WannabeBob

We are doing exactly this where we are both working full time. However our jobs (well mostly my partner’s) have a great amount of flexibility to work remotely most days. It’s going OK, not the smoothest ride but also not quite disastrous. We have done a great deal DIY but also have had tradies come and do work. In all honesty, some of the most stressful times for us have been when the tradies are working (as opposed to doing DIY). It’s my partner who supervises on site most of the time owing to her work arrangements and so a lot of the oversight is by me, through her. The translation isn’t always seamless, let’s say but even then having someone on site tends to keep them on the straight and narrow.. I have found that on the days that we haven’t been on site during the day is when things are most likely to have gone a bit awry (dinged the doors, bashed a pipe, not done what was asked). We have been lucky that they have mostly put things right when told (it helps if there’s only one tradie at any time on site to avoid finger pointing) but I can easily imagine things having gone very differently. So all that to say that it’s not impossible but it is very stressful so go in with your eyes wide open (and a steady supply of whatever keeps you calm) Also massive +1 on not working with friends and family. One chap we know has been getting friends to work on his house and has caused him massive delays. 7 years on and he’s still not moved in.

Hey @Gema. We’re building our ICF (certified - hopefully) passivhaus in East Cambridgeshire. We’re at first fix currently. We’ve done a fair bit DIY but have also had some trades come in but otherwise self managed. Feel free to ask any questions if you want! (ps we are also both engineers of some sort!)

We are doing exactly this, with wet UFH downstairs and only electric resistive (towel rail and bathroom) upstairs. It should be very quick to heat up so I don’t think will take too much power to run especially if it only comes on at specific times of the day and on a sensor when we detect presence. However… that’s still the theory and we are still building so I suppose I can’t say yet that all of that will work! We are at <10W/m2 though so can’t comment about that yet

Our architect, but they did lead the entire design so it was obvious they would have to be the BRPD

We put our names as BRPC on the BC submission as they now require you to list BRPC and BRPD, and haven’t had any issues from building control. We’ve justified this as OK because the BRPC does not need to be an expert in every field but can rely on sub contractors’ expertise.

Thanks. Yes, we’ve checked the dimensions with them and according to our SE that’s the “standard detail” approved by the ICF manufacturer who’ll come on site to help with the first lift as well.

Happy days, I’ve managed to find a supplier to do the links in 90mm without any extra costs. Thanks all for the help. I won’t be needing the jig after all.

Thanks. If you’re happy to sell it I’ll let you know on Tuesday if we decide to try it ourselves.

Let’s just say I won’t be recommending them for many other reasons as well. We’re thinking of trying it out with a bending jig as a trial and see how feasible it is

Which bender did you get?

Although for the price of a takeaway, this might by worth trying https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005983014134.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller.1.17deBXtBBXtB3z&gps-id=pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.354490.0&scm_id=1007.40050.354490.0&scm-url=1007.40050.354490.0&pvid=591a7a8e-a5b9-4053-b294-7087714f343d&_t=gps-id:pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.40050.354490.0,pvid:591a7a8e-a5b9-4053-b294-7087714f343d,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238116%232002&pdp_ext_f={"order"%3A"43"%2C"eval"%3A"1"%2C"sceneId"%3A"30050"}&pdp_npi=4%40dis!GBP!12.73!8.83!!!119.38!82.80!%402103891017449243290116801e4967!12000035171723357!rec!UK!!ABXZ&utparam-url=scene%3ApcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller|query_from%3A

I might spend more time making a jig than bending bars!

Thanks Russell! Yes we can drop to H8 as well, though with the ones I’ve checked with was still 100 or 110. Yeah. We don’t have crazy amount and it’s pretty much straight bars or square links but I’d still rather avoid bending them on site if I can

Maybe I’m being a bit uppity about it, but how do you know if the rebar meets the standards? I’m assuming that’s why most suppliers can’t go down to 90mm either.

Hey folks, me again! Our swimming pool foundation dig is going well so far. I was wondering if anyone can recommend any rebar suppliers that can do H10 (10mm) links/stirrups with a dimension of 90mm, ie shape code 51 where B=90mm Our engineers have specified 90mm max for our lintels and piers as they want a 30mm coverage each side within our 150mm ICF concrete due to fire regulations. The suppliers I’ve checked with say they can only do down to 100mm, some even only going down to 110mm. I did get a quote from someone that said they could do it, at 20% more expensive and of dubious repute? I say dubious but really it’s just that I haven’t seen them mentioned before, and hoping someone here might have personal recommendations instead. I’ve asked our engineers to come up with alternatives but I’m not very optimistic about them coming up with a timely solution… I’d rather get the bars supplied bent, but failing that how hard is it to bend my own bars for a pencil neck with absolutely no experience? 😅 Thanks!