Leaderboard

Well it's the second day on week 4. The ground floor screeding is being done as I type this. To date all the walls are up (they come fully glazed, partially rendered and plasterboarded). The roof has been tiled and guttering fixed, the first fix electrics are done, the first fix plumbing is done (wastes and supplies for basins, wc's etc come ready installed in the panels), the underfloor heating is in and the MVHR ducting in place. In the service room is the cylinder, expansion vessel etc for the ASHP and the external unit is here wrapped, sitting on it's pallet. They started on the 8th April and expect to hand over at the end of May. We elected to use Dan Wood as a "half way house" - it's our original design (although with a nod to that sort of style). We didn't go extreme, much as we would like as I wanted a smooth planning experience, which we got. So, some of the standard Dan Wood bits we omitted. They can finish right up to carpets; handing over complete, save for the kitchen (too many choices apparently). We wanted a UK stair with closed risers so it could be carpeted. DW use bare wood, open riser and being aimed at the German market, the pitch is lower so the going messed up our internals too much. We also left out the doors (odd looking with the leaf rebated and closing against the face of the frame) and floor finishes save for the bathrooms. Those are now down to us. We had to provide the foundation (insulated raft for us) and drainage/service connections. However, it's been a dream not having to organise anything once they sign off the slab as ok. Men turn up at 7.00am sharp and work to between 5 and 6. Saturdays 8 till 1 ish. All materials are either brought with them or turn up on time. Electricians, plumbers, and scaffolders are woven into the work and are here at the correct point. The electrician was here until 11pm finishing off first fix because the next trade needed it done. Every single day it progresses. It probably isn't the cheapest way of doing it ( about £1730/m2 ex foundations) but the joy of not having any arguements with individual contractors makes up for it and there is no doubt the polish crew working on this house work damm hard and do a good job. You have to credit their attention to detail too. They obviously do this all the time as all the membranes are properly taped and sealed, the windows being inserted in the factory are done properly, etc etc. It's clear they have designed out issues over the years and have come up with solutions that work - hence the 20 year guarantee. We could buy the plot but needed to sell our house to fund the build. We are in a static caravan at present on site. Having reached retirement the certainty of getting the build done in a sensible timescale so we could get on with enjoying life was a big driver for this approach. Hopefully it'll be a family Christmas settled into a house this year instead of renting a cottage to escape the cold and damp of a 32ft static!

I appreciate that I am most likely speaking to the converted regarding this topic, but we are currently renting a property on a large Persimmon built housing estate, and I honestly find it so depressing and cannot understand why anyone would choose to purchase one of these houses. Not only is the build quality shocking, but each house is orientated 180 degree relative to the house in the parallel road. Eg, you would never sit in your back garden, as you are overlooked by about 6 houses. You have to always be mindful when looking out your windows, for fear of staring directly at someone who is looking directly at your house. If nothing else, it will make us get on with our self-build, and make us appreciate that we are fortunate enough to be in a position to do a self-build.

Just another picture of the shed. Not finished yet but done the cladding, just need to finish of some bits and pieces.

I find this comment a touch patronising to be honest. You are fortunate enough to be able to build a house for yourselves. I don't know your ages but look around you on your estate, and ask yourselves are you the "target audience" for this type of residential living? I would suggest you are not - we lived on such an estate for 30 years before embarking on our self build and I have to say, the location, convenience, price and a certain degree of "maintenance free" work, were very appealling to us as we were a young family. Obvioulsy no one "wants" to live in the type of house you have described but unforunately the choices can be limited - Just for the record, "Residential living" worked extremely well for us, until we found ourselves in a position to move on.

Cracking insight from Jilly here.. so much info in seven lines of text.. Folks read every line of Jilly's text, learn and digest the deep knowledge she is imparting. To get the best out of this you'll need to go and do your own work.. Jilly is saying.. here is where you need to look out for your own benefit. Just a quicky for any doubters here.. Jilly talks about underpinning.. she has been there and worn the tee shirt in terms of piling etc on her domestic project.. she knows her stuff. Or bluntly.. if you don't take her advice then don't come back on BH complaining later if it goes wrong.

