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In our new build, I set out to achieve a "good" house and my original mantra was I didn't want a ventilated cavity and blockwork outer as it was just a big rain screen and added almost nothing to the insulation. So I ended up with a house design clad in wood fibre insulation and render onto that, the idea being all elements of the build were adding to the insulation. My view has changed in light of recent issues and I am afraid I could not recommend that system at the moment and in particular could not recommend the Baumit render that we used as the system has proven to be "less than robust" and is presently undergoing some rework and the supplier and manufacturer have not been interested in helping determine what went wrong. Only time will tell after that if the issues have been fixed by the rework or re occur. So although the blockwork is little more that a rain screen, it is a proven and robust rain screen. Our previous house had dormers just like yours, the blockwork was continued up either side of the dormer, a concrete lintel and blockwork above the dormer. The side cheeks were clad in plywood, galvanised wire mesh fixed on and the same cement render on the side cheeks as the rest of the wall, and it has proved reliable.

How can we get so many different answers to the same sum here? @ValleyBoy1958 says a heat pump would use 5000kWh of electricity and at 18p that comes to £900. When you find someone still selling electricity for 15p per kWh please let me know. So his house takes 15000kWh to heat it, a gas boiler might be 90% efficient would consume about 16650kWh of gas at 4p per kWh would cost £666 plus the gas standing charge of about £100 per year = £766 So gas is cheaper but not by a lot. Add in annual boiler service cost for gas and it is even closer. I am not suggesting everyone with gas should be rushing out to buy an ASHP but this does show for a new build without gas, an ASHPis a very viable and competetive heat source.

Hi, just starting our self-build journey. We have an old 50's bungalow in the Brecon Beacons National Park which is in need of some serious refurbishment. Having discussed with a local architect & builder friend, it sounds as if we'd be better off knocking it down & building new!!! So, we've started investigating timber-framed houses etc. & getting slightly excited about the journey ahead.

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Other/Shark_IPx8.pdf or some of these if the joints are buried

You need cw armour glands say whiska joint boxes for looping in the SWA and terminating the conductors. I do like wago connectors inside, makes for quick termination. Stuffing glands for above joint box to take the light fitting flex. possibly pirrana. Nuts for the swa glands cause the box is plastic and if you aren’t a spark looping frying pans on the CW gland may be a pain.

We used IQglass . We liked the product ( but not the price ? ) . They have an amazing showroom to visit . Also our allocated project manager f’up things . He left the company sometime after . I complained about the issues he had caused . To give IQglass credit they did ( still are ) resolving them . So tbh I’m in 2 minds to recommend them . But felt I should be honest ?

Once satisfied that you are really keen, but holding on to your expectations, it would be well worth speaking to a planning consultant. A very local one who specialises in this sort of work, as they will know the policy and the council's interpretation, and also precedents. You would probably need their skills to get permission later. This will have a cost, but is much better than ending up as long term owners of a very expensive barn.

Shall see if I can make sense of it later, hard to read in the phone.

MCS list the SCOP at various flow temps plus there's the attached: CE-iVT9 EN14825 64.181.20.04362.01 Rev.00 TR Performance Pages.pdf

A while ago we hire a Merlo Rotating telehandler with rotating forks to load out plasterboard and insulation into a 4 storey terrace. Once the operator and supplier got it working it was a fantastic bit of kit. Pick up a pallet of boards, lift and rotate main body, then rotate forks so the boards can be easily dragged off the stack and into the units. We had it for 2 days and loaded out about 30 tonnes.

Which flies in the face of decarbonising the UK economy.

I used “check reveals”, windows within the cavity fixed to the back of the outer skin, window sat on the outer brick cills (which came back into the cavity a little) Saves having to fill gaps with silicone which can look messy (IMO) stainless brackets and screws and foam tape between window and brick/block.

