Leaderboard

Why does anyone want to buy that? Or Danish butter, Or New Zealand Lamb? We "make" all of those here. I don't buy them because I object to the food miles.

Ha, picture no 2.( Close up) shows the isolation tap Is off,(little blue tap) that would give you that error ?

A note of caution re CIL because it’s really rigid. Examples of where full liability has to be assumed include: Self builder died before he had occupied the house for 3 years - council claimed CIL liability from the estate Developer sold plot after an access was made to the plot - self builder who purchased it was denied an exemption as development was judged to have started. Developer gained planning permission for several plots under the same planning permission. First plot was sold to a self builder and building commenced after a CIL exemption was granted. Other plots were denied self build exemptions as the development was deemed to have started. The way round that is to apply for phasing within the PP or ensure that there are separate permissions for each plot. Tis a minefield ...

Just to circle back on this. I did dig out a bit of the mortar and it was fairly deep, probably about 20mm. However I wasn’t happy with how untidy it was. I complained to the guy that did it and he didn’t charge me. I then sought the advice of another local builder who has said that it is messy and he will re-do it for me sometime in the New Year.

Right guys this post is starting to go south again. No more posts containing any slurs against immigrants and race will be tolerated end of.

You haven't wasted six months of your life if you walk away. You have a wealth of experience that nobody can take away from you now. By that, perhaps Russ meant be persistent.

I've finally got around to starting this blog. I'm hoping that it'll be easily updated and I'll provide lots of good pictures and info...we'll see how that goes. I'm at the point now where we have just taken our first big delivery, which is our insulated foundation system from Kore, this morning. So albeit, this process of building a house has been ongoing for some time, it has just become real that we are at the beginning of the build phase, which is very exciting. Some light background info - I've always wanted to build a house for the last 5-10 years, but it was a distant dream and wasn't quite sure how feasible it would be. I grew up in a rural house, my parents bought in 1983, modernised and updated over the years. It was a great childhood and spent many hours in the fields and in our garden, even just cutting the grass was fun (1 acre and a ride on mower). We sold that when I was 21 and ever since I've wanted to return to that life. I have two young kids of my own now and hence the want to return to the countryside to give them what I had was strong. I was always keen on building, swmbo, wasn't as such. So we searched and searched, but mostly the houses we could find that suited our needs were out of league (price!) and even if they were to be in our league there were things we would change or in the end it would be expensive to run. And hence that search helped my other half make the realisation that self build was our only option. My dad died in 2017 after a long illness with Dementia, a relief for him and for everyone else involved. We were very close and I took care of him day in and out, until he was in care. He was an engineer and had owned his own business since I was a child, albeit he lived a pretty simple life and was happy being at home in the garden he made and house he had renovated. Riding around on the ride on mower enjoying a quiet life...and now I guess that's exactly where I want to be. His passing left us with a little inheritance which has allowed this dream of self building to become a reality, I'm very thankful for this. I know it is something he would have been very excited to be part of and watch us do. So after messing around since 2017 and not being able to negotiate a plot or find one that was suitable (there's a lengthy thread on this!) I'd finally identified 4 acres in July 2019. It took a bit of time ( I had to confirm services and remove an Agricultural tie) but completed purchase in Jan 2020. I'll not cover the planning process in detail, but the plot had legacy planning permission which was 24 years old, but at that time the development had commenced and hence it was a straightforward change and submission of our designs. Building warrant was granted a week ago, with very little hassle really. I joined Buildhub in September 2019 or thereabouts. It's been a wealth of information that has helped me shape the design of the house and provided no end of guidance which I am very thankful for. It has allowed me to validate my opinions and approaches and learn from others to ensure i am following the right path. I started out prior to buildhub wanting a SIPS house, in fact googling that may have made me find my way here. Quickly I decided I wanted an insulated foundation too, I went around in circles a little bit with both of these decisions and reading others opinions on here. I even thought at one point they would both be too expensive for me , however I sit here writing this first post having taken delivery of my insulated foundation today and my SIPS kit is on order and due sometime in February. I don't actually need the insulated foundation till mid-late January but made a decision to get it in the country before Brexit issues occur and tariffs are possibly applied in January (rumoured at 6%). I'm very glad I made that decision as today our new strain of COVID has caused everyone to close the doors to us here in the UK, another couple of days and god knows when I would have gotten it. There is lots of other decisions and stuff has gone on in the background with planning and mortgages and budgets to get here, but that is mostly done and hence I feel this is the end of the beginning and now we can enter the start of the middle.... I'm very pleased and excited for the road ahead. I like pictures in blogs....here's a few of the Insulated foundation delivery today. Stored at a friends farm for the time being. It's being stored outside, has a few tractor tyres on it now to stop it blowing away and the main pallets are all strapped down. That's me standing on top.......

