Leaderboard

Not so long since this was a storage area with a passage still full of mud and cow manure. Curtains up is a big moment. The rest of the place is at first fix with pb coming behind it.

Lignacite Fair Face, for one. https://lignacite.co.uk/products/lignacite/

I was involved, I'll have you know! Hundreds of swatches, reduced to the final 20. Mostly I just agreed with the final decision. I'll admit that the purple features weren't my choice but it's inspired. That view, if it wasn't for a mountain in the way, would be all the way to @ProDave and @Jenki. The Northern Lights shine above them.

Version four, being as salesy as possible:

Seen a fair few videos of mastic guys going on site, the site manager asking them to bodge something to pass the CML, only to afterwards rip out whatever it was and finish it properly with trims, but then they don't know whether its airtight or not. The fact new homes are built like this, especially one badged up to be super eco, unfortunately is of no surprise. It is seriously disappointing however. Big house builders have no desire to build eco homes, they just want max profit to please their shareholders and board.

Look for local loft conversions in progress and scrutinise the skips.

For a building that is lightly to be occupied constantly I would be cautious if containers. I had a brief look a out 8 years ago. Some of the paints are carcinogenic and the insect repellent used for the flooring is pretty toxic too. Have you considered an old refrigerated body from a truck. Already insulated and used for food so quite safe.

Good stuff. The thing about entrance hallways is that it’s the first thing you or anyone else experiences about the interior of your house. Some hallways have a wow factor to them if you have the space but as a minimum you want it to feel welcoming and to give you a feeling of what lies beyond it. I’ve said this before but it’s hard posting your plans on here for people to pick apart. The comments all come from a good place though because we’ve all been where you are. What inspires me most about BH is how genuine and generous people are with their views and help. We all want each other to succeed. Ultimately the decisions rest with you and you regardless of what anyone else suggests of course.

I think the general consensus on here is that making your own stick built outbuilding is easier and cheaper than converting a shipping container. Insulation can go on either side and sprayed on polyurethane foam is probably the easiest method to use (as someone else will be doing it). Either way you will need think how you are going to attach boarding/cladding to the container, so almost certainly some sort of timber framework will be needed.

On all my jobs a continuous line of adhesive does happen I can’t believe we are the only ones doing it right It’s poor management when it doesn’t and really easy to check at any stage afterwards A gentle tap around the perimeter Velfac arnt the best quality windows They are a contract window that most of the big players use and cheap Ive said before on I visit different sites each week and haven’t seen an air test being carried out in the last five years It’s supposed to be 1-7 which is a joke in itself The major house builders get away with it Because the can Most of the new builds that I work on achieve a 2 on the air test Which must be done via a desktop

Unsurprisingly the promise and the build quality don't match up. Thermal bridging, plasterboard tent. If you can't view/access X (formerly Twitter) here's a readable link to the thread: https://nitter.net/jimmybb/status/1733051913027949027 The image below is from a neighbour's survey. I have never seen dot and dab (with blower door running) highlighted so well. Source: https://twitter.com/sav_ann/status/1733118128199020803 / https://nitter.net/sav_ann/status/1733118128199020803 The thermal imagery is excellent and I am coveting these £18k/£30k thermal cameras.

Hiya, I’m Will. My wife and I have been looking at houses for a first-time purchase next year. However, I am always disappointed by the size, configuration and value of properties on the market for our budget. Every home i ‘favourite’ needs a new layout and extensions, which requires even more money. I am an architect of 15 years and currently provide Design Manager services. I have a small architectural practice and small consultancy company providing services to home owners and developers. This experience and the knowledge I’ve gained over the years puts me in a unique position to be able to design and build a home for my family with relative ease. So I thought I’d check out the possibilities of self build. In particular, we have a small amount for deposit and are going to start researching a 95% Adance Self-Build mortgage. I hope I gain valuable experience on here to and hopefully fortunate enough to help other forum members.

