G and J

It may be as simple as there was a quick paint job done to make the property ready for sale? What you could be describing areas where there is just less paint e.g cutting in with a brush rather than a roller.

Handy things, those platform socks. Odd innit. One never knows what a thread will do when one asks a question. I love this forum even though I currently spend v little time on it.

I (J) hesitate to enter the fray here as this appears to be an emotive subject (including, at some points, within our own household!) but here goes We bought a run down bungalow, with a good size garden for an urban area, in our ideal location. We had a good idea of how we wanted to remodel it (add an upstairs) and did our own preapp during the period the sale was going through. Once we got a positive pre app we did a beauty parade with a couple of local architects " we are VERY hands on, have quite clear ideas of how we want to live, have a a couple of "difficult" experiences before (in truth the latter was partly because we were't clear enough in defining the ground rules/expectations) and we want to spend £ " The practice we chose was a good match, values wise, and the first key intervention "knock it down". G was well along that route as a possibility, but the reasoning and experience the architect offered both in terms of end results, as well as costs, of trying to upgrade the existing was really helpful to me (J). As we had spent a lot of time laying out floorplans ourselves the stage pricing was adjusted accordingly (less for the initial survey/design phase) they were also really clear to set out additional costs eg fees, SE, BC etc. and the potential cost of the build if we went the main contractor route. Very much along the lines of @Gus Potter They prepared and submitted planning (they "know") the area, and the planners and planning was approved first time almost within the "given" timescales The building control drawings were more £ but boy did they earn their money. There was a good degree of to-ing and fro-ing regards how the wall build ups would be, what materials would be specified etc as we were hoping to do something outside their "norm" (learning from here) They suggested a couple of local options for BC, and for the SAP requirements, both of which, so far 🤞, have been "sensible and pragmatic". The fact that we had the architect drawings also helped in the warranty/insurance process, and it would seem that based on discussion here, we've paid "reasonable" premiums We chose to have a frame built off site, due partly to the nature of our plot, but the frame company commented that the BC drawing were amongst the better ones they see from architects in terms of actual buildability. As we are building (including constructing the frame kit), the design "works" ....where for example blocks have needed cutting it's because we've "tweaked" something So yes it seemed a large £ upfront, but in reality its probably going to be less than 5% of our final spend; it set us off on the correct path (demolish and rebuild), it minimised the planning angst, and finally it furnished us with something we could use to build in a way that we could undertake the project management/oversight which has and will bring savings as per @saveasteading So yes, there is an element of a leap of faith and when budgets are tight you "wonder", but at the end of the day, depending on experience (we're not all @nod) it would seem that you "pays your money and takes your choice" somewhere along the line.... There, light the blue touch paper and retire...... Ps. It' also fair to add that G is still not "quite as fond"...

Have you still got permitted development rights? If so I think its ok now, but if not......especially as no doubt your neighbours will be watching progress? We did put all of the above (not satellite dish as didn't want) on our planning drawings as we were expecting PD rights to be withdrawn (they weren't)

Thank you guys, I was sure of my physics but we all have a wobble at times so it left me wondering what I hadn’t factored in. The power of bog standard is huge, it appears, and bog standard in Blighty for newish houses is a well insulated wind tunnel, methinks, and perhaps for such builds thin screeds have advantages. So if it works well I’ll tell everyone how clever I am. And if it doesn’t I’ll blame buildhub. Simples. 🙂 (Neither statement in previous paragraph is true, but it made me smile.)

I was so certain in my plan: 1). Reasonably airtight and insulated house not needing huge amounts of heat even in cold weather. 2). ASHP running wet UFH at a lowish temperature to be happily energy efficient. Single zone, weather compensation for heating and cooling, no thermostat. 3). Nice lot of underfloor insulation to put the UFH pipes onto. 4). Fat, circa 100mm screed to act as a big storage radiator. Lovely. Or is it? In the last week or so I’ve had my ear bent by three very experienced builder type people, all telling me I’ll really regret a fat screed. The consistency of their arguments is astounding, they are all saying that we'll hate how long it takes to heat up, it’ll be cold and it’ll never get properly warm as all the heat gets eaten by the screed, it’ll be impossible to control and if I had even half a brain I’d go for a 50mm flowscreed instead. These three are all nice guys who really do mean well and have our best interests at heart, so I’m sure that they believe what they are telling me. I tell myself that I understand the physics, the heat won’t be just lost unless I fail to insulate or achieve airtightness, that slow response for our set up is a good thing as we want a constant temperature, etc. But faced with such certainty I’m struggling not to wobble. Am I being dim? Is a fat screed a good idea? Are there downsides I’m not aware of?

How many times do I have to tell you Gus, don’t kiss me in public. J might find out.

