overthehill

thanks guys, yes agree a decision for a professional but good to get combined experience here too. With hindsight a raft would have been better. Stopping work isnt an option as the kit is on its way so we need to keep going, more money and more concrete has been decided as the way forward 😒

Thanks for your comments, we have found a local company who seem knowledgable and the price isnt too bad so we have gone with them.

Hi We have had a call from our builder who is laying the strip foundations for our new house. The ground is all sand and sandstone and the strip foundations he is digging are hitting quite high bedrock in places then dropping three foot down to lower bedrock. There are loose sandstone peices which means the pit walls are falling in places and other places the bedrock is sticking into the trench. The builder has proposed using mesh and filling the trenches with concrete but this means using a lot more concrete than we have budget for. Has anyone encountered this before and if so did you find a cost effective solution? Any ideas apprecaited!

Hi, I know there are lots of knowledgeable people on here that have designed and purchased the whole MVHR system themselves, but this isnt an area we want to design and source ourselves for various reasons. We want one company to do the design and supply the system. We have approached 21 degrees who have quoted for a Zehnder ComfoAir Q450 with pre-heater. Any other company recommendations?

ok thank you, Im leaning towards block work as you say nod it must be more solid at least thats my impression, Ive also read about board render cracking not sure if this is true or not but the mortgage point is good to note. Good luck with your build @G and J hope it goes smoothly : )

Hi, We are building a timber and oak frame house, outside will be a mix of render and timber cladding. On the render bits should we use renderboard fixed directly to the kit as opposed to render on a blockwork outer leaf? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both methods? Is there a big cost difference? Any thoughts advice appreciated.

We got advice from a couple of PD's and they said to treat the contractor on site as the principle contractor for H&S purposes, not sure if thats right or wrong but thats the approach we will prob follow

We were quoted £2k somthing by aerobarrier and the house is 334 sqm

Thanks everyone, for the continued suggestions. There's certainly a lot to consider and take in! It's definitely been helpful to fully understand the difference betweent he drainage fields and soakways. As people have mentioned, I think our SE is of the opinion that the output from the treatment plan will be sufficiently clean to mix with the rainwater in the soakaway. It's good to know where the regulations stand on this, which is the same as the manufacturers; a drainage field is needed. Putting a soakaway in front of the house is a good idea, as is are the alternatives to a Klargester. We're defintiely sold on this. Options for the SVPs is interesting. We'd thought there were a lot but that one was needed for each WC. If this isn't the case then it would be good to explore other options. We don't want a lovely house looking like a hedgehog unnecessarily! We'll look into the depth and invert levels. Thank you. Need to keep learning more and all your help opinions is massively appreciated.

maybe its the design that makes the difference, we didnt really have Fleming in mind at first but thought we would use the free design service to get some ideas and ended up liking working with them so stuck with it. they have been very hot on keeping the design within the budget we gave them, even when we made the house bigger and wanted other changes they let us know straight away this would push our costs up and roughly how much, so Ive felt comfortable that we are in charge of the costs (as much as we can be) In the past we have worked with an architect on a renovation design and had no sense at all how much it was going to cost even when we gave them a budget, when we actually got quotes we realised we couldnt afford to do it so wasted money on the design. I didnt want to be in that position again. A friend of a friend used Potton so we had a look around their house, looked very nice and good quality so Im sure they would deliver a nice house. We also went and had a look at a Fleming house that was half built, also looked very good. Its so hard to choose between companies, if you can get out and look at half built or completed houses that might help

I probably made that sound more dramatic that it was meant too! The learning curve of figuring out what we needed to do with H&S when we didnt have a main contractor involved, we've done the pre-constriction plan, risk register, started the H&S file and construction phase plan we will have to decide who will be the 'main contractor' on site if we have a few trades at once but otherwise its just keeping on top of the H&S stuff as we go along. We had quotes for the PD role but after looking into it, as long as you are on top of it, doesnt appear to be something that cant be done yourself, others may tell me Im wrong though and I will look on here at CDM threads to make sure its the right way to go.

Thanks for all your comments, the house is about 330 sqm, its sandy soil, cant remember what the perculation test results where I'll have to check but its as you would expect for the soil type, the whole plan is below. After advice here and talking to a local supplier and groundworker we won't go with a Klargester now, prob looking at a Marsh. We have a lot more room in the garden than the plan suggests (the side the klargester is on) but it slopes away so not sure if thats suitable for a drainage field. Any other obvious issues with this drainage plan we need to talke to the SE about?

Hi, we are building with a timber frame Fleming are providing, doing building regs and erecting, Ive been really impressed with them throughout so do take a look at them again, I also looked at Potton who were much more expensive than Fleming. We are aiming for near passive standard. We are in Cheshire, a bit further on in the process to you but have been and are going through very similar thoughts. We are managing trades ourselves after Fleming have left site and are navigating the PD role with Fleming. It is worth asking Potton if they remain the PD once their bit is done all the way to the end of the project, Im guessing they don't. We think we have found a way through with it but its been a steep learning curve, you prob have more building experience than us

Thanks everyone for the welcome and all the helpful replies. It's great to be able to tap into the experience and knowledge on the forum. We will definitely look into alternatives to a Klargester. I've read about concerns around the moving parts in the stinky stuff! The site has a big garden and some fields so we're in the lucky position that we can go for whatever approach is the best (cost permitting). The advise on consulting building is a good shout, as is consulting the relevant legislation. If our SE isn't keen on designing something we should probably engage another specialist.

Hi everyone, new to the forum and also to self building. We are building a timber frame home and are currently working with a structural engineer who has started the drainage plan. He has the Klargester waste water feeding into the rainwater soakaway when I asked him about this he said people do it lots of different ways. Is this ever acceptable? The Klargester guy says its not, who is right? Is it ok to feed into a soakaway at all or does it always have to be a drainage field? Is it usually an SE who designs the drainage plan for a sewage treatment plant or is it just his job to mark where its going on the plan and the groundworker designs it? Any thoughts, tips or experiences appreciated