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I have come to the conclusion that all houses look better in photos than in real life. So I now try not to worry about the small imperfections unless it is something I will look at on a daily basis or it is a functional defect. The 1mm error on the nailing of the front gable apex trim does still annoy me of course. Nobody else can see it from ground level of course.

I know exactly how you feel. Five years after moving in, there are still things I look at every day - several times a day, most days - that annoy me due to how poorly they've been done. My wife doesn't see them, and to be honest I'd much rather be like her. I think that if I were doing this again, I'd short-circuit this issue by choosing more rustic finishes as far as possible. For example, rather than a smooth skim finish, I'd probably go for a rougher bagged finish. Instead of a sharp modern kitchen, I'd probably go for something quirky and recycled (eg, old teak lab bench instead of Corian), so that it's imperfect from the start.

Self building reaches a cold , hard hand down into your stomach and wrenches it with sickening power. At the same time it empties your bank account as fast as a trip to Las Vegas. It wakes you up at all hours and keeps you awake as well as any baby. Charlatans hiding in plain sight add spice to the mix: nowt like people not doing what they say they'll do while keeping your money in their account. Keeps the blood pressure up quite well that. @MJNewton, thats what makes this board so successful. We all suffer the same gut wrenching horror. Self building hardens you. It has shown me that moving on is the only way to deal with imperfections. Unless there's a clear cut case of malpractice and unprofessional behaviour, then Head Down Arse Up Go turns the stress you feel into something worthwhile. I've been cutting holes for downlights this week. A few of the holes are a few mm out. One visitor pointed the error out. The remark said more about the person making it than anything else. The errors will be there for all to see as long as I am alive. Let's see who points it out. A useful filter that. Make the error, move on. Turn the stress into useful behaviour.

The pipe from my hot cylinder to my manifold is over 20m. From manifold to kitchen hot tap is around 12m. With the hot return off it takes a totally unacceptable several minutes for hot water to arrive in kitchen. With hot return on it is absolutely instant. The hot return is one of my favourite things in the house and would be even if my layout didnt make it essential. The pump is likely the most expensive bit so run the pipe anyway and try to live without it, then when you realise you cant, buy a pump. Don't B'regs oblige you anyway on the grounds of water wastage if hot runs have over about 8m of dead leg?

Never mind self-build; it's self-help I think I need! This is a topic that's probably better suited to lighthearted discussion in a pub, but actually I think this forum might well house kindred spirits that may well understand where I'm coming from, and perhaps offer some insight as to dealing with it. The goal of perfection. For some reason I'm always aiming for it, or rather I'm really dissatisfied with imperfection. I mean *really* dissatisfied - disappointed, anxious, sleep disrupting etc. For example, this evening there are a couple of additions to my mental 'unhappy with' list - some roller marks where I've painted the new large open plan room and a couple of plasterboard join lines where the skimming hasn't been perfect and is just about visible in certain unforgiving lighting conditions etc. The rest of the house has had these sorts of things for years and they've never bothered me but this new room should be perfect right, because it's new! Not only have such blemishes in the existing house not bothered me previously, I haven't even spotted the vast majority despite living here for 10 years - it's only now I'm walking around looking for them to compare against my own handy work that they are making themselves known. Perhaps that's the secret to the way out of having such an easily-discomforted mind - these things probably won't matter in time. I hope they don't anyway. Something that is possibly also very telling is that these imperfections are often bigger in my mind than reality - next time I seem them they're not quite as bad as I remembered. Bad enough though. The way I feel is the main reason I don't like employing tradesmen as invariably I feel disappointed with some aspect of their work. I don't mention it (unless it's really bad such that even a 'normal' person would say it needs fixing) but I am often left with a feeling of some regret that either I picked the wrong guy or should've done it myself. Does this sound familiar to anyone? If so, how do you deal with it? I keep reminding myself that these are 1st world problems, and that actually if the things I'm worried most about invariably fall into the category of 'aesthetics' rather than, say, 'health' or 'finances' then really I'm probably luckier than 99.9% of the rest of the population and should be grateful for it. Such positivity only lasts so long through; I'll be staring on my DIY blemishes again in the morning when having my cereals with the same sick feeling brewing in my stomach. Tell me I'm not alone...?! ?