I DIY fitted a MVHR. It works really, really well, however do not under estimate the work in installing. We went from a house that had mould in the bathrooms (no extractor fans) to much better air quality. Running the ducts in the loft was the easiest, for a given value of easy in the loft. Running ducts down to the ground floor took a while as hiding ducting in cupboards and also ensuring the loft end worked was more effort. Fitting the intake/extract vents in the roof was straightforward for a roofer! It took five weekends; One for the intake/extract/condensate drain/unit setup. One for the upstairs rooms (two bathrooms, three bedrooms). Another for an extension bedroom (should have hired a core drill for going through an outside wall that is now internal). Another for downstairs ducts to kitchen and lounge. Another for a downstairs loo that involved dropping part of the ceiling to fit the ceiling duct as I could not access above it. I think I could do it in half the time or less as now more confident. All my parts came from ebay, isells, BPC, Screwfix. I did the design myself with a spreadsheet of room volumes and flow rates. I went slightly below the suggested flow rates for "Normal" rates and over for Boost. I overspeced the ducting to reduce noise (ie twin ducts to all rooms as running these is not much work relatively). I fitted noise silencers. I would go higher for boost, to clear damp air quickly, however above 90% flow rate it is noticeable noisy. We have virtually zero condensation. The odd, tiny bit behind some plantation shutters on some cold nights. Some condensation on a door lock that is a cold bridge in a yet to be vented room (its the hardest to get to) and sometimes on the letterbox flap (needs more insulation!). If you have reasonable loft access and only need to do runs in the loft this will help reduce install effort allot. I assume you could have the intake/exhaust through a gable end which should be quite easy (given value of easy). Think of the condensate drain and where that goes (I suggest a soil vent spigot to keep it warmish). It is great, but allot of work. I would have a strong think of doing it again, but on balance would do it again. I did consider four individual room MVHR as these would be quite allot of work to install (core drilling, running electrical feeds) and these are expensive units. I think this would be cost neutral compared to my MVHR. Maybe slightly less work, but not much. Running costs would be more due to more fans. It would not have improved the air in non-vented rooms compared to MVHR. Your air leaks might be an issue although depending on units you can set them to run intake fans faster than extract to positively pressure the house which will help with internal air quality. This would be slightly less efficient as you are losing air that is not going via the heat exchanger. On either method consider the filters the units have. Mine goes upto M5 (A "Pollen filter" ie 50% of Pm10). Newer models have HEPA level filters. You could DIY a HEPA filter on the intake from BPC/Isells bits. Sorry that turned into an essay...

Brick or: https://colinwell.com/products/colinwell-architectural-masonry?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7draqqKIgwMVlIZQBh3_vA3MEAAYAiAAEgIOZvD_BwE

Defo get the power on and be 100% ready to fill and keep it on! I commissioned one in the arse of last winter and it locked out a number of times and froze solid....was a right PITA tbf Turns out it was just the flow rate set too high, but trying to reinstall the popped hoses with numb hands was 'pure bliss'

I appreciate that the typical experience is that sub contractors can be inconsistent and not necessarily able to complete a job in the time they sign up. I believe (and have experience of) that if the drawing package is drafted to communicate what and how to build from the tender stage onwards the tradesmen can build without issue. The subbies I would like to work with are able to dedicate a team of tradesmen to complete each fix in weeks not months. What’s the rush? Less money spent on interim rent, less uncertainty for me and my family and last but not least, the excitement of moving into a home I’ve designed and built.

Clearly the alterations have messed things up. Get both the electrician and the plumber to sort it. They broke it, they fix it.

Mmmm, "eco-tourism holiday let". Is it wise to open up a potential can of worms for uninformed councillors to latch onto and take the discussion up a completely different path? Suddenly it becomes about extra traffic, noise from holiday parties, even fireworks etc etc. They are like sheep, when one starts the others follow and suddenly you find they've forgotten what they are supposed to be considering. If the holiday let is a clear part of the planning application then I'd mention the annexe in passing as simply an opportunity to exhibit the methods used in the build. If the holiday let hasn't been mentioned before then I wouldn't raise it at all. A wise old planner told me that there two things that should never be seen by the public - making sausages and committees making planning decisions......

And my curse, being called OCD is normal for me (but I don’t care, it’s either right or not 😎)

I would also emphasise that I chose the floor tiles. It bothers me if I see repeats in a quasi natural product, especially if they line up. Does that bother anyone else or is it my curse? My Son-in-law realised he had it too when I mentioned it and daughter 'gets it'. They laid them so no similar tiles are near each other, and reversing helps too. These tiles are in 18 patterns, so flipping makes it 36.

