Declan52

Welcome. Can you put up a sketch of the plans to see how much work is involved to get a better understanding of the amount of work your looking to do. As with every major renovation there will always be a risk to what you will find when you start to peel away the old house. How old is the current house?? There is nothing wrong with how you intend to phase the build. You are basically treating it like most here would treat a timber frame build. You let someone else do the major work and then you take the reins and bring it home. Nothing wrong with that approach. In terms of the build are you going brick/block or timber or something else?? As far as all the trades go have you these all lined up ready to go?? Has your mate the QS given you a costing of the build and a rough time scale??

Side hung upstairs because they are for fire escape. Downstairs I have 2 different types of top hung. The front of the house is half the window opens from the top to make it look more like a country cottage and the back the full window opens to match the French doors and back door which are fully glazed.

I have top hung downstairs and side upstairs. Works fine.

It didn't damage any of the guiding wheels. Have they worn away that much that the steel teeth popped out or did it just rip.

Think it Mr Manfred man nailed it Blinded by the light Revved up like deuce Another runner in the night

Bagged adhesive is the only way to go. I would be slightly worried if he wants tubs.

Think the water level will do what you need it to do quite easily for the wall. When it comes to do the house hire a proper rotating laser level and go round each corner and drive a nail in so all the nails at each corner are level. Then as you build moves up you can use a tape and see how close you are after every 3/4 course.

If you go and do the test for the digger licence its an automatic fail if you don't have your seatbelt on before you even turn it on. Really important on a small digger.

I have mine sitting on porcelain tiles. But mine is one with a log store underneath. The tiles never get that hot.

Would using a reflective film on the windows to reduce solar gain not be a good first step.

Looking good.

Is it just for the ridge beam work that you require a floor??? You could always erect a scaffold through the middle of the house to get access to the areas where you need to be. This could be kwikstage sitting on the ground floor going through your gaps in the joists and up to what height suits. The roofers can then use the platform to set the roof truss along your beam.

Seriously this is getting way out of hand. Can you post me links to where anyone here has had questions answered in a hostile way. I think out of the amount of members here who are self building the percentage that are retired would be quite small. Doing any actual work on a self build yourself will come with massive risks if you don't have any experience of these tasks. There are lots of posts here where things have gone wrong through just a lack of knowledge and experience. Nothing to do with hands on skills. Every single Foundation for every single build that has ever been started is a dig and discovery operation. You don't know what is under the grass until you start peeling it back. Could be rock or could be peat. That's why people do trial pits or even full on site investigations. I doubt that when you where talking to the old lady that you displayed the same attitude you do here or she would have told you where to go. What is your definition of a real UK self builder? How many of the jobs that need to be done do you have to complete to become a real self builder.

Mine are G4.

I get mine from here. I ordered 10 pairs near 4 years ago as they where on a deal at the time. https://www.fairair.eu/en/hrv-filters/vent-axia/

I have more or less the same unit, mines the b+ model. It takes about 1 min to swap over the filters. Each 12 months I take out the central core of the heat exchanger and put it in a bath and run hot water through it. Let it sit out side and dry of. Or use a hair dryer if you can't do that. It's never that bad but I live in the countryside. 5 mins takes it out but just be careful with the screws as they are a pain in the arse to line up when you put it back together. When you have the core out you can use antibacterial wipe and clean the inside. All in it's a 45min job.

Have a look here and see what one fits your particular system. https://www.fairair.eu/en/hrv-filters/vent-axia/

It's the first step going forward. Take control of the build and just be straight and honest with the builder that this is how is going to be. He won't mind. Get a list done out of all of what you have already bought and be really thorough as you don't want to buy something you already have and do your costings and see how you stand with the remaining budget.

An easy way to see what your looking for is to visit show houses near builds that are going on near you. They will have the best of the best in them and you can see what kind of other nice things they have used throughout the house.

Drive round your local area and see what colour you like and then take a few pics and bring them round the merchants and take it from there.

Ok take a breather and have a sit down with the builder and explain to him that as costs are starting to spiral you want to be more involved in this aspect. From now on you want prices for each part that is to be completed. As in for a basic finish, a med quality finish and a top quality finish. Then you pick the winner. You can't always go for the top quality no matter how much you want it if the budget is tight. Nothing is too be done without you signing of on it. This esp applies to all the lovely extras that the builder might be suggesting. Thing's like your plug sockets for example are easy changed further down the line. Same goes with light fittings, internal doors and handles, tiles, flooring etc. Loads of jobs can be done cheap and revisited in a few years Do out a spreadsheet of the list of jobs that need done and how much you have left out of the budget to do these tasks. I would also be asking how he was so much out on the costings for the garage. What has caused this near double in price difference?? It doesn't really matter if your husband doesn't want to hear it but you are going to have to explain it to him and both of you pull together to get the house finished. A simple look listen the build costs are starting to spiral but I reckon if we use the costings in this spreadsheet and make a few sacrifices on a few things I still believe we can do it. Don't be all doom and gloom.

It's easier for the plasterers if the ceiling has no holes in it. I just cut the metal section of the ceiling unit so it say flush with the bottom of the joists. When the plastering was done in just cut out the holes. No real right or wrong way to do it. Put the unit in first and then run the ducts from it. Just leave enough slack just incase. Mine connected to a tile vent on the roof.

Have something rigged up to hold the ducting in place to let it pull through the joists. Can be a simple brush shaft through the middle sitting up as high as it needs on 2 trestles so you can pull it and keep it on the reel. As above don't cut them to length till after the plumbers and sparks have been in. The ducting might be in the way of a run of pipes or cables. I used airtightness tape to hold the insulated ducts to both the unit and the manifold. The silver tape was crap. How are you exiting to the outside, wall vent or tile vent??? It's not a hard job is just a fiddly one. If you can get an extra pair of hands it will really speed up the process. Are you bring the ceiling vent through the plasterboard or will you let the plasterers do their bit and then cut through??

Your cut into the wall is going to have to be laser precise are you will score the coating of it. When on it will look nice and sharp though .

Have never seen flashing made from steel. Why not use lead. Easier to get into the cut as it will be able to bend up and down in case the cut isn't exactly straight.