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Incidentally, just to completely Ferdinandize this thread, I was essentially declared clear of the Hairy Cell Leukemia this afternoon.

My thinking is more a collection of sheds! So you'd have a kitchen diner and shower room in one, then a master en suite bedroom in another. Then after that you can add your sitting room and additional bedrooms... there would be some kind of roof to shelter the in-between bits... the one pictured above is more house like than I'd picture, I'll see if I can dig out some old sketches but think my sketchbooks are in the loft! It's one of those that I'd have to build it myself to prove the concept before I could convince a client to do something as out there! And congratulations!

Yep, they don’t. They just need to be in the same order as you entered them on the form and with a unique reference number.

No buck passing really. in the event of a failure, then your insurers would look at whether you had BRegs approval for the work. Once that is determined then they would look at whether it was built to design, and if the design was at fault, and then they would persue the appropriate parties insurer. If it’s a failure of a component that has been correctly designed and installed then the insurers will just pay up.

I’m using up off cuts! luckily my partner and I sleeps like logs! so no problem getting up in the night. The thing that wakes me is the light going on, hence the PIR activated small LED bathroom lights, they give out just enough light to show you the way to the loo and sink and that’s it.

Haha only just spotted this.

I've heard more bad than good about them...a lot more to the point I didnt even bother speaking to them. I heard nothing but good things about Ecology and as it stands they were the only ones I approached. Remarkably easy to deal with, all done via email and a couple of Skype calls. There's a few options out there but for me, I can thoroughly recommend Ecology.

Make sure you wipe the adhesive off the tiles and try to get it out of the grout line too. It will make your job a lot easier later on. Use a damp sponge and just keep rinsing it off.

Congratulations! That must have been a fantastic feeling to hear that. Such a weight being removed.

or porcelain tile planks that look like wood ? example https://www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/oslo-grey.html?qty=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImquRn8a-6wIVj-3tCh0EEQQREAQYAiABEgLAtfD_BwE#fo_c=1485&fo_k=ac2754396c980e4ec9329a2d90e6a1dd&fo_s=gplauk&fo_oid=4744

Ok so that’s a standard detail. Not a lot you can do to mitigate the loss

It depends on the height of the roof/celiling. The beam is either "in the ceiling" or "in the wall" if you get what I mean. Ours are in the wall so the inside had vertical patches of plasterboard covering the beam and then the wall was plastered. It sounds like your beam is higher (or the ceiling lower) so the beam is best hidden in the ceiling as per that cross section. Either use taller ceiling joists and notch them for the bottom of the beam or fix battens to the underside so the plasterboard is a bit lower and covers the beam.

I built a one bedroomed timber framed, latch clad tiny house for £30,000.

lol, i hadnt realised- i am speaking with SipsEco just now. Sorry for typo. Seems EcoSips are based 20 minutes away from them- confusing! Must be a story there... I've got Kore at about 60% of Isoquick cost but excluding installation. I will be remote managing so thought supply & fit might be less of a headache.

The rate of our buildings falling down doubled, from 0 to 0 ?

Well I married for my plot!!,!, and had to supply “the house”. We had all services as that makes it easier/cheaper which is why “bungalow gobbling” is so popular. I did a lot of my own build but at my tender age (and I wanted it finished before I pegged it) I paid a local, very good, builder to put up the shell. Bought my own JCB, dug the foundations, did all timber work, plumbing etc. What it cost me is sketchy as I am crap at keeping records but I am sure £100k would get you a long way. Had I been younger (and more broke) I probably would have done a stick build as timber is what I am good at (and have all the tools) .

Yes labour costs would be much less here. Another thing is materials cost vary massively depending on where you are. We have easy access to sand and gravel here in northern Ireland so things like hardcore, building and plastering sand, blocks , concrete, concrete tiles, concrete lintels etc are much cheaper. Plus you have plastic manufacturers like Brett martin, polypipe,wavin and radius all set up here so you can get plenty of good prices with all your drainage materials. Quite a few insulation companies are also based here as well. All of these things all add up.

They should be standard 1200 straps which have 100mm leg with 1100m drop.

Why do the phrases "gravy train" and "unnecessary red tape" pop into my mind?

