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I bet you are well pleased you have Beautiful build in a beautiful setting. here’s is a couple of ours from the early days people love the open plan aspect looking up!

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/energy-efficient-bricks-made-from-human-waste-to-help-build-london-homes-a4104056.html

i'm actually going to experiment next week with rendering a wall with Thistle Onecoat then stamping it with board. I know from prior experiments that the board can create suction and drag the wet muck off with it, and also that if too dried it won't take the stamp, so the working time window of receptive surface is quite short. I wouldn't want too much wall rendered and drying at once. It shouldn't be any great problem to do it in small sections anyway. I did one boardform wall with poured concrete. You need a product called Adowax to smear on the wood as a release agent. I just used rough sawn 4 x 1 and 6 x1 from Travis. Typically for a poured wall the concrete will be a pump mix, so not stiff, and it will get pokered a lot to remove air. I fear without these in your mould system you will get voids in the surface that will really spoil the aesthetic.

This isn't through building control thus isn't eligible for VAT reclaims. The 0% VAT rating is applicable to the sale of caravans conforming to BS3632. If it only conforms to the EN standards it is 5% rated.

Think of it more like butter for a souffle. It allows the concrete to move but won't stick. It's a special mould release oil you use or if you cant get that then vegetable oil will work the same.

I’m interested to know why it’s dangerous, as stated before I like to sleep in a room about 15 degrees and if my kitchen gets over 18 I need to open a window ! Maybe because my buildings are do draughty it’s not a bad thing to live sub 18 degrees as it’s a very windy location on the coast and it’s good clean air ! Personally i love clean fresh air wafting over my face when I sleep. Yes a good insulated airtight house with mvhr would be far better but is it really a bad thing to live in a cold, well ventilated house ?

My wife and myself have put up around 150 mtrs of this fencing using the hole borer

One of the sometimes wonderful and sometimes annoying characteristics of this forum is that the posting thread can quickly go off topic -- gold dust interleaved with interesting ramblings. Anything to do with PH and PH certification is off topic. Concentrate on establishing what level of energy efficiency you want and at what price. Conversion vs new build. Establish whether your VAT rating is going to be 0 or 20% -- I suspect that you will probably end up paying VAT at 20% on a conversion. Planning. Your need to establish whether the conversion falls under permitted development rights in which case you need a certificate of lawful development to protect yourself, or whether you will need to go through a full planning application and approval. BReg compliance. You will need to demonstrate that your conversion complies with current BRegs and get the work properly signed off by an approved Build Control Inspector. This may not be trivial for a non-standard conversions. You will almost certainly need a structural engineer to sign-off on the construction. Architect and Proj Mgr overheads -- do you need then or are you going to do the work yourself / use an Architect Technician. Lots of discussions on the forum about the pros and cons here. Thermal performance: if you get the U-value of the walls / ceiling / floor truly under 0.15 and the Air-tightness under 1, with MHVR then you will need minimal heating. Fenestration. You won't achieve an <1 ACH with trickle vents and unsealed windows, but wherever possible stick to good quality stock-size triple-glazed double-sealed windows. There are some Polish suppliers that do very cost-effective units. Reading and researching here and around will pay dividends.

Beware that any kind of form work for liquid concrete has to be very strong. The pressure at the bottom doesn't depend on the thickness of the concrete only the height. The density of concrete is high so the forces on formwork can be huge. Manually pressing large areas/planks of wood into cement/plaster that is dry enough not to slump off the wall would also take a huge force.

It means you talk too much. ?

Also found this from NICEIC.. https://professional-electrician.com/technical/changes-code-practice-emergency-lighting/

Ooooo - only just noticed I'm an "advanced member" does that mean I know lots of things or just that my penis is massive?

You can't really put too thick a coat of plaster on or it will slip, start to slide down the wall and you get tear marks in it. A big square lump of timber approx 4m long by 2.5m high well be heavy. I think you would be as well doing a test panel and have a go and see what it looks like. Then stand back and be honest. It's a look that when done well is stunning but if it's not.

