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It's been over a year since we finished our home and I thought it would be good time to reflect. We have not had any major snagging issues with the house. The only product which required some additional work was the LVT flooring, we found thermal expansion was causing some warping. This has since been resolved with the addition of two expansion joints. In my last blog post I discussed how we were heating the house with just a wood stove during colder times of the year. In the first year I had to build up our wood stocks quite quickly, but going into the second year I decided to focus on collecting sticks. I'm still burning home grown split logs but I find that collecting a bundle of sticks to be a great way to maximise the amount of firewood. By the end of the summer I had collected quite a large pile. Nearly all of these sticks are either dead wood, wind blown trees or from trees needing to be cut down for other reasons. In these times of uncertain electricity and gas prices, it's very satisfying to be able to collect and store fuel to heat my family. For our hot water, our exhaust air source heat pump has been very efficient and with no need for electricity to heat our house our usage has been 10-11kWh a day. During the course of the self build I collected a huge amount of stones from the ground. I used the smaller ones to extend the parking area. The larger ones I sorted and then had a go at dry stone walling to line the ditch. In the spring I stumbled across videos on YouTube by Charles Dowding discussing his no dig approach to gardening and I decided that it would be great to grow more vegetables. My take away from his videos was that having access to large amounts of compost was critical to making this a success. I started to hot compost from lawn clippings, hay and a variety of woody materials. I recycled the last of the pallets from the self build to make this four bay system By the end of the summer I had a huge pile of homegrown compost. This is now ready to grow some vegetables in the Spring, any suggestions?

Last weeks one was just an example of the ludicrous planning system we have. A valley in Cumbria with the ruins of some old mill. They got PP to conserve and add a building to it, but then the building was declared beyond hope by the heritage guy, so they knocked it all down, built the new building and then rebuild something a bit similar to the derelect stone work around it to look as though they had kept the old ruins. Am I the only one that thinks it would have been better just to build a completely new building and face it in the old stone, once it was apparent the old building was completely beyond saving?

You can always ask a mod. Just PM any of us, or use the general message form. I've put Mod Cat Avatar back up. In Scotland there are something like 2 million to do. In England something like 24 million. Assuming 80% of dwellings. It needs an industrial strategy like the one applied to battery factories.

They are both quality brands of power tools. It will just come down to do you want yellow or blue coloured power tools!!

Well, you have to ask yourself how far you are prepared to compromise your current build / expose yourself to additional costs against the likelihood of it being permitted / you being arsed to do it tbh. I think only you can weigh that up - I think your solution to the current issue is high quality stud (4x2 cls) which is as solid as block if done right but you need to assess the options.

Even better, 140mm x 38mm c24 structural wall will do it, ask your SE. Again ask the SE if the width of the footing and thickness of the slab can accommodate an off centre 140mm wall. I think that your SE will be able to get a solution for you without messing around with the layout

Are you going to do an additional floor or is a 'nice to have the option' for a future buyer?

An internal wall is likely to have a 450mm bucket doing the trench. Stud all the way for me.

And stick to your 2600mm floor to ceilings - that's is what I an doing and it is awesome.

You don't want the wall off centre to the concrete due to rotational force. Change to 4x2 CLS stud? Pretty solid stuff tbh.

The price point between CAT 5 and 6 is negligible, maybe an extra £30 for a 300m reel. All my cables have been chased into the walls at the same time as getting the house rewired and I don't intend on doing that again for another 30+ years so for me at least, it made sense. My biggest concern is network congestion - there's a finite number of devices that can be connected to a home WiFi at the same time before you start experiencing a degradation in their connection, so where possible I hardwire everything using ethernet (RJ45 to the back of TVs and gaming consoles etc, Smart Bulbs connected to a wired bridge rather than wifi etc), which is where a 10GB backbone comes into its own. It's perhaps overkill right now, but it allowed me to geek out whilst I put it all together so I'll take that

- change the stairs to put a quarter tern or something in? its impossible to know if this is doable without layouts (can you post) - Thinner door? looks pretty small anyway - steeper stairs, max to BR is 42 degrees. - how wide was the trench under the slab, check with the SE and ask how much does it have to have either side of the wall, it maybe o.k to have the wall off centre on the trench line.

We had a joiner and bathroom fitter do the same to us. The bathroom fitter was a funny one, spent literally WEEKS on the bathroom, then what turned out to be his last couple of days he was rushing around like a mad man, cut corners and we could never get him back onsite to make it right. We ended up getting a new joiner and I finished off the bathroom myself. Hope you get sorted!

Maybe I am old fashioned, but for the life of me I can't see the advantage of such a high bandwidth uplink other than running a largish business. I planned out my house 6 years ago and used Cat 5E internally. The internal Enet links all run at 1Gb. I've a PoE switch in a shed and all of my cameras are wired back to it using exterior grade Cat 6. They FTP their snippets back to an internal file server. I don't really backup or use 3rd party services off-site (just on-site). My remote access is via a VPN service from one of my RPi4 servers.. For the life of me I can't see the advantage of putting my balls on a plate, and offering them gratis to some 3rd party with whom I have no effective contractual remedies.

put another layer over the lot, its cheap to do and will give you biggest return.

