Susie

That will be a big saving in time and money not digging out as much. We have just covered our windows up as well. I hope your enjoying it and not working too hard.

The Velux windows are delivered. It pays to shop around for the windows as the prices vary. As I wanted 4 of the lacquered pine, and they are less fashionable now, they are not kept in stock, so although I paid a good online price they were delivered straight from Velux. The pallet contains 6 velux PK06 windows (apx 1m square) and in the middle are the fixing kits. It looked like we were going to be playing a giant variant of Jenga as we had to carefully cut straps whilst holding onto the windows. The first two came off easily then the next 4 were on opposing sides of the slightly broken pallet. Being very careful, with husband cutting the tape and the weight of two and me taking the weight of the other two we won the game. They are now safely stored away. The interior walls are also going up, the SE included them as structural when we changed to the steel beam. Outside we will have a small veranda the concrete plinths were cast weeks ago but we are now working out the height as this ground will be built up slightly as can be seen by the door opening and the ground to the right of the photo. We have been paying the builder as stages are completed so full cost is lot higher than stated below. I will go into more detail in the coming weeks, when the builder departs site and our new roofer starts, after the dry shell, excluding windows, it's all down to us to complete. I have just paid the deposit to Norrsken for the windows, which will include a site measure, I am not expecting them to be ready to fit until March so we will temporarily cover the openings. Total man days of labour for week 9 is 14 man days. Cost to date b/f £45645 Velux windows and flashing kits. £3,000 + VAT (Our first big VAT bill in the reclaim folder) Gabions inc delivery no stone £400 Total to date £49045

The roof rafters are being installed with the openings for the roof windows. LABC visits for the second time, there have been a few photos sent as well, they inspect the roof, anchors and fastenings etc. The internal walls are built up around the steel goal posts. Not as many hours on site this week were one man down, its half term here. I started a Gabion wall, filling it with rubbish stone and facing the front with nice stone from around the plot, it just separates off the garden from the vehicle parking area, holding back about 400mm depth of soil. You can see on the photo the remaining post of the old wooden fence which was behind a skip now removed. Total man days of labour for week 8 is 20 days.

Hopefully when I publish last weeks photos showing the wall built up around the goal posts and that the rafters now have collars on them, all is well. Thank you for all your concerns I will double check all the details. We have not got as far as the OSB yet so it is all still visible to check.

The doorway has no door on this opening only on the next one, and the walls are now built up further. It has now dried out, even got to lay down where the beds will go to check the view out and ceiling angles. Very happy with the work so far from the builders.

Having a plot is a great start. welcome.

Your welcome to see visit my ICF build near Bude, message me if interested and read my blog.

On Monday the second gable is poured and most of the internal bracing, corner bracing and window shuttering is removed. Tuesday rains all day so no work on site. The internal floor is under 1 inch of water with no way to escape, without us brushing it towards soil pipe. Good to know we are airtight at the floor/wall joint. The steels are installed, we were supposed to have wooden roof beams but somehow this was not calculated by the architect who insisted the roof truss company would do the calculations later. The roof truss companys only want to do the calculations when they know you are ready to order and they said the beam spans could not be done. So on the last minute we had to go back to the SE who worked out our steel beams and the total cost of roof went up £8k. I wish the architect had suggested the SE looks at the roof calculations earlier but unfortunately we just have to move on from this, and up to this point we have had no other extra costs. Since we are no longer working with the architect I have had to find a new SAP assessor who I can engage with as the build progresses. We have been discussing how changing the steel beam might change things as the vaulted ceiling can now be higher if we want. This gives us more space to heat up. I also wanted to know the effect of not putting as much solar on the roof or not having the wood burner changes the SAP results. Since having a smart meter fitted at home we have reviewed our current electric usage and decided that less solar (7.5 kwp instead of 11 kwp) but with the ability to add a battery. Also I think aesthetically one row of 15 panels will look better. Total Man days of labour week 7 is 16 days. Total to date b/f £44925 New Design Stage SAP Calculations (previously done by architect) with ongoing advice about changes that will affect the SAP and to include the As Built SAP documents and EPC at completion £720. It does seem a lot compared to online prices but for peace of mind knowing that we can if we choose to only put 6kwp of PV on the roof instead of 11kwp, is an overall saving. Total to date £45645

I noticed you suggested secondsandco for the first layer of PIR which keeps the cost down, but I believe you can have variance in thickness, rumpled tape or crushed corners etc would you not do two layers from secondsandco because of this or was it just omitted?

The builders on site have done a few ICF builds previously. I think because the ICF supplier is local it gets chosen as a build method locally. There was a lot of prep work and the pump operator knew his stuff too having no doubt done a few ICF pours.

