HerbJ

I looked at various sources of supply, including online websites who seem to specialise in juliet balconies and there is a lot of choice of style and specification, including toughened/laminated glass. The ,main problem is that the glass was very heavy and required a tower/lifting equipment to install. My build was nearing completion and I had limited labour and no lifting equipment at site. So in the end, I went to a local glazing supplier, who we had already used for several other elements, and they supplied and installed the balconies for a reasonable price that was extremely (more) competitive with anything on-line. They checked the dimensions before ordering the glass , have installed dozens of similar juliet balconies and I didn't have to organise labour and equipment or cooordinate delivery and installation. The invoice was zero rated for VAT As @Ian points out there are various specifications of glass to be considered, depending on the precise purpose of the balcony. I agree that for commercial purposes the correct specification may be toughened & laminated glass but each and every application should be properly considered and selected on its specific use and location. After careful thought and looking at the alternatives, I decided that our juliet balconies would be rarely used and never in a situation where there was likely to be several people on a large balcony with a high probability of forces on the balcony that may lead to failure. So, we I selected and specified the toughened glass option with input from the glazing company, though I did not consider "heat soaking" at that time - it may have been a sensible addition and in fact we have used such glass for another application for colour. I did seek my BCO's prior approval for the specification of glass and fixing method proposed.

+1 to juliet balcony. We incorporated them in all of our bedrooms. We used 12mm toughened glass and they balconies are nearly invisible, inside and outside.

I have reviewed the attachments and there are a couple that can be added without any effort at removing confidential info. These are two documents that I developed for the original Planning Application, to demonstrate my approach to meet the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Supplementary Planning Documents for Sustainability and the Ageing Population/Lifetime Homes. In the event , they were both included as Planning Conditions to an amended Planning Approval , after I successfully challenged a Planning Condition to comply with Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and had this Condition removed from the original Planning Approval. They address the relevant parts of the Building Regulations and that is why they were included. As for the Building Regulation Specification, these documents are fairly brief but just about meet their purpose. On looking through them I realise that they should have been revised to take account of some design changes but I am probably the only one who is interested at this time. I will look at the drainage layout and related attachments to see if I can easily redact any confidential info. If I can, I will post these later. 1740266_Planning Submission for Sustainability Measures.pdf 1740272_Planning Submission for Ageing Population.pdf

Plagiarise all you need/want but make it a better document and share it on BuildHub in the future for others to continue improving ( and sharing)....As @Ferdinand has prompted make a donation, if you feel it adds value to your project, You don't have to pay the Council (LABC) and an independent BCO. It's your decision to choose one or the other to suit your specific needs. There are pros and cons for each of them, including differing costs, responsiveness and expertise in differeent areas of the coountry. It may also be a decison taken in conjunction with your requirement/need and subsequent choice of Building Warranty provider, who may have specific requirements for BCO and their involvement with approval of specific stages during the build process. There is lots of good info, including tales of good and bad experiences in the Building Regulation Blog. I will review the Attachments and see what I can post on here, without too much effort.

+1 to all the contributions so far. I have built a MBC timberframe house and used an independent BCO. I started off by sending a full MBC design package, including SE Caculations and foundation design, asking to be advised of anything else that was required for BC approval. I received the following " Do you have a building regs specification as I need to do a plan check and comment on compliance with the building regs ..." I then responded "Not sure what you require for the "building regs specification" - can you please clarify for me? I have sent you a calculation and drawings package for the timberframe and the foundation. What else do you require and I will arrange to provide it? " He responded " with all jobs we normally see a detailedspecification to cover aspects such as fire/ means of escape. ventilation,staircase design etc the plans provided so far cover the structural aspectsand thermal requirements " I asked "Do you an good example that I could use to ensure that I cover everything and i will then quickly develop a detailed specification specific to Eastcroft?" I never received a response. So I did some research online, including Websites such as http://www.buildingregs4plans.co.uk and looked at what @JSHarris had done and what @Bitpipe was experiencing with questions from his BCO at the same time . I then proceeded to develop my Building Regulation Specification and sent it to the BCO with the following note " I have done some research, looking at similar documents, and produced the attached Building Regulation Specification for your review and comment. I have endeavoured to detail all the relevant information but if you require more detail the please advise and I will revise to meet your requirements It refers to various drawings, calculations and related documents (which I attach for your reference and convenience, as I have already submitted most of these documents to you before) and have included them all in one zipped folder for your convenience " I never received any nore questions or comments, though he did visit site on a few occaasions and I kept him updated with regular emails and photos. I requested approval of a couple of areas - proposals for fire/smoke detectors installtion and forjuliet balcony fixings - to which he responded and gave approval. I attach my Building Regulation Specification without the attachments. On reflection, it is not particulalrly good document and I could have included a lot more detail/definition of various systems. I thought that it would require updating with specific information, as the BCO asked questions but the questions never came and I never updated it... On the positive side, it did force me to read and understand all the Buiding Regulations as they applied to my build. Building Regulation Specification for new build house.pdf

