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That's the entrance hall tiles down today. This won't cost me directly, I have some electrical work to do at the tilers house on a labour exchange basis. I will try to explain the sizing issue. The largest tiles are a nominal 60cm by 40cm. Where it works out in the pattern that a 20 by 20 plus a 40 by 40 tile adjoin a 60cm tile, the problem was the 20 by 20 plus the 40 by 40 put tight together were exactly the length of the nominal 60cm tile, leaving no room for a grout gap. A lot of criticising of the "rubbish tiles" ensued today, following by a lot of trimming tiny little slivers from tiles.

As it happens I have started this. I laid the first batch of tiles on Wednesday. I then hit a problem yesterday when trying to lay out the next section, the modular tiles I have are not cut accurately and arguably cut to the wrong sizes, this results in some tiles needing a tiny sliver cut off them. At this point I have shamefully admitted defeat and my friend John the Tiler is coming today. The main advantage is he has a better tile cutter than me and a lot more patience. But I am almost ashamed at having to "get a man in"

I've worked Up to 7 days a week for the last 4 years - almost all (except for three months) on my own. Few days off here and there, most weekends I work at least half a day. I'm retired, getting fitter by the year, losing weight, down in the dumps occasionally. But mostly head-down-arse-up-go. The most important thing is having a supportive other half. I would have thrown in the towel a couple of times if it weren't for her. 146 sq m. Roof on, windows in, some carcassing, first layer of plaster on, first fix. Zero experience of building before I started : well, I mixed concrete for my dad and few times - he did have a slipped disk after all. Often I work very inefficiently indeed. Because I haven't got a clue how to do stuff. Takes me about 5 times longer to get things done than anyone else. It's the stress of the c@ck - ups and the lack of knowledge and skills that gets to me most. Its rare for me to be able think and so plan strategically, often, I ' ... wish I'd thought of that last year ...' I could not do this job without Build Hub. Yep, I'm a Mod, so I would say that wouldn't I, but seriously for me, this isn't doable without Build Hub. How the Hell @nod and his other half did it as well as full time jobs I don't know.

For a start, I would NOT have speced a 12A relay to switch that load, I would want something a bit larger to be sure of reliability. Some designers just do not seem to be able to design properly for high power loads. A friend of mine (the tiler) has a solar PV diverter. I forget which one, other than it is no longer made. It failed. It was much the same sort of failure, the load to the immersion was carried through PCB tracks that were woefully inadequate and the fly leads off to the heatsink mounted SSR were also showing signs of getting hot and bothered. It was not difficult to repair and reinforce the current path.

That could be either bloody brilliant, or bloody awful! Would love to see an installed one in the flesh. In case it is food for thought, I once visited a BT lab where, being underground with no windows, they'd installed LCD screens in window cutouts and displayed a moving street scene image on them. The video loop on each was timed such that, say, a bus would drive past one window and then moments later pass the other. Once you stopped staring at it it really did change the room dynamics and make you feel more 'connected' with the outside world. I did wonder, however, if maybe I'd start to hate it if I was there for more than a few hours!

It sounds like you might be regarding the CE mark as meaning far more than it does. Most CE certification is done through self-declaration by the manufacturer, and even where this declaration has been 'verified' by a 3rd party you will likely find that the certificate (assuming it is legitimate) caveats that the verification is based on 'submitted documentation' and not 'submitted product' i.e. they haven't even seen the device, never mind tested it. Lab testing is expensive, box-ticking documentation is not. Such certificates are pretty much worthless, beyond their marketing value of course. Given it is a self-declaration scheme the CE mark really should be taken merely as the manufacturer/distributor saying 'this complies with all the relevant legislation, honest' and nothing more. You only have to look at eBay being awash with cheap CE-marked power supplies and chargers which, if you open many (most?) of them up, you would find very poor (and unsafe) design and construction. If you are after a 'safety mark' you should be more looking towards something like the UL certification scheme as that *does* involve independent 3rd party lab testing of actual product.

Quick update. Active cooling via the UFH is now sorted. All we need now is for summer to return so we can try it!