+1, and you can use the container next to the caravan to shield it from the worst wind direction, jack up the caravan on blocks so it does not rock and chain it down.

Having borne witness to a supposed quality team this isn’t in the least surprising. They genuinely think that because there’s a lot of insulation in the building then it must be good by default. When I explained that leaving gaps or even small bits unfilled significantly reduces the U value of the wall/ceiling it just went over their heads. Air tightness was like the dark arts. They are building houses with very little appreciation of building physics. Until the regulations tighten up and every house is properly tested then this isn’t going to improve.

Would not recommend for office space. Metal box. No phone or WiFi. Get a container for storage, and a second hand touring caravan for office. We sold ours on two years later and only a £400 loss. Having a fridge and cooking area to yourself is invaluable on a muddy, cold wet site in he middle of winter. Ours had an awning so good for the summer and drying wet gear.

Having spent a lot of my life in these, they warm up quickly, but cool down quickly too. So a container it is. A few bashes or scrapes won't matter but might make them us for shipping. So make sure The doors move freely. It's easy to fix them down to a concrete slab. So as above. Insulate the floor with PIR and a board topping. Ceiling insulated outside with PIR and either board and a membrane, or metal cladding Walls stud and t&g, with pir behind. Inside to taste. Insulating the doors? I've no idea!

Batten it out, floor, walls, ceiling, let the spray foam guys in, cut it call back, VCL onto the battens, cross batten for service void, if needed, and plasterboard.

Done this. But it was for sports equipment so a much lower standard. Decorating the outside with t & g keeps the sun off. Pir on the roof then some covering, eg metal cladding. I think pir on the outside face before boarding is easy and safe, then stud and board inside. having done all that you might as well have built a nicer, better box from timber stud. We didn't only because the boxes had to be temporary/ removable. I wouldn't leave any cavity inside. Also beware the doors. Shipping containers are usually sold off at the stage of the doors failing. The gimmicky projects that boast of using them as sustainable are usually buying once one used containers for £10k, not £1k.

And useless in reality. You really want to get the U-Value down to about 0.2W/m2.K. And it is worth considering overheating problems in the summer.

Spoke to the planning consultant (who is an ex planning officer) and his advice was quite contrary to the stuff on here. His take was to be as positive as possible, and spend no time refuting any objections. His reasoning was that the planning officer will likely be giving a dry talk for an unbounded amount of time; any objector will be deep-ranting about their one pet peeve for three minutes; therefore the only airtime 'selling' the scheme is going to be my speech. He suggested that the ward members are unlikely to have read the report, and will have only received 45 minutes' training on planning concerns. His take was "they're basically going to vote on it based on whether they like it or not," and also suggested that their political instincts would come into play at the suggestion of having something snazzy that might end up on Grand Designs in their area. So, to work on version four of the speech...

Pack and glue, let that set and then offer the clips up to the bottom of the shims? Should work, will check the nail holes in the side of the clips will have something in the new timbers to grab onto. Will get some pics up tonight.

Since the last post I have added a few more Salus self balancing actuators, they seem to do a good job of leveling out the energy going into the floor. The heat pump has settled down to a very rhythmic pattern of run - stop, the temperature going into the UFH although set for 28, goes 28 when heat pump is on and reduces down to 25 when heat pump off. The Salus actuator has a similar pattern of going fully open at 25 and then controlling dT at 28 and bringing the flows rates down again. Here is plot of the hall temperature, which shows really stable temperatures, the slight dip in temperature between 8 and 9am is 2 hours after DHW heating started, the hall temp drops 0.1 degs, then based on yesterday's data, recovers over the next couple of hours. So far the high flow temp setting (up to 36 deg based on WC curve) hasn't kicked in, OAT, has varied between 3 and 8 degs. Have -1 forecast for tonight so will see how or if things change.

I mean that the notch is what needs to be spliced, so put some screws in the lower area of the ply splices. When load is applied to the joist, the bottom goes into tension. The ply can take that tension at the bottom , holding it stiff across the gap. It will do that most efficiently if there are fixings lower down ( unless there are and I'm not noticing them).

