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Deeply uncomfortable - bit too close to the bone for me. But a very useful reminder indeed. I'm paranoid about scaffolding safety now. Paranoid. Even worse - got @TerryE on my case... That's worse than the HSE ...

Surely weather vane in these enlightened woke times Unless it literally is what she's requesting which would be a sight to behold - bit chilly up there though, so may not be that impressive.

Update - levelled the floor over the weekend, all went really well. Very impressed with the setcrete compound, would definitely use it again. It was quite good at levelling itself and only needed a little bit of trowelling into corners and where it was only a very thin layer near the door. SWMBO's dead impressed with the floor now and at how quick it dried and today I laid the Wunda overlay boards and just finished the pipe circuit now. Now for the lounge!! Thanks for the advice ?

I wanted Götwood...

I wanted to call our cedar clad house 'Shadezagray', but it was vetoed.

Cheers - one of my NI mates asked why the front looks like a fancy version of an army sangar - obviously subconscious influence there!

Can the wall be dry lined with a moisture resistant plasterboard and set out to fill the gap? Will the whole wall be able to be done so there’s no ‘step’ ?

Easily the most immediately satisfying job I’ve done so far - instant results. Prep was a bit of a pain - my fault for letting it get weed infested last summer. Another job down, another dozen to go...

No. 50?

Lovely looking house. Ours is about the same level of modernity but I really like the general aesthetic you've achieved outside. We have 400mm overhang on some south facing windows, and this is ideal. However, these windows are only about 500mm high (they're wide and not very tall - needed to be high up on the wall due to overlooking). What about making some of the vertical cladding (or whatever it is) into a sliding brise soleil? You can lock them in the positions illustrated above during the cooler months, and then slide them into place during the day when you want to reduce solar gain. Not sure how complicated it would be, but it would give you the general aesthetic you're after most of the year while provide excellent solar gain control when needed.

Re mvhr routes. Fresh air into rooms should be a lot further from the door into the room, to encourage air movement rather than leave stagnant air not going anywhere. I would not put an air vent on the landing.

At this point I can do Thu or Fri, but by Saturday I need to have a scaffold tower moved from somewhere else and in place or ready to build for the chap who will be doing my render repairs this W/e. So, maybe ?. Ferdinand

Ooooohhhh you are awful, Declan. But I like you.

thanks all. not changing the white UPVC windows - they will stay the same to match the existing house - this was the only colour stated in the planning documents. no conditions in planning consent - no material samples submitted - just architect made everything white as standard. I think i've decided to do it. I cant see how colour has any reflection on the build itself, i suppose i can paint them white if they get fussy.

Click! A light goes on in what passes for a brain these days. Thanks.

Yes, I appreciate that. That's why we have designed the downstairs such that a small area off our downstairs sitting room can be sectioned off to create a bedroom - right next to the downstairs wet room. I know it's a bit morbid - but I intend to snuff it in our house, and I don't want the paramedics to skin their knuckles - hence no internal doors downstairs.

Do they have one for a self builder, throwing £50 notes into the breeze?

We have name only as no numbers here. I know lots of people with name and number though. How about ‘Dunbuildin’ as a name? Come on guys lets have some suggestion for names

@Sue B now you are just encouraging him ??

On a different note, could you consider a locally made one designed for *you*, rather than a generic cockerel ? Should not be horribly expensive compared to a house. I would love to have the chance to do one of those eventually somewhere, but at present I just have inherited gryphons. Personally I would be tempted by something like a bicyclist or a local artisan, or even Duncan Campbell on his lake. But make it worthy of the work and time you have spent building the house; you deserve that fillip. Ferdinand

Very similar situation to us. I agonised over room heights and got very upset when the ground floor needed extra battening to even out the ceiling line from a rogue steel. However, we have 2370mm downstairs from FFL to ceiling and 2275mm on first floor. Room in roof is 2500 to apex and 1600 to the top of the velux windows. All works fine and does not feel at all low. Basement is 2700mm and that almost feels too high by comparison. We have some narrow floor to ceiling windows downstairs and went with metric doors (2040mm) which all work to make the ceiling look higher (did not plan this effect, pleasant surprise). We also dropped the GF level by 100mm to steal some extra height once we had the detailed drawings with floor and roof buildups - main concern was the street level sewer invert and how this played back to the ground floor wastes, getting the necessary falls etc. French drains at the perimeter allayed any worries of surface water running back to the house.

