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The design is one used by Barbara Jones at Straw Works. They worked our original house layout sketches up into technical drawings (so no expensive architect required). The tyres are rammed with 10mm pea shingle (ie no mud), and are free draining and non-wicking. Think of them as rubber-wrapped gabion baskets. They are each around the same size but with some variations. All acquired free from grateful tyre fitters. Ideally our bales would have been purchased locally but that proved surprisingly difficult. We eventually found a farmer with suitable bales near Inverness. They are designated building bales, at the max density a standard baler can apply.

It would look dodgy with pipes going in through the bottom of the semi pedestal. Roca do some open bottom semi pedestals

Forgot to post this one, just the oven to raise up a bit which i'm going to do today, and then its onto flooring, kickboards and cornice which i'm hoping to get done this weekend, photos to follow!

@scottishjohn In Scotland you are generally required to submit a 'private water supply assessment' with your planning app. If you don't then they will often put a condition on your planning that you provide one prior to construction work commencing. They are looking for evidence of both quantity and quality for a supply. The requirement to do this does seem to vary a bit between local authorities. This website: https://dwqr.scot/private-supply/technical-information/physical-and-chemical-properties/ Provides the relevant info on the limits for certain parameters - colour, turbidity, iron, pH etc. If you need to get the water tested then there are private labs that can do it, but I found Scottish Water the most economical and easy to deal with. You are generally correct that upstream landowners have a responsibility (in law) not to interfere with downstream users water supplies. This would also apply to a spring. In practice this can get a bit messy and I have been involved in a few jobs over the years with arguments between landowners and supply owners.

I did, of course. I'm not a complete monster and will always admit when I'm wrong. except to the wife as in that respect I'm always right.

I think we are done with going up, so it's time to put a roof on the house. It's fully made from SIPS panels, approximately a foot thick so very little internal structure is needed. We had a little bit of argument on site today unfortunately between the SIPS people and scaffolders, but it was resolved and progress was made. It comes down to differing cultures and a lack of experience of the speed of this sort of build locally. The front as seen from the driveway approach. It has become quite an imposing building now. The green membrane is somewhat spoiling views out of the windows for the moment. We've decided we will need to acquire a small MEWP like in the foreground for fitting out, as later photos will show! The rear elevation Arty shot of the garden from the attic window. Lots of work to be seen out there! Daddy, I've changed my mind. Please can I have this room? The "This room" from the question above. The space works better than I imagined. Trying to show the interesing ceiling shape of the vaulted ceiling in the master bedroom. It gives plenty of scope for hiding discrete lighting HVAC and MVHR without damaging the effect. We have a bit of scaffolding to complete tomorrow so that roof access is possible for application of the membrane, then it is time to look at my small snagging list. I can hardly believe you can go from foundation to a near water tight roof in seven days!

While I welcome any grants or schemes to get our terrible housing stock to be less terrible, I always feel they fall short. In Ireland, they have/had the "Deep Retrofit Grant", which meant you only got your cash back after meeting the SAP requirements. By no means perfect, as only made sense along side other renovation works, but at least guaranteed that the work done made a significant improvement. Seems a more effective way rather then just throwing money at loft insulation jobs. And expect the cost of a loft insulation job to rise from £500 to £1500 ? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53313640

They usually take some of the weight. And they will hide the pipes, which is what they were designed to do,

With hindsight I'd have gone for a half or no pedestal. ...and maybe paid a tiler! ?

Full, to the floor, pedestal is a pita to clean around...apparently.

What about slate dpc?

Just for info.. Grohe use a program called Revit from Autodesk to create their cad models (.rfa files). To view them you need the Revit CAD program or the free Viewer that comes with it. Only problem is the downloaded is 7GB even if you only want the free viewer. I'll leave it installed on my PC for a week or two in case you'd like me to look at some others but after that I'll probably uninstall it.

Managed to open the cad model of the Grohe and look at the bottom. As suspected it looks like this..

Twyford Galerie Plan and is open at the bottom but not by much.

I might be able to load their CAD model. I'll have a go and let you know.

We've got two; neither open bottom. One is a Grohe, IIRC. They have a couple of special brackets which you screw to the back wall using a template. You then position the semi-pedestal under the basin and a couple of fixings screw through the pedestal into the wall brackets holding the whole thing in position. These have colour matching covers so the whole thing is very neat. We've had no issues with either.

