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No systems or bling, just fabric first - highly insulated, best windows you can afford, low air permeability. If you get that right then I'll grant you the MVHR bling ? But you probably won't need much in the way of heating, so a GSHP might be overkill. You're better off putting the £20k-odd that costs into the fabric. All completely possible with traditional design.

I would wait a bit -the marks are where pb joints are --so are you sure the skimming is secure+dry? one hit job?--paint it when you sure the PB is fully dry,right through and secure

I am always suspicious when is is near impossible to get a price on the internet for a product like this.

Have a look at my thread about DIY solar PV Re ASHP / GSHP. For a GSHP you have to bury a lot of pipework in the ground. Even though I had my own digger at the time, I decided it was a LOT of work. then you have to fill that pipework with quite a lot of brine. I worked out the pipe and brine would cost more than the actual heat pump. An ASHP you just site close to the building and connect 2 pipes and some cables. a LOT easier and a lot cheaper. Ssomebody worked out that although a GSHP was more efficient, but the difference was small and the saving in energy over it's lifetime would never pay for the additional install costs. There is another subtle difference. A GSHP puts the works inside the house, so you might get noise problems (like having a large fridge running for a lot of the time) But an ASHP puts the works outside so far less likely to be heard inside the house.

Why's that? Did you have to push the car home?

L to 3 bridged with a spare switch & a tank of hot water!

I agree with all the above comments particularly insulation and airtightness. Like you I wanted a traditional looking build and in our case a “cottage”. Ours is traditional build, brick and block (I hate render) but with 200mm cavity full filled and 300 in the warm roof. Despite the roof being “I” beam construction I inserted false beam ends to make it look like an old roof would be. We have UFH with ASHP which is easy and cheap(ish) to instal. Our windows were hand made locally and are double glazed (but very near triple in u value and we are in a mild part of the country. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea but we are very pleased with the result.

No harm done. Critical HDD back in its own lappy and booting up fine / back to normal. Result on this newly purchased one too. Same screen above trying to boot from the HDD it came with. Problem with the "modular bay" turned out to be the CD drive. Whether it wasn't sited properly I'll find out shortly after a bit more playing. I did buy it with the rider saying it booted to the screen in the OP so all's good! Now to delve into his JPEGs and deleted stuff! ? Christ...hit the mother load here. Folders such as "berlin", "amsterdam" & "naughty". EDIT: Nothing "naughty". Plenty of ripped male torsos taking selfies in the mirror though. Squaddies possibly. What looks like an Army wedding. WTF couldn't I have bought a fit lesbian's laptop??? I've contacted the seller asking if there's anything on here they want. He's come back and thanked me for informing him but said feel free to wipe clean.

Classidur universal xtrem. Job done. Discussed a bit on the painters forums. Old boys do what Dave mentioned as it works? It’s great that a forum exists for most things?

You can convert RAL and NCS to RGB, so should be able to find a conversion from RGB to NCS.

PV on the roof can save you cash on tiling, so my still be worthwhile. I am intrigued by the concept of eco bling. Seems to mean anything connected to the internet. A heap pump is hardly a new idea. I don't think they are blingy.

You have the basics in mind already. Good insulation. Good air tightness (mostly attention to detail) Triple glazing is not much more than double, concentrate on finding a quality window supplier. The one you will get some discussion about is the heat pump. Most of us concluded an air source heat pump is better value. Not quite so efficient but a LOT cheaper to install and less maintenance. Also consider solar PV. That is harder to justify now without any FIT to subsidise it but a couple of us have done cheap DIY installs.

The biggest impact is from a fabric-first approach - ensure there is a high-level of insulation (walls, floor, roof) and air-tightness, then the rest is less critical. Though once you have a high-level of airtightness then you will need some active ventilation - e.g. MVHR. The two are not mutually exclusive - you can have an eco traditional home. It is attention to detail that will make the difference.

Lidl often do a Baufix Stain Block spray.

Try to get him to confirm in writing so you have some hard evidence if HMRC ask for something noting why it’s not signed off already. Even if you email him your understanding and ask him to agree your email.

In the past I have used gloss paint undercoat, which gives a matt finish and covers most things, them emulsion over the top.

I am intrigued that the lender got wind of what was going on. Any ideas how, @John Cain?

I take it this is not a new build but an extension? In which case with an existing mortgage you should have got the permission from the lender to start the work. This is exactly what we did with a former house, got the mortgage lenders permission, and an extra bit added to the mortgage to cover the costs of the extension. You need to talk to them ASAP to find a way to "regularise" the situation, don't just ignore it. Start with the groveling / I did not know the rules tack rather than being confrontational, and present your plan to complete the work with a realistic timetable and a realistic idea of the finished value after the work.

They cannot "fine" you but they could in theory call in the mortgage eg ask you to remortgage which you might find hard to do at the current stage. Some lenders won't lend on what they see as a "development", so is this just an extension or have you knocked the whole place down? If just an extension I think it's unlikely they would push for repayment as they might not get their money back after a forced sale. Perhaps try for a meeting to discuss the way forward.

I have just had my (very accommodating) building inspector round to let me know what I need to get my build signed off, he knew of my fight to get planning permission and health problems during the build. He listed the docs I need, electric, mvhr, unvented cylinder, gas, sap, air test, he did not comment on the large bath which I know has caused some people problems and the cloakroom door hung the wrong way round (supposed to open outward) but he said as the cloakroom was large it would not be a problem (and he knew I would only change it back once he had signed it off!!,) air test booked for next week and getting the docs sorted ?

Called a Lad isn't it.

It has full planning permission ?

When mixing remember it's easier to add more water. Don't be tempted to put too much in until mixed through. Surprising how little water can take a mix from semi dry to wet

I'm happy to upload the Visio but I'd like to iron out any obvious flaws that exist first. @Nickfromwales any thoughts if you have 5 mins?

Blame the OP I would!

It was making the move (a rather long way) north that enabled us to self build. Mid you it also enabled us to get the house we really wanted rather than all we could barely afford in the over priced SE.

Ok so that’s just for a mid position valve wiring as if you give it grey and white by either heating on, and hot water off or hot water satisfied, it will push the valve across to the heating only port.

It’s £1 for the first month but remember to cancel if you don’t want to continue.

There are all sorts of ridiculous things that every house has to comply with currently. The ramp is one. The other is that every new home must have a wheelchair accessible WC on the ground floor and preferably room for a shower too. The result of that is that 1 bed starter homes have downstairs loos that are almost larger than their kitchens. IMO building regs should not be a one size fits all, there should be exceptions for certain types of homes that are aimed at a market where it is pretty unlikely that someone would be or become disabled. Not completely impossible, but if we want to tackle the housing crisis there should also be focus on that rather than mandating every accessible clause going. Hardly any of the small flat pack homes often held up as a solution to tackle building small, cost effective homes comply with British building regs either because they are too small, or not able to meet the accessible bathroom criteria. Yet they are acceptable elsewhere in Europe. I'm not saying do away with the need to have these things entirely, just don't mandate them for houses under a certain size targeted at first time buyers.

So put your planning app in. If there are any objections POINT OUT very clearly that if this is refused you WILL put them in the middle of the site where it is PD.

Build them square. Not helix not fooking elliptical, just fooking square. Good god man do you not like anything straight forward.

@pocster someone needs help

There is a quirk in the system that students are exempt from property taxes, unless they have an unemployable lodger, then the student has to pay all the taxes on their property. Backdated 2 and a half years too, in one hit. Try doing that on a student loan.