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The timber frame arrived this week from the factory. There was a large crane onsite all day yesterday. Got decent weather, no wind and only a bit wet in the morning. The lads have the walls fully up, 1st floor done and a ridge beam in place. They are starting cutting the roof today as that is built in situ. Really surprising walking around the rooms after looking at drawings for years! The window openings are a LOT bigger than I ever thought though, huge would be the description! Had a lodger arrive already - neighbours cat performing 1st inspection! Thanks to everyone on BuildHub for their support, advice and inspiration from their own experiences to help me get this project off the ground after SO long!!

Bite the bullet disc cutter, cut the concrete through as close to the building, break it up and chuck it in a skip, dig the ground out and lay a row of slabs slightly lower than the rest of the concrete.

To compare is to basically refer to each of the products being offered and then cross-reference them. There is not specific formula or website etc, that would do that but in essence, what you're looking for is the following. Air Permeability: EN 1026, EN 12207 Water Tightness: EN 1027, EN 12208 Wind Resistance: EN 1221, EN 12210 Wind Load (resistance to frame deflection): EN 1221, EN 12210 To help decipher the documents you'll no doubt receive or have, the tables below should help. What I recommend is in exposed locations, where wind and driving rain can be above average, doors would be outward opening, and windows would always have a static mullion in the centre (no French door style windows). Aluminium inline sliding doors in exposed locations should be reviewed carefully as they are generally brush seals and not gasket seal. Wind Class Comparison wind load Pa= N/m2 Wind Speed m/s Wind Speed km/h Beaufort 0 0 0 0 0 1 300 22 80 9 2 450 27 100 10 3 700 34 120 12 4 1000 41 150 13 Wind Speed Wind Load Beaufort Scale* m/s km/h mph Pa kN/m2 Number Description 0,5 2 1 0,2 0,000 0 Calm 1 4 2 0,6 0,001 1 Light air 2 7 4 2,5 0,003 2 Light breeze 3 11 7 5,6 0,006 2 Light breeze 4 14 9 10,0 0,010 3 Gentle breeze 5 18 11 15,6 0,016 3 Gentle breeze 6 22 13 22,5 0,023 4 Moderate breeze 7 25 16 30,6 0,031 4 Moderate breeze 8 29 18 40,0 0,040 4 Moderate breeze 9 32 20 50,6 0,051 5 Fresh breeze 10 36 22 62,5 0,063 5 Fresh breeze 11 40 25 75,6 0,076 6 Strong breeze 12 43 27 90,0 0,090 6 Strong breeze 13 47 29 105,6 0,106 6 Strong breeze 14 50 31 122,5 0,123 6 Strong breeze 15 54 34 140,6 0,141 7 Near gale 16 58 36 160,0 0,160 7 Near gale 17 61 38 180,6 0,181 7 Near gale 18 65 40 202,5 0,203 8 Gale 19 68 42 225,6 0,226 8 Gale 20 72 45 250,0 0,250 8 Gale 21 76 47 275,6 0,276 9 Strong gale 22 79 49 302,5 0,303 9 Strong gale 23 83 51 330,6 0,331 9 Strong gale 24 86 54 360,0 0,360 9 Strong gale 25 90 56 390,6 0,391 10 Storm 26 94 58 422,5 0,423 10 Storm 27 97 60 455,6 0,456 10 Storm 28 101 63 490,0 0,490 10 Storm 29 104 65 525,6 0,526 11 Violent storm 30 108 67 562,5 0,563 11 Violent storm 31 112 69 600,6 0,601 11 Violent storm 32 115 72 640,0 0,640 11 Violent storm 33 119 74 680,6 0,681 12 Hurricane 34 122 76 722,5 0,723 12 Hurricane 35 126 78 765,6 0,766 12 Hurricane 36 130 80 810,0 0,810 12 Hurricane 37 133 83 855,6 0,856 12 Hurricane 38 137 85 902,5 0,903 12 Hurricane 39 140 87 950,6 0,951 12 Hurricane 40 144 89 1000,0 1,000 12 Hurricane 41 148 92 1050,6 1,051 12 Hurricane 42 151 94 1102,5 1,103 12 Hurricane 43 155 96 1155,6 1,156 12 Hurricane 44 158 98 1210,0 1,210 12 Hurricane 45 162 101 1265,6 1,266 12 Hurricane 46 166 103 1322,5 1,323 12 Hurricane 47 169 105 1380,6 1,381 12 Hurricane 48 173 107 1440,0 1,440 12 Hurricane 49 176 110 1500,6 1,501 12 Hurricane 50 180 112 1562,5 1,563 12 Hurricane

If it's a summer house with sofa beds which are very occasionally used, who'd know? who'd care?