@Thorfun https://www.roma.eu/ (site is in English). https://www.roma-cadplaner.de/ (thanks @Dan F)

Post a link. The few I looked at weren't open at the bottom.

Thanks Jilly, Joe90, Yes, think i am overthinking this. Appreciate your replies. This is where i need to give google a rest and just read factual sites, government etc as it does appear repeated exposure over time or an overwhelming high exposure seem to be the cause of future illness. It was probably just dust I was inhaling when I did the compacting. I think I need to stop worrying. Thanks all

Is there anything to tie the house to the ground? Or are you relying on friction?

We don't cut blocks over here for the returns at a corner we just use a standard concrete brick. If you don't use a stretcher bond then your joints will be too close and the wall will be more prone to movement and will crack and ruin your render. Plus try to build a few blocks on top of one another straight up and see how high you get before a butterfly knocks it over.

I am with Bitpipe on this. In a previous job I had to deal with a Dutch firm for machine spares and repairs. Their emails and spoken conversation came across as abrupt and rude. I am very thick skinned but this took me a while to get used to. No one on our site (150 employees) could string a sentence together in Dutch but our counterparts could all speak and write in English.

yeah, I had that too! the website is Roma.de just in case you want/need it. I found it a better search to specify a type of blind. e.g. Roma Venetian blinds.

I used high loaf 600 mil So I could fold it out to rap the edge of the beam and sit my first course of block on

Yes. One neighbour is in the same position. Since we both have to pay £462 each for and LDC. How about one of us applies for both areas out the back. So behind each garden. Would cut cost in half....?

I will be doing an exploration of the spring/stone culvert to see where it actually surfaces and if there is a possibility to pipe it direct through the field - Isuspect where it rises wil give me plenty of pressure ,however not sure iwould want to plumb direct due to low flow rate in a drought -so there can be no pollution from what the farmer does. I am reasonably sure the quality will be good as there are a lot of others using private supllies onthe same hill side,but will get it tested. Iwill get some piccies atsome point of what is there now

Bottom line, they do not deal with any UK distributor or manufacturer. We only deal with our supplier, even when I have tried contacting Roma directly they have been difficult with myself and advising me to speak to my supplier. Great product and great options available on the web (if you find them) but customer service is shocking. They used to deal in the UK and we are asked now and again to service things for them (such as garage doors), I just return the favour. Please speak to my supplier and we'll see if we can help.

Good for you, many wouldn't. I share your frustration - I bought a lot of build stuff from Germany (Megabad etc) and found the email and phone comms tricky but always with the right intention. A little bit of school boy German always helped (although ran out very fast).

@epsilonGreedy Have you considered a pre-fabricated GRP chimney? You can't tell they're not real brick from ground level and it would completely get rid of the structural worry that you have. https://www.capvond.com/grpglassfibre_mockchimneys/mockchimneys.php#:~:text=Many types of GRP mock,smooth through to roughly texture. and there's also GRP ones which are designed to take a real brick slip facing in case you need it to match: https://ibstockbrick.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ibstock-Kevington-Chimney-Brochure-July16.pdf

Is the engineer a one-man-show type? I deal with a mix of engineers and the guys working on their own can be super fast or really slow, they seem to operate in feast or famine without really programming work too well (only speaking from experience) so it might just be you've caught the guy when he's snowed under and should have said to you that he would take a while to come back on it - there's a lot of projects that have suddenly taken off in the last few weeks too! I would give him a call, and say you understand that he's busy and you're just looking for a realistic turnaround time on it, it might be the situation where being nice will get you sorted quicker!

Yes, lack of mains electricity is not for everyone. However, once the solar pv and batteries are set up the rewards are considerable. We haven't paid a utility bill in 4 years (only a Calor cylinder once every 4 months or so). Couple of folk have asked about Building Control. It did take us a year to get Building Warrant, but after that they've been no trouble at all, quite the opposite in fact. The good thing is that this type of design is now fully accepted by BC as compliant, and there are engineers who buy into the concept and will certify the design. This method is relatively low tech, low tolerance, and can be done mostly by reasonably handy non-professionals who are prepared to graft.