I think maybe you need to consider better, quicker ways of creating a bathroom. I particularly like the shower, heated by a candle. No LPG connection needed!

I find that having a sign with the house name "Thederelictunkemptonebetweenthetwoposhones", is a great help to couriers though it won't always fit in he the online address box.

You could reply saying that you understand they must charge VAT on everything but they must also charge it at the correct rate or they commit an offense. Not everything is standard (20%) rated. Some things are 5% and others such as work on a new dwelling must be charged at 0% (Note that 0% is not the same as VAT exempt).

I have found that torx screw heads are very forgiving on non specific impact bits, the fit is just so much better and as long as you go steady they seem to hold up just fine.

If you have the time and a pile of old pallets to burn, you can heat big lumps of concrete to 200C and then they crumble when you hit them with a sledge hammer. Very satisfying!

I also would recommend this course of action. It is the least line of resistance and stress. Also, use the the" Certificate for zero rated VAT" when dealing/communicating with contractors, ideally pre-contract. I went into this in some detail with HMRC and several things were made very clear HMRC will NEVER refund VAT incorrectly charged. It must be properly accounted for and refunded by the contractor. It is unlawful to charge VAT in contravention of the applicable Regulations. If a contractor unlawfully charges VAT and refuses to correct the invoice and refund the incorrectly charged VAT. then the final step available would be to take the contractor to the small claims court and make a claim for the unlawfully charged VAT

Never mind a Sunamp (or Tesla Powerwall for that matter), just stick a Renault Zoe in you plant room (or garage) - https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/renault-scheme-transforms-evs-energy-storage-units

First off, I'm not an expert, by any stretch of the imagination. Secondly, @Barney12's problems are well documented here, as are those experienced by @Eileen, so there are at least three members here who've experienced some problems/issues with their Sunamps. I think that @readiescards may also have had a unit replaced by Sunamp. I think we may have around half a dozen or so members that have the newer model Sunamps, so it would seem that perhaps 50% of them, maybe more, have experienced some problems.

Plaster boarding at least

setcrete is really good quality stuff. It's actually a re-badged FBall product . The deep base is good, I used some just last week but it does have a grittier grain size and can be a bit harder to feather out thin. I would only use it for a deeper application. For 10mm or so, I would use the setcrete high performance levelling compound. This is good up to 15mm in a single application, is much less gritty and in my experience does flow and level slightly better. My theory is the deep base has a slightly gluey nature which is necessary to hold the aggreagete in suspension in a deeper fill. With setcrete you'll need to prime rather than wet the subfloor, read the prep guidance. Use the Fball/setcrete primer, it's green stuff, acrylic based. Adding a little extra water does help it flow but from memory it's recommend to use about 3.5l per bag, and I've added an extra 250mm to 350mm or so. Too much extra water and the suspension of the fine aggregates can be affected. I've used a fair bit of this over the years, just remember these are smoothing compounds which have self levelling properties to varying degrees, they don't self level all on their own! They all need a degree of trowelling out and careful pouring. A spiked roller brings it up to a lovely, pin hole free finish and removes trowel lines, but overkill for a one off job. one last tip - you can stick some window packers of appropriate size across the floor to guide your levels as your pour.

Rob I used setcrete deepbase does up to 50mm

And at the other extreme - The electrical supply close to my property was at capacity. The supply had to be brought about 75m down a cul de sac which has a doctor's surgery at the top/ I therefore had to pay to bring the supply down from the main road, on a Sunday (as the council wouldn't allow a road closure during the week) down to the connection laid by my buildemy land. I was expecting 1 to 2k, 3 at most as supply was just across the road. Actual cost £13,000.