Nothing to worry about then 👍

You may as well. When I went looking for a small ASHP, the smallest someone on here found was 3.5 kW. Was same price as the 5 or 6 kW one, but it as unavailable.

I got a replacement PCB from vent axia, after some random uncontrolled boosts. Their tech help were pretty user friendly. It's plug and play and only took 15mins to replace, just label/photo the before you disconnect and not all the plugs are pokey yoke. Label/colour coordinate to be safe!

We did it that way. I was taking so long to line up a window company that I decided to go ahead without them and seal up the holes as best I could. The way our air tightness is done is basically to have the whole house sealed internally with Intello+ and I ran this over the roof lights as they were in because the roof was on. I left the window holes though so I had to make temp covers for them. We then pumped the cellulose fibre into the walls through the intello+. The windows are now in so all I am doing is taping round them and fitting the sub structure for the internal window boxes. I still have to seal the intello+ to the slab which is my next job. The first air tightness test should be by the end of the month but for that I will leave the roof lights covered so I don't have to worry about them.

Just an update on this.... I have received a requote from SP Energy that is nearly £4k cheaper than the initial, what has triggered the lower cost I do not know, the reply I got when I asked SPEN was 'after Discussions with my manager alterations were made!' I had contacted my MP to say how unfair I felt the charge was when I was trying to bring in tourism to the area....so he may have helped but I have not had confirmation from him that that is the case. It is still a lot of money but it will add value to the property.....so I will have a think. Thanks

It's the best time to check. Presumably you've had record rainfall like everywhere else. So if it's OK now it will be until the next fludde.

Yes as you describe. I did the pours as well. The actual polished area was only a max of about 40m2 though. had to do the whole as house at the same time so certainly could have laid a more level floor! Definitely not the most straight forward to get things super level. and much harder over a larger area. would be interesting to know what margin for error the contractor offers (maximum mm discrepancy over the whole area). also you have to factor in some expansion joints. I have some minor cracks in mine as I didn’t have any but no big deal for my place.

we were in same boat, in the end just bought heat pump and cylinder and had plumber fit it. It's not rocket science really only a flow and return. Panasonic unit, plate heat exchanger and couple bog standard 250L cylinders had change from 5K. Took plumber half a day to install, 2 hours for sparky to connect 2 wires and it fired up no drama.

A small amount of oxidation, if no apparent leak (all looks dry in the picture) maybe caused from a little bit of condensation formed on the pipework at times with temperature fluctuations. You get it at times if flux is not cleaned off, but in your picture won't be the case as a isolation valve.

Living in the summer house has little to do with building control, unless you want to get it signed off as accommodation for use in the future, and they would only know if you told them. Plenty of people, live in accommodation, which is not signed off, our BO was quite surprised we hadn't moved in to our self build before sign off. And plenty of people live in accommodation not signed by building reg's, tents, caravan's old properties, unfinished new builds, unfished renovations, etc. The issue may be with the planning department, whether you need planning permission for the mentioned summer house as temporary accommodation, then of course they will be wanting their Council Tax. You may need planning permission if you intend to use the summer house for accommodation, even temporarily, as you may need to get planning permission to use a caravan on your drive for accommodation. Lots of "mays". Best say nowt unless asked, being prepared to stump up with some council tax if asked* * This of course is not legal advise 😀

Can be at switch if there is a neutral there. Has to go Switched Live to Neutral on the input side to any ballast if there is one..

Thanks, thats really helpful. They say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and thats all ive got at the moment so places like this are really useful for asking some of the finer details. If i go for the HRC i'll go 15mm and control it so that its not on all the time.

We refurbished a Victorian coach house which is in our garden to live in when we demolish the main house and do the self build. Since we were creating habitable accommodation from what was a derelict building, we involved building control. The coach house is finished but I haven't got them back yet for the final inspection. We appointed an independent approved inspector and will get a Final Certificate which I think conveyancing solicitors will likely ask for when the house next changes hands. It wasn't a big deal and the building inspector was a useful source of information to make sure it was done right. Having building control involved might also put your builder in the right frame of mind when making construction decisions.

