DrewG

I'm going to be going Nudura on a DIY basis for a 3000 sq.ft house and garage (and SW distributor looks secure from companies house checks). Had looked at Durisol and Isotex earlier but like the size of the 8 foot x 18 inches Nudura blocks.

Reading this thread has been a wake up call to me as feel for all those effected. I originally was keen on Durisol doing their course last year and then discovered Isotex which was my chossen route up until begin of Feb. My original contractor had changed numbers..not a good sign and so I decided I'm going to build the ICF myself and thus have decided to go Nudura who have a proven system with 8 foot by 18 inches high blocks so quick building times. Going to be placing orders next month...a long as can at least pay deposit with credit card after having reading others misfortune on here.

Like Dave and Helen I'm currently trying to choose a Struct Warrenty Provider. Have had prices from Self Build-Zone £4.6 and Protek £2.2k and awaiting on Global Warrenties (apparently they have done quite a few Nudura icf houses which is what I'm going to be building with. Building Control Proces so far between £1.5 and £2.3k...it's all adding up!!!

You could be right and I may need to decid how I feel about OSB celing...keen on the industrial look so considering having exposed Universal Beams downstairs and use the bars on the Alitherm 300 windows for the Crital Style. Have attached a photo from my last house built in 2019 (Blockwork walls with SIPS roof).

The plan is not to have any services in the upstairs ceilings i.e. wall lights and there's no MVHR...just good old fashioned trickle vents on the windows (planning on Alitherm 300 with I think Planitherm glass due to the new Part L Regs).

I'm going to use SIPS for my roof and have decided on Nudura XR35 for the walls (going to do this myself even though no previous experience of icf). Hopin to find a SIPS manufacturer who will do birch ply for the inner face of the SIPS to have as my finished ceilings upstairs (have done this before with UNILIN (no longer supply the UK).

I think I see the problem here...maths and converting imperial to metric. 96" is 2.438m x 18" is 0.457m = 1.114 m2 and not .495 m2 as suggested! £63.40 a block I'm guessing wasn't in last couple of months?

That can't be right as a X35 block with 6" core is around £81 and is around 1.1 m2. I'm looking to build a ICF House with 270 m2 floor area with Nudura my favoured option.

I've short listed Isotex for my build and have below The strip foundations /slab /dpc detail as I see it (will most probably have the slab at 150mm). Doing it this way you ca clip the u/f heating pipes to the PIR Insulation (would add another DPC between PIR and under Screed. This would also be the detail for door threshold i.e. footing plus 2 blocks woth DPC.

Thanks for the replys, I have had highlighted this point to the tree surgeons, so I'm 100% sure now that this invoice should be zero rated. I did get them to remove 12 trees last year which were shown on the outline planning (all were where the driveway is to be located so no chance of retention) but I paid VAT in this instance as had not had my reserved matters approved (live and learn all the time).

I have spent £7,900 (including VAT)s on tree surgeon's before I got my Reserved Matters Approved (i.e. I only had outline planning at this stage) and now since I have my reserved matters approved have spent another couple of thousand which have been charged VAT. Am I able to ask the tree surgeons to zero rate their latest invoice as this work was done after my planning approval and the work they did was as stipulated in my Tree Protection Plan?

Don't know if this has been finished yet but I have used the Thermoguard for a steel structural post on my last self build with no issues from BC. Took around 4 coats to get to the required thickness though and was slow drying.

I lived in a house for 11 years before I got it signed off 🤐. Only had 2 things outstanding from 1st final inspection and only got around to doing those when I sold the house in 2018 😁. With hindsight wouldn't have much chance of making a claim on the buildings insurance 🥵

Reading through this tread about costs EPS v PIR what hasn't been taken into account is the volume of muck away over the whole footprint will be significantly higher for the EPS assuming a flat site...just saying

Reading the above comments can say my last project I used Buildzone for the warrenty and for Building Control inspections meabt I only had to deal with 1 surveyor which worked well. I'm planning this time to get quotes from them and Protek this time around...well as soon as I have decided on foundations and build method ICF or trad cavity blockwork (both with using SIPS roof).