Susie

Only the open plan area got the skim coat of plaster, that was due to its height and it would have taken me forever to tape and joint all on my own. All other rooms are getting tape and joint by me then painted. When I have taped and properly completed all the jointing and sanding stages I think it’s as good a finish as the skim plaster. Not every one will agree with that but I believe in Scotland it’s mostly tape and joint and in other countries particularly Canada that’s pretty much all they do. It’s definitely won’t change the airtightness as we are ICF so our biggest airtight challenges are the eves, service penetrations, doors and windows.

Weeks 91 to 105 In May we started in the Bathroom. It took us almost a month to first fix plumbing inc wet room former, create stud wall behind sink and toilet, plasterboard, tape and joint and then paint. By mid June David handed the bathroom over to me and I was dry laying the floor tiles out it took me a while as you may remember the plant room floor was the first floor I had ever tiled and I was about to cut larger, heavier, more expensive and diagonal cuts, Oh and it was a wet room. Once I was happy with the tile layout I used Impey water guard system on the walls and the floor. I chose Impey because the former has a sort of backup weep system in that should any water get through the grout on the floor it will drain on top of the membrane and has weep holes in the long trap to escape. I was a bit nervous about unrolling a sticky membrane on my own but I found that ok with the laser for guidelines and just removing a bit of the backing at a time. The sealant that you use in-between the membrane joints on the other hand was the most sticky and messy sealant I have used. Particularly on the floor I could not help getting a bit of tile on the floor/wall joint or the toes of my shoes (when kneeling down) in the sticky sealant days later. I had read on Build Hub about this being sticky but had not comprehended how messy compared to other sealants. On the 24 August I handed the bathroom back over to David to fit the shower, toilet, sink and mirror. Whilst fitting the bathroom David and I also put the plasterboard up in the front bedroom so that once the bathroom was finished I could move straight onto another room with the plasterboard jointing. I have started this and the photos are the end of the first coat so tape not covered yet, screw heads one coat. Could be a while before I carry on with this. David has fitted the kitchen and pantry and the worktop was fitted by Wren. Our water connection has been completed this required a small road closure which had to be completed during school holidays as its the main route the children use who walk to school. The 3 phase electric supply has been moved from the temporary location into the house and we will now start looking for our supplier. We are still temporary connected to the house we live in as the solar on the new build is feeding the old house this will be changed to feed the new build hopefully only a few days before we get the supply connection. Openreach are here at the moment installing our line. The original plan back in 2023 designed and plotted by Openreach was to connect to an electric pole on the border with our neighbours where our electric also comes from. The electric company have recently stopped new connections to their poles, (I don’t know if this is everywhere or just local) so although its been coiled up at the pole a few years from when we made the temporary electric connection, we now had to find a new route. This meant finding our existing connection that was underground (from a different pole) breaking into this and pulling a few meters of cable back from its coiled up position to a junction box with the existing house cable, or digging up the shared drive and laying the cable back to another pole that already had a connection on it. The timing of this meant we had only just dug a trench down the side of the drive for the water, had we known earlier about the change made on new connections to poles we would have obviously laid the cable at the same time as the water. A big thank you to open reach who I think felt sorry for us as had one of my emails been answered in June (when I wanted to check were still putting copper in the ground) we could have laid a cable down the drive, unfortunately new connections sent me round in a few circles but the current solution is ok for now. I guess eventually we will pull a fibre cable in and presumably they will use the copper cables to pull the new fibre though. It’s 2 years from the start of the foundations and we have come a long way and are happy with our progress. Of the most common hiccups that I see on TV programs we are doing OK. We didn’t have a ‘blow out’ on the ICF concrete pour, we haven’t run out of money yet, and we are not expecting a baby (I'm 57) so I think that just leaves health. I am now on a break from the build whilst I recover from surgery but as I had 6 weeks notice we planned my jobs in the build and I now have at least 6 weeks to catch up on a mountain of paper work before I can return to light duties on the build. I have two companies for which I need to complete and submit end of year accounts, the self build VAT to catch up on (see below) and a website for our new holiday rental to set up to take bookings for next year. We are on schedule to move in to the build later this year but Im not sure if I will get back in the build to finish the tape and jointing in our temporary bedroom this year or we move in as it is, but at least we will have a working bathroom and kitchen. The costs to date are: General £4230 Plastering (open Plan area) £4160 Plasterboard and jointing by us £1124 Tiling Plant room floor and bathroom walls and floor £1000 Paint £246 Carpentry £746 Kitchen/pantry £11130 Kitchen appliances £1385 MVHR £3490 Roof insulation and airtightness £4778 Electrical Connection £4969 Electrical installation £2588 Plumbing installation £4257 Water connection £4566 Services trenches £3730 UFH £909 Drainage wastewater, soakaway and guttering £8538 Floor insulation £2669 Screed £2737 Wood Cladding £5694 Render £3090 Solar 7.5kWp £8574 Roof covering £23311 Windows £20869 Shell build excl roof, inc founds £119614 Pre build costs (architect, SE, BC and surveys) £10528 Total Net £260,000 VAT to reclaim so far £9500 Cost per m2 £1900 Big costs still ongoing Plumbing, Ensuite, Tiling in hall and pantry, Wood floors in bedrooms and open plan area. Landscaping and now all the service connections are in we can resurface the drive, as part of the planning condition, for the first 10m near the road.

