Benpointer

No we haven't rendered that top reveal - too fiddly. There's a cross batten behind the vertical cladding and I think they have added, or are going to add, a strip of ash to cover that batten but that strip will only be visible from below - the vertical cladding comes down further. I need to check tomorrow. Also I am now unsure how any water that gets behind the cladding will drain, so I need to check that too but I'd be surprised if the chippies haven't already considered and addressed it. (There's a ventilated cavity behind the cladding of course.) I'll report back.

Hah, yes, I spotted that in the photo too but you just don't notice the nail holes from ground unless you look for them. They are doing them by eye rather than marking out every hole and there are some slight variances - I'll forgive them that because we want the cladding done asap. The cables are indeed mainly cat 5/6 - for CCTV. The outside lights are all in the soffits, and obviously have power cables running up behind the cladding from the plant room to service those. There are just a couple of outside power sockets but not on these walls pictured. We have used British cedar before on previous projects and rated it highly. We bought it green from a local sawmill and was very heavy - I almost expected it to drip like a sponge. But once it was up it dried quickly and weathered very well. I might well use it when we re-clad the workshop, next year hopefully - no zinc to run on to so no issues with using cedar there.

Yes it's Brimstone Ash from Vastern timber. Expensive but really excellent quality - straight as a dye, virtually no knots, and it came really well packed. It cuts cleanly and we haven't experienced any splitting, despite Vastern warning that it can be brittle. We originally intended using western red cedar but discovered that cedar reacts with zinc and we have some high cladding above our zinc roof. The Brimstone Ash is inert (so we are told!). It's about the same price as Canadian cedar but has the benefit of going silver quicker, and it's British, so lower transport CO2 costs. Stainless nails are an absolute must. We're using Timco FirmaHold 16G 50mm Stainless 2nd fix nails through the face - very hard to see. Regarding the edge above the windows. Although it doesn't really show in the photo all the bottom edges are cut at a 30 degree angle to leave a drip point at the outside edge. This was recommended by Vastern. The same for any joins in long verticals, though incredibly I think we have only needed 2 or 3 due to lots of long lengths being supplied and careful selection by our carpenters. For the bottom edges they have fixed them slightly over sized then run a rail saw. Anyway we feel the angled cut at the bottom should stop water pooling on those bottom edges. Further progress on the cladding today:

We bought everything through them: design, kit, commissioning, and installed it ourselves. I am sure we could have done the design ourselves but we had too many other things going on. You would have to give Patrick Chester a call or email patrick@heatspaceandlight.com to see if they would just commission.

Well that's very kind. There are several things to say: Firstly, we have been lucky. What's the most important attribute of a successful project manager? Answer: Be lucky! Secondly, the blog no doubt gives a slightly rose-tinted view for a couple of reasons: I have not majored on the couple of trades who have been more 'difficult', primarily because it's not fair to trash them when they have no way of replying. Also, I am mindful that where we have had issues that might be down to me - lack of clarity of instructions, clash of styles etc. None have been fraudulent or dangerous. In terms of the process of finding good trades, it's largely down to previous contact and personal recommendation. Those trades we did not already know were mostly recommended by those we did know. Notably the few we have been less enamoured with were people I sought out directly through the internet, adverts etc. but equally that method did throw up some excellent teams (e.g. the plasterers, and indeed the main timber frame company Turners). For national suppliers/trades (e.g. our ASHP team Air2Heat and the MVHR guys Heat, Space and Light) a trawl of BuildHub has been very useful, and reliable. I thought about asking for reference sites but in truth I don't think these are at all reliable; ask any trade for a reference and if they want the job they'll provide one (and often those good trades that don't need the work won't be bothering to provide referees because the whole thing is a bit of hassle for a job you might not get). And has anyone ever followed up a reference and got bad feedback? So I didn't bother with that. The other big thing is communication. I spent quite a lot of time lining people up as early as possible, and talked to them - a lot. By which I mean I kept in regular contact every fortnight or so to confirm we were still on schedule, and check they were still lined up. Some people I just On a couple of trades I got cold feet due to difficulties getting hold of them or lack of confidence they could make our dates, so I switched to alternatives, giving them plenty of notice we were going elsewhere. I have tried to keep the communication up through their work for us too - everyone likes to be told what a great job they are doing and it costs nothing. Build up a stock of that and if you need to call out issues, change things, or beg some favours it lands much better. We have really worked hard to keep people on site happy too - tea and coffee making, free snacks, a well-stocked fridge - several contractors have commented that ours has been a great site to work at. It costs next to nothing and reaps lots of good will. Also boosting good will is paying invoices immediately - I mean the same day, within a couple of hours. We have the cash to fund the project so it does much better for us in keeping trades happy than sat in our account earning nothing in real terms.