Stockpiling has an effect on cashflow. As for doing all the foundations in one go, Amen to that. The thought of getting back down in the mud again……. just say NO!

Noted. Ta.

Wash your mouth out with carbolic immediately you very bad person.

If cash flow allows (we currently only talk about cashflow as little as possible in our house at the mo. 😕 ) then there might be efficiencies from building the garage at the same time, which, coupled with the VAT saving, might mean the resultant increased borrowing cost is more than compensated for.

Alanhenge, perhaps? Al fresco dining is all the rage…. 😉

Guilty as discharged. The problem is my chippy won’t stop work unless I plonk tea and McVitie’s dark chocolate digestives (other brand are available) in front of him then he’ll stop to talk over plans, etc. And it would be rude to expect him to eat alone. J posts on here too, which is why it looks like we are on a lot. I can’t type and dunk biscuits at the same time. And there has never, nor will there ever be a time when I can be called a skinny one. Built for comfort, me.

Being a bum (aka being retired) has its upsides. Last year I did over 100km a month on my water rower and my weights three times a week. It gave me a start. I now walk around site slower than I’ve ever walked, but I can carry on for the full day. I now can lift heavier weights than when I was doing weights. I find a bath night each and occasional anti-inflammatories tablets help. But I’ve not managed to lose much weight. 😕

The spec I've got from our window supplier (who will also install) requires a concrete bit behind the single outer brick skin - are you using the compacfoam to structurally support the door frame? If so that sounds a much better plan than a cast concrete bit?

Thought about this a bit more...... our excellent brickie team did look a bit crest fallen at no radio, but did come and have/are doing the business...the solution me thinks...... copious tea and payment on the dot 😉

Don’t believe everything you read Gus. Not as drafty as Alan’s place - see Gus, we aren’t nice, we take the mickey out of everything and everyone !

Understood......we are a timber frame build, close (1m and 1.5m) to neighbors properties and it was the neighbours who put the no radio in the party wall agreements, not that we're complaining.....horses for courses

This sounds daft but is really a case of what "good" looks like. We keep it simple No one comes on site without us being there Everyone gets the hard hat hi vis talk (they don't all do it) We look out for anyone taking a risk (ladder balanced on a block) because we are there with them and only have 1 set of people in at anyone time. If a singleton comes on site we want to know who we ring if there's a problem (health or god forbid accident) We make sure everyone knows our site working hours, that we are no radio/no smoking and that we have neighbours.....simples!

Feels good to finally get out of the ground doesn’t it. Quite a relief in fact.

Maybe not the highest u value windows at min 1.4, but hopefully good enough for us with what we intend to be a highly insulated, airtight house 🤞(and a woodburner, which we hope we'll get to use!) our measure, supply and fit contract for alitherm 400 (they manufacture and employ directly their surveyors and fitters rather than subcontract) is £860 per m2 which include a 0.8 aluminimum front door, an aluminium personal door for the garage and 4m wide sliders. Fitting due mid October, so we'll see how it goes, but so far so good

We’re going for a 10kWh battery. I’m guessing (without doing any numbers so it’s all guy feel) that that’ll be good for several days of the bits I plan to protect. If I did the lot I would expect it to be a day max. before the battery disconnects itself due to low charge. Or is my gut feel an order of magnitude out? We’re having a woodburner for warmth and we’ve a campervan for warming food up if needed. So I’m thinking we would keep things ticking over for three or four days…

I’m going for a split board with a battery that can run in island mode supplying one side of the board. I’ll run lights, internet, WiFi, MVHR and a set of charging sockets off the battery backed side, but I like the idea of a couple of sockets in the utility room that I can plug stuff I didn’t think of protecting into. Fab addition to the plan.

Me too. I don’t live alone but I still think in spirals till I’m certain that my daft ideas are brilliant. Then I interact with others, (J, guys helping us on the build, buildhub, etc.), and that helps me get hone my ideas. Happy days. I’m taking the approach that I’ll do a standard wiring with deep back boxes (thank you @JohnnyB for the noggin idea) and judiciously add wireless relay type bits where needed later. I'll still have some normal dimmers too though.

Don’t do that, or, if you do, put plasters on the wounds, giggle about it as you tell your mates, fix whatever is then wrong and tell us all on here. You might be wasting your time and tilting at windmills, but you might be a small part of the industry moving to low voltage dc over the next few decades. Pioneers either die silently in the wilderness or they bring back new treasures (like tobacco, hmmmm). I initially was spurred in by the notion that dc to ac conversion was inefficient. That was based on my experience of small, relatively cheap inverters for our campervan. When I checked I discovered that big inverters are much, much more efficient than I expected. Moving amps around costs copper. And as the biggest danger from electricity nowadays is not shock it’s fire, and more amps mean more heat, I deduce that low voltage dc is not necessarily safer.