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Just watched it, (rarely watch commercial television live) Under budget, under time and no major problems. Kevin was having to dig deep to find any tiny little problem to highlight no matter how small. A model of just how to do a self build, and a great result. Of course it only went so well because of all the expert advice and encouragement from Buildhub.

Many ASHP/UFH have a floor drying mode. It ramps up to max temperature over a number of days and then brings the temperature back down again. We then switched it off for 48 hours before we started tiling then left it off for a few weeks after tiling. We also used Ditra mat and expansion joints at every door and across the biggest run of tiles in the open plan area. Screed was Cemfloor. Best practice? Overkill?

No, builder was utterly confident without it. Same with our en suites, albeit it a different tiler did our family bathroom and put it in. We had the cemfloor down for a good few months before tiling though.

Pleasantly surprised lots of normal GD "stuff" was missing Zara didn't get pregnant You didn't got over budget but came under (OK not quite finished but close enough) The house was "finished" before target time The garden wasn't finished but the bones are there. I amazed GD didn't can the programme due to not enough drama 😉 I guess the look of the house and the corten provided that...... Well done

My mum has a Vaillant EcoTec Pro 24 combi boiler, which has been serving a one bedroom one bathroom flat well over the past 10 years. There are two zones, one outputting to radiators and one outputting to UFH. She has serviced it almost every year - she thinks - she missed one annual service a few years ago. Recently, it had started to need replacement parts: Two months ago, the motherboard (I think it might be called a PCB) went and was replaced by a refurbished one. That cost about £150, plus a hefty call out charge plus a service charge which happened at the same time. Yesterday, the boiler lost pressure and stopped working and today the engineer who serviced it two months ago identified that the Pressure Release Valve was leaking and replaced that at a cost of £50 plus another hefty call-out charge. How does one identify the point at which it is no longer economical to keep an old boiler going?

We've had to keep this a big secret. About 2 years ago, we were approached by Channel 4, asking us if we wanted to feature on Grand Designs. Like many of us on here, having watched the show a lot, and seeing how they typically go, we immediately said 'no' 😂 . After a fair bit of discussion, we came round to the idea, as we thought it would be a nice professionally produced story of our self-build, and so here we are. You can catch our full story and how it all went, on Wednesday 2nd October, Channel 4, 9pm. And for a sneak peak, you can see what we've been building on our Instagram: @thefoxesmaltings

The last bit of soil pipe and inspection chambers that are close to the house are completed. The ICF is delivered and by the end of the week we have the start of door and window openings. The insulation is extruded polystyrene XPS 100mm each side of the concrete cavity. U value of 0.14 The windows have rebar in them before 50mm insulation closures are added. At the weekend we had a yellow wind warning for the South West, our home weather station recorded top gusts of 40mph. I’m pleased to say the R-wall ICF survived with no problems. Total man days of labour week 4 is 22 man days split between Groundworks and ICF builders. The build is going on very close to our workshop entrance which makes the delivery of vehicles and test drives limited. This week we took delivery of a previous customers Jensen CV-8 which now has a new owner who has sent it to us for further works over winter.

Hi, just found this group, hope to find lots of advice. Just in the thinking process of starting a self build in Scotland.

A local one who has been around a while and knows the ground.

Just watched it - you two did a grand job. Mind-blowing effort 👌

Rent it whilst you carry out the work... Vacate it once finish! Tidy up as you go along..... 😁

My favourite bit was where they tried to create some drama about a 5mm discrepancy and then sorted it with a quick plane shave!