@Mr Punter Assuming the loft hatch is similarly metric, therefore 900mm (it allows space for fingers if it isn't metric) then the thickest 1200 wide of standard size board would be 70mm. 75mm is a little too thick unless you don't mind rounding off the corners or the board is at the low end of the manufacturing tolerance. Do you need to see working out? ?

Sorry if already mentioned but.. Are you building internal walls off the B&B floor or off the screed/concrete? If the screed is going in after the internal walls then where the screed meets at doorways you should form an expansion gap. This is less important for timber floors but essential with tiles/stone. The screed will most likely shrink slightly towards the centre of each room pulling apart/cracking at doorways. The crack won't be straight and can curve more into one room than the other. It can propagate through the tiles as we found out.

If i ever drive passed, i'm going to stop. Drop a note in saying," Great house, shame about that facia nail being out of line with the others" ???

Re "imperfections" I tiled the main bathroom floor. I was told it was "imperfect" and to get a proper tiler for the en-suite. So I did. The En-suite is "imperfect" and now I am told I could have done it better. No point arguing with facts like that.

Not even Shhhhh.... You-Know-Who?

You maybe one of those unfortunate people who are acutely sensitive to the vibrations of the dilithium crystals inside ASHPs. A strapadictomy might cure it. I'd ask the engineer when he comes.

Yes is the short answer. Nothing is perfect, people, buildings, whatever you can think of.

For me stress has become normal; the trick is to turn it into something positive. And I dont always manage it. Yet.

You were never going to get a positive answer from asking HMRC, your best hope was to try and sneak it through. The 50% seemed like a generous offer tbh.

D shackles or karibiners onto the single hook.

https://www.bes.co.uk/1in-bsp-female-outlet-brass-essex-cylinder-flange-12266/

...and similar to the campaign to stop photoshopping in adverts/social media and the effect this has on adolescent mental health and the pressure to achieve the unachievable, perhaps there needs to be a similar ban on building mags/Grand designs for the sake of the mental health of middle aged men!

You are not alone, that could be me writing above. I have spent my entire working life, more or less, designing aspects of buildings, sitting in meetings with all disciplines discussing integration and compatibility of design elements and even with a team of 100's working on a new building things still end up just not quite right on site, certainly mistakes or oversights are made but also because generally contractors don't actually care and will drill holes and mount things where suits them, often to the detriment of the user, design, aesthetics or function. However, the fact is then that buildings are not perfect, I think what we see if meant to be pretty good on the whole, but even in new builds you go into cupboards and plant rooms and risers or basements only to find rubbish, paint runs down walls, concrete splashes on equipment, ducting joints that are rough as get out. This is partly why I, like you don't trust many tradesmen, I feel that they don't care. I have used very few trades on my build, I got a brickie in, I was happy with his work and cleanliness, the dry-dasher/builder was good but he got some of the soffit and fascia a bit squint which annoys me but a year after being done I have sort of forgotten about it, but I do sometimes look up at it and it irritates me, for the sake of shaving a rafter tail and packing out another tail it would have been perfect and I would have done that, it would have annoyed my having to go and mess with bits of wood and cutting bits and maybe delaying it by another weekend but I would have done it that way, I built my garage in 2018, on the first side of the roof I was still learning about the details of roof tiling, getting the first tile lifted up enough to allow for the fact it is not sitting on a tile, I got it close but there was always a bigger gap on the bottom row, however I finally fixed that at the weekend as it annoyed me and I am now happy as Larry, because every time I saw it it did annoy me and it did cause me to lie in bed wondering what I should do, how to fix it without a bodge etc. I also now know how to do it and have done it another two times since the first one and my roofing is as far as I am concerned perfect. I think this is part and parcel of this sort of work. If you ask me I would tell you my builds are full of mistakes, but I think really only very few would spot them and at that they are only mistakes because I know they are mistakes. I think builders and joiners and plumbers, all the trades really make them all the time, they shove bits in and glue bits on and stuff things into holes and just don't care. In an ideal world everything would be perfectly square, cut accurately, every finish would be textbook, joinery work would be flawless, but it isn't and in 1-2 years when this is all over and done you will forget about it, you will put a plant next to that bad bit of skirting, or you will hang a picture on the lump on the wall. I do sometimes get fedup with things too always striving for perfection and not getting it, so I get annoyed so I decide that I will risk getting someone in, doesn't happen often but sometimes if I just say I want X, Y and Z done and I come to look at it a week later and it is done, I do feel pleased it has moved on, even if there are a few little issues, but then, maybe I would have had my own issues that might have looked worse.

