Susie

Downstairs bedroom windows open in wards fully in the day 90deg and top hung at night it’s a bit fingers crossed on one window, worst case is temporarily prison bars hand made with rebar removed completely later. Other bedrooms just scrape through it’s a constant tweaking of sizes and compromises which we didn’t want to change much on one bedroom window just incase in the future one of us in bed a lot. Velux windows open in the middle swing so can count as 90deg. I submitted two spreadsheets one to show we pass daytime and one for nighttime and spoke to BC to explain. so far our Local BC has been great now I’m in touch with him rather than architect who got too many things wrong on drawings.

Congratulations on getting planning permission. I found choosing the windows the hardest, they are a big expense and if you want to see them rather than just off the Internet you may find you need to travel a bit. Have you got Part O passed because you need to know your windows for that. I found Groundworks teams were easy but builders hard to book in. I would have thought you need to discuss your plans with the timber frame before the warrant. A roofer and possibly solar depends on your overall time frame. You might need roof/truss calculations for the warrant in England we don’t keep them for building control they can be a condition to passing BC like planning conditions. For example next year we only plan to do the foundations, the shell will be the following year because we can’t afford the solar and windows to make it waterproof so I’m not asking for the truss calculations until we know for sure who is going to make them. As they are self employed and I understand what work is done for free on a job like quotes when it can be years before the job come through. You can definitely get on with the electric, water and tele. You might save if they are all in one trench but you don’t need to do connections unless you need the service for the build as standing charges can mount up. Well done again on the planning.

Not sure whose quote you are reading but ‘down the lane’ implies to me a road or pavement dig not across fields. They will probably only inspect both ends of the trench ie from road and into dwelling. But if in field make sure it won’t freeze. how do you plan to remove your foul/waste water? If that’s by public sewer then they will ask about your incoming water. if your only building an annexe you might get away with connection to existing property because some annexe don’t have own council tax. But I’m guessing it’s not an annexe.

It will be a new meter at the road side by side with the existing meter for our house. The pipe runs parallel to existing pipe for 25m then turns away for next 125m to the barn which is a knockdown and new build. The existing cow shed had water fed from the home which is now disconnected. we own both and are still on same land registry until we come to sell. In the long run it’s better it has its own supply but it’s two standing charges.

I don’t know about Scottish rules but I’m in England on a farm with water already available but we had to lay another pipe following same route for first 25 metres and then continue onto new build which already had its own supply as a barn but had to be disconnected. Each needs own supply.

Does a dishwasher feed into same trap, I regularly clean both ubends as kids can’t be trusted to scrape or empty sink plug trap. dog food bowls are my nightmare. sometimes I’d rather just be left to clean dishes and fill dishwasher myself than clean out the ubends every couple of months.

We are in a similar position also ICF hopefully very good airtight, (no foundations yet) we are doing a lot our selves so plan to lay UFH pipes and see how warm it feels, then decide on installing the manifold. We will probably be a few years until finished so have plenty time to make changes if necessary. Have you heard of a Willis heater it’s a bit like the internal element of a hot water cylinder plumbed into the UFH system. It could do a whole house or a few rooms. Zoneing or not zoneing the UFH is a decision to read up about. Any solar and batteries being considered? Even in winter we get some sun and together with off peak charging taking the chill of the floor may be all you need to ‘feel’ warm. Any other heating e.g. wood burner, stove.

We have a Salamander whole house pump it works on negative and positive systems and you can choose 1,2 or 3 bar on the settings very easily. we live in a converted barn, it was converted 20 years ago and not by us. were listed and have 3 floors so just went for a whole house system that was easy to install. The rainfall shower that used to just drip is now very good. We found 3 bar too much so it’s set on 2 but when we rent out we could change it to 1. It’s not really quiet but boxing it in and sound insulation and sitting it on something solid all helps. hopefully someone else will also comment.

Have you tried just a phone line no broadband and from BT on whatever the shortest contract is. Let them know it is new connection on a new build.

I didn’t need any road closures it’s all on private land 99m on mine and 1m on neighbour.

