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it's been a bit quiet on our blog so I thought I should update it. While we've been waiting for the groundworks to start we've been busy getting the site ready. This has included getting the new entrance to the plot created, getting the sub-base for the driveway in place and then topping it off with a layer of 6F5 as a hardstanding for the construction vehicles (after the build I can then remove the top layer to reveal the, hopefully, still in good condition sub-base to put the final layer on top of. well that's the plan at least!) and putting up the site toilet. Obviously the last job was the most important. Our new entrance to the plot is over a culvert and as it's connecting to an adopted road it had to be done by an insured contractor and so I had to fork out the cash to get it done. but they did a very good job and we're very happy with it. the culvert in situ with enough concrete on top to take the lorries and cranes for the build a nice base layer of tarmac finished, which will see us through the build when they will come back and put a nicely finished top layer on. nice sand-bagging. ? once, they'd finished the entrance we moved on to the driveway and hardstanding but, first, an observation....it's funny how things don't look as big on paper as they do in real life. that's exactly the conclusion I came to after I looked at the plans and thought "that driveway isn't that big I'll just dig it out myself and save myself a fair chunk of cash" and then went on to dig it out. it was only after I'd finished the 120m2 area did I realise how big the driveway is going to be (I swear it doesn't look that big on paper!). oh well, it's done now, at least we'll have plenty of parking. maybe I can rent it out and do a 'Park and Ride' in to the local town to recoup some of the costs. ? a big hole dug and covered in Terram (or an equivalent to be exact) 100 tonnes of beautiful primary Type-3 granite aggregate all compacted by that beast of a roller. Don't really care what everyone else thinks but I think I did a darn good job for my first driveway sub-base. Sadly it all got covered by another layer of Terram and then a load of 6F5 got dumped on top and it now looks like a building site hardstanding area (which is what it is!). here's a photo of the lovely lady of the house helping out on the roller. it was a bit cold out that day. And finally we get to the most important job, the building of the site toilet. Friends of ours got it from a local freebie site and used it for their self-build, we then dismantled it, transported it to our site, erected it, put a new roof on it and plumbed in the toilet and sink to our existing STP. we think it's a very luxurious WC for site use. it's even got a couple of windows so you can watch the work progress while you're doing your business. and that's it for this blog post. we are extremely excited as tomorrow is the day we've been waiting for and the groundworks starts in earnest. They'll be on site to set up and start digging out the big hole for the basement as the basement contractors are due to start on the 3rd May so we should start to see some real progress now! finally!! thanks for reading. ?

Normally even the dishwasher socket has an isolator switch above the worktop. Does the room with the CU back onto the kitchen? How about isolators there?

You could argue that the isolation switch is already provided by the big red isolator in the consumer unit and nothing else is required.

Thanks @pocster, i've reached out to them but looking at their website I think they are too contemporary for what we are looking for. We are trying to emulate the crittall style but with modern security. I had thought Fabco could help us as they do crittall style steel doors with multipoint locking and PAS24 certification, but for some reason their doors must open outwards, which is just weird for a front door.

Ovens and hobs should have isolation switches. They just need to be easily accessible for maintenance purposes. Surface mount is fine. Dishwasher into a socket (either switched or unswitched is ok), surface mount is ok. Socket should really be part of the ring main or could be a spur from another socket on the ring

Thanks all. No sooner had I posted than the local building inspector turned up unannounced, said he had spoken to the fire officer and to the checking authority, and was now happy for me to proceed as planned! I've also had the neighbour over to clear the air, which was nice. And it's sunny here today too. For those who are interested, the dispute was over the interpretation of part B4 of the regs, and whether it was safe for me to build a house to the edge of my plot, with a door facing onto the boundary. The regs say that any wall with an opening (doors, windows) greater than 1m2 must be one metre back from the boundary to prevent fire spread risk. It is a difficult thing to envisage, but our neighborhood is very olde wordle and higgledy piggledy, with access via a series of footpaths only. The checking authority were happy that the footpath outside my plot was sufficiently wide that there was no risk of fire spreading from my house to my nearest neighbours (who by the way, have recently built an extension with doors and windows facing the same path!). The local inspector originally less pleased, and minded to say I could not build to the boundary and have a door. This is to do with the difference between the legal boundary and the nominal boundary for building regs purposes. Your actual legal boundary is not necessarily the boundary for the purposes of making a fire break. If the land between you and your nearest neighbour is never likely to be built on (so a road, river, access or whatever) then it is legitimate for your building regs inspector to feel that there is a fire break there already and you don't need to provide one by stepping your building line back. Here endeth both the lecture and the stress!