I have exactly the same democratic discussions and house voting system. After 40 years my better half is used to my tech inspired diversions but is equally well versed in analysing them. So after two periods of extended cold showers this year I got the following questions :- - Are you happy to be having cold showers ? - Do you think I'm happy with cold showers ? - Do you think your 91 year old mother was expecting to have cold showers when she moved in with us ? - If we don't replace it now then when ? ( Please show your working with a detailed schedule) - Who the **** is going to fix this **** after your demise ? (that was after day 3 of cold showers, the "imminent" was implied) - If you die "unexpectedly" due to a freak cold shower incident, who do I call ? (Number for plumber not undertaker required). I took the hint.

Thank @Jilly for the words of caution. I am cautious in nature and risk adverse when it comes to designing and building. My wife and I have a small child so will want to rent a house during construction. I’m used to working two jobs so can do the day job plus architecting at night to reduce any unpaid time. My vision to carry out a self build is to secure a mortgage, design for off site manufacture, then install over a few weeks to weather tight, with 1st and 2nd fix taking an additional two months max. This will reduce site management and bring all the detailing forwards in the programme. Edit: Rates are crazy now and I don’t see any signs of them dropping significantly in the next decade, but we are building a family home, not an investment, so it is worth it to us. However, We will switch from self built mortgage to a regular mortgage asap once PC is achieved. The best-laid plans of mice and men….

We have a democracy in our house. It's just that Jan has 1.1 votes. 😉 What she hates about the SunAmps is their unreliability (due to control board failures): we are both in our 70s now, so reliability is becoming more important than ever. TBH, if we were in the situation of @Cooeyswell and only had one unit then we would have given up on the SAs long ago. We have been looking at our utility room and we can fit an OSO tank opposite the toilet; a job for next summer, maybe. This needs more mulling time to refine options. @MikeSharp01, I really like the idea of the SunAmps and the physics behind them, but they seem to be really let down by the engineering implementation. 😪

But, there is no “attention to detail” box for an EPC, I would be more interested in “cost to run over a 12 month period” (difficult for a new build) which would be much more accurate. My recent sale of my passive “esk” build took no account of the fact it was a self build which we all know means we care about how it’s built.

just to add another side to this argument as we've had 2 trades do this. our flat roofer gave us a quote which we accepted and he then fessed up that he mis-measured and wouldn't need as much seedum as he quoted for and charged me less. i would never have known and it shows his integrity (and which is why i have recommended him elsewhere!). and our tiler gave us a quote that we were happy with and accepted and then at the end of the job he said he hadn't used as much material as he initially thought he'd need and gave money off the quote. so, just to counter that there ARE good people out there. 🙂

Just in case anyone look at this in the future for a 'case closed'! The GRP guy gave up immediately and has invoiced for the correct quoted figure. So thanks for all the advice to back me up! Much appreciated to all.

Actually it's not always the temperature of the air that prevents you from getting a good night's sleep, it's the quality of the air also. Low CO2 and Particulate Matter (PM) has a huge influence on your sleep. Luckily a good MVHR system should help you achieve that.

Air tightness tester: you don't want a house that is too airtight, it'll get stuffy and if the MVHR unit breaks down you won't be able to breathe, that's why trickle vents are better and way cheaper than MVHR. Me: (deep breath, count to 5, censor self) If the MVHR breaks down I'll just open a window. True story !

A proportion of units is air tested. Most likely selected to represent the varying models of house. They are pre-advised so they are ready for testing, and the builder can do these ones reasonably well, for a good figure. These results are then applied to all of the same (untested) houses. (Some people say) the developers have influence related to political donations, hence the rules are not tightened. I'm pretty sure one air tester was suggesting to me that he could arrange ( write down) a better result if persuaded. I can't of course say that happens.

I once made the mistake of using "all weather" resin fix here. Indoors. "Rated down to -25C" it said on the package What I didn't clock was this meant it had all sorts of accelerants in the 2-part resin to get it to cure within 24 hrs at -25C. Using it indoors at +25C...fudge me did I have to fit the floating shelf into some brickwork QUICKLY and shortly thereafter the plastic spiral mixing nozzle as good as caught fire. 😂