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It's been a while since my last blog, but we've not stopped, the days are shorter and the weather skipped autumn🍂 and dived into winter with a few storms and loads of rain. Our windows are budget friendly triple glazed UPVC, and composite doors. The external EPS was sealed at the cill with EPDM airtight tape, the tape has reinforcement in it and can be moulded, it does crease but creates a water tight junction and sticks like the proverbial to the EPS. We created a cheek reveal with an additional layer of 50mm EPS and sealed the upvc frames against this, I then ran a bead of sealant against the face and edge of the EPS giving two seals. Then when clad a third seal. I used soudal air tight foam and I thinks it's LMA sealant, soudal's airtight solution. The winds gave good opportunity to test for air leaks when had several days of 35mph winds. This proved a good test with a smoke pen. The internal frame was sealed with soudal sf40 which adheres very well to the upvc and timber blocking, when cured it is like rubber. The cladding is larch boards in 2 widths 150mm for the bottom layer and 100mm for the top. We finished the top of the windows with a custom palistol coated drip The bottom of the EPS footing was finished with reclaimed slate. Inside we are having a cold roof. We needed to add 25mm pir under the truss cord to satisfy the tightened regulations in Scotland. We tapped the foil boards with foil tape, and the perimeter boards were pushed to touch the wall plate. Then used airtight foam between the PIR and internal IFC wall creating a seal. Under the PIR I used plastic membrane that I spray glued to the PIR, and this draped down the perimeter walls. The under ceiling was battened and counter battened, this created a service void for the cables and not penetrating the loft. The plastic was jointed with EPDM airtight tape on joins and walls. Cables were put inside Flexi conduit that was cut into grooves in the ICF. (All water pipes were run under the slab.) This picture shows the detail for the airtightness and the service void. MVHR ducts (7 plenums ) were run in the loft, and under 400mm of loft roll. The manifolds are also under the loft insulation. I made these airtight using the same EPDM tape. I made gaskets out of the plastic with a circle cutter and stretched it over the plenums, then air tight tape to seal everything to the plastic/ PIR. The walls also needed some IWI to meet the tighter regs, so decided to go with 25mm PIR. This also added another seal for the plastic airtight layer and walls. The poly steel ICF has these metal plates at 150mm ctrs that allow the cladding battens to be secured externally and the plasterboard internally, we used self tapping drywall screws and insulation discs to hold the PIR in place before installing the plasterboard. Picture for detail below. At this stage we've got a large airtight box. Now it's a case of installing the stud work. I lined the plant room with pre painted 12mm OSB, and the bathroom with 18mm OSB ( a Scottish building regs requirement needing the ability for future hand rails etc) Electrics are simple, a few Ethernet points and sockets and spotlights. One pendant over the dining( and if I get my way, and budget allows pool table). The only penetrations from the loft are a light, PV cables, TV aerial, and 4g antenna cables. These are in conduit and sealed both ends. All other cables run in the ceiling void or stud work. I've put a few sensors in the studwork for future Arduino projects to accompany the in slab sensors. The plant room is compact, and work in progress. The PV is up and running and to date produced just shy of 300KwH in 5 winter weeks With the first fix complete it was time to plasterboard, we got 80 boards delivered Wednesday midday, just as storm Babet hit, it was too windy to bring them in, I tried, I failed so it had to stay outside 😭, covered in plastic, tarpaulins, scaffold boards and the obligatory ratchet straps. 3 days of constant 35mph gusting 50mph gave opportunities to check for airtightness. I managed to install the flush shower tray during this downtime. Once the storm blew though we got the boards inside and cracked on, the open plan lounge, diner, kitchen was boarded first and as soon as it was complete I skimmed the ceiling, 11 boards was too big for me and my tennis elbow, that coupled with not plastering anything for several years. I split the room in two and used several layers of scrim tape to plaster up to, then remove the scrim tape and skim the 2nd part. It worked well, and it's painted and the join is seamless. The next few days we mixed it up skimming in the morning and boarding in the afternoon for the next day. Today is day 182 of the build, this is basically from the cleared site that was down to rock with the pecking already done. Currently the house is fully skimmed, most of the ceilings have been primed and painted white and we started the kitchen install today. All the bathroom is here waiting to be installed, and some appliances are here most arriving this week. This has been pretty much 7 days a week, with only around 12 to 18 days off to earn some money and pay off some labour debts. We're hoping to move in, in 2 weeks with a working bathroom and kitchen 🤞, the static has now reverted to ice box during the night🥶

I would be more worried about your clothes line pulling the cladding off than taking photos of your neighbours garden…..