We have seen huge changes on site in the last couple of days. The SIPS team have worked very hard to keep things on track. I can't fault anything they have done. All the walls are in place now and we're waiting for the scaffolding to have the last lift built so the roof lift can happen, planned for early afternoon on Monday. Craning the roof panels into the assembly area. The small part of the L shape roof that goes over the master bedroom sitting waiting to be lifted. The front gable end is nearly completed. The rear elevation as seen from the lower part of the tiered garden. This is the veiw we'll get when driving in to the driveway. It gives a good view of the lounge and front door. Steico joists, a few steels and glulam beams for the ceiling of the first floor. The racking walls are waiting for covering. This leaves me with one or two sections of stud wall to install myself to complete the first floor layout. The master bedroom. We now have a view on what the vaulted ceiling is going to be like in here. The other side of the bedroom half round window, looking at the racking wall to support the far end of the purlin. Here's hoping the scaffolders will show up promptly on Monday morning having been allowed to go to the pub for the first time in an age!

My garage rear wall is 9m built with mediums and two piers, also 2 piers on gable walls (7m).

9m I would put a pier at both ends and then with 5 blocks in between piers - basically build it with any blocks and every 6 along and lay the piers on flat with the returns on the flat also. You could then just infill between the piers. Mediums would be fine too - heavies are a bit overkill.

I like ashp's, I like oil boilers but I fail to like the idea of combining the two systems together. Sounds like the control system could be a pain in the ass to mantain/repair further down the line. I would keep the system as simple as possible (although I have failed on that with our hybrid system). Have you seen the price of the vortex air unit?

Some heatpumps have built-in control for the boiler using similar strategy. The Peak/ Lailey and Coates unit for example.

I’ve found an ‘A+’ rated UVC. Vitocell 300-V 200, seems a bit pricey compared to the OSO and Panasonic, also not appropriate for ASHP. As far as I can see as it does not have the longer internal coil. The 200L model has a standing heat loss of 0.75, which is better the the Sunamp UniQ9, which is their 200L equivalent. https://viessmanndirect.co.uk/Catalogue/Commercial-Cylinders/Vitocell-300-V-Type-EVIA-A-Single-Coil/Vitocell-300-V-200-litre-EVIA-A-White-Z016794

