NSS

Thanks guys, pretty much as I expected. Colour and size constraints are two of the big issues driving us toward Silestone. I'd still like to hear from anyone out there who's used the self-adhesive hot rods though if possible. Cheers :-)

For a variety of reasons we are now leaning toward 20mm quartz worktops for our kitchen (rather than granite). From reading other threads, Silestone seems to be well regarded but we have one concern - heat resistance. We've been used (in our old house) to 30mm granite worktops (baltic brown) onto which Mrs NSS could happily place pans straight from the oven or hob with discernible issues. Am I right to assume that 'hot rods' or a trivet would be necessary with quartz, and if so does anyone have any experience of using self-adhesive hot rods?

More like half the people building twice the number.

Not necessarily. Many of those tradespeople would end up working in said factories, the difference being they'd be building twice as many homes.

As @Crofter has pointed out, there's a big difference between what is desirable and what is necessary. I too suspect that most of us on this forum aspire to build what we want, rather than what we need, and I don't think the kind of bespoke builds that most of us undertake lend themselves to meeting true low-cost build methods. However, I genuinely believe that homes targeted at those looking for their first (and possibly only) step into home ownership could be built much less expensively if a TRULY modular (and as @MikeSharp01 says) mass produced approach were adopted. Back in the early 80's I was part of a team tasked with reviewing the way the company I then worked for built warships. Implemented on the third of a three ship contract, it involved 'pre-outfit' of bulkheads, deck heads, etc, and then assembly into blocks or units prior to bringing them together (much the way most of the world had been building merchant ships for many years). Traditionalists were sceptical but the result was a saving of around 500,000 man hours over the previous ship in the series and even the new Queen Elizabeth Class carriers have been built that way. The problem with 'factory built' homes at present is that they're not built in sufficient numbers of a common design to maximise the cost benefits. I agree to an extent with @MikeSharp01's comparison to the humble Ford Focus, and such cars may be customised to individual's preference for colour, trim, engine, size/type, wheel size/style, etc, but the basic 'shell' is common to every variant (ie a 5-door Focus is a 5-door Focus). Until homes are built to similarly strict constraints, the real benefits of factory/mass production will remain elusive. As @Triassic says, perhaps it needs the Chinese to shake things up, but let's hope the big UK developers don't leave it too late to adapt or they'll go the same way as British Leyland and the like. By the way, and on a practical note, we all know that getting out of the ground is a significant proportion of the cost of most builds, whether it be strip foundations or a passive slab. It strikes me that helical (screw) type piles may offer a significant cost benefit and I'd certainly consider them should I ever be mad enough to self build again.

I assume the ducting is Lindab spiral tube. This is what we used and did the install DIY without any issues.

Apologies for re-booting an old thread, but Scandia-Hus encouraged us to have a kitchen design produced very early in the process (once the basic floor layout for the house had been agreed). They then 'tweaked' wall/door positions/sizes to ensure that when the timber frame was manufactured our desired kitchen layout would fit as precisely as possible.

Our place is essentially at the top of a hill and on free-draining (subsoil is ballast) ground but we still had to put in a huge soakaway for surface drainage from the roof, and our driveway and all pathways have to be permeable.

Don't driveways have to be permeable these days?

Yes, and the pleasing thing is that the spaces are exactly as I imagined they would be when I designed the place. The big difference is how light it now seems. No heating on as such, but we did have a small fan heater running for a couple of days to help the jointing skim dry before the rub down. Wasn't on overnight but the house was still warm in the mornings. That's basically how the boarder did ours. His lad lifted them up and then Mickey positioned and tacked them.

You need to eat more spinach.

15mm is what Scandia Hus specify and supply, but Mickey (the boarder) was really pleased to be using it and said he finds it much nicer to use than 12mm. All lifted by hand, indeed it was only some of the vaulted areas where it was a two man lift. Mickey was cutting and tacking the boards up, and David followed behind putting the rest of the screws in each sheet. I guess it's like anything, the more you do it the easier it gets.

In case any of you are interested, I've finally got our blog up to date (had some spare time due to an enforced lay off). You can find it at http://strawberrytreelodge.blogspot.co.uk/

Accepted £450 (less ebay fees). No idea what the buyer has planned for them, but they are off to Devon.

Now Sold

The way I read it is that the £2.5 billion investment is in the factories, and the intention is to build 25,000 homes per year by 2022. That's more than double the number of homes that Taylor Wimpey (for example) build per annum.

Primarily aimed at housing associations and local authorities as a 'build to let' package from what i've read. If it takes off it could kill the private rental market within 5-10 years. Won't be the first industry that the Chinese have been happy to 'loss lead' in.

Hampshire now charge £10 per sheet or £6 per 30 litre bag. I already have 2 x ton bags full to overflowing, and still have enough to fill another two Vaulted ceilings look lovely, but (as said earlier in the thread) create a lot of waste. Guess I'll be getting a skip in.

Mrs NSS wants me to incorporate them into a summer house if I don't sell them (and the sizes are given in the last image). Edit: not sure of the exact weight but I can lift them (just) on my own so I'd guess circa 50kgs each.

Now on ebay with best offer. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182387686733?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Very good point and, as you say, Joe has undoubtedly suffered penalties in time, money and stress and should be compensated for what seems to have been a 'frivolous' refusal. It should also be said though that developers who make similarly frivolous appeals should also be penalised for the costs incurred by the council's involved. Well done Joe and good luck with the build.

I'd certainly expect more than that. I used GBS and received detailed layouts in several planes showing duct runs/sizes, supply/extract positions, flow rates, details of unit mounting/connections and external penetrations.

I have to admit to being quite surprised that anyone still makes externally glazed windows.

I suspect the local play school could do better, using a few empty toilet rolls and a cornflakes box.

If there's room, and it would still allow a worthwhile increase in the kitchen size, i'd reduce the downstairs bathroom to a small shower room with WC and add an en suite shower room to bed 1 upstairs. I like a bath but I like en suite 'facilities' more and would hate to have no loo downstairs.