jack

Feels like the majority of discussions around finance on Grand Designs. I remember that one on the Isle of Wight where they built an absolutely massive house with half basement and high quality finishes. They budgeted less than £1000/sqm, with them doing literally no actual building themselves. By the time the windows arrived from Switzerland, they were already out of money. The guy was running around trying to scrape together enough cash to allow the windows to be unloaded. Apparently they built that big because the plot deserved it.

A mate of mine got some guys in to clear the moss off his roof. Turns out it's in really bad condition - felt is leaking in several areas, battens are in poor condition, and various other issues. Some of the rafters are wet but there's no rot yet. It needs to be taken off and redone. It's a medium-sized four bed semi with a simple double-pitched gable roof. I won't tell you the price the guys doing the moss quoted him, but any thoughts on a rough cost for this sort of work (basically remove and replace everything from the rafters up)? Tiles are clay if that helps. Thanks.

Unless your business is building your house, you need to keep it completely separate from your build.

As a self-builder, you don't reclaim VAT in the same way a business would. Instead, you claim back on materials, generally after the build is complete: https://www.gov.uk/vat-building-new-home Any invoice including labour should be zero-rated by the invoice issuer. If you're accidentally or wrongly charged VAT by, e.g., a plumber, you won't be able to claim it back through the scheme above, so it's worth getting it right as you go along. Worth reading up on it all, as it's slightly complex, and you could miss out on a lot of money if you get it wrong! Start with the VAT reclaim sub-forum (next level down from the one you've posted this in). The pinned post has an overview, but please note that the early part of the first post (about claim guidelines) might be out of date. The general consensus is that HMRC updated its internal guidance a couple of years ago, because suddenly HMRC's rejections for being too late suddenly dried up. If you can't see that forum, post another couple of times, as it might have a minimum post count (maybe 20 posts?) before you can see it.

Welcome to BuildHub. I think most builders feel overwhelmed at one point or another. When you're just starting up, everything is new and you're having to learn everything from scratch. You could start by posting about your current challenges in the relevant forum. If you haven't done so already, do some research about CIL - what it is, whether your council charges it, and how it might apply to your circumstances given you have approval for two properties. The reason for pointing this out is that, if you make a mistake at this point, you could be in the hook for tens of thousands of quid. There's a pinned post in the relevent sub-forum for people who've been affected. Do you have power, water, etc. on-site? If not, then there are often ways to reduce costs there, so visit the relevent sub-forums for advice. Good luck.

Can't help with your actual question, sorry. I have a suspicion that you might highlight every little imperfection in your drawer and cupboard door alignment, but I might be overthinking it!

I can't tell you how utterly removed this is from my own experience. I don't change a single setting on my UFH, irrespective of whether it's in heating or cooling mode. I'm sure some of the control tweaks I've set up in my home automation system help (particularly with costs), but I'm pretty confident I could get similar results in terms of house comfort with a thermostat or two and a timer. I do think that high levels of insulation and heating the structural slab makes a big difference.

Southeast, 200 mm centres (MBC passive slab). What would you expect for maintenance costs? Except for replacing a failed control board on the ASHP about three years in, I haven't spent a penny on anything other than electricity. I've recently been thinking about seeing whether I ought to replace the water/glycol in the system. I assume it has a life expectancy.

Pinned for visibility.

I spotted that when I recently went to check whether he did smaller dimmers (eg, 2 to 4 channel) to handle some significant changes we're making to our kitchen lighting. The Whitewing mains dimmer I've been running for the last few years dims even better than the more expensive Thormann KNX dimmer I used for the other half of the house.

True if you're using a controller with a pump output that switches on when there's a call for heat/cool. In my setup, the UFH pump is separately controlled to turn on in various scenarios, including when the heating or cooling is on (with an over-run after it turns off), and when the slab temp is above a certain temp (mainly to distribute heat from floor areas that are in direct sunlight). I've considered that too. My guess is that it would be particularly effective for cooling, because a lot of heat in the summer comes through the ceiling, so preventing that it probably a good option. I have more concerns about condensation in that scenario, but that's largely based on my complete ignorance of how such systems are actually installed. I'm assuming no-one's installing a self-leveling screed or slab in their ceiling!

