Benpointer

Hi Stoph, thanks for your kind comments. Our ducts were as per @garrymartin posted, although not nearly as neatly set out as yours. I need to do an audit as we haven't used them all but I am not sure which are unused - can't get on site today or tomorrow as the access apron is being done.

Rogue photo at the end for those who enjoyed the mud. 🤷‍♂️

I’ve got to be honest, there are times when it feels like we are inching towards the finish line ever more slowly, with lots of jobs nearly but not quite done. Pulling together this regular blog is really helpful in that respect: Every fortnight I start off thinking there is hardly anything to say so it’s probably not worth issuing an update. But once I start to look at what’s happening since the previous blog I realise that we have generally made good progress. And indeed it’s a case of more good progress over the last two weeks. It does now feel like we are nearly over the line. Several long-standing activities have been closed off thank goodness. So here are some of the things we’ve made progress on since the previous blog. (Confession time: I meant to take more photos of the bathrooms, kitchen and lighting but seem to have forgotten to do so, so you’ll have to wait for next time for those.) Bathroom After our disaster last time with the wall hung shower toilet, my brilliant brother came back over from Sussex to hang the replacement, even though he had managed to break his foot in the meantime - that’s what I call dedication to the cause! The (revised and up-to-date) instructions we were given with the replacement WC pan said to tighten the wall bolts to 7Nm torque. Which seems really very low - the sorts of torque used on bicycle parts. Anyway, that’s what we did to the best of our ability. It was just about enough to stop the toilet feeling at all wobbly and the good news is nothing cracked, nothing fell on the floor, and the toilet seems pretty stable. Especially now it’s been siliconed around the edges - though I’m sure the silicon doesn’t add any strength at all. While he was with us, Chris also fitted the small hand basin in our ensuite, tiled and grouted the splashbacks, then fitted a lot of sound insulation into the stud work between the three bathrooms (they all back on to each other, so good acoustic insulation is a definite plus!). He also bailed us out of a looming problem with our porcelain tile skirting… Tiling We were getting increasingly concerned whether our floor tiler would finish off the porcelain skirting tiles before we moved in. The quality of his work has been great, but since Christmas it’s been hard to schedule any time from him partly because he’s been ill and also he’s got a lot of other work, I guess. So we agreed to part company amicably, we agreed a payment for his completed the work, and my brother Chris stepped into the breach. Chris then spent a long day finishing off the skirtings, which really meant doing all the tricky mitre corners which had been left until last plus a few straight runs. For a simple, relatively open-plan house we had a surprising number of corners! Chris then went round and grouted 130 m of skirting. Great job Bro! We decided to hire a recommended specialist silicon guy to apply silicon around the bottom and the top of the skirtings, 260m in total. He did a great job, and very quickly. He is certainly getting a good rate for it! But I’d agreed a fixed rate and he did it to a good standard so, fair enough… Specialist siliconing is obviously where the money is these days! Anyway, all our tiling and skirtings grouting and siliconing is now officially… done! Kitchen Chris the carpenter has finished off all the outstanding jobs in the kitchen, including the final fit of ‘wall of ovens’ in the alcove where they sit. I’d been pondering the best approach to ventilation and with Chris’s help we came up with a what I think is a neat solution - creating a slender recessed ventilation strip above the ovens which is there but doesn’t catch the eye. Chris also fitted the plinths which make the kitchen look finished rather than work-in-progress. The Quooker tap is now powered up in as well as plumbed in and we have been using it for the first time over the past couple of days. I have to say I’m really impressed; it works really well and feels and looks great too. Electrics Progress on second fit electrics has been frustrating, I think mainly because our electricians