Patrick

Thanks for the suggestions.I did consider this and it might be the right way to go . I am also considering just putting a small brick reatining wall where the watercourse is .

So after being more active on site in recent weeks again, happen to come across the local rat population living in the stream/culvert next to the house , daily . They have no worries and tend to wonder around quite bravely. Now I know that there is pretty much nothing I can do to eliminate rats ,specially in my location , apart from a basic best practice of no food sources . .. . But really would like to discourage them from turning up around my yard and specially , don't want them in the house (cavity???) Later on . I read a little on the forum about what people did to get rid of a rodent problem , but just wanting to double check what is meant by "rodent barrier " for example . Is there something I need to plan now for the building to be fairly rat-proof and is there any steps to drive them from a certain area ( I guess a cat might help ).

Just doing the shuttering for our ring beam and realized,after reading through the forum , that I probably forgot to run some kind of ducting for a ashp . But since I neither have the pump nor know what pipes are going in , how would that be solved? And what other pipes/ductwork would be good to not forget now . I ran fresh water and drainage under the ringbeam , so this is sorted . Electricity is coming into the house later from a pole so no need to do this now and we don't have gas . Using ASHP for heating and MVHR . The mvhr ducting will be installed later I guess. No need to run this under the foundations. Did I forget anything.

I have looked through the topics but not found anybody doing this. I have a ringbeam that sits above ground level in large parts of the site so the plinths wall for the block and beam floor sits on top of the exposed ground beam , which gives a sort of plinths at the end. I am unsure how to go about with covering this exposed ring beam . Normally would be covered by soil/backfill obviously and just the walls coming out above visible. Anybody done this or came across a project like this?

Yep. Good old times ? @AnonymousBosch Overthinking was just one of the problems ?

The news are currently spreading across Germany, seems like a big thing, but nothing on any UK forums or advice/law websites. Not to a large surprise, as pretty much everything is corona now. Or maybe Uk has different clauses/agreements and therefor is and will be unaffected by this ruling. There just has been a preliminary ruling regards consumers credit agreements by the European Court of Justice. http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=224723&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1198624 This ruling affecting consumer credit agreements across Europe and therefore should apply to UK consumer credit agreements (incl. mortgages) as well.-in theroy. A Quick translation of a lawfirm going into a few details: After yesterday's ECJ ruling on loan contracts: the Federal Court of Justice now has to overturn the legal fiction - millions of loan contracts can be canceled. While the revocation of credit contracts can be profitable for consumers, entrepreneurs, especially credit institutions, must now fear that customers will detach themselves from unpleasant contracts on the basis of the ECJ judgment. Millions of credit contracts are affected by the decision of the CJEU and the end of the legal fiction, for example all real estate consumer loan contracts that were concluded between June 10, 2010 and March 20, 2016. In the case of car loans and other general consumer loan contracts, the period from June 10, 2010 until today is affected. With the revocation, for example, consumers could free themselves from high-interest real estate loans and reschedule debt cheaply. You will get back the interest already paid. If the revocation is effective, banks must not demand prepayment penalty and must release consumers from the loan. In the case of general consumer loans, such as a car loan, it also follows from the revocation that the credit agreement has ended, the consumer has received his previous payments back and the bank may not demand any prepayment penalty. The car must also be handed over to the bank. In view of the unforeseeable effects of the Corona crisis, the CJEU judgment could help millions of consumers. I am no expert and basically haven t got a clue at all if this would be something to affect the UK as well , or if credit agreements are designed differently within the UK than in this example -in Germany. But possibly worth looking into for anybody having unfavourable credit terms.

So my vote is +1 for the shotgun. you got dogs already so no need for an alarm.

Just out of curiosity, where is you lot all getting your shotguns from? Asking for a friend, and just in theory. There wouldn't be any hunters around "loosing" theirs, would there? ?

@Delicatedave Pm me and I send you the guys number. It s in North Somerset.

The title gives it Away: "developers claim..." They will also claim that extra insualtion will damage the nearby living bat population and that 450.000£ for a 65sqm 2bed counts as affordable housing if needed.

