vivienz

I'm delighted to say that I found some glazed ones that are even nicer and no more expensive, after a bit of haggling.

Whether the slate is local or e.g. Spanish, surely that is still a traditional material? To my eyes, that's not the same as local. As it's the appearance that appears to be the important thing, if your substitute looks the same and is a traditional material, surely that satisfied the condition? It might be worth finding out what the lead time is on the local stuff - if it's ages, you might be able to say that you need to use a substitute because it can be obtained more quickly and, thus, make better progress towards completion.

Welcome, Adam. Whereabouts in Dorset are you? I'm building near Sturminster Newton.

I think the simplest way to do it is for everything to be in your parents' names so that they have the security of knowing that their home is really their own but you pay the bills. Once everything is done, tot up the costs and make note of it as an unsecured loan against their estate, with an agreed interest rate, repayable on second death. The security thing can be a big deal for anyone, but especially older people who no longer have the capacity to earn well if something goes wrong. It also protects them should you die first. My brothers a I put a similar arrangement in place for our mum some years back but instead of having an interest rate, the amount to be repaid was expressed as a percentage of the property value as mum put a fair bit of her own money into the property.

I'd give at least £30 for it if Mr Poldark were a neighbour. Seriously, though, what a stunning view. The far west of Cornwall has a very special light quality.

What a lovely son you are.

It depends on how difficult the developer could make life for the friend. If not very, then I would feel under no obligation unless legally required to do so.

Only 101+ questions? I wouldn't limit yourself too early! +1 to the photos, too. Especially views that we can drool over. And welcome, of course.

I'm using Tier System panel cladding on my build. I'm afraid I don't know about ICF but it will onto timber frame, steel frame and traditional build. Sydenhams are supplying mine at a decent price so it's worth a look. The manufacturer has been very helpful with the QS as well. I will post details later - a bit tricky from my phone.

Thanks. I suspect it's to do with the weight of the stone panels and to make sure that the carrier board is appropriate for the glue. That said, Sydenhams have been very competitive with the price of the stone panels themselves, but I still like to check these things. The price from Sydenhams is for the board and adhesive supplied by the manufacturer of the stone panels.

The lower floor and full height wall around the stairwell of our house will be clad with a z-board type product called Tier System. This is made up of stone slips adhered to a board with 'horns' that stick out of diagonally opposite corners of each panel, like this: Sorry about the size of the image! Anyhow, the panels need to be glued/fixed to a carrier board which the manufacturer call 'builders board'. I'm just doing a bit of cross checking on the price I've been quoted, but I'm not sure if there is a different generic name for the product so I can do a bit of research. Does anyone know what it's otherwise called, if there is a different name?

You can get windows put into sectional garage doors.

I wish! I think the unglazed tiles may be okay as the splashback is behind a sink and work surface rather than the hob, which is on the island. I shall carry on looking though, as these were just one example of the colour/pattern type I'm looking at. I dare say I will change my mind again before I'm done.

This is the problem with looking at pretty pictures of gorgeous kitchens that nobody is ever going to cook in!

I've found some lovely metallic effect porcelain tiles that I would like to use as a splashback between the wall and base units in the kitchen of the new place. To my knowledge, I've never used unglazed tiles before, apart from cheap quarry tiles. Are there any drawbacks that I should be aware of before going down this route?

Thanks, chaps, I believe I'm sorted and that the person who told me that there is a stop on manufacture was talking cobblers. I've spoken to some very helpful people at an outfit called Enfield Doors Ltd who manufacture fire doors and I'll be using them. They even offer an express service for a 10% bribe, the door comes ready hung in the frame, delivered. The door itself will have 2 coats of primer, ready for painting. Phew!

Ringing around like mad this morning to see if I can get hold of something. I can live with a longer lead time as long as I can get some sort of well-sealed door in place that will be sufficient for the air test. I don't believe that it's a custom size, the opening is 900 x 2100.

Okay, the situation goes from bad to worse. I've just spoken to a UK manufacturer of fire doors and it seems that there is a general stop order from the UK government on fire doors right now as they are reviewing how they are manufactured and tested. Bugger!