have got too much work on and they’re trying to juggle multiple jobs. Also to be fair, our installation has been more complex than originally envisaged due to choices we’ve made. The rate of progress hasn’t been a problem until recently but it’s begun to feel like we might not have the electrics ready to move in: However, our main man Darren was in this week and made good progress, and we now have power and lighting throughout the house. All the kitchen equipment is powered up and whilst there could still be a fair few jobs outstanding after we move in (e.g. external lights) it’s clear that the electrics are going to be working well enough for us to move in as planned on the 23rd. Yesterday Nick, the electric contractors boss, demonstrated the seamless switch-over from mains to battery by switching off the mains supply without causing so much as a flicker to the lights. I wanted to try it myself when we had friends round later but Mrs P wouldn’t let me: “it’s not a toy” apparently. I was wondering whether we would actually know if we had a power cut, but the battery app sends us a message to say the power’s tripped over to batteries and then another one when the power is restored and it’s tripped back. I was a bit worried that, with the electrical work ‘growing’ and there being a fair few extras that we’ve asked for, the final bill was going to be way over the original quote. So I have been badgering Nick to give us a revised quote. He has finally done that, and yes, it’s going to cost us a bit more than he first quoted but actually not nearly as much more as I feared. Which is a result! Joinery Meanwhile on the joinery front, the oak we ordered to use as full width door jambs and the pocket door frame sections have all arrived. Mrs. P. has Osmo oiled them, fitting has started and they should all be installed by the time we move in. Rear landscaping Lots of activity is now underway on our rear landscaping. We have a fall of about 1.5 metres from the house finished floor level to the far end of the “residential garden“ part of our land. As I am a wheelchair user we are naturally wanting to have step free access to as much of that as possible. The garden design we have involves level access from the house to a terrace seating area, then 1:20 ramps down to three different further small seating areas between planting areas. That obviously involves quite a lot of low retaining walls and ramped paths. So given we are in the middle of the winter monsoon season, it was clearly an ideal time to start work on those walls, paths and terraces! Ashley and his team have made great progress despite the weather, as you can see - although if their landscaping work ever dries up (ha ha!) they could probably get good employment as World War 1 battle scene recreators. Front landscaping If the back garden looks like the Somme, in front of the house the parking/turning area is looking much more civilised. We debated about how to finish the surface, considering a number of options, but in the end we’ve gone for simple tarmac. Gravel is a no-no for the wheelchair, resin bonded is too expensive, brick pavers we don’t like the look of and need regular cleaning. In a previous house we had hot-rolled grit into tarmac and that does look nice but we found it collects dirt and is a recipe for bringing grit into the house, so we’re keeping it simple this time. The base coat is down and the front apron is being done tomorrow(!). The aim is to leave the top coat until all the heavy work in the back is done, to avoid damaging it. Ashley has told us several times we’re doing it the wrong way round - we should have started at the back and worked forward - but having that base coat down is transformational for me - no more wheeling through lumps of clay or getting bogged down in loose type 1. Preparation under way: Troy anointing the prepared sub-base. "May God bless her and all who walk/wheel on her": Laying down the blacktop: First flower bed planted! Focus for the next two weeks: Moving in! Dashboard: Contractor days on site this past two weeks: 45 Contractor days on site since build start: 572 Budget: No change - over budget but within contingency. Plan: Moving in on 23rd February. Issues and worries closed this fortnight: Hanging that toilet Whether the electrics would be ready Finishing the skirtings Current top issues and worries: Packing! (I expect Mrs P. has it all under control ;-))