Yeah this is definitely normal, i get it every time i do something! Perhaps i'm just a disappointment lol! It wears off after a few weeks, hang on in there. I always say DIY isn't how good you can do something, but how good you can cover your mistakes up so it appears to look good to the untrained eye...now your all going to think my house is falling apart lol!

dwg true view (Autocad's viewer) let's you do it. It's a free download. https://www.autodesk.com/products/dwg/viewers

Good morning to Y’all. Newbie here about to start a self build in Suffolk and stumbled across this group. Looks good. Will probably have a number of questions to ask in due course but reading all your Q&A’s is pretty helpful too.

I think it depends if the “fault “ is fixable or not, paint runs, bumps on plaster etc can be sanded and re done after the house has settled in the first year when initial cracks etc tend appear (well that’s what I have been telling myself). I worry more about tiles not being right/level, skirting not straight, the kind of stuff that requires more major upheavals to get them right but I have told myself if it still bothers me after a year I will fix it, if I forget all’s good.

My 36v Makita has a factory depth stop up by the trigger set so that when engaged it allows a 2mm cut into the face material. You then slide back, disengage the stop, and complete the cut. DEFFO do NOT have the saw blade finishing on or just below the underside of the cut material. You need to have at least 10mm clearance to allow the teeth to cut upwards rather than cut forward, as the latter tears through and the former cuts clean through. The blade being 40t minimum and new is beyond critical criteria for a good finish.

There is no right answer for all materials, blade protrusion depends on the material being cut and the surface finish (thats the material itself, not splintering etc.) General rule of thumb - unfinished chipboard and OSB full protrusion to clear the blade gullets of resin faster. Melamine - approx 1/2 tooth. practice/test cuts is the only real way to be sure

Make some practice cuts on a sacrificial piece of offcut see what works for you

Return can be a 15mm or a 10mm pipe. 10mm is my weapon of choice. Less cross-sectional area = less losses. Yes. Cold water ( ambient of the house temp by that stage so not fully ‘cold’ ) returns to the tank. It’s a continuous, recirculating loop. If you T it into an open vented system and come in at the cold inlet you’ll increase turbulence and the stored hot water capacity a bit as the bottom ‘cool’ section would be uplifted by the ( eventual ) return of hot water.

So in a traditional system, to fit a return pump, the return has to go into the cylinder at a certain height? This image, picked at random, seems to suggest so. Means letting in an Essex flange is it? Are pipe sizes important on the return?

Good points from all. Eandg.. a good place to start is to look at the NHBC guidelines on building near trees. You'll find this online. Good explanation and diagrams. Type into search engine "NHBC building near trees setion 4.2." This will give you a good start.. easy to read. Clay shrinks and swells and it does this in all directions, up and down and sideways too. Your Engineer seems to be excluding this and passing design responsibility back to the piling contactor who has at least picked up on this. Turning to your quotes.. for a lot of domestic applications ( well commercial too).. some piling contractors work on the premisn of "who dares wins" When you are designing piles you want to make sure that you are not driving though made ground / fill. If this moves it can drag the piles down too so you need to take this into account. Sounds like you don't have made ground so look on the bright side. If you want to post the calculations and results of any gound investigation.

If it's only needed for the kitchen then it is not so essential as could be done via a TMV off of an instant boiling water tap like the quooker combi, which is what we're doing as we're having the boiling tap anyway Saves on some system complexity

Decent site to understand all the “Plans” https://www.flameport.com/electric/central_heating/heating_wiring_W_plan.cs4

As above, I Sioo-X'd ours after fitting. Larch is pretty durable anyway, so I couldn't justify the expense of treating the back and the off-cuts. Not too bad a job with a hand pressure sprayer from Screwfix and a masonry paintbrush to work it in, but you need to time it right with the weather.

Looking at about £145k for us to get watertight - inc ground works but excluding design, planning, BC fees etc. (£15k ground works, £75k walls/floors, £25k roof, £30k doors and windows.) That's about 60% of our budget. That's for a 300m2 ICF 1.5 story house with basement, built to passive standards.