You will be fine with 60 mil S&C

Maybe it would take that long if it was heating the tank from cold, but it will only ever be "topping up" (unless you have underestimated your hot water usage). So 30 mins should see it raised from 40°C to 50°C.

Have you asked your ICF supplier? We used Polarwall and they gave me a couple of recs.

A heat pump is more like a system boiler than a combi. You need a hot water tank with a heat pump. Most of them will only run heating or hot water at any one time and switch between them, and most allow you to set different temperatures for each. Mine is set to run hot water heating for 30 minutes at a time when the HW tank says it needs some heat, but you can adjust the parameters to either give priority to hot water or to heating. And most of us run the hot water at about 50 degrees or slightly less which plays much better with the way heat pumps work.

If that is the case then it will keep most rain out and can breathe. probably not the problem. All the things you mentioned need looking at. DPC: is this a physical dpc or injected? Flashings at chimneys. very vulnerable to ingress, and the build-up of muck including dead things. Also v difficult to inspect. Airbricks. these will not be ventilating the walls, but under the ground floor. They often get covered and you should check but that probably isn't the issue here. Chimneys. You have chimney pots without covers. These were great when fire were burning all the time. Now rains falls straight in and lands where the chimney stack cranks...usually at about half way up the wall of each floor. I would try to find an independent local expert. NOT a render company as they usually use one product for better or worse. Not a builder unless they can first prove some real knowledge...make a checklist of suggestions from us lot, don't tell the builder, and see if they match. An Architect or Engineer or Surveyor (Note the Capitals) will give an honest , warts and all report. They may even say that it isn't an easy matter, and the cure will be partial. Again, check that they are expert in this gutty, unsexy side of building. Many don't have this expertise. These professionals will charge, but that is better than thousands spent on something useless or worse. For a bit more help from us, could you do a sketch and mark where the worst damp or damage is? including the chimneys, but not necessarily exactly to scale.

We bought one of these for our site office which isn't insulated. works well and has power options. We also bought the stand but that depends on your space These heaters seem to have nearly all reverted to having a glowing element. I suspect people didn't trust heat that they couldn't see. This won't be quite as efficient as the 'black' units, as this is issuing light and warming more air. On the plus side you are less likely to leave it on by mistake, Wall / Stand Mount Patio Heater 2kW IP24 650 to 2000W £58

Like a gas combi then?

and you cant have both at the same time.

Hmmm, really not sure, maybe @nod can help

A big thank you for all the great advice, I’ve decided to go with a Makita twin set. It was a little more expensive than I wanted to pay but thought Id up the spec slightly and go for the brushless. As much as I’d of liked to of used the nailer for ease I just don’t think I’d of got the use from it as much aS I will the Makita pair. Regards. James

Sounds like they could be rust spots but to reoccurs there must be assitional moisture, any chance of a small leak above?

I’ve been put in this scenario myself-it’s an absolute #**#ache. As Declan said-blown in beads or full fill cavity batts are the practical solution. Otherwise,you’ll end up with an improperly inststalled,underperforming insulation system. If the PIR has gone up in price & is still packaged,would you not get the majority of your money back?

What width is the window shown? Would it be feasible to sister up the trusses either side,have the head of the windos as an upstand (kind of like a dormer) and trim across to suit?

they pinched the drawing from nhbc but what is actually showing is a sleeve through which the soil pipe runs. You have a soil pipe by the looks and no sleeve in which case should be a joint either side of wall. There is one on the outside, is there one on the inside as well ? wouldnt worry about rodents unless its going to be on display and not buried. https://nhbc-standards.co.uk/5-substructure-ground-floors-drainage-and-basements/5-3-drainage-below-ground/5-3-14-protection-of-pipework/

Yes I agree, but not sure about all that lead flashing on top of the stones. Could they have dealt with it differently?

Cut the boards with a hand saw. Physically there is no way your getting your hand down a 25mm space to put tape on the joins without pushing the wet blocks out of plumb. They will bed the wall like that but with the best will in the world unless your paying mega bucks for him to clean each and every bed as he goes and double checks each board and lift off some blocks then some are going to have gaps.

I just realised how many hours of my life have been wasted screwing all those bolts into each car wheel. In future I am adopting marine engineering standards on the basis that when the single wheel bolt falls out of a wheel I will be alerted.

The HP runs at two different temps, depending on whether it is heating the hot water supply or for the space heating. Typically the DHW would be heated to around 50°C and the space heating to a lower temp, ideally 35°C or less.

It turned out well though, and again fair play to them as they put the effort in.

