Bitpipe

I failed on both these counts! Printer is now against only wall of the study with no cat 6 sockets and with doors either side, no option to trail a cable. While only 10ft from the BT HomeHub, still flakes out now and again - never had any issues when wired in. Revo in kitchen just about connects to WiFi, again, could have had a socket just behind it. Ideally, I'd have one per wall next to a 13A socket to give you maximum flexibility on layout, plus obv. where you're going to put TVs etc.

We used Ammonite a lot in our house, mainly on the west side as it has hints of red that complement the evening light, according to F&B, east rooms should have colours with hints of blue for morning light etc.. Have to confess that we used a local paint shop that mixes the F&B colours, couldn't justify the real thing with the expanse of wall that we have

In our case as soon as I'd made the first cup of tea. Congrats lads! You'll probably get the 'small job' blind spot so try and make a list now and tick them off as they get done. 18+ months in for us and I'm about half way through mine...

Hard to say as they were fitted to our Gaulhofer windows in the factory and were priced into the quote. We had to have a detail in the wall to allow for the blind box (effectively a notch cut out of the frame) but when installed, the box was flush to the external wall and we rendered over the top, so when they're recessed (which is not very often tbh) they disappear completely. We just went for simple electric control, using 240v wall switches. They do a more pricey remote option. @jack did separate blinds so he may have a better idea of cost.

So the problem went away over winter and has returned with the warm weather we're having. Pinged them a note (we'd agreed to leave any action until spring) and their new thought is that warm air is getting trapped in the 25mm cavity between render board and exterior TF wall, causing the issue, so perhaps improving airflow in the cavity is something to investigate initially. I'm a bit sceptical as in my mind the action of the sun on the face of the board will heat it up more than the air behind it. Also, the parapet roof alu cladding overhangs the render and sits on brackets to allow expansion, so far from airtight. Anyway, will see where this idea goes...

I still look at my south facing kitchen window and, as the sunlight spills in, wonder why the one next to it (east) has a lovely integrated blind and it does not. Similarly, cocked up on very expensive front door and didn't double check final spec so got too much glass and not enough door so, while it fits, not the effect we wanted. All part of the self build trade off. Could be worse you could be this guy...http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5637827/Surrey-homeowners-furious-developers-Linden-Homes-700-000-house-smells-poo.html

We have integrated Roma external shutters on the east (street) facing windows and they are a godsend. All east and south Velux also have external blinds. Otherwise our passive standard house would really overheat. We also open the velux at the top of our stairs/atrium for some stack ventilation Should have put blinds on one GF south window in kitchen, we left it out as it faces neighbours gable end but still lets in a lot of heat.

We did not do a passive cat flap, instead I run a concierge service for the cat who now comes and sits patiently by my feet when she wants to go out. I think this is the one discussed a year or two back. The letterbox came from here - you can get cheaper but we liked the finish of this one. We bought direct from the German supplier. Instructions in Polish. Note, this is NOT a passive post box, its for our outside wall.

+1 for Ikea. We bought 18 in total, a mix of single and twin door PAX units - ceiling was just too low to get the extra high version. Built them and put in pre-built alcove - then got joiner to frame around them with MDF which we painted in room colour - look totally built in. Also went for the integrated lights, nice touch but remember to put a 13a socket at the head of each wardrobe run (you can daisy chain multiple lighting transformers. We got the high gloss doors for our room & guest room. For the kids went for the cheapest laminated doors and applied photographic vinyls (made to measure for each door) which gives them a nice wall mural feature.

Upon completion, he garage will be full of left over building materials that you'll hold on to 'just in case' , broken power tools, bikes too small for your kids and a tent you'll never use. Well, that's my garage anyway. Make it a room and put a shed at the bottom of the garden for cr@p.

Yup, used one of these to lift two 140kg baths up to first floor.

Our fitter used a tele-handler and had a crew of 5-6 also. Will never forget the sight of him casually moving 500kg of 4m sliding door held aloft on strops across the site. Was very experienced so knew what he was doing. Almost as nerve wracking as watching him thread the sliders between scaff poles with about 10mm clearance either side. I made sure that I'd paid for installation as part of the contract so if he'd dropped or damaged them, it was up to the supplier to replace !