You need specialist advice. Sometimes crown reduction is advised instead, to prevent heave which could happen if the trees were removed, due to the sudden extra water under the house, so they may have got another opinion? Could it be in a Conservation Area and the trees have TPO's? Or they don't own the trees? Removing the trees might ruin the character of the house/area? Lots of houses have been underpinned, it's not the end of the world, but it scares people and lenders. If you proceed, you must stay with the same insurance company, the policy can be transferred and you must confirm this will be the case as part of your due diligence. Other insurance companies won't touch it.

Brilliant news! I've past Building control! Best news for a very very long time. Thanks everyone, could not have done it without you!

The whole charging structure changed on 1st April 2023 - you have to pay for extension assets (connection) but should not have to pay for reinforcement assets (cable and transformer upgrades). https://connections.nationalgrid.co.uk/significant-code-review/

With any self build, unless you can afford an Architect/Builder to oversee the whole project, you're going to be chasing people, materials, answering questions and more. My own project is up to roof stage, timber frame is finished, roof finished but outer brick/block leaf is next, then soffit, fascia, gutters, then porch, then windows & doors. Each have their own challenges. On top of my day job! I've a delivery of lintels tomorrow and I only thought to ask what size rigid truck is it to find out it's a full Articulated Truck with a moffet (look that up in goggle!!). Won't fit in my housing estate!! cue plan B, C and D !! We're going to offload it to a footpath outside my house on the other side of a council wall and I'll use a hand truck to get them one by one into the site through a gap some teen made wider last year and it was never fixed by the council! I'm sure each self builder has a raft of such stories. My house needs 2500 bricks and 1280 blocks. The brick supplier I'd booked and paid for in full, was meant to deliver this Friday along with the block supplier providing all the blocks, sand, cement etc. They gave away the bricks to another (assume larger) customer and it's 2 weeks to get a new order in from Belgium. I tried the other supplier I found in google for the same bricks and got through to the same woman I'd been dealing with, same company, one's a shell I'd say. Tried the supplier and they only supply to this one company in Ireland. Anyway, as a one off house they can bump you down the list so I tend to like to get things onsite a week or two early to avoid this added hassle. I've very tight for storage but if you have a brick layer onsite and no bricks you'll be forced to buy something, anything and have to live with it forever. Time management - getting answers to questions is one thing, learning on the job is another. I want to nail in about 200 nails by hand but after realizing my initial attempts were leaning tower of Pisa'esque, I purchased a first fix nail gun, my first! Wow! 200 nails in 3 hours, all batons attached to the window openings. I can sell it later but the right tool for the job for sure! I've to install my first express nails tonight after learning about them from a neighbour - fixes wood to concrete. The roofers left 6 Velux boxes behind with BBX on them. What are they for? An extra? Do I need them? I think they are to act as a vapour barrier and possibly air tightness according to initial google searches. Something else I've to figure out later on. The roof has turned out well hasn't it! They had to finished the Oriel Window Metal / Trocal flashing before they finished roof tiling. It has a ventilated ridge and those plastic covers at the edges all the way along the roof line instead of cement they used to use. I've about 40 spare tiles stored away! The outer brick/blockwork is my next major hurdle. There's a few items I need to buy, figure out and get onsite: 100mm DPC for above 1st course of blockwork above foundation 18" DPC for around windows Expansion ties - Ancon PPS200 ebonded Safety Tie - box of 250, at least I have spares! I can return the unused ones. Wall vents - using Timloc Cavity Wall Drill Vents - you drill a 25mm hold angling upwards and then plug this into it. This absolves the brick layer from having to install them as they go Wall ties - the timberframe supplier provides 4 boxes of these and marked up where the studs are to get good purchase Stop Bead and Drip Bead (plastic) for render, Weber OCR, Weber paint (I'm doing this job once the blockwork is finished), Mitre bond glue (2 part glue) Gutter Brushes for later Expansion Joints - I've two 10 meter gables, each require two expansion joints. There's an awkward window and ESB box on one end of one side so thankfully we're putting the expansion joint past both of these even though you should have one every 6 meters and within 1/2 of this distance from the corner, ours will be 3.8m from the corner. the timberframe amazing team marked up the best positions for expansion joints and identified this one before the Structural Engineer signed off on it. I've taped up all the Solitex on the outside of the Timber Frame, plugged the side door up with timber, OSB and more Frontex WA. We're still installing a lintel in the blockwork but will ignore it otherwise for the block course and if someone wants to open it later they can with an angle grinder! It saves wasting a lot of space in the utility room having a door there with no purpose. There's no sink = reason to not make it a boot room really. I'm lining all the window openings with insulation over the next week or so and adding batons to take the window straps. They want a strap within 100-150mm of any corner and no more than 700mm apart. The Straps are 1mm thick and come inside the window about 100mm. I've sourced wood to exactly match the insulation thickness which can be hard but avoids trying to plane / table saw wood onsite. This Friday I've to hope everything fits onsite as it's delivered and we've room for a telehandler afterwards for when the brickie's start! That's a snapshot of my week! I'll do a post about powering electrical devices onsite without a generator using an Electric car & Anker 2kW battery soon I think, some lesson learnt there!

