vivienz

Okay, so I know that I promised another blog post soon way back at the beginning of December but it was busy on the build. Crazy busy, details to follow. As for Christmas, well, that didn't turn out as planned, and I had planned it so well. Both OH and I were proper knackered by the time we got into December - me with the build, OH running our business by himself, so we planned some quality R&R by running away to Gran Canaria on Christmas eve for a week. A fly and flop, turn ourselves into zombies for a week then return all bright eyed and bushy tailed for the new year. You just know this isn't going to end well, don't you? You'd be right. 2 days after we got to Gran Canaria, Paul started to feel off-form, then he felt crap, then he felt like death would be a more comfortable option. Turns out he developed real flu, not man flu, but real, proper, can't get out of bed to pick up a £20 note that someone has dropped on the floor flu. Not great, but it got worse. On Thursday, I learned the hard way why all-inclusive buffet style food has such a poor reputation and I mulled on this whilst turning myself inside out and wondering whether, in my sickly state, I had the necessary co-ordination to take care of everything with only one WC and no handy plastic bowl available. Thankfully, I did and whilst recovering the following morning I thought that the worst was over. You just know this is going to get worse, don't you? It did. We just about managed to get home (thankfully flying into Bournemouth) with OH in an increasingly sickly state. Ever the prima donna and insisting on trumping my food poisoning, flu became something between bronchitis and pneumonia and OH was a very sickly boy to the extent that tomorrow will be his first day back at work. I banned myself from the build for a few days in the new year as I'd caught a cold, but I couldn't be self indulgent about it given my patient was worse. So, if there's any justice in the world, we should be good to go for the next and final stint on the build but I'm all to aware that life isn't fair, so we shall see. Enough of plague and pestilence, let's get onto the plastering bit. Actually, I'll come back to that because although in real time we are mid way through the skim now, a vast amount has gone on since early December when the cellulose was blown in as first fix got started in earnest and at a break-neck pace. The plastering has only started in earnest in the new year and I'd like to cover the first fix stuff that happened in December, given that this is the heart and circulatory system that will make the building function as a comfortable home. We received our planning permission just over 1 year ago and I already knew largely how I wanted the building to function, as a result of reading so much here on BH. About the same time as PP was granted a BH contact was looking for consultancy work and I offered him some on this build. Although he had no prior experience in this area all mostly went okay and plumbing and heating systems were integrated into the build plan and were executed satisfactorily until the second fix and final stages. The nature of the first fix work means that it's hard to photograph the amount of effort that goes into it, but there is plenty. Initially, the team is focussing on getting all the MVHR pipes through the metal web joists and, in time, insulating them. Then there are all the underfloor heating pipes to be run through to the right places and the manifolds. We're having UFH upstairs as well as downstairs - the ground floor manifold is in the very useful cupboard under the stairs, the upper one in the loft space along with all sorts of other interesting things. Here's a nice selection of the MVHR pipes, some insulated, as well as the clipped up UFH pipes that are insulated where they are tied together and in contact with one another. And here's a close up of the insulated UFH pipes. Thought has gone into how air will flow around the building with the aid of the MVHR system. In particular, in the large open plan lounge/diner/kitchen area, and how to ensure that none but the stinkiest cooking smells make it out of the kitchen area. As a result, there are long runs of the MVHR pipework leading to plenums at the far end of the lounge area where air will flow into the room. The exhaust pipes for this area are (almost) directly over the hob on the island at the far end, so the airflow should ensure that all the cooking smells get sucked up and out over the kitchen area. Here's a photo of the inlet plenums either side of the window at the far end of the living area. Originally, the architect designed the entire upstairs to have vaulted ceilings, including the landing. Whilst MBC were still drawing up their engineering drawings, we asked for the landing area to be boarded out to create a loft area as this would be an ideal space to stuff a load of plant, including the MVHR manifolds. On reflection, this was also a good decision as I think the proportions of that area would have looked very odd and felt like a vertical tunnel due to the height of the ceiling at that point (4.7m). The MVHR manifolds have been neatly attached to racked out sections in the loft area, making sure that room is left for the upstairs UFH manifold and, in time, the PV inverters. One note with the benefit of hindsight is that having an MVHR unit directly over habitable rooms, in our case bedroom and ensuite, should only be considered if the unit is going to be thoroughly sound-proofed. Ours was never given the promised sound-proofing measures and it's hellishly noisy without them, but we will be rectifying this soon. Here's the loft area back in December: And the one on the west wall. You can also see the UFH manifold and the black cables from the PV panels that will be connected to the inverters. There were also the soil pipes to tackle and these were planned to get sufficient fall on them as they came through the web joists: For anyone tackling a similar build, I can't stress too much the advantage of having your systems people involved from the very start. It means that any holes that need to be put through steel beams to accommodate pipework can be designed in and made at the fabrication stage. Even then, things can go awry and a couple of the steel penetrations were either off kilter or not in the right place, but the majority were where they needed to be and made life much easier. An example of this kind of thing is the stud wall between the landing and the en-suite for the master bedroom. In order to be able to hide the various pipes that travel up to the loft space, MBC were asked to make this into a twin stud wall and specified the depth so that it would carry the pipework. Here it is. A bit tricky to see, but you can easily see the benefit of being able to conceal this bulky pipework into the fabric of the build. Speaking of concealing things, all the loos in the house are wall-hung with the cistern concealed in the wall. All you see is the loo and the flush plate, and so the framework needs to be put in before walls are boarded and plastered. Here's one such frame: I'm on a bit of a catch up now so stay tuned for the next exciting episodes of ponds, brise soleil and vertical slate cladding. Ta ta for now.