There has been much discussion on the short supply of materials etc on the forum, so I'm not repeating it here. Suffice to say, the progress on the house itself is best described as "hurry up and wait". The upstairs windows are all installed, the downstairs are due to go in when the scaffolding finally goes away (any day now?), and the cladding is completed as far as is possible while waiting for the MVHR and air conditioning equipment. The sewage treatment plant arrives very shortly (thankfully no shortage here) so we have taken the opportunity to find out what is in the garden in order to install the plant and dig an attenuation pond for drainage. We would also like to be able to get to the end of the garden to see what is there! The view from the road of the house illuminated by floodlights during a late evening of activity while working on the cladding. Our snowdrops seem to scale themselves to fit their surroundings. We get a good crop every year, possibly because we leave them alone. Maybe I should be wary of breeding Triffids? They aren't supposed to be on the Isle of Wight! Last year's clearance efforts are still more or less clear. The primroses have taken over somewhat, but that's far better than nettles and brambles. The stunted pear tree is finally coming good two seasons after removing the Eucalyptus that was overshadowing it. We'll get around to trimming the dead wood at the appropriate time since we missed the opportunity this year. We're hoping for more than two pears this year. The entrance to the wilderness. We are aiming to clear at least a path to the bottom of the garden established before the growing season fills the place with the usual collection of nettles, brambles, blackthorn and willow. Based on the current growth, we don't have that much time left! We have a pathway extending at least 50 metres into the garden. This took us three days with a chainsaw, a strimmer multi-tool and a lot of wheelbarrowing. The sheer amount of dead wood is really not helping the trees - they are spreading past each other and fighting for every scrap of light until the branches get so heavy they break. We are aiming to remove only the dead wood this year so the trees can grow more sensibly and we can see exactly what we have left to work with. There is still a long way to go! Now to find something to do with the 30 barrowloads of wood. Maybe some charcoal making? Unfortunately this didn't work as well as we would have liked when the bottom of the barrel perforated in the heat, and we made a lot of ash. Oh well... time for a new plan. Finally, we are getting near the bottom of the garden. Well, at least within 30 metres. I didn't know we had all these oak trees. They are a bit too close together unfortunately so I doubt they will all stay long term. We did however find two mature oaks that are nicely spaced in another part of the garden. We can't quite get to them yet because of a thicket of blackthorn in the way. That's next week's problem unless house parts start turning up.

My thoughts exactly! Sadly, that's something I'm beginning to believe now too. I've met quite a lot of architects since starting my self-build journey and I sometimes wonder whether fabric, barring how it looks, is even in their vocabulary. However, one architect I know locally who runs a medium sized practice explained they come across this and being medium sized, they're lucky enough to employ a mixture of those who like just the design and those who are technically oriented. This means they can mix the two to design things fully on project. Perhaps there is yet hope! ?

True true. i have some lovely 60's photos of the cottage showing the stonework @ the extention-end wall, before concrete rendered over (+ placcy fired-on paint). Good stonework with much more even stone faces than the porch wall for some reason, which after all is old front wall (before porch added) with its much craggier stone used: I'm not sure why this craggy stone used if the front of house is the 'main looker' & extension end the 'side'. 1830 building regs I guess. I might dig them out & put up.. sweet diddy cottage it was. zoot.

