Patrick

You mean to just move the vented tank into the loft (or alternatively put a new vented tank into the loft). Not bad.

I m having a bit of an issue with my hot water in my current house. Old former Council semi, with the old vented hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard upstairs still in place. After changing the bathroom, there is now even less pressure on the hot water than ever before and it's taking hours to fill a bathtub. I don't want to go down the route of shower pumps (done that the last few years, one of the reasons for changing the bathroom, long story). Also, there is no Gas at the property. Its in the area but this house never been connected to it. All heating is via Night storage(electric). So I'm only looking to replace the old vented electric water tank with a new, unvented one. The question is, could I possibly put the new unvented hot water tank and the electric boiler for it into an outside lean-to in front of the kitchen. There is no space in the kitchen for something that big, the bedroom airing cupboard where the current water tank is, will struggle as well space wise and ideally I want it out of there. My idea was to build a insulated extension of approx. 2-3sqm. Just in front of the kitchen (to the back garden) where all the main pipework is running through. Than just drill through the wall and connect the new boiler to the old water system. Boiler would be installed by plumber with a bit more clue than me about this, but question is more what are the issues with this plan. Building regulations wise. Practically it has a lot of advantages to me, but maybe there are better ideas.

Welcome. There are quite a few good garden shed builders on here which done various of styles, sizes and budgets.

This is some amazing review. Thanks a lot for that. The membership stats above meaning that it was still growing until 2015? When was it shut down again. Others mentioned buildhub starting in 2016,so I assume just before that. I think all the older members experience with Ebuild was very vital in keeping this Forum running healthy and trouble free. Hope it will continue the same paths even with growing numbers as it has been not only very helpful but also a glimpse into the past of 90ies Internet when Forums where everywhere and you could get endless knowledge and informationin thriving communities without being molested by corporate interests.

this sounds like there has been a hype around self build In 2008 already. It always seems to me, for the past few years, that self building is "the up and coming topic" in the building industry, without anything really substantially changing. Is that only my impression or how do the old Ebuilders feel about this? @JSHarris Or is there a shift towards more awareness /better support?

There are a few websites here and abroad that offer ready plans to buy like http://xplans.co.uk/. better sites with more options available. Or you nicely ask on here someone that has a house you like. You might get the full package for free.

Than you are obviously one of the good ones. And in regards to other feedback on here, apparently there are more of you out there. Maybe they all hiding in Scotland ?

I was starting a long text about studies being made with "beautiful" people vs. "ugly" people .......... But you made that point with 1 sentence , so I can safe my time there ??

People making these assumptions work in their favour. I dealt with a guy importing goods for Poundshops from China and he had 4 cars. 3 for private use (a G class, a Porsche and Maserati) and one for business. (a 15 year old vauxhall vectra) . He was convinced that he can negotiate higher prices if they see him coming with that old Vectra (in combination with a 99£ Suit that looked it) . He was right.

That was not the point. Was talking about being in Retail . Not much brainwork happening there. Just Robotic work under time pressure. But if you re asking , i believe that stress is a matter of perception and difficult to measure. What might be easy for me , might be extremley stressfull for you. And the other way round. All I know is that there is a massive difference between being in a stressfull job that gives you more than just income is a complete different story than a high pressure environment job that you just do to earn a living. But no one really argues that anyways. Sometimes people just dont have a good choice. Since bills have to be paid and kids have to be fed.

Problem with wages/salaries are that in reality, it has nothing to do with what is "fair". I personally would argue that a Nurse or a teacher has at least as much value to society than an Architect. And certanly much more value than anybody working in the financial sector. Do they get paid accordingly? No. This has to do with a lot of things, but partly with how we value ones work as a society. When it come to the differences in earnings to fees. Like mentioned by @SteamyTea. most people I know don t work for a lot more than 18.000-24.000/year. I have a few friends that are a lot more educated than I am , having spend a good couple of tens of thousands at Uni and came out with verious (good) degrees. None of them making more than 35k/year. One recently decided to dump his Teaching career in favour becoming an are Manager for the Nations favourite Food Discounter , in order to get a decent wage and a company car with it. Not very challenging job, just high stress. So it is understandable that a lot of people (including myself) are a but annoyed when hourly fees of 60,70,80 or more £ are chucked into a conversation as if it was nothing. The dilemma is, that none of the professionals charging those amount are really getting anywhere near as much. It is in NO relationship . Hardly anybody reaches a 50% cut out of the fees they charging, which means the side costs of running any (small) business are just too high in this country.

This is very well put the exact problem. I was (before starting off the whole exercise) under the impression that there are Architects that exclusivley cater for small self builders and have a REALLY good understanding of what is needed. The sort of stuff you mention above. I know a few of them, again, abroad, 1 of them buidl my mums house, others building Friends houses.WITH them. I was given the impression that the architects i spoke to before i started off "doing self builds all the time, massive experience in all sorts of custom made houses" (their words) , when in reality , none of them have done more than 20-30 in total. This was probably my fault for not finding the right match , but it seems it is also a wider theme in the industry (*from your feedback) and self build is just too exotic (even the word is Horses***)

