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Bit of a late reply on this thread but the grass and weather came up well for our big day.

Well little update. Had the foul drain installed over the last week, 2.5m down in the road and 7m of piperun. A week to complete except for the manhole access on my ground. lots more digging and 1.85m of concrete rings installed my me and my wife. done bloody well I might add. Haha. Just wanting to spread some happiness with progress. ????

Back in the Spring I posted a planned design for a refurbishment of my main family bathroom. This is now 96% complete, and this is the After video. AFTER

I just wanted to say hi before delving into asking planning advice. I have done quite a bit of small scale residential development in the past and been very hands on with design, planning, project and site management - but not formally trained in any of those. I've been building a little self sufficient cabin by myself on a hill top in deepest darkest Wales (logistical nightmare) where I have also planted 5000 trees and at some time in the not too distant future I plan to start a barn conversion there (planning is in place). I love all things small architecture and building. I'm fairly pragmatically energy conscious - or at least have aspirations to be. I make a lot of mistakes - and occasionally even learn from some of them. These days a lot of my time is spent looking after my 2 year old.

The key points in that report are that poor ventilation caused by, amongst other things, badly installed/commissioned/used mechanical ventilation has contributed to high humidity levels (especially in bedrooms) and the occurrence of mould on walls. We are still going up a learning curve when it comes to ventilation in mass built homes, I think. From the time that man first built shelters, up until around 20 to 30 years ago, dwellings had pretty good ventilation, courtesy of fires. A fireplace and chimney is an excellent and powerful ventilation method. It wastes a lot of heat, but it does shift a great deal of air. Once we shifted to building houses without fireplaces, improving airtightness and relying on central heating, we lost a key means of ventilation. We've been creating building regulations to try and make up for that loss of "natural" ventilation, but the evidence seems to be that those ventilation systems may not be working well in practice. There seems to be a fair bit of evidence that building inspectors haven't been properly checking that mechanical ventilation systems comply with the regs. This doesn't surprise me, mine wasn't the slightest bit interested in the commissioning report I produced, and others here have reported much the same thing. I'm sure your system is working as well as it should, as you spent a lot of time getting it adjusted and commissioned so that it complied with the requirements in Part F. I suspect the wall is just getting a bit too cool, and the vagaries of air flow around the room, and behind the bed, are conspiring to cause the problem you're having.

We have a massive travertine "tray" that is set into the floor so the inside of the tray is flush with the floor but sides are about 30mm above floor level. It feels like a level access but can cope with an inch of water inside if we've got lazy and not cleaned the trap! If you decide to set the sides of the tray flush then I'd actually leave them a few mm proud so the door seal doesn't scrape on the floor tiles.

Play nice gentlemen. The moderators are already discussing this. Let's concentrate on helping the OP with his problem rather than willy waving please.

Could we all take this down a notch please.

One piece is always best, and there are some nice ones out there nowadays with plenty of colours / finishes etc to choose from. Fiora was the make of the last one I fitted.

Actually doing my new bathroom took the fitter 13 and a half days, including a totally new sound insulation layer, subfloor, floor, ufh and tiles, and an entire @Onoff of pfaffing. F704A76E-1B3F-4540-B885-AD03DEA530D4.MOV

4 years, if only! According to Flickr I "broke ground" Dec 2010: Bricking up Jan 2011: Dates on the photos must be wrong! ?

Milano Rasa sounds like a type of ice cream. Certainly not at all ascetic unless you plan to line it with sandpaper.

And the rest!

I suspect this drain is not just to drain the present standing water. Rather they have realised the ground is poor draining so they want to build a French Drain around the extension with a permanent pipe for it to drain to, to keep the land dry and the water table down.

Matches the holes in the bricks to tie everything together.

Why all the holes?

