BotusBuild

Looks like the water meter bills will be lower as well after they impose hosepipe bans 🙂

Here is a blog entry about the ICF install

Stone, but it's the same basis as the brick slips. You can tile, so you can do this. Saved me over £8k doing it myself (not just what you see here)

Nope 🙂 After I wrote the above, I remembered your comments about internal stuff, and thought "he'll do a grand job". I think you'll be surprised about how much you can do depending on what build method you use. We did ICF so only needed someone to pour a lot of concrete 🙂 In addition we had a steelworker, window fitters, plasterers and ASHP installers. You'll be fine

To back up what Mike said above, we are 270m2, and doing as much of the build ourselves as possible (so far subbed out about £20K in labour costs, excluding professional fees). We are currently projected to build at a cost of £1300-£1400 per sq m. We are not using costly internal fittings, although once we have sold our current house, we may replace a few things later on. The more you sub out, the higher that figure goes, and the more high-end (Costly) materials you use, the same - we could easily have been above £2,000 per sq m. Don't be put off by this, just make sure you cut your cloth according to what you can afford.

The end of our last blog entry ended thus: Dare I add a what's next list 🙂 ? Well, here goes .... Plastering finished in the open plan area this coming week (by others) Remainder of stone cladding arrives and work begins to get the most inaccessible (high) parts put up before the scaffold gets taken away - this means cladding two 7m x 2m wide walls Plumbing pipework ready for ASHP installation Gabion basket and pad for ASHP to be installed on Mist coat and first coat on plaster (SWMBO is at the ready) Begin fitting upstairs UFH Front door being fitted (January) by others Take 3-4 days off for Xmas ASHP installation (January) by others, that will allow for hot water and the downstairs UFH to be available ... Fit a temporary bathroom ... Fit out utility room as temp kitchen ... ... and this is why - Move out of static van for the month of February (rules is rules!) and decamp to the house The title of the blog may be a little misleading - let me assure you that living in the house for a short while was great. We liked it so much we stayed for 5 weeks instead of the 4 that we had to, as it was warmer than the static van we would be going back to. If you recall the beginning of March was a little frigid, even down here in the South West (the van sits in a valley that collects the cool air very well and so is often 3 to 4 degrees (K and C) cooler than the surrounding area. We can recommend such a short stay in the house before getting stuck into the final push on the interior. It has definitely helped in providing an order of works for us in the coming months before we finally move in properly by highlighting things that may have been overlooked or forgotten in the general melee of all the other things that have been taking place over the previous 6 months. So, back to that list: I've commented on this in a post somewhere else, but in coloured text this is what happened Plastering finished in the open plan area this coming week (by others) This did happen in October Remainder of stone cladding arrives and work begins to get the most inaccessible (high) parts put up before the scaffold gets taken away - this means cladding two 7m x 2m wide walls This also got done before the scaffold was removed in early January - thankfully the temperatures and the rain played ball Plumbing pipework ready for ASHP installation Sorted Gabion basket and pad for ASHP to be installed on Filled and Pad poured Mist coat and first coat on plaster (SWMBO is at the ready) What a job - so much brighter Begin fitting upstairs UFH No, no, no, what were you thinking (but more to come on this below) Front door being fitted (January) by others All done and glad I did not have to lift it up the stairs Take 3-4 days off for Xmas OH, YES and very much enjoyed ASHP installation (January) by others, that will allow for hot water and the downstairs UFH to be available ... All done and worked very well, hence the extra weeks stay Fit a temporary bathroom ... The temporary shower was so good we were going to keep it but then changed design of the bathroom - one of the things from living in the house Fit out utility room as temp kitchen ... This is still in place and being used as part of our welfare unit on site Here are some pictures of the above work And so, we moved in just at the end of January and lived in the house for 5 weeks. During this time we experienced what the house was going to offer us, and, apart from the dust, we were only too happy to be able to stay an extra week when the cold snap came along at the beginning of March and we could delay our return to the static van (AKA tin box). This in spite of a temporary bathroom, kitchen and bedroom facilities. The cat, however, thought differently about the dust, but seemed generally happy with the quality of work While we were in the house during March work carried on with fitting the remaining plasterboard ready for the plasterers to come along in March. This was pretty much all we did - and we're very glad to only have a few more sheets plus some waterproof backerboard to fit. No pictures of this as it is really not that inspiring 🙂 Going into March we created YAL (Yet Another List) 🙂 We've all been there - the ever changing & expanding, rarely static or reducing list. Anyone got onto the LOL yet (the List Of Lists)? This included, in no particular order (that came later), Hassle the SH1T out of the window installation company to investigate and fix the leaks (three fixed windows and a sliding door) that came to light after we did the first lot of plastering the rest of the plastering, the rest of the mist coating and painting, more stone work, moving as much stuff into what we now call the attic (a very large room downstairs as we don't have a real attic) in order to clear all the other rooms, Install the UFH upstairs with plywood cover fit the bathroom, fit the kitchen, fit the utility and cloakroom, electric 2nd fix rainwater soakaways rainwater collection system backfilling concrete lego brick retaining wall Flooring Wood cladding Air tightness test (as I write this, I think "oh, sh1t, I must get that booked in") Fit internal doors Fit en suite Build MY garage A green roof system, because its on the planning application, and may be required for certificate of completion (unless someone can enlighten me as to how to avoid this, and be able to delay the installation) We are focusing on the internal works in order that we can move in, although not necessarily completed on the outside, sometime in the summer months. The first 3 or 4 items have progressed well: <----- This is the "attic" with a garage floor paint that remains a little tacky even 3 weeks later, but it'll eventually get covered with a "proper" floor at some point in the future Despite the window leaks not being fixed yet, we have ploughed on and had all the other plastering done. The window installation company knows the situation and is fully aware that we expect them to repair any further damage caused by the water ingress. (I'll not respond to any comments on this point for my own sanity 🙂 ) Flooring has been ordered, and 2nd fix electrics loosely scheduled in, as well as some of the backfilling, and prepping for the garage foundation. The UFH has started where the floor is available, and in order to be able to install the kitchen (the picture below is not where the kitchen will be - I don't appear to have photoed that - strange. Those who have been reading my blogs will recall from an earlier entry the terrible story of SWMBO's foot. Well today (Apr29) as I write this on a hotel terrace in Oxford she is recovering from her sixth operation, this time a toe fusion, that will take her out of the game for at least 6 weeks, 2 of which she has to spend with the offending appendage raised above her heart for 23 out of 24 hours every day. She won't even be able to climb the walls with frustration. So yours truly will likely be happy to be dispatched to the house each day to GO AND DO SOME WORK!! 🤣 Until next time, which I hope will be the "We've moved in" entry.