Exactly so, just an offcut of waste pipe with expanding foam around.

Week 36 When I posted the previous blog two weeks ago we were looking ahead to activity on the bathrooms and electrics, and also to making a start on the landscaping. Since then it’s been a fortnight of progress and challenges… Bathrooms My brother Chris made brilliant progress throughout the week he was with us. A toilet, basin and shower screen were fitted to finish the guest ensuite, a basin and shower screen fitted in the family bathroom to finish that room, and the bath, hand shower and basin were fitted in the master ensuite. It was all going really well. Too well. And sure enough disaster struck while fitting the wall-hung shower toilet in the master en-suite. We* were gently tightening the bolts that hold the toilet to the frame when there was a ‘ping’, then a crack appeared around one bolt boss, before replicating itself on the other boss, and then the whole pan came away from the frame in a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly. Which was a bit disappointing, to say the least. (*Yes, I was 'helping' - that could be the true root-cause of the problem to be fair.) That white rectangle on the wall is a foam pad which is meant to cushion the pan against the wall to be trimmed away after fitting. We obviously never got that far. The actual cause proved to be a mismatch between the TECE wall frame instructions and those supplied with the GSI Ceramica WClean toilet. We followed both sets of instructions as closely as you ever can follow these modern 'pictogram', wordless instructions. Sadly, this led to the pan being inadequately supported directly behind the bolt bosses and the pan shattered as the bolts were tightened and the stresses rose in the ceramic. Here's the template the TECE frame instructions encourage you to cut out around. Which leaves you with an unfortunate void around the bolt holes. Of course, as soon as it happened we both kicked ourselves for not spotting the problem beforehand. At that point, I wished I had bought a Geberit frame and toilet as I originally intended rather than being persuaded by the bathroom showroom that these were better products. In fairness to the showroom (Island Bathrooms in Salisbury) they immediately agreed to supply a replacement pan, which arrived this week and we will have another attempt to fit it when my brother is back with us next week - first making sure that those bolt bosses are fully supported! Fingers-crossed! Notwithstanding that disappointment, as well as all the great bathroom progress Chris found time get the kitchen sink and Quooker tap, and the utility sink all plumbed in too! Landscaping Ashley Ralph, our landscaper, made a start on our external landscaping during the wettest January for years! (We had 259mm - over 10” - of rain in the month in our corner of Dorset.) Having temporarily turned our relatively tidy site into a recreation of the Battle of the Somme, he has quickly got a good covering of type 1 packed down and the site looks relatively tidy again. In fact tidier than it did before. To be fair, Ashley does keep things very tidy. Concrete pad for a future potential car port. The plan is to tarmac most of the front to make vehicle and wheelchair access nice and easy. We did consider a layer of hot-rolled grit over the top, which we did in our previous house and which looks attractive but when it’s not being walked into the house the grit collects dirt over time and becomes impossible to keep clean. So tarmac it is. Behind the house is more complicated with a fall of 1.6m over 17m of garden. To make that as wheelchair accessible as possible we have an intricate plan of terraces, ramps, dwarf retaining walls and planting beds which we’re hoping Ashley can install in our relatively compact garden. This mini-project could be running for some time! Cladding Alan, chippie No. 1, came in for a week and all the timber wall cladding is now done! All that remains now on the cladding front is for some of the soffits including those under the front and rear roof canopies, to be clad. The chippies may need to perfect the art of hovering above in-progress landscape works while they do that (!) Electrics Electricians seem to have become a bit scarce, which is a worry. To be fair we had two in the week before last, and a lot of lights were connected up but no significant milestones seem to have been reached. We still have a lot to get through to have a fully wired house before we move in on the 23rd February. And no electricians are planned on site until 9th Feb, so this is becoming a concern. Tiling We’ve also struggled to get our tiler in to finish off the porcelain skirtings - a couple of planned visits cancelled due to illness. Whilst we could move in with the skirtings as they are now it is obviously preferable not to be trying to finish them off with our furniture in the room. A ‘plan B’ is emerging to allow us to get this one over the line without relying on our principal tiler, who although good does not appear to be in great health right now. Internal joinery We have some further oak sections on order to give us enough material to finish the pocket door frames in oak rather than the primed MDF Eclisse supplied. Also since we have decided to opt for full width door stops to give a rebated door frame look, we are waiting for those to arrive so that they can be fitted. The oak door frames and architraves really do set the doors off well - we’re very pleased with them. Focus for the next three weeks: Electrics, still lots to do. Plumbing - that wall hung toilet! Landscaping - onwards and downwards. Packing - it has to be done , because… … we’re going to be moving in in three week’s time! Dashboard: Contractor days on site this past two weeks: 32 Contractor days on site since build start: 527 Budget: No change - over budget but within contingency. Plan: Moving in booked for 23rd February. Issues and worries closed this fortnight: N/A Current top issues and worries: Whether the electrics will be done in tome for our move. Hanging that toilet.

Thanks Mike! The plan for hob extraction is to rely on the MVHR. In our last house we also had a recirculating cooker hob... but never bothered to switch it on as the MVHR dealt with smells and damp quickly enough.

Haha, absolutely Pete!

