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So this one has been 10 years in the making, which is when I originally built this extension, and not long after i'd built it, the outdoor bunny became an indoor bunny! So the glorified rabbit hutch has now become the kitchen it was intended to be. Worktops just been installed. Will crack on with tap, dishwasher, hob, and oven later this week. Really pleased with it all, just need to choose some paint, but will sort that in the autumn, as I've got the old kitchen to rip out and the room to bare brick, and floor to replace first!

I uploaded my draft floor plans a while ago and I have lived with them a while and am fairly content that they will meet our needs. We have one elderly parent left who we could easily argue needs to move in with us ( that is closer to the truth than I like to think about as it is my MIL not my own mum). That gives us the need to a downstairs bedroom and en-suite. Everything else is fairly normal but of reasonably generous proportions in line with most self builds. We hope to have a comfortable, energy efficient home that we can live in for as long as possible. Our need to move as we get older and frailer will be more to do with the lane that we live on and our inability to get the 1 mile down the track to the nearest corner shop than the house with luck. Low maintenance is a biggie for us of course - we have no wish to be doing regular maintenance as we get older. We have appointed an architect technician to look at my floor plans and check that it is buildable but we have given them permission to come up with better ideas if they can. The house will run from east to west - the longest wall faces south and I have planned an overhang from the floor above along the entire length of that wall to keep the ground floor cooler in the summer. The only window I have planned on the first floor facing south is on the stair well. The east and west balconies will again give shade to the bedroom windows hopefully helping to keep them cool in the summer aswell - a woman of my age needs no help at all to get to hot, especially overnight. I've posted these plans before but as this thread is going to be all about the design i thought it would be a good starting point so that we can see the progression up to and including planning consent being granted (note the confindence in that sentence ). My intention was to have a flat roof so the house would have a very modern look - all render and block like with maybe a little wood cladding as a feature to break up the render in a couple of places. The architects are trying to talk me out of the flat roof as they believe we will struggle to get the plans approved as they are not in keeping with other houses in the area. It's a bit hard to know what other houses they may consider as our nearest neighbours are horses on each side who do have stables but tend not to object to planning permission so long as they get a carrot or apple in payment. Neither plot is likely to get planning appoval for a house in my lifetime (one side has tried and failed). Very few plots down the lane have lawful houses on them but there are a few plots occuplied by one of more travelling caravans, most of which have enforcement notices served on them. So finding what is "normal" is a little tricky. The SSSI which we are close to is a hill that is home to a number of reptiles. We have walked up the hill many times and you cannot see our house from anywhere on the hill, you can see the end of the plot, but not the house. I understand that flat roofs have inherant issues that require careful detailing by good roofers - I have been reading @pocster's thread today to remind me of how badly things can go. I don't like flat roofs. However I like the look of PV panels even less but I know that I want them. We have considered putting the PV panels in one of the paddocks on a ground mount system but the dogs love rompng up and down like idiots. Having space for them to run was one of the big drivers for our move so filling up ground with panels is not something I want to do. A flat roof to me would be the lesser of the two evils and it means I can have PV panels facing any direction that I want. So here are the opions I am seeking from the collective: Is a flat roof a sensible compromise to allow PV panels to be hidden from my view? Is it worth having PV panels facing east, south and west to get the optimum solar generation? What limits are there on PV generation - I saw something today mentioning 4kw and not sure what dictates that? I know we won't be getting the FIT tariff so is there anything stopping us going above the 4kw limit (if that is what it is) and just "wasting" the excess if that is possible so that we don't overload the network? As you can probably tell, I know very little about PV but am reading whatever I can find. I've been meaning to put this thread up for a while now and seeing @Russell griffiths post about solar panels reminded me to pull my finger out and ask the questions. Thank you

During the year of waiting for the planning refusal, we (or more accurately Peter) has been busy in the gardens, getting things sorted. The kitchen garden is coming along nicely. The trees and bushes have settled down and it looks like we are in for a bumper crop this year. We have 6 IBCs that will be filled over the winter to use in the drier months. We have an additional 2 IBCs by the house which will collect the initial rainfall, before it is pumped to where we need it in the kitchen garden. The connectors to link the IBCs are on order and should arrive next week. The fencing is failing but replacing it properly is eye-wateringly expensive. The hammering you can hear in the background is Peter fixing the best bits of wood he can find, replacing the completely rotten bits. IMG_1904[1].MOV

Got the very welcome news this week that we have been granted full planning permission on our Part Q barn - so we'll be able to demolish/rebuild rather than "convert" and have to deal with all the faff that that entails. Had a zoom meeting with the architect a few days ago so it seems like the wheels are very (very) slightly beginning to turn on this jugganaut. Looking forward to putting some of the last 2+ years of reading on this site in to actual practice! First decision to make: what level of involvement am I planning? This will dictate to what degree of detail the architect produced the drawings. I'm thinking main contractor to water-tight stage, and then I'll sub-contract myself the rest of it. Planning an ICF build with insulated slab/raft. Any pitfalls with this approach?

Apparently Bicester has 352 bags of Multifinish in stock ...

I had no experience either while ours was only 20 m2 I had upstand around the perimeter and the lantern As Joe has already pointed out Everything must be dry Semi skilled at best

Hi Russell. Yes what you suggested does make sense, but there's a lot more work involved, plus there will be thermal bridging through the trimmer. The roof will have vaulted ceilings. I've decided to create a slight upstaged at the bottom of the gable wall. This will allow me to fit the last rafter on the internal side of the wall and be fully insulated. I will then do what Willbish did and chemically fit the ladder rafters to the outside of the wall. Thanks both for your help.