We have a MBC twin-wall build in the process of being certified. We uses Gaulhofer windows from @craig. At one point in the process someone insisted that we should calculate psi values for windows junctions: - Window cills without any additional insulation (but with MDF cill internally) were 0.023 W/(m·K). - Window jambs without any additional insulation were 0.040 W/(m·K) Can these numbers be improved? Yes of couse they can, but these psi values are already fairly good and you're not going to improve them by a massive amount with the additional reveal insulation. Lets say you did half the jamb psi value to 0.020W/(m·K) In our model that only saves 0.25kWh/m2.yr. (about £1.50/yr given 300m2 and ASHP heating off-peak @ COP 4). So, if it's easy/cheap do it, yes. But otherwise don't worry about it. Also, why internal only, can you not add insulation externally in reveals too? I'd use whatever material you are using for rest of internal/external walls, and then add insulation behind, rather than use a different material for reveals.

Yes, saw in a magazine - it overlooks the internal open plan area and is big enough to act as a perch when you want to read a book and get away from it all!!

The argument is that while it's heating hot water it's not heating the house so the house fabric is cooling. The energy lost from the fabric must be replaced during the hours it is heating the house hence it must be larger. Personally I think this is probably over engineering, although I haven't done the numbers to prove It. It is true that the house cooks while it is heating hot water and the energy lost from the fabric must be replaced, however because it is cooler for a while the total energy required by the house is reduced. So the extra needed is in part (but I grant not fully) offset by the fact a bit less energy is lost from the house. This matters only on the coldest days, which happen a few times a year. Personally I'd put on a jumper or turn on the immersion if the problem actually occurred which quite likely it wouldn't.

I put our static on site before we even had full planning (we did have planning in principle) and got the water and electricity connected to the site. BC are not interested in those. BUT we did not occupy it and we did not have drainage. It was then a long process to agree an acceptable drainage system with BC so would could not even think about installing that before the building warrant in the hope it would comply. Note a static caravan itself is exempt from building control, but the drainage connection to service it, does come under building control and sure enough BC wanted to inspect and pressure test the spur of drain pipe branching off to the static caravan.

Hi Russ I used Gates Gates for the motors etc Its owner run So really helpful If they don’t do it They will know a man who does

In Scotland there is no building notice option. If you absolutely know what you are doing, then this is a pain and a huge delay. As a strong positive, the risk of disagreement is removed before the start. Even more of a difference is the need for a designer to be on the register: no diy. It's not a closed shop but for a single project it wasn't worth me registering and we had to use a local engineer....another story.

I wouldn't want to do any fibre glassing on the roof. I wonder why someone hasn't come up with a resin that uses moisture to set, like PU glue. I can recommend the Everbuild Aquaseal. I used it because it was a single coat application. I looked others, but priming and top coating would extend the job time. I put on a double coat of fibre glass, the second at 90 degrees to the first, then two more coats. It UV resistant out of the can, whereas other products need a top coat. I used it on a pitch change on our Kingspan Quad-Core metal roof. The professional roofer had attempted a fiberglass joint which blew off in the wind, it was worse than useless. I would definitely use this on a flat roof if it had to. Everbuild technical support were very helpful. https://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.co.uk/everbuild-aquaseal-liquid-roof-membrane-coating-21kg-grey-aqliqrfgy21?language=en-gb&currency=GBP&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw48-vBhBbEiwAzqrZVIIoeVRo2Uq_AorAxtICel9dYxZNqqNpzFaSn7J-g7lzr8sZM2PNrRoCrEcQAvD_BwE

Just had my quote from Alto Energy, 11.2kw Mitsubishi Ecodan, new 250 litre cylinder with 28mm 3m2 coil, all of the required bits and pieces £1500 once BUS grant removed. They operate what I feel is a unique and sensible approach, they do the heat calcs, mcs certification, commissioning etc but let the home owner / self builder either use their own plumber or install themselves if you are hands on build. All you need to do is attend their training course which can be done in physical classroom or via teams. Post install you still get the 5 or 7 year warranty. heat loss calculated so far at 8kw, not sure why 11.2kw heat pump being specified, do mcs add 20% or so wiggle room? My preference is to have a more suitable sized heat pump for majority of the time and if the rare occasions it drops to around -2 or less then we simply have a slightly colder house or wear a jumper.