Hi everyone. It’s been four weeks since the last blog instalment and despite the Christmas and New Year break, quite a lot has happened. Apologies for a somewhat scattergun approach but I wanted to try to cover all the progress. Kitchen units and appliances Last time, just before Christmas, carpenter Chris was halfway through fitting our kitchen units. That work was completed during the first week of January in readiness for… Kitchen worktops Martin from Langford Stone came out to template the kitchen/pantry/utility units for our worktops. While he was at it, we also asked him to template for several granite surfaces for our master ensuite. A week later Langford’s team of four fitters arrived with some very large slabs of granite, which they duly fitted without issue and to a high standard. We’re very pleased with the results: Internal doors Chris and Alan fitted the four pocket doors to the sliding gear installed back in September, before plastering. They then fitted the oak door linings for the 8 conventional doors and hung those doors. The door linings required some thinking about because we originally opted for rebated linings but these have had to be reinforced with ply backing to give enough meat to confidently screw in hinges that can take the weight of the (44 kg!) doors. We hope still to get the rebated look by fixing full width door jams, which we’ve now ordered. The doors themselves are 33” Avon Oak fire doors from Todd doors. We opted to buy them unfinished because the factory finish doors felt a bit ‘plasticky’. Mrs P. has done a brilliant job with sealing them with Osmo Door oil and we are very pleased with the results - they have a lovely look and feel to them . The doors supplied were really good quality - no need for further sanding before oiling and no complaints from the carpenters (except about the weight!) Troy Pointer supervising operations: 2nd fix electrics After a pause at the beginning of January, Darren is now back with us and making good progress on the second fix electric. Skirtings Steve, our tiler came in to fix the porcelain skirting tiles and was able to make a start, but the rethink needed for the door linings meant we are not ready to fix all the architraves just yet. So he has promised to come in on a future Saturday to finish those off. The skirting tiles themselves are 900 mm long and have more of a bow in than we were expecting (well I was expecting them to be flat to be honest!). Steve was worried that they would not look great but in reality unless you look along the line of the wall you can’t really notice the bowing and we are happy to live with it (especially since we can’t think of any sensible alternative at this stage). Once grouted or caulked to the same colour as the walls we don’t think it will be an issue. Ensuite boxing-in I’ve been whiling away the odd hour here and there preparing the ensuite for final fix by my brother next week. There’s quite a lot of pipework which needs to be hidden - given the way the house design squeezes three bathrooms into a small space, the stud walls are just not wide enough to take it all. So my idea was to create some boxing-in using spare 4x2s to hide the pipes, provide some built-in cupboard space, and form a framework for timber cladding on the lower walls. Sure, I could have asked the chippies to do this and they’d have done a great job in no time... but where’s the fun in that? For the timber cladding itself we’re going be using some of the left over Brimstone heat treated ash we have used to clad the outside of the house. This time of course we'll seal it with Osmo oil. The quality of that Brimstone Ash is too good to waste solely on the outside. You will hopefully be able to see from future blogs whether this bathroom design idea has been successful or not but for now here's some 'boxing-in'. Moving in next month! I mentioned in the previous blog that we had brought forward our target moving in date to the end of February. We now have a removal date booked of 23rd February. - so only five weeks away! We should be fine, we could probably move in and camp now if needed. The main things we really need sorting are a fully working bathroom, electrics, and ideally smooth and solid access to the front of the property. Hopefully we can get all that done in the next five weeks. Council tax Mrs P. and I were wondering about bin collection and also how soon the council would want to start charging council tax, when lo and behold the man from the council turned up. He explained the process, gave us a form, and told us we could request bins (for which we have to pay a £81 one off charge - of course we do). Since we will be ceasing the council tax liability on our rented house, we are happy to start paying council tax on the new house. The council man said it could take three or four months to get a council tax valuation but they will backdate the charge to our move in date. Address After seven months(!) Royal Mail have finally got round to adding our address to their postcode checker database. They say on their website that they will only add it when you move in but as anyone who has self-built will know it’s really very difficult to arrange deliveries, service installs, etc. if your postcode is not on that Royal Mail database. My advice for anybody starting a self-build is get that address registered as early as possible. Fibre Another service that’s taken seven months from request to delivery is our full fibre to the house. Many of you will know this is a new build building control requirement for England, so we requested (and paid for it) back in June. It finally arrived last week. Unfortunately we didn’t get added to the Openreach fibre database straight away so no service providers could offer us a fibre service until that was resolved earlier this week. We’re hoping to get the broadband service up and running next week. Focus for the next two weeks: Electrics, still lots to do. We’re hoping to have two sparkies in for most of next week so they should make a lot of headway. Plumbing. My brother Chris is back for 4 days next week and will focus on getting our master ensuite up and running, the kitchen & utility sinks fully plumbed in, and then if there’s time progress on the family bathroom and guest ensuite. Landscaping. Ashley, our garden landscaper is making a start on the front landscaping from Monday. We’re really looking forward to seeing the crushed aggregate disappear under something more wheelchair-friendly. Dashboard: Contractor days on site this past four weeks: 47 Contractor days on site since build start: 495 Budget: No change - over budget but within contingency. Plan: Moving in booked for 23rd February. Issues and worries closed this fortnight: N/A Current top issues and worries: None.

