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My boss says "It's always the windows that go wrong in Grand Designs". I think he might have a point. Not that I'm building anything particularly grand, but certainly about the windows. This is the outside prior to fitting the large window. The cladding job is going well, so we are hopeful of a good day. Having spent a few evenings fitting frames in the recent cold snap I think I ought to spend some time with SWMBO on valentines weekend. So I treat her to fitting the second largest frame in the house, and of course some glazing. It's because I'm a really nice person and like to share. The frame is 2.5 metres tall and 1 metre wide, designed to take a single glazing unit so I was particularly concerned with distorting the long edges as it was installed so we paid particular attention to shimming it correctly. I'm pleased to say that the Alien declared it to be straight and level after the screws were tightened. So concludes fitting the last frame in the first floor. The view of the site will be particularly good from the stairs. Now on to the glazing. We carefully plan how we are going to lift 49kg of glass up the scaffolding and swing it into the frame. We have a selection of glazing handles, ropes and platforms set up ready, and then I look at the glass in detail and announce that there's no way I'm fitting it. SWMBO then looks at the glass and storms off in a sulk. Not the reaction I desired, but understandable when you see the bars inside the unit are Y shaped and not straight. We then checked all the others, and found another with a dodgy bar, meaning 2 units out of 48 have a problem - not exactly achieving 6 sigma QA! I have to suffer on site with SWMBO sulking while we do some other jobs that need doing - all she wants to do is go home and be cross with the local window people, which I can understand, but it won't progress any of the handful of little jobs blocking the big day of seeing the house without scaffolding. I pointed out (in the words of one of the members here) if you can't take a joke don't start a self build. But this went down like a cup of warm sick. That evening we found what looks like water in the oil of the Range Rover engine. Happy valentines day Mrs dnb! Fast forward to Monday, and the photos arrived at the window supplier. His first words were "Well, they didn't try very hard, did they? I'll tell them to have another go and hurry up about it". I'm happy that it will be sorted out, but it's a bit more delay. We'll get there eventually... The last frontier for the cladding before we look at scaffolding removal. There's no point in hanging on to it for fitting the arch windows unless they arrive in the next couple of days. The window suppliers assure me that everything can be done from inside for these. I've always liked this view of the house.

I think most will. we have a strange rule when claiming RHI, that cooling mode has to be disabled at commissioning. This does not mean ASHPs cannot cool. RTM and see what it says. (if you need to cool your house, something has gone wrong in the design)

so £2k install for all the system including tank and heat pump isn’t that excessive if you think this is a full tank install plus external unit and all pipework and electrics. There is probably a good day for internal and external for two people, and another day to sort your internal pipework and wiring etc. Commissioning is half a day, and you potentially need to link into a heating system too, so that’s day 4 complete. So at £2k, that’s £500 a day for two people to run a business, pay for tools, van, insurance and the tax and NI. Doesn’t sound expensive to me.

Do I actually need someone like BPC to design my MVHR ducting system? For my new-build bungalow, it seems really simple. I have designed the ducting plan myself following the basic rules: equal number of supply and extracts across the house (5x of each) double pipes to every terminal so it is quiet supply to bedrooms and living room (x3 & x2) extract from bathrooms, kitchen, utility room and plant room (x2, x1, x1, x1) room terminals as far from the door as possible Seems simple! What am I missing? Is a pro-design for the air-change data, which is needed for building control? The reason I am thinking about this now is that I am just about to put the timber-frame in to production. The frame has one single structural steel. And that steel would benefit from some pre-cut holes (x6) to allow the 75mm MVHR ducting to pass through it. I can cut the holes based on my design. Or should I get a professional involved?

