epsilonGreedy

You have confirmed my suspicions. I still think Roger B is one of life's good guys even if economic necessity means he occasionally lowers his standards and sups with the likes of Abacus.

Skill Builder released a 1 hour video 4 days ago which is a deep dive on fitting out a whole bathroom exclusively with Abacus products. I got a lot of value watching the video even if I never buy any Abacus stuff. During the video Roger Bisby constantly eulogizes the wonderfulness of an Abacus system bathroom and the plumbing synergy derived from the integrated system. Is a best of British Abacus bathroom really streets ahead of misfit continental stuff as Roger claims over and over in the video? https://youtu.be/vNYNigge1C0

Hmm yes I see the general point being made. When I was going through my anti UFH phase I mentioned my concern about excess heat in bedrooms, the pro UFH lobby contended that even with UFH downstairs and MVHR, the bedrooms will still be a few degrees cooler. I hope the same will apply with a 2-zone system downstairs i.e. mid-week there would be no need to heat the formal sitting room hence a few pennies can be saved running it a bit cooler with that UFH zone off. Life style in a not quite passiv house requires some guesswork on my part and my judgement is probably clouded by my current rental property that guzzles 2500 liters of oil per year and still needs localized top up heating with a portable electric radiator.

And so will I if I can comprehend the diy steps ProDave took, at these prices UFH is nearly the budget option when compared to plumbing in 3 decent looking radiators.

Peer pressure has led me to rethink my plan not to have UFH which is now causing me to question my original plan to fit an LPG combi boiler. Overall build cost concerns mean I want to keep the heating system as low tech and simple as possible hence no DHW tank/store is planned. In the past week I have read that a combi boiler is ideal for UFH because the low water temp of UFH fits the condensing temperature range of a modern boiler. An opposing view is that constant cycling to top of the UFH slab will work the boiler inefficiently. I remain a little circumspect about the advantages of UFH in my self build situation e.g. both of us will work for another 10 years and so heating a UFH slab all day in a less than passiv house feels wrong. In view of this I will regard the UFH as a winter/long-weekend heating source with a few radiators and a couple of wood burners for occasional quick heat autumn and spring. There will be just two ground floor UFH zones with 30 m2 and 33 m2 slabs sitting on a typical 150mm of sheet insulation.

Noted thank you. What final budget did you achieve by sourcing your own UFH materials/components? I am currently waiting for my Nuheat quote following a chat with them at the Swindon self build show 10 days ago. At the other end of the scale my self build neighbour seemed happy with an all-in price of £4k for 90 m2 of ground floor screeding over beam & block with UFH supply & fit included in the same job.

Our budgets and house size sound similar, I also intend to do as much internal work as possible. In my case with some extra conservation area material costs I hope it will be possible to get to a weather-tight shell with a staircase, commissioned LPG boiler and a powered up mains CU for under £100k.

There has been some mission creep already, for example she did not originally contest the notion that we could shower at a local gym prior to getting a finished bathroom in order to advance the move-in date a month or two. I have now added a free standing bath with cold and hot water to the move-in specification but so far she has neglected to clarify that the bathroom will have 4 walls ?

Thanks, I need to investigate further before my foundation dig.

This oak framed garage is close to my notion of a perfect garage and going for a timber framed garage would kick start my self build while waiting for a competent brickie team to become available. Was there a discussion about mounting the main vertical supports on special pad stones? What is the roof covering? I ask because I would like an open roof structure but I am conscious that in the absence of regular spaced joists the roof covering weight is important.

I have been looking for the official name of that buttress type feature, does anyone know what it is called? I like the example in this image http://www.yorkhandmade.co.uk/files/myimages/heroprod/Kilburn/Kilburn_redwood1.jpg

Not with a complex structure shown by the OP. For example look at the height of the chimney above first floor level, how many scaffolding lifts, how many site visits to lay a few courses? Also according to the House Builder's Bible brickies cost a job not on the number of bricks but on the wall elevation square meters including the area of window and door apertures. From a brickie's point of view the OP's fab house design is a never ending saga of openings, pillars and lintels.

Four months ago I knew nothing about the cost of building a house, now I can lay in bed at night and recreate a house build spreadsheet in my head. I suggest you buy the house builder's bible and read it cover to cover a few times. Having done this you will likely conclude you cannot build a 4-bed house for £100k using conventional techniques and just a paint roller in your personal toolkit.

@aylward I think we need clarification of your current situation. Am I correct in assuming you are mid build constructing a house plus garage and the garage is now complete with contents that are both personal domestic possessions in store and building materials for the main house?