Firstly, yes we cut out the sole plates in all the doorways. Regarding the windows, I have trawled through our photos here's the best I can do. First, Norrsken supplied and fitted the windows and they wrapped the breather membrane round into the reveals then filled fully the gap with sealant. Here's a picture from the inside before they applied the sealant. You can see the sealant here (from the outside). I think this sealant is the key. Ventilated cavity on the outside, sills clipped in: Cement board: Beading Render + another bead of silicone

The blue foam surround is perimeter expansion strip. The screed layers insist on it. I assume the screed slab expands a bit when the UFH is on and this foam allows some 'give'. https://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/products/prowarm-premium-8mm-underfloor-heating-edge-insulation-50m Our UFH pipes are buried in the screed - in as much as the screed was poured over the pipes. If you are having someone lay the UFH pipes and the screed, I expect they will fit the perimeter expansion foam but you might want to double-check.

Glass U-value = 0.53 W/m²K for the Norrsken 3g Lift and Slide doors. Whole window U-value = 0.87 W/m²K, which does indicate the importance of the frames in the overall calculation. For comparison, Norrsken's similar 2g doors are 1.1 W/m²K (pane) and 1.4 W/m²K (whole door). https://www.norrsken.co.uk/products/lift-slide-alu-clad-door-s315a

We had 3g windows throughout our last house except for the patio doors which were 2g slide and folders. They were definitely cold. This time we have gone for 3g throughout (from Norrsken) including some 4m lift and sliders. Too soon to say how they feel because we aren't in yet but early indications are good - running the house at just 18deg for the 2nd fix trades it feels amazingly comfortable and those sliders are not giving any impression of feeling cold. I'd go for it if you can.

Great blog and good progress - well done! Interesting that the DPM and underfloor insulation took you much longer than you expected - that was the task which most severely stress us out and also took longer and cost a lot more than I estimated. If I were doing another build, I'd seriously consider poured floor insulation.

That Kohler filler is listed as £825. £825! for a 0.95" chrome orifice ?! WTAF? How about this for £27? Projects just 22mm from the bath wall. https://www.bathroomrepublic.co.uk/bath-filler-sprung-waste-overflow-and-easy-clean-1.html

