DownSouth

+1 for Power Sheds, put this potting shed up last year and very happy with it.

We just printed off the block plan and then drew on it. Wrote on a legend, using different symbols or just added notes on different areas ‘wildlife lawn’ ‘fruit trees’. Took a photo of the plan, uploaded it, wrote up a short landscaping plan in Word and submitted that too. When we looked on our local planning portal for landscaping schemes we saw lots that had been done ‘by hand’. If you haven’t searched your portal it might be worth a look.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.tigersheds.com?page=4 Have you looked at the Trust Pilot reviews?

Only recommendation from personal experience is to try and find someone local, even if that means driving around other sites and asking. We had quotes for piling from national companies who all had significant add on costs. The local team we went with knew how to work with our heavy clay, gave a realistic assessment of the depths that would be needed, could recommend someone to do the bore hole test (worked out cheaper than the quotes we’d been getting) and had a reputation to protect locally which does make a difference. Piled foundations definitely adds to muck away costs, so I’d also be putting out feelers for farmers who have dips to fill. You can save £££s if you’ve got somewhere to spread it.

Can I hijack this post? Our garage ceiling spec (habitable room/workshop bit) was 140mm PIR - but as the joists are deep and we have rock wool left over we’re wondering whether to use wool instead. I can’t find a calculator which shows how much we’d need compared to PIR. Any thoughts on how to work this out? And does it matter if it’s a mix of PIR/wool next to each other in the same ceiling?

We’ve getting 2 Nardi Net chairs, keeping inside the door with a little table and then planning to move outside onto the balcony whenever it’s nice enough. I think they look good enough to have in the house - we used to have the Nardi bistro set with armchairs as our dining table in our old place. Debating whether to get a washable outdoor rug to go under them when they’re inside to protect the wood floor from grit bits.

Have you looked at the Cladco decking? It changed our minds about composite. I reckon the reverse side (slim line side not fake wood pattern side) would look stunning against your cladding. We used it in the last house. Easy maintenance, no slipping and sliding issues like we’d had with the wood decking, looked good as new when we left a few years later.

@Nick A were any if your issues related to the internal pane edges? One of ours has failed just 4 months in, but we don’t know the cause. Two other Rationel aluclad windows have leaked around the seals since installation. Another issue has been the paint on the interior (wood) which has been badly affected by low tack tape. When I called Rationel to ask how to protect them they said they can’t advise on this.

My ground worker reckons connected but not commissioned is fine for a few months if the tank is big enough and the house is under occupied - in our case 6-9 person STP for max 3 people to start with. It’s an interesting concept…

We used Fleming Homes. 2-storey TF house went up in just over a week. Liked them as a company - friendly and responsive and not pushy - and the house is solid. We used them for doors/windows supply & install, so didn’t pay VAT which was a bonus. When you get quotes make sure you compare as they all do slightly different specifications. We opted for 50mm extra insulation and airtight membrane on top of the factory fitted insulation - it’s a lot of work but telling ourselves it’ll be worth it in the long run. You might prefer higher factory spec for insulation, less follow on work on site. FH supplied and erected our garage frame at the same time as the house went up - which has been great for site office/storage.

We managed to get a refund for our design (£500 paid) because after a lot of back and forth they agreed they couldn’t design the system we wanted (one zone upstairs, one zone down) and wanted to do a zone per room. Worth discussing a refund if you need a low flow system and they can’t design what you want. Don’t let them give you nonsense solutions which you’ll not be using once you live in the house.

