Leaderboard

Relying only on plasterboard and skim for air tightness is a very bad idea. It is a "normal" occurance for me when I unscrew a light switch or a socket I am greetid with a howling gale of icy cold air. Air tightness should be a planned well detailed layer before plasterboard and finishes go on. And don't rely on solid insulation fitted between joists or rafters being a tight fit. Experience from what I see suggests in a great many cases it is anything but well fitted. This is where a self builder can make a difference, by ensuring the detail is done properly and carefully.

just an update - everything is working perfectly and all 7 ports are balanced perfectly!! done the job, leave them on for like 60-90mins come back and volla! sorted!

In my experience, it’s only going to get harder and more challenging as the build progresses... if the builder is difficult now whilst doing the big easy stuff, it’s going to be a world of pain when it comes to all the finer details later. Also... in my experience... they don’t like customers with high standards. For example, in my area there are a lot of aerospace engineers - they expect builders to achieve the same level of tolerance as in aircraft.. so a lot of the builders round here won’t work for them ?

Amstrad durable matt gets rave reviews. I've used that in hall and dulux diamond in kitchen. Diamond is better but not matt

We’ve been using Brewers, their Albany stuff. Been told it’s hard wearing and washable. Early evidence is that it is. We’ve gone white pretty much everywhere, they match any colour so we’ve got some off whiteish walls that are fake F&B (I have to say we are delighted with the results, the white walls appear to subtly change colour throughout the day). My son/labourer is a bit like Pig Pen from Peanuts, crap and crud just sort of flies off him and covers every surface, so far all the whites/off whites have cleaned up a treat.

Wickes Tough and Washable

Ask the Vaillant people who designs their systems. It may well be Vaillant themselves, which adds some peace of mind. Ensure the installer you chose has the appropriate Vaillant certifications to get the full 7 year warranty on the system. Although they have their own cylinders, any heat pump cylinder would do - the coil surface area is larger than standard cylinders. Typically 3m2 or more. If you're in the UK and looking at RHI, it's worth playing with the design flow temperatures (even if this means changing some radiators) as lower flow temp = higher COP from the MCS product performance tables = higher payments.

Your dimensions of steel will be in the BAR BENDING SCHEDULE this is produced by the engineer, you send it to the steel stockholders and they produce a quote for you. £7-9 grand I would just pay it, the time you pay for all the separate elements you will be lucky to save £1500 for weeks of agro. Foundations is not a place for you for you to try and make savings. Fitting plasterboard, door linings doors, skirting and painting are the things you can do unless you have done it before. now im all for everyone having a go, I did all my own steel work and ringbeam and saved £5000 but I’ve been involved in the building game for nearly 40 years. What about drainage, do you have drainage going under the raft?

You'll be somebody's "friend": https://www.stuartmillersolicitors.co.uk/sentences/sentence-for-vat-fraud/#:~:text=If your case reaches court,and how culpable you are. ?

That's such a truism that I'm thinking it would make a good signature line for a self builder. The simple discipline of habitually questioning professionals' (contractors) statements is one step on the road to due diligence . My god I have regretted not following my own advice.

You’re not managing subs though so these become reasonably irrelevant. Is a £200 sparky available tomorrow better than a £190 Sparky available in a month ..?? Get 3 prices, get the average and take the one nearest the average. And don’t be afraid to ask for their day rates ..!

The problem with any guide is that while trades are in such short supply There pricing is based on how busy they are If you can get a price at the moment

I've not read this whole thread but will, coming at this from an architect point of view - no one on a domestic job wants to pay for full destructive surveys to be done at the design stage. Any structural engineer we work with will want some trial pit/site investigation done for building warrant/regs but there's always assumptions involved, working with existing buildings you will never know every inch until the digging starts and we always tell clients to have a reasonable contingency, it's not just existing foundations, we've had all kinds of discoveries working with old buildings. The key to any project is the communication, as soon as something isn't as per the assumptions made at design stage it needs flagged and addressed before continuing...

Maybe no need. I just read something about reclaiming VAT for goods imported from non EU countries and it said that proof of VAT paid and shipping documents are required so I guess now that we’ve left that will be the process for all countries.

No, i just make an effort. I live semi rural. When i spotted an old bill i engaged him in a conversation. When i later met him and another cop in the cafe, i paid for there butties while getting my own. I have a couple of direct mobile numbers for a couple of local old bill now, together with a couple of first names.