You should not have lots of warm moist air coming through your sip. (if you do then you have a problem - sip needs to be airtight internally to not transport a bucket load of moisture into three OSB) Your structure should be less vapour permeable inside (vcl) than it is outside (membrane). So that it dries out much much faster than it gets wet. If moisture did get through the OSB then it should be allowed to escape more easily through the membrane than it is to get through the OSB (it will be, unless you're using plastic sheet as a membrane) If water comes through the roof covering it shouldn't get to the sip. (Which it won't as the membrane is breathable but waterproof) So I'd say: Don't worry about ventilation between sip and membrane. (so no cuts where I think you're asking about cuts - membrane is continuous from eave to eave and any moisture under it...breathes through it...non issue) Do worry about ventilation between roof covering and membrane. (so vented ridge) Answers world be different if the membrane wasn't breathable. Then I'd say good need to vent it with cuts at the to. Be thankful that you're not in ice damming areas: https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-046-dam-ice-dam

Get rid of the Pir. too expensive, messy and wastful. go back to 225mm rafters. Add a proper vapour barrier and a 50mm service cavity. glasswool is cheapest but i’d prefer blown cellulose. edit: i’ve forgotten the roofing membrane above the osb.

The actuator needs to travel to and activate the internal microswitch, so yes, no go = no show. If it jams in the hot water position then the heating can come on when DHW is called for, and the cylinder stat will be ignored. Design them out at the outset by all means, but you can't tell someone to delete one unless the full ( existing ) system requirements are identified and understood.

My poured resin is straight on to the reinforced concrete slab, although my slab was power-floated. The process for the poured resin is to grind the surface to key it and expose any cracks. Clear out any loose in the cracks and fill with epoxy to stabilise. Roller on an epoxy base coat, and then pour on and trowel out the PU resin and finish with a rolled on lacquer coat. It's 3-4mm thick overall. Even our UV stable resin will show slight differences in colour where rugs are, although that difference fades when uncovered. I feel you need to get rid of the ridges for comfort and the finish will wear quickly on the high spots.

Hi, I got my paint from a local supplier Industrial Flooring by Reepol | Epoxy Resin Flooring It was a few years ago now so I cant remember what the actual product was, they were very helpful at the time so perhaps give them a call.

Best to be sure though. Buildhub is built on quality advice with no stone left unturned.

How about this seat adapter with inbuilt tackle rest? ?

What this needs is a less well-hung OP @moldy You can have longer protruding pans, I've seen and fitted Duravit ones. They come with Wundagliss coating so if your bellend strikes 12 it'll still be in prestine condition and not catch bog covid.

Interesting tip on the car body filler! I am looking to epoxy mine soon and have some small holes that need filling and was begrudgingly going to buy a massive tin of particular ‘concrete filler’ the epoxy paint company offer. Do you remember which epoxy brand you used or if it was water based or high build/solids. Latter is twice the price - which is fair enough and in an industrial environment probably night and day but wondering if I need to buy the best for what is just a garage where I could get away with water based stuff at half the price.

Both gas and ASHP will modulate if selected to do so, therefore reducing the need for a large buffer. 100L would be ample.

As Saveasteading, has said, it will show all of the imperfections - It might be worth using a SLC first - when I did my old garage I ground it as flat as I could (mega dusty job), I then used car body filler to fill any deep holes. I then did two coats of epoxy floor paint in battleship grey (need a drill paddle to mix the two components) from a local specialist - lasted for years - the only thing I noticed was the small area of the slab that was outside of the garage door and exposed to the sun faded quite a bit. It will chip if you drop something heavy / sharp on it and it can scratch with something sharp, sand grit etc. I watched some professionals do the floors at work a few times and then basically copied them - we have had areas patched / repaired at work (ground off and repainted) in exactly the same colour but it sticks out like a sore thumb, the colour never matches.

one word. dust.

Love lies bleeding, grew them from seeds, takes a while but I like the long tassels. Funnily enough gardeners world last week showed someone’s garden with loads in, don’t see them very often, easy to grow.

Well it took long enough but looking a lot better now, just some edges to tidy up.

You can’t reclaim VAT on hippo bags as they are not incorporated into the fabric of the building so don’t qualify in the same way as purchasing tools doesn’t qualify.

Spot on. One key is to make sure you enjoy the journey and have as much fun as you can. Learn as much as you can by doing your research. Post some photos and you'll get plenty input from BH members.. All the best.