It's not "dual flush" that is the problem, it's the modern release valves. These often leak a trickle regardless of whether they are dual or single flush. Lets all go back to syphonic flushes. They did not leak.

My other half wanted an island but like @Big Jimbo I hate cramped spaces (and I have been fitting kitchens for years). I came to a compromise with a peninsula That can be sat at, but a proper dining table behind.

+1 on Topo, you'll need this for the house design process anyway, planners will want to see it etc. Do you have the budget to consider building a passive basement below the house? Effectively the externally insulated walls become strip foundations to meet the structure above and the insulated raft becomes the basement floor. You then have a suspended timber floor at ground level but don't need to insulate it. UFH can go in basement (but we didn't bother as the ambient temp is constant year round) instead we put it under the ground floor using all spreader plates. Effectively it's a more extreme version of what @ProDaveDave is suggesting.

You could build a 600mm thick eps raft "super insulated raft"....... Joking apart I have seen EPS used on commercial sites to build up the ground levels.

I also wanted an insulated slab, but would need to build up over 600mm to get the height needed, this wasn’t really a problem but retaining that 600mm of Stone was. It will be the same in your case you would need a retaining wall at the highest point to retain all the stone needed to level the site. Alternatively you can have a step in the house half way through the floor area. Before you talk to anybody you would be wise to get a topo survey done so you all know the height difference you are talking about.

I cut some Celcon into wedges an mortar gunned them in.

