charlieroper

We're meant to be using a diathonite thermactive to insulate the walls of our old stone barn we are rennovating. The architect is dead keen on it and from what I read it is great (if expensive and hard to apply). I can't however find anything that goes into any detail about two points: 1) Can you treat it like a normal plaster wall for hanging pictures/putting up shelves? I'm concerned that it's spongy makeup might make it disintegrate if we did. The builder has suggested pattressing with insulation board where we might want to hang heavy things but we want to have flexibility in the future given we don't really own any art now but might want to in the future 2) Given it is "breathable" it needs to be painted with "breathable" paint however there seems to be no universally accepted view of what that actually means. Clay based natural paints seem to be compatible but cost an absolute fortune and we don't want to spend a load of money on the insulation to then ruin it with the wrong paint. Does anyone have any lived experience of using Diathonite Thermactive and can answer these questions?

Given the minefield that this can be we have actually paid for a VAT advisor who has already paid for himself by claiming back incorrect invoices from demolition work. I realise it's another expense that most want to avoid but the downside of getting it wrong is massive so we figured rather get experts on it (they collate all invoices, speak to suppliers and contractors to provide them with reassurance etc).

Only issue we have is that the planning condition states: The development will only be carried out in accordance with all of the recommendations for mitigation and compensation set out in the report including: - A pre-commencement check for nesting birds will be undertaken by a suitably experienced ornithologist if building works are undertaken between March and August inclusive. So if anyone ever checked I'm not sure I could get away with it. I'm thinking a bit of creative ambiguity should be enough to keep the ecologist onside and offsite! Thanks again for the advice @ToughButterCup

Thanks @ToughButterCup yeah I'm really not willing to pay god knows how much for them to tell me there are birds there and then shut the site down. One option I think we might pursue is not to start any work on nesting areas at all until september, so crack on with the groundworks and some underpinning elsewhere which would negate the need for a bird survey as we wouldn't be working on areas where they are nesting. Then come September start the roof strip off at which point the ecologist will be there but birds will have gone.... all depends on there being enough for the builders to do for 2 months though...

We received planning permission last year and got a grand total of 21 different conditions - really fun stuff. Top of the red tape list are ecological considerations, especially bats which have cost us thousands in endless surveys, but also birds... One of our non-dischargable conditions (i.e. no evidence to LPA required) is that we follow a load of guidelines from the ecologist who is in charge of the bats. He messages us today to say his colleague would be in touch to provide a quote for doing a nesting bird survey (how generous of him) prior to works and that if he finds any they will need to be left alone until they have fledged.... There are at least 2 bird nests in gaps in the masonry that I can see so the likely number is probably many more. Builders want to start in July and worst case these areas (incl a buffer zone) have to be left alone until the birds have fledged (end of August latest) I'm not willing to bump off the little things but want to know what our realistic worst case is so wondered if anyone had had a similar experience? Especially keen to know how large the buffer area is. If its 3m or so then it's probably fine as they can get on with groundworks first away from the barns being converted and do the roof strip off in September (under the watchful eye of the ecologist again - what a gig that is) before the bat season starts in November.

Thanks @garrymartin Perfect timing as the DNO called me half an hour ago and you are bang on! They think the transformer upgrade will be their expense so we just need to pay for the new connection and dig the underground trench from the final pole to the new house which is through a flat field which is a great result. Annoying that I have to pay £800 for them to confirm what I already knew but frankly I'm so relieved I don't have to pay for HV/transformer works that I'll take it!