Well, a few weeks have passed since my last past. We finished up the road and last post we had scrapped back the house footprint. I feel like we haven't come that far since then, but in reality we probably have actually now that I look at the pictures. Once we had scrapped back the top and subsoil we got the levels down to where I thought we should be. The house was meant to have FFL of 138.5m (referenced to sea level of course!) but I increased the height by 0.75m. It was just too low in the ground for the plot and the driveway would have ended up higher and now seems to be in the right place. So first full week at it, I was basically running around organising things as you do. I gave Jewson about zero notice of all the stuff I wanted. They gave me good list prices, 90% off with my self build credit account. I tested these on the internet and a few others merchants and they were decent. They delivered the mesh and underground drainage pipes, mesh castles, visqueen etc all in quick time which was good. I also took delivery of my container - which was much required and has been a god send to store everything. On the first day when I was out, the groundworkers were scrapping back to ground bearing soil, but found a soft patch at one end - instinctively they dug another 500mm deeper to get hard ground. Then called me to say we had an issue. They felt it was quite soft, I turned up - had a look it seemed softish but not overly. However I have no experience - fortunately I called the SE and he came straught by to have a look ...wasn't an issue and he told us to continue. Phew. I'd ordered type 1 for the sub base. I did price both type 1 and type 3, but there was quite a difference of 3-4 per tonne. I needed 120 Tonne (turns out actually 250 in the end). I checked with Tanners who had stated Type 3, but they said if it was a struggle type 1 would be fine. Plus I checked with a local guy who does passive foundations and he said they just use that so all ok. We continued the scrape down, then we laid a geotextile and covered with the type 1. What was immediately apparent was how wet it was, that extra dug down section filled with water quickly to form a lovely swimming pool. From here we tried to stone up a little more, but stopped due to rain. Then the guys decided we needed to get that land drain in to dry it up. I have used twinwall perforated pipe to do the land drain (under the guidance of my groundworkers) then added Tees wherever downpipes are going to be. This saves costs as then you're not digging another pipe above it later on. You can just roll the tees up and drop the downpipes into it. I discharge directly into a burn too so makes sense. I helped with the drains and we used the laser the set the fall ( @LA3222 ) I know why you like it so much, great tool and makes it dead easy. I did nearly make a schoolboy error and lift the full pipe up in the pea gravel...before the groundworker stopped me Once we had the drains in this has helped no end with getting the water out, and allowed us to continue a little more. In between this the power connection was brought on site, I had 6 poles put in from 3 fields away. I managed to also get them to hide the transformer pole in my woods which was ideal as I had planned it in the corner if the plotand that would have been visible always so a good win. The trench was also repositioned around the outskirts of the plot so that if I ever build another house ( my retirement bungalow) in the front garden I don't need to move it again. 6 poles put up in a day, then a week later cable pulled and terminated. The connection currently resides under the ground about 15m from the plant room, once I'm ready. I'll dig the duct to there and then I can call them back and pull it into the house at my leisure. We got a little bit of rolling done on the first layer of Type 1, but it's been mega cold and snowy for a few weeks which has stopped us. One thing that has been a pain was the test holes left big soft spots. We had to dig these out completely and fill with stone. The groundworks boys said he always have this issue and would be better if the SE put them off to the side. A good bit of info for others. So since that point it got basically rock solid cold. little happened for about 10 days just due to weather. Then last Thursday after postponing him 5 times, got the surveyor on site. I had marked up various times using the TOPO stations and tapes, but wanted very accurate positions on site for the walls and so I can get the ducts and drainage bang on. I spent days on the plant room design and layout which is now hopefully pretty good. The surveyor and I put all the profile boards up outside the footprint which went well, I was 400mm off the actual CAD position I had given for the house. Which considering I was using