Patrick

Just had a quote from ccf for 10.59+ vat. Some are really taking the pi**.

Makes sense as even B&q sometimes got some crazy special offers. They had insualtion lift roll at some point for 8-9£/roll. A few years back and very cheap stuff but still less than half price that regular BM sells it for. Just because they where shifting by the ton. Was something like a winter catalogue frontpage special. sometimes these diy stores have surprisingly good offers, just don't EVER pick up anything else "while you're there" as that will eliminate all savings. ??

I had a look over this ones again and just can't find any decent answers on here, maybe just keep missing it. But what is the problem with OSB on the outside. I was originally planning to use standard osb3 for sheeting, as so many other houses are build with it. Plywood on the outside even better as more vapour permeabel but also much more expensive. It s disputed how vapour open or vapour closed OSB is, at least I couldn't find a clear guidance on it. Common rule seems to be that OSB3 is too vapour permeabel to use as a vapour control layer on the inside on its own (even though that's still being done) and at the same time, it has been mentioned that OSB is too vapour tight to use as outside sheeting - not letting enough vapour out (still a lot of houses, even passivhouses, are build with osb3 sheeting on the outside). Also been looking for any fact sheet of the phenolic resin plywood but can't find any tests or details about its vapour permeability. (tried to read and understand the metsawood sheet you posted @Simplysimon But it doesn't make much sense - had to use this :http://builddesk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/vapourResistances.pdf To calculate what the µ in the metsawood paper actually mean). still not sure if it now is a good air barrier or not. Got in touch with some producers of these boards and waiting for a reply.

You always can use your VAT return to buy him a Passivhaus Catflap. Won't be much left of your VAT return after that but you sure got the poshest catflap up and down the country.

As it was just mentioned by @Simplysimon These plywood sheets are probably not really vapour open. As I'm building timber frame with cellulose insulation and wanted to use smartply sheets as vapour barrier on the inside - would these be able to replace them as a vapour control layer on the inside (taped joints and so on) and if they are (are they?) vapour impermeable, are they then useless for the outside sheeting or can this be overcome by the gaps inbetween the sheets (at the end, there will be a gap every 600mm. If that's not taped towards outside, is that enough for any vapour to escape if needed?)

Didn't expect some of you to be such old school bboys. Was more expecting some country music before I clicked on that video, so once again a pleasant surprise on this forum that not every one here is a mid 70ies Dolly Parton fan ?? The second take away from the answers is that it s kind of a good idea to sheet the house with those boards. Thanks for both ?

I just recently picked up a supply of plywood offcuts for my ringbeam shuttering. It s coated 12mm ply, offcuts with 500mm x 1200mm. Now as I can get them for next to free, I was thinking to do the sheeting of the house, possibly the first floor subfloor, with them. Should be better quality replacing osb with ply. More work involved as basically 4.5 sheets to fix instead of 1 full one. I m currently mainly interested if anybody knows what kind of ply this is. Couldn't really get any details out of the supplier of the offcuts. It s like a slippery plastic coating with 1 side being smooth, the other being kind of mesh. Any downsides of using this instead of OSB.

@DC5 Not frustrated at all. I m just afraid that I come across like a broken record saying that you can do a lot of things online nowadays that go beyond shopping on amazon. You have a valid point in that looking at the project/plot gives a different perspective and that might be a good idea if an architect gets a blank canvas to come up with a design. But in order to finish off a design or, what a few people trying to achieve - tranlsating ones own design into Cad drawings, there is no need for local knowledge, only need for the technical knowledge.

Mystery solved. That's why in your case this might be a good idea. Transport is a massive issue nowadays. Stuff gets shipped across the world. That all costs. If the company is local, this might as well be your cheapest option. Used to be like this for all houses, people just used what s locally available. It just got a bit out of control over the last 50years (guilty as charged, I'm shipping all my material across Europe, but what can you do). Only issue you might have is as @@PeterW Mentioned:non standard construction.

Sorry to constantly repeat myself, but it has to be said : Go online. Go with freelancers not companies. (e. G. Upwork is a platform that does freelance work auctioning). The days where work has to be done locally is over. And the days of the office jobs is soon to be.

@Tom's Barn Great pics. The more the better. Keep them coming.

@joe90 No. Not the billionaires end. We re the ruff part your lot was looking down on from the top of the hill. Ldub =Lawrence weston. ?

I'm in Ldub. Next to Blaise. So quite the other side. But I'm building a house in Wiltshire next to Frome and Trowbridge.

@sjb1288 Any progress with this?