A heads up on this one for anyone looking to source a fire door in the near future. I need an FD30 external door to go between my utility and attached garage. Aside from price (about which I have been sadly deluded!), the best lead time I've been quoted so far is 10 to 12 weeks. I haven't contacted many suppliers yet, but it's not looking promising. I'm going to see if there is a work-around in fitting a standard door with the right seals so that my air test can go ahead, then replace with a fire door before the building is signed off, but I need to check on this first. Either way, I didn't see this one coming!

Interesting, also, that MBC appear to be quoting on the windows. This wasn't an option when I signed with them. Do you know who they are using as their supplier?

What a terrific project. Keep us posted. Images and photos are very welcome.

Today, I had my site meeting with the line manager of the local wayleave officer for SSE, to further discuss the situation regarding high voltage wires oversailing my property, all of which I mentioned in a previous post. The meeting went well and AJ's line manager was as different as she could be from AJ and the whole thing was conducted in a civilised manner. The resolution is that OH and I will grant an easement to SSE for the wires to be allowed to pass over our property in perpetuity. In exchange for this, whatever work is necessary to make the wires safe will be carried out by SSE at their cost. The legal work will start almost straight away, and understandably so from SSE's position, as they want to be sure they aren't being messed around and I have no problem with this. I understand that the work may take some time if it does involve seeking planning permission and other administrative matters, but again, this is fine. This has been a very good outcome for what could have been a difficult matter. Happy days.

All looking great. How long do you think it will take the timber frame to go up?

