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Btw you don’t have a screw missing in that bracket, you either use the centre hole or the two outer, not all three.

We used Lindab and didn't have any problems. It's a very different system to plastic but if all the cuts are made with hand tools it works ok. I was sceptical about the galvanising creeping over the cut surfaces, as explained in the instructions, but we didn't have any rust.

Ages ago I wrote a spreadsheet for doing what-if comparisons to see whether it was better to invest in more insulation in the walls, roof, floor, fit better windows and doors, or fit a better MVHR system. Others have found it useful and I've been reminded that I've not re-posted it over here, so here's the latest version. It should be self-explanatory, you fill in the cells with your wall, roof/ceiling and floor areas, add the areas of each door and window, put in the U values for each and, if you can, get hold of the met data from the met office for your area (the data in there is for West Wiltshire, right on the border with Dorset). This isn't a thorough modelling tool, it just looks at heat loss fairly accurately but doesn't take into account heat gains, although there is a crude way of doing that by drawing a line across the seasonal plot at the point where you don't use heating and you can very roughly assume that anything above that line will be heating. Please feel free to ask any questions, but bear in mind I wrote it back when I was designing our house and haven't used it for a couple of years. so I may be a bit rusty. Heat loss calculator - Master.xls [edited to add latest version of the spreadsheet]

Hello, my name is Joe from West Lothian my wife and myself are in our late 50s and starting our self-build journey hopefully in a rural/semi-rural area. We have 2 plots we are interested in and are currently in talks with the sellers. Our budget is tight under £300k including land no lending required hopefully we can achieve our dreams. We looking to build a single floor cottage kit frame 3 bedroom that's around 100 to 120 sqm. Having looked and talk to Flemings we both like the company's approach to self-building together with the style of cottage kit that you can access the loft space and develop later. Our planned journey We plan to have contractors build the foundations and fleming supply and erected the kit to watertight after which we will take over and carry out as much as we can to finish bringing in contractors as required to the specialise jobs like a septic tank. We can work full time on the build have reasonable DIY skills and I have experience with plumbing, Joiner and so on so hopefully that will see us through.

Depends what you want. I intend sanding every inch of mine, then apply a surprising amount of filler to little imperfections then sand again. it’s never as good as you would like straight off. it’s surprising how much work the painters do before painting.

Zambelli galvanised guttering here. Easy to fit with a hacksaw, and tin snips for fitting the hoppers. Very pleased with it.

For a few mm just silicone. A named one as it needs to be stand a lot of weather and uv, and you dont want to be doing that again.

I have my own theories about thin coat render on well insulated buildings, having got my own issues. Sand / cement render seems to work okay on normal masonry buildings. I am convinced part of that is the buildings leak heat, and the outer surface of the building never goes below 0, even here in the Highlands, where temperatures well below 0 are normal in winter. I also observe that a lot of cement rendered buildings also absorb a lot of moisture in driving rain, and the render changes colour because it is wet. Take away that "leaking heat" factor and cement render on a wall that is likely to absorb water and then freeze when the temperature goes below 0 without the heat leaking out to stop it, and the render will fail. I note garden walls here that have been rendered, the render is falling off after a winter or 2, I am convinced because there is nothing to stop the render freezing. So assuming an ICF building is well insulated I fear cement render would fail in a hard winter. So ANY render used on a well insulated house has to be totally waterproof or not capable of absorbing water that can then freeze. I think that is at the heart of thin coat render failures where I suspect in our case, the outer layer has not been completely waterproof.

If the flow screed finds its way down the joints and gets under the insulation, the stuff will float to the top!

Scaffolding makes it really easy, and much less chance of damage, stainless is an unforgiving metal to work with but it is very durable and stays ripple free. Zinc is much easier to work with but kinks and creases much easier. Both are far superior to plastic if fitted well and are doable with thought and care. Plastic is very forgiving as it can be bent and twisted into place without distortion of the finished job.

Here's a play list for you https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=levels+for+landscape

Have a look at the Guttercrest ali stuff. There is a bit of drilling, cutting and riveting involved in the install but all doable. I found zinc is easy to damage.