Dug trench now between water meter and house, practically the whole run was in copper, just about a foot of mdpe where it connects to the meter. It wasn’t in any ducting etc. I’m running new blue 25mm mdpe all the way into the kitchen now, with a plastic stop cock. So won’t be any earthing required, plus I should get better flow now. The meter is in a proper meter chamber, it’s just concrete around the top of the chamber cover, so that’s all ok. Its not that deep the meter, but it’s a bit awkward in this location as there is solid bedrock about 450mm below ground. Im running the replacement mdpe slightly below where the old copper pipe was and above the bedrock. Maybe not as deep as you would do it in a new house, but it’s at least as deep as the old one was and I don’t think there had been any problems with freezing in the past. Oh btw, the input/output pipes from the meter/chamber, were not as I thought. The pipe coming out the meter side of the chamber was the input, the pipe coming out the valve side of the chamber was the output to the house. thanks for all your input everyone Jody

Not sure any isolation is needed, really, as there are no low voltage bits outside the box that can ever be touched. If I had to guess, I'd say that the contact in the connector is the cause of the overheating, not the tracks on the PCB. I think they've just been heated up from the overheating connector. Looking at the connector, I suspect that the cause of the problem is the wire termination to the socket. This looks to be a screw terminal, and Sunamp failed to comply with the requirement to always fit ferrules to stranded wires until fairly recently (our old UniQ control box didn't have ferrules on any wires, the new one does). I'd repair the board if it were me. Get a pair of new connectors, remove the plug from the board, clean everything up and solder the new one in place. Trim back the wires to the socket (to get rid of damaged/corroded bits) fit ferrules to the wires and then fit them to a new socket, making sure all the screws are properly tightened. Loose terminal screws is the number one cause of overheating - happens all the time.

Where is the room for the 24 hour on call dog-butler? (Update. Got it ... that’s the Master Bedroom)

Just watch that you must keep all electrics >3M from the shower tray, not just the shower head. Doable in a 5.7M utility room if you put the shower one end and the appliances at the other, but I don't think @JandD utility is big enough to allow that.

Jeremy - couple of numbers transposed in the BS EN number should be 6946. Also probably easier to remember that an airspace of between 25-300mm, horizontal heat flow and high emissivity surfaces each side (covers most airspaces you're likely to encounter) has a resistance of 0.18 m2K/W. Will be slightly lower for smaller airspaces. Ed - the surface resistances only apply to inner and outer most surfaces of the wall (or roof, floor etc) and are not included in an airspace resistance. Andy - a low emissivity surface does make a BIG difference to the airspace resistance - Ecotherm number looks correct. It will also affect the surface resistances but it is not often that you have low emissivity surfaces internally and/or externally in standard construction. Question to ask is does the Low E, bright, shiny surface stay bright and shiny in the long term!

I intend on making my millions after Brexit by selling dairy milk chocolate on eBay with crazy markup. Couple boxes a week in my laptop bag should do the job. I certainly won't be declaring lol

We recently got multiple quotes for our proposed build, a few obscured 3G windows, no differences in U value that I noticed.

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Answering my own question! First. it turns out the cost estimate (with on site survey) was much faster than a G99 request. MUCH faster. Like, 3 days vs 12 weeks. Costs for moving existing vs new : a) moving existing single phase supply by 4 meters: aprx £1100 b) installing a new 3ph supply from the street (17m) and disconnecting the the old: £3900 Most of the costs in (b) is the fact they're digging up public carriageway (pavement only) so need permits, H&S, road signing, 3 crews, etc. Other interestingly tidbits: - we actually have a substation immediately on the boundary behind our house. The surveyor's plans didn't show how it was connected to the main supply out front so he ignored that for costing - the existing mains head could be moved to an "indoor" location because it's already indoors, and it's a renovation. For a rebuild, or for a brand new supply, the "new rules" kick in and the head+meter need to be outside the house. I now have to decide if the future proofing benefits of a 3ph supply justify that hefty upfront cost. (It also de-risks some other parts of the build, namely moving supplies around inside and solar connection, but the cost is too high for derisking alone). The fact we're going all-electric house does push us in favour of doing this. And enabling a 22kW car charger could be useful option in the future too.

Agree about the need for a solid base. We had a 90mm wide concrete/granite sett edge to ours and the grass was glued to that. Been excellent so far. Cutting the grass from the back is a lot easier than going through the tufts on the top!

Yes, but the hit is per panel not per string.

+1. We did that too.

You can’t use pea shingle under artificial grass. It needs to have a well compacted stable base with good drainage or it will move and fail. We did (previous house) type 1, sharp sand, weed membrane.

