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Our tale of delays and woe is competing even with @pocster for time taken From Oct - Dec progress has one again been delayed by weather, flooding, cold and in all honesty a bit of incompetence on our part meaning we are further back than when we started. This period started well enough with the trenches for foundation filled ready to start building walls. After digging down and down to the required depth (or so we thought) we started to place the cellcore ready for the mesh / concrete. Most of this had to be done by hand as we somehow managed to build the walls before digging deep enough for the hardcore and blinding and couldn't reach lots of it with the digger. The cellcore and mesh were laid Then this hit - storm babett our road and the site were totally flooded and the work from the previous day ruined After waiting for it all to dry enough BC came out and said wrong, wrong, wrong. We had mis-read our plans and somehow forgotten to suspend our suspended floor and to add even more woe we hadn't left enough bearing space on the foundations for the mesh to sit on. Cue 4 weeks of SE, BC and the associated costs. To be fair they were both really helpful at trying to sort out what was our mess with the least upheaval to us. Then partially fill the hand dug hole, thankfully only one room not the whole house and having crushed 104 tons of concrete hardcore isn't in short supply. In the end we had to knock down what we'd built and get agreement from SE & BC that we could use Shear Links between the mesh sheets and have any overhang of 150 instead of 200. I hadn't even heard of Shear Links so sourcing them was fun as neither had any of the main BM's. there are also many different shapes, we needed shape 33, like a paperclip So, amended drawings, shear links, time and everything else leads, once again, to more cost and more time. It's also rained so much in the last few months that any progress was hampered. We are still not back to where we were, the blinding needs whacking again so the cellcore can be put down again, the mesh needs placing again with the shear links, the walls need rebuilding to DPM and BC needs to inspect. Then we will be back to where we were 2 months ago. One day, I'm hoping to do a blog entry where everything is wonderful 🙂 More in a couple of months.

>>> i then appealed my original application and won so you can appeal a previous application and if you win build what you originally wanted. @joe90 I was going to use that technique but our delightful LPA CIL people told me that I couldn't move the self-build exemption from one design to the other. Was that a problem in your case? >>> should planning officers take into account previously approved applications as a precedent for their decision? >>> Although it can help, each application is determined on its own merits. That's true but there's also this: Consistency Principle - The principle of consistency within planning decisions requires that a previous decision is capable of being a material consideration in a subsequent similar or related decision (see, for example: Mann LJ in North Wiltshire District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment (1993) 65 P & CR 137 and/or R (Midcounties Co-Operative Limited) v Forest of Dean District Council [2017] EWHC 2050) and/or Baroness Cumberlege v Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government [2017] EWHC 2057).

I know what you mean. We aren’t living here yet but we rent two miles away. I’ve been down at the house at all times of the night in all weathers keeping an eye on things. Every morning I come down there’s a little part of me expecting something wrong. Other half thinks I’m mad.

You cannot Appeal a withdrawn application as it has not been formally determined. You can therefore only Appeal Approvals or Refusals.

No as you can only Appeal a determined application. I think Joe was stating that he thought the support team at the Planning Inspectorate were more helpful than those at the Local Planning Authority.

When did you last have a day off Gary? You know, go and sit in a cafe and think about the meaning of life. Or treat the OH to some new tiles? (sorry)

No. the extra load from the upper storeys does perhaps add to the width of the footing. if the ground was weak nearer the surface and stronger lower down then that might be anther reason. but about 1.4m is the norm. a very sweeping assumption. probably not. id say add £4,000 for being near the tree. BUT there are other issues too, so get specific advice. eg. is it wise to build an extension footing at 2.2m if the house's is at 1,4m, or whatever.

Screws for joist hangers have a different shank to fill the hole in the metal (every day is a school day .)

My advice is don't jump to conclusions too early. Just because neighbours/local council are objecting doesn't mean it's going to be refused. If you've taken onboard and addressed the planning officers concerns from a previous application, have faith in that. In reality the only opinion that actually matters is the the planning officer (with inputs from conversation officer etc.)

