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I thought I’d update my introduction. Hard to believe my first post was in July 2021! Suffice to say we achieved planning and got our warrant in December. Frustrating process largely down to the timber kit company and their incompetence, inexperience and general shoddy service. That’s a whole other story. The electricity supply ended up being extremely cheap costing us only £416 plus my time to dig the trench (6m on my neighbour’s land and 20m on ours) and a small foundation for the kiosk. Far cry from the £26.5k initial estimate. The water supply was slightly more complicated but eventually the farmer managed to successfully find water. Took two different drilling companies and a very deep hole (147m). The first few treatment plant quotes were almost laughable at £24k. I then attended a webinar organised by the Scottish Self-Build team and came across Filpumps from Aberdeen and they quoted £9k so that’s who we’ve gone with. Plant gets installed in a month or so once the garage goes up. The sewage side of things proved to be pretty straightforward. Percolation test was fine and the Goldilocks spot happens to be 50m from the borehole and 10m from the water course plus. We decided to go for a Graf One2Clean 7PE system with remote blower. Great price from JD Pipes. It gets installed in a few weeks. The big challenge was trying to find a groundswork company. Emailed 7 companies and got three quotes. Two of them took months to get and were horrendous. The guy we went with was £20k cheaper! He’s also very good and has come highly recommended even from the local BCO. I’ve been working my way through all the other elements, prelims, roofing companies, plumbing, electrical, joinery, ASHP, MVHR, PV and garage supplier. I’m pretty much there with all of them. Got a decision to make on plumber and joiner. Everything else is in place. We’ve also got the kitchen designed and ordered, bathrooms picked, and flooring mostly decided. Groundswork has started. We’ve cleared the site, levelled it, formed the driveway and did the setting out today. Foundation digging starts tomorrow. We should finish the foundations by third week of March. Bit of a break for a few weeks then the kit arrives on the 17 April. Garage goes up end of March. We have a decision to make about the small but long retaining wall which we’ll do this week and we need to make the drive wider.

We’ve got the door covered and trims installation etc. sorted. Just waiting on confirmation of address etc and it’ll be taken care of. but yeah @Temp @joe90 couldn’t agree more.

If you cut the timber to the lengths you want, rather than have a few mil difference in opposite sides, you can just screw it together and square it by making the diagonals the same length.

Hi. As per the title, we’re at the very, very early stage of a rural renovation. This forum has been a wonderful source of information. I wish I’d begun participating sooner, but better late than never. I’ve just posted our favourite layout sketches in the design forum. I think we’re at iteration 124.. When we get to the point of actually starting the build, probably 2024 once planning is done and dusted, we’ll be managing it ourselves and undertaking as much work as possible (while recognising our limitations!) Thankfully, we have no time pressures, we know some good tradesmen and I’m lucky enough to have plenty of free time to fill. About to have a go at teaching myself Knx & Dali lighting

Thanks from me for the update.. great to here you are making progess. My wife is up in Blair tonight seeing a pal.. small world! Keep us updated!

Have to ensure engineer is present to tell digger driver where to do the test holes so he can provide a foundation layout. Architect thinks they will be shallow foundations but I guess it depends where the hard ground is.Hoping it's a quick turnaround because the digger can't sit for long (3 days max). Also surveyor has to show up too while he is there to mark it out including levels. The sloping site is definitely more of a challenge. Still, pleased it's happening and I have confidence in them.

Hello We’re looking for suppliers that can make front doors with a u-value of 1 or less and wondered if anyone can suggest options for us to look at? We’re aware of the green building store and internorm (though the style seems a bit modern for us) and I've sent a enquiry to solidoor as it’s not clear what u-values they can offer. We’re after something quite traditional but this isn’t one of the items we are going to be particular over, just looking to meet the requirements for a reasonable cost. Thanks in advance

You should have your airtightness test before the walls and ceilings boarded out. This will mean you can remedy any bad leaks. It normally gets a little worse for the final test as invariably someone will have made a few small holes and not patched them up.

And I'm going 400mm Silver EPS - I guess the house will float if we ever flood....!! Chasing 0.07 floor U values....

HOWEVER, when I lived in Shropshire I knew a REAL gypsy and he was as honest as the day was long, he bought some scrap off me and had no change so I told him “ you owe me a Pound,” I bumped into him a year later and remembered and insisted he paid me that pound. 🤷‍♂️.

