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There have been a few delays along the way, but now the largest work package is well and truly under way. The last 24 hours has seen the house go from 300mm out of the ground to 2.7 metres. The front door and stairwell on the left and family room doors on the right. Unloading the second trailer load of parts. Running out of space on site now! First floor joists going in. With another view of the stairwell window Inside the lounge Proof that the SIPS team and I had the same plan. Or were very lucky! And tomorrow the team are going to install these parts... # It really is impressive how fast the house is going up now.

Agree, majority of our quotes are ex VAT and indeed handled via a main contractor so it would be very difficult for them not to pass through the VAT savings. The one wrinkle on those is where we've already personally put down deposits inc VAT (mvhr, windows, internal doors) we won't see that tax back. Had our contractor paid deposit and not yet billed us it would be a different story. I'm sat on numerous other quotes wanting a deposit (bathrooms, kitchen, ashp) so will hold off on those for another few days now. The main place we'll be going to consumer retailers is kitchen appliances (Curreys, JLP etc) so aggressive online price comparison could yield some results. We won't need those until November or so. And some fresh furniture in the January sales ? All that said, bet he won't drop it.

From experience previously it was retailers, so Ikea and the like, that sell their goods including VAT that didn’t change their prices immediately (they did that when the rate rose too). Businesses that quote excluding VAT such as your example will be unaffected (assuming they don’t increase their prices). So the ‘better for who’ comment meant if you buy from a retailer that keeps their prices the same as the VAT recovery will be less. Maybe that won’t happen this time anyway. It was over 10 years ago that the VAT rate dropped previously. On that occasion the reduced rate applied for 13 months.

One Pixel Pocster

I have a similar arrangement. It is a floor standing back to wall pan so no frame needed. It is just a standard concealed cistern bought before we knew exactly what we were going to do. The flush pipe is shortened as much as possible, to set the cistern as low as it can go. I then set the worktop height as low as it could go still allowing room to lift off the service hatch on the cisterm, which in my case is all front access. And then I chose a thin worktop, just 10mm thick. This gives a counter top height of 80cm and it's 95cm to the rim of the basin. In my case the cistern is set at right angles to the pan and service access is by removing a trap door in the right hand end of the shelf unit.

Yep, agreed. Thank you for taking a look at the plans, I think my understanding is now reasonably clear, and we'll be sure the architect implements this as discussed.

I had some black mould on some ply wood and wanted it gone so I sprayed it with a good quality thin bleach and it looked like new ! Not sure if this would work or if it’s necessary but could be an option if you needed it gone. (I say good quality as I also tried using tesco own brand thin bleach When I run out of good stuff and it did next to nothing which was mildly alarming......)

I've got similar on my larch. I'm lead to believe the mould is living on the sugars in the sap wood, and will exhaust its food supply in time and then fade as the timber weathers.

Hi, we had those black spots on our Siberian larch. When the timber starts to sliver it's less visible. On ours it was more prevalent on the sides that get less sunlight. Our timber didn't have the bark on it so not sure on that mould, but as it's open to the air it it won't be rot or cause for concern. The cladding needs some time to settle to it's new surrounding as it's a natural product. If you are planning to treat it I would leave it for a bit before putting on a something like osmo. Thanks

You can find that Lion II elsewhere (for example https://www.tapsbathrooms.com/wall-hung-toilets.html ). The dimensions for the plumbing and mounting brackets appear consistent with a bunch of others I've looked at. I added it to my spreadsheet but please don't rely on it as there might be errors or changes since I compiled it. Links in there are typically where I got the data from not necessarily the best price. This one looks similar but possibly cheaper? £129 inc soft close seat? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Modern-Design-White-Wall-Hung-Toilet-WC-Ceramic-Pan-With-Soft-Close-Seat/193537611604?epid=1160254824&hash=item2d0fbd9754:g:LpsAAOSw~zde9d-D I haven't checked the dimensions of that one though. WC.xlsx

If you like the style then go for it. Ftting should be easy enough. Not so sure about the £349 RRP though! On frames go for a name like Geberit or Grohe I would.

Strip is to stop noise/vibration transmission from flooring to walls and vice-versa which can be an issue however many layers of plasterboard and rockwool you use as sound from foot-fall and other sources can be transmitted through structure. What i've been told though is if you use a resilient layer under first floor flooring and resilient bars on ceiling below then this is isn't so much of an issue. @Moonshine also made the point about it not being important on ground floor concrete->wood junctions.

https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/bauhaus-low-height-wall-hung-wc-support-frame?gclid=CjwKCAjwi_b3BRAGEiwAemPNU0knLBdTR9e53d9TeZRqZfqE84B5GL_DkzAsnrJ550v2TrFlzjDZfBoCTHgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

