MikeSharp01

Around 10 hours on top of the course to get V1 done. From then on every iteration to tackle issues you find demands adjustments until you get it all clear with the architect. Yesterday I spent about 3 hours going through changes caused by getting the windows all into BC spec (openable at the right height) and playing with the insulation as the cost of the type specified by the architect was too great so I found another one, higher U value and adjusted all the areas to see what happened and we are still in the envelope so will go back to Architect and get spec changed and so it goes on....

Have been using PHPP myself to drive our architect along - acting as the consultant. Overheating was a massive problem with too much south facing glass but now we are in at 5% with the final glazing scheme. I have got it down to 1.9% overheating with my latest model of the summer ventilation scheme this is the best I can get it but will probably drop it back to 5% because 1.9% means leaving large windows fully open - shows you how much control you have. Its not hard to get a house up and running on PHPP and provided you answer the questions you don't need to be a building scientist to make it work. I did the 1 day intro course at BRE it comes with a free copy of the software and I thought is was good value for money.

Yep, thats it - single pour structural raft, I am DIYing the polish but not down to aggrigate as SWMA (She who must agee) feels its not the look she wants - pheew. Am doing a smaller slab in the garden room first to test out the processes and develop my skill set. I won't have a problem putting the slits in below the internal walls. Not sure if we have concensus on the process yet though. Mike

Thanks Guys. Think the professionals lack confidence with a passive slab - monolythic, all on and encased around in EPS, - no traditional footings so the loads are on the edge of the slab and in a couple of places in the center supporting the ridge beam and to some extent the first floor which also sits on the walls and hence is trasfered to the edge. They all seem to know what they don't want to happen but are not clear on how to stop it so the above if very helpful. They would prefer me to screed it but I want to polish it once laid, protect it and build on it because it will be easier to polish it when its just a flat sheet without the walls, also sticking the wall plates down and sealing them will be much simpler if the surface is polished. Reinforcement design, which will be steel rebar is with the slab supplier but they cannot start until the SE provides final loadings and so we are in a bit of loop at the moment and I am trying to break the log jamb. Essentially I have taken away that we don't need sliding joints just crack propagation prevention although I think that does mean that the slab will be broken through, down to the EPS, in those places.

Hi All. Just working through the design of our slab with the architect, SE and insulation formwork provider! It will be a polished concrete floor with the slab forming the finished floor. One question that came up yesterday was how we would prevent surface cracking in the slab while remembering that the slab integrity is key to the structure. My thinking is that we just use surface slots but I thought I might ask what the experience is. Anybody done it? Mike

How many stories - assuming 1? I guess there must be bedrooms upstairs but is the extension just one story? What is the street scene like, would a two story extention look better than a single story?

How hot is is it getting? Long shot but - Its not the sun (general hot weather) heating the inlet water to the tank some how?

We got a ball park quote of £20K (including £8K for asbestos removal) to knock down and remove all trace of this: Thought it a bit much but cannot avoid the asbestos work so will get them to do that, DIY defo denied by light of my life as both her father and his brother died of asbestosis, but will demolish the place myself once its all gone. I reckon one good push with the digger should do it. Although not sure I can write that on the method statement I need to send back with the demolition forms to the council the eletricity company, gas company, the neighbours and uncle Tom Cobbly and all, also have to have substancial hordings in place, means to to keep dust under control........ Hmm perhaps on relfection £20K does not seem so bad.

Great thoughts Dave, I will look at the the temporary connection idea, the building is 45sqM so it might trip over that one, I will check the regs in a few minutes, Many thanks.

Hi Dave Its separate, 12m away at the end of the garden.

Hi. I am just going through the work of getting started on our build, cleared the garden with the digger last week. Job one is build the garden room, which will have water, electricity and a sewer run, to occupy while the main build goes through. I guess I am just trying to avoid two lots of building control, its all in one planning permission, but I am not sure if I can submit the full details for the garden room and outline for the main build as the detailed specification and structural work for the main house is not yet complete, and probably won't be until November. On the form it looks like it has all to be there - any thoughts on best way through or is two lots of BC going to be required. Mike

Great list, but is there a reason that the SE appears twice, was their two trances of work for them to do. We are just commissioning our SE now, assuming we don't go for a packaged frame build, after the initial design is complete?