That gives you a fall of about 1:40. Even if your invert at the exit from the hut is 250mm because you want the pipe buried, you still have 1:80 which is just about acceptable.

nominal mix, ratio of C25 concrete grade is 1:1:2, in which one part is Portland cement mixed with 1 part of fine aggregate/ sand and 2 part of coarse aggregate with required quantity of water

If it’s a new build not an extension then you want the best you can get. I would say those u values are poor, and are more what I would have in an extension to a poor house, not a new build to a high spec. don’t overthink this sight line mumbo jumbo. I spent ages making dummy frames to check all the mullions would line up, the windows we chose upstairs are a lot thinner than the door down stairs. Do we notice it ,nope not one bit. Was a waste of months of time worrying about how thin the frames where going to be. in the end we went with enormous fat ally clad, but they have a brilliant u value and terrific air tightness. I think it was the better choice.

Are you thinking you are going to buy sand and aggregate separately then buy cement. just buy concrete ballest already mixed together and add cement and water. 5 ballest 1cement will be perfectly adequate for a footing mix. can you not just get a couple of metres of readymix.

18 weeks when we asked around our neck of the woods.

Bog standard?

Who's that with? We've been waiting since November for a replacement glazing unit from Internorm 🤣

Ideal Combi and Rationel are part of the same group. Installation is often a downfall and on the video above I think many of the issues would not have arisen had the units been correctly installed. That said, I had an issue with condensation on a Velfac window some years ago and in spite of the warranty Velfac were keen to blame the install (which we did ourselves). The homeowner was not taking any nonsense so eventually Velfac capitulated and supplied and fitted a new one at their own expense.

Hi Joe90 aye just starting long way to go

Hi and welcome, another Joe 90 … that’s me gonna get confuzzzled

https://www.heatgeek.com/how-to-size-my-heat-pump-or-boiler-heat-loss-cheat-sheet/ May be worth running through this also

Hi and welcome. You will be in good company here to help you through what looks like a well thought out plan.

HOW did you calculate the heating need just from your gas usage? What you probably have is an average heat input needed over the whole heating season. What you need is a peak heating input on the very coldest day in winter, which could be twice your average, so the MCS sizing is probably reasonable. What no company wants, is to estimate too small, install a 5kW ASHP then have a customer complaining that in January it just cannot heat the house to a comfortable temperature.

I have timber web joists throughout with standard plasterboard & skim under and 18mm OSB deck on top plus whatever the floor finish is. On my GF (which sits over basement) the UFH is in spreader plates between the joists so under teh OSB. There is then a sandwich of 12mm and 9mm ply on top of which is about 10mm of resin floor system (rubber mat and resin itself). I remember when considering ICF that the proposed hollow core flooring necessary for the spans plus screed on top, plus services void under would have given me too deep a build up on each floor. With the web joists, services run through the webs - 110mm fouls being the largest and 75mm MVHR next biggest - this is only really an issue for your first floor as it will impinge on the ceiling height in the floor below. For UFH you will need to allow for insulation etc. My basement slab is a passive raft so insulated underneath (it sits on 300mm EPS) and has no UFH, perfectly comfortable without it.

We're being told 10-12 weeks turnaround times. Our windows are being measured up this week.

You do realise that you are not connecting to the white pipe. Pull the white pipe out and chuck it in a skip. Then you are back to the grey. Work out what you need from there.

That link that @Nickfromwales put up, this is the connector. The back of the close coupled pan goes into the 83mm dia hole - it's a stretchy rubber connection. Aided by a bit of silicone grease to lube things up. You then stretch the concertina bit, dog leg it a bit and push the 112mm dia into the grey 110mm pipe. The "flutes" press against the inside of the grey pipe wher the internal diameter is less than 110mm. Quick and easy for most people If it were me I'd do it solvent weld probably but then I dont do quick or easy!

Then it is a non starter. To drive off at an angle to go round a legally parked car in that space, would also mean taking down the walls between you and a neighbour and for them to be happy with you driving over part of their land.

Without a dropped kerb permit I believe it's a motoring offense to drive over the pavement. Google suggests its section 184 of the Highways Act.

Yup, they are a joy, aren't they?!? FYI, I don't ever fit the acoustic gaskets, as they create a friction slip. Instead, I mask around the pan, a few mm before pinching it up for the last time, and pump the gap between the pan and the wall with clear CT1. Once fully tightened, and levelled, the excess CT1 gets removed with baby wipes until it is no longer visible. 48hrs to cure, then a cosmetic seal up with white microban based silicone and job done.