After fitting all these types (and seeing some problems thereafter ) I would go engineered, more stable than real and more solid than laminate and can be sanded to restore if needed. I HATE hollow sounding flooring and found so many laminates that float sound hollow. With our new build we also have a shoes off policy (like so many other countries do) and it makes a difference

Very lucky indeed... my builders approach was a little more carefree, I think he preferred to install the cavity insulation from the other side of the field, like some kind of trick basketball shot. It felt like I had to pull him up on something he’d done wrong everyday. .... still , it did mean I got to learn an awful lot about how not to do things ... in preparation for my next build, which I swore that I would never ever do again ?

I don't have one yet. The truss company measurer is visiting next week. I will sound him out and also go back and review the notes on the original building control drawing. Ah ha. These twisted straps tie the truss directly to the wall rather than introduce the intermediate truss to wall plate fixing to the overall solution. On first sight this direct fixing seems better now I am wondering if a twisted tie every 2m is superior to the truss to wall plate connection every 600mm. I like the idea of long straps. I noted these on another build last year, they came 1m or maybe more down the block wall.

when I lived in shropshire a neighbour, who was an SE, designed his cottage using oak beams but the BI would not sign it off saying he needed steels, it went to a tribunal of some sort and the “judge” found the SE was more qualified than the BI and overruled him ???

Also worth noting that different SE’s have different methods. I use one who used to design a lot of chemical engineering structures and he is well versed in having removable components for access. That means he knows the correct layout and calculation of bolt patterns and will design steels for ease of installation. Fast forward to them being installed and the BCO that comes out wants them site welded as “he doesn’t think bolts are enough”.. queue a series of questions about his technical knowledge and his insurance coverage or liability (none as LABC have no liability) and he reluctantly agreed to pass it as the SE said it was ok. In that case it is still signed off but at liability of the SE. There is a local SE to me that does a lot of timber structure designs but he lived in Canada for about 10 years and they rarely use steel. He had some real problems with BCOs not accepting some of his calculations as they were used to using standard steel sizings and couldn’t comprehend that a bit of wood was as good as a lump of steel....

On a slight tangent to this thread, the only regret about my new build is the sound transmission between floors despite 100mm sound insulation, in hindsight I would have double boarded the downstairs ceiling and/or resilient bars.

You have to wash the lanolin out of it or they will decay. Easily done with a new concrete mixer ..!!

our cavity was filled with 200mm of dritherm 32 (two 100mm batts), some we’re worried about not having an air gap behind the brickwork but it has a BBA certificate for full fill cavity work. The blockwork was parged with a slurry mix, then cement render then plaster finish. Around timber joists In the brick work the ends were wrapped in breathable membrane and pinned under the cement render, even between floors before the ceilings and floors were installed ( read up about the “Tony tray “as a variation but mine did not create a slip plane.) Cables in walls were sealed at back boxes with silicone. We had a warm roof, lined with 11mm OSB bubble glued together and sealed to the wall with expanding foam. The only leaks found during the airtest were a couple of windows not sealed to walls as well as I would have liked (can’t blame anyone I did this ?).

The kitchen is huge but with the majority of units facing walls, so person in there will mainly have back to windows/view outside/guests & family in dining area. The C shaped bit (garage wall) could be quite dark. Utility could feel like a never ending corridor and appears excessively big/long. If you moved the utility between kitchen & garage, you could create a panty and a smaller utility room (noting you intend to have a laundry room upstairs). Your kitchen therefore could consist of a bank of mainly higher units and a massive double depth seating island. Whoever cooks therefore would be mainly facing into a fantastic spacious dining kitchen with the windows / views. Probably would be cheaper to do as would need less kitchen units. very rough sketch attached just to provoke an alternative idea.

I downloaded a trial version of "PV Sol". Not the easiest to use, but it produces nice pictures and seems to match reality - I modelled a friend's existing PV scheme and got good agreement with historic results.

We went on a self build course and were told that solid walls should be wet plastered if you want good insulation. You have just confirmed this

Welcome A really great time to negotiate the price on a plot The uncertainty with the economy is a plus for us self builders Good luck with the search

About 4 months ago I read a long document that had criteria from many lenders. I can't remember if it was aimed at valuers or brokers, but with timber frame lots wanted brick / block outer leaf. It was not the main thing I was looking at. Flood risk, above commercial, multi storey, tenant type were more of interest. Grenfell has put everyone off non brick or block. I think Trada etc did no favours by not emphasising fire risk. Once you cannot easily gain insurance, you cannot get funding and your asset is worth sod all.