Firstly I'd like to start by saying I have read a number of the other forums covering this topic which have been very useful but I'm hoping for some specific advice on the particular circumstances we have on site. We are converting some old stone barns into a new home which will have PV panels, MVHR, ASHP and EV charger. Our DNO (Northern Powergrid) have told us we need a new connection and that this will require "work to our high voltage network" so requires an initial £800 design fee. Before they come on site I'm trying to get my head around what is actually required so have drawn a schematic below, which is very basic but hopefully conveys the salient points. Power comes in over the 2 phase high voltage (HV lines, 2 cables, I think that means 11kV) to the transformer about 100m from the house. This is a 15kVA transformer which connects to the low voltage lines (230V) which connect to the cottage up the hill (on our site) and 3 buildings (2x cottages and 1x small pastoral farm) over the road. All of the lines and poles etc are on our land. My understanding of what needs to happen is this: the newly converted farm buildings will need their own LV connection (currently comes off the cottage as shown by the dotted line) and given the increased power demands from the converted barns the existing transformer needs to be upgraded. My questions are as follows: What capacity should the transformer be? Given 15kVA has been fine for the existing setup (total of 3 cottages and a farm), I would assume that upgrading to 50kVA would be more than sufficient however if we want all houses to have their own 80A circuit then at most you would need a 100kVA transformer (5 circuits x 80A x 230V = 92kVA). Given realistic load demands this is very conservative but if I have understood correctly that is a realistic worst case scenario. Does the 2 phase (2 cable) HV line need upgrading? My hope is that it wont but I have no idea here. The closest 3 phase (from which our 2 phase branches off) is probably 400m away. Does the LV cable coming from the transformer need upgrading? Again I have no idea here. Can the connection for the new buildings come from the existing pole? This I imagine also ties into the question above but can we connect from that pole to the house by way of underground cables? Sorry for such a long post but I would be so grateful for the thoughts of those more experienced than me!

Thank you for everyone's thoughts and advice - I thought I would let you know that we have decided to go ahead on the cost+ basis with the builders in question. We know there is an inherent risk with this but as many people have said, given the age of the building invovled, the fixed price alternative was highly likely to have variations added on without the transparency that cost+ enables. Our builders are pretty slick and have a portal for all invoices and time sheets which are updated daily to give a running picture of what has actually been spent and given we are living on site we will have a good idea if these are honest or not. Thanks again for all the advice and I will keep you updated as to how things progress!

Yeah this is key - they have to make money out of it and we want them to to make sure they do a good job!

Given we are living in a cottage on site (which we own) we don't have particularly onerous costs associated with overruns on the fixed price (I can't remember the official term for it but hopefully you get what I mean), it's a couple of hundred pounds a week which in the context of the overall budget is loose change. So I guess in either scenario there isn't a huge disincentive for them. We are really relying on the ongoing architect/builder relationship - they are relatively symbiotic so it would be very damaging to them to mess us about given the architect will be contract administrator. I do concede your point though and I will add it to the list!

This is really one of the appeals as at the moment the fixed price contract is factoring in risk that we can't see so it's difficult to know what elements worry them. We're going to sit down with them next week to get down to brass tacks and figure this all out - will report back!

haha yeah I don't want to think about that one!!

Apologies in advance I think a lot of my terms aren't quite right! The Architect and SE put together a massively detailed pack and we then paid the QS to do a SoW (very detailed) for the tender process so we can see how they have costed everything, the problem is we lack the technical knowledge to properly question lots of parts of it. That being said we have managed to cut 30% off the cost by taking bits out and negotiating the prelims (+ some other small bits) so do feel like they have made an effort on that front. The site manager is part of the quote from the builder. RE Scenario 2 I agree without incentive it wont but surely if they stand to make more money by bringing the cost lower that might make them want to or is it just too much of a pain for them to bother?

This is exactly what we asked for at the start and hoping we will acheive. I pulled those U value numbers from the the schedule of works the QS drew up so that might just be him using the building reg values for England but I will need to ask. I can't tell you how helpful/interesting this is. So much of the process so far has been a mystery to me so it's great to speak with people like yourselves and understand what's actually being proposed!

We have the advantage of living on site (small cottage next door) so have the visibility but will be paying for a site manager. The company have an app for all trades onsite logging hours and a portal for submitting invoices so I think it should be ok on that front. Add to that we are using a builder who has worked closely with our architect (also contract administrator) for many years, and relies on them for future jobs, so there is a big disincentive to funny business I hope...