Bozza

Ok so would echo other comments. Drive around Scotland. Go for a plot with PP. look at the regional property websites. Being very isolated and remote has challenges though. Don’t expects high speed broadband if you’re WFH. also services connections can make a cheap plot very expensive very quickly. You’ll need to drive everywhere for most things. in my area, Grampian, you can get remote plots for as little as £50-60k.

Surface boxes definitely. Just bear in mind depth if you are having pull out wire baskets etc. Try to avoid in sink units if possible put into adjacent cupboards. If in sink units try to keep high up away from potential water leaks. If putting isolator switches in like we did in they have to be easily accessible per regs.

So you’re looking at a rural holiday home but with a lot of land. As you’ll have seen most plots are maybes no more than an acre. One option may be a standard plot for a house and then buy some separate land purely for tree planting? Would that be an option? What sort of budget are you looking at? so obviously 3-4 hours from Lothian you are probably talking about south of Inverness. Makes sense to be near the main arteries A9 & A90. West Coast as you know is amazing but drive times increase. Have you looked at Fort William/West Grampian/Cairngorms etc. Is your access to Lothian for professional purposes, it does snow here

Which are of Scotland are you looking at? You mentioned south ?

This is a no dig driveway, which we had to put in because our plot has loads of trees too. We’ve yet to backfill one side of it, which is handy as you can see what it entails. The tarmac is permeable. It meets the requirements for tree root protection, etc. Trees were a nightmare for our build, but we worked round that problem. Literally.

100% agree with the previous posts about communication with neighbours. ask if they have any requests or individual concerns. Eg night shift workers, pets, children etc. I would consider a gesture such as wine, flowers, chocolates etc would go a long way too. Communication will make your life a lot easier, both for this and future phases of your project.

My experience was different in December. The product was excellent, as was the service. One minor issue with slight blemish to one door which they sent up within a week. In terms of delivery they used to offer various delivery options but due to Covid backlog went to a different model. Everything worked out ok for me and I’m up in Aberdeen. Because of Covid they had to use two guys in two vans which inevitably impacts upon their delivery service. Delivering a kitchen is somewhat different challenge to delivering a single item and I personally cleared my diary either side of the two day window as a sensible precaution in case of delays. The delivery drivers I got were were great but in fairness I was appreciative of their hard work what with them delivering me a kitchen to me in the middle of a deadly pandemic. I bought them their lunch, but that’s just how I treat people who are face to face with the public and perhaps get grief for things that are not their fault. I would not hesitate to use DIY kitchens again / recommend them without hesitation.

Dave, I soft stripped my old cottage. Great way to keep fit. Most things I stripped I had a value - Facebook marketplace is your friend. From what I sold I paid for a man & JCB 4x to pull down the stonework. For Asbestos I got a mask, appropriate safety gear and the correct double bagging stuff, then took it to the council asbestos tip which was free then. Didn’t bother with endless skip runs. Hired a big van for 24 hrs and did multiple runs to skip site, scrappy etc. Got nearly £500 for my scrap metal. I budgeted £10k to demo my cottage. In the end it was £zero and a lot of fun.

Nice one Nick. Had been checking YouTube and came across a video which basically is same as what you’ve advised. At no cost to me the plumber is back on Monday, so I’ll get him to do it as you suggest if he doesn’t suggest this himself.

No both pipes are cold. If it’s air locked I take it that means bleeding that circuit, like you would with air in a normal rad?

Cheers ProDave, not being a plumber I’m a bit reluctant to fiddle too much, especially as the plumber has already attended so I presume he covered the basics. in response to your suggestions I’ve turned the flow gauge anti clockwise a bit, but the liquid gauge remains low. The actuator black pin on top rises and falls when I turn the heating on / adjust thermostats accordingly and gets warm when “on”. But I haven’t fiddled with that any further. I’m pretty sure the manifold is working fine as the UFH works in all the other rooms.

Ok so my UFH is not working in my study. Works elsewhere fine. Actuator is open & working (gets hot) but flow gauge is low and pipes are cold. study circuit is circled yellow in picture. Please note in this pic I’m only trying to get the UFH in the study working. Plumber thought it was an electrical problem but electrician has confirmed no electrical problem, this is consistent with the actuator opening in line with turning heating on/thermostat settings. So I think we’re back to it being a water/plumbing/flow/pressure type issue. I know there will someone here have a good idea what the problem is.....

