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We had our first air tightness test today and achieved 0.25 ACH!! 🎉 Absolutely chuffed to bits with that. We have spent a lot of time taping every possible penetration, but I was still anxious in case we hadn’t quite been as scrupulous as needed.

Hi, I’ve been a member for a while but have been mostly sitting, getting frustrated, waiting for our planning decision. 2 weeks ago we finally got our approval for a strawbale house in the village of Minard, in Argyll and Bute. Now we’re moving into the building warrant stage and at least this time, we’re prepared for a wait - our planning took ten months after being told ten weeks. I’m a bricklayer by trade and this one is going to be the last house I build. 61 years old and I’ve had enough, but definitely looking forward to getting stuck into this. Graham Walker

Hiya. I'm Scottish base and have family that live on one of the inner Hebrides and have lot's of experience dealing with BC on the Islands. Also I deal with Scottish Building Standards on a regular basis and have done so for the last 40 years. Some of the BC officers I know quite well, we have a chat on the phone about our careers and reminisce on how good the old times were. In other words they are folk just like us.. there is the odd exeption but that is life. In the round though BC officers actually do have your best interests at heart. It would be great to have a BC officer or two join BH! On the Islands there is a lot of politics. Some Island builders are really shite, cut corners in a big way, some are better / good. BC know who they are so maybe you are getting a heads up and not just seeing the wood for the trees about the work that has been done by others. Now you are doing a bit of work yourselves.. well how much and when did you start doing a lot yourselves? It is in your own interests to build your house right? There is always friction on the Islands... BC know this but are not corrupt at this level. There are loads of other Islanders and folk moving there that do DIY projects so you are not the first and last. @JWHIT "surely this is trespass" My advice.. get this right out your head now. If the BC officer can access your site then you have a Health and Safety issue and they can hammer you on that. The HSE law is quite clear on this all over the UK, if your site is accessible then you are on a hiding to nothing. Have a looked at your site security? Don't pursue this route as you will likely regret it. Too late for that, BC can hammer you much earlier. There is no argument in law for shoddy HSE by saying.. hey I'm insured. Insurance is for when you have tried to do your best and things still go wrong. If they can see bad things from outside the site boundary then surely.. you may be making a cock up? If you try and play hard ball with them then they will pull your trousers down and you won't get to pull them back up until they have run you ragged. Now you may feel that the BC officer has turned up with no appointment.. but they are allowed to do this under UK HSE law (not just Scottish law) .. part of their remit is pubic safety.. they can hammer you on this too! To lay it on a bit thicker they may start to ask if your project should fall under CDM regulations., just to give you the run around. In summary: 1/ Yes there is Island politics, don't worry too much about the main Island Contractor not getting the job. 2/ Phone the officer up and ask when they are next on the island and arrange to meet them in person. This is so imprortant. You are on an Island.. you must get to know folk.. the emails you get from BC only show a snap shot.. sometimes they write stuff that seems really daft / aggressive.. but they are pushed for time and under funded. Cut them some slack and cut yourself some slack too. Keep an open mind as while you see this as a personal opinion then they may be able to give you good advice? Also if you hit it off with them then later on when you apply for a completion certificate you'll probably find that part of the process much easier and not get hit with a load of things that don't conform. 3/ Build a rapport with the officer.. recognise that they may be trying to help you rather than hinder. You may have a young and inexperienced BC officer. Be very careful here not to bully as their boss will then give you the big stick! Listen to what they are saying.. put forward your ideas and have a bit of fun.. seriously they are just folk. To finish @Kelvin may be able to give you some advice about how you deal with BC when relocating to the north of the UK ( Scotland) 4/ Some of my family live on Tiree. Clocked this at the end! Well it does.. Some of the building regs are open to opinion / discussion / detailed design. BC officers often hold professional qualifications / have great experience. They are entitled to question. As before one big stick they do hold is the public safety issue (I do it too as an SE) . Lot's of folk on BH think that this is their house and they can do what they want. BC say and I.. that house has to last for 50 years at least and you may sell it to a family in a couple of years time. Our duty is not just to you but all the folk that come after. Just copied this right at the end. The above is misleading as if it is deemed to be a risk to public saftey then the LA can effect immediate access as what they do will call on the Fire service, the Police , gas board and me as an SE. You see.. who knows what building regs have been compromised? Is it just an extractor fan of a serious structural defect that could cause a gas leak? If push comes to shove and I'm acting for the local authority.. I'll find a legal way of getting into your property if I feel there is a safety issue. You are pissing in the the wind! If you have nothing to hide then you should be relaxed about all of this.