I've gone through the whole "elderly parent" thing, watching them struggle with sockets just above the skirting, or having to let go of their walker and reach up to "high" switches. Most sockets or switches I fit or move now are put in / back 450 - 1200mm. Seems very practical to me.

Eaves combs are your best bet, but you need to remove the first row of tiles/slates to fit them.

Ooh I would not do that, it will stink in a short period of time, much better to build bird boxes outside in their natural environment.

Thankfully the majority of people consider living in a housing estate box with a small garden and lots of neighbours in close proximity and insufficiant parking to be "normal" and all they aspire to. Right from an early age that was not what I wanted and I am finally living where I want in theo cuntryside.

I quick answer to your question is Because they are cheap and convenient You can often buy a complex home for similar to what many of us are pay just for a plot

It's not a number on a thermometer that matters, it's whatever you find comfortable that's important.

Two "conflicting" points of view, which just goes to show that at the very least there's personal differences. Whether or not they are learned or "genetic" is perhaps a different discussion, I have always assumed (for example) that people from warmer countries would want a place to be warm, but Indian friends of mine want the place freezing, and a polish friend gets cold really quickly In the end, I think the crucial part is that Passivhaus only 'dictates' a house shouldn't be more than 25C which is a reasonable maximum also given the research I quoted earlier. For comfort I seem to be gravitating to 23C but I'll admit the moment I start doing 'manual labour' in the house, eg tidying moving a sofa, whatever, then I overheat quickly if it's already 24.5. But yes, sweaters are great to wear indoor if you are doing it to keep the cost of limiting the heating cost, but it's silly to try to cool the house to be able to tolerate wearing sweaters.

Which just goes to show how under-qualified these bodies are to provide a global summary of an entire property vs just adding the number of ticks in particular boxes and then down-grading you like Neanderthals.

Remember we did our as-built EPC in 2017. The detailed stuff is back in the UK and not to hand, but IIRC we got marked down for using resistive heating and ended up with a C EPC, but still good enough to make BReg requirements. That being said, I regarded the whole SAP exercise as a paper one needed to get sign-off. What I really care about is real-world performance and total levelised cost of heating. Given that we use renewable electricity only, the total doesn't worry me and I suspect that going forward the scoring system will penalise fossil-fuel based heating more than direct electric.

A contactor and a relay are basically the same thing, but a contactor is generally more heavy duty. I wouldn't be trusting those shelly or sonoff devices to consistently handle 13 amps, regardless of what it says on the box. You can see from the video that the relay is pretty puny. A decent DIN rail mounted contactor is peanuts and will reliably operate a 13 amp load for years, probably decades, and take the heavy lifting away from the IoT device.

