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Adding a different perspective, whatever the glass is surrounded by is actually more important than the number of panes. metal frame with poor thermal breaks are the worst. I have 3 examples installed at home. all double glaze examples. 1. new 'sealed' sash Windows - this is the worst, its draughty around the edges, the seal is very difficult to get right as the panes still needs to slide 2. metal double glaze conventional window, this is the second worst, you feel the air movement from the cold metal 'convection' 3. wood frame large sliding door with great seal due to the 'lift and slide' mechanism. the best of the bunch here by a country mile. pay more attention to the thermal breaks, seals. then pick 2G or 3G.

this was exactly my experience with Kore. in the end the groundworks company are just laying pieces of EPS rather than having a pre-cut version from a supplier like Kore/Isoquick/Ekonekt etc. they seem happy to do it that was and as long as I get the thickness and compressive strength as designed I'm not fussed how it's achieved!

The first week of the build is over and I've collated our time-lapse footage for the week and made a 2 minute video, hosted on Vimeo we're a little disappointed at the speed of the dig but the boss has only given us one driver to do the digging/dumping/lorry loading so a lot of his time is spent moving the spoil around. but I've been told that more hands might be on-site next week and a bigger excavator so fingers crossed that happens and we see more progress next week. The basement contractors are due in a week so they need to get moving if they want to hit that deadline! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video.

So forgetting about lunch, what are you going to do about materials what happens if halfway through the day he needs a fitting, will you go and get it or are you going to pay for him to sit in the traffic for half an hour to go to the merchants, if you are worried about a few quid for a lunch break what will you do if he’s a week over schedule. If hes good and you value him I would not be nitpicking about £20 here and there.

Check the drains outside, my builder had a callback on a house he built last year with a similar problem and it was found to be half a housebrick in a 6 inch drain some 50m from the house. He thought with his plumber it was a faulty AAV but after much head scratching and a cctv survey found the above.

Hi Dragster. You may be over thinking this. Often a standard perimeter edge insulation for a slab is say 25mm thick. If you want you could increase the slab edge insulation to just behind the inner face of the finished plasteboard. Use a good quality say PIR insulation.. looks like you could get 75mm in here. Yes, you may get a little reduced performance but you will face structural issues on how you tie the kit down. Keep it simple and decouple the kit from the slab structurally and insultaion wise. Simplify the design, thus make savings which will allow you to offset any percieved reduced performance at the slab kit interface elsewhere.

No air getting into the system. Is this straight into an underground waste pipe ..? Flush the loo in the same room and see if it makes it better ...

just had my design signed off by SE- just visual inspection of ground trial holes. Using Galaxy insulation for EPS cut to size as required .21-093 01P2 Structural Plans and Details (A1).pdf

Thanks @Moonshine - so to confirm: 10mm Rubber crumb mat (Will this be OK for UFH?) 20mm Screedboard https://www.cellecta.co.uk/product/screedboard-201/ perhaps? 20mm levelling screed + UFH embedded in this 150mm Dense Block & Beam (acoustic hangers) 150mm void 100 mm Mineral wool 12.5mm Soundboard not sure where you intend to use the 'two layer of 15mm soundbloc' in this? fwiw in my current design I have 462.5mm to play with (so the above works..). Else I'd have to raise my roof. Not easy How so, @Gus Potter? How would you make it.. less odd? Of course I'm sure punching through various layers is harder than through a single layer, but the added price shouldn't be end-of-the-world? True, or just maybe wrap the sound insulating material around the kid rather than in the floor?

Just seems high consumption and spiky generally means inefficient. But like a new driver, gas, brake, gas, brake and so forth. An empty house is the best time to gauge the performance.

yes! there is discharged planning for a potton bungalow on the plot so there is a ‘fallback’ position which helps massively. Water is on site, shared septic tank with neighbour, electric on site from the abandoned build in 2004. I could at a push modify the original plans a fair bit on ‘S96 and S73 applications’ apparently which although not ideal would get me out of jail if I’m in the brown stuff. I’d have gone the mobile home on site route 100% but sadly I’ve two teenage kids PLUS my old Mum lives in our annexe. it was an impulse idea that’s snowballed... edit: somehow I’ve used many text sizes ??‍♂️

Ideally in it, but near the top. You can extend a 1Wire cable to about 10m. If you can find a way to fit them in a channel on the top (push in a bit of half round moulding when the floor is cast), that could be an easy way to set it up afterwards. Just make a large X 15% of the wall length from each corner.

@DragsterDriver. Do you have any form of planning in place? I had a house on site so was applying for a replacement dwelling, in the end with all the surveys it took 16months to get planning. When I had a topo done I told the surveyor I would be building that summer, he looked at me and chuckled and said you won’t stick a spade in the ground this year, 16months later. You might be really lucky, but just be prepared for how slow these council wallys are. If I had to do this again I would sell up as soon as I could to free up money and move into a mobile home, we have been selling a house in London to finish our place and it has taken over a year to sell, obviously Covid shit messed things up, but we could get another lockdown.