Ours is about 100m no problems there. so I guess all the stuff they gave us for free wouldn’t add up to 3k that’s why they never seemed bothered.

It appears OR don’t have one set of rules for all installations. they gave me for free the ducting a large junction box with manhole cover a huge pull cord and the cable. It’s all on my land except the last metre which goes to the pole at the boundary with my neighbour. we haven’t even started the foundations yet.

I agree that they can be removed from wall as Nick says and then smashed open but it does depend on it being found first. My mum lives in sheltered housing, you walk down the internal corridor and most flats have one when the occupant ‘moves on’ it’s often smashed off as the code is lost. If it’s hidden outside then this might be harder than inside a garage as once in a garage they could look longer undisturbed but then they might get side tracked with other goodies. it does depend on your location we have so many outbuildings full of rubbish I’m spoilt for choice for locations. Have you considered swapping keys with family and/or neighbour’s or agreeing on hiding places at each others homes.

I haven’t started my build yet so can only pass on information learned so far from the future homes website it would be a good starting point. https://www.futurehomes.org.uk/library#Reports https://irp.cdn-website.com/bdbb2d99/files/uploaded/Photos Report Masonry.pdf I don’t think the report is something we can do ourselves so at some point you will need to choose who is doing your as built EPC. I think this is something best looked at sooner rather than later as the photos are important.

I can recommend bamboo/bead door fly screens £20 on Amazon JVL Provence Hanging Wooden Beaded Door, Zig Zag Curtain Screen, 90cm x 180cm Approx, Multi, 90 x 180cm We have two one at the outside door and then another after the hall to lounge. we very rarely get any flys in the lounge, the odd one gets through the first set and turns opposite way to lounge and we have to coax it back out a window. Lots of flowers and bees in my garden but never remember having a bee in the house. So can recommend two stage defence. Not tried the full screen you mention as we have a dog who comes and goes as he pleases from bed to bed, in and out all day, a Greyhound, very lazy dogs.

Try advertising the barn free locally to anybody who can dismantle it. I got loads of people wanting mine I couldn’t believe the interest. campervans might be good for parts I presume not the old ones with lots of windows they are still worth £ try a vw forum. I gave my tin sheets away advertised locally they are a compost bin now I believe. Metal can be weighed in, if you have enough sometimes they will come to you.

The rinse or just scrape might depend on how often the dishwasher goes on. Ours goes on most nights economy 7 so actually about 3 in the morning but can miss a night sometimes. Also depends on pets helping to clean plates, always rinse after the dog. Husbands rule was no pets feeding from our scraps at the table 3 months that lasted, he is the biggest feeder of us all.

Glad you found the spreadsheet. I got a pass with mine and BC are happy with the spreadsheet. We’re a bungalow so have to sort some night time security out for the bedroom windows that are open at night. future homes also have template examples for recording the SAP as you build. You saved a bit by doing it yourself and can put the dynamic modelling money (+ VAT) towards something else. well done. 😀

We won’t need the connection for some time but they still gave us all the ductwork and a great drawcord used for all the services. The guy who came out understands we’re self building and could take years as we just wanted everything in one big trench. and he just said that’s ok by the time you’re ready to connect we will probably be on the better cable.