We are now in that phase where we can see the finish line not far away but, bizarrely, the closer we get the more there seems to be to do. The list the jobs that yet need to be done is a bit depressing; reflecting on all we have achieved so far is much more uplifting. We are certainly in a significantly better position as we approach the end of the year than we expected to be when we started the project. Work has continued in the run up to Christmas and several trades have asked if they can work some days during the holiday period (er… yes please!). We have sadly suffered a family bereavement this week which has naturally led to reduced focus on the house, so apologies if this week’s blog is a bit rambling. We do find creating the blog helpful and therapeutic, so we’re inflicting it on you regardless! Cladding Alan and Chris have now completed the ash cladding at the front of the house and the scaffold is down - yay! The cladding looks quite dark at the moment but it should fade to silver over the next year where exposed to daylight. It will be interesting to see how the silvering graduates under the soffits which will presumably remain darker for many years. Kitchen Our carpenter Chris has started to install the kitchen, utility and pantry units. In the past we’ve installed kitchens ourselves but various circumstances have meant we’ve not been in a position to do this and Chris is undoubtedly doing a better job than we could do. The main kitchen is bespoke from Husk Kitchens in Bristol and uses ply drawer fronts faced with Fenix. Mrs P. is, as you would expect, Artistic Director and I defer to her on all colour choices (or else we would probably end up with beige/grey everywhere). We both really like the effect now that we see the kitchen beginning to take shape. Of course Mrs P. does have extraordinary good taste - she chose me after all! Our signature 'Wall of Ovens': Here's the utility room. Mrs P. may have allowed me free rein with the colours on this one - I know my place 😉 Electric second fix Darren has been progressing fixing of sockets switches and lights. First lights fitted! Our batteries and inverters have finally arrived and been connected, so the solar panels we had fitted in July(!) are now actually generating for us. Annoyingly, OpenReach still haven’t installed the fibre, so we can’t monitor our generation in real-time just yet - the geek in me will have to wait a bit longer for that. For those interested, we have 14.88kW of solar panels and 27.12 kWh batteries. Focus for the next two weeks: Obviously a quieter period than usual but we expect there will still be progress in a number of areas: Floor tiling - Steve should be back over the holiday period to fix the porcelain skirting tiles. Second fix electrics - More progress expected on lights and switches. That depressing list of things to do: Kitchen worktops Porcelain skirtings Finish bathrooms (x3) 2nd fix Commission STP Electric 2nd fix including lights, switches, heating wiring centre, CCTV, PIRs… Install fibre to house Internal door linings, architraves Internal doors Hatches to loft storage areas (x3) Fitted wardrobes Rear timber cladding Cladding front and rear canopy soffits Front landscaping, including level access, highway apron, parking and turning Rear landscaping, including level access and garden lighting Final airtightness test ‘As built’ SAP report Building Control sign-off VAT reclaim! + probably others we haven’t thought of. Dashboard: Contractor days on site this fortnight: 16.5 Contractor days on site since build start: 458 Budget: No change - over budget but within contingency. Plan: Breaking news! We are now aiming to move in at the end of February. So, a month earlier than previously planned. Issues and worries closed this fortnight: Kitchen units are substantially in so will be ready for worktop templating. Current top issues and worries: None.

It's impossible to cover every decision and get them all right. 'Mistakes, we've made a few, but then again... '

Further update from Octopus: "I’m sorry to hear that Royal Mail is taking some time to update their address database. Unfortunately, if we put through the request and the address is not updated with Royal Mail, it will be rejected on their end." Which begs a couple of questions: 1. Why do Octopus need Royal Mail's approval? 2. How did the current fictitious address come to be assigned to the meter? This is becoming Kafka-esque.

Indeed, and it's the sort of thing that can hold up a future house sale as the solicitors see a way to charge the buyer more money 'investigate further'.

Thanks for that info and link, very useful. I am currently trying to get Octopus to change the 'address' of our supply meter from a completely fictitious address made up be the plot vendor, to our actual 'approved by the council' address... I email the request as per the instructions on the Octopus website. They email back and asked for evidence that the council had approved the address, so I sent that. Then they came back and asked for a photo of the meter. Ok, I took one and sent it to them. Then they said: "I can process the address change for you, but first, please update your address with Royal Mail. Once you've done that, could you please send me a screenshot showing the updated address on the Royal Mail website?" Which of course RM have failed to do despite a request via their online form in June and two chasers since. So I have now sent Octopus a link to http://www.findmyaddress.co.uk in the hope they will pull their finger out and sort this. Octopus not covering themselves in glory here.

It's a 6 month window for VAT reclaims isn't it?

Interesting idea but I can imagine Mrs. P's reaction when I tell her I've opened a Velux for her to climb through. I suspect she'd tell me where to go ('go and get a hammer').

I have been messaging @craig about this and he has suggested possibly replacing the current striker latch for a day latch on at least one door. It doesn't look that straightforward but may be doable.

I've now found Dorset Council's policy, I assume other council will have their own similar policies. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/new-build-properties In summary, once first fix is complete they can issue a Completion Notice allowing up to 3 months for 2nd fix. We are through first fix on our build but haven't had a completion notice yet so I am hoping that: a) their usual tardiness/backlog is delaying this, and b) they can't back date a completion notice.

I'm hoping that is not the case for Dorset Council - we registered our new address back in June, before the footings were complete. Still haven't heard anything about CT banding yet.

Get one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TOPDON-TC001-Plus-Resolution-Maintenance/dp/B0D46K5CMK/?th=1 Worth the investment imo. Pics from our UFH on very low during the build.