Leaderboard

Not exactly sure where the upper water level actually is. When they drilled they hit some water at 6m, but had to go down to 35m to get lots of it. Total head unsure, that would depend on the current water level. But with the amount of water we have had it could be quite high. Say 6m, plus 25 (0 to 2.5 bar) plus couple of meters pipe losses. So about 32 to 35m.

OK. Maybe you should prioritise getting the house safe and weathertight. You don't need to inform planning. Once you have commenced you can take as long as you like or choose not to do it at all. If there are structural alterations, like walls taken out and beams inserted, these will need to be given the all clear by Building Control. They should be fine with you reinstating what was there. Get them round and discuss it.

I don't see how you can have any timber frame where the flush patio doors are, as the frame needs to be 150mm above ground. All you need under the doors is something rot proof with good insulation that is strong enough to support them.

I put a Grundfos Scala on a job recently (ring main for a DI water system) and it's remarkably good at modulating it's speed and will shut off completely if dead-headed. Previously the customer had a single speed Grundfos boost pump and the reduction in waste energy shows in the holding tank (270l or so) being about 15 degrees cooler than previous...

The risk of a fridge going on fire is miniscule. I'm thinking that the bco thinks this is on a fire escape route. What happens if you are escaping from a fire and the fridge also bursts into flame? A fridge in a cupboard will not work, as it needs free air. So pragmatically, tell him you're not having that fridge because, after enquiry you realise it won't work. Scrap the cupboard. Later do what you want. Fridge in a recess with free air above it, or openly in the hall. Not in a cupboard. I'm usually reluctant to say such things, but I don't think the risk is real.

Just make sure the fridge is not there for completion inspection, out it in the shed, in your car, anywhere out of sight. Then just put it where you want. Too trivial to do anything else with imho.

Maybe the SE if there was one.

I think some of the where about 3 to 4m. But we have a similar arrangement holding down our roof overhang and they must be about 7 to 8m.

@nod has reminded me that this is exactly what we did our main garden for our self build and I forgot in my original reply. We have a large manhole cover in a prominent place in our lawn and this is how we dealt with it. It’s not like access is going to be regular, only if there is a problem. Would probably not turf it in though until after the build is complete due to higher likelihood of build debris getting in initially.

That's super helpful, thank you very much. They've now said £7K, they will give me my connection. Still staggered at £7K when I'm doing 90% of the trenching - literally - but I don't think I have any choice do I? Who would I even complain to about the DNO quote ... it's a monopoly situation isn't it?

If you've got a principal contractor appointed and they have to meet the certification standards to get fully paid, it gives a well defined target to measure performance against. There's enough stories around of people who requested a "Passive house" (no certification) and didn't get the airtightness or thermal performance they were expecting. And I've seen the build cost difference put nearer 5%. For self-builders I think closeish works fine, because we're motivated to keep up quality and do the best we can.

We did concrete, but did it before the walls went up. Not sure all screeds can be done in a 100mm, so you have to do some investigation. Hopefully someone will be along to answer in more detail.

Ah, I see the 1.5m. Whatever about getting an engineer I would be inclined to decouple it from your house and discard the ledger board. That way if it slides down the hill of moves in a gale at least it won't pull the wall of your house with it.

