Crofter

I've got water runoff from the main road causing erosion on my access, and I need a way of intercepting it. I could dig in some sort of channel but tbh I would just see that clogging up. Easier, I think, to make a raised hump- essentially a speedbump- that diverts the water off the driveway surface. It would need to be about 5m long and laid on the existing tarmac bellmouth, just before the tar ends and the stone surface begins. I have asked a couple of contractors to do this, but getting fed up waiting- it's clearly such a small job that they aren't prioritising it. I could make a concrete hump, cheap and easy, but I don't think it's a good idea to lay concrete on top of tar. Probably fine until a bin lorry or sludge tanker goes over it. Obviously as this is at the start of the driveway, it's only ever going to be driven over at about 5mph, but my gut feeling is that concrete laid on tar will crack under a heavy load. So what about those tubs/bags of cold tar that are designed for pothole and driveway repair? Can they be used to build up a speedbump, or are they really only intended to fill holes?

Yes it's about grain orientation. You want the first layer to curl away from the wall, and the second layer to cup towards the wall, so the two lock together. Although I've found in practise there isn't a whole lot of movement anyway, and a lot of my boards came quarter sawn so it was six and two threes. The other thing, if you're wanting to be a perfectionist, is to look carefully at the angle of the knots. Sometimes they are completely perpendicular, but often you will find that the knot runs at an angle, and you want that angle to be pointing downwards. The idea is that if the knot ever falls out, it will leave a hole that sheds water away from the building, rather than one that funnels it in behind the cladding.

Keep a bucket of clean gravel on hand and get your mixer spotless every time you use it... Then stuff won't stick to the drum and you won't have to stick shovels inside it! Mind you I am guilty of using a stick to prod pockets of unmixed cement.

I chickened out of using Osmo Polyx on my doors (I too have oak veneer Suffolk type doors- must be some sort of BuildHub rule!) because I was advised that it could damage the veneer. Went with a water based Ronseal varnish instead, no problems and tbh I think it gives a harder finish than Osmo. I already had a tin of Osmo which I had used on my exposed beams. Incidentally my doors came from TP, £60+vat each, very happy with them.

I used 25mm vertical counter battens- my site is exposed and wet so I didn't want to cut any corners. I also laid my breather membrane in vertical strips, so each joint was overlapped at a batten to hold it down securely. TRADA suggest a minimum of 12mm for roofing counter battens, so I presume you could use the same gap on a wall buildup. Perhaps just a packer of 12mm WBP/OSB at each batten fixing point? The downside is that there is no continuous batten pinning down your breather membrane onto the sheathing.

Presumably he wants the length along the axis of the motor/bit, so that he can use it in tight spaces.

Thanks- there are two in Inverness though, so it ought to be possible for me to collect things. Very kind offer though. What has me worried is that when I phoned up, they said that they can't confirm or reserve stock over the phone. It sounds as though you just have to go in and if they have what you want, buy it there and then. My MiL is going to do a recce for us, I just think that with seven separate items to buy, the chances of getting them all in stock at the same time might be slim. it would certainly help the budget if it works out though, and at that price I won't be heartbroken when things inevitably start getting damaged.

Well it has finally got to the stage where I need to start thinking about the furniture for my little house. Exciting times! With it being a small open plan place, I really would like the dining/lounge/bedroom furniture to match, as they are really occupying the same space. Preferred style is oak, something fairly understated, and ideally everything needs to be quite neat in size. It's only a 43m2 house, afterall. Budget is fairly tight, but I do want this stuff to withstand a few seasons of holiday letting. The usual suspects like Ikea and John Lewis don't seem to offer suitable matching sets. Current front runner is 'Chiltern Oak Furniture' who are online only. I'm not massively keen on buying unseen, but they get reasonable reviews. I guess I could buy a single item and then return it if not happy with the quality, but that's going to cause postage issues, delays, and general trouble. Total cost for everything I need is about £1200. We have a big oak furniture place in Inverness but that's about twice the price of Chiltern. And finally, bargain bucket store 'B&M' have some nice looking stuff on their website- the TV unit there is actually by far the most suitable for the space I have, as it's nice and compact. About 50% cheaper than Chiltern. Trouble is they sound an absolute nightmare to deal with, and it might be a bit like trying to deal with a pound shop - they won't hold stock, you can't pre-order, and they don't guarantee to have anything in stock. I'd be interested to hear if anybody has had success with them, though.