Hello and welcome.

this is a very common technique when trying to buy some time if you're overworked. I've done it before in IT support where you ask the customer for information that may or may not be relevant and then wait for the response. while waiting it gives you time to work on something else and also makes the customer think that you're working on their problem as you've contacted them for information. so it's a bit of a cheeky win-win tactic.

I sent the PP for the 2 houses here and they wrote and asked for the full PP for 2 different style houses on the plot from a few years earlier. I had never seen that PP and it wasn’t on the planning portal. Contacted the council but although they had a reference to it they didn’t have a scanned copy of the PP. They said that they would try to get it back from the archives for me but then said that it couldn’t be located. I rang HMRC and they told me not to worry. I can’t imagine how it could be relevant to the VAT claim . I think they just make it up as they go along!

Happened to us when we were selling our first self build, built 1992 selling 14years later, day before completion solicitor asks for the permission from Sepa for the septic tank , of course I don’t have it , trip to the local authority office in the days when you could actually speak face to face with someone, rattled off what I was looking for and the very kind lady says it’ll need to come from the vault which will take 7-10 days! Then she said what month and year are we talking I said August 1992 , few clicks on her computer and she said you’re in luck everything from July 92 onwards is on computer, £15 later I had it in my hand!

Sometimes you wonder who designs the forms etc, thinking of the MHRC. So you get outline PP first. Then you get full PP, sometimes referred to as Approval of Reserved Matters, but not always. So surely it is only the FULL planning permission that matters? WHY do they want a copy of the outline planning, that became an irellevant document the day the full planning was granted? My concern with the VAT claim thing was what happens if the post fails and your claim and your valuable invoices never arrived. You can't insure a packet of documents for the value of a VAT claim. All I could come up with is laboriously scan every single invoice and store a copy on my NAS drive, so in the unlikely event of the claim getting lost in the post, I could reproduce all the invoices but they would clearly be a copy not originals. So the lessons to anyone early in the self build sage: Keep a copy of all planning documents. Keep every single invoice in date order in a box file or similar. I chose to do my VAT claim the old fashioned way by filling in the paper form. If I were doing it again, I would enter each invoice onto the form as I got it, to save days of tedious work when compiling the claim at the end.

Hiring skips is probably the most expensive way to get rid of waste. Better off sorting the risings, taking the timber to your local recycling centre in a car and trailer, metal to a scrap merchant, and either spread the rubble out on the site (compact for driveways etc) or get a grab lorry to take it away. If you're room on site, just pile it all up and deal with it not by bit if you have time

My nephew just bought a new house on an estate, the garden flooded first time it rained (solid yellow clay 50mm below turf) and the on suite shower tray was so out of level it would not drain and overflowed the “high” end, they had to take the whole floor up and use firings to level up the joists underneath ?‍♂️

Hi All I have recently taken over my fathers construction company & I need some advice, So he's was running this for 35 years now & near enough done everything on paper, from his books to his stock, everything! However I'm planning to change this, after weeks of looking through Quickbooks, Xero, FreeAgent & others, I finally found one, now to look into the insurance side & it needs to be renewed - I'm looking into Axa business insurance however I'm really lost on what type of insurance would be best, public liability? Professional indemnity? Business? Do I need to take any out when hiring equipment? I Would take notes from my father but he's left & I won't see him again sadly. I know abit about construction from first fix to tarmacking, however I'm really confused about the actual business/finance side of things I'm very grateful I've been accepted to join you guys here & I'm really looking forward to learning more. Thankyou in advance I look forward to hearing back Best Ry

"IMO scaffolders are one on the most difficult / untrustworthy trades" 100% agree. We had our Scaffolder confirm in writing the costs, and even then he added on extra and threatened to take scaffold down if we didn't pay. In future, I am considering avoiding brick-block construction, just so I won't need a scaffold. Or buy and install scaffold poles myself, and go as far as taking out professional indemnity insurance. That's the lengths I will go to, to avoid using Scaffolding companies.