@SamP20 Hello and welcome. I'm in Bristol as well. Which end you are buying? Or you only looking atm?

Wouldn't do it if not necessary. I'm all pro passive slab. A lot can be done yourself as well. Mine is block and beam but only out of rules from authorities, not out of choice. Wouldn't really recommend it that much and can't see it being cheaper then insulated slab if done with same u value

Again. Research research research. There is really no easy way around this. Getting the title register is a starting point. Finding out as much as possible about the owner of the land is the next step. If they run their farm as a business, chances are they might be registered as a Ltd = more info available.

@Lottie65 It s called an uplift clause. Standard on most land sales nowadays. So even if you get it at agricultural value, they still will take a cut (most likely 50% of the uplift) should you get PP on the land within a specific period (e. G. 15years) If they selling it s most likely a mix between agriculture land prices and an uplift clause, meaning they will sell it to you on much more than agricultural average prices but a lot less than building land (e. G. The land would be worth 10k as agricultural and 100k as a building plot, they might want an offer over 60k plus an uplift clause should there be planning permission granted) If you want to make sure that you get planning and buy the land subject to gaining PP, expect to pay full, or even more than average building land prices. At the end, it is all negotiable. But it looks like they don't desperate need to sell and you really want that piece of land. This is hardly ever a good situation to get a bargain. at the end it's all down to your negotiation skills. and for that, you need to find out A LOT MORE about the current owner. Who are they, what are they doing (for living). Type of characters. Rich/poor. Any debts? You can find loads in public records, a lot else through chat in the pub. this all helps building your negotiation strategy ( you can approach different people from a different angle)

We have a Granite sink. More luck then choice as it came with the second hand kitchen I bought on ebay. It s brilliant and by far the best I ever had. Black/dark looks good, stays nice, easy to clean. Mine was approx. 10-15years old when I got it and looked like brandnew and after 5 years still not much signs of wear and tear. Would do it again for the new build but misses insists on Belfast sink.

I only ever seen the theory of it. Never any reports about it actually being enforced. It probably like so many things really depends on the council, but in my area (Bristol city,) the council doesn't even enforce against people parking on green spaces illegally after complaints. Whole neighbourhood here tries to stop this practise, council doesnt act. Too busy, no times,... I doubt that actually anything would happen if you use the drive without a dropped kerb, but obviously it s the risk of the person doing it.

@MikeSharp01 Yes please, if you could find this. I do understand that there are a few issues that may arise with it. Specially commercialising this forum and promoting 1-2 suppliers over others because they giving discounts. But even though I believe the admin group does a great job in keeping this forum non-commercial and banning any advertising, there is a massive tendency towards praising a few large suppliers on here. I don't think giving the option for a discount in one forum section (without promoting it on the site prominently) is too much of a problem. It s already done in the discount thread, just bit less organised.

Picking up on @SteamyTea s idea in another topic: How about getting trade accounts for Buildhub members. Just a simple cash account in order to take advantage of discounts at various BMs, nothing to do with a credit line or direct debits. Account details can be posted on here or cards can be ordered for members that are interested. Don't know how practical that would be as e.g. B&q operates a min. Credit line of 500£for their accounts as far as I can see . Which would obviously not be possible with a joint Buildhub account. Is there any (online) BMs that do a discount card for trades according to turnover made with the account in question? Delivery to various addresses shouldn't be an issue as companies ordering through trade accounts also not necessarily order to company address but directly to site. Difficulty would be claiming VAT as the receipt would maybe say "Buildhub" instead of the individual Members name. But maybe still worth it specially for non zero vat projects.

I tried opening a topic collecting orders for items to do bulk orders for BH members ones. But wasn't very successful. I think it s too difficult, too much work involved to organise it. But signing up for a trade account and giving BH members the credentials (as long as its not a credit account) to get discounts - I think this might work. Let s see - trying a new topic for this.

@SteamyTea That's actually a pretty amazing idea and could lead to a decent discount subject to turnover generated. Needs to be cash only but apart from that, any issues? Larger companies also have an account with the likes of B&q and have all employees shopping through that account.

I am building a dormer bungalow a.k.a. 1.5storey detached, still can't work out the difference. I would probably agree to @PeterW definition. I had to do it due to conservation area restrictions and a fear of not getting planning with a "too extreme" design/height. Retrospectively I would try much harder to get rid of the dormers. They are a pain in the ass to construct and never look quite 100%right imho. Roof is much cheaper/straight forward to get watertight with straight lines/minimum openings. I'm just fed up going through planning and changing plans so I'm sticking to my design that is approved.