I hope we don't come across as too negative- everyone is sincerely trying to help. Building your own home is usually the biggest and most expensive project that anyone ever undertakes, and it's vital to get it right. I went through eight different layout variations before I was happy, and half way through the build changed it for the ninth and final version. This was because I had been spending a lot of time in the shell of the build and had come to appreciate how the space and the light actually worked. If you are at such an early stage that there is no plot, no known planning conditions, and no other factors to work with, it's almost impossible to design a good house, because you are guessing at too many variables. However it could be worth sketching out a hypothetical design for budget purposes, and it's certainly worth thinking about construction methods and other technical aspects. Edit to add: sorry I missed that you do have the plot already. So your next step needs to be spending several evenings wading through your local council planning website to see what they are likely to approve in your area. You can get sone great ideas this way, it becomes a bit addictive!

Hi Two suggestions if you're at the very early stages of design: - Read Calliwag's free ebook about house design - Learn to use Sketchup It's maybe also worth looking up the standard drawing symbols for e.g. Doors, windows- this will make it easier for others to interpret your designs.

Plenty of solar gain there Do you have a less desirable view to the West, or is it just the way the layout worked out?

If 11mm OSB3 is acceptable, I would just go with that. I guess WBP ply would be a substitute but likely to cost more and IMHO more likely to delaminate.

Thanks Jeremy, that's encouraging. Will report back once I have the first supply/extract vents up and running...

My unit came from an outfit called 'Boulder'- definitely at the budget end! It was really the only way that I could get the features that I needed (summer bypass) within budget. I suppose if it turns out to be a disaster, the unit itself could be swapped out for a better one quite easily, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Yes that may prove necessary. For now I just need to finalise my vent locations. Off to make a big hole in the bathroom ceiling... eek!

Yes I've not actually sited any vents yet. I'm hearing a fair bit of fan noise from the unit, and a lot of this seems to come from the inlet/outlet spigots. Hopefully a few metres of ducting will help calm things down. It was a fairly cheap unit and I can't say I'm overly impressed, so far. Sometimes you get what you pay for!

Can't put this off any longer, decision time! I've had the MVHR unit fired up and it's disappointingly noisy. Of course this is without any structural isolation, and without any ducting on the house side of things. Hopefully that will quieten things down, and if not my next step is an attentuator in the supply duct, I think. The noise has made me reconsider where I should put the vents. So my new plan is: One extract above the shower (as previous plan) One extract at high level in the kitchen/lounge space One supply above the front door If the noise proves acceptable, I would like to add a second supply above the bed, so this gives two pairs which should be easier to balance.

I've recently been looking into this myself. I think @JSHarris will have some useful insights. One approach is to hang the unit using four threaded rods. These pass through a short tubular rubber mount (like an engine mount) and then a washer and nut go on top of the rod. So all the weight is carried by the rubber, but if the rubber were to fail for any reason the unit cannot fall any distance.

From memory, the actual nacelle and generating bit was only about £12k, but the pole, founds, cabling, inverter etc brought the total up to £32k. You could do some of that work yourself I suppose but I was looking at FiT so everything had to be done by an MCS contractor. That was five years ago, and I think FiT is now so low that a non accredited approach might make more sense.

Most turbine manufacturers suggest a mean wind speed of 5m/s as the cutoff point for viability. It's not overly expensive to rig up a data logger- something we looked into quite seriously. A 5kw turbine would have cost about £30k to install, but that was most of our build budget so we decided to do the new house instead.

Yes that is very interesting. The obvious downside is that it must be quite sensitive to wind direction.

Great stuff. It was a funny old day today- snow in the morning, then perfect sunshine without a cloud in the sky from midday onwards. Just watch those frosts if you're pouring concrete! Are you going volumetric or readymix?

A what now?

Yes, an interesting concept, a bit more realistic than the 'tiny house' movement IMHO. The scale and materials are very similar to my own project. I'm personally a bit torn on the issue of what size new houses should be. As a society in general we expect/demand everything to be bigger and better- whether it's a phone, a fridge, a car, or a house. And I think this is part of the reason why new houses are out of the reach of too many people. We demand an en suite bedroom for every person in the house, plus a guest room, a play room, an integral garage, a utility room, etc etc.No wonder houses are so expensive! On the other hand, the size of a house is only one part of the total cost- land and services being a huge part- and if you are going to all the trouble of building, it's a bit shortsighted to cut the size right down if that leads to a house that is of only niche interest and limited market value.

Thanks, some food for thought there. Due to the way I detailed it (badly, in hindsight) I can't really fit any more than a 5mm soffit board in place. It will however be fully/continuously supported along each edge so I doubt even ply would sag over the 250mm span. Main concern is that I think ply would deteriorate quite quickly. From what I've gleaned via Google, uPVC is probably not an option as it seems to be 10mm thick boards. It's not really a priority but if I don't fit something soon the starlings are going to start nesting in the eaves and making a right racket...