ragg987

You need a warranty if you want a mortgage and BC is mandatory to sign off the build. Both need inspections and you can save a lot of money by combining them as inspections for one serves the other. Your build route does not effect warranty, which only covers pretty limited situations. Some have not bothered which is fine is you don't need a mortgage or intend to live in the house beyond 10 years.

I did a bit of a search a few years ago and did not find a suitable supplier. Seems common in the USA, my searches landed there and prices were keen.

Ditto. Tilt is great, better from a security perspective and can leave open in rain. Nearly 3 years since install and no issues with seals. I would not expect seal issues, inward opening is common in cooler European climates.

Thanks for getting back and your extras list @Ferdinand. I missed this completely with the shower tray. Using a non-slip mat, seems to be fine so far, though fiddly as need to lift and let dry else will go mouldy. Those self-adhesive buttons look good. I intentionally avoided this with the fixed shower head and positioned the flex shower head so it can spray towards the seat. In any case adding the NHS stool gives full flexibility of positioning. And you still trust him to have fitted it well ;). The knobs are away from the shower heads so can be operated prior to stepping under the water. My parents have personal alarms they wear 24x7, is remotely connected to a device that dials out if alarm button is pressed. This gives peace of mind as they can alert a third party to any emergencies even if we are not in. I also have a front-door key (in a key safe mounted outside) so the emergency response can access the house if required.

Yes, something like that. The NHS version did not stretch to the magazine rack.

I meant "open-loop" in the context that air is not re-circulated. Heat exchange and bypass is a separate, but important, point. Agree, else you are chucking cold air out when you need to rtain it. How would the Genvex work in this case, does it engage the heat-exchanger? I noticed on my MVHR that the heat-exchanger kicks in when external temperature is much higher than internal - so some reduction in heat gain on hot days.

I get the impression @dnb wants to create an open-loop air-con system. Thats would be re-creating the Genvex function of HPV. I suspect you would only want to bypass the heat exchanger in a narrow temperature range - e.g. between 15C and 25C. the lower temperature for heating period - keep heat in the house the higher temperature for cooling period - keep coolth in the house I think there is a bit of complexity here.

Just walk around your house and make a list of fixed things you see. That is your decision list. Hidden beneath the surface are all things structural and first fix. Add those. Then add service providers - architect, builder, structural engineer, building control, plumber, electrician, etc. So there are many hundreds of choices, you can relinquish some control if you have a trusted service provider or are not too concerned, but every decision has a knock on impact and you will live with those for many years. I think this is an area where self build is different from buying a house. When you buy you have maybe 10 or 20 choices to make but limited control. Sorry no list to offer as a starter, most people will list materials or tasks but that is only part of the decision making.

Electric will contain the heat to the DHW so better in that sense, but even with economy 7 will cost at least double against gas. Plus your day time electricity use will be more expensive. Could you limit the boiler hours by a timer e.g. first thing in morning when TV room not in use, then switch it off for rest of the day?

Are you considering 2 units driving air down a single set of ducts? How will you balance the flows, will this not result in the fans "fighting" each other? I assume both units will want to vary the flow e.g MVHR on boost.

Ours was not properly fixed to the wall, essentially just hanging, until plastered and painted.

Walk in no level changes. Personal preference, screen keeps water contained and I prefer the feeling of warmth created by the three sides of the enclosure.

As long as the finish height is known, should not matter. My doubt is if you intend to polish the floor, not sure what is best in that case.

What are doing above the screed? We screeded prior to boarding, plaster, mist costs, wall paint where spray painted, then engineered board on floor. After this skirting and finishing off.

I forgot to mention - I shared the trench for mains electric and BT for some of the way. I had to pay UKPN to the street side of the trench, and they "officially" refused to permit shared trenches, but a bit of beer-money helped and they happily laid additional duct for me with a suitable physical separation between ducts.

Same experince as @Jamie998, I laid the supplied duct from the BT pole to my house. Routed all underground and up through the slab and sealed. Master BT socket is at that point, then I provisioned for 2x twisted cable in the house to the most central point of the house to which I would connect the BT wi-fi modem / router and telephone. I also had an electrical socket and ethernet point provisioned - I wish I had done 2 instead of 1. When time came for BT to pull the cable, I asked them to provision for 4 lines instead of the usual 2. And the master socket the chap agreed to let me have an off-spec socket with built in ADSL filter - apparently not supplied in residential builds. He even configured it to allow the ADSL and phone lines split at the master socket and to my 2 central points. After 1 year I got fed up with the stability of BT and their repeated visits to fix it and switched to a wireless village network and VOIP. So the hard-line is no longer used. Not regretting it - the village network is superfast and pretty stable in all weathers.

