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Congratulations. Looks great. Shall watch GD, I don’t normally. GD draws a mixed but mostly negative view on here. It’s an entertainment programme about building houses not a house building programme. Consequently we don’t really learn very much about building houses. If it was actually about building houses it would be boring for most. Plus there needs to be a little bit of drama albeit their staple diet of ran out of money family and friends rallied round and stumped up £300,000, had 4 kids, bought windows from Chechnya but they didn’t turn up fortunately my sister runs a window company, etc gets a bit samey. It's bit like Top Gear was. Back in the early days it was actually about cars but few folk were interested in that so it was reinvented as an entertainment programme involving cars and driving. Interestingly Clarkson’s farm is the other way around, a farming programme that is also entertaining.

Used to be good for 13A and would run a 3kW fan heater for hours on end. Now downgraded and downrated so a granny lead will only charge a car at 2.2kW. Yet they are deemed a suitable way of conecting a permanently installed undercounter oven. Son recently had the plug melt and burn out completely and had to replace the socket as well. Cause seems to have been poor contact at one of the fuse clips. So I wouldn't want a permanently installed piece of kit like an HP wired in with a 13A plug and socket, 16A commando perhaps.

Another beautiful week in Cornwall only 7mm of rain on the Sunday The week starts with laying the soil pipes then it was sand, hardcore, burying the soil pipes, laying the radon barrier, mesh and more concrete for the slab leaving a lovely surface to start the ICF walls next week. And the field was cut and baled, not as much as a normal September cut due to us moving our spoil down to the far field and tramping the grass down and making a very very muddy gateway between our two fields. Nether the less it was 10 bales for our friendly farmer Rob. Total man days of labour week 3 is 9 man days Cost to date Brought forward from blog Building Regs, Part O and SAP £14625 Refund from Architect £300 Fee to LABC for inspections £600 Foundations Weeks 1 to 3 £30,000 Total to date £44925

Continuous usage rating is 10A.

Was saying this instant, I was implying when it is working.

Conditions C.2 Development is permitted by Class C subject to the condition that any window located on a roof slope forming a side elevation of the dwellinghouse shall be: (a) obscure-glazed; and (b) non-opening unless the parts of the window which can be opened are more than 1.7 metres above the floor of the room in which the window is installed So yes, not PD unless a and b above, which in my mind is bonkers (unless there is a site line into a neighbours house !!,!). This would be my choice, you have abided of the rules (but can peel it off later,) if the neighbours can’t see it how can they complain, and if they do and planning get involved (which will take forever) say it fell off and I will get some more guv. https://www.amazon.co.uk/vgoltd-Frosted-Adhesive-Privacy-Bathroom/dp/

The principle is good - the idea is that it cuts convection within the loft and reduces heat loss (by around 2% to 4%*), although that's only achievable with near-perfect air sealing. In addition to the issues raised above about airtightness at the ceiling level, airtightness below the tiles (and the junction at the eaves and gables) is also vital. The good new is that, also from the study below*, provided you use membranes with very low vapour diffusion resistance then moisture seems very unlikely to be a problem even if there is leakage - you just miss out on the thermal benefits. *Thermal and Moisture Performance of a Sealed Cold-Roof System with a Vapor-Permeable Underlay, by Tuomo T. Ojanen

If you cannot see into your neighbours then what the feck is the problem???.?

Just thought I’d update this thread with a clarification of the settings: before setting up the quick actions, the Shelly plus 1PM needs to be set to a relay (as explained above), but not just any relay. For it to work, it needs to be: seems obvious now, but there are a tonne of settings, so not easy to find.

One option would be to fit clear glass and some sort of obscure film. At least then if the neighbours move you can peal it off.

Yup, if you get a deeper sill there will be a little less thermal bridging but it depends on whether it's worth it for you.