We have been very happy with the windows and doors to date. We had a couple of issues on supply which were resolved and the installation was completed efficiently. They are very high quality windows and were relatively expensive. That said, they were priced competitively against all the main competitors and we completed a full commercial and technical evaluation, including flying to Scotland to look at an installation of similar specification by Gaulhofer, before we finalised the contract. We had real problems geting interest from some company's to quote We finalised the contract in May 2015 at 1.4 euros to £ . @bitpipe also installed Gaulhofer windows in his new build house. The UK Agents are ECOWIN

Every supplier will be different and the guarantee/warranty should be part of your selection criteria. I fitted Gaulhofer 3G windows ( Austrian), aluminium clad with exterior with Larch wood interior. Their Warranty/Guarantee is as follows: 25 Year Gaurentee: Gaulhofer ensure that if required, your window and doors will be maintained by our experts in such a way, that their full function is retained over a period of 25 years. 20 Year Gaurentee: On the material bonding of wood on aluminium windows and doors On all bonding of material and glass with the Gaulhofer special glassline multicomponent Pro glue. 10 Year Gaurentee: Against discolouration and cracking of the aluminium profiles Against deformation and cracking of the white plastic profiles Against deformation and cracking of the foiled plastic profiles 5 Year Gaurentee: On the function of window and door elements On the protective function of the wood coating Against the misting up of the insulation glass panes in the glap between the panes

OSMO is very good. We treated our Sweet Chestnut cladding in December 2015 before it was installed. It has been in the weather for over 18 months and shows little signs of deterioration. I think it also contained a anti - fungicide. We use Osmo UV-Protection Oil 420 Clear Satin. We applied two coats to both sides of the cladding - it was time consuming but worth it

I attach the detail of my MBC timberframe build. As @Bitpipe has pointed out, my build was a few weeks in September/October 2015 ahead of his build but the execution method for the airtight membrane was different and I believe was one of the last build to be completed before MBC improved their fabrication/installation execution methods to incorporate the green OSB used on his and, I believe, later builds My build had a 15mm OSB/Smartply inner sheath installed at site on the inside of the exterior wall double studs prior to the airtight membrane being installed. In fact, MBC did use some of the yellow membrane (AMPATEX DB90) which they brought from their previous build, but the majority of the airtight membrane installed was the white SIKA Majpell 5 membrane delivered for my build. I attach photos at various stages of build. My roof had 22mm sarking board but no interior OSB /Smartply. Like @JSHarris and @Bitpipe, our roof insulation is just blown into the space between the outer sarking boards and the inner SIKA Majpell 5 membrane. I attach photos at various stages of the build. MBC_Timberframe_Build_Detail.pdf

I attach a photo of the supply and extract distribution plenums and supply silencer installed in a service cupboard, which is located one of the 1st Floor bedrooms. This is remote from the MVHR unit. which is located in a Ground Floor Plant Room. There is no issue with noise from the plenums.

Dove, the groundwork contractor detailed by @jack was also used by me for my groundworks and all hard landscaping and they do work in Woking. Great, reliable, efficient and very experienced groundworks contractor but not sure they are interested in demolition. Give them a ring - Mick Peffer is the MD, Mob No 07774 786755. Other very experienced demolition contractors in the area are Shorts of Ascot and Woolridge in Bagshot. I used Precision Groundworks for my demolition but not sure they work in Woking and they now tend to specialise in basement construction.

Hi I have some friends who have rented a stairlift, to overcome what is hopefully a short term problem. The system rented does not attach to the wall, rather it is installed by short legs onto the stairs. I don't know the details but I can find out if it is of interest?

Hi I had a fairly large system designed, installed and commissioned by Paul Scotland. I attach their MVHR Commissioning Report submiited to BC. I had no questions... 38167 East Croft Comm Report_20160818.pdf

+1 to everything that's been outlined above. It is all about detail planning, detail planning and more and more, if this work is completed early in your design stage, it can save you a lot of money, time and frustration. Depending on your house construction, it's not just about the internal fit-out before PB. The same issues are also relevant for the external fit-out, especially if you timberframe with cladding or rendered external finish. It's critical that you plan and make provision for supporting anything with any weight fixed to the external skin - satellite dishes, aerials, rainwater goods, balconies, fence posts, etc Penetrations of every variety are also critically important to plan and make the necessary provisions. Properly engineered collars in RSJ's to enable installation of MVHR ducts, pipes and even electrical cables ( see photo). Penetrations in external walls (for boiler flues, electrical and water services etc) before insulation is installed. This particularly important for a MBC type timberframe with blown cellulose insulation and for achieving an airtight construction. If you are installing wet rooms or similar, then it is important to review your floor joist locations and orientation in detail, to ensure that you install the shower waste and associated piping. My wife and I spent hours looking at the detail and moved several floor joists. However, we didn't consider the MVHR duct installtion in detail at the same time and it created a problem with a clash in one location, which we just got away with with some minor adjustment and some rework.

