nod

I usually buy a cheap internal door the size of the doors your fitting Attach a couple of kitchen cupboard handles and drop it in the casing while you are making them up and the same whilst fitting It will help keep everything square

No Strictly no heavy lifting for her this time

I did last night Back up at 5am though

If there is a massive gap between you moving in and claiming your vat back They May refuse your claim In saying that we had been in five months before we where signed off Our friends have been in ten months and still not signed off Due to Covid I don’t think they will have a problem with there claim

Brickies do earn there money Especially foundation gangs I would class myself as fit and strong But the 625 Armstrong trench blocks are a shortcut to a bad back

Whilst keeping the design simple I’ve seen a few self builds that arnt in a great plot or a particular good design and could easily be bettered buying from one of the mass builders Lots of glass Home automation Fancy bathrooms and kitchens Will all come at a price The plot has to be the main consideration I hate the term forever home But most intend living there till there circumstances change Insulation is pricy but worth every penny Think of The size of the home you want Then make it a big bigger Like insulation it’s something that’s difficult and expensive to change afterwards Weather you building a three bed or a five Your fees and surveys will be the same Exciting times Good luck with your choices

Bringing in a Structual engineer to do your calcs will only cost a few hundred BC will want a SE calcs

We are getting there

I remember using these in the early 80s Paramount partitions Baton top and bottom slid on then a length of 2x2 pushed into the edge to start the next one off Giving you a fixing every 1200

My mate Tge brick Baron as they are known round here has dropped me off a young lad to help me for today and tomorrow Ive laid the last 30 trench on the house this morning 360 solids to go Today and tomorrow Then K rendering Tuesday ☺️

Laid in semi darkness Taken down and relayed this morning

On our previous build I built the foundations for the garages and due to an unforeseen delay with the Brickies I built the house foundations as well Having turned 60 recently I vowed I wouldn’t get involved with building the foundations Other than loading them up for the Brickies I set the pins Then heights Brickies arrived Friday and started complaining about the 625 foundation blocks to heavy Then the 300 wide foundation blocks for a 125 cavity I couldn’t get 350 wide anywhere So have to put a 100 mil solid behind each corse Then they asked for loading money It’s now 830 am and nothing is done At that point I said pack your s##t and go With the help of my wife I’ve laid 360 trench blocks in two days They are far to heavy for my wife to lift 7 to a m2 50m2 x £25 cash There's enough there for them I’ve done two 12 hour days and still some trench to go and 360 concrete block before the BB arrives next week My friend who The Brickies work for has limited control over them and the 50 odd others that work for him due to the shortage of labour But has promised me a better gang in two weeks More of a sound off than a constructive post I think the message in there is if your builder is falling behind Be patient with him As his excuses may be real

I’m just on with our foundations The annoying thing with telescopic vents is A couple quid each But the extensions are nearly a fiver

It’s impossible to cost at the moment You can use an online estimator or QS to quantify But prices are going up daily and labour also will jump up

Lots of private inspectors out there Most will tell you to snap a few photos and won’t come out to site

K Rend do a suitable render for EWI The advantage over the others is that it doesn’t need a separate scratch coat and it’s also breathable

I’ve a scaffolding hoist whilst they are no good for continuous use They will easily lift 200 kg

I’ve used Impey water guard amongst others Cost effective without any issues

I wouldn’t worry about eco creda for now For £500-1000 A planning consultant will put in a application for planning in principle

He’s core t in doing this He probably wants to avoid the UFH pipes

Your builder is correct Render or brick slips below dpc is quite normal The reason why your render companies have flagged this is Anything below dpc can only be considered cosmetic

I’d just go straight over it We go over old render that has been painted or sealed with other coating

Your overthinking it Ise a saw like everyone else