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On our previous build I built the foundations for the garages and due to an unforeseen delay with the Brickies I built the house foundations as well Having turned 60 recently I vowed I wouldn’t get involved with building the foundations Other than loading them up for the Brickies I set the pins Then heights Brickies arrived Friday and started complaining about the 625 foundation blocks to heavy Then the 300 wide foundation blocks for a 125 cavity I couldn’t get 350 wide anywhere So have to put a 100 mil solid behind each corse Then they asked for loading money It’s now 830 am and nothing is done At that point I said pack your s##t and go With the help of my wife I’ve laid 360 trench blocks in two days They are far to heavy for my wife to lift 7 to a m2 50m2 x £25 cash There's enough there for them I’ve done two 12 hour days and still some trench to go and 360 concrete block before the BB arrives next week My friend who The Brickies work for has limited control over them and the 50 odd others that work for him due to the shortage of labour But has promised me a better gang in two weeks More of a sound off than a constructive post I think the message in there is if your builder is falling behind Be patient with him As his excuses may be real

The timber price would logicaly be more but 100mm rafters I'd expect them to be very closely spaced. The increased spacing and reduced labour should somewhat compensate. My non exhaustive list of why blown cellulose trump's PIR. Installed cost of cellulose is half the material cost of PIR for the same U value but with zero waste. Fire performance. Noise performance. Waste during install. Heat protection. No thermal bypass. No shrinkage. Performs just as well in cold weather. (Foam doesn't) Blown cellulose contributes lots to airtightness. It's carbon negative. No thermal bridging through the aluminium foil. No gas migration leading to poorer performance over time. No mess on site.

Land Access to the land Planning Permission A clear Design Statement Permission to dispose of foul waste A well thought out financial plan A rock-solid partnership Everything else is optional. Everything

Welcome Non negotiables should be insulation and airtightness. This helps all the time. From my point of view kitchens, bathrooms and lighting are where money can easily be lost for little benefit.

We are getting there

I would take tanking up to floor level in the house next door

white vinegar and water removes mould. We had a lot to deal with after stuff was in container storage for a couple of years. The vinegar and water worked like a dream. For other cleaning we use bicarb. Septic tanks do not like milk as it also kills off the bugs. We have framed signs in each of the toilets the read .. Only the provided toilet paper and what you have first eaten may be deposited. The penalty for failure to comply is that of the Sedition act of the 1400's ...

Change the locks, or send them to the grand parents.

