Benpointer

Well said. Whilst I have immense admiration for those of you taking the full hands-on approach, physically we can't do that, so we are sourcing and coordinating subcontractors who can. Whichever way is right for you, I say.

Show what I know - I thought asphalt and tarmac were the same thing.

What's under the boards? If it's a ventilated floor space that's going to be cold, especially so if there's no membrane. We're renting a cottage with a very similar looking floor: cold, drafty, scratches easily, marks badly... Personally I'd lift it, insulate between the joists, fit an airtight layer, and replace the softwood for a pre-finished engineered or solid hardwood floor of your choice. You might even be able to sell the softwood floorboards on to offset the cost. (When we did our previous house refurb we picked up some 3/4" solid, tongue and grooved, prefinished American oak flooring for a snip (surplus stock from the US). That proved to be really stable, took 15 years wear and tear and was only just looking like it needed refinishing when we sold up. (PS Check the floor is cross-ventilated before doing anything and if there's a floor vent in the room make sure you keep it - it will be for the fire / woodburner if you have one.)

As mentioned last week, the zinc roofers asked if they could start a week early(!) and so, on Monday morning along they came - Brian and Tom from Wessex Metal Roofing in Salisbury. The first couple of days were mainly rolling out long zinc profile sections from the back of their van, then these proceeded to be fixed on to the 18mm ply sheeting that Alan the Chippie had laid the previous week. Three triple-glazed electric Veluxes arrived from the builders’ merchants (I forgot they were coming last week tbh) and while I spent ages looking on the (frankly rather terrible) Velux website for installation instructions and videos, Mrs P. pointed out to me the the CCTV seemed to show the guys had already fitted them in. “Oh, I’ll stop looking then.” The moment the roofers realised we have CCTV 😂 : By the end of the week most of the zinc panels have been fitted, plus some facias and gutters. I must admit that when we signed up for a standing seam zinc roof I assumed it would actually be ‘zinc’ - but it appears to be white plastic, with ‘zinc’ written on it - we've been done! Apparently it’s best to take off all the protective film at once otherwise it can start to age differently. For those interested, we’ve opted for VMZinc Plus in ‘Quartz’. We can’t wait to see it ‘undressed’. Although most of the zinc panels are now on, there is still a fair bit for Brian and Tom to do including some vertical clad sections on the far side of the house, plus facias, verges, and a ventilated ridge for the south-facing monopitch roof (on the left of the photos). Also they have the zinc gutters and downpipes to fit. They are expecting to finish the week after next. We’re also hoping that the work on south-facing roof, which is mainly 30 in-roof SolFit solar panels with a band of slate tiles around them, will start w/c 4th August. So with luck by the end of that week, all the roofing, gutters and downpipes will be done. While the roofing carries on through next week we also have South West Insulating (SWI) from Redruth on-site to start fitting the VCL/Airtightness membrane and the additional internal wall and roof insulation . The sequence for the next three weeks inside should be: Week 1 - South West Insulating - VCL to roof, then VCL + 50mm PIR + service cavity battens to walls. Week 2 - JW Insulation arrive from Essex to blow cellulose into the roof (a 254mm cavity formed by the Posi-joist open web rafters). Week 3 - SWI back to finish roof works (100m PIR + service cavity battens). Let’s see how well that masterplan survives the heat of battle 😬. And finally… On Friday, evening, after yet another huge tidy-up of the site by Mrs P., we hosted about 20 local friends for beers and a chance to look around the skeleton of our house. We had beautiful weather and of course everyone was very kind about the house and what we are doing. A lot of really great questions as well about the technical detail of the build - I was surprised how genuinely interested many people were and I suspect a few were thinking they might have a go at self-build themselves.

