Pete

Sorry for late reply, been busy. I am using a guy called Ken Armstrong, (Hillside Veneers, Google). Really nice guy with small overheads and the price is amazing compared to Deuren doors.

Looking good.Happy spending!

Looks great! Roof looks great. We have the same roof and found it easy to fit. Hope you get your problems sorted soon.

Not sure if this helps but this is our passive slab detail. Foundation section A Peter Vasey.pdf

And me. Taking shape and looking great

You would have thought so but no they cannot. I take your point about just splitting it but the neighbour's house is approx 30m from the main and we are a further 30m on. I have just had a quote for the cable which was £800 so depending on how you do your sums can make quite a difference. I think we should be paying more due to the fact we are further from the mains cable. Now I have an idea of the price for the cable we can work together to sort it out.

Has anybody any idea of how much a LV mains cable supplying two houses would cost. I am trying to divide up the electric supply quote fairly between two houses but ENW cannot give me a breakdown as the computer will not let them.It is cheaper to do it this way than have a separate cable to each house from the mains but they cannot give us a breakdown of costs, computer says NO!! The length of the LV mains cable is 60m with a service connection at 30m for the first house and then at the end of the LV mains cable there will be another connection for the domestic cable to house two. Part of the quote breaks down this part into the price of the cable, pulling it through the duct and the pavement excavation but that is it. I have contacted an electrical wholesaler but they needed to know the size of the cable which I do not know. They have said they will work on it being a similar size to the domestic cable to the house and get back to me.Anybody have any ideas? TIA

Congratulations, major hurdle overcome.

I had to take the exterior wall of a house down from the wallplate where the roof sits down to the 1st floor joists as it was bulging. When I had it all open and you could see the inside wall a neighbour said to me you should have supported that wall as it will fall down. I said to him how would you like me to support it? He said acro props and I said what do you want me to support, the slate roof. When I pointed out the roof sits on the inner wall he just looked at me and I carried on repairing the wall. Just ignore him and prove him wrong as people have said.

Got any spare timber on site? Get two and screw them together to form a right angle and attach this to the wall temporary to allow resin and bolts to be fixed. The timber will support the threaded rod until it has set. Do they all have to line up horizontally(?), if so set laser level to ensure you fix wooden support to the line. If they have to fixed accurately with an even spacing horizontally then cut smaller timbers to sit on top of L shaped timber to go either side of threaded rod and you will cover all bases. Moral of story never throw anything away until you have finished the build!

We have a passive slab and are busy choosing tiles, approx 270 sq m and we would like them to be 120cm x 120cm and a couple of tile shops have said we will need an anti crack mat which I assume is a decoupling membrane. Our slab is generally 100mm thick apart from the load bearing areas and has steel reinforcement within the concrete. What I am asking is the mat a necessary item or a just an in case item in that if the concrete does crack then the tile will not crack? Not sure if this needs another thread but what have people done with expansion joints? I really do not like them and a tile supplier I spoke to last year said we would not need them but I see them all the time in large tiled areas in commercial buildings and it is another one of those do I or do I not fit them. TIA

Yes. They have a large showroom and like to do a deal.

House looking great and moving on at a pace. I take it the reason for the battening on the upstairs floor is for the UFH? If so are you using any form of spreader plate? TIA

We got rid of knotweed from a property a couple of years ago. We had to be meticulous to ensure we did not transfer it from the initial site to elsewhere in the garden. But by a process of injecting neat Rosate (bought of Ebay) into the main roots and actually getting down on our hands and knees to chase out the roots and carefully prize it out we managed to completely remove it. We used to burn all the roots in a very hot bonfire by adding it to the glowing embers.

Not sure how you are going to use your stairs i.e shoes on or off? We are thinking of using a veneer on some solid cheaper timber as there will only be two of us using the upstairs and defo no outdoor shoes on the stairs. We are also going to buy cheap fire doors and have them veneered and it is working out a lot cheaper than buying a large say walnut door from say a company like Deuren doors. You get to pick your own veneer and can have subsequent cills etc made to match which we need as we have some large window bottoms to do.

Ian, be firm with her and she will understand?. Play the health card if she unsure. I think procras______ is best done with a lovely view and you have that in abundance, especially looking towards Cumbria!!