Yup we’ve had people caught out on here before. A chap had bought a plot for £10k thinking he could build on it, had not done due diligence, and it was essentially one of a strip in a carved up farmer’s field. Roughly speaking, in the Home Counties, land with planning can approach £1million/acre

Can you buy the materials for the outstanding works soon? That way they can be included in your VAT reclaim even if not fully built?

Aside from this issue, if you complete there are VAT implications too for the ongoing works.

Do you not have 2 options here? 1 - Make sure that you comply with the first half of the clause, which turns on the meaning of the words. 2 - Make sure there are no consequences that force extra costs. I think we would need the meanings before we can comment. Whilst you are at it, consider the point at which you will have to start paying Council Tax. That can be worth a couple of thousand.

Don't tell them what you or they don't want to hear. Are you living on site at the moment?

I'm getting smoke coming in via my supply roof vent from 2 houses away. So, be very careful.

The thermostat I linked has an adjustable hysterisis, 0.5, 0.2 and 0.1, it can also be configured to manage heating and cooling. I use as permissive to start and stop my heat pump.

Loop line and neutrals at switches and take 3 core and earth to lights. future proofs switch and light position for permanent feed

These get my vote https://www.amazon.co.uk/COMPUTHERM-Q7RF-Wireless-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B00SI1D6FY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_pp?keywords=COMPUTHERM&qid=1699820036&sr=8-1

You don6need one specified a heat pump, if it can do a volt free or 230v switching it can do anything. More important if you are actually controlling the UFH with a thermostat is hysterisis. Thick screed need a very small hysterisis thin screed any old thermostat will do. Thick screed 0.1 gets my vote, anything worse than that expect big temperature swings

You won't find a plot in Buckinghamshire for 30-40 k that you stand a chance of getting planning permission on. For that sort of money you will be lucky to get a pony paddock with a loose box on it. The cheapest I would expect to find a plot for with outline permission on would be north of £140.000, and for that money the location ( main road frontage) and / or the size and design ( two bed ) may not be good. Any plot with good potential will have been snapped up by a builder before it even goes on the open market, it pays to stay sweet with your local rural area estate agents!!!! I think the land sales you have been looking at are for amenity land, where unscrupulous sellers carve up a pasture field next to a canal and sell them off as plots. ( That will be at the end of my lane then ) where there is no chance of mooring a boat, getting mains services or erecting any form of structure.

There's your diagram for the UH4, substitute the word actuator for valve on zones 1 and 2 & Jobs a Goodun. Probably need someone who's done this before to confirm though!

I'd say storage shed, coal house, or loo for short people. But I have seen air raid shelters from the 1940s in approx that pattern. If I recall correctly a bomb shelter is the one type of permanent outbuilding you can still create where you can spend the night without Planning Permission. Under 30 sqm and no Building Regs either.

"right to light" is pretty vague - I would check with your conveyancing solicitor. In my title deeds one of my neighbours has a right to light expressed within my deeds - but my solicitor said you have to be building very close to them to be able to claim right to light and stop the build - and despite objecting on may aspects they never raised right to light as an issue. But they may not have this as part of their or your deeds and in which case it is not an issue. Or they may be incorrectly referring to overlooking from a planning planning perspective as a right to light and in which case as you have planning then this is a non event (although from their perspective they may still be loosing what they incorrectly perceive as a right to light and therefore is not resolved). First port of call I think is your solicitor and then take it from there....

No, that is what you would use if you were having lots of individual zones and individual actuators for each pipe loop. You just want to join together the two motorised valve cables, 2 thermostat cables, a cable to the pump, a flex in providing power and (still to be determined) how to connect to the RTC6. Something like this https://www.toolstation.com/drayton-wiring-centre/p56309

To make it work you need a junction box to connect it all together, I would start with a standard central heating "wiring centre" which is usually just a plastic box with a 12 way terminal block inside and lots of cable entries. I am hoping that one of the many forum members familliar with the FTC6 will answer what it's call for heat input is.