I fitted a 2000 x 900 tray, with a fixed glass screen. The screen just sits on the tray edge with a bit of clear sealant:

Choice of shower head makes a difference, too. The hotel we stayed in last week had a really nice design of shower head that directed the spray over a fairly wide area, but with no tendency to splash out. By contrast, the head we have has a narrower spray pattern, but it does tend to splash, so we have to remember to turn it to face the wall a bit before turning it off. It'd be really useful if bathroom showrooms were plumbed in, so that the spray pattern of a shower could be checked. FWIW, the shower head at the hotel was (I think) a Grohe Rainshower Next Generation Solo. It was definitely Grohe, because I made a note of it, but I'm not 100% sure of the exact model yet.

Yep ... if you do get a walk in you have to be well-enough controlled to avoid spraying the water out of the gap.

i have one of the Lillangen sinks from Ikea in my tight bathroom. Available in several sizes including 400 x 400, 400 x 600 and one only 270 deep. Big enough to be very comfortable to use, and also good shape for washing and soaking things. Also inexpensive. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/lillangen-single-wash-basin-white-00135419/

I would think that 1000x760 could be Ok with an entry slot, not a door, would be Ok depending on where you put the shower head. F

Not asking for trouble just looks a bit nasty imo. Looks like the floors been over-laid during the last make over kinda thing. To try and seal a flat floor to the flat surface of a tray is just horrible. It’ll never look nice. Do as I normally do, and as @JSHarris did and just leave 15mm or so above the finished floor level ( FFL ) and don’t bother with the up-stand. FYI I only recommend up-stand trays for rentals / student digs as they’re bombproof. Just a horrible gap to keep clean but easily done quarterly by the landlord ??. 1000x760 is a cracking sized shower so don’t moan about that, just be sure to not put any clutter on the sides so you can throw some shower shapes in there ?

Hence the baby?

Fantastic. We did our wedding DIY on a shoestring with help from friends and family. I think it helps make it special.

Standby Power Consumption QUR323 dual: <0.3W

One of the things I wish I'd done when I bought our boiling water tap was get the model with the larger reservoir and thermostatic mixer option for feeding hot water to the tap. I only discovered that this was an option when the thing arrived and the instructions included details for installing the model that would supply hot water as well as boiling water. Ours is made by the people that make the Red for Grohe, I believe, as it seems nearly identical. I did notice that as soon as Grohe started to market the Red in the UK, Itho Daalderop seemed to stop selling their stuff here.

QUR323 is 85-260V AC input. Doubt very much if it'll work on 12V AC. I'd say in fact it won't.

Leave it alone. Regs only come into force if you change it or sell the property.

Looks really great! Love the cable drum tables.

My hut

I'll try to dig out a better pic later. It's clad in Onduline. The roof was badly damaged this year and so whilst repairing I'm planning a little sleeping loft for my son - it was going to be pop up like my campervan roof but going to be rigid now.

@Nick1c did you get chance to have a look round their clearance warehouse ..?? It’s an Aladdins cave of serious high end bathroom stuff at silly prices. Saw some great stuff in there but the risk is that it doesn’t all match. https://www.cphart.co.uk/waterloo-clearance/

I have somewhat prematurely bought our bathroom stuff, it arrived in April & we are still looking at a hole in the ground! I originally planned to get it from Germany before brexit, rushing to beat the first deadline..... Having priced it up on Reuter & Megabad I spoke to C P Hart who had their sale on, initially about the sanitary ware, expecting it to be more expensive per unit, but save on carriage (we wanted Duravit & I think they are the UK importers so would have the biggest margin to play with). The prices on their website are very ‘reassuring’. In the end they price matched the Germans (minus basin taps & bottle traps) on an exchange rate of €1.18 : £1 with free carriage. If you can wait for their sale I would try the same approach, checking out bathroom shops for ideas in the meanwhile. A potential fly in the ointment is that, due to B******, Megabad weren’t exporting to the UK back then, Reuter still were, but I don’t know if that has changed.

We fitted it about seven years ago so the designs have probably changed but the install was straightforward. Eclisse quality is good. Sorry about the dirty door and photo quality.