+1. Being 5’3’’ our new kitchen is designed to have 600-800 wide drawers everywhere, no tall units (3/4 fridge and 3/4 freezer) and no wall cupboards at all. We’re lucky to have a utility which will have tall cupboards and a ladder for all the stuff we don’t use so much. We’ve stuck a long window over where the sink will be and I honestly can’t wait to do some dishes! 🤣

I know you’re looking at the fenestration. We ended up with four bedrooms, all in corners of the house. One has only one window, the other 3 have windows on both aspects. It makes a massive difference to the feel of those rooms, light coming in at different times of the day instead of just one aspect and one view. The other bedroom feels a bit pokey by comparison. I’d be trying to get another window into the master bedroom. Your dining room window looks small, the dining/kitchen looks to be in the wrong place. Will your kitchen get enough natural light? It looks very symmetrical. Did they design the outside first without any thought to how the light will affect each room? We’ve got a similar shape but smaller footprint. I think the nicest view of it is one where all the windows are different shapes and sizes, designed to fit the function of each room.

Using a Scottish TF company who detailed fire battens around the doors and windows. Building in England and a local cladding company fitted them - it’s not that common to use TF round here. Struggling to find detailed design for how they are meant to be fitted so wanted to check: 1. Is it right to fit them so close to the frame? 2. How would they usually be detailed underneath? Our above window detail means they will always be visible. 3. Does doing it this way mean they’ll deteriorate faster than the windows as they’ll be exposed to light and weather? Grateful if anyone can share pics or diagram of what they’ve done.

We used Paul heat recovery and have installed the pipes ourselves to their design. as @JohnMo commented they are not the cheapest but they are helpful with advice, so as first timers it suited us. They supplied everything except the pipe from inside out to the ASHP itself. Of which we over ordered by 2 1/2 metres - I’ll stick the spare bit it on Marketplace - but if anyone reading this thread wants it then do message me.

It increased the cost by £17,000 in comparison to a 2.5-3m strip foundation. The cost of concrete was driving it, so if you need 3m you might be better piling.

We are on clay, 8m from trees and mature farm hedge. 20 CFA piles, ground beam and B&Beam was our SE’s solution.

We had Sainsburys insurance for our previous renovation - had to declare the cost of the work and timescale. Think they were happy with <£100k works within 1-2 years so if yours is bigger budget not sure they’d cover it.

Who is it asking for the checklist? We’re installing one too, no flue. My understanding is Part J Section 4 asks only that a carbon monoxide alarm is fitted in the same room. if you look at the checklist it doesn’t seem to apply (Appendix A). Also if it did it looks like competent self builders (us) could complete it themselves and just leave the ‘registered membership of…’ line blank.

Hoping someone has come across this before. We have Rationel aluclad doors installed by the TF erection team which look great but are stiff/almost impossible to open and close. The lock mechanism just doesn’t want to engage. In some we have to push from outside while someone is inside trying to lock - which is not ideal if we both want to be in the house! Our installers say it’s probably down to the additional cladding weight. The cladders say not their fault, doors should still work despite the extra weight and the cladding isn’t pressing on the frames. A spirit level shows the frame is bowed, but it did open when first installed. Now it’s almost impossible to shut and get the lock mechanism engaged. There’s no cladding on this one yet. We’ve tried adjusting it but how to deal with the frame issue is the question. Several doors have the issue of difficulty locking after opening them. Any ideas what to do next?

We have a window upstairs but not in the downstairs shower room so might need to add a sensor. Although it won’t be used that much…

@Bramco that’s the unit we are planning on getting. The website spec below talks about optional wall sensors for humidity and then later states there is an integral sensor. Do you need extra wall sensors fitted to measure the humidity? https://www.bpcventilation.com/zehnder-q350

I’ll leave someone more qualified than me to reply to your question - but just wanted to ask Is the cupboard insulated? I’d be worried about getting woken up every time the heating kicked in.

We had textured/rough sandstone in our previous house, found difficult to pressure wash as it flaked under pressure and had to reseal it afterwards to stop moss. Thinking of using castacrete textured concrete this time, although landscaping feels a long long way off! And it still should be sealed so not sure whether it’ll be less maintenance.

https://abi.bcis.co.uk You can use this calculator to get a ballpark rebuild estimate. Money Saving Expert also has a guide to it.