2 post and 4 post with room to move other cars. The floor is power floated concrete been down 10yrs industrial use and very few dents, the floor brushes up very easily.

Weeks 75 to 90 The plasters have finished the open plan vaulted area and it’s given us the boost to get going again in other areas. At the opposite end of the building is the plant room, this was the first room we started work on to enable the solar to be installed. I’m back in here to tile the floor and since it’s the first floor I have ever tiled I am very happy with it. I have left the service penetrations until all the services are in, we currently have temporary supplies from our existing home. We have a provisional date in August to close our village single track road (that goes to the school so can only be closed in school holidays) and will then have our own services coming into the building I will then seal up any air gaps and finish the tiling. Whilst the plaster was drying in the open plan lounge and kitchen we started on the MVHR installation. We made it as light as we could but it’s size was still too much for me to help with so we had to think of alternate methods of lifting it luckily our business had tools we could improvise with. I’ll let the photos show how this went. In the loft it all looks nice and neat. We could have floor mounted it but it would have taken up a lot of room and the pipes coming down would have needed boxing in. We could have put it in the loft but changing the filters would not have been so easy. This is a good compromise, once the pantry kitchen units are in you won't be looking up as much and we will be able to access it easily with our step ladders for filters and servicing etc. Once the MVHR was hung we moved on to fitting the plasterboard up in the pantry then I taped and jointed it all and painted the lounge and the pantry. Tape and Joint I had the opportunity of using a different corner tape around the velux, since this was not an area like a doorway that was going to possibly get knocked. I have previously used the corner paper tape with the metal reinforced edges. I have found you need to be careful on the corner you don’t rip or sand the paper. Traditional metal corner bead for tape and joiners is too thick and it can be hard getting plastic corner bead for tape and joiners. I do know of few places but they don’t deliver it due to its length and fragility. The tape I used was, SIME edge protection very similar to Strait Flex Tuff Tape both are on Amazon, it’s described as plastic coated and although on a roll when cut and folded for the corner it is not floppy like paper tape, and more like the metal reinforced paper tape but with a stronger corner. After using it around the Velux I decided to use it on the pantry doorway where I was matching up to the wet plasterers metal bead. I am happy with the outcome and will probably use it a lot more. When I first used it I bed it in and wiped out as usual but later found out they recommend to do the first finish coat straight away. The instructions on the tape are in Polish I think but the copy below is from an America website for Strait Flex Fold Original in half at the center crease, with the print-sides facing themselves. For outside corners, fold more than the desired angle with the print-side facing the wall. For inside corners, fold less than the desired angle with the print-side facing out. Apply all-purpose compound to the corner. Press Original into the wet compound and adjust, if necessary, to create a straight line. Wipe down tight and smooth with a taping knife. The first finishing coat of compound can be applied immediately. Let this dry completely, for several hours or overnight. This last step saves a day compared to paper tape that is covered the following day. Second fix electrics has started in the lounge and the light fittings have been put up and testing started for the electrical certification. The kitchen has been delivered and that went very smoothly all placed neatly in the middle of the room then a few days later we have spread it all out into appliances, pantry units and main kitchen units, the island was placed in its approximate location and immediately became a huge flat surface that we could fill. Whilst David is installing the kitchen we are also both test fitting and plumbing in the bathroom and putting the plasterboard up. We need to keep moving on with the bathroom as this will be mainly me painting and tiling whilst David will continue the kitchen installation on his own and second fix electrics. Going room by room works for us well as we can both work to our own strengths without waiting for other trades this will hopefully mean we get to move in later this year but with some rooms completely not started. Thanks for getting to the end of this update, if you have read my other blog entries please note that the posting date today does not match the week numbers as I am a little behind updating the blog. We have been working on the bathroom since May, lots more in the next blog and I have the build costs to update.

