Conor

We're going with metal studs... Because nobody is doing timber anymore here. Much better sound insulation. Also means the dead straight walls mean you can get away with tape and jointing the boards rather then needing to skim. For light things like skirting, self tapping screws will do the job. For mounting anything heavy, the guys say to fit 3x2s inside the channels and some noggins. For my plant room and the kitchen, I'm screwing sheets of OSB before they plasterboard.

We asked this question and the guy said don't even think about it as the cost will be way out of our budget. The units have arrived with the standard glazing as requested, and have a fair bit of shading on the inside and reflective on the outside, have noticeably darkened the rooms. Wouldn't want any more than this.

If you're talking flat or low pitch roofs, a green sedum roof is an excellent way to reduce heat gain. Also adds a little insulation for the winter.

Since I posted this I got in touch with a CDM advisor. Site visit, a chat and set me straight on my legal obligations. It's a little complicated and grey, as under CDM regs I'm considered designer/ contractor, but under employment and workplace law, I'm not considered an employer. But best to cover all bases. I've a few kew bits of paperwork and procedures to have in place, and a load of posters. Hardest part is getting guys to wear their feckin hard hats!!! Her view is that HSE primarily want to help you run a safe site, and their first approach is to advise and improve.

I think you need A4 stainless for equivalent of 8.8 steel. I got rawlplug A4 stainless anchor bolts from Screwfix.

Strange, any water company I've worked with before would fit a PRV before the boundary box in order to protect it (their assest).

The water company need to have a PRV fitted between the main and the boundary box as it will only be rated to 11 or 12.5bar. you need to take it up with them. Highly unusual that you have mains pressures over 10bar these days, unless you are on a pumped main that serves high properties and you are at the bottom.

Don't block any vents, don't stuff insulation right in to the eaves. No further than the edge of the wall. Keep all insulation in the floor. Keep the loft sealed from the rest of the house - e.g. minimise gaps around the ceiling light fittings, fit a sealed loft hatch.

It was about three years ago when timber was cheap, even from B&Q. Just screws at an angle. From memory I only need a couple lengths as the area was only about 2x4m. I kept the 100mm insulation between the joists and put 200mm across.

Just standard carcassing. I costed it up and there wasn't much difference in using 100% loft legs or timber / 50% loft legs. I did it mostly for the stability of the boards. Didn't trust the plastic legs on their own! Plus I formed a step around the loft hatch and a handrail.

I placed additional 200x50mm timbers across the joists around the area to be floored to create a "box". I also tied these in to the existing angle rafters that connected to the purlins. This helped spread the loads around a bit. If you are placing anything very heavy up there, try to have it at the edge or corner of the room, or above a supporting wall, rather in the middle of the timber spans. This is why cold water tanks are nearly always placed in the corner eves or on top of a supporting wall.

Our stud wall / MF ceilings guy is ghosting us, one week before starting on site. And he came highly recommended, and seemed dead sound. We will then lose our spark that we've lined up two months ago. Suppliers have taken payments for goods and two weeks later nothing has arrived on site. No insualtion, no roof laths, no ventilation ducting. Windows are now looking like late July or august, rather than the promised mid May. Probably £8k between them. Excluding the windows which is double again. Promises, promises.

We've had nothing but good experiences with Ecology since first making initial enquiries, through from the application and subsequent drawdowns. Many others have retold this same experience so there's no doubt we're not the only ones. Thought I'd throw a bit more perspective on how they operate from our recent experiences. We recently agreed an easement with a local developer to put a storm drain through our site to a discharge point at the Burn behind our house. The solicitor advised us that in most cases the mortgage company would retain the land payment. Not Ecology. "Work away lads, the cash is yours. An no, it doesn't affect our valuation or your loan entitlement." Score! Secondly, we went to planning and amended the design. Informed Ecology and advised them of the change of design, anticipated value increase and also our increased costs. No bother again. "If the value goes up from the surveyors report, you can access the retention sooner. And if you need more money, you can make a further application with no legal fees." Sweet. And throughout this we've been able to pick up the phone and get through to our account manager who doesn't even need to look up our details on the computer or ask us a million questions as she knows her stuff inside out. And only extra fees we've been charged is the £250 valuation survey. *I have not received a gratuity for this post from Ecology, quite the opposite in fact ?

Going by hard it is to get PIR, think you need to ring round pretty much everybody in your area until you get somebody with stock. It's taken me a.month to get 40 sheets ordered... Hopefully here on Friday.

The architectural and structural drawings need to match, or there is risk of something being missed. CDM etc. Our SE and architect worked in tandem and agreed the concept so there was never any real difference in the drawings.

I've been using the cheap gasless MIG. Successfully welded some rebar to a RSJ without destroying anything. I had less success with the thin, rusty metal on my trailer though. Lots of learning. But overall, as someone with no experience, I'm very happy with the MIG kit.

You need an structural engineer to spec it I'm afraid.

Look for structural timber screws. Almost like coach bolts but partially threaded. Usually 8mm hex head.

@Mac123 I've a 315m² house in progress at the minute and have punted for two Salda Smarty 3x units. Two units are better for a large house and you have lower fan speeds as well as air flow through the main ducts. Also means you can build in extra capacity for higher boost rates of needed. I've gone for the salda for a few reasons. They're bloody cheap. They're passive House certified which gives you certain guarantees on performance levels. Takes F7 filters. And the company seems to have a long history in ventilation and quality seems good. It's reasuringly heavy, in a ex Soviet kind of way

My SE has specified they any steel within the ICF core should be galvanised or painted. Personally, I'm not questioning it and I'm painting anything that isn't fully within the thermal envelope. Bituminous paint is cheap.

I have used 100gsm woven weed membrane cable tied to security fence panels around a temporary deck on site and it's great. dirt cheap. Just secure it really well as strong wind will rip it apart eventually. Suggest screwing it down with batons against the main supporting posts.

@Gina_Violet open the PDF in Adobe. On the LHS you have a layers menu. You'll soon know of it's a full vector file with embedded layers. There should be a massive list with things like def_points, windows, ext_walls, blah blah blah

My salda smartys arrived last week. They are reassuringly heavy and solid!!! Noise not so much of an issue for me as they'll be in the basement plant room and I've attenuators and all ducts.

Also, wear a mask. You do not want to breath in 40 year old paint dust. For the painting, run over the lot with a small gloss roller, smooths out the brush marks from the thick paint. And take the damn thing off the wall first!!!

Give it a really good rub down with with fine sand paper. Done it loads of times.