If it is not especially important in the character of the listed building, and it sounds not if you can drive over it, then it should imo be straightforward. Personally I would just crack on. If somebody wants to complain, let them do so afterwards. If you change nothing physically, then I would not worry. If things on the land are mentioned in the listing, then I might be more cautious - as imo the obligations will run with the land and you will pick them up. Perhaps get a written confirmation from your solicitor that there are no problems. If there are common interests be clear on the new relationship. Check this: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/listed-buildings-and-curtilage-advice-note-10/heag125-listed-buildings-and-curtilage/ Ferdinand

My next job paving and I am seriously looking at paving pedestals for the majority of it so no laying/lifting etc

Before you go bunging in a 32mm pipe just because you can and it's only a few quid more, check it won't turn round to bite you later. Here in Scotland I am billed by business stream (farm with field troughs), and the standing charge per year for 32mm over 25mm is several hundreds of quid more. Perhaps just check that's not the case where you are. edit, just checked, £1233 v £436! I suppose you could add a foot of 25mm to the connection end

Yup, and learn to check everything, as the builder annoyingly put 25mm in mine instead of the specified 32mm. Also try to have no joins, they put them in mine and tried to hide them I know its not the end of the world, but as Gus says, the pipe is only a few pounds more and comes in 50m lengths.

thats probably the tidiest building site i've ever seen! Good start, hopefully the next stages go well

That's crazy. Did he completely lack curiosity? When we moved into the run-down bungalow we eventually knocked down to build our house, I was more excited about going through the garage full of old crap that hadn't been touched in decades than anything else.

Hiya catrionag. As a word of encouragement.. there are a good few houses in Scotland (mainly in the west side of Scotland) that were built in the 40's - 50's that are fully timber clad, these are often referred to as "non traditional housing". These houses are insurable. You can find these for sale on the internet. The point here is that what you are doing re timber cladding is not new but an improvement on these houses, design wise. More robust fire protection and so on. Scottish BC are more familiar with the timber frame concept, timber cladding etc as we have a longer track record than say BC / English based insurance providers. Have you had a chat with a some local insurance brokers, the independant ones? You are on the East coast , try some at Barrhead, Glasgow, Paisley, Dumbarton way who know more about timber clad properties. They do, as more of these timber clad houses were built in the west rather than the east. In terms of insuring your house in the long term this should not be a barrier. For example the Athletes' Village (Glasgow 2014) development has SIPS panels all signed off by Glasgow City Council. Have a look at some of these for sale on Zoopla. Also remember that the Scottish fire regulations are a different in places from the English regulations. You may get a pleasant surprise if you go to a Scottish based independant broker for the build process, they will no doubt want to quote you for the normal house buildings insurance post completion. In the spirit of BH I don't want give you names..but a lot of the brokers from Motherwell west will give you a few contact pointers even if they can't help you. Oh, and they may also be brokering for a few builders so when it comes round to getting quotes for work it can come in handy re references etc. If you explore this and stay " local brocker " you also can build youself a bit of a support network, yes it may cost few quid more / often less + /- £100.00 but it can pay dividends having someone at the end of the phone rather than dealing with an national network.

Just a thought. Once you get the connection sorted make the pipe diameter 32mm alkathene rather than 25mm which is standard for a shortish run on a single dwelling. The pipe will cost a little more, not much cf the trench etc. Doing this means that if you have a few bends in the pipe you reduce flow loss over the under ground section.. lets you play with the rest of the plumbing.

If you can get the permanent connection in, the utility companies will only mess you about and when you want the permanent supply they will be nowhere to be seen. Get the supplies in early and let the only drama be the painter not finishing on time?