I was thinking the same to start with, even though my reasons where very different. It was confidence that was missing in tackling (for me) unchartered territory. But after going over the plans around 8000 times, doing changes non stop, just to present the architect with a suitable version and not have him trying different versions of the plans (at potential extra costs), I am very confident that it can be done (with a bit of trial and error). As mentioned above, many houses are build without architects involved. Most extensions that get PP seem to be drawn up by the builder on the back of a napkin (by the looks of some applications). Easiest way to do all this is to go online, find some Council nearby(should yours not do it) that have a easy to access, easy to use Planning site (some websites for planning are excellent, some are awful) and scroll through applications that seem a bit similar than what you are planning to do. Find 2-3 matches and download all the paperwork. From this Blueprint you can develop your own. Cost nothing but a bit of time to play around with it. If you not comfortable with Autocad, don't worry, there are other options. I haven't got a clue about autocad and still do 3d designs. One of my best mates done a degree in Timber Engineering (in a different country, where they do these kind of degrees) and had to do a few CAD drawings in his first year. he couldn't wrap his head around autocad and so for 1 year did all his CAD drawings in MS Paint. Took him a few extra hours and he had to learn how to use Autocad in year 2 anyways, but there is a way around it ✌️

100%correct analysis of the situation today. ????

Yep. This one I can understand, no problem. I wasn't trying to express that there was never a way to do this, and in a common TF it would probably be easy enough. As mine is Portal Frame, it needs the Portal Frame Structural Element every 1000MM. Sure, there are ways around it and yes, it can be done differently. But in my case was just (expletive deleted)ed up by a useless architect(who designed the Portal Frame) , hence my rant. I sorted it, blown off some steam with this post and fired the architects(not just because of this) and redone their bodged job myself. Happy days ✌️?

@PeterW Well, I bought a husqvarna as its apparantly excellent quality and it lit up in my hand while using it ? shit can always happen with second hand stuff, but I take it as a hint. ?

I m just fed up with this one. Take it as Superstition but I don't want to use it anymore. ? IF I should do some more chainsaw-related work, I will get a Stiehl, like any decent man would ?

I think I would already be a wealthy man, even with minimum wage, with the hours I put into this project so far and we just starting ?

@Russell griffiths You should know by now what a penny pincher I am, so will sell parts on ebay. At least won't need it anymore for a while. Tree is gone to 4 different wood turners and the last couple of bits will be dried in place for Garden Table. ?

Excellent point. Should have done this and would have done this if I was not under the illusion (fed by architects) that they would do Plans/planning/drawings/stuff quicker and better than I would ever be able to and therefore save me stress, headache, time and potentially even some money. As I had to realise now, quite the opposite is the case and yes, I should have just done it all myself and this I probably the main point I'm making for the fellow self builders starting off which fit in the category "hands on ambitious fast learner" ✌️

I didn't know this was called a vestibule door frame. I just know this as a Door (variation of a normal entrance door). It s my English. Basically it's this: Problem is, this is not possible with a "normal" window that is around 1200mm wide and it STILL has a frame between the window and the door part, even though it's integrated in the "complete package". Not to worry to find a solution, I corrected the plans and quit my dealings with the Architect( (s) for good).

OK. This is turning interesting @Sensus This goes against everything I learnt. But than again, what did you say earlier : "self builders think they know what they're doing, when in fact they're pretty clueless."

I think I should just stick to working with other parts of the build. Landscaping s not my thing I presume. My chainsaw just cough fire ??‍♂️

Thanks Everyone. Yes. That helped ? @Declan52 PP is in, so not a big problem apart from a few £ extra spent, Building regs the same.it s just been a rocky road getting there. @Sensus I do understand that the so called self builders are a difficult bunch and you're standing up for the honour of your trade. I did meet excellent architects in my life, just never in this country. You might be the exception to my experience. My explanation to this is, that like with everything else, the "market" is not made/prepared for custom/self build and so are the professionals in it. In regards to architect having to manage the client because client is clueless :Missing that you can not put a window next to a door in a timber frame house without a structural element (e. G. Stud) in between has really nothing to do with that. So does measuring distances wrong in the plans (distance in plan says 480mm, description of the wall section adds up to 525mm, meaning taking measurements from the construction or building regs plan would result with a foundation being 45mm too narrow each side) ?

Had a good look into the Architectural drawings yesterday in order to make some sense out of them for setting out the foundations. I used 2 different architects, 1 for the PP, which was a big firm with excellent reputation. They charged me a fortune, took ages and got 30%mistakes into the plans which I had to find and correct. After that I went to a local smaller firm with excellent reputation for the Building Control Plans, they charged me half a fortune and took double the time, but as a bonus missed complete structural sections in the plans, got measurements wrong and had all together not much clue about what I am trying to build, which resulted in them doing extra research which resulted in extra bills. I also had a planning consultant at the beginning but after realising what gigantic waste of time it was, got rid off that one relatively quick. Unfortunately I had a bit more trust in the so called "professionals", as architects apparently have to study to hold this title. It is an absolute joke. If I am able to do this (after a few months investing time and some effort), how can educated, professionals get it so wrong every F... ING time. There are around 20-30members on here that should seriously consider charging others in order to do the PP and Building Control for them because the work I ve seen from People on this Forum outrun the average Architect by miles. And Architects should maybe consider ditching the Construction Game and become what they really feel they want to do. Painting Flowers/Landscapes with Oil would be a good Idea for example. *rant over. Not intended to attack anyone personally, just have to blow off some steam.