@PDR Some overall background on our project - before we had settled on a build method. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/7201-hello-from-berkshire/ Steel frame with KS1000 cladding was definitely not what we started out considering, but various constraints pushed us that way and now we are committed - but nothing actually rising out of the ground as yet. We considered I think every building method known to man. To be honest at the stage you are at - I would not get wedded to a given build method. Realistically the planners only care about the outer skin rather than the internal construction. The overall build method: Hot rolled steel frame with a first floor of hollowcore + structural topping. Roof and first floor walls clad with KS1000RW 150mm quadcore - so the thermal and airtightness layers wrap around all the habitable parts of the building (mainly the exterior). I.e. first floor walls from outside to in: kingspan panels (150mm) - big empty space - inner plasterboard. So it is still fairly simple at least Ground floor walls are non-supporting (steel frame does the support) and are block skin with timber frame inside infilled with PIR - our ground floor walls can't be kingspan panels as they have to have fire compartmentalisation against some barn areas (which likely won't apply to you) First floor soffit and ground floor over slab insulated with something like Kooltherm - again - the thinnest we can manage Loads of giant pad foundations set deep in the ground (we're on clay + chalk and also have to go below the existing building foundations), then a big slab over the top of that Reasons why we went with steel frame + cladding: Head height - planning means we couldn't go up and so we needed to save every cm we could and the KS1000 is about the thinnest super insulated roof we could get. Though we're actually now putting it on huge wooden purlins so it's not that thin... Also a mass timber frame like glulam would have meant beams that were far thicker than steel and so head height problems. Concrete first floor - a large part of the ground floor is agricultural use - so could have all sorts in there. So we wanted a very solid fire seperation between ground and first floor - so concrete. Again desperate to save head height so the hollowcore is arranged set into the steel beams rather than sat on top of them in a 'slim floor' approach - they usually use this on very tall buildings to get 11 floors rather than 10. A concrete floor is most simply done with a big steel frame, though there is some interesting stuff being done with wood+concrete composite inc CLT - this was tempting but is a bit experimental. Single supplier - we wanted a single suplier who could do multiple parts of the main structure because that gives a comfort factor to a first time self builder like ourselves. Steel frame + cladding is a common package. As it was we really did try engaging with suppliers of other systems - especially timber frame - but we were generally too odd a project I think and most didn't seem to want to engage Cost - we're getting the frame and cladding built by a firm that makes maybe 200 giant sheds a year. In theory this should be a cheap approach and working with suppliers who work to clear and slim margins. However, some of the issues applying the method to a house mean more money needs to go on designing details and other things. We are not a simple single storey portal frame, I suspect if we were you could get it down MUCH more cheaply. Weight is also an issue - a more lightweight timber frame would probably have been cheaper groundworks. Using the KS1000 in particular has big savings for the roof - the whole roof envelope is probably less than most people would pay for just a roof covering (e.g. tiles or metal sheet) BUT this isn't perhaps a huge cost in the grand scheme of things Apparant neatness & simplicity of envelope - the cladding seems an elegant and simple way of achieving everything you need in a building envelope. So simple! But, as it turns out it's simple if you want to build a giant single-storey windowless shed. Not so simple for a house... Design - luckily we don't have too many 'visual' restrictions from planning and we actually like the industrial nature. I.e. the look of steel + cladding was not a barrier to us, but might be for others I suspect had we not had some of the constraints we did, we might not have picked this method, but we might have. Some problems & solutions: windows and doors - putting proper windows in the KS1000 and having them thermally decoupled from the frame - complicated. Maybe it's just as complicated as in any well insulated and airtight house, but it seems no-one has done it before and everything feels like you are designing the first space shuttle. We are going to use the Kingspan DLTR 150mm 0.8U rooflights in quite a few places - you CAN flash in 'normal' rooflights, but it's hard and what we wanted (glass roof areas) was not going to be simple at all thermal bridging - our very weird mixed-use shape means we have numerous giant steel beam thermal bridges through the insulation layer. This is handled with liberal use of armatherm structural thermal breaks, so it's not impossible - just a constant thing to be aware of architect familiarity - Unless you get a shed builder to design it, your architect will have never worked with anything like this and there will be a lot of learning which adds cost and risk. They may just flat out refuse, not least because it reduces the flexibility they have to do architecty things. (You not be using an architect I suppose) Detailling quality - in particular the flashings - these all look kind of like an industrial unit - and there's not much you can do about it. If you like that great - but you can't really change your mind later Limited on what you can attach to the panels - they are thin steel sheet so attaching stuff to it is problematic. For example we want a few large awnings attached for shading, and we have to create thermally broken brackets back to the main frame, which then poke through holes cut in the kingspan panels - it's not ideal. I.e. you have less flexibility about sticking on lights and stuff. Perhaps not a big deal Wall depth - the panels are nice and thin for the whole envelope - but they have got to be attached to cladding rails, then these cladding rails need to be attached to the main frame. In a warehouse generally everything is left open on the inside, but in a house you will likely want to cover this all up - so your 150mm wall which gives a 0.12U ends up being a 350mm wall anyway just it's mostly hollow. Not a huge issue, but just worth remembering that just because the panel is thin, doesn't mean your wall will be Damage - the panels can get damaged by people bumping them and they are not repairable in an invisible way. I think you often see people putting brick skins in high traffic areas or on the ground floor to reduce ground level damage. As it happens we can't use them at ground floor level any due to fire compartmentalisation issues - which I suspect a normal detached house would not have an issue with Resale - metal clad walls are very uncommon on houses in the UK and I suspect would impact ease of selling. I'm sure some people would think it was great, but others might not. In the US you'd probably have less of a problem. We aren't ever going to sell, so it's not a consideration. It probably depends on how much you mind about creating a building that is unusual. Baked - Browsing the forum you will also see a potential issue with decrement delay if using these kind of panels, but....we judged (but did not calculate) that issues such as good solar shading are probably more important. I guess we can report back next year whether we've been cooked or not. Sound - kingspan panels provide little sound insulation - that's not an issue for us So in short - it might be better to think of something other than KS1000 panels for the walls if you can. You will still want to have the insulation on the outside of the steel frame though (though one buildhubber - Ian built his timber frame barn conversion inside and existing steel frame). From a planning POV i don't know. I suspect a metal roof wouldn't cause much objection, but metal clad walls might raise more eyebrows - but i wouldn't want to pre-judge it as there are so many factors there. Overall, I'd keep an open mind about build method at this stage. Timberframe (e.g. twin wall), CLT, and mass timber (e.g. glulam) all other interesting options to consider and you could still end up with KS1000 for the roof, or metal cladding all over if you wanted.

