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I think I would already be a wealthy man, even with minimum wage, with the hours I put into this project so far and we just starting ?

It's perfectly possible to do everything yourself, it's what I ended up doing. I will say that it's pretty damned time consuming though. I had about a year's delay, caused by the plot boundary problem, and used all of that year reading up on design, building regs, researching methods of construction, doing drawings, making scale models, tearing the models up and making new ones. The only transferable skill I had when I started was a background in design (albeit of light aircraft and boats) and around 25 years or so experience of driving AutoCad (a significant benefit, as I didn't need to learn how to produce drawings). I've no idea how many hours I put into the house design in total, but it must have been several hundred, spread over the best part of a year. I wasn't working, either, so I had pretty much all day, every day, to dedicate to research, learning and designing the house. If I'd had to pay myself a reasonable rate I wouldn't have been able to afford my services...

If architects are there to give 'vision', surely they should charge a similar amount as fortune tellers at the end of a pier. About a tenner.

Aren’t these the sort of thing they designed to do that ..? https://ewistore.co.uk/shop/spiral-anchors/

Roofer here. Whoever done this never battened the roof correctly. You should work your way down from the top of the dormer while measuring both side of the batten. It can be fixed without stripping the full roof back but that would mean 6 tiles would not be fixed with a nail. Could narrow it down to one if they used clips.

Laser?... https://www.lasermaster.co.uk See the submit a drawing link. I entered 500mm x 150mm 3mm SS and quantity of four and an oval shape and it said £84 total. Not sure what set up costs would be for a custom design.

well solicitors are my 'pain' at the moment. Just at the vinegar stroke of getting the mortgage to start the build (we have bought the plot, have planning & BC and groundworks done) and it got stopped this morning as we dont have vehicle access to the plot. Charged me a load of money for an extensive highways search that is a screenshot of the cornwall online highways map... And the lack of vehicle access is because the last 20 metres of road is in fact a footpath. Well it looks like a road, and 7 properties use it to access their houses, and we have to connect a drive and car port to the 'path' for planning. And the council re-surfaced it 2 years ago and has gas, electric and water under it.... Oh and we have it in the deeds that we can drive over any designated paths, roads, etc to access the site. Which of course means nothing if its a path, but its definitely a road. Oh and just past our access is access to the next property's drive which has been there well over 50 years and then after that there is a bollard so the path actually becomes a path. madness

I think it’s more common in Scotland to have a brick or block outer skin, we would certainly never have considered anything but that, the thing is once the kit is up it’s wind and water tight so the work inside can be going on at the same time as the roof tiles are getting put up then the block work, much quicker than having to wait for a brick house being built before you can move on but in our inclement weather the block work outer skin gives a much sturdier feel,

In the end, I went for Solyx UltraCool-IR70 Solar Control Film. It's certainly helped since being installed at the end of July, the temperature in the south facing bedrooms has reduced by 2 degrees Celsius, matching the temperature of the east facing rooms. And that's without the blinds even being down. It does also claim to help keep heat in during winter, but only time will tell... Fortunately I have a friend who is experienced in fitting the films, and has access to a cutting machine, so 6 metres of film was £250, cutting and fitting was £50

So... it’s from between 1990-96 as they stopped making the 40 series in 1996.. so at best it’s 23 years old ..!! I’m surprised it is still going as the carb diaphragms perish so it’s not surprising that it’s leaked fuel. I’d guess that the fuel pipes have gone and it’s spread fuel around the casing that’s flared when the exhaust has got hot.