I've used underfloor cooling for nearly 10 years (didn't use it the first two or three years after we moved in) with great success and zero issues. Panasonic's UK technical team were hugely supportive while I was trying to get the ASHP working efficiently in UFH mode, but they were very cold (pardon the pun) on the idea of underfloor cooling. I think there's just a strong bias in the undustry against it, probably due to a combination of risk-aversion and ignorance. If you're only planning to use it now and again when the heat build-up in the house is getting too much, it literally needs nothing other than a switch, or maybe a timer, connected across the ASHP "cool" terminals. Our system is slightly more complicated, because I control it with our home automation system, but it's still fundamentally just acting as a smart timer. All it does is close two relays when certain conditions are met, one of which puts the ASHP into cooling mode and the other of which turns on the UFH pump. You could do similar with a timer and thermostat. Our UFH is run as a single zone downstairs, with the water temp set at 15 degrees. Never had a moment's problem with this setup. We get a whisp of condensation on the exposed metal parts of the UFH manifold, but that's it. No need for complex controls or subscriptions etc. I can't imagine how it could get any simpler. Fabric-first is important, for sure. We have exterior blinds on most windows that benefit from them, PassivHaus-class insulation and airtightness, and good overhangs on many east-, south-, and west-facing windows. Even with all that, upstairs bedrooms can easily get into the high 20s during long periods of hot weather. That comes down a bit with the downstairs underfloor cooling on. The ground floor can easily be held at a comfortable 20-21 degrees. I obviously don't know what downstairs would be like if we had no underfloor cooling, but I can tell you how lovely it is to walk downstairs in the morning during hot weather. It's like walking into a cave or a cathedral. The cool floor sucks the heat out of your feet, which is a very pleasant way of staying cool. Having spend many years living in a hot country, I really dislike the way aircon dries the air, so for me, underfloor cooling is just a no-brainer. If I were building again, I'd personally consider installing UFH under tiles on a thin screed upstairs and cool that during summer. During winter, I'd put rugs down and maybe run the UFH just enough to keep the chill off if needed during the coldest spells. The only thing I'd add is that all forms of underfloor heating and cooling will be more effective if the floor is made of a thermally conductive material such as tile or concrete. Wood isn't as good, and I guess even low-TOG carpet is worse again.

+1 for Whitewing over Loxone mains dimmers. Also, the DMX extension is useful for other things. DMX relays are cheap. You can buy multi-channel, DMX-controlled, DIN-rail-mountable relay units for a fraction of the cost of the Loxone equivalent. Alternatively (or in addition), you can put indivudal relays or multi-relay boards closer to where they're needed and control them via DMX. In a larger installation you need to consider signal cable length and topology, but other than that, imo DMX is a robust solution to a lot of problems.

Wow, that's a great looking location and project! Absolutely 100% fine. Codes vary across the UK too, so we're used to that. There's an "Ireland" sub-forum (which I've just noticed is embarrassingly under the "UK" heading - sorry about that!) that deals with stuff like local suppliers, building regs, etc. Pretty sure it's used by everyone from the island of Ireland. More generally, unless your questions are specific to your location, the best place for them is usually the relevant subject sub-forum rather than the location-specific one. Looking forward to seeing more about your project as it progresses.

I've managed to identify the stuff I used to seal/bond between our garage door frame and the surrounding engineering brick (slips). It Soudaseal 240FCl. Hybrid polymer sealant adhesive Soudaseal 240 FC combines sealing and bonding applications on all porous and smooth surfaces. Its high quality Hybrid Polymer technology warrants outstanding adhesive performance, permanent elasticity and long term weather resistance. High chemical resistance. Meets ISO 11600 F20HM. Suitable for sanitary applications. Featured properties High modulus hybrid polymer sealant & adhesive Damp surface adhesion Conforms to ISO 11600 F 20 HM Over-paintable Silicone & isocyanate free XS1 fungicide Applications Strong bonding which requires elasticity and high end strength. Bonding in vibrating constructions. Flooring joints in construction. I'm not sure who told me about it, but it's really impressive stuff. It still looks as good as the day I applied it over five years ago. It's not super-flexible but it's very tough. I also found it fairly easy to apply and get a good result, using masking tape, and some soapy water for smoothing. It's also not that expensive for what it is - less than half the price of CT1, for example. No idea what it's like for use in bathrooms etc (although it does have a fungicide), but for exterior work where you don't need something highly flexible, it's brilliant.