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@juncopartner instead of playing the person - which you are - perhaps you could use your professional guidance and quote the correct regulations instead of telling everyone what the answer isn’t ..?? From ADB, 2020 amendments, a ceiling in a 2 storey residential class 1.(c) property doesn’t require anything more than 30 minutes fire resistance and this can be achieved with 12.5mm standard plasterboard. A steel enclosed in this floor space is therefore protects from the effect of fire and requires no further protection. Correct or incorrect ..?

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.......

Either way as long as it achieves one hour.

Most people (even many building professionals) don’t realise that the published Approved Documents (AD) are simply non-statutory guidance. The actual regs are the short extracts printed in green at the start of each AD. The Building Inspector has wide ranging powers to accept variations to the AD guidance and on large commercial projects it’s very common that alternative solutions are adopted that satisfy Part B - usually to the design of a specialist fire consultant.

The only problem for BC is that around half the domestic apps are on building notices these days, so a plan check isn't always carried out.

I've always accepted it, as far as I know so do all the others I've worked with, and its always been accepted on all the guvvy jobs I've submitted with a similar detail.

You only need to protect the steel on a domestic property if it is three story or more Same goes for fire doors I do a lot of fire protection as part of my business 99% commercial The idea is to create a fire compartment and isolate what ever you are protecting All fireproofing needs to be done before any services go in and the services just have to be worked around them If a duct or soil pipe has no way round the fire protected steel Then it must have its own fire protection On a three story house or a house with a basement BC will look for 1 hour plus protection Standard two story doesn’t need protection

There is no real issue with the wall. If you want to neaten up the corner where the pier abuts you could scrape off the smeared mortar and apply a wide bead of low modulus sealant like an expansion gap. You need to finish it neatly though. https://www.sealantsonline.co.uk/Products/Expansion-joint-mastic-sealants

might pull the covers off and check that the H/E is fitted centrally. If it's moved in transit it could be leaning on one or other of the covers, distorting it away from the foam seal. / mine's normally absolutely dry, but currently- extracting a tonne of water from the screed- there's a weep from the bottom of the front panel...

Whatever the figures are I hope sincerely we have a better method of restricting over fishing that does not involve throwing caught (dead) fish back overboard, a ludicrous system IMO.

Gin and tonic much needed with a view of the down draught extractor. Getting used to the ASHP and then all the tech to understand as I am a bit of a luddite and not sure it will stick first time eh @joe90

Good for you - reading between the lines, it seems the back stories have there own issues but the main thing is you are now in a position to push forward and realise your dreams. I'm sure your Dad is proud of you. Enjoy the build and I will look forward to seeing this unfold over the coming year. Good luck. ?

We are just in the process of signing up to a JCT Minor Works Building Contract with contractor’s design. I would say you need to make sure you and the builder have agreed and are happy with the interim valuation dates and payment schedules and that they match up with any fund release from your mortgage provider. I think it also helps to have someone familiar with the contract, in our case the architect, as contracts administrator.

I now have 2 indeed. One pumps the water around the loops (via manifold) and then the other pumps water around the Willis circuit: I didn't add any inhibitor to the system, but flushed the whole system (clearing any of the previous inhib) and then re-filled with soft water. Willis heaters don't appear to be hissing any more so hopefully no scale up (since soft water) and the extra pump helps push the water around. Both are set to around 40oC in order to get sufficient temp into the floor. Have it running usually for around 2hrs in the morning and 2hrs later afternoon. Pretty mild temps outside at the moment so will have to wait until the New Year to see whether I need to get an ASHP instead.