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Hello all, I've been a serial house renovator since the early 80's. I finally purchase a plot of land in 2006 and self-built my current house. Thinking about downsizing and would prefer to build again rather than buy an existing property. Looking for a plot and catching up with the latest build methods and tech available.

just to close this thread out..... I've heard back from the BCO and I am correct with my research. because we have a secondary exit from the basement and emergency windows/exits from the first floor we do not need protected stairways. as such we don't even need the doors between the hallway and kitchen. we might fit something in the future for sound reduction but nothing for now. it's one less thing to worry about.

Go and get a washing machine drain hose joiner, I believe they are more or less the same diameter, use the joiner as a splice. Or cut that and pull it around a bit and stuff it back in the trap.

+1, I didn’t use basalt ties on my passive esk build as I worked out the losses were minimal.

I managed to get a free day today to skim the bedroom and dressing room out Weathers not ideal But it’s a start

We've got pp to build an oak frame home in Sussex. Currently scratching our heads figuring out the best way to fund it! The is a belated hello as i have already asked a couple of questions and had brilliant responses. Very interested to hear from any other Oak Frame nuts like us, who are hoping to do lots of the build themselves?

Your metal web joists are obviously metal and should therefore be fire protected. Double standard board or single fire proof board. The pink papered one. Can't remember it's proper name. You could potentially fix a 4x2 to the non joist walls to carry the edge of the plasterboard. Saves battening the whole ceiling.

Frankly any type of building is possible (as long as meets planning rules locally,) your biggest problem IMO is finding a property that you like/can afford with the space to put that/those buildings. Then you can decide what extra building fits your needs!

Feel free to offload if you wish. Nice simple idea, thanks.

Just around the notch ( about 300mm total length will do)

The roof should be supported by the outer walls, rare to find a house of that age that doesn’t have solid internals around stairs etc. as to the sips or builder, I’m guessing you mean sips or brick/block for the extension walls as sips panels would still require a lot of traditional builder work. in your case, as an extension requiring tying into the existing it will be much easier and cheaper to stick to traditional building methods … I.e brick and block.

Before anyone says the colour is “ rustic red “ . I think it looks brown like shit . SWMBO likes it though 🙄

It would seem once more that productivity on a Friday yields results !

Hooray, success!!, I managed to source a minature relay. Although the Reed was probably within spec I didn’t like the arc within it, a failure in the future I recon, this is my “test bed”, will wire it in situ tomorrow ( if it warms up a bit 🤷‍♂️)

Oh yes, even wiring in a classic car 😱( ask me how I know!). might this fit to join the pipe https://www.screwfix.com/p/flomasta-outlet-hose-connector-17mm/37103

Oak framed houses, highly varnished wooden boats, vintage motorbikes, Omega Seamaster watches, pre-war Leica cameras, Umbrian villas: all make me dream . My god we lusted after an Oak Frame build ..... but couldn't afford to build its garage. Not envious, just hope it goes well for you. Seems I'm just going to have to follow your posts then innit. 😐

Hello, - a serial builder eh .... What brings you back to the torture-chamber then ?

Once you have repaired it, wrap it in copper tape. That's what we did in the previous house to stop mice chewing the dishwasher hose. (new house is mouse proof)

Yes they are a nightmare (usually fitted to sink prior to installation, try this, I am sure you can make a joiner with one of these bits or similar https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186143700881?hash=item2b57077791:g:AkMAAOSwDblik

Could you cut the pipe and fit some plastic drainage pipe slid inside the flexible pipe and sealed.

Ok not in your position (retired) but my place has a wood shop (posh shed) 4m x 6m, single garage (no room for double), potting shed 3 x 2m and garden shed 2 x 4m, all within PD and no BR.

Yeah, understand the position re London studios - stupid expensive and often not great despite that. And often used as LPA bait until a developer figures they can make a bunch of money. If you buy a place with a biggish garden then you can probably get what you want - maybe over time with a couple of buildings. An even easier route is to buy a place with barns or and existing outbuilding and convert those - probably with no oversight by anyone. Planning departments are fairly OK about artists and artist studios - particularly if it's your livelihood. Good idea though to keep talk of "fumes / contamination / noxious / dangerous things / potential neighbour problems" to a minimum to avoid triggering the locals .

That also makes sense for new build. Planners, and policies, often encourage artisan combined buildings. A return to 100 years ago when high streets had workshops on the street and homes above.

It's a Samsung Gen 6 8kW. It was cheap and I was trying to spend as little as possible, unfortunately spec creep occurred and tthe system ended up more expensive than initially expected. I would have done better to have spent an extra 2k on a Vaillant Aerotherm+. Isn't hindsight wonderful? The SCoP is 3.97. For the first few weeks it was about 4.4 but the cold damp weather has had its effect.

Have you thought about a commercial building with living accommodation

Shear links increase the slabs resistance to shear. That is, it's resistance to snapping at the support. Because the slab is supported on cellcore it is actually a suspended slab, because the cellcore can be crushed by ground heave and no longer support the slab. It is essentially a sacrificial falsework. Because it is suspended the assumed support is just on the edge of the foundation. Sometimes slabs can be made thicker and no longer need shear links (because with more concrete you don't need the steel to resist shear) but it is a balance concrete cost Vs steel cost. Cellcore also has a limit on wet concrete thickness so you may need to go up a grade with that too. Steel suppliers can prebend reinforcement to a given dimension so you just need to order the links.

