Bitpipe

Some of the commentators are unashamedly left wing but many are a bit more middle of the road. I read it regularly online and would argue that it's one of the few quality (wrt journalism) broadsheets left - they're also part of the international association that get the real juicy scoops such as Panama Papers, Snowden files etc. I balance it with a salacious read of the Daily Mail and also read the Washington Post for quality US coverage.

I will say that you probably get a bit more cr@p in your filters as there will be more dust and leaf litter etc blowing around at ground level. I've not fitted the external cowls (which have a 5mm gap mesh) yet as there's still landscaping going on and I don't want them to get knocked. As a result, I needed to vacuum the intake filter fairly regularly and it got pretty filthy, as did the internal cell. All scrubbed up fine though.

Our MVHR intake / exhaust is at ground level (about 500mm off the paving) by necessity as the unit is in the basement plant room below the utility and the large ductwork goes up through the utility floor and out the wall, covered by the utility sink & units. Gas flue also runs up the floor and vents out around the corner (was tricky getting all the necessary separations but we just about managed it). The utility wall faces south but immediately faces the garage so there is a 1m wide alley between the two. A few neighbours have stoves and/or open fires (the older houses have chimneys) but I can't say that smoke is ever an issue. Only the occasional smokey bonfire causes an issue, again only when the smoke is lingering at ground level.

I actually downloaded a log fire app on the amazon fire stick for last xmas, really just as a joke. The weird thing is that it does give the illusion of warmth..

Yup, our basement has no heating and is perfectly comfortable all year round. My other half took some convincing to give up on a wbs and I offered the compromise of an ethanol 'bio' fire but even they chuck out 3KW.

I had a run of the solid panels and they were always blowing over, even with the braces securing them to weighed down scaff planks, so avoid those like the plague. The heras mesh type was not as bad but did blow over now and again.

You can NOT claim back VAT for anything other than materials bought in your name, delivered to your site (as detailed on the invoice) and they need to be consumed in the build and not removable - it's all detailed here. However you should be able to get supply and labour price VAT free from your scaff firm (similar to a contractor hiring some plant for a job they're doing for you). Some take more persuasion than others. They may want to see your PP approval as proof. There's always the cash in hand option also. 3.4 Services excluded from zero-rating 3.4.2 Goods on hire Goods hired on their own are always standard-rated. Examples include the hire of: scaffolding, formwork or false work (although the service of erecting or dismantling can be zero-rated where all the conditions in sub-paragraph 3.1.2 are met)

Only thing that needs done on site is the air tightness test - rest is done from drawings, window specs, heating design, renewables details etc..

Us too, happy to recommend our guy by PM.

I remember looking into this early on in our build process (2015). Micro crushers were £150/day and £450 for the week but I was warned that they could get clogged easily if over fed - also the cement blocks used in our garage would go to powder and risk more clogging. I think a large crusher was about £750 for the week.

Remind me to tell you more about this tonight over a beer...:)

Put it in the front garden then, looks to be plenty of space there. We though the same but when you know it's not forever then you can deal with it, really depends how badly you want the new house and how much you want to save money. We spent £700 for 18mo accommodation (Purchase - sale price) vs £2k a month rent. Regarding PM - its not an all consuming task - you know what you want, you do some research to buy it and you find decent trades to do it. You don't need to pick up as much as a screwdriver if you don't want to. You will pay a significant overhead (20+%) for a general contractor to take full ownership or a formal PM and I guarantee you will be just as involved in decision making as if you were PMing it yourself. You'll still want to make final decisions on design, details and finish - its not like you ever walk away from making these, difference is you can control the cost.

We had a very similar situation, in our case a 1950's detached 3 bed that had a bit of a refurb in the '80s but nothing since. 1/2 acre plot in a good location, on moving in 2 kids mid way through junior school. We toyed with extensions but bit the bullet and went down the demo and rebuild route. We have many friends who did various types of refurb, partial demo etc and spent almost as much as us with much less to show for it and a lot more stress. I'd never built anything more complicated than lego before .... A few observations : 1) rebuild from foundation level is 0% VAT - this makes a huge difference to your budget 2) you're not constrained by the current design / footprint / location on plot (subject to PP) 3) You can build a house that meets the performance you want (passive, near passive etc..) - this is not likely to cost that much more as it's mostly in spec and detailing. Easy to do from scratch. 4) you already have services (sewer, water, electric, maybe gas) this is also very expensive to do from scratch. 5) you wont have hidden costs arising as you strip back the original house or try and tie in old to new. The build should proceed fairly smoothly. 6) it will take you more than 18mo to figure it all out, get planning, discharge conditions, line up contractors etc so don't worry about the current redemption fees. Look to remortgage to a sympathetic self build mortgage (Ecology are great). 7) your kids are small enough to treat the whole thing as a big adventure - buy a caravan and live in that big garden (we did this for 18mo). Sell it when you're done. Just try and finish before they're teenagers . 8) you will never have enough money upfront but you'd be amazed at what you can do on a budget without compromising and being your own PM, sourcing materials, subcontractors etc (much easier when you live on site) 9) you've pretty much done it before so should not be too fazed. Personally I think you've already decided on 1) and are working your way there Took us a year or so to get to the same place.