So true. Regardless of where one stands in this debate it is clear the presentation of this new Government initiative is chaotic. Any policy arising will be incoherent and so ineffective. Local government is at the bottom of the food chain and cannot answer back, they are to blame for the poor state of adult social care apparently, in another example my local NHS hospital is so cash strapped some months it has to borrow money to pay the wage bill and the central government answer is to send in the CQC to fine the hospital.

These snowdrops are hardy critters having survived a three country journey from the Sandringham Estate to the middle of Lincolnshire. A few years ago the seller of the plot shipped some spoil back home following a job on the estate and the bulbs self seeded on my building plot. Anyhow thanks for the horticultural tip, I will ensure the scraped off topsoil is dumped in a shaded corner of the plot.

The route to finding a chink in your wife's appreciation of bricks is to ask her for the historical origin of the brick she wants. Having then found a much older house representing that origin you can then move forward by finding various modern production bricks inspired by that same historical origin.

Not sure. My proposed house has three chimneys so time perhaps to reduce that to one working and two false chimney stacks. Last week about two tons of firewood fell into my hands through a stroke of luck which I should be able to eek out a few years (but to be used only when climatic conditions won't cause regional respiratory distress promise Lizzie).

Thank you. My first bog entry has been posted, tis a bit lacking in technical meat but some may enjoy the read.

“And?” I prompted, ”that’s it” she said. Thus a corner of a green English field enhanced by some royal snowdrops was destined to become a Welshman’s first self-build. The unexpectedly abbreviated list was a list of life-sustaining features she deemed absolute move-in must-haves for our minimum viable new home. When a woman falls in love with a building plot it is surprising how few luxuries she deems essential to swing the deal with her master builder to be. I have been a reasonably competent master & commander of a middle size 35ft sailing yacht in recent years though beyond that claim I am a jack of zero trades. Early encounters with the good denizens of the BuildHub forum tarred me as a hopelessly naive computer programmer fit for little more than making tea onsite. Some forum luminaries offered encouragement and suggested that with sufficient aptitude my career as a selfbuilder could see promotion to building site chief portaloo cleaner. A period of financial scrutiny followed acceptance of my offer on the plot. The sale of the yacht had released funds to build to about shoulder height and money from a previous house sale would buy a roof, windows and staircase. Beyond that I will need to dispel the notion I am a chinless wonder of a self-builder otherwise this whole project might become a millstone around my neck and by winter 2018/19 it would be a cold unoccupied millstone. Heritage is a double-edged sword for a house builder, some nearby castle ruins come at a cost. Our new conservation officer is reputed to wield a fearsome sword according to local village lore. The build material costs will be loaded with conservation extras such as a slate roof, cute bricks that I suspect were rejects during the building of Hampton Court or Euro Disney and sash windows. At least the royal snowdrops were free. Looking back to the beginning of the year our transition from house hunters to self builders was a spontaneous event triggered by some cheerful rural birds on a cold January Sunday afternoon, back then the “Beast From The East” meant the local conservation officer. Just four months ago we were searching for a regular house complete with a roof and front door key. And now, as I write the first entry in this saga, we own a plot with detailed planning permission for a modest 1500 sq ft house fit for Jane Austen. I should also report that the science behind the butterfly effect is incomplete as it should include birdsong. p.s. Does anyone know what a dormant snowdrop looks like? I need to effect my own conservation before the JCB moves in.

This sounds like opinion-based inter science rivalry, the evidence is that humans are living longer and medical science has had a large role in that achievement. We should conclude that medical science is mainly good science because it delivers a net benefit. Is there a large amount of low grade science about? No doubt but that is s failure of social policy which has mandated a state funded expansion in academia beyond what our society needs or the national capacity fill those universities with high calibre brains.

The scientist within you should be able to prove yourself wrong. One of the greatest achievements of the 20th century was the lengthening of life expectancy, this suggests that medical science is doing good science. That achievement is even more remarkable considering that the majority of humans in western society are trying very hard to terminate their lives early through reckless excess consumption and idleness.

The right diet for a person can be determined by analysis of an individual's own DNA plus the DNA of their resident gut bacteria. There are some excellent TedX talks on the subject available on YouTube. My niece is in her second year studying Medical Science and loves to talk about all of this new science, customized gene specific medical treatment is where medicine is going. The human race is in an unhappy place right now, modern farming and food processing has supported a population explosion from 2.5 billion to 7 billion in just 70 years, unfortunately science is in catch-up mode trying to comprehend why the result is so many people with low grade chronic complaints.

And here am I worried that a Lincolnshire planning office might not approve barn black on the basis that it is a Suffolk and Norfolk thing.

Your theory is not as bizarre as it seems, some recent medical science advances are heading to a similar conclusion. In 10 years time you should be able to buy a tub of replacement hyperactive gut bacteria on the high street from Boots.