Yes you want to specify "loop at switch" Wiring regs don't specify which method to use, it is choice of the electrician or the client.

Proper loft conversion. Think the joists are solid.

OK well this does seem to be a perfect storm. But also we on BH have v little information to work with, so could you please give more info: + what kind of situation is this plot, town? open countryside? suburbs? + is your solicitor a one man band? simple conveyancer or paralegal? junior? newly qualified? partner? mid-range local with a few offices? national organisation? + what *is* the actual likely 'right-of-light' problem? distances? angles? history? Changes in design so far (should be on the LPA planning portal). + it's unusual to communicate directly with the seller about important matters without the solicitors knowing. How did that come about? Did you know any of the parties before the transaction? Was their a reason you didn't communicate the issue to your solicitor or ask for all the detail, history, docs etc directly from the seller? + etc etc etc - anything that might be relevant. The long and short is: + your solicitor's fiduciary duty us to protect you and guide you through the transaction. This would include all important matters (and a lot that is on their laundry list that may not seem important to you). If they fail in that, they have not done their duty, and you need to help them address their failing. + the seller's duty is to reveal any and all important facts and, in particular, any shortcomings. Property, financial instrument and insurance transactions are not 'buyer beware' style of transactions because it is expected that one party has much more information than the other. This is different setup to say, buying a car. If the seller failed to accurately bring the right-to-light issue to you attention or gave the impression that the issue had been resolved, they were acting unlawfully. + anyone (e.g. you neighbour) with a legal axe to grind needs to 'plead their case'. That is, they must provide the information and legal argument they are expecting to rely on. It's not acceptable to say 'we have a problem, but we're not going to detail what it is'. You have a reasonable case to make that if they cause you unnecessary cost or time delay by their action or inaction, then you have a potential case for costs against them. + what's the power balance here? Is the seller or the neighbour an experienced lawyer? Do you have the desire and/or resources to fight your way through this? I would write a tracked formal letter to each party giving the picture as you see it and inviting them to respond appropriately with a time limit. Then also speak to someone appropriately senior at the solicitor's practice to see if they agree they have failed in their fiducial duty. You may get 'yes, you're right' let us sort this out at our expense' or the run-around. In any case you will pick up useful evidence for the evidence pack.

It won’t work in any circumstances where this is a problem that I can think of. In ‘3 plate’ wiring there is only one pole to switch at the wall anyway (there is no neutral, and in any case this isn’t what is causing the issue). If the switches are ‘fed’ then you won’t get the problem in the first place as there isn’t a permanently fed live/line conductor running alongside a switched live/line within the same cable, like there would be with 3 plate. Usually with 1 way switching you won’t get this problem as the switch wire cable won’t be long enough to cause an issue. It’s when it’s 2/3/4 way it can do. Just fit the snubber/capacitor and forget about it. Might even be able to do it in the switch if you’re lucky. That would be news to me. The worst thing about the ‘old’ way was when people did it incorrectly and linked the downstairs and upstairs lighting circuits by using a line from one and a neutral from the other. Eg. Landing light used line from downstairs hall switch and 2x strappers to landing switch and switch wire up to landing light, using the neutral from upstairs and the line from downstairs. Quite common a few decades ago and something I still have to put right occasionally now.

Maybe they aren’t demolishing it? Maybe they are converting it into something? Or extending it?

Yes, I've seen a string of outside garden lights pulse dimly because if these neons. they are easy to disconnect and throw away though

I used a Testo hot wire in an duct to set up my MVHR, then got a man with a certified instrument to officially commission and give me a certificate for BC. Only one terminal need a very small adjustment. So nothing wrong with hot wire, as long as you take your time etc..

He is playing with numbers, his house leaks like a seize. A passivhaus is also tested at 50Pa, they have to score 0.6 ACH or better from that test, he scored 6.4m3/m2 at the same pressure. Not quite the same scale, but close enough in this case. So using his example of dividing by 20 a passivhaus would leak at a rate 0.03 ACH.