What is the scope of the work? £150K sounds a lot if it is just supply and erection of a timber frame.

In addition to "liability for damage to site or neighbouring properties" which you mention, there is also third-party liability relating to human injury and death. This is a huge issue which I think should be very clearly defined. Will the TF company have full control of the site during their phase of your build, for example? It is linked to CDM 2015 of course. I think I too would want a contract for such a major phase of work.

Example flint work near me. Some considerable craftsmanship with some.

Yes, pretty much, or off any point (internal walls?) deemed solid enough to take the load. Not sure how feasible that is, but I think I'd be trying to come up with a solution in principle with a good builder (they're often pretty creative problem-solvers), before passing it to an engineer to do the maths.

Hi @Sarah A we are one of those also in the Borders. Take a look at my blog if you have time to sit with a cup of tea.? You may find some bits useful especially when it comes to securing the plot. We undertook our build through 2018 so some of the prices etc mentioned may be a bit dated. Anyway, look forward to reading about your adventure as it unfolds. Our postcode if it helps is TD12 4........ The kettle will always be on should you feel a visit would be worthwhile.

What you need to consider is if the lintel drops Even a few mil your doors won’t open I used a 5 mtr steel with a hit and miss plate welded to take the outside skin

Sorry- misunderstood the point of the question! Thought it was the tank that was the problem, but I see you have bigger challenges... Can't offer any specific advise, but thinking 'out of the box' is there any scope for running steels diagonally from your support points, perhaps to provide intermediate support where there currently is none? Or (and I appreciate this might be a step too far), if you've got weight bearing walls in the right place, perhaps a length of UC running up through a bedroom, boxed in?

Welcome! There are at least a couple of us on here who have built in the Scottish Borders.

I would just use a steel beam and post arrangement. 6m Steel would only be taking the roof loading so pretty easy to calculate the depth, same on the side return and join them on a corner post bolted to the foundations.

I’m real sorry to hear this . I know exactly what it is like . The more I get told ‘no’ the more determined I become . What were the reasons for refusal ?

You were my favourite as well ! ??

I'm more annoyed at the fact they couldn't care less, I guess I expect more from them when there's an issue

As @Russdl has said Sunamp have been very responsive to issues of this nature. I would definitely contact them directly.

Yes I had problems getting my Sunamp delivered. In the end I spoke directly to Sunamp. I’ve pmd who the distributor is.

bottom line is thicker they are cheaper house will be to heat or cool -so don,t skimp now

@Triassic as the Covid thing kicked off I pestered my M&E guy to deliver mine but got no reply so I contacted Sunamp direct and they temporarily waived their rules regarding direct sales and sold me one which is now on site (just need to balance the books there). PM me if you want their contact details, they may waive their rules again?

The fish pond has been finished for a few years now. The fish have been busy getting on with life and last year, the numbers exploded. The filter pump has just broken - something to do with a kamikazee slug shorting out the motor. Luckily Peter noticed the same day as in the hot weather the fish would have died quickly without the pump working. Hopefully it will be back to normal next week when the repaired unit is back and functioning - the water normally looks a lot clearer. Anyone want any koi carp?? IMG_1907[1].MOV

Looking at that sort of money, I'd be seriously thinking about re-locating the tank somewhere else and updating your hot water system tbh.

Keep the first piece of cladding that has the angle on it and use it as a template. The angle should be the same all the way up. Once you have the first piece cut and are happy with the fit, get the 2nd piece and lay it on the first one with the left side flush. Then you can mark the 2nd board off the first on the short point of the angle, that then becomes the start of the long point on the next board. Hope that makes sense?

The ones that tell you that you are lucky are the ones going down the pub while your working your nuts off!,!!!!!!!

My Mum was a seamstress. I used to watch in awe as she sewed on her machines. The best bit was in the late 70s when thd local yummy mummys would come round for fittings for evening dresses etc. ? Edit: Nearly as good as the Kays Catalogue...

oh @pocster - after all this time we will not be having a flat roof, we may not have a roof at all of course!! Sorry, looks like you are back to ebay ?

Oh how long ago that last post seemed. So a quick recap. Planning put in April 23rd 2019. In September we went for non-determination to the planning inspectorate, fairly confident as a similar property a few plots up had been approved with a surprisingly similar design. We knew the approx. waiting time for the planning inspectorate was 6 months but as we'd lost the winter anyway, what did we have to lose? The site visit from the inspectorate was arranged for 24th March....... Yep, that was cancelled by the lockdown! Finally we get our site inspection 18th May. We did what we were told - opened the gate, let him wander round by himself and off he toddled. We got the refusal on Thursday. The architect was furious but to be honest, I was so fed up by that stage, any answer was better than nothing. There is no appeal of course and apparently because we are more than a year since the application went in, we are unable to get a free go with the next planning application. The architect is drawing up a second design with no charge - that is the contract that we had so good news on that front. So we are back to square one. We may as well go back to the drawing board and re-think exactly what we want from scratch. It will have to be a chalet bungalow to reduce volume but I know we can easily lose a bedroom without causing us an issue. The journey starts again but we are perilously close to not being able to fulfil the dream of a nice house here! We are getting older and will need a mortgage to build. We are borderline now over the affordability of the mortgage because of the short repayment period that we will be forced into so all a bit doom and gloom right now.