It's not really about whether to register or not. I did because I read somewhere that the HSE are never interested in small projects* and if we did have an incident, and it looks like we should have registered, the hot water we'd be in would probably be quite a few degrees hotter. Also, it was free to register so no apparent downside. Having said that, I perfectly understand those who decide not to. I just thought it would be interesting to track days on site and see at the end of the project whether I actually needed to register (* I'll be sure to let you all know if we do get a visitation from the HSE - I'll be regretting registering and you can say 'told you so' 😉 )

As discussed elsewhere on here, you should notify HSE of a build project if: "The construction work is expected to last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working at the same time at any point on the project or exceed 500 person days" (my bold). https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/faq/index.htm We were never going to trouble the first criteria, there is neither sufficient room on site for that many people, or in my brain to coordinate that amount of work at once. I pondered the second criteria for some time. Our frame was built in a factory off site but most of the rest of the build involves people on-site doing stuff. 500 days at, say £300 per day = £150k and we will be spending a fair bit more than that on the build. But then again how much our spend is materials? In the end I decided to register the build with HSE via an F10 form, just in case. But out of curiosity, it occurred to me that with the aid of our excellent Reolink 4G CCTV I could easily keep an approximate track of how many people work how many days on-site. So that is what I am doing. So far the groundworks, frame erection, scaffold and half the roofing has totalled 130 man days. Lots still to come of course, including: insulation & membranes, window fitting, UFH, screed, cladding, 1st fix electrics and plumbing, plastering, flooring, joinery, 2nd fix, kitchen, decorating... (landscaping?). Will reach 500? Touch and go, I think. Has anyone else kept stats of their build?

Yes, the original photo wasn't easy to view at all. Here's a (hopefully) better one of the base of one pier, OSB racking is on the far side.

Just to add to this, an hopefully close it off... Gus has not been around to answer my PM to him but we have now received the structural calculation pack by Paramount Structural Engineers - https://www.paramountse.co.uk. Whilst the detailed calculations are rather impenetrable for me, I can see that they have based their calculations (including stud and sole plate loads, and wind loadings) on the design, as-built. The design itself has 3 cripple studs supporting each end of the lower steel with two further studs fixed alongside at each end to support the higher steel. The walls either side have OSB racking on one face. None of which was very clear in the photo I posted and Gus commented on. Anyhow, I am happy the design is sound. If we can't rely on the opinion of an established firm of SEs we are on very dodgy ground. Thanks though to Gus for raising this.

Hi, thanks for raising this Gus - I have PMed you some more details just to check I am not misunderstanding your concern.

He's a very clever guy. Like so many good trades people, he very inventive and has a great eye for what looks right and what will work. We're very lucky to have him.

