BotusBuild

I have a long (50m) extension reel with 4 sockets which I have used for the last 4 years while building. It's not let me down yet

Sounds like a need for Web- or I-joists. As a guide only (!) We have some 5.4m spans and had web joists at 400 c/c. Each joist was 300mm deep and 100mm wide. This is for a warm roof with green roof on top. If you can afford it get a structural engineer to do the calculations for you, with the caveat they will likely overspec for insurance purposes

Getting confused about which PIR (kingspan,celotex,recticel etc.) To buy. Need some 100mm to "thicken" a few walls.

Q2 first as that's easiest 🙂 Fit more PIR. Always fit more insulation if you can 🙂 Q1. My approach would be as follows: Membrane bringing it up the walls by 250mm 100mm PIR Around the edges fit an extra 50mm of PIR the width of the studs you propose to fit. (for belt and braces approach, seal the joints between the PIR) Lay pipe and screed in the resulting "paddling pool" You should now have a screeded floor with an edge of PIR showing, the width of your proposed studs Now fit your stud work atop the PIR edge, fit the PIR between and plasterboard the walls.

I'm glad I was not the only one wondering whether 114 panels was a typo 🙂

Glad to have provided some amusement on a cool Sunday. Jigsaw? Not new but doing a grand job. Which way is up? Mickey's on top Nuts dropped? A few expletives along the way today, but nuts were not in use today. Glory hole? I seem to putting holes in floor and walls for this ventilation system, right now not thinking any of them are glorious. And as for Minnie's nuts ... sorry to break the news about the transition

You can go down the LA BC route (Local Authority Building Control), in which case I recommend going and having a chat if you can to get their guidance. Alternatively you can choose a private BC company. Again, talk to them to find out how they operate. Whichever way you go, it may influence how you proceed.

The trifecta - I chose quality and cost. I have a confirmed level of OCD but we also like to get good value for money. We are doing a lot of the build work ourselves, and that brings me onto the ICF topic ... We chose Nudura for one of the reasons @saveasteading points out The guys from Fell Partnership helped us get the first couple of rows in place for the ground floor. We did the rest and it took the two of us a week, followed by the concrete pour a few weeks later (piss poor planning on my part). For the more complex second floor, it took us about 3 weeks (more openings, slopes etc.) We, and the Fell Partnership guys were very impressed seeing as we had never handled the stuff before day 1 of the ground floor build. BENEFITS: Simple to work with. Quick. A lot of air tightness issues dealt with from the outset. Insulated (it's in the name). Once your foundations are in, you could have your 3 storeys built in under 2 months with good planning and weather.

Erm, the obvious thing for me is how you will get 5 loops of 60m each WITHOUT having joints in your UFH loops. Very recommended to have each loop as one continuous piece of pipe

Nailbiter, we also have a sloping site and lower floor is partially basemented. Will look forward to hearing more

Inherit 🙂 Steal 🙂 Squat 🙂

Wykamol Sureproof waterproofing membrane, followed by Wykamol CM20 geotextile membrane for us

Got the Reliance valves yesterday, and found something not in the description - the indicator can be flipped over for hot outlets 😀. Obviously not on the same manifold. Picture for reference only 😉

The build up before backfilling is Nudura, sticky bitumous layer, what I refer to as an egg tray with geotextile layer, then the pre-used shuttering to protect the geotextile as we backfill. That last bit will no doubt rot away eventually 😉

FYI - a surveyor inspected our 1980's built house cavity and told us we couldn't have the glue/bead solution as it would react badly with the waterproof layer on the internal timber frame. Just another reason to build the new house 😀

You should be able to see there is some old shuttering board between the waterproofing and the Nudura. In that picture the wall closest to you (where the compactor is buried in the mud 🙂) is purely supporting the roof above it and so has no extra waterproofing.

Has the new gas main been laid? What size of pipe has been left to connect to? The pipe that comes to the meter is generally no more than 1" in diameter. Provide a 1.5 - 2" hole. Caveat: I am not GasSafe registered.