tapes from topo points which were 80m away wasn't bad. I had already cut drains in so we just moved house position quickly by offsetting using total station. The profiles are in and all good. So this week we managed to stone up more, the boys done a bit of rolling on Tuesday - in fact I even did the rolling while they moved stone around. The stone is compacting but not as hard as I would and as quickly. They had to put a thicker layer on that the 150mm due it being so wet it would just bubble up. But the stone is soaked, and taking a while to drain off through the type 1 as my stone seemed to have loads and loads of fines. Now If i go back to the start of this post....maybe I should have bought that Type 3, but we are where we are! We rolled it down, then got another layer on and continued to roll it. It was still quite spongy at the end of the other day in a few places but we haven't finished rolling this layer just due to it being wet. The boys definitely put on thicker layers than stated and we rolled the lower layer less than the required 16 passes. I was having a bit of a hairy canary when I cam home and started to doubt what had been done, I was checking the roller weight and spec religiously against the KORE manual, and then getting worried that it would leave the lower layers too soft. It's hard here as, how hard is hard enough as I don't have any experience of laying a sub base and reading on here it should be rock solid. So I was back and forth the next day to site, jumping up and down, seeing how hard it was. I made a plan the night before as it was concerning me, that if needed I would just strip it back down a layer and re roll that bit and not to worry myself too much (the boys keep telling me to put my worry beads away) that we can fix it. Now that we have had two sunny dry days with no ice, it has drained off well and feels better actually and I talked it through with the groundworker that i was worried and didn;t think we had enough passes, and he help reassure me somewhat (and I trust him) that albeit the textbook says 16 passes and 100mm layer that, it simply isn't possible here to do it in the 100mm layer as the roller would bring the water through at that point and we need a thicker lower layer. Now that we are up a but and it's drying it should compact better. It's now pissing it down for the rest of the week and we can't do anything. However he has left me the roller over the weekend, so I can roll it to my hearts content which will make me very happy. Hopefully we get a couple of days dry at weekend and I can et that done, then they will be back Tuesday to hopefully get the last layer or two on and bring it all up to the correct level and then we can mark the ducts and drains and get them dug in to the stone. I was quite surprised at how not flat my flat looking plot was. Standing looking at it is quite deceiving, at one end of my 20m length footprint, I needed around 150mm stone, at the other end I will end up with 4-500mm stone which is quite remarkable. To the eye it's very deceiving. Having the laser there is great and helps make it all very easy. Lots of challenges, on site with weather and generally getting organised. Also the stone compaction and not having done it before definitely caused worry which unsettled me, simply I think because there's nobody else really to take the responsibility as ultimately it's for me to say what's ok and what's not. Having a major responsibility is not a daunting thing for me, I work at a high level in a business and directly responsible for managing and being the technical expert for very large value and complex equipment. However there's something about being in unfamiliar territory here and doing it for the first time with nobody to else to take the responsibility which is both exhilirating but also slighlty terrifying. It's like when you take your first foreign trip without your folks, or when your new born baby won't stop crying. It's a challenge and when you get through it, it's good. You just need to feel your way through and make as best decisions you can and rely on the people around you. I can say I am absolutely thoroughly enjoying myself. I have loved being out my home office (daughters nursery!) and being out and about on site. I cannot wait till get further ahead, the kit comes, which is planned for April now, and I can work up there every night in the spring and summer. The kit has been delayed somewhat due to messing around with L shaped combination skylight windows for a week, I can firmly say trying to get them figured out has been a PITA. Also, I had added the angled reveals at the top and bottom (which I may scrap tonight!) but that's another post for another day.... Lots of pictures as that's what blogs are about. Test holes sense having them dug below.

