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I’ve been meaning to provide an update on the progress of this build for a while, and I find myself with a spare couple of work hours 🙂 At the end of December 2021, we left you with 95% of the lower floor walls complete, and looking forward to getting the first set of steels installed. Of course, last winter’s weather, including some furious storms, had a thing or two to say about that, which included me going down at short notice and staying in the local Travelodge (other chains are available) ready for the inevitable turmoil that would greet me after the 90mph storm. It turned out not to be too bad, with only limited damage to the caravan awning, and some items moved around the plot. In early March we decided to make our first visit since that storm, and were greeted by a lovely surprise - the first set of steels were in place. I am still amazed at the lack of communication from some building industry people, but as I am told by the locals “its Cornwall”. It was time to order the next set of materials to get to the upper floor stage, which we wanted to get done by the end of June/mid July (it’s always good to have a target even though you won’t meet it 🙂 ). This included joists, flooring, the next set of Nudura and wood to create partition walls. In the meantime, we got started with applying the over-specced, and over-engineeed waterproofing scheme that our “professional” had stated we needed after deciding that their first spec was not up to the mustard. Can I just say at this point - there is an awful lot of discrepancy with what we self-builders are being told is required, and even after asking a lot of dumb questions, it’s almost impossible to get a straight and consistent answer, even from the same person sometimes. This is where having some common sense mixed with an engineering/technical background does come in extremely handy. Suffice it to say, that I have ditched some of the “uprated” waterproofing spec on the basis that logically it was overkill for the build type and soil conditions. Some will question “what about building warranty/guarantee” which is fair, but on the basis that we are not intending to sell and to live there for many decades to come, we are prepared to take what is a very small risk on this. Come early May, and with careful planning and scheduling I had 3 major deliveries lined up for the same day. The careful scheduling went South of course, and everything turned up within an hour of each other. 3.5 non-stop hours of handballing Nudura ICF, webjoists and floorboards, a 150kg, 6m long glulam beam (more of which later) and enough wood to build an ark (at least that what is seemed like at the time), I was a gibbering wreck, only fit to nurse a mug of tea and a heavily bruised thigh (did I mention a glulam beam?). For 5 weeks between the end of May and the beginning of July, supporting partition walls were created and installed, joists hangers and joists put up and some flooring. This work also included the installation of that 6m glulam beam which was a one day job on its own. So finally, at the beginning of July we were ready to miss our end of June/mid July target date but roped in some family members to help get us cracking on doing the second floor Nudura walling (the pic of the family is from July 10). . We were still on for an end of July concrete pour, until …… I would insert some pictures, but cannot take responsibility for any impact they have on the squeamish and faint of heart. Neither we, or any of the medical staff who have been involved with the treatment, can put our finger on where the infection came from but shortly after that July 10th picture of the family, the wife was struck down with Cellulitis that turned into necrotising fasciitis, which could have led to sepsis. If you read the link, you will realise that building a house suddenly becomes the least important thing on your mind. However, I am happy to report that the first operation saved her foot, and quite possibly her life, and the subsequent 3 operations to clean and repair the foot have been traumatic and very worrying. She is now on the mend but ….. I AM DOWN A LABOURER. Thanks to the NHS, however, and the enforced hospitalisations, and visiting being taken care of by other family and friends, the wife was able to send me to Cornwall (rather than Coventry) and I managed to get the walls finished and the concrete pour took place on September 9th. Now to wait for the second set of steels to go in, and I can order the roof joists. We might be semi weathertight for the winger 🙂

Chuck it in a duct?

I think your balustrade needs to be inline with the inner edge of the parapet wall, best to talk to your BCO and see what he will accept as there is no continuity in thinking amongst them.

You can take complete control of the device via Modbus if you get your installer to turn on Modbus TCP. It sounds more difficult than it actually is. 1. Get a raspberry Pi. 2. Install home assistant https://www.home-assistant.io 3. Install the HACS addon. 4. Install this addon using HACS https://github.com/binsentsu/home-assistant-solaredge-modbus If you get any worries with it let me know.

Use the armour - up to about 95mm² SWA you can use the armour, over 95mm² the cross section is usually not sufficient unless a very short run. Very rare to see a SWA cable core used as an earth commercially.

Just had another battery module delivered yesterday to unlock the full 3kW of the inverter, which will make another positive difference. will provide an update from all the changes next week 👍🏻

I suspect that you won't find one due to the required separation between 240VAC and the other volt-free contact. A different approach might be to find a 'smart' PIR that you could integrate with alarm and smart lights using IFTTT but I could only find indoor versions of that. From there it depends on how much tinkering you're prepared to do, as with all things electronic, you can do almost anything you can dream of with a little bit of know-how. Any SPST 240V outdoor PIR can power a relay with 240VAC coil to give you an additional volt-free contact.