Yes, there’s a lot going on right now. It’s been a mixture of challenges and progress this past fortnight. Floor tiling The original plan was for the floor tiling to be done during the first two weeks of November but the screed not being quite dry enough delayed that. Contractor sickness and the need for the tilers to try to juggle their other booked work around ours have led to us being about 3 1/2 weeks behind now and still not quite finished (a few tiles still to lay and about half the house to grout). The overall impact on our plan is not to severe though as we managed to schedule the decorating in early to gain a week back and overlap the tiling with second fix plumbing. A big plus is that the quality of the tiling is excellent. In years to come, we won’t remember the delays but we’ll be constantly reminded of the quality job the tilers have done. Tilers: Lee and Steve Kitchen floor down - kitchen units arriving! Bathrooms Speaking of quality, we have a first rate plumber working on our bathrooms, namely: my brother Chris. He came over from East Sussex for a couple of weeks to do the work and the logistics meant he came ‘sight unseen’ which added to the challenge. We are trying to maximise the space by fitting a generous master ensuite, a family shower room, and a guest ensuite into a relatively compact area of the overall house footprint. This means a lot of plumbing has to go into the wall between the master ensuite and the other two bathrooms. The soil pipes, whose location we had decided on during groundworks, proved not to be in the ideal place, but Chris managed to find a way to make it all fit. We dropped one wall hung WC in favour of a back-to-wall, floor-standing model with a concealed cistern because there was simply no way to fit a wall frame into the studwork and line the soil pipe up. Chris has made great progress so far and we are particularly pleased with the mural wall panels that he’s fitted to the two showers. He’s also sorted out half a dozen minor jobs in the plant room, and set up the supplies and waste for the kitchen and utility rooms. Great work Bro! In the master ensuite we have now got some boxing-in to do which will hopefully double up as built-in storage, then Chris will be back in the New Year to fit toilets, wash basins, shower screens etc. Cladding Alan and Chris, our two chippies who have been with us throughout the build have been progressing the Brimstone Ash cladding. They’ve made a great job of it too. All the high work is now done and so our scaffolding should be coming down within the next week or so, with luck. It would be nice to get the house clear of scaffolding with the cladding complete before Christmas. We’re delighted with how the cladding looks. We won’t be treating it in any way though as we are happy to let it fade to silver naturally. Chris and Alan our carpenters: Between cladding, they found time to fit the 'real' front door back on (Norrsken tip was to replace it with a temporary door while the 'messy' trades were in and out of the house.) The door looks great - but I am not sure the pipe insulation on the handle adds much to the aesthetics. On the subject of doors, we went for 'slam shut', requiring a key to turn the latch from the outside, even on an unlocked door. This may well be a recipe for locking ourselves out of the house repeatedly. I am having second thoughts but Mrs P. is more relaxed. I asked Norrsken is there is anything we could do to change that at this stage but they haven't been able to offer any solutions, so I guess we are stuck with slam shut doors. MVHR commissioning Patrick Chester from Heat, Space and Light came along to commission our MVHR system. He confirmed that we appeared to have connected all the supply and extract valves correctly(!) and the commissioning and balancing was very straightforward. We've had great service from Heat, Space and Light for a competitive price - highly recommended! We have a Zehnder Q350 ComfoAir unit and Patrick took me through the basics. Compared to our previous MVHR the Zehnder seems incredibly quiet. In normal operation it’s using just 20W. Patrick also showed me the heat recovery stats. On the day of the commissioning the outside air temperature was 2° C and the inside air was 15° C. After passing through the heat exchanger, the incoming air was registering 14.5° C, so that’s a pretty impressive exchange of the heat from the air going out to the air coming in. Patrick balancing the ventilation system Electric second fix… …is also under way. More on that next time… Focus for the next two weeks Floor tiling - finish off. Cladding - hopefully complete in the next fortnight. Joinery - make a start on the door linings and doors. Second fix electrics - should be progressing, batteries due to be installed next week. Kitchen/utility/pantry - make a start on fitting the units. Dashboard: Contractor days on site this fortnight: 45.5 Contractor days on site since build start: 441.5 Budget: No change - over budget but within contingency. Plan: Still on track to move in by Easter 2026. Issues and worries closed this fortnight: None Current top issues and worries: Will we have the kitchen units ready for worktop templating w/c 5th January?