My only dealings with an architect was 16 years ago when doing our first house. I contacted 5 architects, made appointments with 3. Two bothered to turn up to see us. Then both of them gave quotes in the order of £25K. ALL I wanted was someone to take our ideas and turn them into a buildable house and do all the drawings. Neither had a "pick and mix" attitude to services offered they both just wanted to take on a full package of turnkey project management when all I wanted was design and drawings. And to make matters worse, they both based their fees on a percentage of build costs, but their estimated build costs were way over what we had, and if it really cost that much to build would have cost way over it's market value. We ended up building for half their build cost estimate. That is verging on sharp practice to me, over estimating the build cost in order to get a percentage based fee higher. I did not repeat that soul destroying exercise this time. I found an architectural technician willing to do just the work we wanted. Interestingly I have a cousin who is training to be an architect and I saw her a couple of weeks ago when we were down for a wedding. I think I gleaned 3 things from her. 1: she is beginning to doubt if the length of training is really worth it. 2: she has no desire to do residential, she finds houses not challenging and boring. 3: She did not seem to know (i.e I assume not being taught) very much at all about low energy buildings and modern ideas like heat pumps mvhr etc.

We have one such window and door immediately adjacent. All that is needed is a lintel to span the combined width of the window and the door.

We have the same prefabs in Preston Not many left now They where built to house the Soldiers returning from the 2nd world war They were supposed to be temporary 20 year lifespan

They're fake columns and that's the end of it.

Must admit I've searched "bikini" and "lingerie".....etc

There are others, especially some who are Team Experts rather than the presenter. The two on "Your House Made Perfect" were brilliant. We did this to death before (Ooops. It came up with the picture of Julia Kendall climbing the side of a building in heels demonstrating her "30 years of power-tool techniques" ... beats Kevin and a model made of 28 Ryvita and Processed Cheese, anyhoo.)

I will take it of your hands for a tenner.

I find it's the language they use sometimes. not all but we're working with a couple at them moment that love to use excessive amounts of obscure words. I had to Google "pilaster" the other day because the architect obviously didn't want to call them fake columns in front of the customer.

I love those moments when you realise it's not just me glad you got it sorted

I think that Kevin McCloud may have something to do with people having that view!

We had an architect do our full plans building control drawings which were based on our detailed planning drawings. He didn't know anything about low energy houses so we held his hand through the process.

So a frame isn't structural? I learn stuff every day. Must be a clueless self-builder. Less clueless than I was a few moments ago then eh?

We didn't use an architect, not because I didn't want to, in fact not finding an architect that understood the type of house we wanted to live in caused me a heck of a lot of additional work that I hadn't planned to do. During the process of building this house I have now met well over a dozen architects, the four that we initially went to see, and that just didn't seem to be able to grasp the idea of a passive house at all, a handful that have visited the build at various times that I really can't pass judgement on one way or the other, as they were just interested in the construction method we'd used, and three that were really enthusiastic about passive house design, two of whom I got to know fairly well, and either of which I would have gladly worked with (one, in particular, stays in touch and comes around with potential clients from time to time). My impression from talking to all these very different architects is that very few did much in the way of one-off commissions for self-builders. I'm pretty sure that the four we went to see initially all fell into this category. It doesn't really surprise me that some self-builders have problems with their architect, and perhaps part of this is that there just aren't many self-builders around in the grand scheme of things, so we aren't a big target market. My guess is that, for an architect, working for a self-builder is a real mixed bag. It's inevitable that a self-builder is likely to need a lot more help than a volume builder, as most self builders just don't have much experience of building a house, and probably don't fully understand where the boundaries of various responsibilities lie. When we failed to find an architect locally (and I felt, rightly or wrongly, that we needed someone local) I did build a very good relationship with an architectural technician. He was someone I felt we could very happily worked with, and this was backed up by some really good feedback from other clients of his. Unfortunately, we had a long delay caused by legal problems with the boundaries of the plot we were buying (exacerbated by inaction by the vendor), and so by the time we came to start the planning process for real, the architectural technician had retired. He did still give me a lot of advice, though, which was very nice of him, as we'd only paid him a nominal fee initially.

From what I remember Scotframe quote a 60 minute fire resistance, 30 minutes per sheet. I would also have thought that having the cavity completely filled with injected insulation would help on the closed panel systems.