Our MVHR unit is the the basement so the vents are about 1m above ground level. They are on the outside wall of the utility (directly above plant room) and are south facing but in the 1m wide alley between the utility and garage which is usually quite shaded and still. Been running for over a year and have had a lot of dusty works going on (usually remember to turn off the MVHR, not always though). Have given the filters a regular vacuum and have just replaced them together with a was out of the heat exchanger. I've not even fitted the external cowls yet (as I want to avoid them getting damaged while landscaping is ongoing) but was surprised at how few leafs etc made it onto the filter itself. So not sure what the issues are with having them low down.

And so is born the 'reasonably robust man' test.

I would go for 1) and buy some spares. To reduce lots of long runs, you could use some 4 port hubs to cluster devices together, but this will add a little cost (they're about £20 each). Our electrician wired cat 6 direct to wall plates and back to a patch panel, he did have a special tool and tested each connection. He did not apply plugs to the end of the Cat 6. I still needed to buy patch cables (small cat 6 cables with plug either end) to make connections from the panel to the switch and obv. between devices and the wall plates.

We had an Italian au-pair last year. As a treat for the kids I made some home made chips (only really do this a few times a year) - used a fresh bottle of sunflower oil in a pan. I'd left it to cool with the plan to decant the next morning and store back in the bottle for future use. Anyway, I come down and she's doing the washing up - cheerfully washing the big pan that was used for chips. I asked where the oil was and she'd just poured it down the sink - about 2l. Cue me emptying a bottle of fairy liquid down after it and then running the hot tap to try and disperse it. When we had the old house on site it had an open fire that was often lit as it was freezing. One evening I'd just finished the last of a plastic tub of supermarket deli anchovies, the ones in vinegary oil. I tossed the empty pot onto the fire and nearly cr@pped myself as it exploded in a fireball. So yes, it will burn....

No idea - there is a renovation down the road from us and the caravan is right in-front of their house. Personally I think that living in a house that's actively under construction is not a great idea, especially if you have children (of whatever age). Even when ours was nearly complete there were still significant trip & fall hazards, sharp edges etc...

Containers can be craned into place (aside from the crane hire cost) but caravans less so as they are not as rigid and are liable to twist and buckle. If you have services (sewage, water & power) to the front then a caravan may not be a bad option - either as a hire or buy & sell on. Same for the container - we actually made a profit on ours! Site insurance will cover both. Make sure the container has an insulated roof (if not, foam on 50mm EPS) to prevent frost making it 'rain' inside. Also use a dampstick to control humidity. We spent 18months in our caravan (family of 4) and our stuff was in the container (mostly in boxes ) for about the same, came out fine.

It's one of those 'unlikely to happen but severe consequences if it does' situations. What if the demo does not go to plan and you have to pull more of / the whole house down? What if you're injured while living on site? What if HSE comes along and throws a wobbly? BCO are only there to monitor that the build is to regs, but they could possibly notify other agencies (HSE) if they see something very dodgy. I'm pretty sure your existing buildings insurance will be null and void as soon as you start major works (unless otherwise agreed) so that will have additional implications on your mortgage as it's normally a condition of lending. Assume you're putting your personal stuff into insured storage. You should also have site insurance that covers you and your on site visitors plus the value of the existing and new building materials on site etc. Not 100% sure but I believe that if you handed the site over to a contractor for the duration of the works you would not need it. The old phrase 'hope for the best but plan for the worst' springs to mind!

Your architect will not know (or care) much about asbestos - your demo contractor will want to see the report that says there is none or proof that it's been removed. You'll need to get a full survey - it crops up in unusual places. It's presented as a 'destructive' survey as they poke a few holes. Be VERY wary of doing substantial works without notifying your provider - if they find out (i.e. a neighbour tips them off) then they can foreclose on your mortgage - i.e. you need to pay it all back there and then or risk losing the property. I had a saga with Tesco Bank at the outset of my project - I was tempted to just not tell them but the risks were too high. They prevaricated or 12 weeks and then said no. Then yes (but with strings attached) - finally we agreed to exit the mortgage without redemption fees and went to Ecology. Also good luck on sticking to your 1 month schedule ! What's your plan B if you're out for 3-4 months? It's slower and more expensive to build around residents and you also need to maintain power, water and sanitary. Site insurance is unlikely to cover living in until substantially complete. Not trying to be overly negative here but just giving you the benefit of my experience!

In my experience ground workers tend to stay fairly local as there is cost in mobilising the plant and carting muck away etc. You're not far from @jack and @HerbJ who I believe used the same groundworker so maybe they can recommend. Your demolition requirements are pretty specific (mine was to tear down an entire house) so a standard GW may not be comfortable with that - you'd need to check. Have you done an asbestos survey? Also, why do you need to retain parts of the old building - did you consider a full demo and rebuild (saving 20% VAT and a lot of headaches on tying new into old)?

I meant on the wall/ noggins etc before the PB goes on.

To @HerbJ 's point above, make sure steels have penetrations spec'd at design stage. Soil pipes and MVHR are the largest services that need accommodating but even a cluster of insulated 22mm pipes or a run of cables to a distribution board can take up significant space. Our downstairs loo ended up sitting above a perfectly boxed in square of steels over the basement which meant that the soil pipe had to go underneath them and get boxed in. Luckily not that noticeable. You can make a feature of an awkward vertical pipe run - we have a faux 'fireplace' box that hides a dog leg pipe run on one side of the living room and a nice feature alcove that hides another.

Not just photo but measure and mark with a sharpie and/or take notes. Make allowance for finished floors & walls. (updated, Ian )