Dreadnaught

I used Roof Maker too, but for flat fixed passivhaus units (nine of them). Happy to share my experience.

From a timber frame company. She was their outsourced frame-designer. I did not use that particular frame company in the end but she impressed me. I visited a range of timber-frame companies while researching my build before I put a spade in the ground.

I am in the middle of self building. I am frame-up and weathertight, and now embarking on first fix. I did employ a part-qualified RIBA architect. She was a qualified Passive-House designer (which is something I would personally always look for in an architect) to do the CAD work and produce the design for planning and the D&A Statement. However, I managed the planning application and process myself and coordinated all the site investigations, etc., myself. And I am now project-managing the build myself entirely alone. My biggest recommendation to any architect from my own experience is NOT to stick to the RIBA steps-of-service. In my personal view, they are too rigid for a one-off small-scale self-builder-led project. Instead and more flexible iterative approach should be used in partnership with the self-builder.

p.s. I could not think how to make that ↑ rhyming (I tried).

I think we need more poetry on BuildHub. Mods, how about an annual poetry week, when all posts must be in rhyming couplets or automatically deleted?

Thanks @joth. Tips from those who have been there before are my favourite. Useful advice.

One side: Cedral Lap planks over battened ventillation void Other side: brick slips over over battened ventillation void Thanks for the advice.

My timber frame is up. The 240mm walls are empty, without insulation. Soon they will have Wamrcel (blown cellulose insulation) pumped in. I am thinking about the various wall penetrations. I assume that they need to go-in before the Warmcel. What about wires for external lights, external power sockets, and the door bell? Should they be ducted through the exterior wall? Or just as wires and, presumably, derated? Any advice would be welcome. What have others done?

I have an RPA at my new build and had a Aboricultural Method Statement, etc. Your works sounds to me like the sort of thing that would be allowed in an RPA. I'd ask a friendly arboriculturalist in a quick phone call whether it requires pre-approval or not. My guess is you might be asked to have a qualified arboriculturalist "supervise" the insertion of the ground screws, with a mind to relocate them if they would hit a big root. Are you on the radar of your local tree officer already?

Welcome @Ric88. I am over the border in Cambridgeshire. @Nick Laslett is in your area too. We are both self-building.

Just a comment on Wifi 6 (802.11 AX). Personally, I am not going to pay a premium for Wifi 6 and instead wait for 6E, which isn't out yet but will be a huge increase in network throughput compared to 6. Instead, if I do need to buy my APs before 6E models are available, then I will buy Wifi 5 ones (at much lower cost) and upgrade them to 6E later. My advice: get Wifi 5 or 6E and skip 6.

A good article out today on the new Matter home automation standard: https://www.theverge.com/22832127/matter-smart-home-products-thread-wifi-explainer

A couple of other things to note on MagPly: Its breathable. Its strong. I only needed 9mm thickness of MagPly to replace 12mm of Medite Vent sheathing board, Some of the building warranty companies don't like magnesium oxide boards in general, for reasons I don't understand, including LABC I think. Might be worth double checking with your warranty provider, if you have one, beforehand it if you are thinking of using MagPly. https://www.magply.co.uk/applications/timber-frame

I had this issue too with my timber frame. I swiped the external Medite Vent sheathing board for MagPly and building control accepted it. I also swapped the breather paper from Protect TF-200 to Tyvek Firecurb. The MagPiy was actually suggested by Building Control. My external cladding on the sides close to the boundary is Cedral Lap (with a ventilated void) so I did not need to change that.

@MikeSharp01, and others interested on open-source home automation, this might also interest you, this time regarding the Thread mesh-networking technology: "OpenThread released by Google is an open-source implementation of Thread technology, based on the draft Thread 1.1 specification." https://www.threadgroup.org/support#OpenThread https://openthread.io