I have a passive-class house with a 70 tonne MBC "warm-slab" within the heated fabric of our build. I went for the deferred option of putting in the 6mm radial from the CU to an outside wall box and a insulated double pipe run from the UFH cupboard to where I would put the ASHP, but held off installing an ASHP and used a 3kW Willis as an interim means of heating the UFH loops so that we could size the ASHP based on a year or two run rate. The issue that we have is that going from using the Willis (plus Oil filled rad top up Dec/Jan) on an Octopus Agile optimised heating schedule to an ASHP at an average CoP of 3½ say might save us perhaps £300 p.a. in electricity costs. (We have a handful of days a year when we put in more than 30 kWh heat.) I'd want at least a 10 year payback so would want my install costs to be at most ~£3K. And then you have the issue that the typical life of an ASHP can be ~10 years. It's just easier to pay the extra £300. 6 years on, and I still can't make the investment case.

I hate the pure white renders We call them council Estate render The large choice of off whites are much nicer

The Sonoff device is likely already using a contactor as it's rated up to 20A. I can't find any explicit documentation though. Teardown (20A version): https://youtu.be/O1HvycrP4s4?t=457 You can also get big monsters like this (switches up to 5500W): https://tech.scargill.net/sonoff-powr3-powerful-controller/

Nope, 3kW continuous is too much for a 13A plug.

I guess it depends whether it is the "highway" or an "access road" that they front...

How deep is the chamber? Normally, cover pipe with fine gravel, a EPS plug goes just under the lid. More than enough.

Be aware of quotes that look too good to be true. They normally are too good to be true. Also ask the architect who they like to work with, they are normally the ones that get on with job are zero hassle - that's what you want. 5m bi-folds, cheap will leak air like a sieve, so get specifics on what is being quoted and look at the item. Get whole window U value (Uw) if double glazed you want 1.4 U value or better. If they give you Ug value that is just the glass and not what you are looking for. One of our quotes for windows, came with recommendations, we went to the showroom and half the opening mechanisms didn't function correctly (broken) and frames really bulky - we went elsewhere .

Got my quote Veismann Vitocal 151-a which has an integrated indoor unit with 190l tank and all the other required gubbins including a 16l buffer, fully installed apart from the concrete pad. After the BUS of £7500 grant I’ll have just £1800 to pay so chuffed with that. clearly not all MCS cert plumbers are crooks

Amazingly it all worked! The rotor was in perfect condition and the oil still clear and non viscous. Not bad for 15 years under water. Hopefully a new lease of life for a few more years

Just spoke with someone who seems to be prepared to accept that I know what I'm doing and talking about, and will trust my heat loss calcs (based on Jeremy's ss). Will report back on what transpires

This is exactly what I did, inspired by your posts on the topic and the many others here at Buildhub. ASHP isn’t much harder to plumb than a water softener. The challenge is the heat loss calcs and overall design of the system. I spent many hours here absorbing the experiences of others when it come to designing my system.

That and 16kW. Based on the stories posted here and my own personal experience I would say don't, whatever you do, trust it. The thing about ASHPs is that the installers interest, when it comes to sizing, is almost diametrically opposed to the householder interest. For the installer oversizing increases price for little additional effort, justifies a buffer tank and almost guarantees no call outs due to 'its cold'. For the householder it increases cost unnecessarily and makes poor efficiency highly likely, with a large barrier to fixing it. Plumbers/heating 'engineers' are used to shoving a 28kW boiler into a 6-8kW house, jacking up the flow temperature so it doesn't condense, and letting trvs sort it all out. There is an efficiency penalty for this approach, but we are used to it. With an ashp you need to match the size to the demand more closely otherwise you risk a much larger efficiency penalty and having to add a buffer tank (which, unless correctly set up introduces a further penalty) unnecessarily. People who have been through this, or have spent time on this forum, now understand this. Sadly there is a proportion of people in the grant chasing (aka installation) industry who either don't, or can't be bothered. You really do need either to do your own heat loss calculations or have someone you trust do them. Sizing by wet finger wont do and you will come to regret it.