Good post @Temp. You explained it much better than me. I would just add that you absolutely need to confirm that your conversion is eligible for the reclaim scheme as if not you may decide to go down the supply and fit route to pay 5% VAT rather than buying materials in at 20%.

At the end of the day conversions and new builds both end up paying the same 0% VAT. Its just the route to achieving that which is different... Materials In both cases (new and conversion) materials are charged to you at 20% and you reclaim all of the 20%. Services Services are treated differently: Conversions: Builder/electrician charges you 5% and you reclaim the 5% New Build: Builder/electrician charges you 0%. (nothing to reclaim). Supply and fit (eg Materials and Services) on one invoice Conversions: Builder/electrician charges you 5% on both labour and materials and you reclaim the 5% New Build: Builder/electrician charges you 0% on both labour and materials (nothing to reclaim). That's right. Some trades will be reluctant to 0% or 5% rate their supply and fit because they will have paid 20% on the materials when they purchased them. However they MUST be persuaded. If you pay them 20% in error you cannot reclaim that back from HMRC. They can get the 20% back that they paid when they submit their VAT return. Sometimes it helps to give them a certificate (aka letter) with your planning reference details on it and suitable magic words like "I certify this work was carried out on a new build/conversion". In summary: If you buy PV panels yourself and pay an electrician to fit them to a property being converted you should pay: 20% on the Panels (which you reclaim). 5% on the electrician (which you also reclaim). If buying panels from ebay check they can/will provide a VAT receipt!

Welcome to the forum! Yes. The new planning grant will come with a new CIL liability. The CIL liability only takes effect when you start implementing the Planning Grant. So there is no liability for the old one UNLESS the current owner has already started implementing it. You might suggest your solicitor ask the seller to confirm that it hasn't in writing. I mention it because "starting" is sometimes done to preserve an old Planning Grant that is about to expire. Once you have started a Planning Grant normally lasts forever. How long has it got left? Ideally you want at least a year to give time to get your new application approved before the old one expires. If you are building the house to live in yourself you can apply for an exemption from the CIL however it is extremely important to follow the process for claiming the exemption to the letter using the right forms because if you don't you can find yourself liable for it with no way back. Do not start any work on site untill you have confirmation that the exemption application has been processed. Some people have been caught out by letters from the council saying that as self builders they will be exempt. That's true but ONLY if you formally claim the exemption. The process is detailed at the top of Form 7 here (in the arrows). https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200136/policy_and_legislation/70/community_infrastructure_levy/5 Note that you must live there as your principle residence for 3 years after completion as well.

The long and short of this IMO is that, albeit you can try lots of the helpful advice here and might get a fix. You're not going to have the confidence regardless that its all ok, or worse still you don't notice something that gets changed or adjusted during this process and it causes a leak and damages something during the night or similar. For your own peace of mind, find a good plumber (not from any of these online places!). Get someone reliable from local word of mouth and see how you go.

Might well be several buried under the debris.

As a similarly inexperienced first time self builder, my advice is to get the most turnkey frame erection service you can afford as an experienced crew will have your building up and ready to receive windows, roofing, cladding etc (which you pre-schedule) to get you to weather tight an a matter of weeks. If you're building to a low energy standard (good airtightness and insulation) then get that as part of the package also. We found that our time was best spent planning ahead and sourcing materials and trades, making timely decisions etc. You can also save money by having trades properly scheduled with a clear understanding of what you need them to do. I did self install the MVHR, quite enjoyed it, but it took ages. As we had a lull in the build at that stage (plumber and electrician were delayed on other jobs) I wasn't holding anyone up.

As a novice, every job you do will take a LOT longer than a professional. That isn't to say that you couldn't do it better, it depends on who you get, but it will take longer. If you're spending a lot on rent then you need to weigh up what is more important to you.

These are very good for the money - feel solid in use https://www.rutlands.com/sp+routing-routers-1-4-routers-precision-1-4-router-710w-variable-speed-rutlands+r5000

Looking good, now you have done the easy ones crack on with all the cut ones ?

I cant see one either. The only conclusion I can draw is that the French are upset about the 'fish' issue and are taking the opportunity to create some mischief.

is it a necessity? I buy locally sourced stuff, perhaps Brexit may make us all think about more local shopping!