As a warning if you pay cash, check that your scaffolder has put the insurance cover on the kit and an official tag is attached to the scaffolding. Ours didn’t do either. We learnt a big lesson that way as we thought that by employing a registered scaffolder everything would be above board. We didn’t know that the scaffolding should have had a tag until someone fell off and we had health and safety out. The scaffolder had sneaked back the day after the accident and attached the tag and insurance details to the kit, dated the day after the accident. He told H&S that he had erected the scaffolding but not said that we could start using it which was a shocking lie as it had been there for weeks by then and we had evidence of communications telling him when the timber frame was arriving and his team erected it just in time. He had also been back a few times while it was being used. IMO scaffolders are one on the most difficult / untrustworthy trades out there so negotiate cash payments with eyes wide open!

Most companies will offer to knock the vat off for cash

I'm going to go against the grain on this one. We had some in our last place. We didn't skimp and it was from one of the higher end manufacterers. We were dissapointed as the surface scratched and went hazy and the top oak surface dented very easily (we had two baby boys during this time). The scratching and hazing I think was most likely down to the factory varnish being polyurethane, wax may have been better. Upstairs we had solid pine floorboards we varnished and these floors looked as the day it was done 12 years later. No UFH and surface problems only.

It’s not great for dogs in truth. Mine don’t go on it much as they are generally in the tiled areas but they do slip more than on tiles and it’s also more noisy. The best hard flooring I had for dogs was Karndean in my old house.

Would this be slippery for dogs? We are not supposed, now, to let dogs walk on slippery floors as it wears their joints out. Also does anyone have rugs or carpets? I am thinking that I could have a runner of carpet down the hall. This would minimise noise and help stop the dog from slipping. In the lounge perhaps a large rug/carpet.

Are there different types of oil finish? Our is Hardwax Oil and its more like a matt/silk varnish than a wax or oil. We have it in the hall and are kids went from 5 to 18 years old. Still doesn't need recoating. Only place showing any wear is the edge of the stairs.

Happy with mine. Engineered Oak, 20mm thick 180mm wide planks laid as a structural board over UFH laid in a biscuit mix. No issues with shrinkage, warping or cracking and no issues with finish. We chose one with a matt pre laquered finish. Could that be what makes the difference? In a previous house we had engineered Oak with an oiled finish and found it a right pain to have to keep on oiling it and being particular how you clean it. this laquered finish board we mop perhaps once a month with a well wrung out mop so not soaked, and there are no issues.

I’ve got a 14mm Havwoods engineered wood in a few rooms for 5-6 years. They get weekly (sometimes more) damp mopping and they are fine. Didn’t know they need treating ? So happy I’ve bought some more for my new shed.

Our floor has been down 13 years. Only had to recoat the WC. Have occasionally mopped the floor but only with a damp mop.

@Grian, I think your problem might be to change your cleaning routine, the word mop needs chucking out and you need to look at cleaning practices and products suitable for the flooring you choose. I laid a floor for a friend and it failed terrible, we had the rep out to try and find what had gone wrong, my mates wife had been cleaning it with a mop and water, splashing it everywhere, unaware that she was meant to use a certain non wet product and a micro fibre duster thing on a pole. Operator error, she thought as it was allowed in kitchens and bathrooms that it was fully waterproof.

I put down a really expensive (£100/m!) engineered floor in our last major scheme 88 flats which was lovely - Kahrs Oak Berlin it was. In the flats bought to live in it has been spot on - a few of the flats bought by Buy to Let investors not so. These floors need oiling twice a year and generally looking after.

PS. We got our 21mm x 200mm engineered oak from Woods of Wales. It came precoated with Hardwax Oil. Shop around as some engineered wood i picked up at the shows was a very strange colour when I got it home. You need to see it in natural light.

We have engineered oak in many rooms over wet UFH. In my view the key is to have JUST engineered wood over the UFH. Some people buy 14mm thick engineered wood then discover the Building Regs (?) require 18mm minimum. So they end up laying 18mm chipboard first and 14mm engineered wood on top making 32mm. Its much better to use 18-21mm Engineered wood directly on joists or battens with UFH between.