Hi all, Back with a small update on this and looking for some validation if you don't mind. I've just started off with my architect and have advised on which way i want to go with the wall (200mm, eps pumped in). He's fired back some questions/advice (he's a good man and making sure), i just wondered if you could pick your brains, I think i've got it covered but just want to be sure. Lintels - he's advised that he can't find off the shelf thermally decoupled lintels for a 200mm cavity. To me this is an easy one - we're using two separate standard lintels, EPS goes between as with the rest of the cavity - it doesn't get better than that does it? Secondly he's advised that a 150mm cavity with Celotex 140mm Cavity Wall 21 would be thermally better than EPS. I've advised that while that's true, the benefits of EPS outweighs the thermal characteristics, that being, more guarantee of a full-fill, not having to rely on builders trying to install it (probably poorly), such as leaving gaps and holes, going around wall ties etc. As well as (i'm assuming) it's a hell of a lot cheaper than PIR. To me it seems like a perfect solution of let the brickies brick, and let the insulators insulate. Everyone knows what their doing and can (hopefully) do it well. Thanks as always!

I read all that when designing our house. Then looked at calculations for inside surface temperature - triple glazed was something like 1 to 2 degrees below room temperature, while double was nearer 10. Passivhaus specify triple glazed not just because of heat loss, (in fact they are not really required for heat loss at all) but are required for the comfort criteria.

Copied straight from Health and Safety Regulations – Self Build Portal , which was linked from here Construction - CDM 2015 FAQ's - Self build (hse.gov.uk) "The self builder acts as their own project manager, employing individual trades at different times. In this instance, the self builder steps out of the DIY arena, because they are taking control of construction work. Where a self builder controls the way in which construction work is carried out by a person at work, they must comply with all the matters outlined in Part 4 of CDM 2015. This requirement is set out in Regulation 16 of CDM 2015, which effectively replaces Reg 26 in CDM 2007, this is not a new requirement. In this scenario the self builder will in effect become a contractor. In this case the HSE will expect self builders to demonstrate sufficient health and safety capability to meet the requirements of Part 4 of CDM 2015. Individual contractors will be expected to be able to advise the self builder on any specialist matters within their own work activities. The expectation on a self builder in this position will be on co-ordination and management , not on direct supervision of contractors on site. The self builder is entitled to expect contractors to plan, manage and monitor their own work in compliance with the CDM Regulations." Read some of this, Construction Publications, Free Leaflets - HSE - A printed off file of these is handy to have on site. And Covers what @saveasteading said Have you [someone on your behalf] submitted an F10 notification form?

Let's have a sense-check, eh? This type of 'luxury toy' is for sporadic use, a bit like my 5.5L V8 AMG. I don't get into that thinking...."ooh, if I take my time I'll get 23mpg", so the same applies to your luxury, pamper-station. Just accept that it costs X amount to 'enjoy' and so be it. Think of how much you will save vs spa membership etc, plus travel to & from, and then just make it comfortable and enjoyable and switch off. This is not a rehearsal, we're here once and then it's 'adios' (which is why I didn't focus on MPG), so unless you use this every day for hours and hours on end (which I don't think you can healthily do with such a toy) then just suck it up? I am typing this from my un-insulated man-shed / office, with 4kW of fan heaters wafting warm air around. They heated this space almost instantly, do the job wonderfully for next to feck all, and when I'm done I just switch them off until I need them next. Simple, effective, convenient, "job done".

At those price I would tell the grid to take a walk and do a full off grid. Do you have plenty of space for PV? And a generator for mid winter.g

You would also be committing a criminal offence. Not worth it in my view, unless your self-build is going so badly that you need new accommodation. I hear HM Prisons are fairly water tight.

This is the requirement he should use: 4.1 The surface linings of walls and ceilings should meet the classifications in Table 4.1. Table 4.1 Classification of linings Location Classification Small rooms of maximum internal floor area of 4m2 D-s3, d2 Garages (as part of a dwellinghouse) of maximum internal floor area of 40m2 Other rooms (including garages) C-s3, d2 Circulation spaces within a dwelling Other circulation spaces (including the common areas of blocks of flats) B-s3, d2(1) NOTE: 1. Wallcoverings which conform to BS EN 15102, achieving at least class C-s3, d2 and bonded to a class A2-s3, d2 substrate Sorry the table doesn't come out but I think you can see for small rooms it's D-s3, d2 and others C-s3, d2, hallways etc B-s3, d2 So if your bathroom is over 4m2 then it ought to be C-s3, however if your panels do not cover all the walls then paragraph 4.4 says: 4.4 Parts of walls in rooms may be of lower performance than stated in Table 4.1, but no worse than class D-s3, d2. In any one room, the total area of lower performance wall lining should be less than an area equivalent to half of the room’s floor area, up to a maximum of 20m2 of wall lining. That may help you work it out. If all else fails and you are a bit over then try to point out that a bathroom is a low fire risk. They do not need fire doors when opening onto a protected route because of that very reason so the chances of a major conflagation starting in yours is low..............