Welcome! You're in the right place for advice; no matter how random the question, someone probably has experience to share. Good luck, and we look forward to hearing more!

Which reminds me, Loxone has ~pretty good modbus TCP support, so in theory I can integrate SolarEdge inverter directly to Loxone without any external server/software. Fronius seems to have good prior art for this: https://loxwiki.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LOXEN/pages/1316061809/Fronius+Hybrid+with+Modbus+TCP#FroniusHybridwithModbusTCP-b.BatteryCharging%2FDischargingOptions

If you put in a pool they will put in an earth rod as understandably they want to make sure no one is accidentally electrocuted.

Same with an integrated dishwasher. At least with that you adjust the feet on the DW for final adjustment.

The screw through the metal frame is in a slot, loosen all the screws, adjust the door height, re tighten screws.

Hi PeterW and JohnMo After fitting a non return valve after the water softener, all came good. The salt blocks now last at least 3 weeks. Many thanks guys😊

So on the mould, I think whether or not BCO sign off is the last of your concerns. You need to fix that! I presume you don't have MVHR, as otherwise you wouldn't have mould. I presume also that those windows don't have trickle vents, is that right? You need to drastically improve the ventilation and if possible upgrade your insulation to fix this issue. Walls are cold, condensation from inside converts into moisture as it hits the walls, this creates a slightly damp area where mould thrives. On the screws, I doubt the BCO will pick that up, but if you want a sturdy and rust free balcony in 10 years' time, why not replace the screws now? On the spotlight, as long as it was installed with a fireshield, the fact that it's sagging shouldn't matter to your BCO. he might want to see the evidence of the fire shield though.

Me too. I did mine with an old 10mm drill bit held to a 1m level with a rubber band. Level was marked every 100mm, so I could easily slide the drill bit to the gradient I needed. ie, for 1 in 60, move dill bit to 600mm mark.

I hate mucking about with anything less than a 100mm duct, for power runs to unknown equipment. but I don’t do domestic work so client are happy to fork out for ducting and drawpits.

I had one of these once. It was really only useful during a big cooking session where surfaces were needed, but then only room for one person. So I started off thinking it was a great idea, but hardly used it, while it took up 2" of limited space when folded.

I am so tempted to make one of these out of sheer interest. I have an old boiler that I can strip the pump from and I am sure an old kettle can be found!

What sort of attitude is that? Every customer should check trades work, the workmanship is clearly poor and the OP is right to question it. That is the sort of thing I would expect a disgruntled, careless, job price trade to come away with. So if I came to your house and put things up a bit squint you would not be upset? If the grey spacers were taken out I would want to know why, and investigate it further as it may have been the installer bodging them in and creating some wriggle room by letting the frame flex to get something to fit. Scratched fittings and fixtures and squint installs are not OK.

If the housing association paid for this and arranged it, they are the ones that should be chasing the contractor. Complain to the HA.

Another example of how mine ended up. TIP: It is a lot easier if you buy the tape intended for windows. The backing paper is split so you tear off the thin bit allowing you to stick it to the window without it sticking to everything else, then tear off the rest to stick it to the wall.

I used this video as my guide for airtightnessing. it goes through sealing around windows at approximately 28 mins in. our windows now look like this it's time consuming work but very satisfying to see once completed.

50A should be plenty. My pool has around half the volume of @billt's and so the filter pump uses about half the power. The main use of power would be the ASHP, even a 5kW ASHP is only 21A. The power use in the pool house is going to be relatively minor, I guess you might want an air heater which might be 3kW. Showing the difference in heating costs for an indoor and outdoor pool. My pool uses around 40kWh a day for heating, call it 1500kWh for the year, we use gas. It is set at 29C all year round. @billt is quoting that it takes (assuming a COP of 4) almost 3000kWh over 10 days to get his pool to 26-27C. On the other hand, I have a dehumidifier as the pool is indoors and that uses around 2500kWh a year. However, 1/4 of that is on cheap overnight electricity. The filter pump uses around 2000kWh with 40% on cheap rate. An outdoor pool also requires a lot more cleaning and chemicals.

On your first and second points, you should have a look at your local planning authority's Validation Checklist which sets out the local requirements for drawings and supporting documents needed for an application to be validated. If the drawings did not meet all of the validation requirements then you can raise this with the case officer to have the applicant revise the drawings.

