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Well it's up and looks better than before imho. Capping came from Eurocell. Its lovely to cut and work with: Need to do something with this corner though. Capping is cut level with the gutter board to the right. Tbh I'll likely just cut a timber block to shape and stick that in. Then paint it and the cut ends with Bedec barn paint.

I would not want to live in the most highly performant of Passiv homes because I feel the temperature stability achieved by these examples is not good for human health. I think a bedroom should shed a few degrees over the course of the night and 21 degrees is too warm downstairs before 2pm or 6pm. In evolutionary terms we are still neolithic hunters adapted for diurnal temperature fluctuations, hence Passiv homes confuse our biology. In other aspects of modern life people are discovering the benefits of recreating neolithic privations e.g. the 5:2 diet starvation which mimics those occasions when the hunting party failed to spear the wooly mammoth and the tribe went hungry that night. Other new age diets recreate seasonal surpluses and deficits in food groups. My hunch is that within 20 years similar lifestyle concepts will have worked their way into passiv home control systems and people on buildhub will be raving about the health benefits of selecting cave mode or hawaiian reed hut mode.

Just as a wee update to this thread. We had mulled over grey, light grey, pebble grey, maybe an Olive Grey. None were really hitting the mark. We'd ditched the black as we thought it would be too stark a contrast with the white render....however had a rethink and we are now going with RAL 9005 jet black, in a textured finish (Zyle Fenster windows) . Now that I've made the decision it seems to make perfect sense and really happy with it, feels good to commit to something like that and choose a bold option. I'll update the thread in 3-6 months when fitted, thanks for all the input.. On another note...looks like possibly a Poppy Orange front door....... We made a deal to try and not let ourselves go middle of the road with colour choices and to be bold somewhat, I think we might be going in the right direction....

Parge coat on blockwork, solid render then plaster coat (no dot and dab). End wraps on timbers within internal walls and plastered onto. Silicone on cables brought into electrical back boxes.

Got any beams crossing the vaulted ceiling? If you put spots on the sloping ceiling you will get a lot of glare (light going direct from spot to eye). Consider uplighters (or spots pointing up) on beams or high up on walls so they bounce light off the opposite slope. Alternatively look at hanging lamps or combination of both..

mine build style is simple - I like a house that is a constant temp and dress to suit it if it gets too hot -- not wear lots of jumpers inside - window open at night for bedroom the idea of lots of insulation round outside of a solid concrete heat sink is a good one for my way of thinking the concrete -thermal mass- slows down any temp change If I want to get cold I can go walking outside in the countryside --having a draught in the house -- no thanks

Cost is about £2,500-£3,000 for 4 bed house. They don't activate by accident. They are fit and forget. There is an isolator normally near the entrance, so they can be switched off after the fire is safely extinguished. Because they activate quickly and only close to the fire it can be brought under control very quickly. If you have to wait 20 minutes for the fire brigade you may have to say goodbye to the house.

Thanks @Temp @joe90 So to summarize (with the help of the drawing below - red is neighbour's existing extension, green is proposed new extension) I only need to serve notice of excavation to neighbours 2 and 3 if the foundations are to be deeper than theirs. I don't need to serve notice on the line of junction to any neighbours If we wanted to build the wall on the line of the fence, we would have to serve notice on the line of junction?

I would think it should but you would need to check the policy. But a sprinkler system will do about 95% less damage than the fire brigade, and accidental setting off is very rare. One of their main selling points is that fires get restricted to a single room, and they use relatively little water. Briefly, they have a separate mains supply and sometimes a tank in eg the loft, the sprinkler heads are concealed in the ceiling, and they detect a fire by having a link which melts when the air temperature reaches 60 degrees C or so and it drops down and turns on. Normally there would be a sprinkler head for every 3m x 3m area (ish). There is a separate water pipe system, and they do not need electricity. They do not use the same mechanism as smoke detectors, which usually use an optical sensor to see smoke, so are toast proof and should be woodburner proof unless it has started a fire and triggered the heat detector. There are also systems which use a water mist rather than a spray. You need very few of these, but they tend to cost a lot of money for each one. They are not normally linked (ie Hollywood is lying about the hero setting a fire in a waste basket to flood the entire building and kill all the zombies with 784 sprinklers going off at once). Hollywood, lying. My faith is shattered - it even happens in Spongebob Squarepants.

Thanks @joe90 This is a garage which is attached to our garage.

Seriously? The SER costs buttons and speeds up the process no end when the engineer has done the design, there are some local authorities who can take months to turn around engineer queries, we literally use them for every project! ?