I just asked David to look at this thread and we both thought the image doesn’t give enough height for a four post ramp. Are you planning on stacking cars? Could the bonnet be open whilst the car is in the air. Having had a 4 post ramp in our old industrial unit where the car could not be lifted fully due to the lower ceiling David likes the fact that now as you know our ramp can lift the car to the top of the lift with the bonnet open. Have you thought about a carcoon in the garage to keep a car in. The carcoons can have a tickle charge for the battery and you can drive the car in wet and they dry out nicely. You need to plan the garage layout out just like the home.

If you don’t have storage heaters now the switch over probably won’t affect you too much. Perhaps the property did once and they where removed. Did you use timers for washing machine or immersion heaters to make use of economy 7 it’s not just what was on the one CU, eg old storage heater CU. Presumably you are going to have a smart meter installed, there could be a wait for a 3phase smart meter as the installation involves a little more knowledge than the average switch over and there was a shortage of supply of 3phase meters once. we switched over 2 years ago EDF did the switch they where useless first year with them and they never got it all reporting our useage correctly. They knocked off £600 for the inconvenience though. Moved to Octopus and from day one it worked correctly but we have had a few wobbles when rates change etc reassuringly they always know how much electricity we are using and on what tariff even if the in home display is incorrectly showing me my solar outgoing rate. A few emails and messages and it got sorted. Once you have a smart meter with a counter for two rates then you can change between economy 7 to economy 10 or any other time of use tariff. It would be worth looking back at your bills now and seeing how much it would have cost you had you been on standard rate 24hrs. We currently get paid slightly more for our outgoing electric (solar) then the off peak economy 7 rate so I use as much as I can immersion, dishwasher, even the bread maker at night and we are better off both in winter occasionally storage heater and summer being on economy 7. We also run a business from home and are both here all day so use a fair bit of daytime electric. You really need to do your sums based on your own usage.

Do you have the LABC app on your phone. I have found this a good way to bypass the switchboard and emails and get a person to site.

If you have more stone available, ours came out of the knock down, you could rebuild as a Cornish Hedge. As a quick guide it’s two walls tapering inwards to each other with the gap in between each wall filled with soil and rubble, then grassed over, planted up or our original ones have trees now growing through the centre. Also look up Devon Bank (hedge) it’s similar but no stone you could adapt yours by rebuilding one side only and banking up the other side.

To clarify Cornwall planning/conservation will not allow PVC windows in listed buildings even if very good looking like wood they want wooden frames or as original. Im hoping one day this will change but whilst we are building our new home we have no spare funds for our current home.

It would be wise to check with your local window supplier first. we looked into this for our windows and rational and heritage both offer windows that are in other listed buildings around the country. Our local supplier came out to quote and see which would most likely be accepted by the local council. It turned out neither, the supplier is in Devon we are 10 miles inside Cornwall, he said he had installed many alternative 2G and 3G windows in Devon but Cornwall would never approve them. Our converted barn was converted in 2000 from a disused and half falling down barn, we are part of a larger group of buildings (same curtilage) with the farm house being the reason we are listed. Our listing for all the barns mentions windows of 6 panes, nothing more architectural. The windows still need replacing but the funds are needed elsewhere. I’m hoping one day Cornwall council listings will change their mind.

I can recommend the lamb on heating grid @torre mentions it also acts as the slip membrane between insulation and screed. I also have the build hub UFH stapler if you want to borrow it. The stapler is passed member to member, I would pay for postage to you and you keep for the next user and post to them.

I’m glad it’s useful, you do need to remember we are a bungalow, we found the roof insulation and floor insulation to be obviously much more than a house with another floor but we did particularly want/need a bungalow. ICF is fairly expensive but again that was our choice. it’s also amazing how costs have increased in such a short time, we are just about to order our front door and the original quote from Norrsken is now more than double so we are looking elsewhere.

The two consumer units may be because in 1995 we were installing the radio time signal for Economy 7 (in the country as opposed to towns) and storage heaters etc were often put on the second CU.

@DevonMade we put the ducts through the roof when tiling the roof.

Hi @DevonMade We’re having a Willis water immersion system for the UFH you can research that on the forum and a conventional vented hot water cylinder heated on economy 7 or solar diversion. We can install both ourselves so no labour costs, parts can be replaced quickly and cheaply if required. The cylinder has a shower coil and a shower take off to keep our options open. It’s mostly going to be just 2 adults. We have found living here it’s a lot harder to find tradesmen (plumbers particularly) than back in Manchester. If you need one there is a wait so you can be without heat/DHW etc, if it’s summer the holiday let’s seem to get priority. The above answer I would understand not to be as the norm. MVHR we have chosen the Zehender Q350 with pre heater (frost protection) buying online and installing ourselves. This is one of the few things that has come down in price in the last 3 years since research started. I was going for a vent axia but have read on here about bearings being changed after a few years (5 years?) and the price change has pushed me to the Zehender it’s better spec and quieter. Good luck with your own build.