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Not witnessed one yet but I believe they do both and take an average of a series.

I think the original unit was an Ecocent, which from what I hear have a reputation for parts corroding and becoming unrepairable. The replacement HP is fine, bur why radiators that probably have to run at a higher temperature? I would have kept the UFH. The pipes are still there but the manifold has gone. I am wondering what to do about the ventilation. Fit a whole house ventilation or just a bathroom fan?

Sorry the picture is not great but this is the only bit of Tata without scaffolding at the moment. When more of the scaffolding is down I will post some more pics including fascias and soffits and roof.

Thanks both - and Christine I'll need to get your Buildbase rep's details from you - will send you a wee message. We've not yet opened any accounts with merchants - are just at the design and costing stage so looking for approximate figures to consider whether we're going with brick or timber cladding. Relieved/hopeful the apparent prices can be negotiated significantly down though!

If you get in touch with a few of the builders merchants and tell them you are doing a build they will quote for you. We did this then the rep from buildbase came out to see us, although their quote hadn’t been the cheapest once he had visited they set us up a self build account and they beat all the other companies we’d contacted, they even managed to give us the best price on our sewage treatment plant.

Ok - have you spoken to your local Builders Merchant..? First stop is the local BM, get to know the branch manager and tell him what you are doing. Some offer a QS take off service from plans (don’t rely on this to order, but it’s a good guide) and will price accordingly. What you will be looking at is full RRP and that is not what you will pay if you set an account up and let them price accordingly. For example, local BM has shower wall on their website at £93.20+VAT for a panel. My price is £58.16+VAT, based on a quote received. Blocks are £1.60 each, I pay 93p etc. The big chains get a bad name but there is nothing stopping you getting an account with 2 and playing them off. Also remember that delivery will be free. I stored 8000 bricks in my local TP yard for 4 months and called them off 6 pallets at a time. All for free. The internet can’t replace the personal relationship here - they may also know some good trades who can help you with the build too.

I used Sennocke Insurance and got an unoccupied buildings policy.

Thats one reason I don’t like airtight membranes that are buried in the build. Thinking about it apart from door and window seals the only vulnerable bits are the osb lining the warm roof which was glued to death on construction (still visible to fix) and the wall to timber roof joint which is still just about visible. The reason being timber and blockwork expand and contract at different rates but it is foamed to death.

lay a mortar bed to get it right FIRST ROW NEEDS TO BE PERFECT you have to get it perfect if you want rest of job to be easy some types of icf -like isotex /durisol its the way they tell you to start anyway if poly type you could mess about with packers +foam under first row to get it right if raising up height by 30mm is a problem --then trim first blocks down by an amount and then lay on mortar bed to get rest of it right thats what iwould do give the contractor that option --he lays first row to correct height ?

They can do either - each tester has their preference. depends whether you like to see the "magic smoke" flowing away from a leak or into it ?

I have had a house with UFH. Some rooms had carpet, some engineered oak floor and some tiles. The heating worked fine in all areas. The carpeted rooms seemed slightly slower to warm up and the tiled ones quickest.

politician =smart meter both promise to make things better both just make things worse +cost us loads of money in the process

Garage floor paint???

Cheers @PeterW, all up and running:

Eh...?? Dug Founds Tuesday, poured Thursday, marked out Friday, first course blocks following Monday .... There is a big difference between set and cured with concrete.

How far along are you? If you haven’t started and aren’t committed I would probably put the foundations in as then there isn’t much to worry about as far as security is concerned plus it starts the build from a PP perspective. It will also then allow you to pause and take stock of where you are financially if money it tight. If you have CIL ensure that you follow the rules to the letter or you could lose the exemption. Then ... consider adjusting the asking price potentially vs weighing up the cost of seeking more finance. How far away from getting the state pension are you? I assume you won’t need a mortgage once the house sells? Borrowing from relatives an option? Taking in a lodger or 2 for a bit? How much are you planning to do / could learn to do yourself? Plenty on here have got stuck in and have been nothing short of amazing in the ‘DIY through adversity’ scenario.

@joe90 what result do you need? You should get less than 5 without even trying.

Given the circumstances I wouldn’t bother to cross that bridge just now as you don’t really have a house to lend against per se. Wait until you know what your mortgage lender wants and try to work with them.

QQ. Why would you want to do something ‘temporary’ for the test as surely if you remove said lubricant etc afterwards it’s not giving a realistic measure of how airtight the house is in normal use?

It did indeed seem to fit the bill of as true off site build. But I felt a bungalow did not fit in with the neighbours. No criticism of the method, just imho the wrong house for the plot. Their garden office junk storage room though looked like it was just clad in a load of pallets. Talking of pallets, I felt well at home seeing one of the houses using temporary "steps" made from a pile of pallets.

Todays job "my bathroom fan does not seem to be working" I find a small development of houses, built somewhat better than the average developers house. These are reasonably well insulated, decent windows, UFH and were built with an Exhaust Air Heat Pump system. The story goes the EAHP broke a couple of years ago, everyone he called could not fix it, so he had a new heating system installed. A Mitsubishi ASHP and cylinder. Nothing wrong with that. Except in the process they disconnected the UFH and installed radiators instead (why) and left the property with no ventilation system, hence no bathroom fan. I wonder too where the cooker hood vent pipe goes (probably nowhere)