Planning don't do technical stuff like that. However they might dislke the effect on the tree, because it would grow mis-shapenly and drape over the house. Also from your maintenance point of view it will tip leaves onto your roof and gutters. If you can get a decent digger in, then its just a trench and concrete. More concrete than if it was shallower. £120/m3 or so, plus the extra labour. and the earth away cost. So it is adding 5% to your build cost, or so.

Connector screws are made for joist hangers etc. short shank under head designed for shear loads

First time DIY self building and my fault to be honest. Hubby knows how to build, but not really how to read plans, he's used to be told, do this, do that and then do the other. Plans are down to me and I've been so busy at work that I didn't stop long enough to even think. Not again, I've spent this time going over everything again to check, double check and then do it again. This wall was also supposed to be under-pinned, but when we took out the floor as per the plans the walls turned out to not be attached to the existing foundation and after one fell down it became clear that this bit of the build needed to be done from scratch. This also necessitated involving the LPA as the existing plans were for single skin and EWI not a cavity wall, which is why there wasn't enough bearing space. The other option given us by SE was to put in secondary foundation inside what we had poured, but then that had to be attached with horizontal rebar and vertical mesh as well as the existing mesh. So, knocking down the cavity wall up to damp proof was a much easier option. The shear links are attached with metal ties, bit like cable ties, but metal in the middle of each mesh, so that side is 100mm so shear links are also 100mm. There are also 'foam' expansion sheets around the wall at 20mm thick to allow for any movement of the slab / mesh. Barn conversions are definitely much more tricky than new builds.

A question for those of you who've built and are living in your new build. Yesterday in North Scotland, winds of 35mph, gusts to 48 and with intense rain. My question is how long before the anxiety of "how's the house coping", "what's that noise" subsides?. This is our second storm in 10days, and all seems to be going ok. I've had to replace an aerial bracket for my 4G aerial, and will test having it in the loft at some point. But other than that all good, but I have this anxiety every time I hear different noises.😬. I can hear some tile rattle when we get big guests 40mph plus, but I know they are nailed and clipped and suspect this will be some of the slim cut verge tiles. But I'm hoping this settling in feeling and anxiety is short lived. Anyone else go through this?

Very true! Storm Eunice slid our neighbours shed about 500mm off the concrete slab it was sitting on. I've got 22 expanding bolts holding my shed onto the slab.

Ahem. An interesting statement. Yes screws perform well in pullout, but they all have shear resistance based on how much shank is there. But nails hold things together too, and are not easy to pull out. A good interview question....when would you choose a nail or a screw? I prefer screws because I'm rubbish with a hammer, and there is a second chance. In this case the advantage of screws is in ease of fixing.

Yes, it'll be the pipes with red/blue tape. The black thing is what looks like a Magnaclean Atom system filter so not your pump. The pump is probably in your airing cupboard with the hot water cylinder.

There’s been three/four storms since we started building in February. Record breaking rainfall round here. So far so good and the house isn’t finished yet. My anxiety levels have already dropped significantly.

Is there any "K" or "A" shaped brackets rather than the "L" shaped ones to provide more mechanical advantage. In the mean time I will work on Von Trapping my kids within an inch of their puny little existences!