The moment you move away from standard "brick and tile" you have limited the insurance choices. Still available, but less choice. I would expect the same logic is going to apply to selling it (though I have no experience) - less people might be interested if it is too different from the norm, but my belief is that a well-built house will attract buyers. The other factor to consider is mortgages, I have only tried one company with our timber-frame / zinc roof / ICF basement / render / wood cladding and they did not bat an eyelid.

Coming a bit late to this, but given the "resource" aspect thought I would share my experiences. Our build incorporated a self-contained annexe - lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Parents in their 80s, both having different requirements. First observation is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that you need to factor in degree of physical and mental impairment as well as their acceptance of the impairment. So for instance mum is younger and more mobile but willing to accept her limitations and accepts aids while dad is quite immobile (but still able to get our for a fag!) but refuses to accept this and will fight it - he can barely walk with a stick and gives me the impression he is about to fall over, but stubbornly refuses to use a rollator or any such assistance. So whole annexe is completely step free - there is a small threshold step at the front door, but once inside the whole area is trip-hazard free. Specific considerations for bathroom: bathroom door next to the bedroom bathroom door opens outwards so cannot be blocked shut by a fallen body toilet next to bathroom door large toilet flush plate https://www.designerbathroomconcepts.com/geberit-bolero-dual-flush-plate-gloss-chrome.html large comfortable pan and seat non-fiddly toilet roll holder space for wheelchair when needed sink fixed to wall with clear space underneath to permit wheelchair or seated use generous walk-in shower flush to floor https://www.bette.de/en/produkte/duschwannen/detail?p=Floor wall-mounted grab bars all along shower wall and just outside Croydex straight and angled fixed overhead and hand-held shower heads easy to use shower and sink controls - large knobs or handles thermostatic mixers on sink and shower to prevent scalding hinged seat in shower (really nice and strong, no sharp edges, needed noggins in studwall) https://www.sam.de/produkt/0043120010-sam-freeway-badausstattungen/?lang=en fully sealed floor area to minimise issues when water get everywhere low-level sensor night lighting https://www.slv.com/en-uk/luminaires-lamps/frame-led-230v-curve-led-indoor-wandeinbauleuchte-2700k-1000574.html plenty of general light and specific fixed light over sink wall mounted stuff to keep floor clear, including toilet brushholder We have since had to supplement due to knee surgery and have added grab bars around the toilet - free-standing / frame type - as issued by the NHS free-standing stool in shower - issued by NHS In reality, the bathroom does not look specifically adapted (apart from grab-bars in shower) and will serve well for able-bodied people, for instance if we wanted to rent it out in the future.

We had no issues on getting a reduction due to soakaway, for rainwater. Thames Water just checked a plan while I was on a call and agreed it, plus refunded this portion on the first bill. It is a smallish amount, maybe around £30 per year. I don't know what plan they had access to, did not query it, but my guess would be our planning application.

Sounds like you need to pay someone in that case, either a QS or your local BM. If you trust the BM it is probably the cheaper option.

Did your tradesmen walk away with the left-overs? I made the mistake with floor board of ordering too close to the limit and running short by 2 planks. The transport for 2 planks was quite high! In general I tended to over-order by a small margin as there was always scope or wastage or damage. I found a lot of suppliers are more than happy to take-off from your drawings for free - I took this up with RWG, brick-slips and some other supply-only aspects. One thing to be check is that your local BM can supply at decent proces - I usually avoided my local suppliers as I could source cheaper elsewhere. A couple of excpetions applied, but small.

NIMBY.

Not an answer to your question, but I would informally call the planner and solicit feedback on the application given that the evaluation process should be "well advanced by now". I did this with our application and got some useful feedback, though nothing definitive. I am not convinced the inspectorate would be swayed by a late decision - I would expect them to be more focussed on the merits, or not, of the scheme.

Yes much easier at the start - I bought some flexi-ducting off internet and used that in various places. MBC even sealed it all prior to the pressure test. Just try to plan ahead and get all your cabling requirements sorted at this stage - e.g. wiring for external lights, aerials, telephones. And lesson from me - if you are pulling services to a zone zero (in our case plant room) might be worth adding a spare conduit with pulling string as it is harder after completion.

Sort of. With our unit the bypass setting can be adjusted to average daily temperature. I have set it to 12C.