Great job! Missing loads of details of your build journey in the show but I read those on Instagram so no big deal. But I guess they’ve only got 45mins to fill and half of that is Kevin prattling on. 😂

Looks like the cheap gold plating has failed. Wrap the replacement in self amalgamating tape, and honestly a bit of vaseline smeared on the connector pins before engaging keeps water out. (I do this on boat connections)

This seems popular according to google https://www.diy.com/departments/nature-calls-composting-toilet/5060542053747_BQ.prd

As a business I used quite a lot of these we normally put a blob of resin on the bottom of each pedestal No harm to the covering Very quick to go down We normally do a 30m2 balcony (roof) in a day 20-25 mil Porcelain Indestructible and you say You can easily remove them for cleaning or unblocking drain Just lift off

Apparently they were told they couldn’t let it out and was classed as uninhabitable because had no toilet or bathroom by the council. Even offered it to a Ukrainian family but again didn’t meet criteria. Fast forward to second home tax and now it’s suddenly classed as one and is worth a tidy £4000 a year for the council. What a state the u.k is in!

Hello BuildHub Community! My name is Emmanuel Katto, and I am thrilled to join this community! I joined BuildHub because I believe in the power of community knowledge and collaboration. I’m keen to learn from all of you, share my experiences, and possibly offer assistance wherever I can. Looking forward to contributing to the forum and connecting with you all! Best regards, Emmanuel Katto

Amen Brother Stupid V8 in a silly car = Lots of fun

Suggest giving the whole services in the wall thing a miss. Use surface mount plastic sockets and plastic conduit or metalclad and plastic or metal conduit. You might want the sockets above desk height for ease of use and it's possible you might want a group on a big switch so they can all be turned off at once. Sure in a ring main around all the walls. Philips square led panels for my money - but screw straight onto ceiling. Ensure all insulation and heating is going to work properly - you don't want it to cost a bomb to heat. Ditto windows - it may be cost effective to install double glazed and better frames. Maybe a quick stab at the J Harris spreadsheet to check. Wall mount remote controlled fan heater for quick heat up before you start work. Whatever heating you're comfortable with after that. You could fix up the wood burner if you really like it, but it'll take up quite a lot of effective space once you keep everything flammable away from it. Strictly, the install/recommsiiosning should be (or if BC is not required, for your own peace of mind) Hetas or BC-notified. Don't ignore solar gain either - my workshop gets crazy hot in the middle of summer.

No, we looked at the Cortizo 20 sliding doors as part of an extension/retrofit. Visited a couple of installations and I wasn't impressed with the design. They look great though! Ended up with Velfac casement doors and opening picture window. Seals are very good. I've attached a pic.

It's fashionable. It's cheap to do on a new build. You don't have to juggle furniture with radiators. People love the feeling of a hot floor,however....... Hot floors are a sign of very inefficient UFH. An efficient UFH system with a huge chunk of insulation underneath will feel the same as a non heated floor with a huge chunk of insulation underneath. Not hot - Not cold. By all means stick some electric UFH just under the bathroom tiles for a little bit of luxury in the morning post shower. My 2p worth, install big pipes and rads and continue with the boiler. It'll run more efficiently at low flow temps anyway I think . Calling @JohnMo? When it dies swap for an ASHP. Get some insulation on the walls, anything is worth it. Parged brick, battened service cavity with mineral wool and then plasterboard my favourite method at the moment. Get your airtighess strategy nailed.. Install some kind of continuous mechanical ventilation. Even a few dDCV fans will make a world of difference to the health of the occupants and the building. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

If you think about it each screw only has about 2-3 kg hanging from it.

Under budget and under time. Congratulations.

Well done on producing a stunning house. I thoroughly enjoyed watching GD for once.

Never seen a GD where I liked everyone before, and also the project. Very well done. The success comes down to vision, determination, being charming, working hard, and being young and energetic. I fail on the charm, and my youthful energy was spent making other peoples' projects. I wish you all the best, and you deserve that lovely home.

Enjoyed it, loved the gaff, congrats. My missus was all for the "Instagram house" journey but sacked it off immediately when she realised she couldn't click her fingers and the house was completed in 5 seconds. I've been on my lonesome since that day (day 1).

Why not? it's a nice square design and has a realistic chance of getting excellent airtighess and thermal bridging from your posts. It's always more tricky with smaller floor areas but you may be closer than you think. The parapet will be useful as a safety feature when you're mending the leaks it causes too. Pitched roof every time for me I'm afraid @ETC. I would consider corrugated metal. There was a very nice house near me in this style.