Happy with this Rationel triple glazed lift and slide door I just fitted, timber frame aluminium clad.

Like most government announcements, it's prime objective is likely some PR and headlines and being seen to do 'something' to refer back to while campaigning. I see a recent scheme to deliver 250,000 post covid youth employment places delivered ... 500. Or this... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50296672

I will just add my thoughts to this. Most of out house has triple glazed Rationel windows. I faced this 2G / 3G question when looking for roof windows for our en-suite. To be frank I found the market offerings disappointing. But anyway, at a time when we were short on funds I compared the heat loss of a small 2G roof window with a 3G version, and concluded the heat saving of 3G in this small window was tiny, so i bought 2G. That was a bad decision. This is the ONLY window in the house that gets any condensation. Only a small amount around the edges, but I wish I had paid a little more for the 3G version which would hopefully have prevented that. There is more to choosing than pure heat loss vs "payback" time.

sounds like a risky and stressful situation! I wish you the best of luck with it all. as much as I love the idea of the insulated slab (and it appears you do too) it just might not work for everyone. and so maybe a more 'traditional' approach to the foundations would suit you better so you're not so reliant on the lead time for the EPS and you can get the foundations and block and beam floor in and then worry about insulating as the build progresses? as far as I know you can still detail the potential cold bridges out using that route (although I am in now way a builder or very knowledgable in all of this!) so it might be worth considering.

also, just to add, our groundworks company are going to be using Stylite EPS and they also do the L shapes so maybe we will be having them above ground. I'd better add it to the list of questions I have for them but as we need to get the basement built first that stage is months away. https://www.styrene.co.uk/view_full_product/passive_foundation/stylite_passivehaus_foundation.html sorry for the confusion on this! reading back it seems I don't know what I'm talking about.....which is probably true! I do know 100% for sure we're not using 'L' shaped pre-cut pieces for the basement as this is what's being done. for the above ground I'm not exactly sure what will be being done. so I apologise again for the confusion. now I look at the SPI website and see the L shape pieces maybe we are doing that above ground after all.

take the base layer out beyond the slab and put up stands of EPS? if you're concerned then just get a company to design a pre-cut version. takes the risk away. it's been almost 5 months since Brexit so maybe the initial teething issues I hit have been resolved by now. you never know unless you ask.

no (at least not if I understand the question!). it will be the same as the Kore system just not preformed and not using the 'L' shaped pieces of EPS at the edges. e.g. This is how TSD designed it using the Kore system for the above ground arms: you can see the insulation sitting on the trench fill with the slab poured within the insulation. but we won't be using the 'L' shaped pieces with the upstand at the edge. at least that's what I believe at the moment. we're definitely not using 'L' shaped pieces on the basement so I presume it's the same above ground although that could all change.

by design I presume you mean foundations? if so, the basement and main house is sitting on an insulated slab (250mm thick) comprised of 200mm EPS300 underneath and 200mm EPS100 up the outside of the walls. The 'arm's of the house that are not above the basement are on 2m deep trenches down to the bedrock and then 300mm EPS300/100 laid with a 200mm slab on top. I used TSD for my structural design and they use Kore as their insulated slab of choice so it was all designed as a Kore solution. but it is just EPS so as long as I get what's required if the groundworks company don't want to use a pre-cut solution that's fine by me. They're aware of my requirements and the tolerances to work to for the timber frame and happy with it all. you can check out my blog for more details on some of this stuff.

It does not need to be so complicated. Locate the studs in the 2 side walls. Attach 4 by 2 (100 bu 50mm) timber horizontally fixed securely to each stud. Fit 4 by 2 joists spanning side to side attached to the bearers on the wall with joist hangers. Fix the joists at 400mm centres and floor with 18mm chipboard. Make sure the front edge of this new floor is at least 2 metres above the stairs to preserve required headroom. Fix further timbers and studding to form the front of this new cupboard. Access to this cupboard can either be by cutting a hatch through to one of the bedrooms, or by having a door on the front and accessed from the stairs with a ladder. Clad the structure in plasterboard. It may look better to form a sloping ceiling under the cupboard matching the slope angle of the stairs. That might form a handy void to route ducting etc.

That looks amazing!

Cracking video and I shall look forward to this unfolding. The "one driver / operator" approach reminded me so much of my situation. Not that we were moving the quantities you have, but nonetheless, our ground needed to be stripped and the Contractor left just one bloke on site to use both machines. As I was in a position to do so, I helped out by operating the dumper. The job still took two and a half days mind! Probably would have taken half that if left to his own devices!! ?? This was the view from "my office" for a few days.

I’m not sure why you think there will be a hold up, you put your planning in to build a house, not the foundation design. Get a soil survey done now and get the foundation designs done now, then when you pass planning you are ready to go, 2 days to site strip and start setting out. I had my place demolished about 4 days after planning passed. Make sure you have the cil levy signed off so you can start.