For sure. We'll be sharing our learnings during the project on here. Most likely in the form of a post with a Q&A. Things like what worked well for us, what didn't, and things that we would do differently. We've generally found the community on here, Facebook and Instagram to be extremely helpful (perhaps unusual for social media), and we've always shared our learnings along this journey with our followers, many of whom are going through the process themselves. We've just got to keep things mostly under wraps for now, until the episode is aired on TV. It's all part of not spoiling the story so that interested viewers can watch it unfold. Once it's fully out in the public domain, I promise we'll be able to go into more details and share. However, depending on how it goes next week, you may not want our advice! 😅

I enjoy the programme but you are right in what you say - Back in the day, we were inspired to do what we did by "Building the dream" [ Charlie Luxton] - We found it to be more relevant to people setting out on a self build project and it did highlight the elements to look out for etc. It gave us the confidence to believe we could achieve a modest house on our budget. And that is exactly what we did. [recent members may wish to see my blog ]

Well done you, out of the ground so the biggest risks are now behind you. I’ll be unbelievably relieved when we hit that milestone.

Yes I did, I had one extract vent left over so piped it to the top of the warm loft (as that is where any heat would rise too).

Congratulations @thefoxesmaltings! Been following you on instagram for a while and been watching your journey. Will look forward to GD. Interested to know if there is any benefit from instagram account- so many now on the platform. Have thought about it just to document own journey. Do you get better deals or companies approach you? Surely you must need a significant enough following as an influencer to generate this ?

That is because we don't have receptors to feel moisture in out fingers, all we feel is temperature and surface texture, then out brains fill in the rest from past experienced. As long as your loft is properly ventilated, I doubt you will have a problem.

Exactly. They say the best way to learn is from YOUR mistakes.

They seem low readings, but I very much doubt they are in the danger zone. As the building is quite old, there is almost certainly no vapour control layer between the living area and the loft. This will allow higher humidity air to migrate into the colder loft and condense, the formula is simple. T(dew point) = T(air) - 100-RH(air) / 5

Now do you want to go the whole hog and make it building regs complaint and get planning approval for it? If you do so it could add a lot of value to the house?

But I love her to bits and she is my sole mate. Anyway my wee car just looks like a standard car to me. Kwick fit said it might have be "modified" I think they were referring to the sound system.. I'm an old raver and like old school techo music.. the sounds are great.. like the frosties ad. Sometimes Techno music helps my creativity as an SE, other times classical music. Very happy for my best pal to have the posh car. I do worry how much it will cost if I prang my wee car.. but "we buy any car.com" don't put much value on it anyway.

Continous layer of PIR with battens at 600mm in front of it giving you a service void? Need to consider ventilation, reveals need some thought too

Hiya. If you want a bit of moral and technical support give me a call and we can chew the fat. Text me first as you know Im a bit of a deafy.

Thanks for the kind words. Materials always seem to be divisive. Cor-ten, for example. We've had people call it 'scrap metal', and others love it. At the end of the day we've built it with materials that bring us joy, and don't worry too much about what others think. After all, we're the ones who have to look at it every day! That's the best advice we could give.

I have never (I think) seen battens that far apart. I worry that at times when it is let to get cold (weekends in the winter?) the cold plasterboard will gather moisture and 'sag out'. I can see no reason for a DPM, and indeed wherever you put it, it would block off the 'out' route that is the only one left for water vapour in a VCL method of insulation. The foil on the insulation is a VCL, though the bonded boards have the classic issue that you cannot tape the VCLs on the boards together because the plasterboard gets in the way. Some would say taping the 50mm layer would be OK to tape, but some wouldn't. Be aware that 50 x 50 is rarely 50 x 50!

I would consider EPS beads, they will self drain any water away and gravity will fill any voids fully.

Spax do similar in warm, pitched roofs. Rather than fixing being only in bending, due to vertical load, through thickness of the insulation it’s also part in tension. Makes perfect sense. Good fixings.

Yeah, I was thinking that. Maybe I need to replace the sill and sit the entire window back a little.

I don't understand the 45 deg angled screws. With the washer head they won't even sit nicely.

I too am not “qualified” to lay bricks, my recent garage was dead easy, kit form and looks good. Just another possibility to consider,

If you want to switch, evidence will be the main issue. You'll need to prove to the inspector that you've met requirements, which could mean opening up works for inspection. Re-applying will automatically revert to the new regs. Allowing the current application to revert back to the LABC will keep it active.

