Jilly

Welcome, yo have a head start on many of us! Re the decision making for yourself: be prepared that self building sometimes makes for a lot of sleepless night. Because it's your baby and you want it to be perfect...

I think you can get special jumper nets to let things ventilate. Also freezing clothes regularly kills the eggs but needs to be for 2 weeks at a time (not 2 days as some sites say). Kirsty Allsop has a dedicated freezer space to rotate her woolies.

Oooh fab, I’m keen to see how you get on with these.

Planning can be unbelievably slow and tortuous. Just accept nothing can be rushed and keep going.

You can go into the world of SUDs and design some water holding solutions, such as a (possibly seasonal) pond or a swale, rain gardens etc, especially if you have land.

You could just pretend with some fake grass…

Can your architect help?

Gulp, I’m guessing you need help on how to handle this? Is the rest of his work good? Has something happened? His usual roofer not available? You’ll need to handle it sensitively or he might stomp off and leave you with a leaking roof and a half finished extension. That might be a good thing if he’s not very good elsewhere. If it looks like you will suddenly need a new builder/ roofer, get speaking to friends for recommendations asap. If the rest of the job is ok, then this can be sorted out by a roofer quite easily, but you might need back up when you speak to him (sorry, am assuming it’s a bloke, lady builders are out there!). Depends how he reacts. If he walks, you might need to project manage the rest, which is doable, provided you are watertight. Another way round it might be to call Building Control and ask for an inspection.

The trickle vent in these triple glazed aluminium French doors are fitted so close to the window reveal there’s no room for air flow (it gets condensation too). Is it possible/easy to turn it upside down? Or any other suggestions please, folks? 😊

Well done, it looks lovely

Wait til @nod replies as he’s the expert. We didn’t use a decoupling mat as it reduces the efficiency of the floor potentially. Ours is a smaller area and no screed cracks but used expansion gaps in the doorways and you don’t notice them if you use good ones (cheap ones looked crappy)

I ditched my design architect who would have PM’d at the beginning because she was expensive but it was a mistake. No one was ever as fully invested in the project and it was a huge learning curve and caused loads of frustrating delays. It would be unusual for an architect to only give you one builder option so so maybe they used to work well together and without this person he is floundering. Whatever you do, make sure you fully understand your plans and watch out all the time for errors.

Maybe post the whole story, as there might be another way to solve the issue? There are lots of people on here with differing experiences and views who might be able to help as I’m guessing you are in a stressful situation.

Dog training with other people’s not-so-well-trained-dogs on your land, plus sheep might be tricky…

Well done, at least you are moving forward!

Lots of quirky houses like this leave the old windows in. It will give a bit of light back into the house.

Does it look nice as it is? It sounds like the builder intentionally or accidentally breached a planning condition and used tarmac and is now trying to regularise it with a retrospective application. If he gets it through, then he’s done the right thing by the planning permission. If not, he could appeal. if he’s not taken care of the SuDS there might be a kerfuffle. if you want the block paving you were promised/paid for, you could object to the application on the grounds of planning matters, not ‘because it’s not what we were promised’ as that wouldn’t be a valid planning reason. Have you completed/moved in? Exchanged? If you’ve moved in already it could be messy literally and legally.

Can you borrow a generator until you get connected, in case it’s not quick? At least it’s the summer. Will do you have a kiosk? Are you close to neighbours? Might they let you borrow some electric with an extension lead? Some little portable solar panels can do the bare minimum. Gym membership for a shower? Sounds like you are going to have to tough it out for a bit. All the best. Keep asking

Sounds great!

I was going to say I think it’s horsetail too

Is it not worth asking his opinion/advice/appealing to his better nature, then? 😊

Another thing to bear in mind in building is that there are several ways round problems, which need you to think creatively. The more positive and relaxed you are, the more the options present themselves. Ie when we feel negative we can’t see possibilities. It’s quite a good metaphor for life.

Doesn’t clay absorb and release water, so it might be possible to smooth it out quite easily?

Hey, go easy on yourself. S**t happens. Nothing and no one in life is perfect. Ever. You can only do your best. Try to shrink things down in your mind and imagine you are advising a friend. Sure it's annoying and very unlucky, but it will get sorted out and repaired. And it will look absolutely fine. I bought a little endoscope in anticipation of problems like this, to help diagnose things, but have only had to use it to look at spiders so far. I think self building does your head in a bit. 3am is a bad time.

https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2002/mad-bad-and-dangerous-the-cult-of-lord-byron @Ferdinand@joe90sorry to hear about your illnesses, glad you’ve had good treatment experiences