Well, it’s been quite a while since my last blog post but we’ve not been idle but I do admit to having been slack in updating the blog. At the end of the last blog we had a superstructure and the roofer was about to begin his journey up the scaffolding. This is where that tale begins….. ’Twas a sunny November morning when all was quiet that a white van man arrived at our site to felt, batten and slate our sloping roofs. And he wasted no time at all in cracking on with it after the site orientation was complete. With his dad along to help with the battening it didn’t take long for the membrane (or ‘felt’ if you’re a roofer) and battens and counter battens to be done. After discussions with our BCO it was decided that we would fully fill our rafters and use a breathable membrane (Proctor Roofshield) attached to the roof trusses and then 25mm x 50mm counter battens and then slate battens which gave us 50mm ventilation. This allows us to not need soffit vents (or indeed soffits) which fitted in to the design of the house better and also meant we don’t have to worry about creepy crawlies living in the soffits. We started with the southern elevation so that the solar PV array could be installed and the roofer (Chris) fitted the first few rows of slates and some flashing leaving it ready for the solar team to arrive before moving on to the northern elevation So while Chris was busy working on the north side of the house the solar installers arrived and fitted our GSE trays. Once done they started to fit the panels. But it was then discovered that the company who did the ordering ordered the wrong size GSE trays and the panels wouldn’t fit. So the solar installers took all the trays down and left site after wasting a day’s work. Meanwhile the flat roofers attended site to single-ply membrane our flat roofs and balcony. A great bunch of guys from a company recommended to me by Chris so I had every confidence of them doing a great job, and they didn’t disappoint. DPM, PIR, OSB then single-ply membrane. First roof which will have a wildflower green roof being overlooked by our bedroom balcony Second roof above our utility room which links the house to the garage which will have a sedum roof They will return a little later on in the blog to install the green roofs. Meanwhile the solar installers returned after the correctly sized GSE trays had been delivered and managed to fit it all in a day. We think it looks brilliant. 28 x 375W LG panels, each with Solaredge optimisers as we have lots of trees around us. And when they’d finished each panel was giving out 1V and was confirmed each was working by being shown the 14V on each string in the loft. Job done for now until we get electrics first fix done and they can come back and fit the inverter. The only real issue we had with the solar is that the panels were resting on the slates making them lift up in places. I created a thread about them (https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/24530-slate-tiles-lifted/) and after much discussion and deliberation I decided to simply use black CT1 to stick them down which worked nicely. A bit of a bodge but you can’t tell from the ground and a lot less disruption to timelines than other solutions. While all of that was going on Chris was busy slating the northern elevation and it was all coming along nicely. During that I had another discussion with the BCO about vent pipes. I asked if I could have one by the STP but she was adamant that I had to have one through the roof. When I mentioned I didn’t want a pipe sticking out the top of the roof she said that they do slate vents. A quick google search revealed what she was talking about and I purchased the item and it was installed. Looks fab and from the ground you can barely notice it which is just what I wanted. And now the solar PV install was finished he could move on to the southern elevation. But while he was doing that the flat roofers came back and installed our green roofs. The wildflower material So that’s those finished although we were still waiting on a Velux roof light for one of the roofs which was delayed but the flat roofers came back to install that for me and finish off that roof a bit later. They also installed our patio paving slabs which we think look ace. So, back to Chris and he’d now finished the main house roof slating and it finished off around the PV panels nicely. He did make a start on the garage roof but as we were still waiting on Velux windows he couldn’t finish that so he left site and would return once the Velux’s were delivered. During that period our windows and doors arrived! We used Norrsken for these and went for alu-clad triple glazed windows and sliders. The majority of our windows are fixed and we had quite a small profile for the frame which means more glass. The installers, Elite Installations Nationwide (https://www.eliteinstalls.co.uk) were brilliant and Jim and his team were a joy to have on site. They brought their spider crane with them which made lifting our windows up to the first floor a breeze for them. We decided to be bold and went for a red front door. We love it. As the window install was done the week of Christmas the installers couldn’t finish them all in time before the Christmas break so we wished them a safe trip back to York and would see them in the new year. Happy new year!! (Belated). With the new year came the return of Jim and his team to finish off all our windows and doors. Once they were installed it made the house feel so much more like a house. Closing the front door had a feel of shutting out the outside world and we were (almost) water tight at last. We also eventually received our Velux roof light and sloping and vertical windows. So the flat roof was finally completed and so was the garage roof. So we are very nicely watertight at this point. All that’s left now is the time-lapse video for this period of time. Sadly our camera only shows the south side of the building so we only get footage for stuff that happens on that side but it still makes for an interesting watch and I hope you enjoy it. Until next time.

Started - really slowly with a wrong tool, narrow chisel. Then while looking for the right one realised I have sds+ drill which I could have tried 😁

These are mine...4.6m wide 2.3m high I think. Very pleased. Having triple sliders is OK if you want 2/3rd open but I have 50% opening and happy it's very wide.

Probably means that the right hand long wall will not be secured to anything front or back (or roof) so it may move if you catch it. May be worth taking down and rebuilding at a later point to be safe.

Brickies do earn there money Especially foundation gangs I would class myself as fit and strong But the 625 Armstrong trench blocks are a shortcut to a bad back

I've sent Newark and Telford and enquiry about wall-mounted buffers. However i think I can probably make a stool for it. There's an original joist running the down the center of the loft under the roof ridge, perpendicular to the ceiling joists below it. Rather than view this as an obstacle I think it's an opportunity. I can use some garden sleeper offcuts beside it and a plywood top, and this will transfer some of the tank weight directly into the gable end.

What are you considering regarding insulation, you have a massive cold area against there floor and ground level. I would look at your new construction like a semi basement. I would want a waterproof system up to 600 above their floor level, then I would add insulation to the exposed area of wall up to the ceiling and joining in with roof insulation. Then build a metal stud wall in front of that. You will loose 100-125 mm from the room size, but everything else will just be a bit of a poor IMHO.

I’d just cut straight down make it a MJ if rebuilt. Handy if you could go down in line with one of the reveals but not sure that would leave you the clearance you’re after. BTW you’ll make that side elevation live when you do cut an opening out-

Use a disc cutters to remove most of the mortar, rest will scrape out with a thin chisel or bit of flat steel bar then giggle the bricks around and they will slide out.

Yes, I joists particularly. No metal bridging.