I was away to post a similar question so have kind of jumped into this post. I decided to have fun by building my own workshop (30sq timber frame) having not been allowed near the actual house. Trying to build to a decent quality. Per attached pic my foundation system is strip foundations, deeper at corners. Hardcore then concrete. Then one course of block work onto which I’ll attach the timber frame. Inside the block work I’m planning on: hardcore, then sand, then DPC, then 50mm PIR, then probably 50mm concrete floor or screed. Would be interested on any thoughts or nuggets of ideas in particular the final floor surface - non load bearing - whether to reinforce with chicken wire. Or better ideas / thoughts. Whether to put the dpc between PIR and concrete for example. ** the timber in the pic is just temporary used to get layout heights levels etc ** answers / thought should help both OP & I

Made some good decisions & some bad decisions in my self building journey. Going with Ecology was one of the best ones for sure. Isn’t it great to be able to recommend a company without reservation. Especially one that plays such a crucial part of the self building process. That company will see some great success in the future if they keep going the same way,, I just hope some bigger company doesn’t take them over and make them just like the rest.

I’ve set you mine Sean

Lots of helpful stuff on youtube. Don’t forget the search facility on this site before posting. Welcome.

You need to speak to Openreach Wayleaves Dept. Good luck with that. They’re rubbish to deal with, not least they don’t have a phone number.

Hi. So firstly I personally love the look of the house, but architecture is like art, subjective. I love the twin roof design but others have made really good points re the practicalities of that. the roof window suggestion is a good one especially as you have easy loft access, incorporating proper stairs is a great idea in your design. A couple of further practical observations. Think about how you would actually live in the house. There a few architectural features that are like “wow” but may be difficult to actually live with. 1. Are you likely to use the bath in the en-suite. If not bin that. Many here speak about benefits of having more space having no bath in en-suite. 2. Are you likely to use the balcony. Lots of folk here with balconies regret it. That’s a lot of space you could use to improve upstairs. 3. Shape of master bedroom. Long and thin. Will feel weird. Mistake we made with some rooms were they were too long and thin. 4. Master bedroom window. Solar gain will likely be an issue, even with overhang, and triangular window treatments rarely look great. No point in building a beautiful house that’s hard to live in. You could resolve that and save quite a bit of money by going for normal shaped windows. My daughters bedroom, full height windows, overheats. 5. Are you likely to use a large shower downstairs. If not consider future shower and use that space perhaps for storage. We did that & glad we did.

And don’t forget they often transfer the funds to you really quickly, like in a day, so only request the funding when you actually need it. No point paying 4% interest on something that’s probably earning 1% sitting in your account. +1 re speaking to them. I had several what if scenario question they were happy to talk them through with me, so I fully understood. Especially as my loan was part repayment/part interest only.

I think option 1, or a version of it, if done well could look great and a nice feature. Found attached pic which may help.

Drop a line to their CEO? This will be fed back to those who did a good job you, and encourage them to do so in the future.

We had a similar problem under our windows, so rather than creating a lower ledge with ballustrade across we built up the plasterboard to create a higher display shelf/recess for my kids artwork. Works ok for us.

Ok so option 1 is numerous m24 threaded bolts cemented into post holes, with treated timber bolted onto the rods. option 2 is to build several cement pillars with treated timber across. Option 3 is a strip foundation cement and bricks/blocks. All would work just unsure which system, pros & cons to all.

This is so weird. This is exactly what I’ve been planning for a while now, and have looked at both steel frame structures as well as timber ones. 8x4m and to maximise height to 4m also to keep within planning regs. Ultimately I’ve decided to go for a more traditional timber framed structure and today have taken delivery of a stack of 4x2, to build it myself. The steel building companies will happily quote, and they do the required engineering calculations. I have ended up with a quantity of box steel (long story) so my intention is to self build my structure with the 4x2, reinforced with the steel, steel roof with larch cladding and properly insulated etc. Just undecided about the foundation system. like I said I got quotes for portal steel frames with a view to in filling with timber, using the steel to take the load.

We just hold pan / cup in right hand and turn tap on to fill. Never been a problem. We have a spare kettle in the utility room. Never used it. Have a look at the boiling tap from Costco. Does same as Qooker as far as I can see but far cheaper.