This is due an update I feel. We've commenced work under a building notice, after a builder that our architect has worked with many times before became free at relatively short notice. We've yet to finalise all the plans, but are getting started on the first discrete part of the build which is the single storey extension which will become the master bedroom and will have the roof terrace on top. We had planned to renovate the current utility room and excavate the floor to bring level with the neighbouring rooms but realised quickly that it has no foundation (built on clay) and was likely an external WC which was connected to the rest of the house at minimum cost. We've decided therefore to take it down and incorporate that into the new extension construction. Here's the current state a couple of weeks in with the utility demolished and patio cleared ready to start digging the foundations. Our current quandries are about the flat roof buildup for the terrace due to limited thickness to work with, and what the larger plan for heating/insulation is going to be (I've posted topics on both of these recently). Since I previously posted we've also had some structural calcs done, and we're going to put in a new roof with ridge beams so that we can vault the ceilings and insulate at rafter level, because the existing rafters are only 70mm deep unfortunately. As much as I'd like to have a 'full' plan to work off at this point, I can see this one is going to evolve over time, which is the benefit of working with our builder who charges a day rate and is happy to work to a changing set of plans.

Wow, what a hard working couple, as said, not a normal grand designs as not much went wrong and under budget. I am not a fan of contemporary normally but that is the best I have ever seen. Hats off to you both. Only one criticism, no mention of build hub 🤣🤣.

Very well done. It looks terrific.

@thefoxesmaltings Follow your Instagram and really enjoyed your GD episode, it was simply brilliant, well done!

@thefoxesmaltings beautiful job, well done! Loved the pergola. Where did you find those guys? We’ve been searching for a contemporary pergola but have only found ornate ones. We’re out of the ground, scaffolding going up ready for the timber frame arriving next week… seeing your build on GD has given us a bit of hope that one day we’ll have a lovely home too 😊

Ha - I've seen those footings before when I was searching google earth for something in nearby Drummore. If it's anything like this area, the Machars, just across Luce bay, it will be very wet. I don't know if that influences the full fill insulation decision. I'm building a timber frame extension with metal and timber cladding so not the same as yours. The stone walls of the original cottage here can get a bit damp sometimes though. As for trades, they seem to work in D&G time, they may show up when they say but almost certainly wont. My experience of getting a real man in for some plastering wasn't great. He was slow, not much cheaper than Oxfordshire, and not very good. I think there is little competition so there is no shortage of work and no real incentive to stay on top of their game. Tip, assuming you're not a local - for a long time I thought people thought my name was Ken. It turns out that Ken at the end of a sentence means something like 'you know'. Stranraer is a sh1t hole, (and that's coming from someone who lived near Didcot!) although it now has a screwfix and a Domino's so things are looking up. But my wife likes it here and land is cheap so you can buy some space around you. And the people are very nice. 🙂

Well done @thefoxesmaltings, great project congratulations

Congratulations guys you’ve done an amazing job. So sorry about your Mum Zara. A trauma in our family also motivated us to self build, so I get it. She’d be very proud of what you’ve achieved.

Loved that! Seriously well done. One of the best GDs I've seen.

He is making it into a "high integrity" CU with as you describe one way not protected by either RCD which is okay for the SWA. He needs to have the appropriate extra cables inside the CU. Some will argue if it is not supplied like that by the manufacturer then it is no good.

@thefoxesmaltings It is on tonight remember @thefoxesmaltings, I hope it has been sympathetically edited.

OK that is interesting. Tempered steel, close fixings? I'd still like to see someone testing a 150mm projecting one.

Just on your diagram - I'd keep services in the space between the plasterboard and the insulation if at all possible, just make sure your cables are run in the correct zones. One tip, if you have at least one socket on each wall, you can run the cable horizontally around whole room, making it easier to add extra sockets in the future. 🍻

@Temp fyi https://www.loxone.com/enen/kb/power-supply-backup/

As has been explained in the other thread you have in Building Regulations a detached building has to be less than 15m2 if it is within 1m of the boundary and built of combustible material. At 18m2 you'll need it to be built of substantially non-combustible material to be classed as exempt from the Building Regulations. If not then you'll need to apply for consent. As to the capacity of the slab, it's hard enough when standing on it, looking at it to tell, nigh on impossible in a forum question I'm afraid.

