knobblycats

Here's some more info to put your mind at ease: Each end of the beam will be sitting on a rebar reinforced concrete column. The concrete strength of the wall itself (RC35) should be similar to that used in padstones, and the whole ground floor is monolithic - a single piece of concrete. Otherwise, it's a good point to raise, and I appreciate you looking out for those of us who may not know much!

I like this, thanks Russell!

Photo added!

I have a steel beam going in over a 4600mm opening, each end of the beam will be sitting on the concrete core of the ICF. However, each end of the beam will have welded studs, in order to tie them structurally to the concrete core of the ICF. This means we need to pour the concrete with the beam in situ (instead of adding the beam after). The ICF is XPS polystyrene and won't support the beam by itself. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can safely support the steel beam before and during the pour so it doesn't move or fall.

Thanks Omnibuswoman. I'd have to write an essay to completely describe my negative experience with Build Collective. How was your experience?

I've been going through the Architectural Technicians' detailing for the flat roof. The current design shows the top chord of the joist flying over the external wall to form the roof overhang. I'm concerned that this would be a cold bridge - as well as a pig of a detail to make airtight. Here's the drawing that was provided: Does anyone know if I'm justified in my concern of this being a cold bridge or am I being over-cautious? In the case of it being a significant cold bridge, I've had a go at drawing up an alternative detail: The idea here is to encapsulate the top chord in insulation and then continue the airtight barrier over and under to join with the external wall. In my mind, this would reduce the cold bridging and simplify the air tightness detail. Does that seem like a sensible way forward? Does anyone have any other thoughts or solutions?

Yes and for strength, lots of weight on clay.

Hi, I wrote an introduction post on here back in 2021 and shared some floorplans for our planned new build in North Wiltshire. As it's been a while, I thought I'd re-introduce myself and do an update post. In early 2023 we broke ground. Since then we built the insulated raft foundation (Greenraft) and the ground floor walls in Polarwall ICF. It's slow going as I'm doing almost all the work myself. We've had a fair few issues, the biggest were our first wall supplier (Isotex) going bust after we’d paid them, and I had to fire our combined engineer/architectural technicians (probably worth a post in itself – but long story short, I can't recommend Build Collective). I’m hoping to ask around the forums for some help/advice on a few things in the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy some progress photos! The dig and backfilling, with roller. Sand layer with insulated drainage pop-ups Greenraft insulation for insulated slab foundation. 200mm insulation and 300mm concrete slab Mesh, rebar and underfloor heating Concrete pour And today, with ground floor walls up - ready for the pour

@ToughButterCup thank you for the warm welcome! @Bitpipe and @JohnMo interesting you both mention UFH - I'm all for keeping things simple and had actually thought about not having UFH at all! Where would be the best place on this forum to start a thread on heating? @jack good point, I've eyeballed our supply pole and there's definitely 4 cables so here's hoping we can get three phase easily enough!

Hi all, My wife and I are about to put in a planning application for our self-build in North Wiltshire. We live in a 1950's farm cottage - dispel any bucolic imagery, it's very ugly and it leaks water and air like a sieve! It is, however, in open countryside with great views and a large (1200sqm) plot. The plan is to do an almost entirely DIY build in the garden before demolishing the existing cottage. We want to get the new build up to passive house standards but not bothering with the certification. Will likely be using ICF on insulated slab. I want to move us almost entirely onto electric, including for heating and hot water. We already have 2 electric cars, a Leaf and a Skoda Enyaq and I'm looking forward to advice and debate on the best way to achieve all electric in a low-cost way! Attached are the plans that we're soon submitting to planning (already gone through pre-application). Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.