Declan52

Look at the difference in roof felts. The old tar black stuff any moisture getting that far condensed and dripped onto whatever was below. The new felt will let that moisture through. That's your breathable membrane. The below link will explain the intelligent membrane better than I will. http://www.greenspec.co.uk/building-design/airtightness-membranes/

What is your floor covering on the attic conversion?? Would it be possible to lift the floor and put some Rockwool in between the truss. Would help with your heat loss.

A new member has just posted that he is going down the icf route. Might be worth contacting @Simon R to see if he would be interested.

You do the blog here. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/ Have a look at the various examples already here. It's nothing complicated just pics and a description of what was going on. Everyone is nosey esp on here and with yours being a first even more so. Lots can go wrong with bricks and blocks and they have been used for years. Shat happens on every build. Do you get a timescale of what they expect from you. As in we can deliver your blocks by x date if you have the founds ready to go and then various dates that have to be met to keep the build on schedule for you to finish in 12/18 months.

It's better and much easier to follow some ones progress with a blog as topics here wander many miles of point very quickly and detail gets lost. So you aren't getting any discount from being the guinea pig?? How much hand holding will JUB be doing through out the build or is it you/pm in charge ??

Change the door to a sliding door to match the wiw. Both rooms aren't small either. En suite is near enough 8ft sq. The window in the ensuite can you not centralise it??

Think you already have your mind made up. Don't underestimate gut feeling. If you have a bad feeling about someone it's usually right.

I would ask both options to show you any previous work they have done which is along the lines of what you propose. From looking at some examples of theirs it will give you a better idea if they will be able to deliver what you want. Remember the addresses and either use Google Street view to view the builds or if they are close drive by and if the architects are willing could they put you in touch with these clients so you can ask them how they got on with their builds. After all this then pick who not only you think will be the best option at the start but some one who you think you will still be able to work with through the build till completion.

Fair play to you for being brave and going this route. Somebody has to be the first!!! I hope your getting a very good discount to balance out the risk of problems that will surely arise. This is definitely a build that you need to document well in a blog with lots of pics and show how you get on warts and all.

That's one for the poor sod with no smell and thick gloves who is due his weekly visit to sort it out.

Don't forget that despite a £9m build cost with 3 different architects being used as the clients have more money than sense they still manage to somehow complete a house that wouldn't pass building regs as the stairs have no handrails, no level access or any number of other defects.

The pics of that incident are horrific.

It's wild out here today. Highest gust speed record for NI at 91mph hit in rostrevor co. Down. All you lot in Scotland make sure your belongings are well tied down

How deep can the liquid membrane be laid?? Is there enough depth to get you nearer your target fall.

They won't get blocked by the snow.

Never seen a vent tile with anything other than 100mm on the underside.

Who ever makes your chosen roof tiles will have a vent tile to match. Put a 150mm to 100mm reducer on and then put your extract/ intake on. Attach with tape/cable ties.

What are you putting on the out side of the house, cladding??? https://passivehousesystems.co.uk/product/winflex-airtight-window-tape/ https://passivehousesystems.co.uk/product/gerband-fortax-6400-airtight-sealant/ That's the tape and adhesive I used for my inside walls. If you are sealing the inside with tape maybe just silicone the outside.

Trim the foam back. Seal with a good Quality mastic/silicone suitable for outside. Use air tightness tape with the spilt so half sticks to your window a few mm and the other side can be glued to the block work. Inside the plaster/plasterboard will cover it and your cladding?? Will cover the tape on the outside. Treat it like sealing up a normal blockwork window. You could run a skin tight skim down the revels to give the tape something better to stick to. Although the glue I used was really really sticky and mine have been draught free 4 years now.

Welcome. Do you have a particular plot in mind or is it just a general search. Just be careful a lot of Enniskillen the ground conditions are very poor. Just look at how far the ground has sunk around the point shopping centre. Plus there was a housing development on the Sligo rd that got demolished due to the houses all sinking.

How are the joists attached below. Are they nailed onto a wall plate or sitting on hangers. Could you use acro props underneath and lift the joists up using a plank running down both sides and then have different size packers put under the joists to give you your fall.

Don't discount cars like ford galaxy or vauxhall zafira. Both with the seats down have huge spaces. A tow bar is cheap to add.

If it's just too see if there is any mines why are they do environmental testing plus soil strength tests?? 40m with a rotary rig would take 2 days easy enough. If it's using a shell and auger rig it will take longer. It's doing the tests that will slow it down.

That will be a very nice house when it's complete. What about coming to an arrangement with the architect over his costs. When your QS comes back with the costings split them into your 2 phases. If your architect can bring it in at the costings for phase 1 with a +- X% then he gets his money. You will have to come to some sort of deal about what the penalties will be if he doesn't.

That video is missing the 2 ft of gutters that it's usually sitting in when you need to do that.