eandg

Cheers. I have planned 100mm service could in ceilings (can lose the space with the vaulting) to account for that and presume/hope it's straightforward doubling up some batons to do so.

Thanks both. Exchanger unit in the loft above the only bedroom which is not vaulted and can be vented on the gable wall. I had thought the ducts from rooms had to vent externally rather than were just through the internal plasterboard to pipework - misunderstanding on my part, sorry! Plan would be to hide pipework in the void between roof/insulation and plasterboard.

I have no idea how much air it'll involve but thought it might be an issue hence asking the question. Rooms are all vaulted ceilings so had presumed that it would need to be via roof for a bedroom and bathroom that doesn't share the gable wall. Will look into it now.

Roof build up will likely be SIPs roof, 50mm cavity, 18mm ply below standing seam roof. Would venting the MVHR inlets/outlets to the cavity be sufficient or would it have to pierce the ply/standing seam?

Solicitors are needed to register the charge on the title deeds. It sounds like you may not have given a detailed enough costed plan for them to have confidence you'll build for the budget. Just put together a spreadsheet with items and costs for each stage - groundworks, kit, externals, first fix, second fix etc. - set out. Make sure it comes in within your borrowing and that you've a wee bit of contingency.

Thanks - so you think having 60mm insulated PB performs better/is a better option than applying insulation separately , battening a cavity out and boarding? I'm completely guessing at time but think for a couple of amateurs that even just getting the insulation on approximately 125m vaulted ceiling space will be a decent week of work so perhaps better making the labour saving on the walls and finding a few quid elsewhere.

I plan on adding 60mm foil-faced insulation to our SIPs kit and had been intending using something like Kingpsan Thermowall throughout. We do though have vaulted ceilings in 80% of our first floor space which will make this approach bit more onerous and time consuming. I had ruled out insulated plasterboard on the grounds of cost but not sure if that's now mistaken having come across some potentially cheaper Celotex boards. These do though only have 12.5mm plasterboard, which seems the standard for insulated plasterboard, whereas everything I've read advises 15mm for ceilings. So my questions are: How do costs compare? Does the insulation provide it with a bit more stability to make it suitable for ceiling use, less likely to sag etc? Where there's a foil face how does this affect the vapour control layer (which is on the wall side of the service cavity on the internal walls, but would be on the other side on the ceilings? Cheers!

What sort of money is in that per m2?

Harder to make the figures stack up in a lower value housing market like we have in Scotland - you'll not make your fortune self-building unless you're in a nice bit of the east coast (and probably bought the land without planning permission). In my case we're building a 200m2 house that's exactly what we want for our family and will have far lower energy demands for, all being well, the same cost as buying a 130m2 identikit box by one of the volume developers. But we'll be taking on a fair bit of research, responsibility and risk to do so. Think of it as a home, not an investment.

Same. The price of the gabion baskets - minus stone - looks on the face of it to be pretty expensive. But I don't know if I've bene looking in the right places! If it's much more expensive than sleepers it might well be worth just paying for the excavation and disposal and saving the hassle.

Gabions something I've looked at in the past but could never get my head round pricing for baskets or stones (type, amount needed etc). But shall look again. Thanks.

Had planned on using sleepers to retain stepped levels of garden (900mm each step, if that's the right word), including some banks of wildflower on the perimeter of the plot. Looking at reducing excavation costs by retaining a bit more spoil on site into those banks but engineer (site, not structural) suggests that sleepers may not be suitable for the job if we go much higher. Any thoughts, what did you use and how did costs compare etc?

Personally I'd bring the stairs forward maybe 400mm - you'll still have that grand lobby feel and it'll allow you to make the first floor bedroom adjacent to the stairs a bit roomier; despite it's decent-ish size I'd be concerned it would feel like a box room in a house that big where the rest of the rooms are oversized. You'd need to reorient the WC but that's easily done. And agree with mixing cladding materials. Nice big house altogether though!

It may be that the cert provides an 'equivalent' to NHBC - hadn't realised you had one.

Looking at the email from the solicitor it appears to be a stipulation set out in their "Standing Instructions". However, if you need a mortgage now won't you subsequently be remortgaging once the build is complete? In which case you'd want some form of structural warranty to obtain a mainstream mortgage.

They don't at the outset but our solicitor had to confirm we'd have an NHBC guarantee or equivalent on completion, one of their standard terms. Not sure they'd check or enforce it though.

Unless he's right next door and popping in with a blob on the trowel then 40 quid seems a decent enough price for any trade to turn up at your door.

We are 50% timber clad on a SIPs kit. Ecology loan for the build. I asked a broker for advice re: remortgaging as I've read others say they built a blockwork skin to clad onto do they could access the wider market post-build. He asked their lenders who stated that as long as it has a structural warranty they'll lend.

The Keylite was 2G but appears to have the same u-values as the 3G Velux (as below) This is the blurb for the 3G Velux:

I've just had a look at Keylite and see they do an Integral blind model in double glazing but that the u-values (1.0 W/mk2) is the same as the Velux Integra 3G, with costs about the same and negating the need to buy and fit blinds to the Velux model. Am I missing anything?

Thanks, so effectively just a treated timber baton round the window could act as a cavity closer?

Thanks. Planning on some timber cladding which I'll be DIYing, just the same practice there?

Cheers - I'll see what the timeline is like for the installers (they finish by providing the external membrane but I suppose there's no reason I couldn't tape over a couple of nights before they do). I'll need to look into the DIY blowers and how to depressure the house but sounds like it's worth saving a day or two in the schedule for it.

Total novice question this I'm sure but I've just came across the requirement for cavity closers. Who's responsible for fitting these, window fitters and leaving in situ for brickies or brickies pre/post laying?

140mm Kingspan Tek SIPS, 50mm Kingspan Thermowall (with foil facing), service cavity and 12.5mm plasterboard. Plan is/was to tape the joins on the kit, screw on additional insulation then tape the joins there. And potentially also to tape the joins on the external weatherproof membrane.