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Sounds tense. Can I add my advice to the others? Go get a cup of tea. On your builder, your position if it goes for conflict is not that strong, as demand is so high now. My suggestion is to pick up the Hewlett-Packard idea of Management By Walking Around, and visiting regularly but non-instrusively - preferably each morning - so that they know you are very interested. Keep interested and talking. Keep an eye on the detail, and continue to dream up ideas as to how you can save budget and help the project. If you need to be have minor changes, make sure the reasons are valid but do it if you need to. Suggest you pay special attention to the next 2-4 weeks of work to catch anything you might have missed. Your neighbours are being NFN. Normal for Nimbies. In one sense I don't blame them - who wants a bloody great building project next door thumping away for a whole year? OTOH you have the rights you have to make your home. I would make sure you stick by whatever the LA has set for limitations, and don't worry about Ns as far as you can. Do NOT evaluate them totally on what is happening now and blow up the relationship - when it is really finished tell them and drop some obviously nice wine round (couple of bottles of Nyetimber?). Then leave them alone for 6 months or so and then see how it goes. Even reluctant tolerance in the future is far better than being sworn enemies. I wouldn't invite them to look as a close interaction about your new pride and joy while things are still tense between you might not help, and both your senses of judgement will be affected and both egos tender. When you get to the end do something symbolically to leave any bad feelings behind on your side. I got PP for a small housing estate behind mine, and the neighbours objected vociferously ("you know we have to, don't you?"), but a few years later we are still talking if not yet going to sex parties together. But then we are both somewhat involved in construction. On your budget, perhaps it might be helpful to know how much you will be up financially at the end? Find out what your rebuilt house will be worth (something similar selling price in the same street/area), and compare it to what you paid. Since 2015 it should be quite a lot extra nearly everywhere. Try and think of overruns as a reduction in gain, rather than a standalone loss. Trickery, but perhaps useful. Pay attention to your relationship if you have one. And carve out time for mutual things are *not* building related (ban mention of it, go clay pigeon shooting -just something else) . This is really important. Is the self-builders prayer helpful, or at least the sentiments therein? It's all about focusing on the things you can control, and keeping a careful watch on the progress of the rest: And get a picture of a kitten for the wallpaper on your phone :? Ferdinand

This I think comes down to the fact people like to deal with people. He’s not the enemy he’s a bloke trying to make his way in the world like you. You need the tension to dissipate. So Friday chippy lunch, pop in and talk without an objective. Once you have a relationship you can flex it. But you need a seat at the table first.

Well despite the light evenings progress has been very limited during June. I've been working 8-6 with an hour travel each end, then with the dog to walk the horses to sort out and dinner there has just been no time. I've also been decorating in our house, which needs to be done because we have visitors in a couple of weeks. HID has been more productive, but as we have our separate roles he has been held up as well. Just outside the end of the barn when we were trying to dig out roots we hit some rubble. We thought it was a couple of stones, but it ended up being tons. The hole we started digging had lots of voids which we were worried about, particularly as this is exactly where the drainage pipes were supposed to be going so these had to be removed. Some of them were too heavy the the digger to lift so they had to be dragged. In the end we had a very large hole, but with digging out the floors we have enough to fill it, it's just hard work. One of my jobs is racking out the floors to get them more or less level, but I keep finding more rocks buried as part of the sub foundations. So, we thought, let's use the digger and dry the dumper in. Started well. What we didn't consider was that when the front goes down, the back goes up. Dumper well and truly stuck. As we didn't want to empty it to move again we ended up raising the roof with props to get the dumper out. Really stressful as I was worried we were going to pull the roof down. Not trying that again. Now we've knocked down the middle walls that are not supporting anything we wanted to start removing the corridor which is sloped as it, obviously, needs to be level. But, once we started we realised that even the lowest bit is 8+ inches thick of solid concrete. Plan B needed. We think that it will be a frame and level. I'm now hoping that the rest is as thick as it will certainly be solid and stable. We do need to remove the kerbs either side and there are some drains which we need to investigate and probably fill in. this floor is the base level from which everything will be built which means that the other corridor, which is 6" higher needs to be removed. HID is planning on hiring a cutter to do some of it which will then allow him to dig it out. So, a non productive month all in all. Hopefully July will be better, although I'm still going to be very busy at work. But, HID is currently in Slovakia for work so has to quarantine at home for 10 days. So, apart from checking emails and taking calls he plans on spending lots of time on the build (demolition). Looking at the barn in detail we still have so much to do just to take it back to basics. Then the SE will be out so the BR drawings can be finished. This building lark really is a lot of effort ? Thanks for trawling through, if you've made it this far and next update the end of July.