I will be building a small section of haha wall in the upper reaches of my garden, I have an existing fence in place at the moment to keep sheep out, ( i will be removing the section Of fence between the two big posts) the idea is to convert the grassy area in the foreground into a lowered stone flagged seating Area with fire pit and bbq facilities. The site faces west and gets incredibly sunsets. the aim is to give guests a real sense of being right in the middle of the landscape without looking over a wire fence,

If they try that this time I would download their title plans from the land registry web site (<£10 I think) and look on google earth etc to find evidence of the encroachment. Then send the planners a reply to the their objection. Its quite likely they have never formally filed for adverse possession so they don't officially own it yet.

Do a proper set of SE drawings and calcs and you can submit that without a SER - that is just a silly fee payable "club" which acts like a certificate to confirm all is well. BC will take full design packages and check them over and accept or reject until they are happy. People have got caught up on the SER train and need to stop wasting money on it when they have already paid for a structural design. We don't do SER.

Make sure fascia / soffits / gutter does not overhang.

Thanks very much.I believe the elevation next to the wooden fence will be completely on my plot and can be constructed in what I believe is called "overhand ".

I like that, and the fact that you know about tightening things up after hot has been run through. You make great points.

`No party wall agreement needed. Don't even waste any time or money on this. Good luck with your planning application.

We're at the tendering stage right now. It's a choice between timber frame companies or a local builder to manufacture the frame. We have a preferred builder but he's busy, as all good builders are around here. So it might be a case of swallowing a bit of extra cost and getting the frame from a TF firm to move things along. Price will determine the route we go, whether we can afford to get it done mainly by a contractor, or get the frame wind and watertight then get stuck in and project manage it ourselves. I can get on the tools but will need someone there who knows what they're doing, which I most certainly do not. We used a local architect's technician to produce the drawings after designing the house ourselves.

The Miele in Peter's photo has the inlet solenoid valve in the grey bit, and orientation doesn't matter IME. Other brands can use an excess-flow "waterstop" which may be a bit more sensitive.

If doing wastes from scratch and not using g the supplied generic stuff I always put a washing machine upstand for the appliances so you don’t get the factory / obligatory gurgle which comes with putting the appliance on the inbuilt appliance waste connector ( as that is before the trap so the noise comes up though the waste / plug hole ? and into the room ).

I always asked the kitchen fitters to NOT fit ANYTHING plumbing related, and only to drill holes to get appliance hoses into the sink unit, and to put them up as high as practicable. One carpenter drilled holes for the electrical sockets at the very bottom of the unit ?. I asked him which way water drips if there’s a a leak, he remained silent. Great carpenter & kitchen fitter, shit at everything else. Fitted ballofix isolation valves behind the false backs and drilled ( very neat ) holes to put the screwdriver through to operate them. ?.

Hi mate - No one I know of would do this for 1 main reason. What if the overflow or waste trap hasnt for some reason seated properly? Who is responsible for any water escape that may result? One could argue that the plumber should check this but more often than not they dont. What happens if a perfectly seated trap gets knocked by a plumber while second fixing resulting in water escape. Often waste traps could weep after a quantity of hot water has run thru it due to expansion and this is the best time to retighten all joints. All of the other scenarios are just a minefield. To avoid this cross over of responsibility, we specify dry fits where the first fix has been done by others. There is a clear line of responsibility and ownership of problem established.

A timber fence is not a party wall or a party fence wall - you need do nothing as long as there are no built structures within 6m of your foundations. https://www.partywall.expert/party-fence-wall/

The McAlpine anti siphon trap I bought sat too high so I bought a telescopic, non anti siphon one and made a telescopic anti siphon trap: & two become one: Looks like you could change that lower elbow and fit the anti siphon type.

Forgot to add that once set up the Wifi access point appears on your network like any regular access point. Eg you type its IP address into a browser and up pops the log in page for the access point. You can set the wifi channel and network name/SSID as you can with any other access point. Speed seems fine. What I haven't tried is TWO Powerlink wifi access points on one Tx unit. Not sure if that works. EDIT: According to Q and A on Amazon it does.

You can get Powerlink wifi access points. You plug a Tx unit into a 13A socket near your router/modem and connect it to the router/modem with a short network cable. The combined Rx/WiFi access point goes into a 13A socket where you need a WiFi access point. Ideally the Rx/WiFi access point would be on the same mains ring as the Tx. However if the Tx is reasonably close to the consumer unit it doesnt have to be. Mine is a few meters away on a different ring. This is what I'm using to run a network out to my shed via the underground power cable and get a WiFi signal at bottom of garden. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0746HVPMC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The PH5 set is what I've got. There might be cheaper units around now.

As do Fischer's UX range that expand into whatever shape is required to suit 'problem' materials. I struggled with the cheapest of cheap generic wall plugs for years until discovering these...

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...?! ?