If it were me I would turn blue tap off again (90’), undo white nut (some water will escape so towel underneath), check filter is clean (little blue thing in your first photo from machine instructions). There is a rubber washer (may be part of the filter) make sure this has no damage to it. I like to put just a smear of Vaseline or cooking oil (very little) onto both sides of that rubber washer and tighten by hand (hard). Turn it back on and see if any leaks appear . Let us know.

No it’s not ..!! If he’s installed it and he needs to check for leaks and make sure it works ! Just sounds like it’s not tightened up.

one of these @vfrdave https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Compact-Router-Trimmer-Laminate-Kit-Trimmer-Tilt-Plunge-Base-Guide-for-Makita/324222818852?hash=item4b7d2f9a24:g:2ZAAAOSw--xfAGqL but mine came from a guy in Crumlin that brought a batch in. It's grand for the money, the plunge base is very solid.

Surprisingly hard work ! First tile I faffed with . Forgot to back butter it . Didn’t come up easily and I would say 90% coverage . All back buttered now - they ain’t coming up . Slightly drift in the level a mm here or there . But I largely ignore and make sure no lippage

Could be as simple as a loose neutral somewhere. Worth checking all your CU connections INCLUDING the factory ones. Often overlooked. That and test the RCD along with a ramp test.

I used to work on a west coast estate. My anecdotal experience is that many continental hunters are much more switched on when it comes to sustainable hunting. They have a strong culture of hunting for a purpose, rather than fun. On the other hand, some (but definitenly not all hunters) from the UK couldn't care less about the impact of what they were doing and were by far the most ignorant people I took out. Stereotyping entire populations is a lazy way of constructing an argument.

we have the only large fish stocks and crabs ,lobsters etc left in europe --cos the french and others have fished out their own waters long time ago and don,t get me started on the Italians -on net sizes and how they shoot all the migranting wee birds for sport as they come across the med -they do not even eat them ask any game keeper that runs a shoot about french and Italian shooters --if it flys no matter the size they want to shoot it and the ones that come widfowling to the solway -shoot swans and say theythought they were geese -- if you can,t tell the difference --like its white and a very long neck --then you should not be shooting -- so we definately need to keep the fishing and also stop selling of fish quotas by Uk fishermen - same as you cannot sell netting rights for salmon -use it or loose it

I thought the ban was one way? No restriction on the boatloads coming in as far as I'm aware. This 48 hour ban will allow the French to devote more time and resources to pointing them in our direction surely?

Hi, welcome. My project is similar, a stable conversion but really the size of a posh garage compared to the amazing things some people do!

Biopure 3 (2.7m deep hole I seem to remember )

Hi. Yes, its on their website, and page 11 of the user guide.We-Build-It-A5-Manuals.pdf

Why is this in the Brexit thread?

We've got a biopure 2; my understanding is that its important to be consistent with the inputs (no.s 1&2 taken as read) i.e same detergents etc, so you gradually build up a tank full of bugs tolerant to your lifestyle. Can't see a water softener having any significant impact tbh.

And sorry, a SPA is a Special Protection Area. This would only become a ‘thing’ should you be going down the formal Planning route. I’m pretty sure it applies to any self-contained unit although there may be arguments that would exempt annexes from this and Planning would condition it as such.

I always take information written by and uploaded to unofficial websites with a pinch of salt. Information provided across the internet is usually their own views as opposed to the actual regulations, unless of course the information can be backed up. Take another example where only this week, I came across two loft conversion ‘specialists’ websites that stated converting a loft to form a 3-storey property requires escape windows, which is incorrect. It used to be a rule but was taken out of the BR’s a long time ago. Unless I’m interpreting it incorrectly, It appears the link you provided does have some conflicting information... “See there’s a quirk in planning law where building an annex requires planning permission, but the conversion of an existing outbuilding into an annex does not.” and then... “You might find your property doesn’t qualify for permitted development rights, and there’s even a chance that your change of use might not be given the go ahead.” As they state the conversion to an annexe does not require PP, then why would the change of use not go ahead, i.e. be refused? It’s either one or the other. I still do not see how the creation of or a conversion to an annexe would be considered PD as the use class is not one as being accepted. When we’re talking about an annexe, I assume you are referring to a self contained unit as opposed to an open plan living/bedroom area with a W.C. and worktop area for a sink and microwave? Also note bathing facilities are not actually considered to be allowed via PD, which is why I mentioned a W.C. and not a shower room or bathroom. Post Planning, be sure to check the BR’s as outbuildings are generally seen to be exempt. But if you’re going down the route of adding in drainage and providing sleeping accommodation, this would normally trigger requirements under the BR’s.