Consider it blown off! I liked working with our architects as they basically did a good job where we needed it and listened to what we told them. There are a couple of well known challenges they have: Firstly they don't do money, well / if at all. There are reasons for this, but essentially they see their role as giving the clients a vision of what the architects have gleaned from discussions with the client rather than an outcome that can be achieved within budget which is usually elastic anyway. Secondly the construction world is even fuller with new ideas than the academic world so expecting any one person or practice to have a grasp of all the ideas that are out there ... - I guess its why GPs refer you on to specialist consultants. Thirdly, perhaps most importantly, they are fallible, so the expectation, though not theirs, is that any issues will be picked up by the next part of the processes - the builder. Mike

Nothing wrong with letting the rage out every now and then. So where do you stand now as in have you a complete set of plans or what details are you missing to complete them. And no way would I be paying any extra money to any one to do what you originally tasked them to do in the first place.

Your a star Peter, I didnt know the existed.

Sort of. People put everything from curry recipes to how to build a deck to fashion to cocktail mixes. It's picture based so will give you more than enough light bulb moments where you go yeah look at that and that and by God I would really eat and drink that.

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Hang on in there ! . If I don’t give up after a 5 year battle then neither should you ! ?

I agree with the above, and would add that putting 40mm of PIR or similar on the inside may also make it easier to fix the VCL and tape it all up, plus it will decrease the overall internal vapour permeability, so looks to be a pretty good option all around, especially if you can arrange it so that there is minimal impact on internal space. You can probably get away with slimming down the service void a bit, as most stuff will fit into a 25mm void OK. We have a 50mm service void and all it does is waste a bit of internal space, IMHO, as the biggest thing running down it are runs of 15mm pipe. Perhaps consider this build up, from the inside to outside: 12.5mm Plasterboard 25mm service void. Air tight barrier. 40mm Kingspan K12 300mm I Joists filled with DRITHERM .032 insulation 12mm OSB (4) Tyvek UV breather membrane 25mm Vertical battens (Ventilated) 25mm Horizontal battens (Ventilated) Marley Internit Thrutone cement tiles. This would definitely be OK, as the vapour permeability gradient is all going the right way, i.e. least vapour permeable on the inside, most vapour permeable material on the outside.

We had sprinklers fitted throughout on a recent development and the cost was about £2,550 per house. Average house was 4 storey 170m2.

DHW storage is an odd thing. The cylinder rarely goes below 30o C. If you then heat to 48o C, that is only an 18o C lift. Assuming a mean temperature in the cylinder of less than 48o C, say 42o C, then that is an even smaller lift. 200 litres of water will require 2.8 kWh. Which is about a baths worth. I found that my 200 lt cylinder, heater to 50o C, was adequate for 2 people. When I had guest, I just turned the top element on, adding in an extra 1.5 kWh per person seemed fine. So my guests cost me 60 pence a day.

There are trims to cover the joints and corners: https://www.eurocell.co.uk/fascia-boards/replacement-fascia-18mm/flat-joint-trim-in-white https://www.eurocell.co.uk/fascia-boards/replacement-fascia-18mm/capping-board-corner-trim-in-anthracite-grey These are just cut to length and glued in place (on one side only, to allow for thermal expansion/contraction).

That's exactly the F*** OFF, if you get in you won't get out look we're going for! I still want Alien Queen figures wrapped around the pillars.....

I have worked on the design and roll out of a lot of commercial interior jobs including high street fashion and banking. This sort of thing came up all the time and 100% why you cant rely on other peoples drawings.

The Queen has a turbine at Windsor. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-16276225 Not sure how far it is up to that hippy housing development, but lets us say it is 600 miles round trip. If your car does 50 MPG, then that is 12 gallons of fuel, 55 lt. A litre of gasoline has around 9.5 kWh of energy, so that will be around 520 kWh. To offset that with electrical energy from a turbine, it would have to produce 60W of power for a year. After that, your are quids in.

Will look into this - thanks for the pointer - could be worth a trip for sure.

"Normal" size ones are about 6-7m as I recall, though you can get larger. The major issue with using one to work on a roof or above a surface though is it's really awkward to work at the bottom of the basket because the floor, kick rail, guard rails get in the way. So you might be able to get the bottom of the basket against the roof surface, but not be able to do much when you get there. They're good for working on a vertical surface or underneath a ceiling.