I contributed to this subject on Ebuild and paste the relevant parts below: Members 78 posts Posted 15 September 2015 - 06:20 PM The foundation has recently been completed for our MBC house ( the timberframe installation starts on 21 September, Brendan leading the team) and we have a incorporated a wetroom in the ground floor cloakroom. I attach the details that we worked up and were approved by Hilliard (see the foundation layout), together with a photo which shows the formwork (a piece of EPS) and the soil pipe around which we formed a slot for the drain piping from the linear shower drain to the gulley for the wetform former recess - apologies that it is not great but you should get the idea. What we developed allows us some flexibility for installing the shower drain and the gully in the adjacnet Plant Room. We selected a ACO former with a liner drain, as it only required 25mm recess in the slab. Attached Files 1528-01 Foundation Plan- REV A.pdf 642.11K 46 downloads Eastcroft Aco Wetroom gully 2.pdf 14.86K 53 downloads aco wet room.pdf 38.3K 51 downloads P1040568.JPG 99.74K 36 downloads #49 Nickfromwales Short cuts take three times longer.....Fact Moderators 8,182 posts LocationSouth Wales Posted 15 September 2015 - 08:34 PM The linear drains look quite stylish too, compared to the regular square grating. This approach is, however, quite dependant on the soil pipe being reasonably local to the shower tray. Did you still go with 50mm / 2" waste pipe from the shower waste ? Regards, nick. #50 HerbJ Member Members 78 posts Posted 15 September 2015 - 09:18 PM Hi Nick Yes, it should look good and it was done to future proof the cloakroom to provide a wetroom to meet LTH standards. We realised we had to do it properly whilst we were designing and installing the passive slab, as it could never be retrofiitted. The soil pipe is less than 800mm from the drain outlet and we will install a 50mm waste pipe. The formed slot should give us plenty of flexibility for achieving reasonable fall to the gulley. We looked at various former, shower traps and gullys but this seemed to be the best approach for a reasonably shallow installation without comprising the passive slab. It was realtively easy to achieve using EPS Insulation as the formwork before pouring the slab Regards, Herb #51 Nickfromwales Short cuts take three times longer.....Fact Moderators 8,182 posts LocationSouth Wales Posted 15 September 2015 - 10:19 PM For others info, Wedi do a side exit integrated waste which I'll post links to after I catch up on some kip. Regards, Nick. #52 HerbJ Member Members 78 posts Posted 16 September 2015 - 10:50 AM I attach a better photo of the formwork in the MBC passive slab. I took it this morning when I was getting the scaffolders started for the timberframe erection starting next Monday Attached Files P1040607.JPG 105.68K 41 downloads I am not sure all the attachment pasted over, so I have attached the key documents. 1528-01 Foundation Plan- REV A.pdf

This topic may have covered in the ebuild but I haven't managed to track it down. I am installing a 500 litre unvented Thermal Store in my new build. Most of the main issues have been resolved, thanks to numerous contributions and discussions on ebuild and here, except for control of the Thermal Store. The TS will supplied from two sources - a 24kW condensing gas boiler, adjacent to the TS in a Plant Room, and a 3 kW immersion heater, via a PV diverting device. I have 3.99 KWp solar system installed The TS will provide DHW via a 46kW Internal coil (mounted at the top of the TS) and low temperature water ( 25 C) UFH, via pipe connections mounted in the centre and bottom of the TS. The immersion heater will be controlled by a temperature switch and will be located at the bottom of theTS. The boiler will provide heat to the TS via pipe connections at the top and centre of the TS. My question concerns what is the best way to control the boiler and TS. My thoughts are to install two temperature switches, one at the top and one at the centre. The boiler would be switched on by the centre ( stat ) at <50C turned off by the top ( stat ) at >70C. There would also be time switch//season control, to ensure that the PV supplied immersion heater takes precedence over the boiler, especially in the main summer and shoulder months. Any actual operating experience and feedback would be appreciated.