You just need a dimmable LED power supply like these. https://www.ultraleds.co.uk/led-components/led-drivers/12v-dimmable-led-drivers.html Most LED strips are dimmable but worth checking.

I posted regarding this after the origenal . Brexit vote I asked the timber merchant How can Brexit effect English oak when it grows here ?

I called into our local merchant earlier in the week, he was telling me timber prices have risen sharply in recent weeks, particularly Oak.

Most exterior masonry pain is acrylic based. It coats the surface with a thin film. Think sandtex and the like. Mineral paint chemically bonds to a mineral substrate so won't ever peel off. But it needs a mineralic substrate to react with, it otherwise behaves like a regular paint over acrylic or previously painted surfaces. I suspect the same over silicone. Keim is a leading mineral paint brand, expensive but good stuff.

I did this at a previous house, wooden posts with chainlink fencing. Planted bushes /trees next to it and they grew through the chainlink eventually holding it up (so the dog next door could not get through ?

I am erring towards this. From a practical standpoint, this fence will serve 3 main purposes, boundary demarcation, temporary separation while the landscaping becomes established and to keep the Deer at bay. Carefully thought out landscaping will increasingly hold the Deer back, so the fence becomes less important over time.

Post and rail fence is a nice option, tis what we did 20 years ago, stand the posts in oil, creosote or a mixture for a couple of weeks will help them immensely in the long run, then square 4 inch wire mesh run along the fence from ground level to about 4ft high to keep out dogs. Eventually I planted laurels, loads of them over the space of a few years, purchased them in the winter as bare root in bundles of 50 or so, then heeled them into my veg patch then planted them at my leisure. Beware though, Laurels grow big if you let them, Mine are now at about 2.5 to 3m, which keeps out prying eyes. Means I can have more man toys to keep it in good order though, and its a twice a year job at that. Not sure what's worse though, painting fences, or hedgetrimming!

1. True. Although the kitchen isn't big enough etc... we did work on the plans together - this has to be a team game. 2. I give her little choice on that one! Yes, "long suffering" might be a good choice of words! 3. Tool purchase is encouraged! My limit for living in chaos is lower so I tend to tidy up first. 4. No, it's not that. But I do not have a completer finisher personality so I could understand if it were! The boss is about the most thorough QA inspector I have ever known along with a fantastic eye for details. 5. I think not. Anyone who lets you repaint a TVR chassis in the lounge is worth keeping. ?

Thanks for the welcomes, it seems that Norfolk/Suffolk is a hot bed for self-builders on this forum! I think I know where your split plot is ? Seriously I looked through your posts and see you are in the planning stages of an exciting new build. You received some good advice on the foul drainage (defo ? connect to mains sewer imo). Look forward to following your project as it develops. My brother's most recent self-build was a barn conversion is west Norfolk. Much harder than greenfield new build (e.g. underpinning, building in stone etc) but he's made a lovely job of it. I wish you luck.

We plan to move in as soon as we have enough rooms completed, then rent out our house to pay for the rest to be finished. Although we may lose out on some VAT reclaim this is when we will request our completion certificate. All the structural work will be done and things like mist coats, just not the final finishes, some floors etc. It will be finished from the structural purposes so LPA are happy, they said the inside is just like when anyone decorates. We also have to consider CGT on this house, but don't want to sell if we an avoid it. Thanks for your advice, there is so much to consider when building aside from the physical build.

Welcome @SeanGreentree from a fellow Norfolk member. Good luck with your plans.

The drip detail is key - where mine has gone green in winter, it is due to insufficient overhang from the roof above. It's pristine where there are proper cills etc. 50mm recommended for cills, 300mm for soffits.

A subject that some people forget is mains sewerage connection or a plot suitable fir a treatment plant which can scupper the best of plans!

Here you go https://www.breckland.gov.uk/article/4284/Neighbourhood-Plans

I don't know if I dare admit it but we've got a Persimmon house (built 2007) and it's constructed very well. I've seen practically every nook and cranny having worked on it, extended it and retrofitted MVHR. I'd like to think I understand a fair bit about house construction and techniques having renovated a few properties over the years covering practically every aspect so I don't think I've got a warped sense of what's good and bad. It was a show home though, so perhaps as mentioned there might be something in that. That said, I've also noticed that every show home we go in these days (my wife's a big fan of noseying around these things) always disappoints us in terms of size and layout, and in some cases construction, so perhaps there's something else behind why ours seems fine. I'd never defend Persimmon based on what I've heard about them, but I'd certainly defend and give them due credit for this particular house they've built.