Hunted down some bits and diy ‘d it

This guy is a legend! Designs them and gives it away for free. Currently printing this ... SWMBO WILL HATE IT! 🤣 https://www.instructables.com/Time-Slider/

Typically needles penetrate the building in the room above the room where the steel is being installed. Yes they are disruptive and result in more remedial works but they are a significantly more robust and safer method of providing temporary support vs strongboys particularly in wide openings such as yours. No doubt strongboys and back propping joisting is used also by some, ultimately it's your call.

Go to band p eps, they are a manufacturer not a re seller, save a fortune they will cut what thickness you want so you could go 100mm eps 90eps 80mm traditional sand and cement screed. good thickness to keep the ufh pipes well covered and a good lump to use as a big radiator.

I would walk away. There is no way you can build a garage on top of next doors drainage field, even before you think about distances to the house. Unless an off site drainage solution was available for both houses I would say the plot is not viable. The minimum needed is permission from the land owner to the south for drainage fields for both properties to be installed under that field (assuming it is a field not other houses). If I was the vendor I would be looking for such permission, and then thinking of installing a large TP to serve both houses and the drainage field for it, then sell the plot as a serviced plot. That is about the only way I think it is viable.

Dunno wot you all fink, but this is sooooo much better than following Grand Designs..... Its not often that I read and re-read many posts as carefully as I do this series.

You could present the sellers with the problem and your view of it and allow them to investigate whether they have any solutions.

Now that I’ve looked at the block drawings I’d walk away. I wouldn’t want any aspect of my house relying on someone else’s land but nor would I want any aspect of someone else’s house relying on my land. Everything to do with our house is in our land. It’s easy to get over invested in a plot of land as you can start to see your finished house etc. It’s what I did on a previous plot but my wife hated it. We found a much better plot that very day. My dad used to tell me that if there’s doubt about something then there’s no doubt. So I’m with Russell, walk away.

Time to walk away, it looked overpriced to me.

As a self builder haven't you been told to get the professionals in when your skill set isn't enough.....

We used Tescon tape. The wide one was handy for window reveals, and the split one was good for the fiddly bits.

If you could see PM10s, let alone PM1s, you could get a job in a chemical laboratory, would save getting the microscopes out. As I said, you are only convincing yourself.

Seems I can pick up a non fake 4.0 battery for £45. Will prob go with that and the dewalt recip from eBay at £65.

I am entirely convinced. My wood burner is a modern, Norwegian built Jotul F373, installed as I was building my house in 2016. It has exceptional performance and I use excellent wood which is sourced locally. When it burns you have to look very hard indeed to see anything coming out of the flue and on a gray day you won’t be able to see anything. I also had the flue cleaned and after 8 years of burning the guy said he could find nothing in the flue. in this 8 year period I have planted 208 trees on my property.

I've heard a lot of stories from bcos about incompetent work from self builders....and people expecting a free design service, Deliberate bodging and cocealment, usually by contractors Rubbish work by supposedly experienced builders. Promises to remedy a problem, only to find it ignored or concealed on a quick return. I don't fancy the job.

I always like it when my Grandmother said "5 and twenty past" or "Five and 20 to".

Then they need to supply parts at a reasonable price. There are 2 headlights in a car (sometimes more) I simply do not believe at manufacture time they cost £1600 which would have been more than 5% of the cost of the car (possibly a lot more)

I reckon the pot hole repairs round here last longer than the LED stuff (all makes) I've fitted. Green washing the lot of it.

I wish someone had told my electrician this! He fitted Saxby downlights. £10-12 each and they haven't lasted 18 months. I will systematically change them over time

At least you had the sense to fit light fittings where you can change the bulb. There is a growing trend for downlighters to have non replaceable bulbs. If anyone asks me to fit some (I would not buy them) I advise them to go and buy a box of spares, on the basis when one fails in a few years time, you probably won't be able to buy identical replacements.

And this is why all old pubs mysteriously burn down.

Remember to position the steels in the room on the floor before you put the acros and needles in, once you have it all propped you sometimes cannot get the steels in. I have seen this a few times. if the celcons are not strong enough you might need to chop them back and build up in 7n lightweight concrete blocks. you can also change the cavity into one solid pier.