Here is my experience this year - I wish there had been more on here to help guide the supplier selection process... Kingspan Timber Solutions- very helpful but ultimately could not get price down to a reasonable level for the insulated frame. Did have reasonably priced options for a weathertight package. The only supplier I came across that offered 89mm studs as opposed to 140mm - to be fair they did offer their 140mm stud option but noting above point on price. Not many options for insulation: basically PIR for TF with no option for uninsulated frame - I preferred a mix of mineral wool and PIR. I raised a few questions on here about claimed U values - some uncertainty as to whether U values could be achieved in practice given specifications. Liked the idea of a SIPs roof but it required purlins that would have been intrusive with our 1.5 storie design. Flemming - price was too high. Ecosips - helpful and reasonably priced SIPs solution. Put off SIPs as limitted experience of this on Buildhub - perhaps even some misunderstanding. Would have struggled to hit target u values with SIPs alone - would need additional insulation such as PIR. Solo - a very close second in terms of best price and very helpful and responsive. Was very little experience of them on Buildhub that I could find. Went with MBC uninsulated frame as best price and a great reputation on Buildhub. In their quote they offered various costed insulation options for standard 140mm timber frame and a separate option for the passive frame (with Larsen truss frame and Warmcell insulation) - very nice but beyond my budget. Have completed frame design and now in manufacture- positive experience so far.

Grind to a halt? The building hasn’t started yet, get a local builder who does this as their bread and butter. A quick search engine search throws up a few that do the planning and all trades in one company chasing architects for months, overcharging, sounds like an expensive mistress to me.. get rid.

Well technically they can ... and unless this is an “agreed in writing” then the OP has very little by way of leverage. As @the_r_sole says, it’s a sure fire way of grinding everything to a halt. @greido what is the main issue here ..? Is it that you have a budget that you gave the architect and they ignored it, and you now have a scheme that is twice as expensive; or is it that you asked them to simplify and they have charged you £1000 and it’s still much more than the budget ..? Main questions for me would be did you tell them the budget at the outset, and is it a realistic budget ..? I’ve seen plenty of requests for extensions and conversions where the budget and expectation is £600-1000/sqm, and the actual pricing comes in nearer £2000/sqm for something pretty simple. Unless you are going to be very hands on, the cost of partial demolition can sometimes double the cost of a scheme as materials are removed by hand and it takes twice as long to remove and stack for re-use and the costs outweigh the pricing of using new or reclaimed materials. Likewise with trying to retain ceilings in loft conversions - it can add £1-2000 in labour to ensure they are not damaged when patching and re-skimming would be half of that and get a better and more consistent finish. It would be useful to know the brief you gave the architect at the outset, as this is normally where the problems stem from as expectations rarely meet reality.

This is good illustration of why hourly rates are the worst way to work with creative consultants as I said in a different thread yesterday - the attitude is "they're only opening up a cad file and knocking some lines around" so it's not taking any time, which isn't really the case at all. However, in this instance if it's a "few hours" which has turned into a couple of days then there's a big issue! Is there anything in writing as to what they were doing and how they would approach it? (when i worked in edinburgh I had this situation a few times as the company insisted on hourly rates for changes to projects and it usually ended up with producing timesheets to justify to clients what had been done, then a negotiation to get to an agreed settlement etc - i.e. more time on admin than was spent on the work!!) Are they registered architects?

I think you have to go back to him and say that 15 hours is not a "few" hours and that whilst you understand he may have done more work than expected you need him to adjust the bill to be closer to what was quoted. Maybe 10 hours would be a good compromise, this is still more than most people's definition of a few. If he also said that he would produce these drawings with the express purpose of coming up with a lower cost option and has not achieved this he really has not done a great job, especially as it sounds like it was his suggestion. In my real life experience as well as from watching the various building related TV shows architects are just not good at estimating building costs. Renovating an existing house where there are more unknowns probably exacerbates this issue. I am in Edinburgh, I hadn't seen your original post, welcome. Frankly a lot of the loft conversions on these older bungalows are awful, you end up sleeping with you face a couple of feet away from the roof. The trouble you have in replacing the roof is that it will be very expensive for little extra space. I would guess you are looking at around £40k to remove the existing roof, build the new roof, tile and insulate it. By the time you then fit out bedrooms, add windows, en suites etc this would rise to more like £70k. I am assuming that you are covering a ground floor area between 120 and 150 sq metres when I think of the floorplan of a typical Edinburgh bungalow. And of course as a renovation you have to pay VAT. Actually if you move the roof you will also have to redo the guttering and soffits which might add a bit more again to the cost. Adding extra ground floor space likely has a lot better return.