Fix one of these as a test, then hook on a claw hammer and hang off it. I think it will bend. The whole cladding skin could droop. 180mm mentioned above too. ! It is just a bit of wire through eps. I was once keen to try eps structures but never did, and am out of touch now. Please post the manufacturer's detail if you find it.

Controversial suggestion, but you could save the £15k+ you'd need for a new heating system and spend it on insulating the walls and keep the oil boiler. Spending more on insulation will make more of a difference than anything else. UFH is more costly to run than rads, and is a no goer unless you've a decent amount of insulation in the floor (150mm+).Do you have the room inside for internal wall insulation?

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 ]

>>> I'm now stuck, as I don't know precisely what investigations to commission and how to scope these. What would you guys do? Ask the SEs (who are still at presales stage) to advise? Contact some geotechnical companies and ask them? Something else?? <<< An SE will spec your GI for you for a smallish fee, say £250. Check yourself that it seems to make sense.

200m2 of matting? you have more bathroom area than my entire house.

A boring title, I know, but it's succinct and to the point. I find it hard to get excited about windows, to be honest, which has surprised me given how much they cost but slogging through different window systems and deciding what's best hasn't been the most fun thing to do. I guess one aspect that takes any joy out of the process is the lack of uniformity in windows where each company does their own thing and has their own systems which, I'm sure, are terribly important to them and they believe gives them their USPs. From my point of view, too much choice isn't necessarily a good thing and it just makes it impossible to do a direct comparison between window companies. But then, you all knew that already, didn't you?! There's certainly been enough discussion about it. My process for choosing the window supplier was unscientific (apologies Jeremy) and lacking in rigour (apologies everyone) but it worked for me. I contacted 5 companies, Rationel, Ecohaus Internorm, Norrsken, Velfac and Katzenbeck. 4 replied, I never got anything back from Katzenbeck. I sent out our planning permission drawings with floorplans and elevations and described the kind of windows I wanted. Rationel weren't able to do what I wanted with the sliding doors on the ground floor, (a 2 part slider with mullions to make it look as though there are 4 panels) so that didn't go any further after the initial quote. Velfac sent me a quote, but didn't quote on exactly what I'd asked for, including the sliding doors, but I sort of kept the quote in play just to get a feel for their prices. I was a little wary of their attention to detail because I'd also specified 3G with no trickle vents and their first quote was for 2G with vents. Hmm. Ecohaus were outrageously expensive. A nice product, sure, but really expensive at £65k with fitting. That leaves me with Norrsken, and they're my final choice. I've settled on Norrsken for a few reasons, not just the price although that heavily influenced me, of course. I've got about 37m2 of triple glazing and it's coming in at about £35k, with another £8k for fitting. So far, Norrsken have been a pleasure to deal with - not slippery or patronising in any way and very straightforward. They also have their own in-house installation team; I can't comment on them as yet apart from saying that the installations manager came across as well as their sales guy. I'll mention the quote from Velfac here, as it came in about £1500 less than Norrsken, but they are supply only and so I'd have to go and find an installations team that would be able to work with MBC and get the fitting right in those super thick walls. Norrsken have worked with MBC a few times and are familiar with fitting the windows into a passive house; I'm sure that there are plenty of good installers out there but, as is often commented on here, locating them and hiring them is the tricky part. Also, because Norrsken offer a supply and fit package, they can do this with zero VAT which means I don't have to bother with a reclaim on a hefty chunk of spending. As for the windows themselves, well, they look nice, they are triple glazed, they open how I want them to and I can have them in the colours I want. I did say it was unscientific. No doubt I could go into far more detailed research but that lot is good enough for me.