Before we get into the events of the day, I have a little quiz question for readers of the blog. - What is the connection between my build in rural north Dorset and a mystical character from the legend of King Arthur? Answer at the end of today's entry. All will become clear. Today was another busy day on site, with 3 main areas of activity - flat roof, pitched roof and windows. Let's start with the windows, as they are (mostly) looking great. Both of the big lift and slide windows in the living room area are in now and quite a bit of the upstairs glazing is in as well. The flat roof guys changed their work order to get the membrane from the balconies and parapet gullies overlapped on the window thresholds so that the windows could be installed on top of them. This will allow the sarnafil membrane to then be folded up slightly against the window frame and give a shield against any water that tries to force its way in under the window frame. There's a bit of debris on top from the window fitting, but you can see how the membrane extends inside from the balcony. This is the west facing bedroom first thing this morning. And here is the west facing lift and slide window, looking west down towards the woods. Note the view of the woods, which are in a slight valley formed by the River Lydden. It is relevant for a later comment. Unfortunately, all didn't go to plan for the window installers today. The final window in the living room area faces south towards my neighbours' cottages and is a four pane fixed window. As the bracket was being screwed into the frame, this happened: The window installers looked very troubled by this, not surpringly. It's the inner pane of glass that has shattered and you can see that it radiates out from an obvious stress point. Stepping aside from the obvious downside of this, the very small amount of my brain devoted to aesthetics allows me to think that in a strange kind of way, it looks rather fetching. Then the far greater logical part of my brain tells the aesthetic side to get a grip as we have a broken window. So, what happened next, I hear you ask. Well, the window was put in situ and fitted along with the other 3 panels and Norrsken have ordered up a replacement pane and internal bead. They are, however, up against the clock on this one, as it can take several weeks for the replacement to arrive and MBC are now due back on 5th November, by which time all my windows must be fully installed and as they need to be in order for the air test to be carried out. Tick, tick, tick. Breakages aside, I'm delighted with the windows. I know that it's possible to go to the ends of the earth in research and expense to seek ever thinner frames and other features and that my windows are certainly not the most minimalist products out there. However, given the expanse of glass compared to the width of the frames, bearing in mind that plasterboard will reduce the visual appearance of these in due course, I think that the frame:glass ratio is more than pleasing enough for me. Also, the profile is very flat, both inside and out, and combined with the washed wood interior finish, I am content. Tomorrow will be very interesting as the installation team have quite the challenge ahead of them when they fit the floor to upper ceiling window that is in front of the stairwell. It's one heck of a piece of glazing, so I think we shall all be holding our breath then. Moving out of the building and up to the roof areas, both roofing teams have worked their socks off today. It was hot work as today's weather was warm/hot, sunny and lovely. Let's start with the flat roof guys, who have been very busy with their protractors getting all the framework in place to make the capping that sits on top of the parapet, ready to receive the membrane that will wrap over it. you may recall that due to the MBC construction methods, I have a cold roof. This means that it needs to be ventilated, and this can be a little tricky when you need to have a membrane on the flat roof and it needs to go over a parapet. Fortunately, I visited the build of @Weebles a little while back now and they had exactly this set up, so being the diligent researcher I am, I did nothing more after that and just shamelessly stole their idea. And their flat roof people. Why re-invent the wheel? From the firring pieces and OSB that I pictured on yesterday's blog entry, more of the membrane went down over the main part of the stairwell roof: The flat roof guys had to put in the upstand that goes up onto the pitch and they've been measuring and sawing as much as they have putting down membrane today. Here's the framework they made ready for OSB to go on top and form the cap over the parapet: As well as forming the cap over the parapet, this area also needs a drain for all the water that will come down from the pitched roof, and this is a hole drilled through the parapet and a drain liner inserted through, then the inside will be coated and sealed with the membrane. Prior to putting the membrane on, the OSB is rollered with a contact adhesive (red), then the membrane is heated to activate the glue. This is where they are bringing in the membrane from the parapet gully to run under the window frame, working ahead of the window installers. In their current allocation of time, I have the flat roof guys for one more day, so I'm not sure how much more we will get done, perhaps the remaining balcony, which would be good, as the balustrades are going in next week. And so onto the pitched roof. The pitched roof team were badly delayed yesterday as the tiles that were coming from Bradfords in Yeovil were supposed to have been on a morning delivery but didn't arrive until 3pm. They made a good start yesterday but have gone at an amazing pace today. They've done all they can on the east/south faces for now, pending the PV installation. This picture was taken just after 2pm and you can see that this side of the roof is still getting a good amount of sun, and had been since sunrise. At the same time as that pitch being tiled, the guys were also working on the long north face of the roof, leaving gaps for both the velux and the MVHR penetrations. This is early afternoon: And by the end of this afternoon, they had got this far: That's about it on the roofing today, but the scaffolding is also being used as a storage area. As the telehandler was on site yesterday, as much heavy stuff as possibly was lifted close to its final position yesterday, and the solar panels are stacked up there now. My panels are black on black (not quite the title of the AC/DC track) and from LG. As these things go, I think they're a nice looking piece of kit: And so now to the question I posed at the start of today's entry. There are a few mystical characters in the legend of King Arthur, but the one I have in mind is the wizard, Merlin. I hope you're enjoying the blog, guys, and wasn't it a lovely day for buzzing a self build in north Dorset?! Let me explain to, by now, confused buildhubbers. I've mentioned that there seems to be a definite airborne interest in my build, mainly stemming from RNAS Yeovilton and up until this week, it was predominantly the Navy Lynx helicopters. I got an upgrade this week and having nearly peed my pants with a very low buzz from a Hercules yesterday, we had an interesting buzz from a Navy Merlin helicopter this afternoon. I need to give this a bit of context, though. The Merlin is a big bugger with its three engines and gives out a very distinct bass thud that doesn't quite make your liver tremble in the way that a chinook does, but it's not lacking in long wave frequencies. So let me take you back to the view that I asked you to make note of earlier, looking west over the field and down towards Bagber Wood. I couldn't hear Ride of the Valkyrie, but there was undoubtedly a whiff of Apocalypse Now as I heard the distant but increasingly loud thud of a helicopter from the direction of the wood, before it rose up from the dip of the valley, over the wood and well and truly buzzed us, flying low and slow over the house. Nice to see you guys, keep up the good work, but honestly, you'll get a better view from the ground. Victor Zulu signing off until tomorrow.

I had a quick chat with my BCO today to confirm that an FD30 fire door is sufficient for the door between my utility room and garage. The garage isn't part of the thermal envelope so as well as fire resistance, the door also needs to be insulated and be able to be locked like a front door. I've been browsing online but are there any pointers of where to look for these? The BCO also mumbled something about the kind of boarding I will need to use in the garage. Unfortunately there was a lot of noise in the house when we spoke so I didn't catch all of it. Again, can anyone enlighten me on the requirements for this?