J (wife of 30 years, mother of our children & gyroscope - keeps us on the level and on course) and I have always dreamed of building our own home. We had a sort of go at it at ‘millstone manor’, see below, by knocking down a single story wing and rebuilding it to two stories - we learned two lessons. Firstly we no longer think that architects 'do money'. We gave him a budget and the final bill was 3 times that. Secondly we ended up with a house too big for just the two of us now the boomerang kids are on their outward flight – naturally they may still come back but we are not sure we want to be here when they do. Also I enjoyed it immensely which I was not sure I would at the outset. I have spent a lifetime creating stuff and educating people who go on to create stuff but the scale of the sense of achievement when I fixed the second to last piece of skirting board, the last bit is still to be done in the corner of my study, was fantastic. We had employed only three trades, Bricklayer, roofer (for the tiling) and plasterer the rest I did myself, with appropriate sign offs, in an attempt to control the budget. So when the opportunity arose for me to retire a little early we decided to go for a complete build and fulfil our dreams. Well at least that is what we thought. One and a bit years on and we are beginning to wonder..... We cast about the country, from north to south, looking for a suitable opportunity we love Scotland, Yorkshire, the Lake District and of course our home county of Kent. In the end we chose to develop in Kent a suitable plot came up, its closer to home and the chosen location allows us to visit London quickly using the HS1 Hitachi trains. So one year ago we took possession of this: 11m x 36m plot with a 1911 dilapidated wooden shack, 2 beds - outside toilet, around brick chimney on the front portion. Then the fun started.......

Hmmm... reading this has got me a bit worried. Sounds like a mine field but I know a friend of ours had the 'back down at last minute' on the ratings issue. On our build we are intending to construct a garden room, at the end of the garden, and this was included in the PP to prevent permitted development rights being removed by the planning team which would stop us doing it alongside the main build. I am wondering if the area of that space is included in the rating or is it just the main dwelling?

Thanks all, just sober now - agggghhhhhhh what have we done!

Hi All. Got our planning permission today after 9 months of work and about £8K in fees and dispersements, first time through, did a pre planning session with the council, only 6 conditions, 2 Normal, 3 easy, and one interesting - means we have to obscure a couple of landing windows so we cannot see the neighbours or perhaps they cannot see us! Anyway as soon as other half gets home from the opening of the new Tate extension we will crack a bottle of bubbly!

Ah the great digger debate is swirling. If you think you can get into trouble with your private digger take a look at pic below of a professional at work last week on next doors demolition. Took five of them, and they needed another digger, all day to get it out, I have the video, putting the track on took 4 hours, the hydraulic adjuster broke and they needed my grease gun to get into the adjuster cavity. Anyway the funniest bit is that it fell into a ditch I had dug, with my mini Takuchi, for my neighbour the week before for his power cable and they knew it was there. Thank goodness my little 1.5T tracks are just about carry-able!

Hmmmm. Very interesting... so your two phases cost £1260 did I read that right? My quote is £1909+VAT I guess for what looks very similar, you can get a hint at the desktop study from soilscapes (Cranfield) it only gives you the 1Km square (free) I could get closer and pay a little I guess. There won't be any contamination, the house was built on a field in 1911 and no quarrying, gravel extraction etc has been undertaken anywhere close. As it will be a passive slab I guess the SE might have an idea of the scope needed, I don't want to skimp but I also don't want to spend more than I need. Thanks for the details I will give it some more thought.

Great Checklist - first one, soil survey! Any idea what to ask for when requesting such, I have a quote, several K, which has 2 x 8m boreholes and 16 samples, the site is brown field. I am wondering if I have under or over specified. Any thoughts anyone.

Hi. Mike here from Kent, was building a new echo home on the Kent coast near Whitstable, then I wasn't and now we are again, planning permitting, due next week. Was on ebuild but a bit lapsed as we were stuck with boundary issues that all but killed our project ( I now know a lot about boundary issues that I would rather not have needed to discover). Retired university academic, still do a bit to keep my head working, but would rather be building the new place. Look forward to engaging the collective brain on our project and contributing where I can. Mike