You need a proper base for artificial grass. You will need some well compacted hardcore , depending on the soil that is there, you will need a min of 200mm. Then you screed 30mm sharp sand so it's perfectly level. Any tiny bump or dent will show up and look nasty. You then lay the weed membrane onto the sand and roll the grass out. For the edging you will need something to give it a fixing point. I used treated 2*2 bedded around the edge then used decking screws to fix the grass to the batten. I tried to use the large hook type but they where crap. You have to leave it sitting for a few days after you roll it out to let it settle and during that time wind got under it and lifted the whole thing up and threw it against my fence. So it really needs fixed securely as it's not cheap. The easy way to do is is to use something like a sleeper or a 150mm fence post as an edging. Scrape the top soil of then that will give you enough depth for the hardcore. Saves a fair bit of digging out. Also gives you something to screw your batten to and a nice straight edge to work to. You will need plenty of Stanley blades. Cutting the grass blunts a blade every 2m of your lucky. Think I went through about 50 blades doing mine. Once the blade is blunt it just tears it and you won't get a nice clean cut for a join or for the edge. A

F**k Brexit. I'm in Northern Ireland and we're due to start on site 1st Nov. Building products from GB are expensive due to need for ferry transportation. From ROI due to the weak sterling. Tariffs will kill us. I will happily hire a van and smuggle goods across the "border".

That woke you up didn't it??

From what I see of the average rental, that is a good, tidy well kept rental garden.

Kubota KX91-3a

In that case consider how you enjoy the setting sun with the glass of brandy you have obtained from your St Bernard. Learher chairs in the study is one way, or a sheltered terrace, outside the entrance, or extend your sitting area at the E end beyond the S side of the house, or something in the back garden. F

Thanks Ferdinand great comments, apart from the cat! Will discuss tonight, and have a look... The bi folds are east end.

We drain our treatment plant (Vortex) into a ditch that’s dry for a couple of months by using a rumble drain, accepted by the powers that be.

Have a read of the GBRs and then PM me.

What make / model is it @Vijay..?

Under the main cover there should be a battery isolator key ..???

isolator key?

Take your isolator key out as that’s just the battery discharging through the control circuit.

Had this problem with my digger as I don't use it too often. I left a couple of 12v solar charger attached and it starts when I need now

We haven’t done so much this build as we managed to get prices for labour within a budget we could afford however in our last build both working full time and my son in law working full time, we spent every hour we weren’t at work working on the build. Hubby would come home At 4pm have a quick bite to eat and start and we would be at it till gone midnight, my son in law spent every weekend for a year with us from 9 in the morning till 6 at night.we were out until 2 in the morning moving scaffolding for the builders next morning, we spent The bells at New Year’s Eve laying under floor heating pipes, by the time the house was finished we vowed never to do it again! It was a large house 385m2 and it was the only way we were ever going to complete it as we had a very small budget and we got mucked about a lot with various trades so we had to take on things we knew very little about. Personally would never go this route again but probably that’s more to do with getting older!

We have finished at just under 8oo per sq mtr on a 285 sq mtre build with a detached double garage on top of that I haven’t counted the vat claim in that Of around 30 k But we have just spent 10 k for the outside paving My wife had hoped to spend the 30 reclaim on landscaping But with labour the best reputable quote she got for laying the 420 am mtrs of paving and drainage was £51000 Supply and fix So don’t under estimate how much you can save by doing it yourself The total cost for doing the paving ourselves will be around £12000 It has taken us two years We both worked long days Fri Sat and Sun Every day except Christmas and about a dozen day when we where waiting for materials Every evening I would do at least three hours sometimes til midnight on a Thursday We have a house that is worth £350000 more than we have put into it We both worked full time in between We haven’t scrimped With a large German kitchen and three German bathrooms But if we do decide to sell Cutting costs on these would Have seriously impacted a sale price Hope this helps

I have done almost all the labour (apart from plastering and a bit of detailed joinery) since the basic shell was up. I am just I think on target to complete for £1000 per square metre. I am in year 5 of my self build and at least 1 more to go. The house is habitable and quite cosy but a long way from finished. I am self employed and only part time but very variable hours. I have not kept a count of hours worked but a lot, and a very conservative estimate suggests I have saved £30K in labour costs. Our issue is money, or rather lack of it, which is why the build is taking so long, just about at the point of building it at the rate we earn the money.

Don't do it... I would leave that stopcock alone, and then clean off the pipe above it with some fine emery paper and add in a full bore lever ball valve. Use that as your isolator, and leave the existing well alone.

The front of the house The back of the house