Last week our timber frame structure shot up. This week was supposed to be the second week of a two-week frame installation but the team finished on Tuesday, having worked through the weekend. And off they went, but not before I persuaded them to stand still for 30 seconds for a snap for posterity. So here they are: Brandon, Jake and Callum - Great work guys! Their early finish allowed our chippie Alan to press on with the 18mm ply required over the roof for the zinc roofing. 60+ sheets of 18mm class-3 exterior ply were put up amazingly quickly by Alan with a bit of assistance from his pals on a couple of days. The only lifting gear on site at present is a Genie lift we bought, guessing it would come in useful, and Alan made great use of it to create a novel “Ply Sheet Lift 'n' Slide Sledge”. I pointed out to him that I’ll be patenting that idea, since all intellectual property rights obviously sit with us as site owners. He seemed unbothered. Next week Alan is away on hols (not in my plan, are you sure Alan?!). Thus we were going to have a quiet week which I labelled ‘contingency’ to make it sound more important. But Brian from Wessex Metal Roofing phoned me today (yep, Sunday) and asked if they can start the zinc roof a week early... “Oh, go on then.” So off we go again - more fridge-stocking required! Timber frame details Last week I promised to say some more about the frame structure, so at the risk of boring those not wrestling with the same choices we faced,t here’s some more detail (skip to the 'And finally...' section if you’re not interested): We decided early on that we wanted a factory-built SIPS or insulated Timber Frame structure. We’d used SIPS on our previous house with positive results. I contacted a dozen or so companies and received quotes from eight companies for supply and installation of the insulated structure: four SIPS companies and four Timber Frame. The price range was surprising: the most expensive was 240% the price of the cheapest. Of course each quote had a slightly different scope but factoring in the work we’d need to do to get them all to the same level of insulation and airtightness, the price range was still over 200%. In the end, shortlisted Turner Timber Frames, whose price was near the lower end but leaving us with a fair bit to do once the structure was up, and MBC who unsurprisingly were at the top end for an impressive approach and structure. After talking it through with Geoff our architect, he agreed with us that the price difference was so big it was hard to justify the MBC approach. Therefore we opted for Turners… And they have been really great to work with throughout. Matt, their Timber Frame Manager, has been very helpful and responsive. Their price has not gone up at all as we moved from initial quote through to signed-off design (in fact they came in below their initial estimates for steels and crane hire). They kept to the agreed timescales. Their sub-contracted installation team were really good, as previously noted. The quality of the frame appears very good to my untrained eye… and Alan our chippie seems impressed as well. The structure we bought is Turner’s Super Advanced timber frame: 140 × 38mm studs at 600mm centres with 9mm OSB sheathing and a breather membrane on the outside. The pre-fitted insulation is 120mm PIR and it fits really precisely everywhere. We opted for an additional 50mm PIR inside to give us a wall u-value of 0.13, recognising that in so doing that we had to fit the VCL, 50mm PIR, and 25mm service cavity battens ourselves (though all are supplied by Turners as part of the package). Some other frame or SIPS suppliers do all that for you, but at a cost. What you see in the pictures is the frame before we fit the VCL and additional insulation - I think you can see how tight that pre-fitted insulation is - it’s really very snug all round. I was worried we might have gaps to fill but there are none. The roof is open-web 254mm Easi-joist rafters with 11mm OSB, which we paid Turners an agreed addition to have their installation team cover with breather membrane and vertical 50mm battens to create the ventilation space we need for our zinc roof. Turner’s approach means we have no unsightly purlins to interfere with our vaulted ceilings. But the roof does present a challenge for insulation. We decided to opt for blown cellulose within the roof space which should fill the open web joists, plus 100mm PIR below the ceiling, to get to a u=-value of 0.09. It meant we had to find someone to fit the VCL below rafters and make it airtight (see below). We also have to fill in all the roof perimeter gaps to stop the cellulose blowing out, and we have volunteered Alan for that. He’s delighted (I assume). We always knew the blown cellulose was going to cost a fair bit. J W Insulation from Halstead in Essex came in with a good price and are lined up to do the work w/c 4th August. Before that we need the VCL membrane fixed the roof. In the end we decided that a specialist company would be best for fitting the ceiling VCL, the airtight wall membranes, and additional internal insulation. We have South West Insulating from Redruth coming along from 28th July to do that work. So we have a busy few weeks ahead - I am hoping all that activity meshes together and the various teams don’t get in each other’s way (and the drinks fridge is big enough!). And finally (for this week)… Frustratingly, despite the frame being up for a week now, as a wheelchair user with a 300mm high perimeter foundation wall to get over I have not been able to see inside. Until today… Although I promised Mrs P. that this build would involve no heavy lifting or lugging on our (i.e. her) part, today she has been heroically moving pallets, ply sheets, and 4m scaffold boards into place, which we have screwed together make a wheelchair ramp! So today for the first time we could both enjoy the shape of our new house from inside. And we love it! It's impossible to capture in photos but we are both really pleased with how it feels, the room sizes, the vaulted ceilings, the overall layout… everything. Which is just as well really as it’s a bit late to change the design now 🙂