My Mrs did a lot of research into IH with extractors and her conclusion was the extractors where pretty useless (and very expensive) - I have no first hand experience personally. We went with a really nice IH without extractor in the end (https://ao.com/product/ex975lvv1e-siemens-iq700-induction-hob-black-68119-39.aspx) which we both love and I positioned 2 MVHR extraction points above the island each side (3m apart). Any smells are gone very quickly, and since we've been in, not once have I thought "I wish I had an extractor". My MVHR might be somewhat oversized though as in 'normal' speed it does 225m3/h (min regs for our house is 191m3/h)

Sewer pipe is smooth plastic with no obstructions and laid to a consistent fall on a firm bed of shingle. Flat roof are built with timber joists and OSB sheets, which can twist and sag, supported on walls that can settle, with complicated junctions, upstands, verges and outlets. Often there are trims or leadwork added at the point where the water should run off. There are a couple of flat roof puddle threads on this site at the moment.

my two pence worth seriously consider major insulation in your refurbishments as priority getting heat loss down should be first thing to do -then look at how you make the heat next I,m guessing walls are solid + no dpc +no cavity so normal practise would be to make a new walls full of insulation 140mm? with a gap between them and outside bit like building a modern TF house inside what you got at same time as doing that look at electrics and water system -- all can be hidden behind walls and maybe just ignore old systems -cover them up and swop over when you are done you can carry on living there while you do -so time will not be a problem to complete the right job high insulation cannot be over stressed when it comes to modernising and running costs

+1

unlike @pocster I'm def talking about the pillars! I've virtually built a house in the same time. Its turning into another bathroom project really..

The other pillar: This side will be in shadow ?: A very careful application of silicone eater might tidy the bricks up a bit. Should have masked up first I guess! I'll admit to resorting to a surgical glove dipped in a water / washing up liquid mix to finish things off!

Bit like walk on glazing ….

Only issue I have with the Neff ovens is the display regularly freezes, either completely or with partial function. Needs to be turned off, wait 15 secs (light flashes inside) and turn on again, then reset timers etc. Have also replaced the inside glass on one of the hide and slide doors after someone closed it a bit too enthusiastically - not cheap but quite DIYable. The pyrolytic self clean function is decent but there is an inch perimeter around the doors that you need to manually clean with something industrial.

Just remember that all the penetrations ( sockets etc ) need to be detailed accordingly eg foamed behind to stop air movement ( draughts ).

It's RUSTIC! ?

It's not just about "payback", it's about day to day comfort (not having big swings in temperature, needing the heating less), and well, shoving less CO2 it to our already screwed climate!

I like 2 x 1 battens fixed with long screws and plugs through 60mm PIR insulation. Finish with 15mm plasterboard. Gives a service void for cables pipes and sockets. Either foil tape the joins or cover with polythene.

Perhaps in my final kitchen I should have no cupboards just rows of ovens .

We have 4 ovens, all Neff Top left is a combi microwave / oven. Top right is a steam oven. Bottom left is a standard size oven, hide & slide door. Bottom right is another standard size oven, hide & slide door. Plan was that the bottom right oven was reserved for baking and was the highest specced - digital, super accurate etc, bottom left was a cheaper version for everyday use. When ordered, the cheap one was out of stock so we got a free upgrade to the fancy version, so now have two the same. Also turns out that both of these ovens have a steam function which makes the steam oven somewhat redundant. So the two left hand ovens get used all the time. Steam oven is now known as the broccoli oven as that's all that has ever been cooked in it. 'Fancy' oven mostly contains the shelves and trays from the other 3 ovens. Occasionally used for baking bread. When we do xmas dinner for 12, we manage to use them all but I suspect life would have been just as good with two. However, looks nice.