If it's got sleeping accommodation it will likely need Building Control Approval anyway.

Can I just confirm you mean you have planning permission for a static caravan, and to build a house, but you are awaiting a building warrant for the actual house. I thought you don’t need a building warrant, but you need PP, for a static caravan - but I’m happy to be corrected if wrong by others, as I didn’t have one on my build, so cannot be certain if this. Hopefully someone else can give you a better steer. Off the back of my planning permission I did a lot of site clearance / utilities / prep, whilst awaiting the warrant being granted. I would concur with @Jenki, I also had a verbal and email dialogue with my local planners and building control depts, to ensure I could progress my project accordingly within the rules and requirements. It seems there’s a better relationship between applicants & local authorities north of border, in fact in my shire my local planners etc were exceptionally helpful in keeping me right and made very helpful suggestions to allow progress.

This is all necessary site preparation to keep the staff safe and well. It is sensible to design it to then be appropriate for the project. Eg it avoids the use of chemical toilets.

Contact adhesive should do it - I've previously used Evostik.

@Conor and @markc a belated thank you for your help! I managed to block up my extract vent holes - first time for everything. The cooker hood one was nasty - the builder years ago had hidden his shoddy job and there was a massive double hole to fill. I stuck some ME508 airtightness tape at the back of the inner leaf, filled with FM330 and then plastered over the top. Now all covered up with a new recirculating cooker hood. Cheated slightly on the brick work outside and happened to find a builder to come and brick up the holes. Thanks again.

hi @Dunc. I'm at the end of our build process and this was a green field with no services around 20months ago. I started the Warrant application, but this was held up with getting the certificate of design finalised. I did get the electricity and water connections made prior to warrant, and Installed the Treatment plan, After approval from SEPA, and Static sited, but you need the Drainage field / soakaway / rubble drain signed off as part of the warrant. I was in contact with the BC, (highlands) and he was happy with the process. lots of photos etc. and the timings helped that by the time the warrant was issued I was ready for the inspection to connect up the treatment plant.

@Gone West look up owl roofing, it’s a brush on membrane that cures with moisture, I think they reinforce it with a roll of cloth just like fibreglass without the weather problems. it uses the same fibreglass edge trims. when I did mine I got a trim that tucked under the tiles.

Hi, I notice on the picture it has a small buffer / low loss header installed. Is this a specific requirement for Mitsubishi Ecodans? My preference for our install is open loop no low loss header, underfloor manifold pumps, mixer etc. Price wise look at other thread, just about to update with brilliant quote / method of obtaining BUS grant etc

I recently started watching a few renovation channels of British guys living in France that are quite good. Bordeaux Life is probably the best one, Edd the guy doing that one seems the most professional. Life of Ryan is probably the more entertaining, Ryan is a bit of comic. The Pethericks is also good, they produce the most videos, Billy who runs that one is talented at renovating, but has been in the news for 'other' reasons for things he did when immature. The video at the bottom is an introduction the Pethericks did on the Bordeaux Life channel. Bordeaux Life https://www.youtube.com/@BordeauxLife/videos Life of Ryan https://www.youtube.com/@lifeofryan./videos Pethericks https://www.youtube.com/@ThePethericks/videos

When I compared my boiler and ASHP install. If I had just installed the ASHP and not the boiler, my overall cost delta, would have been an additional £500 for the heat pump. No grants taken. New build, heating system and plumbing is the same cost, cylinder the same cost. So the only change for me was the cost of the ASHP over the boiler I purchased and some additional outside pipework. Shop around. You really don't need to pay Vaillant prices.

Quite often when companies sell you a product on staged payments, they are more interested in the commission they receive from the finance houses. This was very much the case with car sales 30 years ago, the finance commission was greater than the sales profit. The trouble with this is that it leads to mis selling, and that does absolutely no one any favours. The UK over the last 20 years or so has had similar initiatives, but they have all failed. Roof for Rent PV was a classic, as was the Green Investment Bank (2012 - 2017). I can remember many conversations over at the 'other place' about schemes that lend you money to invest in domestic RE and then you pay it back with a slightly higher energy unit cost. The idea being that overall, your annual bill is lower. Never happened. Then we had the FiTs and RHI. Now the FiT was a success, when it paid 3 times the unit price, now people complain that they only get a third of the unit price, so not worth installing PV. If you want a heat pump, go out and buy one, avoid all the government incentives and just do your own research on prices. While that may not help 'the little old pensioner neighbour', it may help you. If you don't have the knowledge to make a decision, read up on it more. None of us where born with an innate understanding of thermodynamics, or poetry, for that matter.