@temp same with us - still needed timber laid up the valley for the battens to fix to. @patp - as @nod says - get the valleys lined and if your current roofer won't do it then get another one. There's nothing much going on at the 'big sites' that I'd list as quality - its more about cutting corners to bolster their margin + a lax inspection system. Do it right do it once

I have been following the Met Office forecasts on YouTube in recent weeks and had not previously appreciated their depth compared to TV forecasts. Very useful for self builders planning work at this time of year. Anyhow the latest 10 day trend forecast issued 3 hours ago is particularly interesting, the jet stream is going a little bonkers over the next week. The west of the UK will be particularly turbulent with a combination of winds, rain and warm temperatures as the jet stream whacks the west from a strange due south direction. Met Office Channel = https://www.youtube.com/c/metoffice/videos Current 10 day trend forecast =

Price have started already and we have notification of more due. Circa 12% for insulation and circa 7.5% for Timber

I would remove the door and frame and use concrete blocks tied to the existing wall to fill the hole.

If you reported this issue to the builder within the first 2 years, and can evidence that with paperwork etc, then the NHBC are still on the hook to deal with it. I had a few dealings with NHBC some years ago and raising issues within the first 2 years was always the critical element. Maybe they meant you need a solicitor to force the NHBC to do something!!

In Belgium they say... Build your first house for your enemy, your second for a friend and the third one for you.

Getting this made into a sign and hanging it on the door.

A house is just a collection of faults and errors under one roof. The difference between self build and buying off the peg is that you know what the faults are before moving in.

Got me wondering whats on my roof. We have valley tiles..

I’d be starting to think about getting a different roofer If the roof leaks he may tell you to get an umbrella ☔️

I think wires have been crossed here. Years ago truss manufacturers only provided trusses for the main regular segments of a roof and where there was an L-shaped intersection the roof carpenter filled in the missing section of the roof with traditional cut rafters that diminished in length going up the valley. These days the truss manufacturers provide a set mini trusses that infill the L-intersection. I thought we were talking about missing valley boards that support the valley material (GRP or lead). Valley boards can either be continuous lengths of timber running over the top of main trusses and infill trusses or the valley support can be fabricated from multiple flush infill boards shaped to fit between the trusses. I am guessing your building inspector has looked at the spec for the GRP valley and is now saying why are the valley boards missing. Somehow the conversation about missing valleyboards has become conflated with a side discussion about truss infills. There might be a relationship because the valleyboards will connect with the infill trusses.

I'm really pleased with the way the solar panels and roof is looking

I did ours in K four years ago and we are surrounded by tree Still looks like the day I did it No need to get wash alga Simply spray Algacide 12-1 with a hand sprayer Let the rain do the rest K tends to be a better colour match than Webber

Maybe I am just too sanguine after having lived through my own self-build, and it's not something that I would ever want to repeat despite it really being a 100% -- well certainly 99+% -- success. When we started on this journey we naively thought that it might take a year from pre-planning to completion. In the end it took us 3½ years, and that is a lot faster than many self-builders here have achieved. Coming from a high-maintenance and pretty cold 1700s farmhouse, one of our goals was to have a truly low energy house that we going to be as near zero-maintenance as possible. IMO, achieving decent low-energy performance with a tradition UK block / brick build is really hard. @tonyshouse is one of the few members here that I know have achieved this and IIRC his wall profile is 10 block + 30 insulation + 10 brick, and he was intimately involved in the build process. IMO in practice you won't achieve any decent level of energy efficiency except by design both in concept and in detail. The culture in the UK building industry is still anchored into processes that are decades out-of-date. OK, there is a trade-off here in that you can use traditional approaches and accept the significantly higher running costs. But to your specific points @dpmiller, we surveyed maybe 6 or 7 TF suppliers and shortlisted 3. We were quite open with them about who we were shortlisting and why. IMO, the planners interfere with your design to a degree that you'd be unwise to invest too much into TF design until after consent has been achieved, so we weren't able to down select until after we had obtained consent and have an overall approved concept to share with the two companies we eventually asked to quote. Any form of price quote is meaningless without a clear definition of scope and responsibility. A friend self-building in a nearby village discounted our supplier as too expensive and went for a cheaper quote, but in the end paid a more (and a lot more than he budgeted) because our scope was essentially a complete service: slab, frame, erection, insulation and air-tightness to contracted performance level, and he had to source many of the aspects as unbudgeted extras. Our TF / warm-slab supplier's structural engineer and architect technician were crucial to our finalising our detailed design. With a high energy performance house, the devil is in the detail.

