redtop

Just going through this. Peacock will only issue the IBG to the company who installed the roof, not you as the homeowner... A seperate IBG is currently being quoted at £1300! And thats only if i can get an install warrenty from the installer to back of the IBG. madness

I have said this before, but.... If you double the building regs level of insulation, half the air Leakage to 5ish then you don't need mvhr and the house will be far far better and cheaper to run than a min building regs house. Chuck in a load of the rockwool noise insulation between floors. Not as good as passive of course, but a lot better than standard for sure and no more complex than a standard build with just extra expense for insulation and a bit of reasonable care over holes / gaps.

I think I would take a slightly different approach. These type of letters cost a few quid for a solicitor to produce. I would write back and simply state that the shared access has been used for many years by the residents and is listed as such in the deeds. And then ask on what legal basis they intend to stop what you consider to be legal use of the shared access route. In respect of nuisance from the build this is an issue that should be raised with the council should it occur. Now to answer properly the solicitor will have to spend some time, and his clients money, which they probably wont as they know they would lose.

Not an expert enough to really known the answer.... But couldn't you construct the wall using 2 timber frames with the gap between for the sliding doors. As is, the 2nd timber frame would be on the inside and just be used to create the gap for the doors, effectively a larger service void. Yes that wall would be thicker but not really sure why it would be anymore complex than doing the same with brick wall.

I started with that and gave up as its soo bloody heavy for one person to lug around

Just had our elec sign off last week. I ran all cables, etc electrician checked and fitted consumer unit, he fitted an anti surge and said they would be compulsary in the next round of regulations. We also fitted rcbo's on every circuit.

Leave it for now. Sometimes carpet plus underlay seems to be thicker than expected. Ours was and we had to get carpenter back to cut some more off doors. Get these fitted and if the gap is still too big, and you don't have mvhr get them back then. Even without mvhr a gap helps air flow but also encourages noise transfer.

We needed nothing, just the dno bit you have done. they then fitted the meter with nothing else done. Everything else is down to the electrician. If they insist on having a consumer unit fitted first just get sparky to put a small one in cabinett with the earth rod / connection done at same time. Would take half hour to fit these.

We used r45 rockwool and just stuffed the frames with it. Works a treat at reducing sound transfer. I am sure there are better results, but this was quick easy and the end result is good enough for us.

So we painted our house ourselves. Used dulux, leyland F and B matched and another coy that matches F and B. Then got some F and B for a small room. Sorry, but it defo looks better, miles so. It has a matt, chalky like finish we havnt seen on any other paint. Considering the gazzilions the house has cost to build, most of which you never see, spending more to get the best paint finish / look you want seems like small beer to me.

I just used Acoustic Insulation, the rockwool r45 stuff in the stud walls and between floors. Standard plasterboard, upstairs also is double decked, so 18mm OSB and then 22mm chipboard on top. That was down to a screw up by me. Carpet upstairs too. Anyhow, very little noise transfer compared to any other house we have owned so well chuffed

We used to rockwool 45 in the timber partitions, floor between ground / 1st floor and IMHO there is far far less noise transfer between the rooms than other houses we have owned. I wouldnt do it any different if doing it again tbh.

And microwave on, few laptop chargers, kettle. But I agree, thats why we have diversity. I would 3 phase as well to future proof.

If you don't apply diversity its very easy to say you need more than 100amps. Sparkles tend to apply diversity when calculating cable sizes, loads etc as a standard. Are you sure he is a sparky? Having said that, ashp, elec cooker and car charger and its very easy to exceed 100amps if you just add up the total loads

We havnt put mvhr in, Air tightness at 4 and trickle vents. With Double the min levels of insulation and top quality double glazing house doesn't need a lot of heating anyway. When looking at the benefits most people compare with a standard build to min BC regulations. Half the air leakage and double the insulation and the benefits are far more marginal. Sure it would be even less with mvhr but the biggest gains are insulation

We decided against it due to the weight, aint light for a 1 man lift

Honestly pricing up any cheap options still adds up to several hundred quid and a shed load of effort. The gaffer wanted something to provide more wind protection anyway so may as well bite the bullet and do it properly. Anyone want to buy a load of stainless wire crimped to tensioners.. 🙂 if I cut it at one end there would be several metres for each wire (30 wires in total) someone can use for a shorter run, just cut to length and re crimp a new end piece. Seriously someone can have it for price of postage.

Using horizontal stainless wires for the decking fall protection is no good as it can be climbed. Which is obvious really, but there we go. Now got to replace around 24m with something else and send in the photos. Nice Waste of time and money on my part, still nothing else picked up thank god. Hey ho

Access to my site is similar. Toyota hilux is biggest vehicle I have ever got up and just about to get sign off. Yes its akward, yes it takes longer. If properly self building its a pain, but also fun in a scary way. If paying someone to build then be prepared to pay a lot more for it being akward. Looking back maybe I should have bought a small 4wd tractor or quad bike with trailer but if you can get deliveries closeish then its surprising what you can get in the back of a hilux! Long lengths of timber and steel are the biggest pita, osb, plasterboard fits in the back just fine. When buying timber greater than 3m I combined it with bags of something heavy (cement etc) to counter balance the load. Or hire a heavy adult with scant regard for health and safety... We also spread all the muck around the site, not one skip. Lots of trips to the tip though. We also didn't have any scaffolding, as I was building it myself I just used small working platforms and took my time. If you love the site then its well worth it. If you are building to sell I would look elsewhere

Well we had 47 piles, concrete caps then steel posts, steel ring beams and then timber frame up from that. House sits at 300mm of the ground one side to 2.5m the other, thats over a distance of about 6m max so its on a pretty steep slope with trees all round.

so agreed I would run the cables, electrician then checks, I connect up and elec comes back and does all final checks. Lighting circuit is looped at switch and a fused spur feeds bathroom Extractor fan downstairs, which has no window. I forgot to add in a perm live as well as switched. So no overrun on Extractor fan. I eventually found a solution that didn't involve having to rip out plasterboard, or even run any new wires. Change the switched live to a perm live (easy done where the fan gets its feed from the light switch). Obviously then through a fused fan isolator switch. Then install a vent axia Bluetooth light sensitive fan. Comes on when it detects light hass come on, or if it gets high humidity and just set it vis Bluetooth controller to overrun for 15mins after light goes off. Works a treat.

I just used cheap as chips multi pack from screwfix, ERBAUER STRAIGHT SHANK HSS DRILL BIT TRADE PACK 150 PIECES, 30quid for 450 pieces. Couple of holes and chuck it in bin.

Even water helps, but tbh it wasn't too hard with the pilot bit first. Not for me anyway.....

If you see my other thread for calculating size of a soakaway when you cant get a digger in you would realize my brilliance in all things...

I had loads of these to do. Well in excess of a hundred. I bought a bulk pack of mixed drill bits from screwfix. Then used the 5mm ones to make the pilot hole. 2 or 3 holes and its blunt, but they are dead cheap. Then use those self tappers and it works a treat. I just used my cordless drill and it was fine.