(I know, I know...the photos didn't paste in and I will have to do them one at a time...I'll get 'round to it I promise...managed the first dozen, more to come) Part One-Wind And Watertight For Under £6k I'm new to blogging and probably have nothing much in terms of knowledge to impart but some of you might be interested in building on a low budget so here goes. After many years on the waiting list we got offered a plot on the famous West Highland Way about 3 miles north of the starting point in Milngavie, just north of Glasgow. For £4k we get a 20 year ground lease around 100ft square, ground rent is £90 per month and of course membership of the community group that collectively owns the whole estate. See more about Carbeth Hutters here http://www.carbethhu...o.uk/index.html we needed planning permission and Carbeth is itself a conservation area so we kept to the hutters spirit of ingenuity and self-everything and splashed out on some graph paper from the local stationers. We made several models from foam board (thanks JS Harris) and finally paid the fee and waited... I'll add the plans when I find them but permission was granted and we stated work digging the footings by hand. Oh I should say at this point so far we have not paid for one trades person nor used any machines other than a Makita saw and drill and a Hitachi gas nail gun. Many thanks to Dominic Stevens and this website for teaching me all I needed to know about the mysteries of marking out http://www.irishvernacular.com/ In May we braved the rain and pressed on building 14 (dodgy bricklaying) piers one big one using cobble stones the rest using concrete blocks from a reclaimed mono bloc driveway. Our near £2500 load of timber arrived and it was time to see if the 'water in a tube' method of levelling the piers was accurate or not...first big confidence builder-it was bang on level across a 4m span I really wish I had bought OSB flooring as the chipboard got soaked a dozen times...its fine now but we have a few swollen joints that will need attention before final floor goes down. Lots of wet days and rain dripping of noses but a nail gun is a great stress buster for us Social Work types and the wall panels and trusses were complete...time for a big hut raising weekend! The June weather was kind and we got a lot of work done but the tarps had to go back on as the floor was still getting soaked... Magic, frame complete Roof is almost there and again we had 8 volunteers over the weekend...including schoolboy nephews who kept wandering off with tools! Then end of June saw the EPDM roof being stuck on with the stickiest of glues but close to water proof at last. On the odd evening we managed to get the windows in... Got some nice doors from Gumtree for £40 so in they go and by the end of June we are almost there Insulation and building paper on Oh and Gumtree found us some kitchen bargains so shipped then up as its nice and dry inside now *smiley face* Cladding And Lighting Weather was sh#t all July so had to bash on through the rain... Sparrow Fart recommended the Hitachi nail gun and as I'm on my fourth box that's 7000 nails so far! 90% Finished...90% To Go... Nearly there...hearth and fire needed to go in as it was getting too cold to work... Got a reclaimed dance floor 57m for £250 so that went down too. Finished off the ceiling joins with some 5mm ply, looks okay. Finally got the dry toilet finished but not *commissioned* it yet. Put some furnishings in for a trial run. Just some plumbing, wiring and joinery to go. Oh and the view from daughters window... Diy Plans-Graph Paper And Pencil I am putting these images up simply to show that you do not have to employ professional help to submit planning applications. For most of you serious self builders designing the house of your dreams I suspect that this will be the only way to go but my little project is different from the norm in many ways. Firstly Stirling Council (in fact the single planning assistant that deals with the Carbeth community huts) is hugely helpful and happy to talk on the phone and comment via email. Secondly reading through previous applications I noticed that some drawn on foolscap (with imperial measurements) passed first time and the more professional architect drawn submissions had lengthy correspondence in the file. I went with the spirit of the old hutters and splashed out on some graph paper and a sharp pencil. I kept what I could vague so as to allow a bit of flexibility as the build progressed. Eight weeks to the day after submission we got a green light with four simple conditions. Having read some of your experiences out there I feel your pain and hope that ion the future this minefield of a system can be improved and made more consistent…I’m not holding my breath though… Attached Files Planning drawings 1-2.pdf (2.12MB) downloads: 75 Planning drawings 3-4.pdf (2.14MB) downloads: 29 Planning drawing 5.pdf (1.05MB) downloads: 26 Carbeth site plan hut no 3 Jan 15.pdf (254.28K) downloads: 28 Interior Fit Out And Decoration The low tech approach continues as does the re-use and recycle theme. Bought a load of Michelin road maps from the charity shop to make my feature wall background and topped then off with a few nice ones I picked up in Poland during the summer. Probably spent about 20 quid in all. Went to the local mental health wood recycling project (boy, they are not cheap!) and spend 15 quid on an old scaffolding board to make this kitchen unit. Might add some hooks underneath and a couple of shelves on the map wall to complete this corner. I might have mentioned before that around my office Monday is the day that the Council bin lorries come around for bulk uplift. The area is all tenement flats and there is no room for bulk trash in the back court so the local arrangement is you put it on a street corner before each Monday morning. It does make for an Aladdin's cave of goodies and there is a fair bit of 'help yourself' going on before the bin lorry arrives. in fact plenty of stuff is labelled, like a TV with remote control taped and a sign 'saying perfect working order'. Anyhow I helped myself to this worktop and slotted it in next to the beech free standing units from Gumtree to make a little sink unit. Looks okay I think...the rest of the worktop was cut up and kept the wood burner going to keep us warm during the freezing weather outside. Dry Toilet And No Smell Whatsoever Apologies for the pic of the loo, warts and all so to speak... This is the 'seperate' plastic toilet from Sweden that has a front funnel and back void. The thinking is to seperate the solid and liquid waste as it is the combination Of both together that causes the smells we don't like. Urine runs to a soak away and the solids and toilet paper (and sawdust which helps the drying process and Erm...helps the appearance should you peer into the pit!)end up in the bucket below. There is a small fan running constantly which you can just see on the floor behind the urine waste tube. The fan is powered from our 12v battery and draws next to no power at around 0.1 amps. This provides an airflow which removes odours and aids the drying process for the solid waste. Once the bucket is full it can be sealed with a tight fitting lid and left for 18 months when it will be safe to use as compost. Some folk toss it on the fire but not sure I fancy that job. Still needs a lick of paint but all in all very pleased this all works as promised in the literature. As the blog title says there is no smell at all and its really a pleasant smallest room. Balcony, Wood Store, Somewhere Nice To Sit Decided simple was best and to crack on with the decking out front. Rescued some fallen trees from nearby and rested them against a quickly assembled frame of 6*2 treated joists. This gave us a nice deck to work on the roof from... Always keep a tidy site Ebuilders...you don't want a wayward screw sticking into the foot of one of you volunteer helpers who come to play with trainers on! Bit of good luck, we had one 4.8 length of decking left over so fashioned up three nice steps to the front door. Lucky for us 800mm wide was just right. Finishing Touches If you wait long enough, what you want will come along in Gumtree. Seller said they were £100 per metre and I can believe that. 4m of them in the back of the car and the suspension was riding low! Anyhow, had no confidence in grouting these the normal way so borrowed a piping bag from SWMBO and took my time squeezing it into each gap so it was just proud. Ran a pencil around the gaps and hey ho it looks great. Now just some stove paint to buy and a few dozen more jobs before its finished... Exterior views