Can do both but tbh the quickest way is just close them down to 400mm centres with the same depth; secure the ends of every hoist properly; ensure all floor and ceiling noggins are installed with z-clips; ensure all boards are glued with D4 to every joist and every joint. That will give you the most solid floor with the components properly installed.

100% connect to mains drainage. Regarding tampons and pads, they should never be flushed, whatever system you have. My wife and daughter use a bin. Menstrual blood is not sinful.

My wife wanted Zinc roof - I wasn't so sure , but I love it now. Ours cost £130/m2 roughly but not include the wood buildup underneath. They was there for 3 weeks in total and had 6 guys are one point. I also looked at the steel based solutions (like TATA etc) however if you need some fine details or specific requirements it cannot be done. The great thing about Zinc is that they can pretty much do anything. We really wanted hidden gutters and was key to the over all design so it was what made the decision in the end. Some pics. Ignore the cable on the roof - that's for solar panels to be fitted.

OK this may appear somewhat “ controversial” but you have a huge space there, and I think you are missing a trick. I would be finishing up the blocks as a single skin, and then cladding all round or rendering direct to block. I’d then build a completely new timber frame structure inside the building - even use metal framing like @nod has recommended - and seal it / insulate it and you have a “conversion” without the structural hassles. Also, if you have to have a contamination survey done, get them to condemn the current concrete floor due to urea etching (yes this is a thing) so it is not structurally sound .... and then dig it out !! Drop your floor by 200mm all round the inside of the blockwork, cast a ring beam to support the inside of the outer wall plus provide the edge for your inner frame, new DPM up the inside of your “swimming pool” and then you negate the need for the external injected DPM (that invariably don’t work...) You may lose 25sqm of floor potentially but it will give you a much better build and much more DIY-able.

By reading this thread I think I have my answer but before I proceed with out structural warranty, am I ok doing this? There will not be a mortgage on the property and we don't plan on selling ever. Seems like a waste of 3k especially when building control are essentially doing the same job?

Nope, I don’t have one, it’s our forever (till they wheel me out in a box?) house but someone told me if we sold it a warranty would be required but I then found out an indemnity insurance is cheaper than a warranty and it can be taken out IF you decided to sell.

Just noticed on posi joist spec that the space between the flanges on their slimmest joist (202mm) is 108mm, therefore not big enough for a 110mm soil pipe?!? Easi joist on the other hand, slimmest joist 195mm and 125mm between flanges. I have been through several design amendments with the posi joist dealer but seems that was all in vain.

well I've just re-secured all our strong backs - its made Q a difference. Also added 18mm ply either side of the metal web joists - also a positive impact. After reading on this forum - I also secured the ends of the joists again so they are rock solid. All helps me sleep at night and hopefully has a positive impact on the floor as well!

When my floors use engineered joists I specify that the maximum acceptable deflection must be the lesser of <8mm or 0.002 span, NHBC allow 12mm and 0.003 span, which I feel is very bouncy, but is probably aimed at house bashers with more of an eye on costs than customer experience.

I’m also hoping the Mars probe landing today can bring some timber back . Probably requires less paperwork than the ‘frictionless’ boarder we have . Might be quicker also !

1) She must share your vision. 2) She gets stuck in and helps. 3) I bet she doesn't complain if you have tools "everywhere" (even if you have nowhere decent to store them). 4) I bet her constant retort, like a maddening record, isn't "You'll take forever!" (Well love, you can't finish some thing unless you start). 5) I'll swap with you! ?

That’s probably the show house, where they spend extra time and attention building it?

It's done like that so if you have a fire and your upstairs you can open the window and use the bricks to climb down like Spider-Man. Or they had no string line so used blue rope.