Hi Eplison. Thank you for taking an interest, much appreciated by me. @Cpd good bit of encouragement here in that you can master the basic concept of hand cutting with an axe. If you buy a good quality slate then it makes life easier as a beginner. Slates are not like glass thus the " micro stress cracks" you mention don't propegate over time. Remember that we have been hand "axe" cutting slates this way for hundreds of years with no problem. Once you understand the principles of slating then you are off to a good start. Yes it may take a bit longer if DIY but you can end up with a cracking roof. Using an axe is in my view a bit softer on the slates than these other mechanical devices. You'll soon get the feel of the axe and know when to go gentle, some of the slates will feel bit harder than others as they will have come out of a different bits of the quarry bed. The main thing is to understand how you dress the slates at valleys, verges and chimneys as you use the dressing on the slate to channel water away from the vulnerable flashings and so on. Cutting with a grinder, shears are no match for this as they give you a square unnatural cut. Also, if this is your forever home or if you want to do a sound responsible job then think about how you maintain the roof say in 15 /20 years time. Some of the modern nailing patterns seem very much driven by the "warranty", in other words once ten years has passed everyone is pretty much off the hook warranty wise but you.. a good roof should last for 80- 100 years if properly and easily maintained. Pratically if a slate splits down the middle then if double nailed at the head it tends to stay in place while letting water in. You don't see it from the ground, great news if you are a new house builder. Not so good for you. You often see slates double nailed at the head, some with hooks too. I can tell you that in Scotland we have been doing slate roofs subject to regular 100mph winds for a long time. A single nail at the head, every third row cheek nailed. This method allows you to maintain the roof without damaging the sarking / felt / membrane below as you can get in to turn the slates to access any broken ones. For the curious you may ask how may you compensate for different wind areas. Well if you use a smaller or heavier slate then there is less wind uplift per slate.. I hope this helps Epsilon. It can be very rewarding to do and I think you'll find that using an axe is the way to go. From a professional point of view if I went to site and found someone saw cutting slates for valleys / verges etc then I would stop the job. On balance I would have a go Epsilon as knowing that you have done the roof yourself and made a sound job is a great feeling. Also, if you get the odd slate that cracks you know how to fix it in ten minutes.

Quick question - would it be a good idea or wrong to fit the valve after the wall is finished, from the back, ie next door room which is stud wall neighbour to the bathroom?

We are 50% timber clad on a SIPs kit. Ecology loan for the build. I asked a broker for advice re: remortgaging as I've read others say they built a blockwork skin to clad onto do they could access the wider market post-build. He asked their lenders who stated that as long as it has a structural warranty they'll lend.

Plus 1 for GSI (timber clad and a flat roof!)

When contractors go skint it is normally HMRC and suppliers that suffer financially. If they are labour only and you just pay him for work he has done I don't see how you will lose out. He may really like some cash as well that does not need to go to creditors.

Remove the word probably. We like to keep the forum factual

Josko a fair bit more expensive than Internorm also beside you! McMullan and ODonnell get some good reports for local company. We have Internorm aluclad PVC

The inner course is not FFL. On top of the ground in each of them pics you will have if possible hardcore then Dpm then insulation and a concrete sub floor or the finshed slab if that's how your doing the build. FFL could be anywhere between 150-225mm higher depending on ground conditions and the amount of insulation your putting in the floor. It's not for stepped cavity tray either. You can at this stage put one in but you only do a cavity tray like that if the outside ground heights are going to be higher than normal. It's left at this height so your first layer of cavity insulation boards/batts will be below the finshed floor level so no cold spot as your wall ties will start on top of the inner block work. This will leave a 225mm gap underneath where any motar droppings can fall to and not cause any issue. The lower section is where you start the brickwork or blocks but both have to match height wise going up for the wall ties.

That is what CPD hours are for ..!! Keeping up with new developments and technology. It’s also borderline hot air and bo!!cks as the principles of insulation haven’t changed in decades. More insulation = less energy to heat / cool is the basis of thermodynamics that has been there since the 1970’s That doesn’t even meet building regulations ..!! Never mind be energy efficient ..! The issue with a number of architects are they are crayon kings, and focus on the looks and aesthetic rather than the practical build scenario and the long term efficiency. We have a couple on here who do get it, but my overriding experience is that the “fabric first” learning is done on one wet Tuesday afternoon at university and forgotten thereafter ....

The pictures you’ve posted are of footings. The outer leaf will have face brickwork up to dpc.

so you can do a stepped cavity tray

@Dreadnaught please look at this mans toilet, I’m afraid it makes yours look rather humble.

Yes !!! Do this !!

All looks a bit odd structurally. 150mm beams then 150mm of suspended ceiling then more..up to 400mm.. lots of fixing / labour detail, then service penetrations to consider. For a DIY self builder consider the price a local builder will charge to install all of this. If you have noisy kids.. then they won't be around for ever.. also, if too noisy just stop feeding them, could be much more cost effective.