Your link does not work. Try this one https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/energy-efficient-bricks-made-from-human-waste-to-help-build-london-homes-a4104056.html

Yes, I fitted black PVC boards over the EPS, and then used coarse gravel to fill the gap between the house and the patio or paths. Under the gravel is a layer of terram covered with whacked down MOT1 (just the same as the sub-base for the patio slabs and path pavers/stone slabs). Seems to work OK.

@vivienz something like this ?

Would it not be easier to plaster the wall like you do for a scratch coat then when you have it all nice and smooth use your mould and gently press into the damp plaster to form the impression. You would have to start at the top of the wall and work down only putting enough plaster on so it doesn't dry out too quick.

If you just use the second one it will be OK as that is the one you implemented. Confirm it with a letter attached to the application.

@pocster if you post a floor plan we can see if a pump station will work. If you have already cast the floor slab it may need a bit of breaking out though.

I absolutely love that look and was disappointed it wasn't on the cards for our build. It's definitely something I'll be insisting on for the next(!) one.

Can't beat a Multi 9 "si" for problem free protection especially with vsds.

@JSHarris has pvc trim if I remember right Regardless I'd be putting edgings in and keeping surfacing 100/150mm from house with gravel in gap. Pretty sure tarmac would knacker eps

I think these pictures are stunning but I think a DIY version could be awful unless you (and your team) are real craftsmen, able to spend a lot of time creating the look. I saw the Grand Design house a few months ago that had a concrete interior finish and I though it looked bloody awful and I fear a DIY version could easily head that way.

Or https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FY7WVZH/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07FY7WVZH&pd_rd_w=4K4UE&pf_rd_p=e2bfafb5-111e-4906-b089-5d691a51d45f&pd_rd_wg=ztx2y&pf_rd_r=BDHCX0C29F84NAM6VR3P&pd_rd_r=202aa433-51fa-11e9-a261-d16e70736dca

It is an interesting idea. The pictures look fantastic. I think it will be expensive and time consuming and if the finish is not spot on you will need to take it off and start again (or make the room 1" smaller!). If you get anywhere near a decent result I take my hat off to you.

Why not do a trial panel, if it look rubbish you could remove it. Maybe fix an 8 x 4 sheet to the wall as a temporary backer and pour concrete against that as your trial peice.

Yep got one i replaced the one I’d had for years It was like replacing a mini with a ferrari One thing I would say though is You need two people to operate

I would be even more pragmatic. do you HAVE to have a WC in the basement? Everything in the thread so far has been a good reason NOT to have a WC in the basement. I woudl far sooner climb a flight of stairs when I need to go, than have all the "difficulties" with making s&!t defy gravity.

Nothing would ever induce me to have another Saniflo (or any other macerator pump, for that matter). The things have so many annoying and unpleasant features, from being incredibly noisy (and they will randomly switch on, even if the toilet isn't flushed) to being the most unpleasant bit of kit to strip and unblock when it jams (as it will). Far, far better to run a gravity soil pipe out to a pump station and then pump up from that. My experience of living with a pump station was that it was silent and very reliable, completely the opposite of a Saniflo.

"SWMBO nearly ripped the bloody door handle off when she yanked it shut after me!" Becomes "SWMBO broke a nail in the piddly flush plate trying to yank the door shut after me"!" Doesn't really convey the heat of the moment does it?

We have a 150 mtrs of UFH on the ground floor Three baths and showers We installed a system boiler with a Gledhill cylinder Absolutely brilliant Cheap to run We have radiators upstairs But with all the insulation and heat rising from the ground floor Weve only used them once to test them Like you There is only two of us rattling around in a big house

So that sounds like a nice setup for a UVC with small buffer, or dare I say it a thermal store.... If you can get a UVC with a twin coil - 300 litres would be more than adequate - and then switch the tank from top coil to bottom coil when there are more than 2 of you in the house. Well insulated house design ..??? Go for a smaller boiler and run it flat out for DHW, but modulate right down for the UFH. @Nickfromwales... thoughts ..?

I was born the day after the coronation..... my parents carried me round on a sheet of plasterboard, Im told. ?

Ideally they should trip when they detect a short between live and earth not wait until the remote leak is via a human!