mjc55

So what part of building regs is concerned with such things? You need to ask them what you have to conform to in order to live there. Load of old bo**ocks as far as I can see.

Are you likely/able to change the internal layout without affecting size/position of windows/doors? CIL can be a complete pain by all accounts so be very careful.

I don't agree that we are saying the same thing but there you go, let's agree to disagree!

@Spinny I think your logic is flawed! The part from outside your property to the drain on your land is indeed public sewer, from the drain to the boundary with your neighbour is 'Lateral' therefore responsibility of water co. Everything else, from the drain on your land to your house is your responsibility and from the fence onwards is the neighbours responsibility.

The first house that connects to the drain run will still have private drains, it is only the subsequent connections that are public. i.e. the property where the run commences.

You haven't looked at the diagram. The neighbours drains are private.

Could have a look here Includes the statement On page 7 there are diagrams indicating how this would change the ownership of various parts of the system.

But at that point it isn't actually serving more than one property. When the utility took over the maintenance of sewers on private land (was it early 2000's or early 2010's - I can't remember) the first in the line of drains remained private and only became public on the second property they served.

@Spinny What situation do you envisage that would be an issue to you? Is there something particular that is worrying you?

you definitely need to open it.

So impressed with your progress so far. Lets hope that it continues in the same vein.

So a few months in to our build and I have to agree that self-build is hard work! It's also an amazing experience in which every day brings something new. It's difficult to say whether this is physically the hardest thing we have ever done because I think age plays its part, we are late 60's or so and even though we are both fit people building at this age cant be compared to the house renovations that we have done in our 30's, 40's and 50's. What I can say is that we wouldn't swap it for anything, we have promised ourselves that we would self-build for years and to be actually doing so is an amazing experience. Onwards & Upwards!

I will ask him.

managed to get hold of some 5 core 16mm armoured from Superlec!

Advice from electrician. It will run from meter to the "pod" that we will live in whilst building house. Will be part of 3-phase setup. Pod will have all the usual sockets and lights, cooker, electric shower, water heating of some form and electric UFH.

Don't seem to do 16mm 5 core armoured.

Anyone have a go to supplier for 16mm 5 core armoured cable? Going to need about 50m I think. Thanks

Hi Guys Don't worry about some of the comments that people on here make,you get used to it 😁 It is such a useful forum and generally very very helpful. There are some on here that seem to be very anti-ecobrix, fair enough but hopefully it will suit us. As @JohnMo states above, with a following wind and using the proscribed methods you should be OK. (Hint: if you put an @ before the name it will highlight as above and the person will be informed about the post) We are just about to start using the Ecobrix to build a "Pod" which is a bit of a mini-me of the house so that we can try out various ideas on the Pod before (hopefully) using them on the main house. The Pod has to be a raft foundation due to the proximity of some trees, the main house will be trench fill. A bit knackered now as we laid 14 cube of concrete for the base today. Pod build with Ecobrix to start next week and as Johnmo stated up to 6 courses for each pour should be manageable,any more and potential problems lie ahead!

Welcome! We too are using Ecobrix as our build method, will definitely follow your progress

Brilliant progress again, you must be so pleased at the way things are going.

Its the main house that I am looking at currently - not started the build on that yet.

So at what stage does this become an issue, if at all? I am just looking at detailed plans for main house (we are currently building a Pod that we will live in during house build) and looking back at the Planning drawings I would like to slightly modify some of the external dimensions! Maybe up to 75mm or so to account for cladding. Is this going to be an issue? The overall width is 18.8m. In my time as an AT it was never an issue (as far as I am aware at least) but all my work was in extending existing not new build. Any thoughts welcome

We are building a "Pod" a mini me of the house to test the various build ideas (Ecobricks - flat green roof etc.). Windows for Pod are being delivered early September and hopefully in Pod by Octoberish - depends as want to get main house footings in before the weather changes. There are a number of issues around this VAT submission CIL completion document Address - we have an address but it hasn't been propagated yet but will be required for post etc. Council Tax Water Rates It's a bit of a minefield.

Our water was connected last week, currently all we have is a standpipe. We have a connection into main drain as a spur was put into our site when they put the drains into the village 20 years or so ago and we have connected up to that although there is nothing connected to the drains on site and wont be for a few months. I have had an email about setting up a billing account but I am assuming that a) they won't/can't start billing for drainage yet and b) the water charge doesn't include a standing charge? (this assumption is because I thought I had read this somewhere!) Any advice/experience gratefully received.