I helped a traveller in our village once. Wanted water for his horse grazing on the verge up the road. Two days I'm walking across the village green and I pass the same chap chatting with someone. I say hi as I'm going past and get an earful of abuse from him. Next day he knocks on the door again asking for water. Told him go whistle. They really are their own worse enemy. I feel sorry for their kids. At the local Primary school they make a big fuss of students when they leave. These days schools worry about the transition to senior school and there are taster days at the new school etc. Last day the kids get invited onto the stage at assembly and the head asks which school they are going to next. They are given book/Amazon vouchers or similar. When it came to the travellers children they weren't able to answer because they wernt going to school ever again. The government comes down on you like a ton of bricks with fines if your kid misses a few days to go on holiday but if you don't register them for a school nobody seems to notice.

Just read the Facebook page and they think they were travellers, which key fits any lock.? A pikey

Apologies, should have specified which pipes.

Thought about it briefly yeah, my understanding was that it would cost us more to get the same level of insulation on the rafters as it would flat on the joists, and it would have additional costs like double battens. It would also increase the volume we would be heating. We plan to have only one area of pitched roof accessible for storage and dont think anything needing stored will be too important. If i was more DIY with the insulation then would likely be more keen on it

Nope. How are you going to grow a piece of timber from 5787 to 5800. You need it 13mm longer, so unless you are going to put a 13mm slither in then you won’t ever get it square, you will fight with that for hours. Start with one piece and get that right, then add the next bit at 90 degrees. Trying to get 3 incorrect bits of wood right will be a pain. Get one right and then the second.

That was the ' ... But...' above.

I clicked on several. All of them are in situ and need to be dismantled. On that point they're no different to eBay. Apparently you can talk to them about dismantling and delivery - it'd be interesting to see what sort of costs are involved and who takes on the (significant) risk of damage. And it still doesn't solve the other significant issue of finding the right combo of layout and design.

@TerryE @Nickfromwales not sure if how they lay the pipes in this clip is right but it sure does look easy.

does this help ? All square and fits on your slab

That's because even Bernard Manning covers his ears when you get going

Yeah you were never good at / with gags .

Mine have been cancelled.

Discussion here about temperatures and someone linked to aquatica which has a lovely range (pricey though!): My go to will hopefully be here: https://bartokdesign.com Also pricey but the real deal. There are cheaper fibre glass options out there you've probably found via google. I'll have a seat at my shower to wash myself before using so I can keep using the same water all week and a recirculation system to boost the temperature each day running off a flat plate heat exchanger from my air to water heat pump. Then I get to soak every day! In Japan they use the waste water at the end of the week for washing as their washing machines have a hose you put into the bath and uses the hot water to do the wash! Can't find that over here though!

Colour of your lungs

There is always a way to fix with brackets, maybe they don’t know how to fix brackets to the profile. If you can post a section through the profile to be used we can take a look and chuck in some suggestions

As I said on the other similar thread, some lenders don't ask for a warranty, so check with a broker before shelling out £ks.

Go to 150 + 75 screed = 225 = 1 block

I’ve just used a 3 tone mini digger on our last two and dug a hole at each corner of the house Then taken the digger away A 13 tone digger is expensive to get there and take away till your ready to start your build

Donated. Hope whoever fitted that door falls off a roof.

Interesting. I believe @jack and I have similar units. I have a Brink Flair 400. Ours was commissioned by CVC and I’m sure they have the statutory amounts. Our air is a touch on the dry side in winter, so maybe I should turn the flow rate down a bit. On the whole I’ve been very happy with it. In the rooms where we have spent a bit more and have Lindab Airy valves/terminals it is silent . That includes in our master bedroom, en-suite, guest bedroom, study and living areas. In the other bathrooms and in the kids bedrooms we went for the cheap valves/terminals and it is just about audible. It would annoy me if it was in our bedroom like that, but nobody else has complained. Ours only really gets audible in our bedroom and en-suite when it is boosted, but even then it’s not that noticeable.

I’m every night . Back stage especially

The discharge to surface water rules have a contradiction. While there is a clear rule (19) stating you can't discharge to a water course "that does not contain flowing water throughout the year, unless there is a drought or an unusually long period of dry weather", in rule 20 it then allows a partial drainage field that permits waste water to soak into the ground, when the ground is dry. With this rule 20, the partial drainage field is still considered a discharge to surface water as long as the perforated pipe used between the treatment plant water course is no more than 10m from the water course. You previously described a "land drain" installed by a previous tenant of your plot. Is this a piped drain? Could you replace a section of this with perforated pipe, if it isn't already perforated, and then discharge directly into it. For my install BC made no checks on the discharge pipe. I supplied a drawing and stated the installation is covered by the GBR and that satisfied BC. The Environment Agency would only ever get involved if there was a pollution issue.

I'm in Kent and might be able to help. Where in Kent roughly? I've three uPVC doors / frames here I bought cheap, s/hand. Need to double check which one I need to use. They all I think open out with the hinge the other side to your pictures.

Try trading standards more like. I assume he has some contact details, this is FRAUD.