Grohe came out with their Red range after we'd committed to the Quooker. Both are similarly priced from memory, not cheap but the quality is good. Interesting how dependent you become - we've never had a kettle since moving in and while I was servicing the Quooker had to boil water in a pan for tea.

You can get a Quooker descale unit but I'm quite happy to spend the hour a year it takes to disconnect and clean it TBH, cleaning kit is free from Quooker.

We have a Quooker Nordic - been going strong for 18 months and only had to descale it for the first time this weekend. Customer service is pretty good, they send you a free descale kit on request.

We’re in the Berkshire hard water area and have a Dual Flow (Harvey) softener, however the Quooker Nordic needs to run on hard water. Finally got round to descaling it yesterday (has been running for 18 months) with the free kit they post out. Easy enough process. Extracted 450g of scale from the 3l tank! Won’t leave it as long next time ...

This is why we can't have one... http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/hot-tub-owners-pretending-its-not-a-nasty-sex-pond-2013042266204

We have the same hob so will be interested in what you do. Re Magic Man, that part of the hob would not get hot so could be an option once you've priced replacement glass.

Newton Stopaq 308 is a never curing mastic designed for waterproofing cable entry for basements etc. I used it to seal between a 110mm foul in a 150mm duct. May do the job here. Phenomenally sticky stuff..

We penetrated the airtight envelope (for outside sockets and lights) with duct that was siga taped on the inside. When the cables were run, they were backfilled with silicone and taped. One duct per cable so it was easy to make them airtight. LE foam and judicious use of airtightness tape looks to be your best bet there.

Our landscaper warned me to *never* open the closed used tubs of easy joint that were stacked up by the end of the week.

I bought a converted shipping container (25ft) on eBay for £1500 that had one half storage and other half site office, £250 to have it collected with HIAB & positioned on site. No wet services so was easy to hook up to site power and was incredibly useful during build (hooked up to BT etc). Sold it on eBay again for a small profit! Was on site for over 2 years. Hired a toilet for £25 ish a week including servicing. Some here have bought a small touring caravan near end of life and hooked up to water, sewage and power and used as site office / toilet. I bought some Heras new and some solid panels 2nd hand - all were wrecked by the end of the build so I took to scrapper for pennies.

We have a MBC build and they used two separate products here - each is doing a separate job. N.B. we also had a basement so slightly different setup to normal slab foundation but hopefully the principal is the same. The DPM strip went down on the concrete perimeter wall and the (much wider, 1m or so) yellow airtight strip went on top of this and the soleplate went on top. The DPM came out under the exterior wall and I dressed it down onto the EPS underneath. The airtight fabric was taped to the inside of the basement wall by MBC and taped to the inside of the green airtight board on the inside wall of the frame - i.e. it wrapped from the inside of the basement wall, out and around the soleplate and back inside. This detail was repeated on the interface between ground and first floor.

That set-up looks familiar - good luck Post a pic of the regulator for the LPG - we only had a single pigtail on our van when we bought it but you need the twin option so you can have one live and one spare. We got a Gas Safe plumber to install the new one and check the water heater and fire. CO alarm mandatory next to your water heater. Countrywide LPG do deliveries of the 47kg bottles, you just need to set up an account, no deposit needed. They can usually deliver a new bottle in 2-3 days and the guy was happy to fit the tank each time. DO NOT FORGET TO ORDER A NEW ONE AS SOON AS YOU SWAP THEM OVER - this can cause serious risk to your marriage, especially if it happens in December. Ask me how I know this... You also need to make sure the bottles can't fall over accidentally - I sunk two fenceposts into the ground with post-crete and put a ring on each one with level slabs in front. Chained each bottle to the post behind it and chained them to each other and a third post for security. My advice is not to use the gas fire in winter as it generates a lot of condensation which settles on the floor in the evenings and makes them very cold and damp in the morning. Instead, get a dehumidifier and run that in the evenings and overnight - it kicks out quite a bit of heat and keeps the van nice and dry inside - we still have ours if you want to buy it off me

We had something similar (potential for Methane). The barrier was specified for under the slab only as I'm guessing that any gas in the ground will travel upwards and not laterally? Turning this the other way round, would a waterproofing membrane give protection against radon? Also, if you're using an external membrane, what protection are you using to ensure it does not get damaged on backfill or if stones are pushed the membrane due to ground movement?