As you say as self-builders we do procrastinate but that is because WE all have the fear of doing it wrong or not choosing/buying the most appropriate part (Sunamp/combi e.g) for our build. We just look at it that we are in the great position of being able to build our own house and try and enjoy every moment even if that involves more procrastination!1 As an aside Ian, it could be worse and you are living in a caravan as some have done on here and do not have a choice in that matter.If I was in that position I would do less proc__________ and be doing my damndest to move in asap but seen as we both live in a comfortable house adjacent to the build then take as long as you want.

Hi Jack. Interesting point that you make that one of the reasons you chose an ASHP was for the cooling aspect and yet you have only just used it in cooling mode for the first time when we have had all this hot weather for some time. Is that because you do not need to use the cooling mode as often as you thought? One of the reasons I ask is we have had a big delay in our build for one reason and another but we are now ready to move forward and we are at the stage of deciding on our DHW and heating choices. We have a near Passive build with solar coating on all South facing windows and I cannot stress how effective this is at preventing overheating in the house. With this in mind and the advancement in the Sunamp products we are leaning towards one of the new units with UFH and fit a small PV array and see if we can do without an ASHP for the cooling effect alone. The house had been shut up for a few days recently and was quite warm and I opened the door onto the roof terrace and a G/F door and the house cooled really quickly which was another reason to see how we get on when we have moved in. Our build has two bedrooms on the ground floor with only one upstairs which is off the roof terrace door so I can see it working quite well (I hope).

People have been discussing budgets recently and I just wondered what people have spent on travelling to Self Build shows, courses and product selection such as windows, kitchens etc. Over the last couple of years we have been to quite a few shows at the NEC incl Self Build and Grand Designs. We travelled to Glasgow and Truro to see window manufacturers and numerous visits to the window manufacturer of our choice, 100 mile round trip each time. Went to South Wales to do our roofing course and not to mention all the local trips, 50 to 60 mile round trips to see kitchen suppliers,tile and lighting shops. Not only is this costly but it takes a lot of time but we think it is all worth it if you want to build the house of your dreams.

No PV installed at the moment. All to be decided when we choose Sunamp, Sunamp/ASHP or Sunamp/Genvex as has been thrown in the mix!!

Trying to get my head round all this. Now that Sunamp make a unit that will do DHW and UFH is there a need for an ASHP? I realise that the ASHP could provide a means of cooling a near Passive/Passive house and charging the Sunamp. I think I can cool my house quite considerably using the chimney effect and for when the sun is not shining how much will it cost to buy/install and maintain an ASHP and how much electricity could you buy with that amount to top up the Sunamp when the sun is not shining? I think as some are doing on here it may be a case of living in the house for a year and then deciding if we need an ASHP to supplement the Sunamp. I am waiting for a quote from Sunamp so hopefully it may become clearer then.?

5500066974-B customer drawing -001.pdf Hope this drawing works! Just about to clarify the position with the electric board about the position and length of the mains cable. The mains cable will begin at point C and will end up at point A. This distance is about 100 metres, at point B the mains cable would be downsized for one property. The reason for the 3 phase is to accommodate another house that is about to be built on the left hand side just before the cable turns 90 degrees to the right and we may in the future build another house on the left just after the bend where the trees are located. My question for @ProDave etc is what is the cheapest way to do it? Have two separate cables connected to the two new houses from the mains and pay for this at the same time to the electric board? Have one 3 phase cable which would provide power for three houses but there are no plans to build the third anytime soon and so is this making the 3 phase cable the more expensive option? The person building the other house wants to split the cost of all utility connections fairly i.e split the cost from point C to where the cables/pipes enter his land and I pay from that point to my house. The driveway will be a limestone gravel affair so no problem with digging it up at a later date or even running ducting when we do our connections now and then not as much disturbance if and when the third house is built. You can see there will be gates at some point if we do not run out of money and thought we could build a meter cupboard there and then run a supply to the house ourselves from there as that distance is about 30 metres. Hope I have included enough info. TIA

Just check you have not overfilled the water level. I made that mistake with my wet cutter and once I lowered the level so it just had the blade edge in the water it made a big difference in reducing the spray.

My Bosch 4 amp battery is showing a full charge when I put it on the charger but yet when I attach a tool it will not work, and yes I have tried different tools. When I actually click it into place on the charger the charger clicks as though everything is ok and then flashes permanent green which indicates fully charged. Is it goodbye to this battery or I have heard of things like put them in the freezer for 24 hours and then leave to come back to room temperature and then try charging again. TIA

No, Nick said pee in the water and speed it up a bit. People are waiting to see the finished result