Yes you certainly will need temporary support of the external leaf. That is a significant opening and if I understand correctly has two storey of brickwork above it. Similarly I'd question supporting the inner leaf by solely propping the existing joisting. Sounds to me like a job for needles penetrating both leafs.

MY view on this is similar to few others, I arranged a Kick-off site visit with My BCO, this for me has always been a way of getting a positive relationship with the BCO officer, in Scotland with the Warrant the work is very formalised anyway. My invitation was open the discussion similar to "I'm planning on doing X, Y, & Z over the next few weeks, do you want to see any certain aspects? want me to send photo's? etc. and an open offer to visit whenever they were passing. I have nothing to hide, there experience and help is more valuable than then turning up ad-hoc IMHO. This worked to my advantage on the build they did call in one day and I went through the progress, all good, then when It came to pouring concrete, They were unable to visit due to other commitments so I sent photos and moved on with no issues. IF I was a BCO, and the client got twitchy with me turning up, I'd be suspicious. If its purely Insurance etc, I'm sure that could be worked around with a site visitors book for signing in etc. @JWHIT "it also seems to be the case that because we are doing a fair amount of work ourselves, and not using any of the main island contractors, they have sparked a particular interest " My View on this is simple, they don't know you or the quality of your work, so for me it's up to you to A; help them understand your ability and quality - i.e. let them see your work, your passion for the quality etc, B: be cryptic, evasive with them, and expect them to look under every stone to make sure their happy with the progress.

Do NOT inject any insulation in the cavity between a brick/block outer and the timber frame. Simply not a recognized system/method of insulating walls. Cellulose cannot be used in external masonry cavity walls.

Thanks @Gus Potter Happy to share my experience and how I approached it. When I got the warrant approval letter and therefore got the name and number of the BCO assigned to our build I made a point of asking a few folk that had built houses in the area what their experience of the BCO was. I also asked some of the trades I had lined up what they were like to deal with. The common feedback was helpful, pragmatic, and practical. I then called him to introduce myself and tell him a little about our project. I asked him how he liked to work and if he had any advice for me. He asked me which trades I’d lined up and while he didn’t offer a direct opinion on them I still got his opinion (if you catch my drift) What I did notice was that the trades I was using made a big difference. For example when I told him the groundswork company I was using he immediately said brilliant you’ll have no problems there which presumably helps him a bit too. They are busy people working in an underfunded department so getting them onside early is important. I can imagine that their approach on the islands will be quite different to my area due to necessity of geography. My BCO can drop in when he’s passing which he has done a few times. Yours can’t so when they are there they are likely to want to make the best use of their time. Plus you’re doing this yourself and their experience of people doing much of the work themselves is mixed hence his slightly more thorough approach possibly. The BCO told me of some horror stories when he first visited. All of that said, the guy might just be a bit of an arse, some are. If so you’ll need to bite your tongue a bit and work around that. One last point, whenever I’ve visited the islands I’ve seen lots of building work going on and very little in the way of security fencing in place. If that’s you then I’d make your site more secure. Your site insurance could be invalid if it’s not secure. Clearly Heras fencing isn’t the last thing in secure fencing but it stops people randomly entering your site.

In this case I think we all need to re address this question. a few diagrams would be good. im saying your biscuit mix is no good to support your tiles and you will need a load spreading board of some description.

Govt website lists the official guidelines https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-refunds-for-new-builds-if-youre-a-diy-housebuilder#goods-you-can-or-cannot-claim-for

Seeing the reaction being portrayed on news channels, you would think scrapping unrealistic targets means we are going to stop building new windfarms etc and just give up. No it does not, it means we are going to continue making improvements as fast as we can without silly unachievable targets clouding the issue.

Couple more possibilities - pipe wasn't deburred and/or o-ring is torn (look closely). Star washer thing is a bit snagged or on at an angle. Took me a while to figure out that the seal on these is only the o-ring. Any tape / gunge is just covering up a bodge and there'll be an underlying reason to look for.

Old house sink on the island. New house, sink on the wall and hob on the island. Far better for many reasons. Less mess, more sociable when cooking, looks neater etc.

The issue in the UK isn’t necessarily about generating capacity it’s more about transmission.