A bit like buying a printer cheap and getting shafted on the toner. LPG is massively expensive. We once had LPG and it was cheaper to switch the heating off and go out to the pub.

Final bits fitted. Job done. Turned out fantastic, never thought I could have got this result, tiling especially. Do have some yellowing to the whited lower wall, damp getting thru etc, rhs of door.. but hey ho i expected this. Big thank yous to Joe, Onoff & Co for the advice. Zooter.

Cavity closer will be 2-3mm at most. You want a decent fire door frame in there - and also make it an 838mm door too. An FD30 trenched frame for a larger door is 906mm wide, so with 5mm either side you would be well to put a 920mm structural opening in and also go with 145mm deep frame too.

Why have you gone for a 762 door, far too small in my opinion. I would also say your rough opening is tight, doesn’t allow a lot for packing out the door lining.

All I need to make 150 meals a day. We only have 2 ovens, neither of them very big. There is so much nonsense spoken about cooking.

I am not sure this is going to work like you intend, using LPG is going to cost far more than oil. These LPG distribution firms are crooks.

Why are you ditching your architect? The detailed technical design portion is critical in translating the design into a building!

90 is double what I’m charging building companies But contractors no self builders options are limited at the moment

You should be fine then Always worth looking at previous jobs

Be wary of cash for render You will need a guarantee Beware of the guy that skimmed your house that does render also

Snap. (Well, almost - we started hoping in 1985) Welcome

Welcome to THE forum for people like us!

Welcome to THE forum for people like us!

Just reminds me of a situation my parents had years ago when replacing a roof with concrete tile and the Planning Officer wanted them to put in steel plates bolted together to strengthen it, but in such a way that it did not look to me to be anything but none-sense. Luckily we were in touch with a Forensic Surveyor and he sent a letter off to the PO and said "if he ever so much as darken your door again I will throw him in court!" Latter found out that the PO's major qualification for the job was that he did woodwork at school! He had major companies end up with roofs that did not match up and so on, seemed quite dangerous to be honest.

@NLC speaking freely the removal of PD rights (in the way you describe, or the way that it happened to us) is in the vague arena of unlawfulness / illegality. Why should a homeowner have such permitted development rights removed, and then have to pay to have them reinstated? They should never have been removed in the first place. It's an outrage, but gives you a window into the wider mentality of LPAs and the little people who work for them which, basically, is: block, block, block, obstruct and block. It's wrong and the inspectorate really need to be far tougher on them: they're essentially preying for the most part on "civilian" homeowners who don't have a scooby doo that they're entitled to their PD rights. Anyway, rant over. We used a great consultant who specialises in this and had a field day with his report. The LPA didn't even spitefully force us to go to appeal: they just gave the PD rights back, tail between legs, and skulked off in to the shadows. If you don't want to spend the cash you could cobble together a supporting statement using your own research and people's advice on this board, and then if they refuse it simply appeal and the inspectorate won't fall for the LPA's dirty tricks or take any notice of the amateurism of your statement: they'll likely just give the rights straight back. That way you also contribute to the LPA's list of failed appeals (to my knowledge, if they get enough of these, they get put on the govt naughty step) that particularly year. Double whammy. Good luck.

Unfortunately It’s a worldwide problem An American friend of ours put this up on FB yesterday

Yes I have read the protocol and I'm familiar with its use. There is currently no dispute in the OP. And as I've said you first have to ensure you've given the builder every opportunity to satisfy the contract within a reasonable amount of time.

Our entry-level Bosch makes me cross MODS please delete this thread. If SWMBO reads it, we're done for ?

Welcome You can make a shell look like the finished product in a weekend then, tell us the secrets.