no you can cut them down. Min is about 100mm but that will put the cistern well below the counter. I can’t work those tiles out but think they are about 75mm tall looking at them so you can calculate the heights from that.

We have a wall hung WC and the recommended height of pipes and separation between them varies from make to make. I tried to compile the enclosed spreadsheet but it may not be accurate. So from that the height of the flush pipe for a wall mounted is around 355-360mm. WC.xlsx

Does the neighbour actually *own* the land? Can you check whether the properties are freehold or leasehold?

We're going for it the hard way, rendering by hand, but keeping an open mind about reverting to spray if it proves too much. Yes, the entire house sits off the ground on stacks of tyres rammed with pea shingle. No concrete anywhere in the build. No DPC needed either.

Did you compact the ground before concreting? Over enthusiastic whacking can create a lot of outward pressure on the internal leaf, depending on soil type. Possibly the internal ground pressure pushed the wall out or cracked the block bond, and the oversite was the final bit of pressure and pushed the wall over. Just a thought. Weak mix cavity fill below DPM is typical and it is done in order to resist the soil pressure on the cavity. Mike

I think I'm going to skip the isolating strips and use resilient bars more widely along with correct use of perimeter acoustic sealants etc. My thinking is that this will reduce transmission to structure to the point that reducing transmission through the structure via these strips is less critical and wouldn't have much more additional impact.

Welcome @TomBee and all the best with what sounds like an ambitious project. Ref @Conor's comment about not pushing for PH certification "as it doesn't add value", I wonder whether this will change in time? If so, and my guess is it will, if you're self-building now with the intention of living in the property for some years, and building to PH levels, then spending a few £k extra on certification seems like a no brainer. After all, if you decide to sell it in 5 or 10 years time, and PH is still seen as a bit barrier to potential sale, then you just don't market it as such.

If they are going to be your new neighbors it’s not worth upsetting them at this stage A £1000 isn’t a fortune in the grand scheme of things So your neighbors may make a couple of quid out of you Let them have this little victory If you get the water authorities involved they will probably offer your neighbor some compensation

Couple of pics as requested. Load-bearing strawbale walls, lime render inside and out (starting that this week).

Thank you for responses, it is good to know we are not alone but still do not understand how council tax can be charged on a property prohibited by law from living in.

Yeah they aren't bricks, but if you want bricks in the same/similar finish, i would say standard red engineering bricks will probably be a decent match, but obviously much bigger than those

Hi and welcome. That looks like an old quarry tile that has been cut down. Do you have any better pics?

Look for products made by ILLBRUCK I have been using sp295 it comes in foil tubes, sticks to everything. Most people use the stretch tape on timberframe

I was thinking of this kind of thing to hide the screen and possibly the ceiling speakers. We have something similar but our screen is fixed. Actually our rear speakers are in the step, but the "above" Atmos speakers couldn't be that far to the edge so they are in the ceiling.