Finished! Will do 2nd coat on the ( roundover edged) handrail in next dry spell.. just got 1 on & mostly dry before rain coming midday. Huge thanks y'all especially Onoff for the metal bits & help with the design, & nozzles from GW. Very kind indeed chaps. Now to get the build signed off. Woohoo! Zoot.

Peter - have you got a link to the statute that the title plan must match? For example our CIL was issued against planning for 3 properties under the same title and when our plot was purchased (on a new title) the CIL liability was proportionally distributed against a notional ‘plot name’. Therefore technically our CIL liability was not against any title. Indeed our title at land registry simply refers to an area of land and no address (as the property will not be registered with the council and provided an address until completion). Guidance from our council was that the new address and council tax should indicate the address for occupation purposes but that the title provided for Part 2 is used purely for ownership purposes (not occupation purposes). Be good to get clarity on this!

Yes sure - as you need title to the property for which you are claiming exemption and at point of validation they will require the addresses to match. If your planning is for “Garden of 43 Acacia Avenue”, your title provided must be for the land identified in the planning permission split into the correct title - so whatever your site plan showed in planning needs to match the title deed for what you are claiming for otherwise they can and will reject it if you submit the title deeds for 43 Acacia Avenue. It is both in the statute and in the guidance notes that the exemption relates to the title and property therein - you also need to provide a council tax bill and other documents relating - if the addresses don’t match then you will not get exemption. I would split the title asap - why has it not been done before ..?

I would hire a Planning Consultant to review your file and advise if its worth appealing or go straight to a new/revised design.

They’ve told you what you need to do to be compliant. How easy is it to adapt your plans to meet every point they’ve raised. You could appeal but that will take a considerable amount of time and is only likely to be successful if you can demonstrate your building is within the council’s planning policies.

Hi and welcome, well I can’t comment on your particular build but I have been thwarted by planners and gone to appeal myself and found the process with the appeal easier than dealing with planers,!! Bulk was a refusal point for us but I demonstrated that I reduced bulk by not having gable ends to the roof and in our case proved the building next door was bigger than indicated. You need to read and understand the planning policies and use them to your advantage. Keep us updated.

Just thought I’d share this As it may help others on here I run a medium sized render company and was asked to quote for a friend of a friend A self build in the lake district About 50 miles away I said sure send me a drawing Most of our framing plastering jobs are off plan to allow the builders to use our quote within there quote Anyway The self builder has asked me to re quote from six months ago As two Sole traders have quoted more than 50% higher than ours Stating 4 weeks work There’s only 225m2 5 days tops I’d allowed 8 rise in materials on the initial quote and charged a bit extra on labour with it being a small job We give a three year no quibble guarantee If there is a problem and it’s a manufacturer based problem We sort it out and Pursue the manufacture At the moment individual trades are taking the mick I hear about tilers charging nearly £50 m2 for floor tiling I pay ours around 18-22 and they make a dam good living out of that Private builders and trades are giving everyone a bad name Shop around for an experienced company You will have to wait But it’s worth the wait

Simple adjustments will resolve all of these issues. One that can see the difference in handle heights and that it doesn't look right, without having the knowledge or understanding of how things should be but looking for help. So they are not making themselves look stupid when they ask the question upon their return. Glazing packers should be used to around the glass unit to toe and heel as has been mentioned then spaced out around the glass unit. Not doing so, causes potential issues further down the line. As for your door sitting proud, this is simply adjustment and the door is not sitting correct, the cams are not engaging into the keeps, which forces the door out as you see. Once this is fixed (easy fix), the issue will be gone.

Ian, You have gained a great deal of experience. You know how to build your house to the standard you want; that's clear from the way you've been picking up errors made by your builder. You can project manage the rest of the build, and hire sub-contractors directly; that will be less stressful than trying to carry on with your present main contractor. You have backup, in the form of lot of people on this forum who will respond to your questions quickly and openly. As a brigadier I used to work with used to say and who had a big brass plaque behind his desk with these initials on it, JFDI

Low cut top it is then!

Well, the beads are in and I have now had a graphic demonstration of the amount of air leakage from the cavity into the interior of the house. We had to evacuate during the filling process as the high pressure air forced an extremely fine 'mist' of choking dust into all the rooms. There were no particular areas, just a general haze throughout every room. No doubt, the combined effects of air leaks though minute cracks around window frames, electrical outlets, skirtings etc. Of course this will be no surprise to anyone who's laboured over getting air-tightness into their new build but it's disappointing for me. I've spent most of this year draft proofing and going on search and destroy missions to fill gaps around pipework and junctions around the house. But the minute particle size as evidenced by the haze has taken me quite by surprise.