Safe as houses, reinforced slab roof, 9 inch thick walls, it’s not going anywhere.

0.3 for the heat loss calculation, not the blower test. Shows in the thumbnail that's after dividing by 20 and the actual blower test result of 6.4@50Pa

No sorry but supplied by the LVT supplier as recommended.

Welcome to the Forum! Looking forward to hearing about your renovation.😀

Dig the slab out and get a build up that has a min of 100mm insualtion (ideally 150-200mm). Now's the time to do it. What's the build up of the extension?

The best Architects have a good knowledge about structural design and the best SE's have Architectural knowledge and that make projects come alive. Often at reasonable cost. Of course all need to have imagination.. without that.. it's a race to the bottom and that is not good! But that comes at a cost as you are paying for years of experience. Once you get to a certain age in the design world (I've been at this construction / design world for nearly forty years and the lines get blurred), I think of myself as a designer that knows a bit but learns new stuff all the time from all the posters on BH for example. Thanks to you all.

We did internally but using the blue acoustic soil pipes, to avoid hearing anything

The wise architect groups the bathrooms together above the ground floor wc...

As if you probably don't have enough on your plate below is a link to Polypipe https://www.polypipe.com/housing/above-ground-drainage-faqs Which says... "Can below ground PVCu drainage pipe or fittings be installed for above ground sanitary pipework? Below ground PVCu drainage pipe and fittings can only be used underground, they are not manufactured to the correct standards or material formulation for above ground applications, Building Regulations Part H state that PVCu materials for above ground gravity sanitary pipework should be to BS EN 1329" Below ground pipes tend to be brownish. In terms of internal or external pipework.. internal pipework is fine, specify this often.. but recognise that at some point someone is going to put something daft down the toilet or a lot of fat or a decorator is going to wash out some fast set or Polyfilla down the sink. So long as you think about.. where will the blockage occur and make sure you can rod the drain form one end or the other. What you don't want to do is have big access hatches in your nice decor / tiling or other finishes.

Inductance/capacitance between wires is quite common. You can think of it as an inefficient transformer. Uncoil the wires from the iron core, lay the side by side, pop some AC power through one and you will get some power in the other wire. It is how Marconi got radio signals across the Atlantic. It is a useful feature of oscillating circuits. A double pole switch will sort it out.

I experience something similar with some external LED lights which are in a 3-way switched circuit. The two outside light switches have small red "locator' lights so you can find them in the dark. I'm wondering if the reason the LEDs glow when the switches are open, is because the the sparkie wired the circuit with no neutral in the switch boxes, and the locator lights in parallel with the switch contacts. So the locator lights would get their supply from the live in the box and the small current powering the locator light would find its way back to neutral via the LED fitting, causing the LED to glow. Would that make sense?

The service cloud is what you want- more data than you could ever wish for in there! Just follow the sign up link from this page https://aquarea-service.panasonic.com/

You're on the right tracks. As I understand it, when you've got long runs of cable where a 'live' conductor is run for a distance alongside one that is not (as in 2 or 3 way switching), then a 'ghost' voltage can be induced. Not enough to give you a shock, or to light an incandescent lamp, but it can make some LED's glow. I've come across it a few times, but always when there is 2,3,4 etc way switching in place. Not so much lately though, I think the better manufacturers have got a handle on it now. You need a 'snubber', such as this one from TLC. Connect in parallel with the load. It'll need to go inside an enclosure/light fitting/switch if there's room. https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/DNCAPLOAD.html

I think I found what the issue is and the potential solution another forum: It's capacitive coupling between the wires between the two switches, this allows a small amount of electric current to make a side-run around the open switch contacts. This small current is enough to cause some CFLs to flash periodically and some LED fixtures to glow dimly. and to trigger non-contact voltage detectors. It can be cured by adding a lighting capacitor in parallel with the light fixture, providing a path to neutral sufficient to pass most of the ghost current rendering to voltage at the outlet too low to activate the lamp. Thoughts?