Sorry if I missed this earlier but have you posted any info / plans etc. on your intended build?

I am now convinced our issues arose from the floor surface getting damp again from the plastering. The house humidity went up to 98% in the few weeks the plasterers were skimming, despite open windows and the MVHR and UFH both running. It's now back to 40%. I can't criticise the tiler for not proceeding though - we have had floor tiles laid on a too wet floor before and many of them 'popped' over the following years - a nightmare to fix, so best avoided.

They are 3980mm x 580mm for a 4000x600 opening.

Checked with our decorator, he says you can do either but in our case it was a further coat applied with the roller.

It’s now six months since we broke ground and it's fair to say we’re very pleased with the progress since we began. We have of course been very lucky with the contractors we’ve had working on the project, right from the start with the great groundworks team and that’s continued pretty much throughout. And we’ve largely avoided unexpected surprises and delays. That was until a couple of weeks ago when we found that our screed was not dry enough to start laying the floor tiles https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/entry/1122-week-24-juggling-with-the-plan/ Never mind, our decorator Steve Brady rescheduled some other work and came in a a week early. Decorating It took Steve and his son Tom just three days to mask and spray throughout - and what a transformation! If you are willing to have one colour throughout this has to be the quickest way to go. Our thinking is that we will no doubt repaint rooms or individual wall in a range of colours in time but to allow us to move in as soon as possible we were happy to stick to one colour. Steve and Tom sprayed a mist coat of diluted Armstead trade white straight on to the plaster followed by another coat of Armstead, then two coats of Dulux Diamond Matt, mixed to ‘Dimity’. He then rollered over the walls which should help if we need to touch any paint up in the future (touching up spray finished paint by roller or brush doesn’t really work apparently). The results look great and we feel that it gives us a really solid paint job. Spraying does use a lot of paint though, especially with our vaulted ceilings and high walls: 80 litres of the Armstead and then 80 litres of the Dulux. Steve and Tom our decorators: The final rollering: Tiling Finally, by Thursday this week the screed reached a level where our floor tiler Steve Hillyard felt it was safe to start laying. The relatively drier weather we had last week has no doubt helped, and with the MVHR system running and the UFH on low the air humidity in the house dropped below 40% (the day the plasterers finished it was 98%). Our delays have no doubt disrupted Steve’s schedule and he’s worked through this weekend to catch-up, which we really appreciate. The first tiles are looking great. They are 900mm x 600mm Italian porcelain tiles from Pietra Wood and Stone near Bath. Focus for the next two weeks Floor tiling Bathrooms - my brother is with us for two weeks to make a start on out bathrooms. Cladding - the scaffolding we need the high cladding is now in place. Deliveries - bathroom, kitchen, appliances, door casings… all planned for delivery in the next couple of weeks. 2nd fix electrics - should start in the next two weeks. Dashboard: Contractor days on site this fortnight: 14 Contractor days on site since build start: 396 Budget: No change - still a bit over budget but within contingency. Plan: Still on track to move in by Easter 2026. Issues and worries closed this fortnight: The screed is dry! Current top issues and worries: Nothing too concerning, which nice.

Apols for bumping this one - still pondering whether to paint the sand and cement render that is below DPC, and if so with what? If anyone has any experience or suggestions they would be gratefully received. Thanks!

Good steer John. We used Cosy this way in our previous house and it worked well. Just to conclude though - no need for the Heatmiser Neo Hub?

We are about to enter 2nd fix when all our 7 wired room stats and 2 dew-point floor sensors will be connected via our two 8-port Heatmiser wiring hubs to control 16 loops (most rooms have two or more loops). Today's dumb question: Do we also need a Heatmiser Neo Hub, and what would it give us? If it's simply smart home capability, I wonder if we actually need that. In our last house we set the room stats to a comfortable level and ran the UFH 24x7 52 weeks per year (it was never demanded during the warmer months at all). That worked fine. I guess with solar and batteries, plus an Octopus agile tariff, we might want to control the UFH with respect to battery charge, solar output and variable tariff rates but we could probably do that through the Panasonic HP app if needed. Any thoughts? Thanks

Why do I wish we'd put the insulation on top? It would have simplified the build (easier to lay insulation over the top than fix from below) and left us with the open web joists to run services (especially MVHR ducts) through. Tbf ours our pitched roofs not flat so may not be relevant to you.