You can’t if the hob has an integrated extractor but I would just put the invoice in anyway and note it on your claim form as an extractor. The guidance hasn’t been updated yet but there is a chance that you won’t be allowed to reclaim VAT paid directly to HMRC in the UK now that we are no longer in the EU as that amount is not on the invoice.

Start here - has link to the heat loss calculator. Don’t be shy with questions !

Well 6 months on we finally got this working! I won't quite say commissioned yet, as we're still running the FTC6 in single zone for fan coil + ufh, but now the plumbing is all complete I can think about getting the control systems properly working. (I say plumbing is complete, there's still a broken flow sensor to replace) Progress has been so slow with our MCS installer I actually got my main contractors plumber to help me debug the fan coil yesterday. The issue was obvious, looking at that photo above the red things in the threaded connectors are bungs. Kinda important you remove those before hooking it up, else no water ain't flowing anywhere. Would have been nice if the MIs has mentioned that! Being in the loft, this is obviously the highest point in the system by quite some way, so bleeding the system has to happen here. It has manual air release vents but it'd be nice to have automatic ones (or a system fill point up there next to it) to allow single person system pressurisation. Anyway, bit of a faff but I think this is really going to pay off come summer. It's amazing how no one at all on our build has ever seen anything like it. Thanks RHI random restrictions. They're so common on the continent. Glad I read about it here. In a pinch a plinth heater would also have worked I think, but for cooling we'd have to DIY build a condensation tray and ensure it doesn't get into the electrics.

From what I see, there is a set of mistakes from various parties, which the build owner now has to sort out. SE/Architect really deserve a kick in the tender regions for not checking the foundations properly - why was not a proper survey done (or have I missed it above)? The builder will, understandably, be very nervous re delays as he has a few contracts lined up which are tied up to the finish of this particular project, that's standard practice. ALso true re him having to pay the crew for delays whilst waiting. What cannot be justified - the builder ignoring your instructions and proceeding with the underpinning against your express direction. This is not good. Ignoring the drawing will happen regularly, but it can be minor (eg ignoring the indicated place for a niche recess when tiling) or MAJOR. In our case, our Bulder-1 (the bad one) ignored the SE drawings/calculations when placing structural steels on block walls, which resulted in cracks all over - cost us £20k+ to rectify once we fired him and hired our Bulider-2 (God bless him, a great guy). I'm not sure how you/Architect have been PM-ing this build so far, but from this point onward you must be present on site daily if you want to get good results. The builder himself is not on site daily, and we don't know how good the communication is between him and his site manager - it adds another layer always. Most likely the builder will be annoyed with your daily presence, but if you want things to progress correctly and avoid costly mistakes - you have to be there daily, check progress against drawings, look into every corner of the site to ensure the right thing is done. It may help having a very detailed conversation with all involved, to set the record straight. Ideally minute it. And from now on don't rely on anyone and watch it as a hawk. If the builder continues with this F-off attitude, fire him. Six more months to go on in such mode of operation would be too stressful.

I have done a lot of rigid insulation and it’s one area I always go OTT on even if the PIR look tight I still jam the foam gun into the joint between timber and insulation and give it a squirt every inch or so along the joint.... cut back any snots and then I tape it carefully. I realise it’s a bit crazy but when it gets covered over I sleep easy knowing I did the best I could. The reason for this crazy detailing is that I live in a VERY exposed location where I have felt the wind wind blowing through less than 1mm gaps. The foaming of tight joints is totally impractical on a commercial build but I am only dealing with 3 buildings all of which I never intend to sell... and I’m just playing around at the end of the day !

I like the look of the copper gutter but can imagine waking up in the morning and they are gone

Sorry Jimbo but I do have a life outside the forum ??? I will try to keep up in future ?

I bought a Novy 1778 induction hob via Amazon, had it in basket for ages, the price kept going up and down. Managed to get the last one, were two for a while. Hasn't been in stock since, almost half price. seemed to have been sent from France. Also there were several 3rd party sellers offering at a lower price but with email first request.

I'll second that. Trouble is you spend a million dollars to make it look worth half a million dollars. And, in the words of our local friendly Mr Plod " ...make it worth knicking...."