We have a Eclisee with wood door. If you follow the instructions it goes fine. Watch out you don't overtighten the screws holding plasterboard to the frame. If they go in too far they can scratch the door.

Good god ! It looks like your building a supermarket by the size of the worksite..... I would have already been taken away to the funny farm by now if it was my site. I wish you the best of luck, you must have nerves of steel. Will be watching with interest.

Amusing as this thread was initially and having followed it, I can't help thinking that you @zoothorn need to take some firm action with regards to your builder and the relationship you have with him otherwise your health, both physical and mental will suffer, if it hasn't already. I can't believe a builder will "bully " their client the way you are describing, if proper terms / discussions have been agreed upon. After all you are the person paying him. In basic terms building is no different to any other transaction - if you don't like it either don't pay or pay up and move on with another builder! After all, whatever it is you are doing with this builder clearly isn't working and it could only get worse as the build continues, it would seem. Failing that, ask someone you do know and trust to speak on your behalf. Surely you must have at least one person who can communicate for you - a sort of go between maybe? You are only at the foundation stage and already you are lurching from one precieved crisis to another, so, like @Russell griffiths has said - show us your plans etc so that suitable advice can be given from those on this forum. This might then provide you with more confidence etc. Otherwise it is going to be long and painful run up to Christmas!

Not tricky at all. Email the man you're paying the money to and ask the questions you're worried about.

Honestly, as a start, improve the lighting on your work area it makes a world of difference. Try and focus it on the weld area. Buy an ESAB Sentinel mask too if you've £200 ish to spare. Just look at the field of vision! You can get it air fed too: Who wouldn't want to look like this?

Best of luck.

My roof design is different as it’s vented on both sides of the sarking. I just put the tin directly onto the sarking board. battens and counter battens are the way to go though. My roof is on a glorified shed so not trying to meet any specific standard, more aiming to prevent water getting in and if any condensation does get in then making sure it is well vented. It’s blowing a gale outside right now with the water blowing up the 45 degree roof..... if the closer strips were not in place between the ridge flashing and the tin then the water would blow right up under the ridge flashing and onto the roof membrane and then have to travel all the way down the roof under the tin and out into the gutters !!!!! The closures at the top are essential to prevent this. The bottom of the tin is within the gutter so rain can not get in and wind is minimal but load if ventilation as no closer strips.

Good time to bury annoying neighbours under the concrete.....

It’s a foundation mate not a finished floor, don’t panic

So they win/ I lose?? that's a feeble copout ProDave. never. this is -exactly- what this wretched bullying me is aimed at doing too no less (& anti-english 50% of it). Its my 1st house. You recall how attatched you were to your 1st house? Ive waited 25 yrs to get a 1st set of keys thanks to damn property prices in england -& Im nearly 50- I love it more than you'll ever know as a result. theyre 70 so, no instead I wait until they die 1st.

No it is not your fault. It is the fault of the scroats that do this sort of thing. We should not have to live in a society where we have to baracade ourselves in like we are in Fort Nox. Lets hope the insurance do the decent thing and stump up for your losses.

As @Declan52 says, the blender is set to 35c so the ASHP CoP is better.

He means the water being pumped round the ufh is set to 35c and the actual room stat is set to 20.5c.

Loving this thread! I'm just waiting for the passive house police to come along (and to be frank I've seen a few posts from current and past forum members along these lines). So don't forget some of the important rules: 1. Kill the cat, cat flaps will not be tolerated. 2. Remove or reduce all windows. I know you've bought a plot with a view but seriously saving on your energy bills is way more important than a view. 3. Make sure you go paperless for ALL bills etc. There is no way you are having a postbox. 4. Bury your partner under the patio. Far too risky that they may open a window. 5. Kill the dog. Can't think of a reason why other than enjoying yourself cannot be tolerated. OK, I'm having a bit of fun BUT you are going to drive yourself to the edge of insanity doing this self build lark, nothing is more stressful. SO BUILD YOURSELF A HOME NOT A HAUSE!