It has been 3 weeks since the last Blog post and in some ways it feel an eternity and in others it seems only yesterday since Plot 1 TF was done - which is where we left the story. So lots and lots has happened since then so this entry will cover 'lots of stuff' in one go. Our main aim is to get both shell buildings up and then get them wind and watertight as soon as possible. The heavy rain we had just after Plot 1 was finished showed that the MBC OSB roof is not in any way watertight as water poured in through the roof and down the stairs - so we tarpaulined this one and then it hasn't rained since - typical. Anyway a huge push to get to a point where we can (hopefully) draw breath in two watertight houses - hence LOTS OF STUFF (good, bad and ugly!) PLOT 2 Timber Frame So MBC finished Plot 1 and moved over to Plot 2 - another big crane day and the lower floor went up in one day and the joist went on the next and then the boys left us for a long weekend back to Ireland as we fitted the UFH pipes. Having done it once already the UFH pipes went in just fine and this time we didn't have to cut all the metal plates so it was a bit easier. Then the MBC team came back and fitted the floor deck and the sole plate for the top floor and then the crane came back for the top floor walls and roof. The wind came up and so we had to have the crane back the next day to finish off as wind is not your friend when you have to lift big panels up and over a three story building! The boys cracked on and decided to work the Bank Holiday weekend and try to finish by the Sunday. We had already had some comments on the noise and weekend working and had talked to our BCO so we posted a polite notice to say because of CV19 guidance we were trying to reduce travel of our contractors so they would be working through. A couple of neighbours were supportive and sympathetic and one of them even invited the boys for a socially distanced beer after work. We had them stop work for 2 minutes at 11:00 on VE day so exactly at that point one of the neighbours switched on his pressure washer - you cant make this stuff up!. Everything pretty much went to plan and after a heroic effort the MBC crew finished on the Sunday evening as promised and both houses finished to shell level in under 5 weeks - and they look amazing. We did our best to look after the MBC crew as they were in local B&B without the Breakfast (or any food component) - its never ceases to amaze us how well simply treating contractors like human beings goes down. We guess that some of their clients must treat them badly - but why on earth would you want to? After MBC left we had a call from Environmental Health and it seems that some noise complaints had been received - it seems that the latest Government edict on allowing longer working hours on construction to get the economy moving only apply to Planning and not Environmental Health so we were suitably humble and promised to be good in the face of some very vague guidance. Given that we have been working on site since August and these are the first noise complaints its obviously not a serious problem, and as we are self building under loads of pressure we will continue to do DIY at weekends - though as quietly as possible. Yet again we find we really do have one or two vile neighbours. Roofing As we have a flat roof to keep the roof height at the same level as the original bungalow it has an EPDM (plastic / rubber single ply) membrane roof. This sits on a 24mm plywood deck on top of the MBC flat 12mm OSB roof and the MBC firring strips - which slope the roof slightly to get the water to run off. Sounds pretty simple but as with all these things its not so simple. First you need airflow in the gap between the two deck layers so there is no condensation to rot the timber - for this you need plastic soffit vents around the edge to stop the bugs and birds getting in so Joe and Chris fitted all these. Then you need to think how you get over 4 tonnes of plywood 9m up and onto the roof (plus all the rolls of membrane etc) and our roofers said they would do the roofing but not the lifting. Simple solution here was a tele-handler which is a huge forklift that makes short work of this kind of thing - just hire one - simple. But then you need a driver - again simple: one of Joe's colleagues Andy drives one all the time on musical festival sites and is qualified and was happy to come over to help out. So Andy and the roofers turned up and after a bit of delay the first pallet of ply was lifted onto the roof and they were away. Again a good crew who worked really hard and seem to be doing a great job. They have spent a week and plyed and membraned the main part of both roofs so we almost have a dry roof. It was really hot on the roof with no shade so ice-cream went down really well (and for us as we were up there working as well). They still need to do all the fiddly bits like rooflights and soil stack, plus all of the top of the oversail roof but the bulk is done. One wrinkle here is that the rear bay on Plot 2 has the same oversail detail and MBC couldn't fit this because the scaffolding is in the way, but we couldn't take down the scaffolding because we needed it for roofing the main roof on the floor above. So when the main roof is done we will have the scaffolders back to take down the back corner and then MBC will fit the roof and then the roofers will come back and fit that section of membrane roof. Oh how it all gets really convoluted and complex really quickly. Finally to add to the simple / complex plan we had the roofers and the window fitters start on the same day - what could possibly go wrong! Windows The EcoHaus Internorm surveyor came out and lasered around and said that the rear bay window on Plot 1 was 30mm too low and the three windows wouldn't fit. Some checking and it was an MBC error that they happily agreed to fix and Brendan popped over and spent a morning cutting 30mm off the underside of the 3 sided glulam frame in situ and in mid air with a skill saw. We were apprehensive about the sort of job he would do but skill saw is an understatement when it comes to Brendan: two saw cuts one from each side that met perfectly in the middle - truly fantastic work. So one week after MBC had finished EcoHaus Internorm arrived to fit the windows (same day as the roofers - but the windows arrived first!). Their plan was to fit all of Plot 1 windows and then move to Plot 2 - but they were all over the place fitting windows at what seemed like random. We had some of the scaffold moved to make space for them and they seemed happy - and we said if they