Ugh, pushing on an open door here. We've been in for two full years so far. Now not much worries me, (remember our wall collapse?) but here's a list of what did Water droplets on the floor in (say) the pantry: automatic look-up reflex. Why? the flat roof leaked once and was repaired under guarantee. Still look up. Never leaks now. Annoying. Any wind over 70 knots (and gusting higher) the louvres on our Winter Garden whistle and moan if the wind comes from SSW. The sound is deep and threatening. Bit like @SteamyTea when someone writes KwH instead of KWh or is it KWH Whassat noise ? : most often heard just after dawn. Scratching like a kid dragging its nails down a blackboard: Its the local buzzard grabbing onto and pissing about on our Lindab guttering. Drip - drip - drip - drip in the upstairs bathroom. SWMBO had quickly washed her hair over the bath, and put the hand-shower head on a low chair by the bath.... and didn't switch it off fully. I discovered it at 0300 (old-man-trouble) Well thank God I have an old bladder because the bloody ceiling below would have fallen in. Fault? MINE. I should have designed it so that nobody could do what she did. Gusty NW wind. One Lindab bracket is slightly loose. Why haven't I fixed it? Nesting Grey Wagtail, and Starlings a meter away. Took me a year to reassure myself that the fridge makes stoopid noises. At night. Sodding thing. Whassat air bubbling up in the wetroom shower floor drain for? IC's lifted , shoo shoo backed up in three ICs, but not the last one. 6 year old - "Can I help?" Out with the rods - whoosh - "...All Gone Grandad.." (more worried about him falling in than anything) . Why? The sodding digga driver had pulled our rodding point up, despite it being marked and him being told to use a hand shovel. Split the pipe. I can feel a bit of foul drainage and foul language coming on next year .... Shoulda done it myself - my fault. The massive advantage of DIY MAX is that you know everything about the house, and you have the tools and know-how to hand to fix it.

The mounting holes have rubber grommets for the screws and the rest of seems well sealed against the rain. It’s certainly better made than what we had in the previous house and they never leaked. There’s a bit more wind driven rain here though.

You still get cooker switches to fit these large back boxes MK K5011 for the MK version

During my build the west gable wall blew over twice (the mortar was still green) after the first time my brikie propped it with my tower scaffold and that didn’t work so the second time he fashioned timber trusses to support it overnight.after the build was finished I did have a roof rattle that I thought was a loose slate but turned out to be a vibrating plastic downpipe so extra brackets fitted.

Use hooks rather than eyelet or tab top curtains. The cheap hooks will break before the brackets are pulled from the wall. The short term tarzan phase will pass!

Purple is the village boundary - I do own this land, however currently it's unbuild-upon-able. red dotted is the previous application, yes. Architect thought it a good idea to highlight the change in dimensions so as to 'prove' that we've taken into account previous comments.

No, you will appeal the planners decision to refuse. What are the purple and red dotted lines? (Previous application?).

Great progress! What are your flow and return temps at the boiler? These are going to be the most important because you want to make sure the boiler is in condensing mode for as much time as possible. It needs to be under 54C but just below 50 is better.

It absolutely has to be fixed down, and well fixed. Yesterday's news shows what uk wind can do. Extreme gusts can lift and slide a small building.

Have a look on the Henderson site .... industrial grade tracks etc ... all rated by Tarzan.

thank you. that's good to know. i look forward to being able to have a play with Loxone config. once i've got it all configured and have reduced the max power and lived with it all for a while i can then make use of the adjacent channels if i need them.

You set it in the lighting controller in Config, so it can be programmed before you install the strip if you want! You can set a maximum power for other types of lighting too (i.e., not just LED strips). For example, we have some wall lights that look ridiculous when driven at 100% so I've programmed in a maximum of 60%. To be fair, most of the time people will be switching scenes rather than adjusting the power of additional channels, so there're limited reasons for spending too much time worrying about this for most channels.

Vacuum pump and gauges/hoses £100 Cutter and eccentric flaring tool £50 F-Gas leak detector £60 Nylog blue £20 Lineset £100 Feet or wall mount £50 Call it £400 The rest should be pretty standard DIY fare

Shock collars?

Hiya. I was looking at the photos and made some assumptions that the photo was realistic. Anyway @puntloos next time.. ! But for all. Don't put all your busy tiles in the shower enclosure.. design is about balance, scale and light in a bathrooom not least. @puntloos I suspect there is more to this.. have they just done a crap job. If so then tell us and we will give you the tools to get some money back. @nod I would be quite happy to pay you £250 - 300 a day plus your travelling time / accommodation / fuel and van so long as you worked at a steady pace all day. But at that rate I also want you to give me the benefit of your professional experience, if something is wrong then I would expect you to tell me before you start work and once it is complete I want it all in the tolerances and no mincing about from you if it is not.