Three stages completed and signed off: (1) foundations (2) wall plate (3) wind and water tight. This last one was back in June when we started plasterboarding. BCO then said nex time he'd visit around completion time only, so I assume we only have one last (final) BC visit to pass.

We'll find out on Monday when our bloody electrician is back from holiday! Took 4x days off this week, words fail me .... Also, can anyone please state in plain Engish which are the main key areas BC must sign off on ? Electricity certificate, plumbing certificate, what else? gas connection? sorry for a silly question, but we're working 24/7 now to push it as fast as possible and I'm nearly brain dead...

I don't think HMRC would be motivated to reject a VAT reclaim submitted earlier than BC sign off. Their concern must be self builders stretching the rules the other way and accumulating VAT receipts for routine householder DIY projects post move-in or buying stuff for family & friends. There is one English Council down south that operates a pre building control sign-off habilitation safety check a bit like the Scottish system other than that I'd say just move in when you can tolerate the state of partial completion. Are the smoke alarms working?

Glad to have found this topic. We're in a bit of a pickle as our completion certificate is likely to be end of September, however we MUST move in by 15th as rent (and site insurance!) expires and have nowhere to live. House is pretty much habitable (we've got toilets installed this week!). If BC comes, say, next week, and we expect it may require a few bits and bobs finished before the certificate can be signed, can we still move in before it's all done? It's London, no Highlands... Happy to start paying tax whenever, and VAT reclaim is almost ready for submission.

This was the generally accepted wisdom until the much discussed case of the self builder who moved in and then spent ages flapping about with some heating design/sign off issue. Their VAT claim was rejected because in their case HMRC started the 3 month claim clock from the date of effective habitation. Does anyone know how that saga ended?

Was this still under site insurance or regular home insurance?

Ditto, my master en suite is larger than the main bathroom (the guest en suites are smaller). The master has 2 basins too, and a larger bath and shower. Ironically I use the bath in the main bathroom as the one in my en suite is really too large ?.

Wouldn't acoustic insulation roll be better? PIR is poor in terms of sound insulation as it is light and rigid. The point is correct though, if noise is a concern it can be dealt with in the design. I would have thought someone getting out of the bed is more disturbing.

And in Scotland there is also a Certificate of Temporary Habitation which you can get when the house is part built to allow you to legally occupy it. That can also be used for a VAT claim.

The Counsul tax can kick in at anytime As some have found on here Including myself Your BC completion certificate is the one that starts your countdown for your vat claim We we’re living in our pretty much compete house for five months before we asked BC to do the sign off cert

All the details of the test method and calculations are in building regs. Hopefully someone will post a link. (I am only familliar with the Scottish version which are probably the same)

When I have trenches in any sub base (for instance when I know a drain run is going through and I don't want to re dig the compacted stone) I usually chuck a couple of planks in them and run the wacker over. Save the problem you have of being too delicate with the wacker around where these runs are. Take the planks out after, trim out with a shovel then do what you've gotta do.

So do we. All our internal walls are block but they sit on full foundations like the exterior walls but narrower. Do you have a chimney and what does the foundation for that look like?

I've used it, both for loft and between floor joists (both retrofit). Worked really well, I like that it helps to regulate moisture/condensation risk, and it's extremely pleasant to work with compared to mineral/glass/fibre/stone wool.

not heard of those before, our internal walls had footings as deep as outside walls but narrower

No it won't. Aside: concrete will need levelling even if what's underneath is level. Make sure you know how to do that and have people to help when concrete delivered.

The hardcore/infill should be compressed with something like a walker plate. I also compresses the sand. Are you sure the BCO wasn't referring to the overall height? Eg he thinks there isn't enough height left for whats going on top for the planed FFL?

The Eddi manual is really comprehensive - https://myenergi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/eddi_manual_v2.3_english.pdf AFAIK you can use the Eddi without the Harvi provided you can run the cabled CT clamp round your meter tails to monitor power in/out and for the Eddi to divert accordingly. If not, you can use the Harvi to wireless connect CT clamps to Eddi. You've then also got the 'hub' which is basically the internet gateway bit so you can use the app to control/fiddle/monitor your Eddi HTH. MM