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Like @ProDave we built to the size we would use with reasonably generous room sizes. Our goal is to use every sqm of the house we built. Our previous house was more than twice as big as this and we used half of it 90% of the time. This house feels much bigger than it is (210m2) because the main room is open plan and clear sightlines to the other rooms. Our previous house had an enormous 6m x 4m vaulted hallway and balconied/bridged staircase. It was a nice wow feature to walk into but it was just a hallway/staircase.

Update for the interested: I claimed 50% through my CC company, which was successful. So in the end I paid only (!) £481 for this job. A good result, though debatable whether the effort that needs to go into formulating a detailed complaint would be worth it for a lesser amount

@Pocster oh hail ye deity moderator

160m2 x 60 = approx 9600 bricks mine were £800/1000 so £7680 for bricks. I allow £6 per m2 for mortar and ties so £ 960 then there’s the labour…On one offs I charge just short of £1 per brick plus extras for lintels so £9600 total is £18240. That leaves you around £10 k to stick them and point them. Hope this helps.

The bricks alone could come to more than that.

Landlord goes into hardship . Defaults . Property gets repossessed and tenant gets evicted anyway . If *anyone* out there is still a LL you really need to look at labours plans . cgt matching income tax . S21 ban , epc c by 2030 , pets ‘ allowed ‘ , ‘alterations’ to YOUR property allowed , can’t sell a property for 2 yrs after a new tenant contract etc . Of course some of this may not come to anything …. Some will be dumped . Some Uturn . Some implemented .

In all seriousness I do feel your pain.

So if they're not paying rent & you can't pay the mortgage or evict them, what happens?

Intake fan will just freewheel a bit as the air is pulled through it...

T&E in conduit is fine with the added advantage of no junction when going from outside to inside.

Just see how it goes with the sockets. Try unplugging anything that is currently plugged in, That will rule out a faulty item plugged in.

The basement will certainly have to be structurally formed as a basement and waterproofed. Others who have done a basement will have to comment if the insulation can be left until later. I see no reason it cannot be left as an empty basement with no details finished initially. Other money saving tips might be dirt cheap kitchen and rip it out and fit what you really want later. Outbuildings like garages and sheds can wait until later as can a lot of the landscaping.

Yes we do need to pour thin screed on the garage floor to make it 100% level then dpm then double PIR then 22mm t+g - thanks for the suggestion of caberdeck . I may actually use EPS under the PIR if it saves some money . Thanks for advice !

Garage floors tend to not be flat with a slope to the door to aid any leaking fluids to escape. So you need to work out how to lay a flat floor. Personally I don’t like floating floors but if you used 22mm caberdeck (t@g chipboard flooring) which is quite heavy on top of the insulation it should work well.

Turns out there is 50 mm of celotex above the joists and the building inspector is happy!

Definitely separate the ring N from the landing light and make that connection safe in some form of junction box. Do that first and confirm the socket circuit no longer trips when you put the bulb in. then you have to find a N from the downstairs light circuit. A downstairs light fitting may be an easier place to find that if, it really depends on the house layout and construction and where is the easiest place to get a new cable down to from the landing light. It could even go back directly to the CU if that is easier.

From an EE perspective: How long before house installs need a proper circuit diagram and cable labelling like industrial set-ups do? It's a bit nonsense have to guess/figure out what cable end corresponds to what other cable end and draw the circuit out on a scrap of paper/in your head. The situation is quickly getting more and more complex with PV, diverters, batteries, Loxone, wifi controls, car chargers, 'high integrity' backup circuits/CUs, earth relays etc etc - the chances of having the correct picture in your head just by observation are getting less and less. While EEs and industrial sparks sometimes have to debug an undocumented PCB or control cabinet, it's quite the exception.

Absolutely has to be by an SE. Rules of thumb have their place at feasibility stage, but this has to be calculated to suit the individual building. Then the geometry have to be vondidwred eg the beam fits and is below the walls. Then the walls supporting the beam need strengthening, maybe even extra foundations.

Yes those are temporary supports holding up the back wall while they insert that big steel beam then it looks like they are going to knock out all or part of the back wall downstairs to join through into the extension. A structural engineer would normally specify that.

This is what annoys me about the attitude if this "electrician". HE should be checking things like that and he should have done so at least at the time of the board change if not before. His attitude of wanting to charge the customer £90 per hour to sort this out is making my blood boil. A quick check would be look at all the cables going into each rcbo, and if you see two of different thicknesses going into the same terminal, that would ring alarm bells. Lighting cables would normally be 1mm and socket cables 2.5mm, clearly visible as different sizes.

Ok, fair enough, but don't buy a second-hand car from him or anything that looks vaguely like glass , especially if the glass has footprints on it.

Buy the cheapest small touring caravan you can. It will have a toilet, a sink with running water and a water heater. You will need to fetch water to keep filling it's tank, but it will be far cheaper than hiring a portaloo and will give them somewhere dry to have a break etc.

Welcome. If @Pocster recommended you then we can only assume you are a female hostage victim and your release fee was to build something over many decades.

Hi all, I've beeing casually browsing as a guest for about a year; currently renovating an Edwardian house in Smethwick, West Mids (a stone's throw from Birmingham). I'm still a fairly amateur DIYer but learned a lot from other people's posts. It's nice to join - hope I can share some ideas and keep learning.

Great forum, looking forward to getting some inspiration and help for some future projects.

Below the DPC they need sealing against moisture as above. Above the DPC it's airtightness that you need to seal against. If it's being plastered you only need to seal the junctions with windows, doors, ceiling etc. If plasterboard (or just painted brick/blockwork) then you need a 'parge coat' too. There are already other threads on these topics.

its the unit that has the drain in the bottom. all pipework must have fall back to the unit.

I only use it for lighting blocks, and this explains better than I can: It is very smart. Choose what to include in the replay and check on Presence Simulation in Loxone Config. Then at any time you want to switch it on you have the last week's actions recorded to be replayed. I include external lighting and lighting blocks from main internal rooms.

I'm thinking we may have wires crossed! I would advocate burying any cash into the bits of the house that can't be changed or added easily later. Specifically MVHR Airtighness Insulation Triple Glazing.

Plus the cost of the wall to stick them on?

Wine

Iterate. Start somewhere - anywhere in the cycle. Ooops too expensive. Replan But that means we can't [...] Replan Oh look, I found a really much cheaper way of [...] Replan @Onoff does one of his brilliant posts and that makes you Replan @SteamyTea 's latest screed of numbers and thoughts makes you realise you haven't thought about [...] Shit ! Too late, con't replan But with a bit of a compromise (replan ) we could [...] @nod posts his latest build numbers and you get depressed because he's a Whirling Dervish and you aren't ( me neither ) Argggghhh, runin' low on money ... Replan And then you get to DIY MAX. Welcome to the club baby! Eight years in to our build and the iterative cycle is much smaller, and less consequential now than it ever was. But it still happens every day. Start anywhere at all. Just start.

...or a nice place to visit...

>>> vondidwred Is that special SE language? 😃

Big love to all my supporters! Up the Brizzle !