I've done it!!! I've managed to configure the blinds and the lights without needing to buy relay no. 4. although, I have had to not connect up some lights on day 1 and those few can wait until the basement gets done and I have to buy new relays/dimmers for those lights. I created a spreadsheet showing the layout of the WW dimmer with the relevant current for each channel to ensure I don't exceed the maximum and I am left with 17 usable channels which I will buy some SSRs at the suggestion of @joth and save myself a small fortune on new relays. here's my WW DMX Dimmer layout for your information if you're interested. it's a shame I can't get everything purchased now as it'll probably involve a bit of rewiring once it comes to doing the basement and the circuits I'm not connecting now but I really don't have the money to spend at the moment so needs must. anyway, I can now finalise the design and layout and terminal block connection plans and finally get cracking building the <expletive deleted> thing!! 🤣

Good morning and welcome, no such thing as a silly question. Depending on size, a sips structure will generally need a subframe that would be attached to the ground screws, the panels would then go on top of the sub frame.

It was a couple of years ago and they didn't offer any external lock on this configuration. I'll contact John Knight Glass again and see if they can retrofit anything. Was hoping for an alternative but I've been scouring the net with little success.

You've probably looked all this up, but the Green Building Co (Greenbuildingstore.co.uk) has used Diathonite a bit, but internally if memory serves me correctly. Apparently v good for air-tightness. Can also be used for EWI, as you say. https://luneretrofit.com/ had it spray-applied externally a few years back.

I'll chip in as the Philistine. I've said for years that all these complex controls on UF are a waste of time. They work fine for a few years, break down and then no one can fix then at a sensible cost. After while even the folk that have installed them.. yes even you BH folk then forget how they work and the nuances of your wiring up of the controls. I've designed a few UF systems in the past, always go for the simple stupid. Here is a knock up manifold made on my most recent house (photo is from 2020).. still working and have just extended it. It is a lot bigger now I have added more circuits and some basic controls. Now I know some may say you can't use gate valves.. I say they cost a couple of quid to replace if they start to weep. I know from experience that, as I did the same 20 years ago and times since, that this Flintstone stuff works, and folk can understand it. Lately I've added some extra electronic controls but these are not related to the pipework! Happy to take the pelters for my views.. ! You may think I'm bonkers but it was just something I know would work and made from fitting I had in my plumbing stock box. The biggy though is the blending valve. I have fitted an few of that type for other folk in the past and I know they are reliable. Also It's a 28mm blending valve so oversized to some repsects as it going onto 22mm pipework.. but my thinking is that any gunge will pass though it so I paid more for a bigger 28mm valve. My big mistake was to have some HIVE controls.. little did I know that I would have to keep updating the software and that if I move house I can't take them with me or some other shite like that. I learnt a lesson.. these are fundamental part of the house / structure.. DON'T trust them to third parties.. you could devalue your house a lot. Hi Marka. Before you start mucking about make sure your filters (nowadays mag filters) are clean and working ok. You probably have some kind of gunk / blockage coupled with those controls that we are all told will work for more than 5 years, the life of the system, like I stilll believe in Santa.. You don't want to shift the problem and say block your fancy heat exchanger on your boiler. Just before start to muck about incease the pressure in the boiler circiuit, say to 2.5 bar and operate the safety relief valve to clear that out and give you piece of mind. I would be tempted to isolate the manifold and connect a garden hose to the return (cold) drain cock at the RHS of the manifold, disconnect one loop at a time and back wash it.. You must back wash as if you get this wrong you'll really have a problem on you hands. You'll flush a load of crap out of some of the loops and it will make you feel good. Your average Plumber just can't spend the time to do this... you can! Now a few ball park sums: I think the pump you have can at top end with negligeable flow raise a column of water to about a 6.0m head. 1 bar of water pressure is about a 10.0 m head, thus your pump can deliver about 0.6 bar. As a bad case your hose pipe can deliver about 1.0 bar say.. this is should be enough to push back some of the gunk that you have loitering in the pipes. Try this first as it's a great feeling to see crap coming out the pipes. Connect it up again and see if it works. Now the thing with the hose pipe.. it gives you confidence as you know the pipes runs are clear. I tend when back washing to run the flow into a bucket so I can see how quickly each loop fills the bucket. If you know the loops are clear and now clean.. you have not just narrowed the problem down but given the system a good clean in the process. You can also time each loop to fill the bucket so you can then compare that to the flow meter in qualatiative terms. While you don't know pressure from the garden hose it allows you to compare flow rates against the hose pressure. If you want to get tecky the bucket flows should correlate to the differences in the flow meter readings. The main thing is to keep a note so you can then tie that back to any problematic sticky valves. I have mucked about with loads of these systems you have, flow meters / valves etc, for a few days they work and then break down again.. it will drive you nuts. You need to get it clean, then you can identify the sticky bits / valves which will give you the best chance of a long term fix. I'm sure you can do this .. but you need to be patient, set aside the time to do it and enjoy the investigation process. At the end you'll fix it and have a much better understanding of how it all works. If you are going to take things apart the use a non setting jointing compond to put them back together again. https://www.screwfix.com/p/flomasta-gas-water-jointing-compound-250g/7619J?tc=IT5&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1249404&gad_source=1&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1247848&ds_rl=1248151&gclid=CjwKCAiAp5qsBhAPEiwAP0qeJgeoDPCPpzi5pclPe4Z7WOvVn2L3w6jg_YEaMtCIxGTkJzNUkg39uxoCZGMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds To conclude.. your system probably has a bit of crap in it, each time you try and tinker you'll probably shift the problem somewhere else. The flow meters and complex controls are probably not playing the game. Clean it out yourself, have fun, and save loads of cash!