You may be underestimating the likelihood / cost / ease of find a plot that you can get planning on / has got planning on by a factor of 50-100. More opportunity / cheaper / prettier in Scotland, of course, than Bucks. 😎

hey there! 🌟 so, diving right into your floorplans, the blue extension on the ground floor sounds like a cool idea. makes me think you're aiming for that smooth indoor-outdoor flow, yeah? with the pink parts getting the chop, just make sure you're not losing any charm that gives your bungalow its character, especially since you're going big with three stories. a 20m width is pretty generous - loads of room for creativity there! I'm loving the idea of a terrace out front on the first floor. with a quiet, picturesque street scene, it's the perfect spot for morning coffees or chilling with a book. 📚 your material choices are pretty on-trend. grey bricks and charred timber give that timeless yet modern vibe, and zinc fish scale cladding? that's gonna look wicked against the green of a garden or any natural scenery. oh, and that zinc or slate roof is gonna be killer under the sky's changing colors. the spider glazing system for windows, with them projecting out, is super sleek - they'll catch the light in such a cool way. just picture the sunsets and sunrises, huh? 🌅a steel bridge in the hall is seriously bold. love that industrial-chic sort of touch. and a curved feature staircase is like the cherry on top, making a statement right when you walk in. it's got that 'wow' factor, for sure. just a heads-up, all these fancy bits can add up on the bill, so brace yourself when it comes to budgeting. 💰 but it sounds like you're crafting something amazing! can't wait to see it when it's all done. good luck, and keep us posted! 👍

I bought my bricks from Jewson. They have a dedicated brick rep who covers the Midlands - he was very helpful & happy to deal with a self builder. I was sourcing materials during lockdown when UK factories weren't producing. He eventually found me some beautiful bricks from Belgium at a great price - my brickies said they were better quality than most UK bricks they'd ever laid.

We built in 18months which I think is reasonably good for a self managed build. But the entire process from buying the site, to moving in, took 3.5 years. And we spent way, way more than anticipated. We've just had to take out another £30k loan to do the landscaping and a few finishes. Cash is king, sell up, ring fence your money and get started. If you have £300k, after you fees, design ,demolition, services etc, you will have £250k. Things will cost a lot more than you think, so you should have a build design that will cost £200k to build. That means a max of 150m2, 1.5 story house, with budget/ modest finishes.

I normally say to a potential client at first contact that they can be in the building in a year. That sometimes includes planning if they allow full design to commence. The reaction was 50/50 seems a long time / that's good. What to add to that? Time lost through client changes or stipulations. Can it be done quicker? A little quicker for a large extra cost, because you are giving us risk. Realistically say minimum 18 months construction period unless you are a very experienced construction manager or accept a standard kit building on a perfect site. @Harmony we are all sounding negative, but in your interest. We now need your response to confirm you are listening.

Our windows were on a 12 week lead time alone. There have been points where I would have rather not done it all. Instead would have bought a wee cottage, bit of land, workshop and banked the rest. As it is we are two years in from first stepping into the land to now. We are 6 months into our build with maybe 4 months to go with a fair wind. It’s all been funded by the sale of our previous house. Neither of us work so getting a mortgage is out and we won’t use any of our savings to finish it. Building costs more than you think. People tend to overestimate how far your money goes and underestimate how much things cost. There are many new posts on here from well meaning self-builders starting out on the journey thinking that they can build for a fraction of what the reality is. Ultimately it will come down to how much you can do yourself and doing it yourself will likely take longer than getting trades in.

Yes. In the event of freezing weather and the realistic prospect of a power cut lasting 24-hours or more, I'd probably just turn the isolation valves and disconnect the pipes to the heat pump and let it drain. I have a ground-mounted installation which isn't up against a wall so simple to do with easy access. I will have a short length of 28mm Hep2O pipe (suitably well insulated and protected from UV) connecting the heat pump to the duo insulated pipe that emerges from the ground so won't even need a spanner, just a Hep2O key.

So just to update: the windows company came back and tightened “the mushrooms” which are apparently what holds the window latches when the handle is closed. This has fixed the issue with the draught by the sofa. It turned out that was the only window affected. The other one was actually ventilation coming from the MVHR!

I thought it was the joints in the PB that create acoustic weak areas? Double boarding allows you to cover the joints. Not sure where I got that info, I expect it was on BuildHub somewhere.

I definitely wouldn’t go for a s##t in there 😁