@PeterTweeter I stick built my new build as it was feasible with my limited experience, a pleasure todo though a little niche. I cannot imagine large house building companies doing the same. Takes along time to be water tight. Also fitted a Tata Steel roof. Work in progress.

Yeah I know . The ‘reasoning ‘ to choose between them is quite limited . I wasn’t worried about aesthetics I.e being flush with roof . Our rack ones are jet black and do not protrude from the roof very much . It was the efficiency that I preferred - can’t remember the exact values - not a lot of difference though anyway .

Interesting thread. As always the devil can be in the detail. "Looking at it from a one off self build project" I am of the view that the plumbers approach isn't too far off the trades I used during our build. From my experience, our Plumber didn't spend a whole day on site, he came and went having done what he could in order to move the build on. That said he wasn't paid an hourly rate. He priced up the job and was paid at certain stages - However, our Chippy was paid an hourly rate and spent weeks on site. He took a 30 minute break in the morning and an hour for lunch. All explained beforehand. He even mentioned a bit of travelling time allowance. BUT, and here is the but - his was work was top notch, he was reliable, communicative, offered solutions not problems and pleasant to have on site. As with most things with Self builds, there will be many elements to consider and things aren't always as black and white as we would want them. That said, I do appreciate larger projects beyond a one off self build would require a more robust approach to the trades employed. @NewToAllOfThis what is your situation/circumstances?

Have you heard of the insulating blocks? Perisul or marmox or whatever they are? Think most use these in this situation.

Come on guys, everyone deserves a lunch break! I wouldn’t want to work for some of you, standing over the shoulder ensuring you start at 8am. what about when they are thinking about your job at night, ordering material, picking up before you get on site. too many spreadsheet warriors!

We can do it yes but they can’t- the volume builders that is

Mines been done like that. Score just over 1 on the air test. That's good enough for me

How large are your hands.

I'm putting 15-18kWh into the tank each day at the minute. That's covering tank losses, water for handwashing etc, and any heating demands too. ASHP has barely fired up in the past fortnight.

Planks should normally be stored on strips of clean dry wood used as spacers. Be careful not to stack it too high or the weight can leave marks/indentations from the strips on the wood. Make sure no iron (tools or nails) gets left on the oak as it can react with tannin in the oak and stain badly. I left a chisel on a green oak beam over lunch once and it left a mark. I wouldn't put cement on it. If you want to weight it down I'd put a scrap plank on top and put blocks on that. As its for second fix I'd store it all in the house so it acclimatises. Unfortunately all wood can move, particularly if humidity changes.

Wanting a good airtight house one would avoid dot and dab at all costs

thank you @jack. puts my mind at ease. I also asked for them to just make it all one zone after reading on here. I think with a slab this thick the response times will be so slow there's no point of having individual zones and we'll just keep the whole basement at a constant temperature, assuming we even need to turn it on for most of the year that is!

Yup if you get it specced properly. You might need a structural screed. Storage underneath might be damp and difficult to access .

Theyre economical and do a job. If my nan has had 30 years usage I'd say that's good enough for a lot of people. They recycle the old plastic frames now don't they? Bit like mvhr here, people spend big then will convince themselves it's justified. I know the good Windows are better, but not everything always needs to be the best of the best.

We've had a white (with light speckle) Dekton worktop and splash back for two years. Allowed us to have a relatively thin worktop, and doesn't seem to stain despite my "enthusiastic" cooking: a wipe down and polish with a fine e-cloth keep it looking good.

I think you will find the whole stick building situation nearly non existent in the uk. I stick built my last place but over here most things are built off site in panel form. So the whole California corner stuff just doesn’t come in to play. I think some of our timberframe builders are miles ahead of the yanks, look at the builders over here doing the double stud walls.

Lets see the other side of the handle, a view of the handle on the door for example? Is there a "cap" you can remove to give access to a nut to tighten it on?

Remove the two Allen bolts and the handle comes off. Re-fix the handle - doesn’t the cover have a hole in the size of the round handle cross section and the cover rotates ..?

Linked to octopus energy agile tariff ( once my meters updated ) means I can charge it at cheapest rate if need be . Also an EV due next year . So a combination of cheap lecky / pv and charging battery at suitable times I hope to benefit .

Make a shed to store all the "future projects" in.

I really don't want to know about @pocster's 'electric toys' that he uses in the dungeon but I am also interested in where the stored power in the battery went overnight?

Install Dekton / Neolith ceramic if you want that's look. I installed the 12mm white 'zenith' Dekton because of the sharp 12mm look, a mug fell from the top cabinet and cracked the work top, getting that replaced via home insurance but the £400 excess stings. I would install the 20mm next time. I can't replace the 12mm with 20mm as all sight lines follow the 12mm profile, it would cost too much, its cheaper to move all plates and glasses to a lower drawer

exposed roof if you have to remove one, sure, but there's still the membrane underneath to help keep the elements out. and surely the pigeons roosting under the on-roof panels affects the airflow as well? ?