Whilst keeping the design simple I’ve seen a few self builds that arnt in a great plot or a particular good design and could easily be bettered buying from one of the mass builders Lots of glass Home automation Fancy bathrooms and kitchens Will all come at a price The plot has to be the main consideration I hate the term forever home But most intend living there till there circumstances change Insulation is pricy but worth every penny Think of The size of the home you want Then make it a big bigger Like insulation it’s something that’s difficult and expensive to change afterwards Weather you building a three bed or a five Your fees and surveys will be the same Exciting times Good luck with your choices

Yes, all my 200mm wall cavity’s is rockwall batt filled (PIR Is a petrochemical insulation and rockwall is not, fitting PIR is difficult to get airtight and yes more expensive;)

Hi and welcome, This really comes down to what’s important to you and why you want to build instead of buying something already there. if you need 300sq metres is pretty pointless designing and building a tiny home. if you have a small plot you will not be able to build a sprawling mansion. who will live there? Future plans? Ages? Etc. when it comes to the build, what will be accepted? Construction methods etc. with costs rising insulation and efficiency need to be a real priority

+1

We have a dual cylinder arrangement feeding our hob. The regulator/changeover device on ours came with instructions for testing for leaks. These basically said to turn off the appliance. Then turn the cylinders on to pressurise the pipe, then turn the cylinders off again. Monitor the pressure gauge overnight to see if the pressure falls. I find cylinders smell a bit even when there is no leak, but that's only close up. Shouldn't be able to smell it yards away. It could just be the cylinder connection leaking. These have a left hand thread so have to be turned the other way to tighten. The mating surface of the fittings must be clean before assembly.

There is a lot of built in smell in gas, so that we detect leaks. So the leak could be very minor. Still best to check it though as your gas is leaking away and there is a stink. Oldbury WM ....ahhh I remember the smell from the factory where they make the smell additive. Not as nice as passing the Wagonwheel factory in Edinburgh, or the breweries of Edinburgh or Burton, but memorable

That stove is very cheap. When I have poked at different sources the quality to price relationship has been fairly obvious, until the very expensive ones. I assume you have done research and comparisons and this is ok.

That was my thinking - I have a meaty Airflow MVHR system and 2.6m floor to ceiling heights - 2 extracts on the MVHR in the kitchen area and recirculating hood. 2 months in and I haven't even used it since moving in. Same with the tumble dryer - another thing yet to be used. The MVHR is like being inside a tumble dryer without the dizziness! The only downside is the accelerated drying time on the timber and associated shrinkage having moved in mid Feb. Oh well - kept a stock of caulk in anticipation.

As Dave said mix up soapy water in a washing up bottle. squirt it onto valves and pipe joins, if it’s leaking it will be fairly obvious.

What's the cover from the pipe to surface? Normally you'd backfill with lean mix concrete if cover is 400mm or less. Is this a perforated or solid pipe? Twinwall is pretty damn near indestructible. I stuck the digger bucket in to a section the other day and it survived. Nice and bendy, PVC shatters.

Glad to hear it. What does that mean (as simple as you like) Diesels are lean burn engines. The power output is varied by making the mixture of air and fuel either fuel heavy (more power) or fuel light (less power). Petrol engines have the same air/fuel ratio across the whole power band (stoichiometric). You may have noticed that when some diesels pull away, or accelerate heavily, they smoke. This is unburnt (wasted) fuel. No extra power is produced at the smoke limit. There is a fine balance, for all combustion, on the air/fuel ratio to get maximum power at any given moment. This has got more complicated with the introduction of turbo charging. This has the same effect of putting in a larger normally aspetated engine i.e. you get more fuel to burn in more air. Turboing has the advantage that it is also scavenging energy that is usually wasted from the exhaust, and you can have a better bore and stroke ratio i.e. reducing the total surface area to reduce heat losses. The compression ratio has two functions. The higher it is, the more air is heated up, this aids combustion in a diesel. But go too far and you get pre ignition. This is when the compressed air is hot enough to ignite the fuel, before the piston has reached the top (TDC). Fuel in both types of engines is actually present before TDC, this is to allow for a few milliseconds that it takes for combustion to start. To get around this pre ignition problem, fuels have ignition retardants added, octane and cetane are the rating numbers for gasoline and diesel respectively. Low numbers burn faster. This is why old American cars had large engines, their fuel was at a lower octane rating (this does not mean lower energy density or quality), so lower compression and lower power. But also lower emissions of CO2 and NOX. It is the higher compression ratio of diesels that has caused the NOX problem that VW cheated on. By reducing turbo boost, and running the engine cooler while being tested, less NOX is produced, there is less power, but they does not show up during a static tests. Ideally an engines power is measured as Specific Brake Power. All this means is how much power comes out for the amount of fuel put in. It leads to some interesting numbers for large engines, which are generally more thermally efficient at part load. Tried now and it is getting dark, time to head home from the very end, almost, of the country.