…well, the shell of a house at least. What a crazy week. We chose the factory-built timber frame route because we like the idea that the shell goes up within a few weeks. But the pace of progress this week has been startling. The frame erection team of 3 arrived at 7:30am on Monday. A big yellow crane arrived at 8:00, with the frame arriving on an artic by 9:15. First off: a careful check shows that the frame fits the footings. Hurray! In fact the footings were within 3mm all the way round, which is credit to the groundworkers. From then on it was flat out and 7 days later the structure of the house is pretty much complete. Those guys do work very hard though - long days under a blistering sun, and straight through the weekend. They are aiming to finish the tidying up by Tuesday, get Turners to sign-off the frame, and head off home to Essex. A great crew - real grafters. We’ve also been very lucky with the weather of course, though the erection team certainly wished it had been cooler each day (we’ve had highs of between 28C and 32C for the last 5 days). We kept them supplied with cold drinks and ice-creams as best we could and we’ve installed a fridge in the workshop which has been popular. The frame itself looks very good - it all appears to fit together tightly from what we can see. No gaps around the insulation, or between the panels. I’ll say more about the frame structure next week but for now here are some pictures of daily progress, plus some at the end showing some of the detail: This time last week: Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday: Today - Sunday: And a few of the details, some taken earlier in the week: And finally, for both of you who made it this far, one of those oak posts I cut and chamfered last week (the softwood beams will be hidden in the soffit:

I looked at adding the ComfoPost to our Zehnder MVHR but in the end it seemed like an unnecessary complication and expense since we are going to have UFH anyway and we can run in cooling mode from our Panasonic ASHP. The need for insulated ducting on the supply side is a big negative imo. It remains to be seen how effectively UFH in cooling mode works for us but it's got to be better than nothing.

They are very thick but very narrow slabs and the face nearest the camera is the top. They are laid like slices of bread in a loaf and the dimples are clearly to keep the butter grout in. Obviously.

A relatively quiet week this week - the lull before the storm (hopefully not literally!) The scaffolders arrived to put up a single-lift all around the exterior on Thursday and Friday (and Saturday morning as it turned out). I say single-lift but there were due to be a couple of hop-ups for the gables on the south-facing roof. However, at one end the gable is over a canopy roof which means the first lift is 2m away from where the gable will be. We've left that one off for now - I'm hoping the timber frame company (Turners) can work off the scaffold tower at that end, or I will get the scaffolders back and put in what the frame erectors would like (we may need a sky-hook to hang it off though). The site is looking spick and span at the moment; the groundworkers were really tidy, the weather has no doubt helped (dust is easier to sweep up than mud), and Mrs P. has done some sterling work this weekend tidying up the few bits of spare timber, pallets, bulk bags etc, left by the scaffolders. As they were packing up one of the scaffolders saw an empty bag (which they had brought) and asked "Is this rubbish?", to which I replied "Oh yes, thanks", thinking he was going to take it away, but no, he just threw an empty Red Bull can in it 🤷‍♂️. Scaffolders truly are a breed apart. The house has proved to be too wide for the CCTV camera, so we moved the camera back. Now we have the workshop roof in the way - grrr! Looking at the project finances, frighteningly we have already spent over 1/3rd of the budget 😱. Major spend so far has been on design and planning, the timber frame and windows are both paid for, a good slug of the groundworks costs has also been paid with an invoice for the balance expected soon. This week I ordered and paid for the MVHR kit (based around a Zehnder Q350) and the ASHP and cylinder (Panasonic L series 7kW + 300l cylinder). I ordered the latter through Air2Heat who provide an MCS umbrella service (Paul Thorney - really helpful) so we should get back £7.5k via the BUS grant scheme, which would leave the heat pump and cylinder costing a net £1,200 plus installation costs. Anyway, we're currently running about £500 over budget (excluding contingency) with some opportunities for future savings and a fair few areas of potential overspend. Time for Benpointer's three Laws of Budget Management: If you go over budget, that's bad management. If you come in under budget, that's poor estimating. If you come in bang on budget, you've almost certainly committed both 1. and 2. Next week is going to be very exciting - I hope in a good way. Tomorrow (Monday) our timber frame arrives from Turner Timber Frames, with a team to erect it. The weather forecast is good, so fingers-crossed the frame fits the footings and it all goes up smoothly 🤞.