My previous blog entry ended at submitting the building regs in March, although they were not validated until 5th April and then refused on the 31st May. I believe my architect had complained on them taking too long so I am guessing when they found he had not included a turning circle for a fire engine they refused them as giving the architect extra time would have hit their own time targets. We resubmitted 1st June and finally had approval on the 5th July. A few conditions but nothing unexpected. In the meantime we submitted our amendment to planning for our window changes this was to increase the airflow through the house to pass Part O more on this later. This was submitted to planning on the 21st March and approved on the 12th May. When the BC plans were initially refused I decided not to contact our architect as he obviously had something wrong and as it was all out of my hands, I just presumed it was not my Part O spreadsheet as he never contacted me. You can not rush anything in Cornwall it will all be dealt with dreckly, (eventually no time limit). Instead I got on with jobs I could do, mainly starting a new vegetable plot as the old one is in the way of the new build for plant access and will eventually become garden. My potting shed is only a few years old so it will be dismantled and stored indoors until we have walls and roof on and can position the shed close to the new build. My netted tunnel is also now down and will not be going back up instead I will create new smaller structures to cover individual groups of crop and re-use the larger netting just for my new strawberry beds. We have had a hosepipe ban on here in Cornwall for a year now so it’s not been a bad year to not be growing anything new and instead concentrate on the soil and new beds. Top photos are the early days of my vegplot and below as it is now, looking a bit sad but better things will come. Before it sounds like I’ve lost the plot and writing a gardening blog I’ll return to our build progress. We advertised our existing barn as free locally and received many offers to remove it. A local couple will be taking it down in October and rebuilding it on their land. I’ve sold a lot of paving that I had kept just in case we wanted it in the future but finally decided it’s not required. The problem with having land and outbuildings is it’s difficult to get rid of things we just move it to the cow shed but that has to stop. So all the wood in the old cow shed is moving to the old pig sty. We started keeping the wood because we wanted a stove but eventually decided our listed barn was never going to have a wood stove so a few trees that got cut down were given to neighbours but now the new build is going to have a wood stove so we’re saving wood again. Emptying the cow shed also involves giving away corrugated tin roof sections that have been saved just in case, moving a pile of nice small stone I was going to make a rockery with and finding a new home for our Christmas wooden reindeer. The cow shed is now nearly empty. We also hired some plant and shifted some spoil full of weeds from around the cow shed and took down two more trees, the Ash tree had Ash die back and it had been allowed to self seed much to close to the fir tree that had grown one sided. They were also in the way of the new field access that we are making wider for easier machinery access, and will also now provide a hammerhead turn for a fire engine. The spoil and tree stumps were moved to the lower field, the useable fire wood stored in the old pig sty with a few large pieces left as temporary seats for the builders. Top row left cow shed surrounded by weeds, right new wider access cow shed on the left with stables in the distance. Middle row clearing in progress and the better access. Bottom row me in the sun and heat while husband is in the Air Conditioned digger, some of the larger stone put to one side no boulders so far. We still have not got our ground-workers or builders sorted out, a few have been to look, some you never hear from again others give a quote that’s ridiculously high with so many provisions. Some will do this and that but not that, they suggest somebody else who is not interested. I think it's partly because we want an ICF build and also to dry shell stage only, excluding windows. We still hope to start next year but are now thinking to just get the groundworks completed as that is the most unknown quantity, and we are still saving up. The build is being partly funded by the sale of a Jensen FF but we have only just got round to advertising it last month and finding the right buyer could take a while. Part O Unfortunately my architect did not think ahead and design the house with Part O in mind and it took quite a while for me to work out what I had to change to pass the simplified method. A local company was approached and discussed the simplified method and the dynamic method but from what they told me there was no guarantee in passing either and to pass the dynamic method more changes to the building design and further dynamic modelling could be required so no set fee was offered. Instead I designed my own spreadsheet that initially proved our ventilation of just opening windows would not be enough to pass Part O but after reading up more and few window swapping ideas I got a pass on my own spreadsheet. I also stumbled upon the future homes site which has a spreadsheet that can be downloaded. As I’m a Apple Mac user it meant using MS Excel online but it was a far prettier version than my nuts and bolts spreadsheet and one that I thought my BC would be happier with. I input my window measurements and how they opened, and obtained a pass. Anybody reading this and wanting ideas on how to pass the simplified method first depends on what you fail on e.g. too much glazing or the free flow of ventilation although one can impact the other. I don’t think anybody looking at our plans from the first blog would think we would not pass