It's good to make use of these, and well done the merchant for encouraging it. Be aware that the timbers are may distort due to the new imbalance of grain and stresses. Not a huge reduction so maybe not much twist. If so, you can probably straighten them with substantial noggins / dwangs.

I have a gas blower that I’ve set on the ground floor well away from the the plaster That I switch on for ten minutes before each mix We are currently plastering a site for WD Last year they correctly stated 4 and residing outside temperature This year they have revised this to 2 above INTERNAL temperature No heaters allowed H&S 😂We are adding excel orator to each mix Would I do this on my own house Absolutely not The problem isn’t so much now It’s a couple of months down the line when the heating goes on Getting back to yours Get the internal temperature up to 5+ and you will be fine

I've come to realise you should treat screwdriver bits like drill bits. And not expect much from them after a few hours use. Dewalt are OK, but erbaur seem more long lasting. They recommend PR2 bits for plasterboard screws because they sit deeper and are less likely to jump out, but I only keep PZ2 and PH2 bits in my driver box. I've only used plasterboard screws on my self build conversion, and only had issues with PH2 when Over stretching. I guess if you're doing it day in day out, you might be more fussy!

8m long x 3.6m wide x 3.9m high. To squeeze it under the permitted development rules. Hand built by moi.

1. If you use hard plastic wedges, it should be possible to work them out 3. A minimum of 3mm on normal backgrounds, according to BS 5385-1 5. Refer to the adhesive manufacturer's recommendations 6. Personally I'd only ever use a wet saw 10. Draw it out on the walls before starting, ideally with the help of a laser, to get everything arranged as you want it and to make sure that all the cuts are sensible - for example to avoid thin slivers of tile.

Here you go https://www.pipelineservices.co.uk I'm not sure if the forum rules or etiquette would prefer me to DM this, but why not give them a shout out as they did a good. I'm sure Forum Admin will advise if I got this wrong!

Just completed on land, relatively straightforward although vendors solicitors was part of the hack that has hapened in the last week or so. Now the hard work starts! (actully the really hard work will start sometime next year, in the meantime there is a lot of stuff to clear)

Just to clarify, the MVHR is in the main building, not the outbuilding? If so, yes these are two completely independent projects so by large it's just confusing to wrap them up in a single question. (aside from financing constraints, but you don't mention that at all). For the Solar, as you say main limit is getting the supply cable in from the meter head. Dig the trench with duct for this when you're doing other ground works, for the extension founds maybe? Is the outbuilding already there? If it's having a new roof, then do the solar as part of that project, going integrated panels should save on roofing tiles. You may be better running DC cable to the meter head and placing the inverter there. Depends if you may want to add batteries (dc coupled hybrid inverter) and where you have space for that. MVHR main thing is to get it in before making good work is done. The duct work can always be installed incrementally rather than in one big hit. Just be sure to keep ends of pipes sealed to stop dust etc getting into them during the works. Presumably you're aiming to improve airtightness around the existing property, and achieve a good level on the new extension? To get best benefit or the MVHR people generally cite <3ACH as a goal.

5th December it says, but what's the chance of it working?

I'd say so. Or simply avoids replacing staff shortages. I wonder how skilled the assessors are in construction, or do they mostly skip through anyway, looking for the unusual. Yes. If there's somebody not to cheat it's the vat inspector. One sat opposite me for 3 days convinced we were up to something....then said 'oh I see..that's all fine'. But he went away with copies of subby invoices. He even told me the common dodges they were looking for. We were squeaky clean but it still felt uncomfortable. There won't be any imaginary costs in our submission.

This is very similar to what we have chosen, we are using a breathable racking board, we have opted for a 70mm internal insulation board, and in place of the VCL, we are taping the joints. Another detail we have is to return a 25mm insulation board on window jambs to kill the cold bridge from window to frame. We have a calculated wall uvalue of 0.13. Our frame is 400c so hoping that will help with wall firmess, but may still look to use OSB behind kitchen, and otherwise use 15mm or 2 x 12.5mm for utility/plant room.

Kill everything, just incase there is something interesting to ecologist.

I take it this plot of land does have some form of planning permissions? You probably want to resubmit planning for the house you want, and include on that temporary planning for a static caravan as accommodation while you build. You can buy a second hand static for not a lot of money. Many on here have been temporary caravan dwellers, including me (twice)

I misread 'Lady'. I had sparrows nesting at the windscreen to bonnet interface. I removed the beginnings of the nest daily and moved the car to various positions but they found it and carried on. After 2 weeks they gave up or divorced or whatever sparrows do.

Will the eyes be drawn to the water cooler you've left space for instead? Sorry!

You have already done that with shit coloured cabinets!!!

Sorry that looks like the office canteen where I used to work. I just can't disassociate that ceiling with "office"

So it’s over the recommended depth of cut, however I would offer this solution., 1/2” ply, glued and screwed both sides of the joist. excuse the CAD (crayon assisted drawing).

Here’s the red I’m wearing tonight https://www.elitecolours.co.uk/rusticred

That’s shit brown colour also

Or rust! 🤷‍♂️

The 'help' will do it once and then I will find myself living in a 1 bedroom bedsit.

Will look fine once the decorators tidy it up. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Ah, so the proposal has been checked by a Financial Secretary to the Treasury has it ? I've just finished reading: Dunt, I., 2023 How Westminster Works and Why It Doesn't . I now de-code the quotation above as : The MP concerned has been shown a piece of paper which she signed, but didn't read, and if she did, she didn't understand the content. Again.