My current favoured method is twin and earth in and out of each switch plate, with 3 core and earth up to the lights. Logic being... - There's a neutral at the switch for smart switches - You can take a permanent live up to lights for smart lights. - The potential for two switched lives and a neutral to the lights for two banks of lights without additional cables. - Future fault finding isnt working at height or taking down light fittings.

Hi I have a Zehnder ComfoAir Q350 ST on a timber frame with airtight layer on outside, foil backed plasterboard on external walls without the enthalpy exchanger (but you can retrofit that if you need to AFAIK) and my MVHR is as follows right now: Extract Air 22.6C/50% Exhaust Air 13.6C/90% Outdoor Air 11.0C/89% Supply Air 21.4C/51% https://www.zehnder.co.uk/products-and-systems/comfortable-indoor-ventilation/zehnder-enthalpy-exchanger Whilst I am not capturing this data yet to drag it into InfluxDB, it is pretty constant humidity, around 45-50% supply I think.

Here’s an expensive (but beautiful) solution for you: https://www.corston.com/products/2g-mixed-switch-clear-antique-brass-1t1d

indeed, you've hit the nail on the head there. I think the likelihood is that a pro would rather bash nails in than screw, so the nail spec has been assessed.

@de devil tail great views/plot/project @ETCis offering to help you design your house. For free. He’s an architect. I’ve seen the stuff he’s posted here before and you’d be bat shit crazy not to let him do that.

I remember a thread here a long time ago where someone used screws in joist hangers and was told it should have been nails because they work best in shear 🤷‍♂️. I guess it depends on the type of metal and diameter.

An example from today. A sudden small pool of water appeared in one of the rooms. Ffs! No obvious source. But it wasn’t there earlier. Turned out the electrician popped in for a looksee and his water bottle leaked on the floor!

Go to a curtain specialist. There are several types. Ours spans 4m between brackets. Expensive though. Or use a scaffold pole.