Welcome to self-building. Frustrating innit.

Looking at what they are holding back, blocks on the flat amd some drainage holes would of been better

It’s Dura mat I normally use Ditra But my wife found this at £800 for seven rolls Which is nearly twice what pay for Ditra There a 5 mil build up once fixed

Cart before the horse. You can't have a soakaway design until you have a percolation test result.

On nods basis of £1500 to lay the tiles, which I think is too cheap, you then have all the concrete to dig out, re hardcore, re compact, new concrete, new steps formed. thats another £3000, then the tiles. It’s a £6000 job at the least. also what’s under that stone slab, I bet it’s a manhole, so that needs a new lid and re bedding.

Yes almost certainly the capacitor, the question is how easy is it to access. Is it a submirsible pump?

likely capacitor, yes.

Morning, for your 6 or 8 holes I would be hiring the cutter. If it’s new then won’t be distorted or side worn so excess wear isn’t going to be an issue. concrete especially war time era around steel producing industries can contain a lot of slag which is very abrasive and a PITA to cut through. Keep the water flowing to flush the cut and let the cutter go at its own pace. And yes cores can look amazing, I used to have one we took from a bridge pier - it was more steel than concrete!

The DPC should be level with the bottom of the render, I have often seen bricks painted like that but never understood it, surely the bricks being below the DPC would be better letting any damp evaporate which Bitumen paint would stop 🤷‍♂️.

Should be hardly any wear at all doing those holes, mesh doesn’t cause much heat or wear. Measure the bit before you take it and when you get back with a signature. They always put down 2 or 3mm of wear and impossible to argue when the invoice comes in.

If you can only install internal wall insulation, then you will probably want to install a vapour control layer on the room side. This VCL stops the water vapour condensing as it hits the colder structure if the house. "Insulation" or to use the proper term, thermal conductivity has 3 measures. The intrinsic material properties, the k-Value. This is measured in W.m-1.K-1. When the thickness is taken to to account, it becomes resistivity, thickness (length) in meters divided by the k-Value. R-Value = length / k-Value. The size nits become m².K.W-1. To get to the more useful U-Value, W.m-2.K-1, the reciprocal of R-Value is used. U-Value = 1/R-Value. It is generally easy enough to get the k-Valueb of a material, but realistically you need to be looking a foamed phenolic sheet. There is no reason why you cannot mix and match insulation types, as long as moisture transmission is thought about and catered for. So you can put IWI (internal) on the front, and EWI (external) on parts that the public don't see. The biggest problem with EWI is size of roof overhangs and around window and door openings.

I have a passive spec house with a tiled ground floor slab. I would say definately have ufh having lived in the house through the winter. It is not that you couldn't heat the house with another heat source, but that it is not comfortable walking round the house without shoes on with a cold unheated slab. I found that with the slab at 20 degrees or cooler the floor felt quite cold to the touch, whereas if it is only a couple of degrees warmer it is fine to walk on bare foot. I found it only took having a heat input once or twice a week over the winter for a few hours to keep the slab topped up to a comfortable level. Our slab is slightly thicker than most at 200mm and with ufh about 100mm down. This was due to the amount of steel but seems to even out temperature fluctuations really well. If you heat the air rather than slab you may also find it dries it out and may well be unpleasant to live with. With the cold dry snap of the beast from the east our relative humidity in the house dropped to 35% and normally runs at about 45%. We put electric ufh in bathrooms and used it all winter for an hour a day, the tiles felt cold to the touch without it. Also have wet heated towel rads in bathrooms which I ran for an hour a day over winter to boost the upstairs temp. We have no other heating upstairs but this worked really well.