I see them all sat in front of pianos now

The one bit of wall we had built "by others" was inspected afterwards for cleanliness of the cavity and I spied a saw lying at the bottom. It's still there as I couldn't be arsed to retrieve someone else's tool (oo err missus).

That looks very interesting option. I will have to show the boss 🙂 I met a couple of other hubbers at my place in Cornwall on Saturday and afterwards thought about a local meet up like the Suffolk one as well so would be interested in your offer, I'll DM you

Probably something like Terram. Used to separate soil from stone surrounding the pipe

We have just ordered 6mm thick click fit LVT with integrated underlay. We are going to put this directly on a Cemfloor screed on one floor and on top of 6mm plywood on the other floor. Comes from a company called Invictus. This is one of the chosen "patterns" - https://invictus.co.uk/lvt-maximusclick-newenglandoak-sand?sc_trk={254AF85D-8A2B-4925-8DD4-DCC0EB1A71FC}

Yup

Apparently 🤣

My fingers crossed attitude to the UFH pipes in the slab foundation without pressure testing seemed to work. They were all still under factory air pressure when I finally cut them back to fit to the manifold 3.5 years later. Didn't half give me a shock when I cut the first one!!

Nice last touch.

I got mine from the insulation seconds place in south wales. Alternatively, 100mm and 60mm in two layers, or whatever you can buy

🙂 Not what I had in mind, and not the price I had in mind either 🙂

I know there's been a number of threads on this. I'm in need of something that will detect the plastic webs inside a Nudura wall now that they are plastered. I have been recommended to get a density based finder, but without a particular model being stated. I have used a magnet held loosely in my hand to detect the plasterboard screws but this is a time thief method, and demands you need to have a reasonable idea where to start. Thanks team

Water round the gate post to start with. We await with baited breath

The only way to go. I isolated a leaking window problem to the water getting in through one of those confounded brush seals into the frame. Now waiting for the fitters/manufacturers to cure their error. How is the window upstand waterproofed on the outside? I presume there is some flashing. Is that cracked? Does it need replacing/repairing?

That pot belly will reduce as the excess weight is used to power you onwards and as the muscles tighten up. Now I wonder why I know that?

Can I ask what screed did you use? And what glue? And those screws look special?

Floor makeup is web joists with 18mm T&G plywood so far. On top of this will be grooved UFH insulation and pipes. I plan to put some hard cover over this before the final flooring (LVT glued or click). Logic and common sense tell me a stiffer board e.g. 9mm plywood screwed down through to the 18mm plywood makes the most sense. Is it sensible? Have I overthought/over engineered? What would be an alternative I might want to consider. FYI-the grooved insulation and UFH is not up for negotiation so lay off that part 🙂

I mentioned the walls once, but I think I got away with it

That as well 😁