The tray stops the membrane trailing in the gutter A small cut like that won’t effect it

The instructions for our Geberit were in 'no words' international code, so it was quite hard work to follow. It was actually easy enough once understood, because, as Nick says, there weren't as many variables as expected. I expect numbers 2 to 5 become very straight forward. The frame has not budged. Unfortunately the same was not the case for the pan, where a very long key tightens a very flimsy looking plastic lock nut onto the hanging bolts. We perhaps got scared of overtightening and cracking it, and it slowly loosened. Next time was ultra tight and has been fine since. It is one of those undignified plumbing jobs lying on your back, holding up a heavy object while doing intricate assembly.

You can have your close-coupled WC, fear not ! What you need is a bent flexible pan connector LINK and a WC which is not fully back-to-wall ( eg there is no porcelain meeting all the rear of the wall hiding the soil connection ). The grey is a perfectly new 110mm standard PVC pipe, so no worries there. The 3.5" bit you are looking at is a standard reduced sized pan connector, just a bloody long one, a standard off-the-shelf item.

You can do all sorts of "cranking". Could you turn the pan through 90deg so it in the same wall as the grey pipe? This is my mocking up for a mates wall hung pan: Obviously the brown 110mm can be cut way down: Then his actual install: A lot of the stuff goes from nom 90mm to 110mm. This is mine:

a lot depends upon width. here majority are 35mm but 826 go up to 40mm

Yes, there is a 5% retention for the whole project (which is fairly significant) and also he hasn’t invoiced me for the work he has to do over the next few weeks.

Happy with my XL Joinery Oak doors about 40mm thick, heavy, and hung on 3 ball bearing hinges.

FD30 doors do have a nice hefty feel to them, and with three hinges they work really well. You should be able to find oak FD30 doors, they look like solid oak, but in fact are engineered with something else on the inside. This is actually far preferable to solid oak, as solid oak will warp. So just look for oak FD30s in the style you want. Todd Doors has a nice range.

Know what, I could couldn't I. There's a thought. Thanks. My instinct is that at the moment, that would be a bit heavy. The HoP is clearly annoyed with my letter pointing out his errors, but he's been stung into doing something. Thats a real achievement. I suppose the land owner now has the same statutory rights to appeal against Enforcement - again. That means a few months (6?) This is taking for ever innit? I've a good mind to go and do summat unlawful in planning terms and drag it out for as many years - minus one day that it takes to bring me to book. Now then what'll it be? I know, dig and operate a revenge cesspit 💩 and uncover it when the wind is in the right direction. (I'd be so scared of children falling in ....)

I agree. I also agree but not always possible within budget. Every little extra insulation/airtightness counts. The first inch of insulation does the most good then it’s diminishing returns so do what you can 👍

I might have said this before. Knock down and rebuild (i'll get my coat)

I hope with regards the neighbours that you don't end up where i have a few times. I have previously done renovations and extensions to property i have owned. I have ended up in the end not wanting to stay in the house due to the soured relationship with neighbours. So when i have finished them, i have ended up just selling them on. It's funny, i am currently looking at a house in what i would call, not a run down area, but a bit old, a bit tired area. If i get it, i recon i can make £50k on the re-sale after refurb. Better still, i recon i will get permission to put an extra house to the side. If i did, it's another £100k + in the bank. The area just has normal people, the type who might do there own car servicing on the drive, rather than getting the main dealer to collect and service it (If you know what i mean.) I have started to realise in life that the nicest people i meet, are people who are just trying to get by, and get on with life. The most unpleasent people i know are the people with money. I saw a tv programme a few years ago about some really poor street in Southend. Everybody were on the breadline. They all looked out for each other, they all kept an eye on each others kids, and if One of them was hungry, somebody in the street would sort them out with a meal. I said to my wife "What a great place to live" They seemed to have values that so many people no longer have.

I have to agree that having neighbours, relatives and passers-by pissing in your ear while you are spending a shedload on a complex building project is enough to push most people to their limit. Put them on ignore. Hopefully this is the dark hour before the dawn.

Too right. That guy Robbins when on to work for the BBC.

Yup lol. The penny drop’th. 😎😁

🙄 @Onoff you know in your heart of hearts what you must do …. Get planning and spend the rest of your life building a proper house . It is your destiny young skywalker !

OK, a little late to this but can't resist correcting you 😁

Just think, we could soon have a “Hi everyone, I’m Poc-ster” 🤯