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The vision vs the reality

Lol, as this has been bumped up again I will give an update on the heating system. Both heating and DHW are working great. Heatmiser controller is doing its thing, and I've got to grips with it now as opposed to it being an ornament on the wall for the last 8 years! However it would never have worked properly with the TS all fecked anyway. TS is all good and no longer the device from hell, and taps deliver hot water when I need it, and enough to take a shower or a bath. So all good. The only outstanding issue is with the solar thermal that isn't heating the TS despite it 'running' as I can hear when it switches on and should be heating the TS. So new parts have been ordered and I'm trying to get a local plumber to sort that out (not that easy as apparently all plumbers round here are scared of going on the roof). @Nickfromwales and @PeterW think it's hopefully just air causing the glycol not to circulate properly so a change of automatic air vent might sort it, plus have advised that the pump should be changed at the same time as it's probably murdered itself after being in situ and not working properly for so long. A plumber is allegedly coming on Friday so have a look and give me a quote so fingers crossed! Would be good to get it working but not the end of the world if it doesn't really.

One thing you need with under floor heating is the electrical controls for the manifold. As an electrician I have wired many different makes. Most have struck me as over complicated with features that are never used, poorly thought out making them very hard to wire neatly with insufficient space for cable termination, and over expensive for what they are. Then I found this one: On sale very cheap on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-ZONE-UNDERFLOOR-HEATING-WIRING-CENTRE/132318857114?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Before I bought it I did some searching and found the instruction manual http://www.auraton.pl/wp-content/uploads/_instrukcje/en/manual_AURATON_4DPRO_en.pdf That is it. That is the entire instruction manual, you get a paper copy of that with the item. First impressions. The manual is about as much use as a chocolate tea pot. There is not enough information to safely and correctly connect it and expect it to work, let alone understand what exactly it is doing. However once you work it out, it does indeed do everything you need it to do. You just need to fill in the blanks. Firstly the themostat terminals (variously referred to as such things as "terminals of cable controllers") There is a pair of terminals for each room thermostat for the 4 zones. It is important to note that the left hand of each pair of terminals is the L supply out (internally linked to the L into the unit) to the thermostat, and the right hand of each pair of terminals is the switched L back from the thermostat into this unit. If your thermostat needs a neutral, you will have to link that independantly. The output terminals are one pair for each zone. The left hand of each pair being N internally linked to N in, and the right hand pair being switched L to the zone actuator valves. There is a global switched L out to turn on the pump when any zone calls for heat, and a volt free changeover relay contact to link to the boiler / heap pump etc. So it does what it should, just shame you have to do a bit of detective work to fathom it out. I just thought I would mention this if anyone else was after a budget controller.

My house will look “industrial”. One of the benefits of being single. My ex would have gone mental ?

Plinth bricks. https://www.ibstock.com/kevington/specialshapes/everydayspecials/plinth-bricks/

On my system there are four fan settings and it is recommended to run it on setting two. Setting one is for when the building isn't occupied and turns everything else off leaving the fans running very slowly. It is possible to change the fan speed for each setting so I have reduced setting two to 30% which allowed me to change the ventilation rates to that for a PH. This has increased the humidity from 37% to 45%.

The roof will be slated back end of next week - The TF for the house arrives on 29th May 2018. Will update again thereafter.

Fabulous lights but the whole project us looking gorgeous.

How did I miss this...it's that big! Edinburgh Airport gets second runway...

We have a system using the Ubiquiti AC Lite product. With 100MB Virgin WiFi awe are getting over 80MB over WiFi to a laptop. They should also have enough speed to continue to work as your internet connection speeds up, I am tempted to change my Virgin subscription up to 300MB to see what happens. I noticed the other day an article about people getting less than half the speed they pay for on their internet connection. I suspect that this is based on Speedtests done over WiFi. The reason it is so slow is often the poor WiFi not the poor connection. In our last house a 75MB Sky connection(the actual speed the fibre modem was connecting at) dropped to around 45MB over WiFi in the room closest to the router, 35MB in other rooms with Sky Q boxes and 15-25 in the rest of the house. Try not to use WiFi extender type products, they cripple your WiFi speed. Before I connected all my Sky Q boxes up using ethernet in the old house, they connected 2 wireless extenders into the system and the speed dropped to 11MB. These eat up your bandwidth. I would put a Ubiquiti AC Lite on each floor connected over WiFi. They are £75ish each on Amazon, or £300 for 5.

