Crofter

Hat off to you Ian for taking the right decision. I can't imagine how tough that must have been to swallow. My approach was to do it myself, and then I have nobody else I can blame

Be careful what you wish for. We've all seen George Clark, we've maybe seen some fantastic tiny house projects or retro caravan, gypsy caravan, yurt, etc, and thought 'how could anybody object to that?' So how do you draw up a planning policy that permits these developments but is not taken advantage of by someone who claims that their rusty shipping container, or broken down transit van, is their holiday home? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and one man's retro-chic is another's pile of junk.

What about directly contacting one or some of the 'good guys' that has been on site? Assuming they might be flexible/available.

Well that's that idea scuppered... I'll have to hide my pies somewhere else now

Two things spring to mind- subsitute a cheaper wood, like Douglas Fir, and move away from an actual structural oak frame to a cheaper structure with the solid timber only used in key areas where it will be seen. A true solid oak frame is a terrible thermal bridge anyway.

Yeah probably best to tank it, like the rest of the walls. No access at the back though. This is all a bit of a last minute kerfuffle. I wonder if I could engineer some sort of removable panel in the side of the boxout? That bit shouldn't see too much water.

That will leave a 600mm gap to get in and out of the shower- slightly wider above the box-out. I guess that's OK but I'd better make sure I don't have any people of the, erm, larger persuasion.

Keep up at the back! Having identified the standard try sizes, the room was built to 1600, and then PB'd and skimmed. Whatever idiot designed/built it cannot do basic arithmetic. So I'm going for a 1500 tray and a little box out which will make a shampoo shelf.

Any last thoughts on screen size before I click the button? I think the two sensible options are 800 or 900. Tradeoff between splashing out into the room, and elbow room getting in and out. Bearing in mind this isn't (supposed to be) a wetroom...

That's more my budget Turns out the magic phrase was "through the ceiling". These things are always obvious in hindsight, aren't they.

On to the next question... Where can I find a riser rail that has the water feed running inside it, down from the ceiling? And are these difficult/expensive to find? I like the idea of one because it will be much easier to get access in the ceiling than in the wall- but not worth paying a big premium for. So far I've hardly found any for sale of this type, and they're all really expensive.

Well SWMBO has approved the design change- 1500 tray, valve on the wall opposite the riser, and a wee shelf for shampoo (that probably swung it :D) I guess I could build the box out in PB, seeing as that's what all the walls are anyway, but it doesn't seem right for some reason. Is there any rational reason to do it in ply? Oh and I appear to have found a tray and screen- £200 plus half that again for postage, ouch. Still much cheaper than anywhere that I can pick up from in Inverness. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Walk-In-Shower-Screen-Enclosure-and-Tray-Wet-Room-Cubicle-8mm-Easy-Clean-Glass-/282411062632?var=&epid=708886223&hash=item41c102d568:m:mzLESPAgPrt9ylmB_Y6_2KA

What's the problem... he's probably got shares in Polyfilla.... By the way my iLumos lights arrived today. Does it matter which way I wire up the 240v side?

That's quite a neat idea! The other thing I'm wondering about it whether it would be OK to position the mixer valve in that wall. If I put it where I've drawn it, I need to space out a whole wall. In an ideal world it's probably best where it is, but it would be nice to not have to space out *both* walls... EDIT- like this:

OK next question... I had planned for the space to be 1600 exactly, which on hindsight was bloody daft because now that it's actually built, PB'd, and skimmed, it's more like 1590. And there's still tiles to add to that. Trays come in 1600 or 1500 and nothing inbetween. I could attempt to shoehorn a 1600 into the space, and certainly by cutting back the PB that should be possible, but it's not going to be easy. My main concern doing this would be that the extra thickness of tiles still to be added, and most suppliers don't tell you how wide the upstand around the edge of the tray is. Secondly, I don't really like the idea of the tray tucking in under the PB in case anything leaks. So the other option is to go for 1500, and then space out the wall a wee bit at the end to make up the gap. This is going to mean more work- another tiled surface and an exterior corner- but probably is the sensible option, yes?

Yep having the flooring undershoot the lining is surely the way to go. Just since I've not fitted the linings yet there can't be any reason not to crack on with flooring...? Right where did I put those kneepads :0

Hrm, walls are plastered and painted, but openings are still just roughed out. Kind of assumed that the point of the architrave was to cover this joint/gap between studs and lining. My thinking with doing the linings after the flooring was that I wouldn't need to worry about expansion gaps etc. Obviously you can't put beading inside a door frame, and anyway I want to avoid beading. Is it not easier to cut the bottom of the lining to the exact length, than to cut flooring to an awkward shape to fit exactly to the lining? I was planning on getting a chippie to do the linings and hang the doors, so I hope he's not going to do the whole shaky-head tut-tutting routine if I've done the flooring first

Hopefully a last wee question before I start laying this... Obviously I'll leave fitting skirting boards until after the flooring is down. But what about door linings- before or after flooring?

I was told there was only one way to install a window, and that was to fix 50x50 all the way round the outside and then slide it into the frame so that these battens formed a cavity firestop. But that puts the windows in front of the insulation, and would lead to a thermally poor perimeter all around the edge. Just a case of "we've always done it this way" and not adapting to modern house designs where people actually care about thermal performance. As a minor aside, aesthetically I think windows look much better when set back a bit into the facade. Maybe it's just because that's the norm up here, but when they are flush with the outside surface of the wall it looks a bit cheap, to me. Anyway to get back onto the actual topic... I got my windows via @iSelfBuild directly from Poland, fortunately before the drop in value of Sterling. Very pleased with the quality although arranging delivery etc was not the easiest- but that might have been the case with any manufacturer, given my location. As others have said upthread, I was advised to go for inward opening windows as these were higher spec, but I had to trim back the budget a bit and ended up with outward opening, which I think I prefer for various practical reasons (no dripping windows inside the house, no worries with clearance when plastering or fitting blinds, and you can actually use the windowsills to put stuff on- important in a very small house like mine).

Having done all mine one my own, I would agree!! Biggest was a 250kg sliding patio door, which I could only move with the aid of a bottlejack. I had some help getting them into the house but did the actual fitting myself. At this stage in the build I received regular visits from passing neighbours, many of whom are in the trade - every last one of them thought I was daft to install from inside the building. I thought it would be daft to try installing triple glazed windows from the outside, working much higher off the ground with no working platform... Mine spent a winter, uninsured, in a cow shed. I was pretty glad to finally get them on site.

Just bumping this thread as I too am looking for LED strips. Mine will be going on the tops of the exposed beams, to light up the vaulted ceiling. I'm looking for something with fairly low light output, as this is just a touch of mood lighting- the main lighting will be spots on the undersides of the beams. Is it generally OK to buy cheap Chinese strips, and then a decent quality transformer, and if so how do you know that the transformer is OK?

There are a few houses up here on Skye with Decra. From driving past, you can't tell the difference, IMO. But that's where the whole house is done with them, it might be much more obvious on an extension. I'm a fan of metal for roofing, having recently done my new build in corrugated.

That's actually a good point- we have done such trips in the past and work a watch system. But I wonder how common it is for couples to do this?

Go for ballast. You don't actually want to have sand and 20mm gravel with nothing inbetween. The ideal mix has a full range of sizes, and should all be crushed material, ideally, as that gives the strongest concrete.

Errr, no, they are not included in the 2040 ban. https://www.autoblog.com/2017/07/26/uk-hybrid-internal-combustion-engine-ban/