spottycat

Sunflower, I did my own brickwork on a large two storey extension - which I was concerned about doing as I had very little experience and needed to lay almost 6000 bricks. My experience was that, assuming you are a reasonable DIYer that can use a spirit level and tape measure, it proved not to be that difficult. I can not over stress how useful 'Builder's Profiles' were and would definitely say they are worth the money. Because I was prepared to take the time to be neat everyone tells me my brickwork is better than any builders have done near by. I also made sure the cavity didn't fill with loose mortar or rain which would later cause bridging. Of course, there are good builders but many don't care about such details.

Joshua, Not sure if this is of any help with your query but food for thought even if you do something different. Several years ago I install UFH on my first floor but wanted to ensure the best possible heat transfer. i did something a bit unusual but am still happy with my results. I am still working on all the page for my ECO house restoration blog but the page on UFH is on my DIY Home extension blog if you want to read it and see what I did - https://diyhomeextension.co.uk/first-floor-ufh/. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Hi - In my experience it's kind of impossible to know in advance of a Building Control visit. I dug a trial pit and the inspector checked that and advised. My neighbour only a couple of hundreds yards from me had to go much deeper because the inspector saw clay. Until the BCO looks in the hole there is no way of knowing how deep you have to go. Here's my experience - https://diyhomeextension.co.uk/footings-and-foundations/

Hi - I just thought I'd add that doing your own plans for the planners or Building Control Drawings is perfectly do-able. I did it as part of my DIY Extension design and build. I had so many people requesting it that I eventually made a step by step blog of my entire design and build project including all the drawings and planning application stuff. It's not a commercial site - I have nothing to sell - I created my blog to show what I did and hopefully encourage others that are like minded. If you fancy checking out what I did then please take a look - you can jump to the articles that interest you if you don't want to read the whole thing. I hope it help. Good luck, Chris www.diyhomeextension.co.uk

Hi - I had to knock down both my kitchen and bathroom before I started building my own two storey extension. I even continued living in the house by making some temporary living arrangements. Not sure if this will be helpful or not but you can see what I did in my blog post. Here is my post about my temporary living arrangements. The whole project is blogged step by step so you can check out as much or as little as is useful to you. It's not a commercial site - just me and my blog that I hope will help or inspire others. good luck diyhomeextension.co.uk

Hi all. I completed my 100% self build extension some time ago and decided to blog every step. I know how long I spent researching and looking for information - it's why I wrote my blog. Viewers of my site encouraged me to share my experiences here on the Buildhub forum so here I am. My blog site is 100% free and not a commercial site, it's just me detailing every step I took from design to completion of the structure. I didn't pay an architect or a builder and completed the project for circa £25,000 rather than the £125,000 a builder quoted me. Whether you are interested in doing some or all of a project I hope you will find something of interest on my site - www.diyhomeextension.co.uk - You are of course also welcome to contact me on Buildhub too. I'm here to share what I learned and to help and encourage others. I wish everyone good luck with whatever project they are tackling. Best wishes, Chris