Very nice. ????

They are really nice lights.

@Mr Punter as requested. The poor piano has been moved all over the place and is finally where it is supposed to go. That's me to give some scale. We love the way that the lights reflect off all the glass and the floor at night. These are basically the finished stairs. They still have lights to go in on the underside of the front edge of the treads.

Yes I undid the screws and there was enough wriggle room to get it to all line up. I like the idea of keep the valves there, and fit 2 more in line so you can isolate for a pump change.

I got all my UFH parts for downstairs for £502 I had one company price up a supply only package and that was just a few £ short of £1K I still need a manifold for upstairs, but everybody was out of stock of 2 port manifolds so I will buy that later.

@AliG could we please have more pics of the hallway? The stairs are beautiful.

Ok £100k is achievable but you will need to work at it. Sounds like you’re off the main sewerage network so it’s a treatment plant. Plenty on here that have them and can give you prices. A rectangular box that is 8m by 7m will give you 4 bedrooms upstairs - 3 at 3x3.5m, one at 4x3.5m with an ensuite as a master. Not big but still workable. Bathroom would be 2x2.5m Downstairs is open plan 8m x 3.5m kitchen diner, lounge of 3.5x3.5m then a study of 3.5x2.5m WC in the remaining space. That is 112sqm roughly and you could do it under £100k If you don’t go for £4K bifold doors and £20k triple glazed Ali clad windows etc ...

I think it’s easily achievable tbh. Might regret that statement in a few months ? I appreciate prices of materials have gone up, but developers were selling new 4 bed detached houses in less desirable areas for £130k 15 years ago. And making a very healthy profit at the same time. I know many people will hate the look but I plan to leave my wiring and ducting exposed. I’ll do it myself and get it signed off. It’ll save me a lot in battons and plasterboard. I’ll be using ex display kitchens and bathrooms too. I’m importing my doors and windows from Eastern Europe. Not as cost effective as it was post brexit but still a big saving.

He will see it ! In his mind it will always be there ; non symmetrical; taunting everyday and every night . @Onoff ; you know your fate , you know your destiny young sky walker . Make them symmetrical or have no peace

Just bumping this, I want to concrete skim a wood patio table. Don't need much but everything seems extortionate

“And?” I prompted, ”that’s it” she said. Thus a corner of a green English field enhanced by some royal snowdrops was destined to become a Welshman’s first self-build. The unexpectedly abbreviated list was a list of life-sustaining features she deemed absolute move-in must-haves for our minimum viable new home. When a woman falls in love with a building plot it is surprising how few luxuries she deems essential to swing the deal with her master builder to be. I have been a reasonably competent master & commander of a middle size 35ft sailing yacht in recent years though beyond that claim I am a jack of zero trades. Early encounters with the good denizens of the BuildHub forum tarred me as a hopelessly naive computer programmer fit for little more than making tea onsite. Some forum luminaries offered encouragement and suggested that with sufficient aptitude my career as a selfbuilder could see promotion to building site chief portaloo cleaner. A period of financial scrutiny followed acceptance of my offer on the plot. The sale of the yacht had released funds to build to about shoulder height and money from a previous house sale would buy a roof, windows and staircase. Beyond that I will need to dispel the notion I am a chinless wonder of a self-builder otherwise this whole project might become a millstone around my neck and by winter 2018/19 it would be a cold unoccupied millstone. Heritage is a double-edged sword for a house builder, some nearby castle ruins come at a cost. Our new conservation officer is reputed to wield a fearsome sword according to local village lore. The build material costs will be loaded with conservation extras such as a slate roof, cute bricks that I suspect were rejects during the building of Hampton Court or Euro Disney and sash windows. At least the royal snowdrops were free. Looking back to the beginning of the year our transition from house hunters to self builders was a spontaneous event triggered by some cheerful rural birds on a cold January Sunday afternoon, back then the “Beast From The East” meant the local conservation officer. Just four months ago we were searching for a regular house complete with a roof and front door key. And now, as I write the first entry in this saga, we own a plot with detailed planning permission for a modest 1500 sq ft house fit for Jane Austen. I should also report that the science behind the butterfly effect is incomplete as it should include birdsong. p.s. Does anyone know what a dormant snowdrop looks like? I need to effect my own conservation before the JCB moves in.