For those who don't like the idea of a plastic bodied pump this is the best value bronze one I have found. Can also be turned down to much lower power consumption than the Wilo, see the graphs in the link.

@PeterW Just wanted to add to Peter's excellent advice with the following graphic from the Hep2O Technical Manual as an additional resource for when people come across this thread in the future. It specifically mentions the design differences between locations and that domestic systems operating intermittently at less than 65 degrees are approved.

Couple of sheets of plywood and I could drive it around the outside of the house. inside it rumbled around nicely on the block n beam. I even lifted a couple of 80kg windows up into place 4m up in the air with it. The windows in this pic

How are you trying to set it up? What flow temps and for how long etc? Big heat pumps are really best run on weather compensation or a low set flow temperature for very long periods. Do you have lots of zones, buffer cylinder, explain your setup?

I use https://skyciv.com/wind-load-calculator/ and https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/wind-load / https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/air-density I tend to enter the data into skyciv, then obtain the m/s and enter the m2 of the unit and assess the glass and unit requirements based on those results. I do have a program being built specifically for this but at the moment this is what we use. It is then for your SE to check this data and sign off (in Scotland it is becoming more and more common that is information is being requested for form Q). The glass size should be within the sizes defined these tables. Although it shows double, it only refers to the inner and outer panes in triple glazed units.

Hi, As a small step towards repaying the valuable advice I have received on this forum I thought I'd share the attached document, which I hope will be useful and/or interesting to forum users. I am a planner by trade, working in local authority. My SB is on a relatively small, highly inaccessible plot neighboured by mature trees, and tightly bordered by existing houses. The plot was a 'detached' back garden of sorts that came as part of the deal (and something of an afterthought) when we bought our current house. Nobody had ever even considered the prospect that it could be a building plot, and for many years I discounted the idea myself due to the restrictions listed above. Five years ago, having outgrown our house and exhausted other options, I decided to at least try to self build on the plot. I obtained permission at the first time of asking (albeit not quickly and not without having to make a tweak or two). Everyone, without exception, from family to neighbours to building tradesmen to delivery drivers to other planners, have commented on how 'well' I've done to get permission. Some of them probably thought I'd made a mistake, or that the Council did, or that there was some old pals act involved because I am a planner myself (even though I don't work in the borough where I am building, and it really, really doesn't work that way anyway). They are all wrong. I obtained permission because I did the thing that planners spend their working lives telling others to do - I read the relevant planning policies, designed a development that was in line with them, then demonstrated as much in the application. That is what the attached statement does, it goes from global to national to regional to local policy, then explains the thought process behind my design, in that context. I cannot tell you how many architects, developers and would-be planning consultants fail to design development proposals specifically to meet planning policies, and then spend ages moaning, appealing, resubmitting, and generally wasting time. I can't promise that if you follow the thought process in my document you'll certainly get planning permission, but I hope you find it a useful insight into how a planner approached self-build, and specifically the matter of seeking planning permission on a plot that the rest of the world had discounted. Cheers 647910914_DesignandAccessStatementRedacted.pdf

Have the loops all been fully purged with cold mains water at full wallop to blast them clear of all trapped air? If this has not been done properly you’ll never get proper flow. Running the manifold with the automatic air vent as a means to remove trapped air is no good whatsoever as the flow rates are extremely low and absolutely will not get the air locks out.

The fixings are all level within the thickness of a laser line. But - that really important word - but - the wall isn't as vertical as I would like it. My rendering is a bit erm.... 'out'. I have compensated where necessary by using a half-thickness nut : and if like me you need cheap specs to see anything these days, the bubble on the level appears moderately vertical. If I take my specs off I can't see the bubble: at best I see two or sometimes three: if its windy my eyes are so full of tears that it's not worth guessing whether its vertical or level. Which is where the aural feedback from my laser level is just the job for me - 'til I go deaf I suppose. Don't mention cats to me. With three young tomcats knocking about the scaffolding like drunken trapeze artists, and a spot laser level which projects four points (1 up 1 down, 1 left 1 right) and a 90kg bit of glass being heaved about the place ... They learned to steer clear of me just in time. Just before they would have needed a trip to the vet.