Welcome We have built traditional So not passive But we have used plenty of insulation throughout We have UFH but hardly ever use it The house is 5 bed over two floors 282m2 We are finalizing land purchase for our 2-3 So things we would have done differently are on our mind Timber Frame is something I’ve considered this time Over the past 35 years I’ve worked on both While they don’t feel as solid as traditional and are more prone to cracking Definitely more expensive They are quicker More convenient and much better to add a high level of insulation Things we would do different this time I won’t bother with heating in the bedrooms I will install sliders rather than bifolds Bifolds look great and are great to open up in summer But sliders would be used more just to leave open slightly My wife would Like a laundry shoot on this one ? Only two of us We built a d garage for us and the neighbour This time we will build a treble with a third as a workshop for my wife Tge rest can remain a junk store for me I built a nice big utility / plant room In hein sight we should have made this 50% larger I’m sure we will find a few more

Hang on a sec. We’re in the middle of a national emergency / pandemic and the HMRC redeployed their people to administer the priorities of the numerous emergency tax schemes - Furlough, emergency business loans, etc etc etc. I’m sure they assessed that the Self Build VAT Reclaim Scheme might not be a priority over the small matter of saving the economy, jobs, businesses and ensuring millions of people who couldn’t work could feed their families and pay their mortgages/ rent. Or are we suggesting that those of us who are privileged enough to have built our own homes and awaiting some money back should have been the priority ? And so due to there being an inevitable backlog they’ve decided to change their rules to release 70% of claim ASAP, while they clear the backlog and can fully check the claims. What exactly should they have done? ”Dear Mr Smith, please find enclosed your VAT refund. Because we have prioritised the VAT refunds for self builders over other emergency Covid 19 schemes, I’m sorry to say the economy has now completely crashed and your lovely new home is now worth about the same as your VAT refund. Yours, HMRC”

I thought I would stick this up just to amuse @ToughButterCup as I generally take great pleasure in reading about his mishaps during his build. So im in the builders merchants this morning moaning in general about the crap quality of their wood when I noticed a pallet of loft ladders all reduced because of overstock, not one to ever turn down a bargain I grabbed one and trotted off home to fit it as I had a bit of a free afternoon as I’m waiting for some more bent wood to turn up. 3 hours later I’ve cut the hole in the loft floor, fitted noggins between the ceiling joists, fitted the loft ladder and combined hatch,perfect. So I decide to give it a try and duly prance up and down the ladder a few times looking for squeaks or wobble bits. It was on my 4th trip up the ladder I poked my head right up into the loft space to discover to my absolute horror that sitting in the corner of the loft where 6 full sheets of 8x4 celotex insulation, anybody got any bright ideas how you get an 8x4 sheet through a 3 foot hole. ???

They say the camera never lies, but that's not to say it necessarily tells the whole truth either. I always look to my Dad for help when I'm bothered by something with the house (I take after him in many ways so he gets it) but as he doesn't live nearby I often have to send him photos... I invariably can't capture the imperfections I'm trying to highlight though and he always reminds me that if that's the case then perhaps they're not quite as big as they are in my mind. It is also reminds me that other people's photos probably aren't showing their defects either. Thanks again for all the input. It really has made me feel a lot better and I can see myself re-reading this thread next time I've discovered something else to fret about. (Probably at the weekend if I don't spot something sooner... ;-))

Which you will soon find you have a use for In the loft.

Don’t worry problem solved, I’m know the owner of 12 sheets of 2400x600 celotex.

The diagonal of a 3 foot square hole is 4 foot 3 inches. Guess that ladder is coming out again...

The 24T cut great for the first few cuts, but agreed, they should not be used for chafing out the screed to get power to your island ?. Been there, done that ( with others using my tools that is!?! ).

I was surprised how cleanly even the stock 24T blade cut, not least given I'd previously set the blade too deep such that it extended beyond the timbers I had the board supported on... I was wondering why it was so noisy - only afterwards did I discover I'd been cutting a 2mm deep score in the surface of the pristine screed below. I'm sure that didn't do the blade too good!

Is that to cut the sheets in half, or cut a long thin hole in the ceiling?