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Our windows can be opened a crack and locked in that position but it is just not enough in this really hot weather

We are now, thankfully, living in our bungalow. Here in East Anglia we have been going through and extreme amount of dry warm, and now, hot weather. Does anyone have any idea how to cool a bedroom without installing air con? I am a very poor sleeper and can hear a gnat fart at fifty paces during the night. I am particularly thinking of how we can have windows open and still maintain security. We do have two, large, windows in the bedroom so a through draught should be possible but how do we make the windows secure? I know that in Spain they have inward opening windows with metal grills on the outside. Is the only solution to change the windows to that design?

Carpeting is perfectly possible you just need the special underlay that is recommended for underfloor heating. I held off carpeting the hall just in case I thought the lounge and bedrooms were not warm enough. It turns out that they are fine. Do remember solar gain. We have South and West facing windows and we notice how much difference they make to the room stat when the sun is out.

What JohnMo said Just let it tick over all the time. I was so worried that I would cook at night but I don't. Yes it is warm but a very gentle warmth. If you like roasting your feet or burning your face then either get a wood burner or a small electric fire to complement the underfloor.

It was Octopus for us. too. Can I ask if how long it takes to get billed. Sshhhhh but ours was installed in December and we have not heard a dicky bird. Getting a bit jumpy now.

All the utilities. We have moved in (woo hoo!) and still don't have a phone line! Mobile signal is rubbish. So far have had three lots of £50 compensations. Try organising a build with no communications Electricity was going to take three months to install a meter until I told them of husbands extreme bad health when it duly arrived the next day! We were told that all electric suppliers are ceasing the supply of meters. At the time no one was sure who was going to do it (!) but we think, now, that it is UK Power. Worth finding out though.

What sort of power cables are they? A developer next to us had to move high voltage cables underground before he started any work. Might this one turn into a bungalow?

After it is all marked up go around the house and imagine switching on lights etc. Ours is an L shaped bungalow and as you leave the main living room you enter the angle of the L. The hall light switch has been placed about three or four paces away. It is very annoying if not unsafe. It was put there to be near the external door but nevertheless I would have asked for two if I had known. Has anyone solved the problem of siting all living room furniture in the centre of a large lounge and then lighting that area using lamps? Bit annoying to not have a reading lamp of some sort in the centre unless you trail a lead.

Has your builder checked the new bricklayers' standard of work and work ethic? Quality does cost money.

We feel very fortunate that we have lived adjacent to our site for forty years. We, therefore, knew people who knew people and we could, mostly, book trades by reputation. For instance our amazing brickie was working opposite us on a large self build for a well respected civil engineer. The brickie is a one man band, close to retirement, who picks and chooses his work. He actually approached us because he said he would only work on bungalows now. Unfortunately he had an allegiance to the civil engineer neighbour so we did lose him every now and then but we never regretted handing him the plans Same with many of the other trades they all came recommended by the trade on site at the time. We, of course, always went out to quotes but if there was not much in it opted for the recommendation from our trusted on site tradesman. The Civil Engineer over the road installed the sewer system which needed a pumping station. But we trusted that he was right and that he would do a good job. The only one that went wrong was - yes you guessed it - the windows! They were a local carpentry company that were passionate about their work but still managed to muck up all the measurements! They provided us with formers, to the brickies delight, but the windows that followed were different to the formers! Nightmare It all turned out all right in the end and they did not request our final instalment Would we do it again? Never! The worst bit - living in a caravan on site. We stayed on a local campsite for a while and that was much better. You felt that you had left "work" and "come home". That would apply, I think, if you sited your caravan on a friend's driveway perhaps too? It is the - never leaving the site - that takes its toll. The trouble was that the campsite charged £20 per night and the muddy site was free...... Another tip for newbies reading this. When the plans get changed as they surely will - throw away the old ones!!!

Oh yes! We are in a caravan at the moment and have endured Eunice, Franklin and Gertrude. The only blessing is that they dry the mud up! But being as the month of February is known, locally, as "February Fill Dyke - be it black or be it white", the dried mud does not last long

And all of us still building have, probably, built through the wettest winter on record, Brexit and Covid!

Well, I thought I was insured your honour What I took out turns out to be public liability insurance. I may just ring up and check though because the last time I spoke to them they increased the value of the insured property in line with current costings. Turns out the "nice bloke" roofer is coming round to fix it down free of charge At the same time he is going to quote us for replacing the membrane with lead.

Thanks folks. Next question is - house insurance?

We have solar panels fitted and underneath them is some flashing that looks like a rubber type material. It has lifted and is flapping in the wind. They have been fitted about a year or so. I called the roofer who, in conjunction with the solar panel supplier, fitted the panels. He looked at the problem and stated "that's the trouble with that stuff". He has said he will return to sort it out. Chris has said to him that it would be better done in lead and he agreed and offered to price up the job for us. He is, generally, a good bloke. Where do we stand over liability? I asked the roofer and he says he thinks we are not covered from the solar panel side because it is "storm damage". We have public liability insurance on the site but not any other cover. Funnily enough I was just researching house and contents insurance. Too late