patp

Can't do the technology I am afraid. It is an oblong room with a door at opposite diagonal corners. The through route would mean a diversion around the island. Our main reason for wanting one was so that it could be a reduced height area for me. One designer has told us he can reduce the height of the whole run of units so the island may not be so desirable now.

The above is what we have at the moment.

Are there accounts all the same do you think? I used to work in a Builders Merchants and there were trade accounts and trade accounts. It all came down to how much the client was spending. I chose to open a cash account with our local builders merchant. It was my opinion that cash is king in the building trade. Some large builders run up three months worth of credit before de camping to a rival where they do the same thing. Only when all accounts have been suspended do they pay their balance off.

Our new kitchen is almost 6m x about 5m with a window at each end. The doors are at diagonal corners to each other. When designers have come they have nearly all wanted to give us an L shape kitchen. When we mention an island they seem a bit puzzled but put it in. When we mention a U shape kitchen there is a sharp intake of breath and one said "that is a lot of cupboards!" There will be a dining table at one end so we thought a U shape at the other end with an island would be sensible. One or two people have told us that they do not like their relative's island as they have to "keep walking round it" to get things. We are not really cooks so do we need an island or would the tradition triangle work better i.e. sink under window, fridge on side wall and cooker on other side wall. Any thoughts?

Has anyone, as a Self Builder, managed to open an account with Howdens? I wondered if I could type up a letter head and some compliment slips. Chris is a plumber by trade but no longer trading so not really a big fib.

The flow screed contractor tells me we will need three diamond discs to go with the str701.

We need to hire a machine to sand off the top hard crust on our poured liquid concrete screed. The instructions from the firm that poured tell us to grind it off with a diamond floor sander. The only one I can find to hire should not be used in an indoor environment due to carbon monoxide fumes. Would it be safe, do we think, if all the doors and windows are open? There is no ceiling yet. It is a bungalow.

Ah! Thanks for that. I would have found out in due course but I can count it out now.

Don't you just hate it when they try to cover up? Just own up and get on with rectifying it!

Moving on a bit to worktops. I seem to remember being told that Granite is not all it cracks up to be (excuse the pun). Does it stain or chip or something? There was a long running thread where one contributor owned up to buying cheap laminate and changing it when necessary.

Following. Just started on the "find a good kitchen planner/designer/fitter" route. I am, also, only 5ft tall. One tip I can give is to factor in an island or run of base cupboards that have the drawers removed and the worktop placed on at just cupboard height. We did this around a corner in our old kitchen and put the hob on it. I loved it! At last able to easily lift heavy pans. In this new kitchen I am going to ask for similar but maybe the island could be where we take out drawers and fit the worktop at a working height for me.

We have left over 16mm pipe left over from underfloor heating. Can we use it for plumbing purposes?

Following.

So when you call it it hard flooring what is it made of? I love the look of it and I see they do it in a parquet pattern!

Which Karndean did you have?

Would this be slippery for dogs? We are not supposed, now, to let dogs walk on slippery floors as it wears their joints out. Also does anyone have rugs or carpets? I am thinking that I could have a runner of carpet down the hall. This would minimise noise and help stop the dog from slipping. In the lounge perhaps a large rug/carpet.

Well @Grian what did you decide and are you happy with it?

Not sure what area you are in but we bought our ASHP cylinder etc from Huws Gray (Ridgeons around here). They sent our plans off to the maker, Joule, who drew us a detailed plan. The ASHP is, we believe, a Samsung rebranded by Joule to sell with their cylinder. We went with a complete system (no need for a buffer tank) that looks a lot neater and is much easier to install! We got the idea from the National Self Build Centre course for ASHP installation at Swindon.

We went on a self builders course run by the Potton people. One of the things he kept repeating was .............".and then book two weeks in Torremolinos ". We thought a little mini break after every major stage sounded a really good idea............. And then came Covid When all hell breaks out on site, and we are tearing our hair out, we open a bottle of wine and say - "isn't it nice here in Torremolinos?"

How long have you lived in the new build area? Our big advantage was that we have lived in the same village as the plot for 40 years. We knew people who knew people. I would not have said that before we started but that is how it turned out. A local farmer had, in another life, been a top notch digger driver for the big builders like Persimmon. My hairdresser told me this fact. A neighbour in the village was doing a self build (a huge house) we got chatting and he ( owner of a civil engineering firm) told us that his amazing bricklayer was looking to retire soon but would take on a bungalow if one came along. Yes, we are building a bungalow The local builders merchant has been a good source of information. One of the salesmen is a neighbour and he told us about a really good roofer - Keith. Now Keith should be a project manager because, not only is he an excellent roofer and fitter of solar panels but he recommended brilliant scaffolders, great carpenters, great solar panel supplier and electrician but he sorted all these trades out for us and had them all arrive on site on time. He even chased up the builders merchant if they were holding things up. The only major problem we had was the windows. As rookies we ordered them early and left the wrong drawings with them. They should have noticed, apparently, but didn't. We ended up relying on our brickie to build us out of a hole. The joiners learned a lesson for them to get the drawings from the architect not the client. All of our trades rely on word of mouth among the community here. It is a rural area and word will spread fast if someone is unreliable or shoddy in their work. We have been building through the wettest winter in a hundred years, covid and the finding of a four inch water main slap bang under the plot. The building is now water tight and we need to sell our existing property to continue. Bit nervous, now, reading the above experiences of selling in order to finish the build.

Thanks guys Blooming expensive this dream home thingy.

The roof is on and windows are in, electrics, plumbing and heating in progress We borrowed from a family member to get to this stage to save having to sell our house and live in our caravan in the winter. We now need to decide whether to wait until the house sells to fund the next stage or to borrow some more now and be getting on with it in the better weather. So, any ideas how much, roughly, the plastering, carpentry, decorating, floor covering (possibly parquet), kitchen, utility and bathroom (1) and two en suites is likely to cost? Just to the nearest 5K will do. We are not talking high end kitchens and bathrooms. We have quite modest tastes but will not be buying rubbish. Wild guesses are acceptable 167 sq m bungalow.

Nothing like that on computer. We have huge paper drawings though! they show what has been described above. In words that is - A solid floor built up off the ground. Than it shows a layer of DPM followed by a layer of insulation, then a layer of membrane. The take off, that we had done by the builders merchant, shows this Polythene membrane Blue Standard Duty 300mu 100 M2 x 2 rolls Polythene Membrane Green tinted Standard 125mu 4 x 50m rolls x 1 Foil Faced Rigid PIR Insulation Board 2400 x 1200 x 20 mm x 4 Ready Mix Concrete 18 m3 Foil faced Rigid PIR Insulation Board 2400 x 1200 x 150 mm x 64 We have already laid one polythene membrane under the poured concrete floor. The walls have been built and the roof is on with windows due next week. Hope this helps.

Yay! Thank you