And if you catch any thieving scum, dont do what my mate did, which was, detain them (several hours) Torture them ( to the point where they emptied their bowel.) Unfortunately, that got him 6 years inside, and he had to pay compensation to said scum. Although, as the cops said. They thought that said scum would probably look for a change of career.

yes one way valves not unusual in the unit and then a gate valve a bit higher so you can isolate the column of crap...

FOMO

Bit late to this debate but interesting reading, the discovery of cracks under the render do shine a different light on the situation, however, I do think “presuming” the corbels are all the same by the SE was “not good practice “ on his part, personally (and I am not an SE) I would have trial dug at multiple locations!!!

I'd stick to the one feature stove . Good quality room sealed DEFRA approved stoves are not cheap, same for the flues etc. Can't go wrong with lots of insulation, cold bridge detail, airtightness and MVHR.

Insulation, insulation, insulation, then airtightness. It’s all down to detail (which many builders don’t get yet). There is some bad press about ASHP but only when it’s not designed or installed properly. We have a small ASHP and it works well (and I installed it myself). Yes, we have a woodstove and love it, but many say a wood stove will over heat a passive house, we rarely light it as the house is a constant 21’ but lovely when we do. Our heating is only used about 3 months a year.

"meeting" SAP / EPC shouldn't be an issue for a new build as the standarda are so low compared what can be achieved easily with modern design and materials. You should be aiming for high levels of insualtion and airtightness, so the dependence on a heating system is much lower. And ASHP is the obvious choice. And question do you need to log burners in a highly insulated house.

Add as much insulation as you can, draughtproofing and air seal entire structure, then look for places where more insulation could be added to good effect then design heating, if you still need it

If I were you I would bin it and come and have a look mate - just toss the 'it's COVID inn'it' grenade into the mix. If you are in any doubts about how these things will go on I have the whole spectrum on display next week! Hopefully it will go well!

My issue with having SE's drawings and not following them to a T is god forbid there was any issue down the line, who is going to take responsibility if the builder doesn't follow exactly what the SE has stipulated. The SE quite rightly will wash their hands of it and I doubt the builder will want to come back and fix any issues. Looks like you have a big call to make................

So - what is your heat requirement based on your design (insulation and air tightness levels, solar gain, min external temp in winter)? There are some DIY models on this site to help you figure that out or more pro tools are available. When you know this, you’ll understand what system will deliver an appropriate comfort level and what temp it needs to run at. Mvhr will not make any meaningful heat contribution but will minimise heat loss through ventilation and suggests that your build is fairly airtight which means your heating requirement may already be lower than typical. Log burners put out a lot of heat and you need to ensure they are sealed and do not compromise what you want your MVHR to contribute. UFH in every area may need to run at a lower temp to avoid overheating. As you’re upside down that complicates the usual approach of concentring heating downstairs and allowing convection to warm upstairs with bedrooms being cooler than living areas (which many prefer, including me). Bottom line is you need to treat you house as a system that the heating is part of vs try and shoehorn something in without consideration to the environment it is in. Needing to bolt things like PV on to get necessary SAP points is not really the best approach. What’s putting you off ASHP?

This is a new build. Take the chance to insulate it properly, detail it well to make it air tight, fit mvhr, so you will end up with a house that does not need much heat input. Heat the whole house with UFH so it only needs to run at a low temperature, and then an ASHP will admirably heat the house well. Fit solar PV as well and that will gain you SAP points and reduce your real running costs.

Me too.....

The supplier got back in touch. Regarding the overflow going directly outside he says that it doesn’t have to, highlighting examples of installations in flats and other locations where any route to an outside wall was not a possibility (makes sense). He suggested a standard U bend would more than suffice as the regeneration would keep that suitably ‘wet’. He made no mention of the any air gap and as my mind was on other things when he called, I forgot to ask! He says that the regen can go uphill, by a couple of stories if necessary, but the overflow obviously has to go down hill. (It’s downhill all the way for me) So, my plan now is that I’m going to go with something like a washing machine trap as suggested by @Temp for the regen and wedged in alongside a bit of clear tube with the overflow going into the top of that so I can see/hear if it’s overflowing. (Hopefully it will look a bit better than that Heath Robinson description when I’ve finished). Standing by for any contrary advice.

Whats the budget like? Could you afford copper guttering and some copper hoppers? Perhaps replace some down pipes with shorter ones into another horizontal gutter running below the window?