as the southerly view is not overly glazed but by removing 3 windows on the northerly side and adding 6 roof windows that open 50 degrees and slight changes to bedroom windows meant the northerly facade was the most glazed and we had better air flow. We also changed all windows that open to open inwards to meet the arms reach criteria, enabling a wider opening. The spreadsheet is not perfect though as my bedroom windows are tilt and turn but you can only have the same hinge for day and night on the spreadsheet e.g. side hung. I could have adapted the spreadsheet but that would mean its not as trustable as I was hoping it was going to be or I could have created two one daytime side hung and one for night time opening when the windows are top hung. I decided to make the one spreadsheet work as explaining to my architect who would then have to explain to BC would be like learning and then teaching a foreign language. Happily we passed the simplified method with a condition about night time security when I get my own named BC I will be able to talk them though the spreadsheet quickly change the side hung to top hung and get a pass and if I still need a security grill it will only be for the lower half that opens at night and this can be made to measure by my talented husband out of rebar. The changes to windows did mean we had to make an amendment to the plans but as it was due to my architect not thinking ahead about the new regulations I suggested to him that I shouldn’t have to pay for this and he agreed. https://www.futurehomes.org.uk/library#Guidancetoolsandtemplates SAP When you start out on this journey there are so many new things to learn about and discover the pre build SAP being just one of them. Unfortunately this area seems controlled by a piece of software probably not much more than a spreadsheet but no free copy for us self builders to play with to see if we change x how does it effect y etc. I was in the hands of my Architect and if you haven’t worked out by now I am usually in charge of everything so taking a back seat I found very hard. The initial SAP needed a few tweaks here and there but Im happy with the result. For those of you who don’t know what one is I am attaching mine and if anybody wants to dissect it feel free to do so but the pages long report is quite boring as they all are and it comes down to insulation, air tightness and your chosen method of heating. We plan to have a minimum of 11kw of Solar on our virtually perfect south facing unshaded roof in Cornwall. This and together with an ICF build and good window air tightness with lots of added floor insulation hopefully will mean low running costs. You will not find a ASHP mentioned I’m not having one. I don’t like them for my build. I’m near the sea where everything rusts, and if I need a plumber because its broken it will be 6 weeks before one would be available who knows enough about ASHP to fix it. In the 6 years I lived in Cornwall I have seen the lack of trades people first hand in waiting for returned phone calls that never happen, quotes that take ages and waiting lists for the good people. In winter when you most need good heating then all the trades are busy working in the holiday homes out of season and are booked up. We have no mains Gas so are going to be a mainly electric home. To ride out the peaks and troughs of solar we will have as much on the roof as we can fit and rather than export to the grid we will export to our other working barn and lower some of those summer electricity costs. In winter we will have to buy some electricity but hopefully very little at peak costs. Quick guide to the SAP The first 3 pages are our planned u-values, expected Air permeability results, space heating, hot water etc and MVHR. The following 30 pages look very similar but have different headings and figures. Calculation of dwelling emissions for regulation compliance Calculation of target emissions Calculation of fabric energy efficiency Calculation of target fabric energy efficiency Calculation of energy rating Calculation of EPC costs, emissions and primary energy page 18 perhaps the one to read first Calculation of energy rating for improved dwelling Calculation of EPC costs, emissions and primary energy for improved dwelling Finally the predicted energy assessment on page 33 (96A0 and the estimated energy cost for the property over a year £103 That’s all for now, my next job is getting a full online estimate of the build now we have all the building regs and SE calculations completed. Build Costs b/f from first blog £12660 Building regs submission £345 Hired in plant and fuel £890 SAP £300 Part O Free VAT element only on building regs, and SE (Not included in first blog totals) £430 Total to date £14625 SAP.pdf Part O.xlsx

The link is below to the spreadsheet Template I used it’s also on the first post.

Update I finally have BC approval of my spreadsheet. They accepted my first spreadsheet and the only condition was security on ground floor bedrooms, that are open at night, which I expected. The approval has dragged on due to a very slow architect. I shall write more in my blog.

Update I finally have BC approval of my spreadsheet. They accepted my first spreadsheet and the only condition was security on ground floor bedrooms, that are open at night, which I expected. The approval has dragged on due to a very slow architect. I shall write more in my blog.

I read everything through and initially thought a French drain would work and unless your cabinet is plastic it will rot if wood sat on gravel. but then I came to your interior picture which looks more like a plant pot had at some time been placed in centre of window and the poor plant overwatered perhaps there was a hole in the pot. do you have any other damp areas?

Since it sounds like condensation…. Sometimes we miss the obvious so just asking have you brought anything in to dry out e.g. wood floor, wet boots or coats or have a newly plastered wall.