needed anything at all just to ask. So we were working around the back of the house when we heard an almighty crash and ran to see what had happened. They had asked Andy to lift a huge pallet of windows up above the garage level (about 2m) so they could load them through the window opening. During the unload one of the fitters stepped off the scaffold onto the pallet. The load slipped and the windows fell. Included in this fall was the fitter who had stepped onto the pallet. Ongoing discussions with EcoHaus preclude us from saying much more about this except to say that mercifully the fitter was only bruised and a load of windows were damaged (no glass broken though) and will need replacing - it could have been much much worse. They carried on and then discovered than one of the huge panes of glass for Plot 1's rear slider was cracked in transit from Austria, and also that there were no bolts to fit Plot 2's Juliet balcony. Finally, and this is my fault; the front door for Plot 2 is handed wrong and will need a new frame. So they finished fitting what they could but we have three gaping holes awaiting replacements and a bunch of other stuff that needs rectifying. We have to say that the quality of the actual windows is fantastic, but the experience has not been good so far. Just to contrast this with another MBC issue: we discovered that the kitchen window on Plot 1 didn't fit and there was a 300mm gap above the head of the window (window surveyor didn't spot this one). Well after MBC had left site we discovered a 300mm panel that didn't seem to have a home! Quick call to MBC and yes this was the missing piece, they apologised and Mike came over the next day, apologised some more, fitted the panel and problem solved. If only all the people we deal with had the same attitude then it might all be simple! Rooflights, gutter, soffits and facia Since we have been on a cost cutting mission we have taken on much more of the 'doing' ourselves and keep trying to cut costs where we can. One of these is the guttering etc. the original plan was powder coated aluminium. However this would have been about 3x the cost of plastic, and given the really complex oversail roof detail this would have been really expensive to have fitted. So, and with some real reluctance, we have gone for plastic gutter and soffits and facia. We would be the first to admit it doesn't look as good and will not last as well as aluminium but it is 9m in the air and nobody will examine it in detail. Its likely we will compromise and fit metal gutter to the rear bay (when its finished) as this will be almost at eye height and will look much better. So a mad rush as the three of us have been busy fitting all this and trying to keep half a step in front of the roofers who need the gutter fitted before they can membrane the oversail roof. The reality is that the plastic looks really OK - though we are somewhat mystified by the physics of fitting a flat gutter all the way round the roof - anyone done this? We had to call a stop on Saturday as the wind was really strong and the plastic panels wanted to take off and it really wasn't safe. Also as part of the roofworks we have 4 rooflights on the roof :- 3 fixed pyramid lanterns, 1 on Plot 1 over the stairs and 2 over stairs and landing on Plot 2, plus one flat sliding opening rooflight over the en-suite on Plot 2. The fixed lanterns were flat pack so we have just brought all the parts up onto the roof and built them in-situ ready for the roofers to flash the membrane roof around them. The sliding light was ready built and is really heavy and a 4-man lift so MBC helped unload it and store it and the roofers moved it to the tele-handler and we hoisted it up to the roof and they moved it to a point where its a really simple install. We have had to build the upstand / kerbs for all of these so they fit exactly into place - and we were able to test this with the empty frames. We have just placed the completed unit above the landing and it really looks great - the one above the stairs will look great but at the moment the hole is covered with ply as there is a 9m drop below it and we dont want to leave that open for obvious reasons! MVHR Joe decided he was going to fit his own MVHR system as its not too big and complex and he is desperate to save every penny as he doesn't imagine he will be back on live music lighting until next year so has no income and a lot of time. We have all worked on this install and its not too hard, but the sheer volume of ventilation pipework is mind boggling and routing it is a real challenge. Plot 2 is more complex and since we no longer have an M&E person will get CVC in to install and commission - though having done one we could probably do this one as well! As you can see a lot of stuff in the last few weeks - and a real mix of good, bad and ugly! And still not wind and watertight as planned, but certainly a lot drier! Next steps will be to sort the insulation (Plot 2 is really complex) and screed - which needs doing before MBC can test for air tightness and we can start first fix, and also to get the render done so we can get the scaffold down and finally see the houses for the scaffold. On the insulation and screed front we has planned on 150mm of PIR insulation and 100mm of screed, the thick screed to get some thermal mass and delay into the heating/cooling system. In the interests of cost reduction it looks like 100mm EPS + 90mm PIR + 60mm pumped screed will be much cheaper and have similar U value but lower thermal mass - any thoughts on this plan? Or even 200mm EPS + 50mm screed - which has slightly worse performance but lower cost? One nice moment last week was when we were up on the scaffold and a couple walked past, stopped, looked at the build and said 'wow that looks amazing!' . So nice to hear that others agree with us; it really is starting to look amazing!!!!

The problem with customers getting hold of this (and also the Roma Kompendium) is that they then start asking for all the sorts of different options and add-ons that are available and drive their window supplier mad! ?.

it is more like a cess pit -two chambers but its made like a dry stone dyke -no mortar between stones --so it must just leak out everywhere and there is no sign of a discharge pipe --so that must be the way it was designed in1800,s

lol thank god im not alone, that’s a really good idea. Could put the baby with my youngest for a few years so we all sleep upstairs and eventually move downstairs as they get older and want more space. It’s so intimidating starting but I’m hoping it will come together.....really hoping!