 203 would fail deflection due to the roof loads. Neither of those are big steels especially for a 6m span. I would ask for a copy of the engineers calculations... and his PI insurance ..! Also, what’s the construction method here as you only show a single skin ..??

Can you not lift the height of the house a bit. Or is it already built.

Single, white females with a penchant for wandering the CCTV covered communal areas in the noddy? Seriously though well done!

Would your architect not oversee the build with you doing all the sourcing of materials etc, we have just built our third house which we are fortunate enough not to have needed a mortgage for but on our previous two builds we did have mortgages and the lenders were happy enough for us to be in charge of the day to day running of the build and sourcing of materials and the architect overseeing the whole thing: checking at different stages that everything was how it should be, I might be tight but I would never be happy with anyone else sourcing materials as I don’t think they’d put the work in to getting the best prices as you would do yourselves!

Do not know if this is useful but thought I would post for anyone thinking about doing a self build. Here is a break down of my fee's I have to pay before I start building. My help someone trying to estimate their costs. This is for a 4 bedroom house 280 m2 detached house The legal work was complex Fee Payable To Payable When Amount Local Authority Planning Fee East Ayshire Council Planning Submission £500.00 Architectual Plans ATW Planning Submission £2,375.00 Building Control Drawings ATW Building Warrant submitted £2,375.00 Egineering drawings ???? Building Warrant submitted £1,100.00 Building warrant East Ayshire Council Building Warrant submitted £2,228.40 Additional Security Fee BuildLoan At the start of the loan - non-refundable £1,120.00 Build Store Arrangement Fee BuildLoan Applied for mortgage - non-refundable £695.00 Completion Fee Newcastle Building Society Fee has been paid - non-refundable £995.00 Product Reservation Fee Newcastle Building Society Fee has been paid - non-refundable £199.00 Valuation Fee Newcastle Building Society Fee has been paid - non-refundable £340.00 Mortgage Discharge Fee Newcastle Building Society At the end of the Loan - non-refundable £125.00 Solicitors Fee Wallace Quinn At end of conveyancing £2,116.00 Structual Warranty Build Zone Through Out the build £3,940.00 Site Insurance Before Completion £342.12 Thanks

Direct advertising isn’t allowed on BuildHub (see info from the site guidelines below) so no one can directly offer you their services in this respect. We do allow members to recommend services or goods but tbh from the many posts on here I don’t think that many people use a standalone project manager. It seems to be a role that they either choose to do themselves, or the main contractor covers it as per your original plan. Some people appoint the architect to cover the role I believe. This was an approach that @ultramods considered I believe before he decided to do it himself. @lizzie appointed a PM for her build but it didn’t seem to be a great experience in that she ended up doing a great deal of the work herself in the end. There are other self build sites on Facebook, some more active than others, and most seem to allow advertising so you could maybe ask on one of those? Alternatively if a member wants to recommend someone they could send you names by PM but having a stand-alone PM seems like an expensive exercise so maybe there just aren’t too many people who chose to manage their build in this way? Commercial Content and Advertising BuildHub has a strict no-advertising policy, and you must not submit content for commercial gain. If you do recommend a product or service, please ensure that you have no commercial incentive to do so.

Saw this on another forum, a CV from a "Communication Expert", applying for a new job: Might be just me, but all that content communicates to me is that the writer of it is a buzzword tosspot...

British houses built in the 20th century can be usually be dated from their predominant window aspect ratio and your design gives an impression of a 1965 to 1975 build. If I drove past your completed house at 30 mph and had 3 seconds to assess I think I would conclude "low rise custom designed property built round 1975". One problem with the outward aesthetics is the design seems geographically homeless, I reckon there are many similar suburban properties in mid latitude US states. In general I find that L-shaped homes have an inviting approach though in your case this is lost to a degree because of the inconsistent fenestration, there is no balance or symmetry. In your position I would spend a few days walking around Cambridge college greens to find some critical window positions, lines and ratios. Cambridge is oozing with attractive examples of ground floor college residences that embrace a garden area, it should be possible to lift some concepts albeit with a modern interpretation. You might already have a fully worked up plan for external finishing details that are not conveyed in the diagrams shown in this thread.

We have floor to ceiling windows in our kitchen diner. Wonderful for light and views. A bloody nightmare for furniture! The kitchen/diner layout, including window/door positions and sizes, is one of the things I'd most like to change about our house design

I won't quote aesthetics but practicality of deeper windows. We only have two in the house I finished and they work, let in a lot of light, but they are in a huge room >100m2 (kitchen/lounge/diner) and don't dominate the room. In our house in Latvia, where they have an obsession with them, they eat up wall space. The lounge wall is rendered useless because of them, you can't put anything against it and in the bedrooms again you are limited to where you can put a chest of drawers, because of them. In yous design I would consider do you need them in the bedrooms, have you planned out all the furniture. The lounge one not such a problem as it is a walkway.

It's not really an accurate description, either, unfortunately. Perhaps worth looking at how a non-inverter control ASHP works There are three moving parts internally (excluding the water circulation pump and assuming that the unit doesn't have an electronically controlled variable expansion valve). The main component is a powerful rotary compressor, driven by either a single phase or three phase motor, often with a rating of several horse power. This motor is a synchronous machine, so can only run at a fixed speed, which in turn means the compressor runs at a fixed speed, and as compressor speed is directly linked to the heat pump capacity for any given conditions, the heat pump can only run at either maximum output or zero output, a bit like an older, non-modulating, gas or oil boiler. An ASHP normally has to have a fan to blow air through the evaporator, and that too will be driven by a synchronous motor, so can only run at full flow rate or no flow rate. An inverter controlled ASHP, whether single phase powered or three phase powered, rectifies the fixed frequency AC supply to DC and then electronically generates a variable frequency (usually three phase) to drive the compressor motor, and separately, generates another variable frequency to drive the fan motor. The advantage of this is that, as frequency controls motor speed, and as heat output is proportional to compressor speed, the ASHP has the ability to vary it's heat output over a wide range. Similarly, the fan speed can also be varied, often using the evaporator temperature, so that the fan never needs to run faster than is needed for a give heat output. This ability to modulate the output of the heat pump is really useful, as it means it can run very quietly most of the time, when it isn't being asked to deliver it's maximum output. A secondary advantage is that the heat pump controls can include a slow start for the compressor motor, which then completely eliminates the starting surge current that an "all or nothing" heat pump compressor motor has. Inverter controlled heat pumps are a bit more complex that that, as they also have to modulate the expansion valve along with the compressor speed, in order to maintain best efficiency, but overall they tend to be more efficient, quieter and pose less stress on the local electricity supply network. As an example, our 7 kW maximum ASHP has a maximum current draw of 8 A, but in practice it rarely seems to draw more than about 2 A when running.