If you want to make up volume then 270mm isn't really that much. 200mm of EPS would do the trick nicely. From the top down. 70mm screed with UFH Pipes stapled into EPS with long staples. Slip membrane. 100mm EPS 70 DPM wrapped up the walls. 100mm EPS joints staggered to the top layer. Sand levelling layer £11.33/m² is the cheapest I found after a 2 minute Google for 200mm and a U-value of about 0.18 W/m²K You could go even thicker, say 225mm to save the screed depending on the minimum required thickness of that.

In other words, Dunning Kruger. @saveasteading - when talking about this to students (The less you know, the less you know that you don't know) , I found that they had to think hard about how to 'read' that dictum using the comparator - less...less. Since I also had to find a way to teach them good written style, I found positivity worked better hence; ... The More You Know The More You Realize You Don't Know ... Realising the essential truth of that is a bit depressing. AA Milne comes to mind. The six year old seems stuck in Dunning Kruger's jaw.

I once had a BCO say he didn’t like an SE,s calcs so told him to prove it was wrong!,!, he told me he was going to get their “in house” SE to look at it, never heard back and I carried on.

Hmmm, what does this place do to me? I'm going to take some images with my thermal imaging camera to see what's going on with our pans.

My absolute favourite tool of the build, one of a growing collection. Does everything from 90mm ring shank framing nails to full head stainless for cladding. Still need a hammer, mind you.:

It is a hob, not an objet d'art, they are meant to have scratches.

I went to one of those, well two. Look what a fine person I have turned out to be.

I did a calculation on this a while back. Convert the 3D shape into a 2D topological shape i.e. work out the area of the periphery and add it to the floor area. Then just calculate as normal. So say your floor is 8m by 10m and 0.1m thick. A = 80 [m2] PA = 3.6 [m2] TA = A + PA = 83.6 m2 Multiply by U-Value. PIR k-Value = 0.022 [W.m-1.K-1] R-Value = 0.1 [m] / 0.022 [W.m-1.K-1] U-Value = 1 / ( 0.1 [m] / 0.022 [W.m-1.K-1]) U-Value = 0.22 W.M-2.K-1 Then add/subtract for joists area and properties.

It should not leak so a few reasons why it could be . The incorrect fitting possibly the old stuff is usually 19/20mm depending on what has been used, make sure you have the correct plimac/ plasson adaptor. The pipe has a mark/indentation where the fitting is . The o ring has been kinked when putting it together? Incorrect insert ? Transition couplings should be 100% leak of the correct type and installed correctly

Tell the sparks he’ll be running his cables from above. Ridiculous idea to put them in the screed when not absolutely necessary

It might be, but engineering is not all about catastrophic failure. Acceptable deflection is important as a constant tiny movement can cause problems i.e. rattling or leaks. Ah, the old screw and bolt debate. Regardless of what others say, screws and bolts are different things, that work in a different way, not a case of one is better than the other, they are different and should not, in isolation, be compared to each other.

Adding trellis is more lightweight and might look more aesthetic?

It is crushed stone without the fines. Type 3 is a particular grading and uncommon. You could get a lorry load more easily than a bag. A builders' merchant will have single size stone in big bags, with more or less variety according to local fashions. It can be expensive though when it is made from attractive stone for paths etc. I bought some last week called Cotswold stone (It is white and will be exposed) for £78 / bag whereas the sharp sand or gravel on the same delivery was £42. If there is a local stone then this should be cheaper. As it happens, it is for laying inside gravel grid specifically to be free draining. The original went in about 15 years ago and has had a lot of use. We are cleaning the messy top off and releveling some areas. Because of erosion it is not open textured any longer and it puddles locally where it has dropped. But because it is on a slope, any that doesn't make it downwards will run off because of the slope. Then it is caught in a perimeter layer of gravel and french drain.. To summarise. Single size stone or gravel is SUDS in itself as long a it is deep enough, to hold the rainfall, and contained . A slope is up to you, but where would you then catch any runoff?

Welcome, just bolt new posts to the side of the existing ones and buy 2ft panels to sit on top of the existing ones.

If it was so important, I would think that the advice about placement in shower rooms would be more visible in the literature. In all my reading around this topic I found very little about specific placement in regard to shower cubicles. For the extract plenum the recommendation seems to be to make them as high as possible. Although the shower is a significant source of heat and moisture. There are other areas in the bathroom that need moisture to be extracted too. I’ve seen some designs, where a branch system is the priority and this means that the placement is more restricted. Ben at House Planning Help podcast, had a professionally designed and installed system and the plenum for his bathroom is above the door on the wall. I will be placing my plenums near to the shower cubicle but not directly above.