I’m going to stick up for the builder, as he will be criticised for being late delivering the project due to delays that are not his fault. he will submit extra costs for the the delay due to having to hire in equipment for longer, site set up costs etc you will be angry at this. the engineers will submit an invoice for extra work for the invoice and get paid no hassle. the architect will submit an invoice for extra work due to the underpinning and get paid no problem. easy to see why the builder gets upset?

I have worked as a site manager, on several expensive new builds of £2 million +...... It's difficult. One the One hand you need to keep things moving along, and i'm telling you now, you can have all the drawings in the world (I've had over 400 for a 4000sq ft house). At some point, on a practical level the drawings just won't work with the actual building taking place. The skill is the speed at getting it sorted quickly. Hold-ups cost money. I did Two houses in 2014. If i had had to refer back to the Client, Architect, Engineer everytime somebody waved a bit of paper at me, and said this don't work, I'd still bloody be there. I looked at a job for the Saudi Royal Family, and just at the quote stage i realised that every single time there was the slightest issue,it would have to be held untill the weekly site meeting, so that everybody could sit around and debate it. I knew that this would end up costing the client money, and me money. I'm not saying you are wrong, but wanting to discuss everything with the whole team, builder, architect, engineeer, interior designer, etc, etc, will be costing your builder money, because it's all a delay to his schedule. If he tells his guys not to come in for a few days, he still has to pay them. If he is organising any sub contractors, he will have to advise them that the site won't be ready for when he has them booked. There is then the risk that when he wants them they won't be available. From the sound of your post, you are having to get some underpining done. Get your engineer to get his butt to site pronto and talk it through with the builder. What is the architect going to bring to the party ? Another nice bill for you, that's all. builders build and engineers make sure it won't fall down. When your builder says to you, that detail, in that corner, don't work, but i can do it like this is that ok ? Be ready to make an instant decision, so that he can get on, and you can get your project finished. Listen, i'm not saying your builder is perfect. I'm just saying that it doubt it is all his fault

Don't suck it up. This seems to be all too common. A long term client of mine who is very experienced in the world of construction and project management gave me one piece of advice about the industry when I started out on my journey. That was that I needed to question everything anyone told me or did on my project because inevitably they will be working in their own interests and not mine when it comes to delivering either products or services. Cynical as it might be, it has shown itself to be incredibly accurate. Your architect seems to be taking this route by pushing you to do things to her agenda not yours. My client's advice was don't take it, push back for want you want and hold yourself strong and make decisions how and when you need to. It's your money. If they refuse to play ball, then find someone else to work with. Yes, this is a pain, but just imagine what it might be like to continue to work with someone behaving like this to you as a paying client so early on in the project.

It depends what you are going for, mine are as follows and currently at SAP (87 / B) based on the design, though there are many other things that effect your SAP rating. External walls (masonry cavity) - 0.18 Suspended floors - 0.12 Flat roof - 0.11 My walls are the weakest point, but i think are a good balance of performance and price Exterior full fill dritherm 150mm cavity wall - FSAP.pdf Blocks are £0.99 + vat each, and the insulation is about £9.20 / m2, so in terms of materials its about £30 / m2. bricklaying is about £22 / m2 per 100mm wall leaf. Render about £30 / m2, and dot and dab plasterboard skimmed ~£8 / m2. So its about £110 per m2 exterior wall (not including lintels etc).

I bet the kitchen used to be bigger then.

Do you have a tardis to go back to the 60s

DON'T employ this plumber: 40mm waste coming up from the floor, is the outflow from a macerator about 4 metres away that goes down, along under the floor, then back up here. Small waste into the top is the condensing boilers condensate drain. The middle of the tee branches off sideways into a strap on boss on the soil stack. Even I know this is not going to work as planned.........

Christ! That must of been all the stock in the U.K. !

Get a basic physics book. http://www.mhtl.uwaterloo.ca/courses/ece309_mechatronics/lectures/pdffiles/achall_web.pdf http://www.pgccphy.net/1030/phy1030.pdf And this one is useful: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Buildings-Fall-Down-Structures/dp/039331152X Download the Building Regs: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/901517/Manual_to_building_regs_-_July_2020.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/899279/Single_stitched_together_pdf_of_all_ADs__Jun20_.pdf Learn SI units, and then always use them, without exception. Learn basic algebra, statistics and geometry. Get used to spreadsheets. Make use of this website. https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ This is useful for terminology. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Dictionary-Building-Reference-Books/dp/014051239X