I have done several DIY projects in the past with a good level of success, fitting out two kitchens including plumbing and tiles. I don’t do electrics (although my go-to electrician lets me do the “grunt work”), gas or final plastering but pretty much everything else is fair game. I have even build a large deck ~ 50sqm, for my daughter on a 45 degree Welsh hill which passed official building regs. So why join a forum? – I know what I don’t know, and my past success has been achieved by not being afraid to ask about things I am not sure of.

Just been reading through my last post from end of May, and thinking how on earth did it take me so long to get to this one 🤣 A lot of blood, sweat, tears and swearing later, and i've finally finished the bathroom, which has exceeded what I imagined i might be able to create, I still keep walking in and thinking, naaa this can't be my bathroom. So another room brought to a close 🙂 Those panels on the wall were actually meant for the living room, sound absorbing panels for the home cinema, but despite having ordered 'Natural' and them looking off white on the internet, they came with a blue tinge to them so wouldn't have gone. When i asked for a refund, they didn't want them back and just sent me the money, so I thought they'd be useful in the bathroom, and have massively dampened the echo in there. Aside from not plastering the sloped ceiling, everything else you see internally i've done myself, including the cabinets, which I really enjoy making, i took woodwork at GCSE but was at school at the time when IT was just getting going and consequently we were all pushed down that route. Walls are painted with F&B Ammonite, and the ceiling is F&B Wevet, mixed by Johnstones Trade Best success? Probably trusting myself to measure 4 times, cut once, and actually get it right for once...The solid oak top on the toilet/sink back, £130 alone that cost me, but it came out bang on! Total cost for everything was just a shade under £4k. Onto my new snug next which is actually well underway, but i'll post another entry when its all done and dusted in a month or two's time!

@ G and J. 😂 that had me in stitches. I’m used to dealing with nuclear dust, asbestos, molecular pollution such as NOx and all within a regulated environment where standards and testing matter hence why I chirped into the discussion. its perfectly normal to get this push pack sometimes as I get it from my builders! Typical comments I’ve had are: what’s the point in an air tight house, buildings need to breathe…ASHP will never work, how will you get hot water…MVHR..well that’s obviously a rich person con…..£100 roll of tape…are you insane….VOC’s….they don’t do anything…PM1 particles, that’s fake…NOx …my diesel is eco…electric cars…total scam…Solar? Never gonna work in this country…Wood fiber insulation…what a con….ICF…I’ve obviously lost it now, triple glazing (show off), and finally the kitchen extractor 😬. list just goes on.

Just thought I’d update this thread to tell everybody that I fitted a cheap manrose bathroom extractor with humidistat a couple of months ago and we cured the mould issue. The fan is on a lot, but not always. I am hoping that as it gets warmer it will be needed less, but at least bikes are now mould free, however wet they get when they are out. Prior to realising I needed a fan, I drilled some 50 - 60 holes into the sides of the shed (about two dozen holes on each side and 10 or so at the end). I now wonder if I should cover them up, to create a better barrier so that once the humidity level inside the shed drops, it takes longer to get humid again. Thoughts? I guess I could experiment with some masking tape, but would need to fit a v power meter to the fan circuit to get accurate results and can’t be bothered with that.