On Monday the internal structural walls are up to the top of the ICF walls and are tied in to the ICF walls. The windows and doorways have extra bracing ready for the pour. Nobody on site on Tuesday it rains all day and no more prep is needed before the pour. Wednesday starts with the last minute checks ready for the pour. The concrete pump arrives on site at 12pm it takes 30 minutes to set up before the first concrete pours out. We have 4 builders onsite plus the concrete pump operator. The concrete is poured into the ICF on all four walls in stages twice round and its up-to window cill height, the ICF cills are pushed into the wet concrete and the wood boards replaced so that the pour can continue higher. A poker is used to vibrate the concrete to ensure the concrete fills the ICF without any voids. At 4pm the pour is finished and the cleanup can start. The pump driver tests out our hammer head turn which was required by BC as we are so far from the road and Fire Engines are not allowed to reverse more than 20m. I think this proves our access works and it’s all down to the driver of the vehicles, the pump driver is great if only all delivery drivers are like this. The gables will be completed later so the concrete has rebar inserted, the other two walls are trowelled level. By the end of the week one gable is braced and poured. Total man days of labour week 6 is 17 days.

It is a juggling act on two layers working out the cost varying the depths as @Iceverge says but think waste as well two layers of 80mm might give you less wasteage or you can fit in in walls or around cylinders etc.

Have a look at Recticel they are often cheaper like for like u values

At the beginning of Week 5 the scaffold arrives. The ICF walls get past window header height so they can be boxed in first with the ICF to close the side jamb, header and cill then the wood brace for the concrete pour. The internal structural walls are started and tied into the ICF. These are to support the steel roof beams. Its good to stand in the open plan kitchen and lounge area now and get the scale of the room, the three windows look down our field to the East and the slider door opening looks out South towards Dartmoor, visible on clear days. The kitchen may look a bit dark but it will have 4 velux windows that as well as providing light help to zone off the open plan area. The photo from the scaffold shows our workshop in the big barn and beyond that just visible is our current home. The weather has not been too bad during working hours, a mixture of sun shine, rain and strong wind with gusts of over 43mph so I will be happy to see the pour next week. This week the car is our own Jensen Interceptor my husband took it out in the sunshine when he went to our local ‘Men’s Shed’ in Holsworthy. Total man days of labour week 5 is 23 man days.

Yes we have been lucky on getting out the ground but the roof cost have gone up. Not much is happening at the moment so next will be week 5 and 6.

Check the deeds. The deeds for the houses around me are a little complicated at times as the main farm has been split up and sold off. The end result is that what was once a field is now a garden (mine), our neighbors have a soak away into our garden. This does not bother me at all as we have plenty of land but the deeds state the right to use our land as soak away for 50 years which expires soon. I’m not sure they are aware as it’s in the original deeds before the split. When useage expires they may be lucky as my build might give them access to mains sewage cheaper than a replacement tank.

A bit late to reply but here goes. From my September 2024 quote from Norrsken. Innova sliding door 2.1m, S319A matches P33A windows, two panes, aluclad 0.76uW £3500 plus vat plus delivery, installation, sills, compriband etc

You can still get Polar Wall, based in Exeter I think, this is extremely similar I don’t know what the difference is. R-wall is based near Bude so very local for me and we have a few local builds.

The car in the banner is a Jensen Interceptor, both are customers cars. I will eventually get a photo of a Jensen FF as it returns from the painters.

The last bit of soil pipe and inspection chambers that are close to the house are completed. The ICF is delivered and by the end of the week we have the start of door and window openings. The insulation is extruded polystyrene XPS 100mm each side of the concrete cavity. U value of 0.14 The windows have rebar in them before 50mm insulation closures are added. At the weekend we had a yellow wind warning for the South West, our home weather station recorded top gusts of 40mph. I’m pleased to say the R-wall ICF survived with no problems. Total man days of labour week 4 is 22 man days split between Groundworks and ICF builders. The build is going on very close to our workshop entrance which makes the delivery of vehicles and test drives limited. This week we took delivery of a previous customers Jensen CV-8 which now has a new owner who has sent it to us for further works over winter.

Another beautiful week in Cornwall only 7mm of rain on the Sunday The week starts with laying the soil pipes then it was sand, hardcore, burying the soil pipes, laying the radon barrier, mesh and more concrete for the slab leaving a lovely surface to start the ICF walls next week. And the field was cut and baled, not as much as a normal September cut due to us moving our spoil down to the far field and tramping the grass down and making a very very muddy gateway between our two fields. Nether the less it was 10 bales for our friendly farmer Rob. Total man days of labour week 3 is 9 man days Cost to date Brought forward from blog Building Regs, Part O and SAP £14625 Refund from Architect £300 Fee to LABC for inspections £600 Foundations Weeks 1 to 3 £30,000 Total to date £44925

Looks a nice location, well done on planning, hope it all moves along as planned now. I have just started an ICF build just finished week 4 of the build, will be updating my blog soon.

Jensen made a few cars, you recognised the Jensen Interceptor we also have two Jensen FF, look our for other cars making an appearance Jensen CV

We specialise in restoring Jensen’s, that one is a customers returning after a test drive but we also own a few and hope to sell an FF to fund the build.

Despite the yellow weather warning we luckily had the coastal wind pushing it away, most of it fell on Tuesday but only 6mm The trench foundations are excavated and inspected. Then the concrete poured, and the first blocks laid followed by dolly blocks and internal supporting wall starter blocks Total man days of labour for week 2 is 13