It would be really great if you could start a blog or write a few posts explaining costings as there seem to be many people who wish to build a family sized house for that sort of budget but not that many people on here who have managed (or aimed for) per square meter costs in that ballpark. I’ve been told that my build cost was very low but @ £760 per m2 it was still way over 100k for my 4 bed house. Out of interest what £ per m2 are you looking at, how big is the planned house, and does that include absolutely everything apart from the plot purchase?

There has been some mission creep already, for example she did not originally contest the notion that we could shower at a local gym prior to getting a finished bathroom in order to advance the move-in date a month or two. I have now added a free standing bath with cold and hot water to the move-in specification but so far she has neglected to clarify that the bathroom will have 4 walls ?

You may not need anyone to do the drainage design, at least not for planning purposes. You might be able to write it up yourself but it depends on a few things.. Is there a sewer in the road? In which case you might only need to say: "Foul drainage will be connected to the main sewer in the road, details to be agreed with Building Control". If there isn't easy access to a sewer then they will want details of the sewerage treatment plant you propose to use. There are people on this forum that can probably recommend one. What sort of soil do you have and do you know if soakaways work? On free draining soil you might get away with saying that "The ground is free draining and rainwater will be discharged to soakaways, dimensions and locations to be agreed with Building Control". If you are on clay or soil that's not free draining you might need to prove that soakaways will work. This is usually done by doing a "percolation test" which involves digging a hole and filling it with water. There are "site investigation" or "ground works" companies that will do this. If you also need a "soil condition report" to design the foundations you can save money by employing the same company to do both at once. Can also save money if you provide the digger and driver. So best case you might only need to write a short letter to satisfy the planners and more details for Building Control later.

Thanks. At the moment I have a Billion BiPack 8800NL router (with internal wifi) and a pair of DrayTek AP 800's. All connected together by wire and a Netgear switch. All same network, no subnets. All IP addresses mobile or wired are allocated by DHCP in the router. Doesn't look like any of this kit supports 802.11r but as it all works very well otherwise I guess I can live without the seamless roaming. I reverted to different SSID when I couldn't get the seamless roaming to work. Aside: The wifi in the Billion router seems good considering it doesn't have an external antenna. Better than the Draytek or Linksys stuff I've had previously.

It's definitely for design only. I'm now getting another quote! Many thanks for the input. I'm just starting out so I'm sure I'll be posting more questions in the future!

Not with a complex structure shown by the OP. For example look at the height of the chimney above first floor level, how many scaffolding lifts, how many site visits to lay a few courses? Also according to the House Builder's Bible brickies cost a job not on the number of bricks but on the wall elevation square meters including the area of window and door apertures. From a brickie's point of view the OP's fab house design is a never ending saga of openings, pillars and lintels.

Make bread dough and get yourself some bamboo poles. Wind strips of dough around the ends and toast over the fire. One hand for the pole, the other for a cold beer.

Soft foam everywhere. Set the pump on foam, line the housing, sleeve the airhoses if they're near/touching anything.

You will never see it.......... just solder it up and get on with the next job ..!

I guess this is one of the advantages of remote mounting the pump? I will be interested to hear how you get on. Ours too emits a low hum. Some form of accoustic mounts would probably help because with ours if you just pick up the pump and hold it in your hand it is fairly quiet. Most of the noise comes from standing the pump on the base of it's chamber which acts like a drum. This is a "to do later" project for me so I will be following your findings. SWMBO has already noticed our garden "hums" This does not seem unique to one or 2 makes. There is a general lack of care I believe. I wired a Graff treatment plant a year ago and when powered up almost sounded like a knackered old lawnmower. 2 bits of the casing were vibrating together. Just putting your foot on it stopped the noise. That clearly needed some attention to detail in the design.

Use rock wool to do the section over the top of the wall and then use PIR over the top to get the insulation as close as possible. Quick, cheap, simple and effective.