I'm sorry, but that is rubbish. In 25+ years of installing all types of heating systems I have NEVER, not once, heard of any manufacturer ever stating that you must switch your heating on and leave it on 24/7 in the heating season. Nope. Nada. Nil. The summary here that it SHOULD be left on to keep this dwelling up to temp is a totally separate statement altogether. How about this; You could perhaps contact Vaillant, state to them that as a market leader in all heating and now renewables, how the fcuk could they have a system leave their factory headed for a guaranteed suicide mission?! Utterly and completely unacceptable from: a) a manufacturer of this pedigree, and b) if this was an MCS accredited installation then possibly a legal matter also, as clearly all questions in the MCS tick-list were filled in by Enid Blyton. At the minimum at least some improvements should have formed part of this contract, or the installation should 100% not have gone ahead. To give some completeness to my utter bewilderment here; I once worked for a business communications installation firm, and the comm's side of it was installing nothing but Panasonic KX series switches. When I started they were getting busier and busier and I was informed that I was to be sent to the head office in Bracknell to become accredited to install the Panasonic range of comm's products. When I asked why the original ( already employed and working alongside me ) accredited installer wasn't suffice I was told that in order to be supplied with the qty of products they were then ordering, there was a requirement from Panasonic to have at least 2 accredited members of staff at the firm. They did not want their products being installed poorly and then to have their reputation this damaged. They said that, or they would refuse to supply X qty of products. I assume here that the MCS installer is at fault primarily ( further assuming Vaillant did not install this themselves and a private / 3rd party installer was used ) as this installation was mis--sold on a good day, and illegal on the worst. @zoothorn You have blood on your hands here, as you have stated you knew this would not perform as it should in terms of the current state of the builds fabric and ventilation heat losses eg maintaining a decent ambient internal temp in the same way a high-temp heat source would. That is a separate statement and not intended to be applied to the issues of noisy / faulty / incorrectly installed equipment btw so please do not reply any differently. In terms of what to do next; Have the 11kW mono block installed. Any less than 11kW then tell them to FO as the maths will not have been done again at that point and around we will go. That will give you heated water entering your property in a manner that befits putting your frustrations to bed as there will be no internal compressor ( suitcase ) unit at all. The most you would have is a plate heat exchanger to separate glycol mix from your internal primary heating circuit brine and a standard UK circulation pump to circulate the heat from the HeX to your rads / UVC. Problem here will be completely resolved in that instant. New problem; The system will still struggle to heat your block of swiss cheese. You know that so no need to post it here ever again. Possible solution; 1) Fit massive radiators ( not BIG radiators but MASSIVE ones ) and do nothing to the fabric of the build, use whenever you like, and say no more about it. 2) Improve the fabric and ventilation heat losses by plugging up holes / improving glazing units / replace or overhaul door and window to get them to seal / install IWI or EWI and so forth to then stop the heat that this system creates from escaping the second it is created. 3) As 2 is a longer term plan, budget dependant etc, then for the interim you should fit low speed tangential fans to the undersides of the existing ( too small for the immediate ) radiators which will blow the heat away from the rads and around the room. Google will show you makes / models / give advice on improvements and installation etc, but as were nice folk here......... here's a Link to get you started 4) Buy a lot of jumpers, from the money saved from not using heating at all. 5) Fit fossil fuel based CH and move on with your life. Clear concise advice above, and I am not being critical or horrible, but you cannot get a pint out of a half--pint pot mate. Somethings gotta give. Summary; Allow them to fit the new mono block ASAP. The sack of shart that is there now is damaging your brain. FYI they fitted a split because they are inherently high-temp and better suited to your block of Swiss cheese. Up to 80/85oC flow rates are then possible, but subsequently the defrost troll that lives under the bridge will want to tax this system to boot. Question the size of the rads they fitted and insist in larger doubles in the worst rooms ( which should have been made massive on the first install but hey--ho ). Enjoy not having the internal compressor, and your new found relative peace and quiet ( allowing for the low hum of internal HeX pump, if so required, which will be as quiet as this install is EVER going to get ), but do not moan about being cold or the system not performing extremely well as you know deep down that it won't until you improve the house that it is forced to reside in. Good luck, and I genuinely mean that. To all; So nobody loses any sleep :- DISCLAIMER: to date I have never actually seen the defrost troll. Should this situation change, I will update here accordingly. "Focker, out!"

Would they have had to reapply for planning permission once the old mill was knocked down? Would there have been a risk of them being refused? Or was it a case of once they'd started down a particular path, they were blind to any other direction?

Only ever seen stainless steel work areas in all the commercial kitchens I have worked in.

One of many mysteries. every week the missus wants to know how they get planning, and I can only put it down to big money hiring good consultants.

Yes before and make sure they are covered well. Plaster is almost impossible to get out of wood grain.

Mine got really stiff but I put a load of grease on it the twist thread and works fine.

This will help a bit if they are south facing, but not 100% Here is one we did with an 1800mm overhang, south facing picture at 13:15 on 20 April and the sun is still halfway up the windows:

This is the size chart for the IdealCombi single light triple glazed Futura. Probably similar for Velfac and Rationel. You can get some mighty big windows from them.

Thankfully SWMBO did ours the other day. I would now have been dead had it been the other way round. Dead. Has been. Ex-alive. Watching with interest

Did you see that bloke unload those trees, i wanted to climb in the telly and karate chop him in the throat.

We approached two local distributors of Internorm: one came back at 22k and the other 32k. We pushed the former harder and agreed at a shade over 20k in the end. The latter then said they would match it if it fell through! Goes to show how much of a mark-up some of these firms expect to make. Pays to shop around...