To be absolutely sure, turn off the valve on the top of each cylinder, it could be the hoses or their connection leaking so just turning off the outside isolating valve won't stop the leak. If you want to have a look for the leak yourself mix up some soapy water (washing up liquid) and squirt that over all the joints and the regulator etc and you will see it blowing bubbles where it is leaking. Agreed you need a competent LPG gas safe man not the previous incompetent one who obviously never did a drop test on it.

And this is why I do everything myself, I just cannot put up with the moaning and winging.

Could be drying out still… last time I did a rough WUFI calc for adding EWI to my 60 year old bungalow, it took around 4-5 years for the humidity in the masonry to absolutely settle out and that’s a long time after construction.

Hi im in East Ayrshire ( Stewarton) Straw bales sounds ambitious and brave for West Coast where it is always pishin it down. I'm building a SIPS house and that was far enough off the beaten track for me. By soil survey do you mean for test pits to check ground bearing strength? If so...get a man with a digger pay him 100 quid to dig a few holes while an SE looks on. But dint rush yourself to do that yet till you make a few decisions around the design type.

A very good point. I have had this argument with planners (fortunately in principle, in a discussion group, not about my own projects). They really don't get it, and what they mean is 'to fit in with old buildings around the area'. In the case that bothered me, a developer had stuck bits of timber on new blockwork to resemble Elizabethan houses. It should mean, using whatever is the most efficient way based on currently available materials. But that is not what they want. On the other hand, many councils state that they want 'vernacular' OR exemplary modern design, so worth checking the design statements in the local plan.

No. For the simple reason your heatpump will have a min draw of something like 1.5kW. Your excess PV generation could be something as low as 200W... Which would mean if your heat pump is on, it'll be drawing much more power from the grid, negating any COP advantage over a immersion coil. The solar diverter will control the power to the immersion to match the excess generation, and can do this from a few Watts up to 3kW. We'll be setting our heatpump if for cooling and time for during the peak afternoon... So if cooling is needed in theory most of the power will come from the 4.5kW array, and only some from the grid. At this time of year we're not producing enough to power the heatpump, so still on the immersion

No point in injecting, need to tank over it all then I would physically cut in a dpc a tiny bit below the top of the tanking. I would use asphalt, poor alternative is bituthene.

I have a 4.6m double, from zyle fenster in black. Will post a pic tomorrow

Just wanted to extend my profound thanks for all the replies and useful info. Both my partner and I spoke at committee last night - jointly. We spoke about our motivations, how we had made efforts to integrate the proposal into the neighbourhood and the compromises we had made. We also included some brief information about the sustainability of the house we are proposing. Neighbours, parish council and local ward councillor all rallied together and spoke against the proposal. At times their behaviour felt like playground bullies ganging up on us - the 'newbies' to the village, not helped by the fact we are a good 10-20 years younger than them and trying to do something a bit different. They told lies and waffled on about drainage for a while which isn't even a planning matter. The local councillor, which I assume does this a lot, was actually very poor at speaking and did talk about a lot of non planning matters, which was a surprise. Even said the only reason the original planning permission was granted was because the old owner was disabled. That was quickly shot down by the officer. The most obvious and upsetting lie they told was that we hadn't even consulted them about the proposal, when we took round the plans, stood in their kitchen and went through them - with no adverse comments received. I guess they must have developed selective amnesia 🙄 One of the committee members was very negative about the proposal, but luckily the rest of them all spoke up in support and on the vote we had 1 abstain and the rest support for permission. All in all, a incredibly stressful process that I do not ever wish to repeat. I think I read a little nugget on here a while back 'you only find out how unhinged your neighbours are when you apply for planning permission'. i can sure say I 100% agree with that now! Onwards and upwards with our project now!