We moved from Manchester to Cornwall 6 years ago and we are very happy with the overall location. Our existing converted barn, was converted by the previous owner and is very nice but is built on three levels and has 4 double beds, kitchen, dinner, lounge and snug and 3 baths so it is far too big for us when we retire. When we bought the house I always say we chose it for the working barn apx 300m2, not the barn we live in. We are building for our future in the hope that we can continue to live her a long time, if it takes us 10 years to build we will be 65 when we move in. My husband has a history of bad backs a bungalow with no steps and easy access is high up on our want list. More recently our Greyhound is refusing to go down to the snug in the lower ground floor at night preferring to stay upstairs in the kitchen. He is incidentally another reason we bought the property, two fields he can run off lead. We don’t want anything too large, a well insulated bungalow that will be cheap to run and maintain. We have a small cow shed on our land and although our property is listed the cow shed is outside the curtilage of the property and built in the 70’s so does not require any listed building planning consultations. When we purchased the property a new build was never on the agenda, but it is now. In September 2021 we engaged the services of a planning consultant with a view to demolish the small barn and replace it with a new build, his view was favourable. In January we then approached an architect who suggested full plans would be best since what we were asking for was in keeping with the surroundings, not that much larger than the existing barn and since it was visible from the listed property more detail such as windows and cladding would be required. Two months of absolutely nothing happened then in March we met up to discuss our requirements and finally in May we submitted our plans. In June we had our necessary bat and bird nesting survey, the gentleman who conducted the survey nearly started looking at another old stone barn until we corrected him and he then told us that bats wouldn’t like the old cow shed as it would be too hot in summer (tin roof) and too cold in winter due to the holes, drafts, and thin wood walls. Then in August we had the Phase 1 preliminary risk assessment, required because we were previously farm land. From the survey I learned that in 1884 there were two wells 165m W of the site another 580m SW of the site and two quarries quite a distance away and in 1906 a smithy in the village, no surprise there as there is a house called ‘The Old Smithy” . The geological map indicates that the site is underlain by the Bude Formation - Sandstone. Sedimentary Bedrock formed approximately 310 to 319 million years ago in the Carboniferous Period. The report was very detailed but returned very little about the land the barn is occupying, that a visit to site wouldn’t tell you. Nothing bad was reported so we were happy and we continued pushing more paper around. Eventually its our turn for the case officer to look at us in detail and we get conditional approval in mid October 2022. Mid March 2023 and we have submitted our building regs drawings and my Part O Spreadsheet, window amendments to the planning department and the SE has quoted and is starting on his work. We are over 150m from the fresh water main so will need chlorinating. I found a great guy who has dug the first trench for the Water, Electric and Openreach, he will return when the new build is ready for the second trench to install the services into the house and will then chlorinate the pipework. Site electric is in from the pole in our neighbours yard towards the Old Cow Shed. We were offered a good price by National Grid for 3 phase, they would have struggled giving us single phase due to lack of supply network and another new build close to us in the village has gone off grid because there connection fee was too expensive. We wanted 3 phase any way as we hope to fill the roof with 30 solar panels facing SSW with no shading. As soon as it warms up and the field is firmer we plan to start clearing the site and moving the spoil down the field into our larger field. Doing it now would be like making a mud bath. Sometime between October and February we will demolish the barn and this time next year the new ICF build will go up. In the meantime lots of planning continues and I’m going on a short plumbing course. The husband is an Electrician by trade and can do some plumbing but hates getting down on his hands and knees now. Last year I tanked and tiled our existing en-suite and have learned all about wet wipes and silicone so another job moved from the husband to me. 😀 The main photo shows the site electric and the drive leading up to the cowshed to the left at the end and just on the edge of the photo are the old stables used as workshop storage each stable bay has a different items stored. A new entrance to our field will be made diagonally from the site electric to the left of the old cow shed which will make our farmer happy as he currently has a very tight turn left just in front of the cowshed. He comes twice a year to cut the grass and in return he usually takes at least 15 round bales away. The other images are from the architect but are already out of date. To pass Part O we are submitting an amendment for the removal of 4 windows on the North elevation and replacement with 6 roof windows that offer more ventilation. Costs to date Planning Consultant £600 Council planning application fee £500 Bat and Bird nesting survey £370 Phase 1 preliminary risk assessment £740 Architectural Design and planning £3000 Building regs Drawings £1250 SE £900 Trench and ducting etc for Water, Electric and Openreach £2830 Site Electric £2470 Openreach cable and ducting £0 Total £12660

Easy, just look at the number of posts on here from different members. @thefoxesmaltings 136 @Pocster 12.3k @SteamyTea 20.5k If you want to build a house, don't join this site.

how come people can build a mansion from nothing in a year of graft yet i spend every sodding day for 3 years on my 3 bedroom semi and still havent got a ceiling...