With any self build, unless you can afford an Architect/Builder to oversee the whole project, you're going to be chasing people, materials, answering questions and more. My own project is up to roof stage, timber frame is finished, roof finished but outer brick/block leaf is next, then soffit, fascia, gutters, then porch, then windows & doors. Each have their own challenges. On top of my day job! I've a delivery of lintels tomorrow and I only thought to ask what size rigid truck is it to find out it's a full Articulated Truck with a moffet (look that up in goggle!!). Won't fit in my housing estate!! cue plan B, C and D !! We're going to offload it to a footpath outside my house on the other side of a council wall and I'll use a hand truck to get them one by one into the site through a gap some teen made wider last year and it was never fixed by the council! I'm sure each self builder has a raft of such stories. My house needs 2500 bricks and 1280 blocks. The brick supplier I'd booked and paid for in full, was meant to deliver this Friday along with the block supplier providing all the blocks, sand, cement etc. They gave away the bricks to another (assume larger) customer and it's 2 weeks to get a new order in from Belgium. I tried the other supplier I found in google for the same bricks and got through to the same woman I'd been dealing with, same company, one's a shell I'd say. Tried the supplier and they only supply to this one company in Ireland. Anyway, as a one off house they can bump you down the list so I tend to like to get things onsite a week or two early to avoid this added hassle. I've very tight for storage but if you have a brick layer onsite and no bricks you'll be forced to buy something, anything and have to live with it forever. Time management - getting answers to questions is one thing, learning on the job is another. I want to nail in about 200 nails by hand but after realizing my initial attempts were leaning tower of Pisa'esque, I purchased a first fix nail gun, my first! Wow! 200 nails in 3 hours, all batons attached to the window openings. I can sell it later but the right tool for the job for sure! I've to install my first express nails tonight after learning about them from a neighbour - fixes wood to concrete. The roofers left 6 Velux boxes behind with BBX on them. What are they for? An extra? Do I need them? I think they are to act as a vapour barrier and possibly air tightness according to initial google searches. Something else I've to figure out later on. The roof has turned out well hasn't it! They had to finished the Oriel Window Metal / Trocal flashing before they finished roof tiling. It has a ventilated ridge and those plastic covers at the edges all the way along the roof line instead of cement they used to use. I've about 40 spare tiles stored away! The outer brick/blockwork is my next major hurdle. There's a few items I need to buy, figure out and get onsite: 100mm DPC for above 1st course of blockwork above foundation 18" DPC for around windows Expansion ties - Ancon PPS200 ebonded Safety Tie - box of 250, at least I have spares! I can return the unused ones. Wall vents - using Timloc Cavity Wall Drill Vents - you drill a 25mm hold angling upwards and then plug this into it. This absolves the brick layer from having to install them as they go Wall ties - the timberframe supplier provides 4 boxes of these and marked up where the studs are to get good purchase Stop Bead and Drip Bead (plastic) for render, Weber OCR, Weber paint (I'm doing this job once the blockwork is finished), Mitre bond glue (2 part glue) Gutter Brushes for later Expansion Joints - I've two 10 meter gables, each require two expansion joints. There's an awkward window and ESB box on one end of one side so thankfully we're putting the expansion joint past both of these even though you should have one every 6 meters and within 1/2 of this distance from the corner, ours will be 3.8m from the corner. the timberframe amazing team marked up the best positions for expansion joints and identified this one before the Structural Engineer signed off on it. I've taped up all the Solitex on the outside of the Timber Frame, plugged the side door up with timber, OSB and more Frontex WA. We're still installing a lintel in the blockwork but will ignore it otherwise for the block course and if someone wants to open it later they can with an angle grinder! It saves wasting a lot of space in the utility room having a door there with no purpose. There's no sink = reason to not make it a boot room really. I'm lining all the window openings with insulation over the next week or so and adding batons to take the window straps. They want a strap within 100-150mm of any corner and no more than 700mm apart. The Straps are 1mm thick and come inside the window about 100mm. I've sourced wood to exactly match the insulation thickness which can be hard but avoids trying to plane / table saw wood onsite. This Friday I've to hope everything fits onsite as it's delivered and we've room for a telehandler afterwards for when the brickie's start! That's a snapshot of my week! I'll do a post about powering electrical devices onsite without a generator using an Electric car & Anker 2kW battery soon I think, some lesson learnt there!

Careful. Raft is being used in different contexts. To me a concrete slab on insulation, not structural, is a slab. That plus conventional strip footings is easiest and cheapest unless you have poor ground. A raft is a structure where the slab is thicker, heavily reinforced, and integrated with the perimeter concrete beam. Used only on difficult sites or with some systems where the overall cost difference is complex. Hence the £15k or more difference. Plus you need a builder who understands and cares. Mixing construction types is seldom wise. It can cause quality and performance issues.

I've lived in many countries, and it keeps on surprising me that the UK is extremely conservative on technologies that seem obvious anywhere else. This ranges from toilet design, to window construction, and in this case... Awnings. Why is there no topic at all on buildhub on awnings? Is this a magic technology people are not yet aware of? Seriously though, what am I missing? Why are awnings not a default in every house? They literally keep the sun outside as long as you want, and move politely out of the way if you want the brightness. Cost? 1500 delivered for 6m wide electrically operated one. , 229 for 1.5m wide one. (primrose are possibly a bit on the cheap/flimsy side, but frankly that's just a hunch). To awn-ify your entire sun-facing side you're probably out 2500 GBP and any solar gain problem is effectively gone. Anyway.. for those of you who have them: - What features to look out for - What are bad design features to watch out for - What color works? I am thinking some natural green style color but perhaps it feels wrong when inside on a sunny day? And if you actively considered but rejected them: Why? My current ideal are: 1/ Folds up ideally into a wall, rather than a cassette stapled to the wall 2/ All awnings in the house controllable from one spot (ideally with smart home but at least RF or one button) 3/ Backup manual control from the inside. 4/ Waterproof so can actually be used as a rain shield for a BBQ style party Thoughts, experiences, comments welcome!