Yes, indeed, I saw @Bitpipe's thread, but I think we may just use IBCs above ground next to the greenhouses. It's only for the fruit and vegetable patches, so they can be hidden away easily and no need to connect into the main surface water drainage system then. We dug a very large hole in the ground in December for a pond and I'm getting to the stage where I don't want to see too many more!

Mike - you're welcome to pop over to see my garage doors, if it helps.

Wotcha! No PB in the garage yet - a job for the next couple of weeks. The door will be braced and then detached, pb and insulation applied, then door re-attached.

Kitchens can always be replaced at a later date, but nothing you can do (or not much) about the groundworks cost. I had been contemplating upgrading my worksurface and kitchen island surface but have stuck with my cheaper original choice to keep costs down by about £2.5k. We were also thinking about an underground rainwater tank but I reckon that will cost about £3k all in once muckaway, labour and plant hire are taken into account, and you can buy an awful lot of water for that, so an indulgence for another day.

Holy cow, that mud picture! Glad you're still with us. Hmm, that groundworks figure - I reckon that's about where I'd be if I'd gone with a reduced dig rather than piles for my foundations. Getting rid of clay is such an expensive business.

Good spot on the measurements. Always better to work with an adviser who actually understands what they are charging for advice on.

Whatever anyone says, size does matter. Better to find out before you've built and got PP than to try and stuff that dream kitchen into a room that isn't big enough.

FWIW, we have a passive slab AND piled foundations. Although we don't have a high water table, we are on highly shrinkable dessicated clay down to 12m and beyond. We could have managed without piles but then would have had to reduce dig to about 3m and backfill - based on my now known cost of muckaway, this would have cost in the order of £40k +. Instead, we had a reduced dig to 800mm, then mini piles. The mini piles were put in in one week and the muckaway was far more modest as well as being considerable cheaper on the groundworker labour and plant hire. We also had the UFH pipes buried in the slab at the time it was done and the heating zones were planned in advance to allow this to be done.

My garage has yet to be boarded but the door was fitted a few weeks ago. Is @Hobbiniho says, the various tracks and fittings can be propped up during the boarding then re-attached afterwards.

Welcome, congratulations, and brace yourselves. As part of your research, get some quotes on the cost of muckaway. We're building on clay and as it's hard to get rid of, sufficiently expensive to be taken into account in your initial budget.

Our first application to the VOA was refused, even though there was no electricity connection and holes in the roof. We had to wait until it was demolished and send photos before they would remove it from the list.

An optimistic question but does anyone know if the paint used for a new build is eligible for a VAT reclaim?

That's a good point, @Russell griffiths My windows were all unloaded and then the upper ones put onto the top lift of scaffolding using a telehandler. The big windows are far heavier than any of the twin wall cassettes were. I guess the only possible issue is whether they need a crane to offload any steel beams.

* Oh, go on, don't keep us hanging!

Apologies, I explained myself poorly. I can get hold of an oversized walnut worktop at reasonable cost, but I was wondering what, if any, the alternatives are.

I'm having trouble making the final decision on my kitchen worktops. The kitchen island will be about 1800mm deep (2 standard 90cm units) and 2300mm long, which is limiting my choice of surfaces. I don't want granite or quartz and had been considering solid walnut, but I do like the look of some of the composite surfaces. As far as I can see, the maximum width that these come in is 1400mm - not enough for my island. - if the composite is joined, how obvious is the join? - how durable would the join be? I'm thinking about whether it would move after a few years and make a ridge along the length - are there any alternatives (not standard laminate) that are worth a look?

FWIW, the water ingress i was getting was only upstairs and now that the cladding up there is on, it's 99% there. I still need to get a flashing between the vertical slate and the window but the result so far is satisfactory.

Oooh, that is very different. Far greener, less grey. I can offer no advice, I'm afraid, only sympathy.

1 week off, draw breath and rest properly, then the final push before all the other stuff that needs doing next year.

Wow! That looks wonderful; I'm not surprised that your parents are pleased.

I'm waiting for a reply from an Irish (ROI) supplier of airtight tape. The price advertised on their website is very competitive, so I will report back once I get a response.

I'm amazed you had enough daylight to take photos - it's like permanent twilight here at the moment.

It's an expensive one. We had no bats in residence but the roif space of the old bungalow we demolished was used as an occasional summer roost. We had to have 2 bat surveys and dismantle the roof by hand, supervised by an licensed ecologist. All of that came to about 3k by the time we were done and none of it was of any benefit to the bats.