How frustrating! You would think they are purposely forcing you to take this step because they are not competent enough to make the decision.

If looking at sprinklers (which are a very good idea, IMHO, but also expensive) then I'd look at the water mist ones. Not only do these suppress fire more quickly than conventional sprinklers, but they also use far less water. Using less water has two benefits, it means that getting an adequate water supply to them is a lot easier (it can be a challenge getting adequate water supplies to conventional sprinklers) and there is a great deal less water damage if they operate. Water damage is often more severe than fire damage in many house fires, so anything that reduces this has to be a good thing. Looking at the statistics, 75% of household fires are put out without the attendance of the fire and rescue service. The fire and rescue service attended 29,570 fires in England in the year 2018/19, from a housing stock in England of around 19.811 million, so the number of households that the fire and rescue service attend each year is about 1 in 670. Out of those fires where the fire and rescue service attended, the average area of fire damage was 18.3m², so roughly one room about 4.5m x 4m. There were 196 fatalities from house fires in 2018/19 in England. Breaking those down by dwelling type, far and away the highest number of fatalities is in single occupancy dwellings (people living alone in either a house or bungalow, excluding flats), 136 out of a total of 196, excluding those living in purpose built flats. The number of fatalities from fires in multiple occupancy dwellings, not-purpose built flats or HMOs, (so normal households) was just 19. From the data it seems that far and away the highest risk group are those living alone, either in houses, bungalows or maisonettes (not purpose built flats). The fatal fire risk for those living in households of more than one in England seems to be about 0.0000959%

Ok so you can’t go to 65c (standard cylinder temp) with a standard ASHP without secondary heating or a HT ASHP. Their calculation will be based on a standard high recovery cylinder that is heated by a gas or oil boiler. An ASHP can’t keep up with the usage that a family will give a 200 litre tank, and a 300 would be much better. They are correct that it will take longer to heat but it will also mean you could heat it overnight on E7 and not have to recharge at peak rate.

To be honest that was my first thought when I got the response from them, had a moment of wanting to email back along the lines "well maybe I should have taken it out of the frame but so what, can't see how that affects the locking bar, surely that's just defective. How can it tell if it's on the ground or in the sky??". But then I calmed down and tried what they said and it solved it (so luckily I didn't have to send a grovelling oh, ok then, email ?) I wonder whether if it's out of square that puts pressure on the locking pins/latch mechanism which in turn pushes the bar slightly out of alignment one way or another so the clip on the vent can't catch it. The instructions and annotated picture they sent gave the impression this was a fairly common issue.

It's just a re-purposed black uPVC fascia board, the type that has a return at the lower edge. We used this return to cap off the end of the battens, with the small ventilation gap filled with stainless steel commercial pan scourers as an insect barrier. I can't recall exactly which fascia we used, but it was one like these: https://www.eurocell.co.uk/fascia-boards/replacement-fascia-18mm This sketch drawing shows how it was fitted at the base of the cladding:

For a laugh, and to possibly finish this off, I did a small model of my house today. Knowing the size of it, how much energy I use, the temperature differences, and importantly, the distribution of those temperature differences, and the mass of my storage heater, I can get a good match. I also took into account air changes per hour, which is an untested unknown, so I assumed 1 ACH. The really interesting thing is that the net heating load on the house is 60 times larger than the air heating load. So it costs a lot to heat up a slab and keep it stable. The other interesting thing (well to me) is that the cooling load would be about half the heating load (not that I cool, I just open a window). So I am quite happy considering that my house is 32 years old, is nothing special, is in a warmer than average part of the country, and is timber framed.

I often see posts here whereby people take the time to reply to a query or dilemma, then the original poster doesn’t seem to take the time or have the courtesy to share their outcome. So in relation to this query from me I did go back to Rationel who offered a small % discount, which still kept me over budget. Another approach resulted in a further small % discount, plus a small change to make 4 windows top hung rather than side hung (to secondary windows) pushed me just under budget. This keeps me with my first choice triple glazed alu clad, solar glazing. Just awaiting the kitchen quotes now.... thanks for those who offered ideas.