newhome

If you buy the land won’t you by default own the house built upon it regardless of whether your parents pay for the house? Just something to bear in mind especially if you have siblings as these things can get messy. I would also just clarify with HMRC what is meant by the term ‘family’. I think it’s a great thing to do for them BTW!

There is a definite tendency for kids, especially teenagers, to sit on their phones all day. My brother has twins who compete in athletics at county / national level but they still lie on their beds using their phones all day given the chance.

Great for some people perhaps but the vast majority couldn’t afford to.

I’ll raise you £50 for Mr Poldark ?, but I agree, it’s a stunning view.

I imagine parents living in a house may qualify for a vat reclaim? It’s a bit vague in that it says ‘for you or your family to live in’. Quite what constitutes family isn’t specified however.

I haven’t watched it but I’m sure many modern houses, even developer bought ones (yeah yeah I know what people feel about those) could be made more healthy than old damp houses. Hard floors everywhere (I never understand the obsession with carpets anyway), furniture carefully chosen, MVHR, decent vacuum cleaner, no pets, and I’m sure there would be a big improvement for most people. Ultimately some people suffer from severe allergies and I don’t necessarily think that they can be prevented although I’m with @Onoff to a degree re growing up around pets and mud. I had pets and horses and seemed to spend half my childhood wading round in mud outside. Many kids these days just seem to want to stay indoors on their phones etc living a virtual world. Fresh air is good but I don’t really include London or other large cities in that statement. I’m sure that London is not the healthiest place to live.

I don't think I would be inclined to add it in those circumstances but it would depend whether there was anything in the legal paperwork required me to do so. Title deeds seem to get cocked up all the time (mine are in relation to an access route through to a gate at the back of the property).

My Wi-fi extender definitely works. I can’t get Wi-fi upstairs properly without mine. Plugged in I get a decent signal albeit that the advice on here was that it potentially slowed things down.

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great project and it’s great having a bunch of self builders to bounce ideas and questions off. Self building can be a lonely place, especially when you are inexperienced, but this place provides a great support community.

Deffo beer ‘o clock!

@Christine Walker is local to you and iirc got a pretty decent price for her plumbing. I know @ultramods (further north) had a pretty wide variety of quotes. Here is that thread

Lol @Onoff loves window reveals! He has his own troubles on this subject ... https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/4894-tilingmany-questions/?do=findComment&comment=122884

Nah, you should have taught them to tile the roof, then you could sit inside in the warm with your spready and monitor progress through the window ?

Ya think? I’d much rather sit with a spready than do the hoovering (or deal with kids). Get them structured right and pivot tables are a thing of beauty providing a sense of budget control, or at least an awareness where it’s out of control. I doubt I would have contained costs as effectively without mine, and at the end it became my VAT reclaim with little effort.

My God! Are you 2 related (ain’t that the norm up the valley anyway ?).

Deffo plain round window.

Glad someone was paying attention during McEwan'sGate. You sure it wasn't you smoking crack @Nickfromwales

I think I'd better not give up the day job . So the utility room stat that does the DHW is connected directly to the TS somehow to call for DHW heating rather than via the manifolds?

. Tis black magic then! I didn't even think the stats were connected to the boiler? Though they were only connected to the manifolds?

Oui, je comprends merci. I had all rooms set to summer until yesterday so the UFH has been off for about 5 months and now I've switched on 2 rooms. So no incremental - just wham bam kick arse, heat room now! It's all or nothing with me . So heating is off as still at 20C but then the hot water came on and top of the tank was 54.7C (still have the little stats in) so the boiler came on and 7kw later shut off at 65C. So all good. And the red blending valves do all the clever stuff re the temp that is delivered to the floor? What magic lets the boiler know whether it's supplying the top of the tank or the bottom?

I only got to use my UFH for a month at the beginning of the year when @Nickfromwales and @PeterW fixed it for me as it's been switched off for summer ever since. Now that I've switched it back on in 2 rooms I thought I had better try to understand how it operates a bit more. So first questions: On the TS there are 2 cylinder stats. The top one is set to 65C and the bottom one to 45C. When a room calls for heat what determines whether the boiler switches on? The bottom cylinder stat at 45C? And when it gets to 45C the boiler switches off? And if the hot water is switched on I assume the boiler will stay on until the top cylinder stat is at 65C or the time stops? So the cylinder stats are for different purposes and work independently? Last night it took a fair while for the temp to rise from 17C to 20C and the boiler kicked out 37kw over the course of last night and first thing this morning. Maybe I should have expected this the first time the slab has had to heat up this year however .... This morning when I got up it was at 20C and it hasn't dropped at all today so the heating hasn't come on yet tonight which is a good thing I guess. It hasn't been baltic outside today however. Will be interesting to see how much it drops when it's colder.

Welcome Steve. Hope you get your mortgage sorted soon. I'm sure you will, you just need a lender with more vision.

Ugh? Don't you mean top, bottom and sides in plain? Anyway I googled tile pockets and every image I saw that had mosaics only had them in the back panel. I imagine any slight variations in depth or any slight angles may be more noticeable if you are looking at tiny squares? Other than that I reckon it's personal preference.

I can only see 2 pages too. The post count includes the replies too I think. This is a relatively young forum (started in 2016) so there won’t be any posts older than that.

I would say that the completion certificate from building control generally counts as the most usual document to determine that a house is complete. That said many people move into their house before this stage so if you officially move in, claim the new property as your address etc then potentially the clock ticks from then as it thus becomes your primary residence. As @PeterW says when you have to pay council tax varies by council but it’s often before the completion certificate is issued. You still have 18 months to sell your old property however before CGT liability kicks in so really it’s a non issue unless you struggle hugely to sell. Even HMRC is inconsistent in determining whether a property is complete in some cases. This is based on information received on VAT reclaims. But it matters not because what’s important is whether it’s your primary residence or not. If you read this link it mentions that a property counts as a dwelling during construction. It still shouldn’t matter as your old property continues to be your primary residence until you move into the new one. The new one however would appear to be liable for CGT from the minute you start construction. But since you are not considering selling the new house that becomes a non issue as once it is complete you move into it and it becomes your primary residence. And you then have 18 months to dispose of the old one before liability kicks in. https://www.taxation.co.uk/Articles/2017/05/02/336351/cgt-property-disposals If you are really concerned I would consult a tax expert (as opposed to a solicitor).