Impossible to say / judge until the entire list is posted up to be fair. if there is any copper / brass / 110mm stuff on there the bill will shoot up at an alarming rate of knots. The merchants are completely correct in not disclosing prices / further detail etc, as I assume the contractor is the client in that respect. If you want such clarity on anything, don’t ask us, ask your contractor . It is normal to see between 10 - 15% on top of list which you are paying for, to cover what the contractor would lose when not working whilst compiling these lists / discussing things with you, so beware cutting all of the meat from the bone as you’ll just end up with nobody wanting to work for you. Where your chap appears to have gone wrong is not explaining this relationship to you in detail before proceeding to request that you pay these orders. I arrived at site the other day with two ‘not huge’ sacks of brassware and copper fittings. Client was amazed that when I showed him the invoice it was north of £500!!! If the relationship is for you to supply, then ask your chap for a comprehensive list and expect to slow him down and annoy him when he’s short of something or you’ve inadvertently picked up the wrong item etc, and to be billed for that downtime. Most will also ask for 10% on top of your invoices as they would get that working elsewhere and you may be removing that from their expected income. If you were happy with quotes where is the issue? Have they gone way over?

Screwfix supply everything, check pricing with them. BM will be giving the plumber a discount, which they won't want to disclose to you.

https://www.usedkitchenexchange.co.uk/product-category/used-kitchen/?_sfm__price=0+5000&sort_order=_sfm__price+asc+num from 2k upwards

Thanks DevilDamo. It looks to me like for us it will be the initial bit of taking the bungalow down - i.e. the day that we start lifting tiles and removing soffits in the presence of our Ecologist with our EPS Licence in hand since we have 13 resident soprano pipistrelle bats ? Everything else on that list will follow. So we need the CIL fixed before we take off the roof. Got it.

“The CIL Regulations (2010) determine that the agreed definition of ‘Commencement of Development’ is in section 56(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 says that “development is taken to be begun on the earliest date on which a material operation is carried out”. A material operation is defined in the Act and can include any works of construction, demolition, digging foundations, laying out or constructing a road and a material change in the use of the land.”

Very much so. I would speak to the CIL team at your council and explain what you plan to do and whether they consider it commencing development. Follow it up with an email, and if you have agreement with them of what you plan, then I think you would be safe. It is after all their interpretation that counts.