We're also a big fan of Megabad and also Reuterbad and nearly all of our bathroom and cloakroom fittings have beeen sourced from these two companies on line. Unfortunately, as has already been discussed they do not supply the 8cm Geberit frames (UP720 Cistern, GEBERIT Ref No111.729.00.1) , which we required and the best price available in the UK when we purchased was www.tradetaps.com. This is a repost post of my contribution of ebuild, which may be useful though the euro rate may not be as good today Posted 10 January 2015 - 03:04 PM POPULAR I haven't bought kitchen appliances from Megabad, but I have bought bathroom ceramics, bath and bathroom fittings/accessories (V&B, Duravit, Grohe,Geberit ) for 2 bathrooms and a cloakroom. Good service and terrific prices but strangely they don't seem to be competitive on shower enclosures, shower trays. There is another German supplier Reuter that my son has used Reuter http://www.reuter-shop.com/ - thiis is their English website, which is an advantage as I think Megabad have only a German language website and takes a bit longer to navigate ( though you can through Google Translate). There are dozens of German, Dutch and Belgian websites offering everything you might need.. There a some tips from my experience that may help: Plan carefully before you order and ensure that you ordering the exact Model No as you would buy in the UK (go to showrooms to choose your stuff and make detailed notes and get the catalogues) . It's not so much of a problem with ceramics, taps etc but it can be problematic with anything electrical. Two examples - I bought a Keuco Bathroom cabinet and it did not meet UK Wiring Regs for installation in a bathroom. My son bought a Grohe Red Duo boiling tap and it was German model, which did not meet WRSA regulations (one of which is that the highest temperature must be less than 99.5C ( if I remember correctly) Also, it came with different fittings and without the filter included with the UK version, which is why it was cheaper. One very good thing is that these two suppliers, and almost certainly all similar German suppliers, have very good and very efficient returns policies.My son returned it quickly, they sent him a Returns Label and instructions by email and received a full refund with no hassle. All the prices are in euros. I have a SAGA Credit card (no comments please...) that has no Non Sterling Transaction Fee (usually 2,75% for Visa and 3% for AMEX) and also charges best market exchange rates. So, this is an instant 2.75% savingover a normal credit card..... There are a few companies that offer this beneft - MoneyMarket,com comparison site is a good source Finally, it's good time to buy stufff, as pound sterling is very strong against the euro.at the moment .........

The finish coat is Weber Sil TF150 (silicone based finish) on a Weber specifiedd and guaranteed system applied to Knauf Exterior Aquapanel

Vey nice houses, guys.. We used the same guttering firm as bitpipe. We used a combination of plastic and aluminium soffits and fascias. All aluminium would have been very expensive as we have very large soffits around the house. MBC fitted all the wooden fascias and soffit ledgers and the guttering firm then fitted everything else - soffits, fascias, aluminium seamless gutters and then the alumnium trims around the dormers and gables. We still have some aluminium trims to be completed around the garage doors.

I am currently in the middle of decorating together with a wide range of 2nd Fix activities - electrical, acoustic/UFH floors, carpentry, stairs etc. I can't offer a full range of advice because I haven't finished the build but I can confirm it is very quick to date - mist coat of a 335m2 house in 3 to 4 days, though I we did give him the run of build for the period. There are afewf things to be aware of and consider: - Work with your decorator and understand how he works. My decorator has been prepared to work weekend to give him the run of the build. - Communcation with other trades so everybody knows what is going on and work with the integrated schedule. Electricians came in after mist coat to cut holes for downlight etc and has double bagged all the sockets double bagged and terminated light circuits with connectors and tucked cables into ceiling to make it easy for spraying ceiling. - Quality and time allowed for masking, together with covering up all equipment and loose materials in the house. Also, I am spending a fair bit of money and time on protecting any finished surfaces such as stairs with hardboard, Correx board etc, both for mechanical protection as well as paint droplets. I have heard horror stories from my carpenters of all their tools and equipment being spray painted when they stooped for lunch on a commercial build ( flats) by painters spraying without covering up anything.probably on piece work/lump sum. - Close integration between plasterer and decorator on who is responsible for snagging plaster work - the plasterer agreed to snag the major plasterwork deficiencies after the mist coat and spent 2 days further work and everything was cleaned up after this work , with laying of protectIve sheeting on a finished dry screed acoustic floor( Cellecta 28). Only the decorator wan't satisfied with the finish and spent another 2/3 days sanding down again ( he was correct we did want a superb painted finish) plaster dust everywhere again and annother major cleanup!!! - My decorator is not spray painting the entire house. He is spraying mist coat everywhere, to finish coat on all ceilings and coving everywhere, 2nd Floor, ceiling and walls, everywhere because it is all one colour ( white). Walls and woodwork ( mainly skirting boards and a few doors will be mainly finished by hand - roller, brush whatever), because we have different colours in different rooms, with two colours in some rooms - it isn't possible to make a decent job of cutting , say, a purple wall into a white coving...

+1

Same for us. Initially, I sent him regular progress reports and photos and expedited him to visit the site. He hasn't to site been for months and I now don't expect to see him until completion. It seems they soon get a very bgood idea of the quality of build, adherence to BR, etc and make a decision about their requirements for visits,

Welcome back - you seem to be keeping busy?