I discharge my treatment plant and surface water to a ditch that I informed them that was flowing 6 months of the year, no one actually checked it tho 🤷‍♂️.

@AliG I agree with your point about making compromises with the build. I’d imagine most self-builders have to do it. However this wasn’t really the original point you made which was ‘people expect to find fittings on a house somewhat commensurate with its value…’ That’s fine if you’re building it to sell or show off to your friends. But if you’re building it for you none of that matters. Personally I couldn’t give two stuffs what people think or expect. I’m not a brand person. I fit things based on performance and value rather than the badge on the front of it. If I had my way I’d have all the names removed from the appliances anyway. The OPs house will look and feel stunning whether he fits Miele ovens or some lesser brand.

I don't have a dremel, so I tried my multitool and blunted the blade. I then tried to cut though the round metal base with tin snips , no chance with that. I then managed to get a hacksaw under the round metal plate and after about 15 minutes I finally cut the head off the bolt. Thanks for the suggestion

I'd say insulated slab would be more, didn't get any clear quotes as headed for preferred method, that was just anecdotal talking to groundworks guy. Might close the gap after September when concrete levy kicks in....

It says the budget was £1.5 million and it’s 300m2 so given you recognise some of the finishes aren’t ultra expensive it still makes it a very expensive build.

Clearly people can do whatever they like with their own house. I’m sure plenty of people disagree with my choices. Nevertheless the OP has asked for opinions so it is not like it is unsolicited advice. People would expect to find fittings in a house somewhat commensurate with its value and it can make things feel a little off if you don’t do this.

@Shaun McD, Using the 1st floor void for distribution, then drop or rising the services vertically through the service void is a very common approach adopted by many here. We did all of our own plumbing, largely under the inspiration and remote guidance of @Nickfromwales, a.k.a my hero 🤩. This saved us a load of money, and honestly we ended up with a far superior installation than if we've used our builder's preferred plumber. It was all relatively easy stuff. There are loads of threads and blog entries from members on their individual implementations, so it is well worth getting a glass of vino, and doing a few hours browsing of these for hints and examples. This will get you started and save you loads of grief. I did the central plumbing in copper. I had done some copper / end-feed work before (about 25 years previously), but you just need to watch a few YouTube videos and have a few practice attempts. I did very little soldering in-place but instead used the valves, etc. plus the odd compression connector too break up copper-work into sections that I could bench solder/assemble, and since these sub-units ended in compression tails, I could add a few temporary end stops to allow me to pressure test the sub-units before assembly. The basic topology was hub and spoke using brass manifolds and Hep2O 1-1 to the whitegoods, etc. Jan and I split the Hep2O 50:50, and she'd never done any plumbing before, but soon became proficient. Have a browse of content here. Brilliant solution. 🙂

so remember all that this is NI, we're still on the OLD regs, and check reveals are a must...

Wise words. At the moment, even with the higher prices, even with a perfect ASHP system in a good house, the savings over gas would be small, so the payback time would be huge. If I had a working gas system I would not be changing at least not changing with the expectation of saving money. I wonder what claims the supplier made (the supplier that has now gone bust so won't have to honour any claims)

I had one fitted to our old house, with steel rads and a combi, because the extended warranty on the combi provided by the installer (which turned out to be useless - long story) was dependent on a Magnaclean being fitted. TBH, I was very sceptical, especially as the whole system was power flushed for hours before the new boiler was fitted. However, when I check and clean the filter every year, and top up the inhibitor (easy, just put a drop in the filter housing when it's off) I'm always amazed at how much black crud there is on the central magnet. The thing clearly works in these circumstances, but only because the crud is magnetic. With UFH it would be pointless, as there's no ferrous metal in the system usually, so there can't ever be any magnetic crud to filter out. All I have on ours is a Y strainer, and on the one occasion when I drained the system down and checked it, all I found in there were a couple of bits of what looked like sealant residue, almost certainly from where I was a bit careless with one or two of the plumbing joints to the buffer tank (in my defence they were at the back and a real sod to get to......).

Hi everyone, just a little update on the issues mentioned above. We finally managed to get the builder to do a heat survey and get a bit more details on what is going on with the insulation. Survey was conducted by the company blowing the cavity insulation in and the attending contractor gave a detailed explanation of his findings. The highlight of all was that he concluded there is a problem with draughts more than anything, so the report was sent to the builder and now awaiting repair. In the meantime I changed the extraction fan in the bathroom and put a new external vent with a non-return shutter flaps to prevent cold air coming through. When I did that I was able to have a look in the cavity and took few pictures for someone knowledgable to say whether this is OK or not as I am not sure it is.

It's the Russians...

Shows are every other night, and twice on the weekend.