Ok thanks - I won't waste my time then. Cheers

just resurrecting this one as we have to install FTTP to the house as a Building Reg requirement (RA1) "Dwelling to be gigabit ready for physical infrastructure." Openreach have quoted £567 + VAT but intriguingly they say "Please note that in some exceptional circumstances, the services Openreach provide relating to new build properties, renovations and alterations may be subject to either zero rate (or a lower rate of) VAT. Attached is an information sheet which provides details of where you can find further guidance from HMRC." (Though in true Openreach fashion there is no information sheet attached.) Since we are compelled to have the connection it feels like it should be zero rated. Any thoughts?

Hah yes, thanks Roger! Yesterday we ended up supplying cold zero beers to the roofers next door too. It was scorchio on their roof yesterday - we couldn't stand by sipping beers while they watched on roasting.

I think they are similar to some Todd have - and yes, very nice. Nice handles too. I think they have to be prefinished though. I'm a wheelchair user and with the best will in the world, our doors end up getting scuffed. If we finish with Osmo we can lightly sand and re-seal very easily to hide odd scratches etc.

Just picking up on this topic, we have looked at Todd doors - they seem nice enough but a bit uninspiring - c.£200 a pop with handles. Most of their doors are bashed out in a factory in Malaysia and, as far as I can tell, the same doors are imported and sold by lots of other vendors. We've also got a quote from Deuren and they work out at over £1000 per door for fairly simple oak veneered doors, and brushed steel handles. Does anyone know of any door suppliers in between Deurens and the mass market? We're looking for contemporary wood, ideally that we can finish ourselves with Osmo. Thanks

Great to read your blog, very interesting and witty. I'm mightily impressed by the hands-on approach, I am sure you are saving a lot by doing all that work. I'm afraid we are making a more 'desk based' contribution to our build, which is probably wisest in our case.

We’ve had another very good week of progress by the groundworks team and they are pretty much done now bar some further levelling of the paddock area and one or two other minor details. We are really pleased with their work and the Building Inspector is pleased too, thankfully, so our foundations are all signed-off 👍. Bizarrely, it’s only now that we can submit the “Commencement Statement” for our construction to Building Control, which I duly did this week. Also bizarrely, we are still on schedule - I can guarantee that won’t last! Once the block and beam floor was in and grouted with cement slurry, the concrete block upstands for the internal stud partition walls were laid. With hindsight, it might have been better not to pay the timber frame company (Turner Timber Frame) to supply and erect the internal walls but rather build them later on top of the screed. But we’re way past that decision point now - Turners will be installing those partition walls as part of the overall frame build, so concrete block upstands have to be ready in place. One minor issue that had to be resolved this week - the block and beam floor ventilation ‘periscopes’ are designed for 100mm cavity walls and weren’t going to fit inside our 50mm cavities between the walls and the render-board. The solution proposed by the groundworkers and approved by our Building Inspector is to run them up the inside of the foundation wall before exiting just below DPC level. That gives us a potential cold bridge at each vent (26 in total!) but I think we can mitigate that by doubling the PIR insulation upstands to 100mm where the vents are. It’s not perfect but I think it will have only a very small impact on the overall insulation levels. Next week the scaffold is scheduled to go up on Wednesday/Thursday, then the timber frame is due to arrive the week after - when the fun will really start! Meanwhile next week I need cut the five 150mm oak posts to size and chamfer the edges, ready for them to go in to support the roof canopies over the front porch and rear terrace. (Six oak posts in the picture - I’ll choose the best five!)

Thanks all, my Macbook is an M1 chip so I think I will just take @nod's advice and get some free quotes. I've lodged requests with Warmup and Soleheat so I'll see what they come back with. Any others I should try? Thanks

Hi there, the question is in the title really, does anyone know of a UFH design tool for MacOS other than IOS? LoopCAD seems to be Windows only. Being a devout Apple person myself I don't have any Windows PCs. Thanks!

A compromise between what and what? Wallpaper is a centuries-old technology, with no real mystique. Any competent DIY-er can do it. If you don't like it in a few years, take it off and paint.