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A conservative estimate given we now have over 800 members I would put at over £1m...... That may sound a lot but if you think only 10% of the members are actively building that is a saving of £12.5k each .... I reckon so far it’s saved me £5-7k at least and I know there will be many who have saved a lot more ..!!

I just wanted to say big thank you to @Visti for raising this question and to everybody for weighing in. This is an very helpful topic for us during our planning stage.

Or undo, sling and replace with something like this:

Some heat and some Super Crack from eurocarparts, repeat a couple of times and have go with a long hollow bar?!

Let's have the pic lol.

I don't think it matters what it's called, just if its on the same invoice as the materials or separate. Previous thread..

With the added benefit that when they're tinting, the sun is hitting the pv array ?

ok I'll have a think, I have me own digger to excavate and lots of land to distribute material on, so more than happy to dig.

Looks very nice. Not cheap - but if it effectively controls the solar gain that is a major issue to solve.

While not for those with near or true passivhauus, I've been very pleased with the little 5kW room sealed log burner I've installed in our large open planned kitchen/dinner/living room. It's only been installed for 3 weeks and now we can start using it regularly we are doing and it works a treat, especially as we can modulate it down nicely. Sealed air feed from the void under the groundfloor suspended beams fed by numerous external air-bricks. Looking forward to the real cold nights so we can let it roar a bit. An Acer Oakdale in Buttermilk - I didn't choose the colour...

Looks really good?

Don't let @SteamyTeasee this... ?

When I was on the committee of a local nature reserve where we used to live, we bought picnic benches made of this stuff and despite a few serious attempts by local yobs, they were unable to get them to catch fire. I don't know what it was had been added to the plastic, but they were far less flammable than say wood. Seems a good use of waste material - though given that my BCO thinks SIPs are wildly exotic and keeps sending me back to question the suppliers every time he's visited so far, and even questions things with a BBA certificate, God knows what nonsense you'd go through being one of the first to build with something in the UK.

Challenging thought. One long bench will look great, but is it really most useful...... How about several separate dedicated benches. One freestanding heavy one with a big vice. A lower one for machine tools. A classic woodworking bench and an electronics bench with a laminate top set for a good sitting height. Dedicated workstations according to the work in hand.... luxury.

Did a little experiment earlier this week. We had two consecutive days where there was bright sunshine all morning. On the first day I left the Sageglass in auto and by 10.30am it was tinting to reduce the solar gain and the indoor temperature remained at 21 degrees all day. On the second day the Sageglass again started to tint at around 10.30am but rather than leaving it in auto I manually overrode and left it in its clear state. Within 90 minutes the indoor temperature had risen by 2 degrees and rose a further degree by mid afternoon. Okay, early days yet but it seems to be doing what it was designed to do.

Agreed @AliG- the frame cost is way out. I would think you could pretty much half this.

Those figures are crazy. I wouldn't cut things out I would go through and see how the figures are calculated. 1. Architect at 9% of cost is very high, is the architect expecting to be paid more due to the higher budget? I negotiated a fixed price based on the budget costs. The cost is much more now but the price is the same, why should I pay the architect more if I decide to spec nicer windows for example. 2. £10000 for underground drainage seems v high, it is 2/3 of the foundation costs. 3. £27,700 for windows. My triple glazed windows cost only twice that in a house more than 5x the size. 4. £70-80000 for the frame, £440 a square metre is nonsense. 5. £20400 for electrical, again I am only about 50% more for a way larger house. On the other hand some of the fittings and finishes numbers may be too low but they are much smaller numbers. Get some quotes, look on the internet, ask him for a refund, he doesn't know what he is talking about.

I've always wondered why inflammable and flammable mean the same thing. Non-flammable makes sense. We don't need inflammable.

I agree with Peter. In the situation you described with the floor joists running parallel to the wall you would normally only need a steel beam if the wall carried on up through the first floor. Possible exceptions - the existing ground floor wall will be providing restraint (extra stiffness) to the other ground floor walls that intersect with it. When removing a wall like that sometimes its necessary to provide something to replace the restraint that you lose when removing the wall. Usually its done by leaving a small wall stub at the intersections but occasionally I've also seen engineers provide this restraint via the use of extra steel.

Ewwww.

Will you also attempt to resolve the Brexit negotiations? Good luck!