Welcome Mark, we are with you on thinking basements are great and we are building a basement which is fully in ground at the back of our sloped plot and out of the ground at the front. So, not wishing to prescriptive or 'know it all', and you may have already thought it all through, but here are some of our thoughts - hope they help :- Your most important element with a basement will likely be waterproofing: and for waterproofing you will need (for building regs, BS 8102 etc) 2 out of 3 methods :- (i) external tanking, (ii) waterproof concrete and (iii) internal drainage/waterproofing. We went for external tanking and shuttered and reinforced structural waterproof concrete (btw steel reinforced concrete is often shortened to RC) as it seems like admitting defeat letting the water in and then draining it internally and pumping it out again. However internal drainage is often preferred by warranty and lenders since you can see it (and fix it) after you have finished. We will have a 20 year guarantee for our waterproofing from Cementaid / Caltite and they seem to be very thorough in checking the work our contractor is doing. Our contractor - who is a specialist groundworker / RC expert and is fantastic - reckons our external tanking is unnecessary except to get the warranty as the concrete is 100% waterproof on its own (providing it is properly done). Interestingly our structural warranty provider (LABC) was not prepared to cover the basement element. With ours - since we are out of the ground at the front, hydrostatic pressure in not a big issue - which it can be when you are fully in ground - so is much less critical and we have an externally drained French drain around the outside. Odd though it may seem, one of the issues is that in-ground basements tend to want to float (if you are below the water table at any time of the year) so you need to watch that! Not sure what your need for a contiguous piled structure is (retention of some form?) - you may well be able to use the basement walls for this structural element (if they have enough steel and concrete) - and perhaps temporary sheet piles while you do the dig and construction - we have done some of this and it has worked fine - and it may be cheaper that permanent piling plus basement walls. But you certainly don't want everything to collapse into your nice newly dug hole, and the last thing you want is one of your contractors buried in it (btw not a joking matter - holes can be very very dangerous place). Also you may want to consider having a basement footprint that matches the house above - depends on cost/budget - but can simplify things and may not be that much incremental cost. There can be an issue that if you mix a basement with traditional foundations they both need to go down to the same depth to avoid any differential movement - but talk to Structural Engineers on that. Tip: if you want to build extra basement, but dont have PP, then the extra bits you build are technically an 'undercroft' that you might convert at a later stage (subject to PP / PD). Our advice would be to first consider the use you want from a basement - storage (easyish) or fully habitable (much harder). Then look at the warranty and funding side and see if this constrains you on the methodology. Next step is a topo survey plus a good soil survey (this will be money well spent - and if a basement contractor is prepared to quote without seeing a soil survey then they are likely clueless or naive) and some careful thought about site drainage (while building and on-going) - which is really important if you are below ground. Armed with all that then talk to a few Structural Engineers and/or Architects and see what they think is best - they may not focus on cheapest but you likely will! Also talk to a few of the competing basement product providers for you chosen waterproofing - they should have approved contractors you can talk to. You may also want to look at ICF as it can be a good option for basements and is probably your only option if you want to do it yourself - we are not experts in this area but there are some on the Forum who are, and have done it all themselves (hats off!). You may also want to consider a few other things - like fire protection and exits (note that 3 story buildings get much more complex from a fire standpoint and basements have a few fire quirks all of their own), natural light, foul and grey water drainage, access, insulation, and of course how your SIP structure will sit on the basement (and link to the basement insulation without cold bridges). Also consider muck away - we generated 600m3 and this is really expensive if you cant 'loose' it somewhere. Site access may be a big issue on a small site as you will likely need lots of machines and lorries - oh and look at any overhead cables and underground services - these can cause havoc and delays that you might not believe - we can tell you the saga of the sewer if you ply us with drink! So best of luck with the project and welcome to the forum - we have found that there are lots of amazingly knowledgeable and generous folks out there. If you want then take a look at our week by week video Blog ( Self Building two in North Wiltshire) but be aware that we are building two houses and the below ground elements are really complex - PM us if you have specific questions or want to chat or visit. If you want we can ask our contractor if he is interested in a job in Herts but this may be too far for him - though he does cover a big area, and ours is a smallish job for him!

You should really have a tray, or cill pan below all windows and doors IMHO but I think there are better materials than lead, unless he wants you to weld all the corners you will get water penetration at the corners. You can buy specific tapes that stretch for forming the corners with no cutting, so no weak junction areas. You can also get a liquid flashing, this is what I will be using. Go to you tube to look for some horror stories of badly fitted windows.

You are going to scare the crap out of delivery boys. Or have you got rid of the bathcam.

I'll try and comment a bit after the bike ride. But I love the idea of "avoid moving kitchen". It has cheered me up. I can come down in the morning all bleary eyed and fall into the garden. "Bugger - it's moved to the other side this morning." Very Wallace and Gromit ?. Wasn't there a Mad Professor on Grand Designs who had a roundhouse on a turntable to follow the sun?