I have to for planning, and want to anyway. They are not ‘fit and forget’ so if you’re not keen on gardening I’d suggest not burdening yourself. That said, they aren’t necessarily too demanding on maintenance.....depending on what look you want. Sedum can look pretty dead in winter......people think it’ll give constant year round green appearance. Wildflower won’t offer much in winter. Meadowgrass is pretty good, but needs more growing medium depth....means more roof build up, more weight... We want a roughty toughty mess so wont worry about weeds, but if you wanted well manicured you’ll end up weeding just like a garden. You’ll half run-off so reconsider any rainwater harvesting ideas. Ballpark £7k for my 150sqm flat roof....but that’s the ‘green’ element, materials only....the roof also had to be engineered for the weight and the membrane had to be specific. There’s an ‘approved’ approach to creating a green roof which you’ll need to follow if you want any waterproofing guarantees from your roofer....this makes it difficult to diy a cheap alternative.

I'm in a panic now. To update this thread we ended up getting a Heritage Expert to produce a Heritage Statement. A Landscape Architect to produce a 'professional' cross section and photomontage (the conservation officer didn't like my 'amature' versions) and the Planning Consultant updated the Planning Statement for our application. We have not changed any detail of the original application just paid people to use some big words and produce some nice graphics. The upshot is that we have heard today that "...the Conservation Officer now has no objection to the proposal... therefore I will be recommending the application for approval..." (annoyingly the Conservation Officer apparently drives past the site, and listed building, twice a day, to and from work, but couldn't reach this conclusion without help - I'm not bitter, just exasperated). So, a few months down the line and several hundreds of pounds less in the kitty and it looks like we're on the starting blocks - yippee! Why am I in a panic? Well, all of a sudden it seems that there are a million things I should have been doing in preparation for this day and didn't. I still know so little. Thanks for everyones help thus far, now, where is the 'demolition' forum ?‍♂️ Russ.

I started with hope and joy and a few modest must haves......2 years on older, poorer and possibly wiser I was just desperate to get to the end. Of my must haves some are here and some are not. I learnt to my cost that unattended builders take the easy route which does not necessarily facilitate the must haves and then it can be impractical, impossible or just too expensive to undo what has been done. You need a padlock on your wallet and eyes in the back of your head...oh and give up the day job. Its what I ended up having to do as things were clearly going wrong. I have no experience of managing contractors some (most) took advantage of my inexperience and some (very few) were really nice.

Get a decent garden shredder, shred it, bag it and take it to the dump. Burning is not really socially acceptable.

Not sure why computer programmers are considered fit to make tea... it’s a skilled job, you know? The trick with snowdrops is to wait for spring and notice where they are growing ?.

I live in Devon, I don’t think anything gets dry down here ?.

As for Ubiquiti kit, you should have plenty of change from your budget. UniFi AC Lites cost about £80 each and you can pick them up on eBay second hand from time to time for about £50 or so. Suggest to buy 2x UniFi AC Lite's and nothing else. (Plus a laptop to do the setup remotely using the free Unifi software.) Regarding "2x or more", it depends on coverage areas and signal attenuation by thick walls. Suggest trial-and-error. Start with 2x and buy more if you need them. In a modern house, two did the whole house. In a big older house with brick internal walls, 3x were needed. If you need an weather-tight outside AP, they are available too from the "mesh" range (e.g. UAP-AC-M). Optional extra: a PoE ethernet switch (made by Ubiquitu or a third party, doesn't generally matter) so that PoE injectors, which are included in the box, are not needed at each access point. Initially you don't need a UniFi Cloud Key, which is for remote monitoring of your network and more commonly deployed for commercial installations.

Unfortunately it’s quite new and all the rage ive recently did a students union 130 mtrs I paid £53 and thought it was a rip off about £4.50 per mtr

It’s a 90 second job and the unit is £815 at full list price.....

I burned half of mine today.....cut in Feb and now so dry it took nothing to get it started. The dodgiest bit is adding piles of leaves once it’s burning well.....they tend to get taken by the updraft and if they’ve managed to catch light that’s not ideal. Im now bagging the leaves and let them compost. Be careful...I’ve a lot less hair on my face after 4 hours of burning today, but feel lucky to still have eyelids.....wind changes direction fast!