Though some people's houses look like the CAD renderings from before they were built! ? Hell, @LA3222's slab look superimposed! I rest my case with @Tennentslager's effort:

Thanks for all the replies. Declan52 I think I am pretty much there, barring the very annoying need for level access. My plot is on a hill, and I don't have much room for a ramp at the front. It's only 2 bed currently(with a warm loft that I can't use currently due to fire regs).. but I still have to have 2 parking spaces which make the ramp tricky. So intending to do at the side french doors. I was thinking it was best to get this done before I have them out.. though I may regret if they don't like it(plan was composite deck, as I was going to have composite deck here anyway, though concerned they may view as temporary). I think I am ok on door widths and have glass on the stairs, but assume it should be compliant(though I've not noticed any marking on it). Yes @ cat and mouse, I've had a woman from the council making surprise visits(her last one was a virtual whatapp one, which seems entirely pointless), though I think her main remit is to stop anyone occupying the place without paying council tax. MAB I'm complete on services, and most decorating.Though I have no cooker, washing machine, fridge etc. Sounds like they are hot on the glass, so I'll check mine. Good to hear that planning don't routinely come back, some of my dimensions might be generous relative to the permission, but I think there is pretty much zero chance of anyone complaining as I am friends with most of my neighbours. nod Interesting, did the building control officer not say anything about the signs of habitation? I live next door, but it's annoying having a nicer house on my door step that I can't live in because I've not built a suitable ramp for wheelchairs! Temp Now I think about it I think my BC guy mentioned a pressure test on drains. Is that something I have to do then? By 'opening width on windows', do you mean that all windows open fully? Is this fire escape related? Glad you mentioned VAT, I thought it was 6 months. And yes @ CIL, I've got that one covered at least, needs to be done within 6 months. Thedreamer I'm in Reading.. one of the worst boroughs in the country for self builders imo.

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.

You can calc it by knowing the below details, bit of a ramble here but the figures sort of speak for themselves and if you have a low flow rate issues will arise. So if you know: Time to first hot water leaving appliance (0 seconds if tank) Then you need to know the volume of hot water pipework (0.14l/m for 15mm 0.320l/m for 22mm - valves are negligible). Then you need to know your flow rate - just measured ours and we are on 1 litre every 5 seconds on the hot tap in the kitchen. Then yes, it can be worked out. Unless your pipe runs are over say 10m which is 1.4litres of cold water to clear and assuming no or low lag, then for the hot to move through that is only about 1.4litres before you get heat then I think it should be fine, on our tap that would be about 7 seconds in our house, however if you have a dribble of a tap, then it could take a heck of a while to see 1.4litres come through. It depends on flow too - we have excellent mains pressure and flow (hot is restricted due to boiler), so if our boiler was just a bit quicker we would be able to clear that 1.4litres quickly enough meaning we could see hot water in 7 seconds with a tank. However, we are more like 15m from the boiler so we are needing to clear 2.1litres which is 10.5second just to clear the standing water. I shortened the pipework as much as I could too but it's still the case of hot on full flow for about 15seconds which is then wasting 3litres just to get warm water. It is OK if washing up or needing hot water to clean things off but for hand washing it is a bit of a wait so often lots of soap and cold do - our boiler is however older, I won't change it just to wash my hands quicker in the sink so it's fine, never bothered me. Bathrooms are closer so water to those taps is about as fast as the boiler can spit it out. I did contemplate plumbing to our kitchen sink in 10mm copper - I think it would have worked but without the facts and figures at the time of plumbing I went 15mm.

The cost of melamine, bagged concrete, sealer, wire mesh, PIR board, grinder and discs was about £650. And a few boxes of beer for the heavy lifters.

Looks really good and will keep an eye out for the 'how to'; how much of a saving did you make on the £5.4k quote then?

With apologies to the local cats, its not them its squirrels that are digging up my pots not cats. Keep catching them in the act and they're making a mess of my patio.

Deffo forget the Saniflo. I would rather crap in a bucket and leave it in the middle of the bedroom. If your proposed WC is near an outside wall and the drain is in the vicinity is is well worth taking a 110mm pipe out to a new stack pipe connecting into the (combined?) below ground drainage system.

Oh dear, where have your read this.

I'd love a snug fit...

Especially if you creep up on them from behind...

In case there's any doubt, this isn't quite what I had in mind...

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.

You are certainly a perfectionist and you are at least aware enough to see that it is not reasonable or great for your mental health to be so particular. Most people - especially men - obsess about things in a slightly irrational way. Lots of things that happen on site are far from perfect and you are certainly not on your own when it gets to you. Maybe drink more so the shoddy work looks more bleary? Works for many on here.

I was going to call them (expletive deleted)ing squirrels but it read as though they were fornicating in the flower pots.

Never apologise to a cat. It will bank the apology and expect compensation as well. A friend has just got rid of the last sproglet to University, and is replacing it with a doglet . Has gone for a cross between a Shitsu and a Poodle, which is apparently called a Shihpoo. I am so going to put the extra T in at the wrong moment by mistake. “Shitpoo” is as inevitable as rain in The Lake District.