Hello, An Englishman with a Lithuanian wife here; building a "practice cabin" on some land she bought at auction whilst there was nothing else to do... There's a saying here (Lithuania) that the first house you build is for your enemy, he second is for sale, and the third is for yourself. As such: House 1: Bought an house that wasn't new. Fixed it up to the point that most of the population would think it great. Annoyed by various bits of it. Longer term We'll build in the back garden then sell the original house. 1970s ex local authority 2 bed terrace in Cambridge. Previous +1 owner was a handy andy carol smiley type. Wiring bodged. Plumbing bodged. Heating bodged. Porch bodged on the front. Attic converted by knocking out all the trusses and calling it good etc. Time (20+ years) says it wasn't going to fall down but flooding or fire were reasonably likely. I think my favourite was the cooker gas supply "sealed" by showing some tile adhesive in the end, bashing the end of the pipe flat and folding it over, then slapping some tiles over it. Stripped back to brick and joists internally; chimney removed down and joists replaced; french windows and larger kitchen window to rear elevation; ground floor open planned; roof jacked back up and steel purlins added; structural partitions on 1st floor to support attic floor. (i.e. sufficiently unbodged not to fall down) Re-wired, re-plumbed, insulated where practical mainly to reduce cold spots/for comfort rather than energy (450 mm loft rolls to the eaves; cut back the brick cavity closures and celotex-ed; 9 mm plasterboard with 25 mm foam to existing concrete window headers; 30 mm EPS between battens on existing ground subfloor w/18 mm chipboard and 14 mm engineered oak on top), MVHR to 1st floor bathroom/bedrooms (for forced ventilation - bedrooms are small, I take in lodgers so doors are shut, the house nowhere near airtight enough for MEV to work, and open windows are a poorly controlled) Biggest wins: MVHR is astounding; if switched on I wake up comfortable; if off I'll wake with did-i-eat-a-hamster throat from mouth-breathing at night due to high CO2 and the windows are moist with condensation. A little mini-split downstairs that bought during a fit of heat induced insomnia/rage is worth every penny for the week or two each year when it's >30C during the day and >25C at night. Works well for heating (the whole house) in the shoulder seasons too. Biggest frustration: mortgage providers won't let you knock down these pieces of rubbish and rebuild them; working around existing rubbish takes far longer, costs more, and achieves a worse result than starting from scratch; tradesmen serving the resi sector are in short supply, with far too many arrogant idiots that need as much supervision as children and come with 10x the back chat. Biggest regret: buying cheap double glazed doors and windows with the structural integrity of wet spaghetti and the airtightness of colander; not digging out the subfloor and throwing in an insulated one with UFH; not planning ahead for a mini-split A/C and running lines to the upstairs landing. (cold air falls / warm air rises so if it's cool bedrooms you're after then you really want that indoor unit on the upstairs landing) House 2: The practice cabin near Moletai (Lithuania). She bought some land at auction and we're building a timber frame "cabin" (12x6m and 1.5 storey/warm roof) as a practice run for building a timber frame house (~6x6m and 1.75 storey/warm roof) in the back garden in Cambridge. SWMBO bought 1 hectare between the highway and some high voltage power lines. It's prettier than it sounds (has trees and the region is just outside a national park) and crucially wasn't zoned as forest or national park. (she's 6' for some context on meadow/weed height!) Planning wise...if <80m2, <8.5m tall, and <6.5m wide, and not a principal residence...and not in the forest or national park...knock yourself out. Building regs...really quite tough if you'd like a resi building. The paperwork is the same for a single house as it is for an apartment building. GPS survey, aerial photo, soil survey, foundation design, structural design, energy modelling, drainage design, electrical design, you name it at €500-1,000 apiece. There isn't really the equivalent of a "deemed to comply" detail and it's the government that set the standards for things not falling on your head rather than the lenders setting the standards for things that won't fall on your head during the mortgage period. For an energy perspective: U-Values: Wall 0.1 Roof 0.08 Windows 0.7 +MVHR +RES (i.e. PV) to offset "most" of the energy consumption of the building https://epbd-ca.eu/ca-outcomes/outcomes-2015-2018/book-2018/countries/lithuania Personally I think this is a step too far. The A+ is ok. (eminently doable and cheap) A++ is getting silly. (probably viable for mid rise apartment buildings with a flat roof full of PV; but frankly you'd be better off spending that money on public renewables that generate in winter when that energy is actually needed) Building regs...if you'd like a non-resi building (a house <80 m2; i.e. a summerhouse / cabin)...are essentially zero though. So we're aiming for: A 12x6 metre "barn" style cabin on screw foundations (I dislike concrete and with no access road / the frost line here being a metre you'd need epic quantities); a variation on Swedish platform framing (sheathed internally with taped OSB as the air tight / vapour retarder layer; rather than solid PE); with posts/ridge beam/warm roof (not that I'd ever add a slightly cheeky mezzanine after it had been certified at 72 m^2 you understand); and insulation with mineral wool (cellulose requires trusting somebody else; fibreglass just falls to the bottom of any cavity and the mice love it; and for foam...you'd best like mice) http://blog.lamidesign.com/p/swedish-platform-framing-info.html https://www.paroc.com/applications/building-insulation/walls/timber-frame-walls Target U-Values: Wall 0.13 (paroc nordic wall = 25 double plasterbaord+50/45 insulated service+12 OSB+200/195 stud+50/45 overlay) Roof 0.1 (same as the wall but 250/245mm rafter and less bridging) Floor 0.1 (22 OSB+250/245 joist full fill+6 OSB+100 underlay) Windows nominal 0.7 (rehau euro 70 3g) Cladding (walls AND roof) to be vertical board on board in black in this style: This is where we're at: Plenty still to do. Joined to ask about air tightness testing techniques (the framers are contracted to get the shell up to the level of wind membrane on the outside, and the OSB on the inside, then it's up to us to do final taping/testing of that inside layer; fit doors/windows; do the external cladding; all the internal fit out) Services wise: Hot water and bathroom UFH / towel rail from a from GSHP (SWMBO thinks solar is ugly; I think air source units are noisy / fugly but mainly I would like to experiment with a GSHP / picked up a Danfoss DHP-H 6 with 1,000 run hours for £650 ). Will install an MVHR unit and bought one but got screwed over by Brookvent (refusing to supply spares for a 4-year old MVHR unit with a failed fan). Need to learn about aerobic sewage treatment plans and drain fields. Need to learn about land drainage. First need to get to a box weather tight enough to breathe and relax some without worrying about how drawings might get mis-interpreted next...

My builder was always slow . Always had excuses . Rarely worried about anything . oh wait ! That was me 😋

Interestingly their eBay listings have all been pulled down. I wonder if other MCS installers saw it mentioned here and got pissy about it. They still sell kits on https://www.solar-energy-store.co.uk/solar-panel-kits but I don't see mention of DIY certifications.

I did once had a cylinder where the cylinder was leaking at the point the handle was welded on. I pointed it out to the Calor dealer who seemed completely disinterested.