Apart from the “picture from the mound” timelapse blog entry, there’s not been much of an update since mid September 2022. So, get your preferred hot drink (maybe a SteamyTea), and settle back for the next instalment. Where were we? SWMBO was still in recovery from her foot infection - you remember? The one that might have killed her? The second floor ICF had been installed, and the concrete poured. I’m still going to spare you any pictures of the foot, but here is a concrete pump truck instead. So, next on the list - a roof please. But before that, the final steel beams had to be installed [FX - thumbs twiddling in the foreground and whistling can be heard as we wait for the steelworker once again], but it wasn’t too long a wait, and by mid October 2022 we had the beams installed. In late October and early November I set to work with the ground worker to do some backfilling, and of course on the days I chose to have the digger onsite, Cornwall delivered some of its traditional autumnal weather so any attempt to properly compact anything was nigh on futile. In the meantime, more joists, endless sheets of T&G OSB, vapour barrier, 160mm deep sheets of PIR insulation, and some of the biggest screws are readied for ordering. The joists arrived in and in early December I had my supervisor and client (SWMBO) back on site 🙂, and she has graduated to being a mountain goat. She now refers to the site as her "happy place", even though we have a strong suspicion that the infection was started by a visit to a local beach. By mid April, with help from some now local family members, we’d installed the roof joists, and in mid May we were ready to start boardin’, vapour barrierin’, and insulatin’. The GRP was installed in mid July 2022 (by others). I’d also been readying the Great West Wall (GWW) to have the triple glazed sliding doors and windows installed (by others), and this took place in mid August, just in time for my significant birthday. There were some fitting errors, but I have to take my hat off to the installation company, they have been back to rectify their work, and have supported me with making the suppliers change some of the sliding door fittings as they were just not correct despite their protestations. In October, we had the mains electric and meter moved from their temporary location to inside the house. Over the ensuing autumn and winter months, we’ve been installing some of the final internal partition walls, running water pipes, installing more insulation around the GWW windows, and recently started on the ventilation ducting following some core drilling being undertaken (Tip: always ask for a hole to be drilled that is about 10mm bigger than you need - expanding foam is your friend. I donate my scar tissue to you all 😂) In December, I got made redundant. No worries, this may actually be a blessing in disguise. Next up on the list: Finish ventilation system Finish insulating the GWW Finish backfilling Electrics Floors Walls ASHP and HWC Kitchen Bathrooms The remaining plumbing Outer wall coverings But, in the meantime, we have the small matter of our daughter’s wedding. DOES SHE NOT KNOW WE’RE TRYING TO BUILD A HOUSE!? (Time to end: 2 years 🙂 )

We do all of course want a picture of the fitted skylight 🙂

Following on from the HEP20 manifold thread I was wondering whether this is allowed. As my planned location of the cold and hot manifolds lies between where the mains feed into the house is, and where the HWC will be, I was wondering whether the cold taps manifold could just be a loop as shown in the diagram?

Hi Angus, Like Joe90 said, Some, like me, have/had a week time job, and we have built/retrofitted in our non-work time. Personally, my self build has taken 3.5 years (and counting). Like Mike, some jobs I have paid others to do (Windows, Steel framing, fiberglass on roof, pouring concrete). However, I've always wanted to build my own house, am good at DIY, and have a level of OCD that can annoy some people (just ask the contractors that have come onsite), but I think that is another reason some of us do stuff ourselves - the inherent need to have something done right. HTH

Welcome - do let us know if you learn anything, or just remain confused 🙂

If you've got any bits of PIR and some thin bits of cushion type foam lying around: - two pieces PIR either side of the fitting - carve/gouge/fettle out some of the PIR to get each piece to fit snug as possible - a thin layer of cushion foam around the fitting, then tie-wrap the two pieces of PIR around that. Think of the PIR as two pieces of bread, the cushion foam as the butter, and the fitting as the cheese in between

Just an FYI - took this screenshot from the Reliance Valves website: So it seems like they are compatible as per @Jenki's pictures