Ours was around 15cm from walls at some point and we build over sewer, so not creating to much vibration was vital. What our guy done, he predrilled the first 2-3m and driven the rest. At that depths, with careful "soft" blows, the vibration should be minimal. What I still don't fully understand is, why you go through all the trouble removing the spoil. Why not build a house that sits above it all. Suspended floor. Either timber or Concrete.

I have used SE to design whole house structure from house plans. They didn't have a problem designing and calculating the entire timber frame and I followed @PeterStarck Example of a Portal frame, which is a bit more challenging for the SE and was in our case difficult for Architects and Building Control involved as its an unusual one. Some timber frame companies use that method and sell you the ready packed house with all calculations and plans included - but this was too expensive for me. Same then MBC, what @Jeremy Harris Suggested. Good one to get weather tight quick and all plans and SE calcs included in the package, but obviously to a price. What @Russell griffiths Said about the I beam manufacturer designing his roof is true for most of the producers. I work with a ibeam manufacturer and they do the entire building design and specification and prefab the walls/floors/roofs they produce. So you could try any I beam manufacturer to do that for you, have that stuff send to your chosen SE and put together into his/her full structural calcs. If it was me, and I had decent road access (which I don't), I would mix between stick build and prefab. I would let ibeam manufacturer design all building and produce pre fab segments, then transport it to site and slot it together with carpenters. Board it and insulate it myself (or company) and then go ahead with the rest of it. Obviously only possible if you're comfortable taking on main contractor role / project manage. But that's than down to how much risk you're willing to take. Been discussed elsewhere plenty of times : generally the cheaper you build, the more you have to do yourself and the less insurances are in place should stuff go south. The more you have everything covered by insurances/companies, the more the project will cost you.

@Weebles What a massive relief to find the source of the problem

@MMeNDtal Welcome. That looks great. Nice project.

@Scuba Welcome. We are stick building with ibeam. Like simply Simon said, architect plus SE is sufficient. We re not too far away so if you need any bad advise, get in touch ?

@Tony K Currently doing very similar thing on my site. No road access. Footpath to site with 100m to next road (approx). I did break it down into several jobs. I am avoiding a slab for the muckaway trouble it creates. You could think about a block and beam, saves a bit of dirt shifting. Get in touch if you need a good piling contractor that works out solutions rather then come up with requests what you have to provide to them (had a fair few discussions with piling guys that requested a unseen list of specifics before starting the job.)

+1. If roof leaks, its the junctions. 99% of the times. Fixing it can be difficult once everything is installed (like in your case) and bodging around with it most likely will create a problem later, so finding the source is really important, but difficult. If it's been installed by a competent company, they should come back to inspect it, but always tricky if several are involved (window installer will point the finger on the roofer, roofer on the window installer). To narrow it down, you could cover certain areas with tarpaulin/foil and then put water on the roof around the area, keep moving your "dry spot" and have someone check inside wether water drip/flow increases.

Yes, had the same experience with that. Really annoying. Only option in UK is to buy the machine, but thats not really worth it.

This is amazing @SteamyTea Thanks for digging this out. Very good channel. Another one on my list of "it can't be done? Why?"

@SteveM1971 Really depends where about you are in the country.

You flatten it.make it come up in a wave form.

On the bottom, the sheets are tucked under the window flashing kit in this case. This can be easy or difficult (depending on the manufacturer) The top piece above the window is(should be) a made up flashing to fit the specific window. Same can be done on the bottom.

I wish they would. They are still expensive. So creating access will most likely be cheaper unless its impossible. (my access is a footpath through a graveyard - it's gonna cost approx 500.000 to widen so sprinklers it is)

No, the pv panel clamps are not the reason this might (or might not) happen. Installation best practise and buying the right materials is key to this.

Interesting topic. So @ProDave What did the fitting out to move in stage cost you, you would say? I mean the first fix electric and plumbing would need to be done, I guess, but then? All other bits are bodgeable (temporary solutions--my favourite solutions)