Hello greido. I'm a bit west (in EK) of you but here are a few observations... and a bit of a story. It's a bit late so a bit of food for thought. I'll work through your post. Circa 1930 bungalow. I used to live in Edinburgh but in the 1930's they were still skint after the first war to say the least . Some bungalow roofs were still built using the pre first war method and rules of thumb to size the rafters and so on. This gave you a roof that was more conducive to modern conversion. But in the 30's they started to introduce lighter weight roofs. The intrinsic difference being that the sizes of the timbers were much reduced as they had worked out to some extent how to make the roofs function more like a modern day prefabicated roof truss. I'm cutting out a lot of detail here. From memory (happy to be corrected) if you take say the Blackhall area they were still building the roofs the traditional way, slightly steeper pitches with larger timber sizes and so on. But in other areas they adopted the lighter weight roofs. Here the floor joists forming the attic floor / rafters were thinner and the position of what we call the soldiers (the upright bits) , collars were relocated in such a manner that they are "in the way" when you want to convert the loft. As soon as you move these the forces in the main members of the roof change significantly, and just as importantly, the forces in the connections change such that they often no longer work when you try and move the soldiers etc. This introduces difficulty / complexity and thus extra cost. Now much depends on what type of roof you have as they are two different animals. I'm just guessing, but the previous loft conversion you have may be long standing and would not pass muster when compared with the modern standards when it come to converting the loft. The first approach mentions "replacing the roof", I assume that means that the whole roof is to come off. Doing this can give you much more scope to change the internal layout of the attic. It's also easier to estimate the price. But, it can often be much harder and more labour intensive to keep the existing main roof structure intact. If you have the lighter 1930's type of roof the rafters are shallower for example.. this makes it harder to design the insulation, deal with the condensation risk, ventilation of the sloping part of the roof and so on.. at attic floor level you often need to do a lot of strengthening and often there are a load of services in the way.. builders know this and charge accordingly. Turning now to the indication that your Architect gave regarding retaining the existing roof. Being pragmatic and speaking from experience. To do this takes much more thought and drawing effort. Often you think you have "cracked it" then you start drawing it / doing the detailed calculations and realise that there is a spanner in the works.. it can take sometimes days to figure it out! I suspect that your Architect may have fallen into this trap! It may be worth while being pragmatic. If you have a good personal relationship with your Architect then discuss it. They may be a bit less experienced at pricing their time ( just starting out on their own maybe) but great designers, maybe they are not the best sales folk and in their desire to please promise more than they can deliver. Discuss it with them if you feel you can. If that does not work out then consider meeting them half way and put it down to experience. You can refuse to pay and play hard ball but it will give you stress.. maybe best to move on. If you choose to move on then consider contacting an experienced SE who knows how to convert lofts and what the options / costs are as you seem to already have a conceptual scheme. Lastly, although you may feel you have had a bit of a setback try and enjoy the process as much as you can.. it is rewarding. All the best.

Do you have any of the discussion in writing?

Using 10mm pipe seems to alleviate a lot of problems, which is what i'll be doing, as long as the runs aren't rediculously long.

well no one can go anywhere at the moment so there's a project

They were genuinely worried at the time. Science had to define a new category of life form for the BSE pathogen namely The Prion. I was working in Paris at the time and living in a type of professional's commune, which gave me the opportunity to ask a Danish research scientist across the dinner table what a Prion was. He grimaced as he formulated a lay answer, "think of it as a self replicating protein never seen by science before".

Yesterday, there was a trail of collies leading out of Penzance, we have loads, but as they are all Brexiteers down here, they are going to keep them for the fishermen.

It's not wired in yet!

yuo would be the definative of that

I'm confused why an oven has a demo mode? Does it roll the pastry and do the washing up or just sit there looking hot?

It had the benefit of additional thermal mass, as I understand it

DM says... It seems they had two meters one for the boiler and one for everything else which is making it hard to switch because there aren't many (any?) tarriffs that are set like that. 7p is about same as LPG and a more than Oil according to my favourite comparison site. 16p for heating is crazy money. I notice in the video the people also say they aren't powerfull enough.