Russell griffiths

Have you looked into the porotherm clay blocks, used a lot in other European countries, a new build local to me used them. they use a thin joint mortar system.

185m is not big enough for what you are trying to build, ok for the family house but not big enough for the outlaws as well. get planning for a nice regular 4 bed and sell it, buy a better plot.

I would not use aircrete blocks if you gave them away free.

Don’t be a plonker. you will end up with something you don’t want. take the purchase price, add on £12000 and pretend it has planning for exactly what you want. happy now or still pissed off. the system is shit, but so are most things in England. all my reports and fighting cost me £14600 I know the figure to the penny. felt like giving up a few times. if it was easy all the gutless dreamers would be doing it.

I thought up your way it was iron brew in ya pipes.

I said it before going to say it again you need to stop work and get a set of drawings showing what you are actually building you should have a block n beam diagram showing the location of all the beams, they should have been designed to allow any load bearing walls to come up and through the floor. they will also have been designed to avoid any soil pipes coming upwards. I think a bit of cold bridging is the least of your problems stop now make a plan and work to it, or charge on with no plans and find out what sort of cock up you end up with.

Use a magnetic level, stoopid

List from my memory power in power out to garage power out to sewage plant power in from solar power out to car charger telecoms in cat 6 out to electric gates power out to electric gates cat 6 out for cameras power out front garden lights power out back garden lights ASHP flow out ashp flow return, could both be in single insulated duct power to ASHP cat 6 to ASHP so 13-14 ish without thinking too hard. plus all your poo pipes. lots could change in your situation, sewage plant might be near the garage so could take power from there, the car charger could be on the side of the garage as well.

Cor, your well posh in Bristol, Tesco finest, show off

@Pocsteryou can get various products for sealing porous ground, one is called bentonite, it is used for sealing up voids in clay when used to build the sides of a lake if it’s leaking. I wonder if you can find something that you can dril a few holes in the ground and pump it in under pressure to find its way to the gaps and cracks. just a thought.

Power out for sewage treatment plant if you have one. don’t mix power and internet. don’t worry about multiple ducts, if you need them that’s it, you need them. all power in and power out can come up below the consumer unit, I have about 6 ducts there, then 3-4 more in the plant room for water in and ASHP in and out. you will need power out to the ASHP plus maybe cat 6 to control it. Do a sketch of the house and some lines on it of every device inside and out and how each device will get either power or water to it or from it or both. I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up with 20 odd penetrations in the slab, don’t worry just get them in, and run a spare just in case.

I don’t think that will be far out, but it depends on the quantity and the difficulty. 10m in a straight run will be priced one way 10m of little short sections with corners and returns will be priced very differently, then you have the pain in the arse factor to price in. then how busy the contractor is. then he might just not like you and stick a bit more on for that. 😂 just prepare yourself for some shocking prices when you get going.

What would you list as its drawbacks.

You wouldn’t do it like that nowadays, stone houses were built using natural stone as it was readily available and cheap. it is now very expensive, unless like a lad on here @scottishjohn you have a building plot on an old quarry site. you will need to build the house in some other form and add the stone just as a decorative exterior finish. you could do a cavity wall with stone as the outer skin, or icf or timberframe both with stone externally. but don’t for a minute think it will be a cheaper option, unless you can find somebody with a lot of stone they don’t want. the quarry by me wants £200 for a bulk bag of it, which doesn’t do many metres at all. then you have the labour cost of finding a good team to lay it.

Better to be too big than too small, just adjust it when the velux gets fitted.

You won’t need a report, you just draw it on your plans and state the species and say it’s being retained. then do a landscaping plan showing all new planting and hard landscaping.

Where’s the drainage???

I think because your build method has changed you need to stop work for a couple of days and get a few drawings done, they only need to be sketches, but it will give the builder the chance to explain what he proposes, it will give you chance to come on here and show us, and it will give you chance to understand how it will all tie together. those two pictures you put up. the second one with the green damp proof membrane is exactly what you have. he’s not put the dolly blocks in the gaps below the blocks to cap the ends off yet and the end row of blocks are not in, but that’s pretty much what you have. your trench blocks will be underground and will always be wet, that’s pretty standard.

How can we tell without a picture or a set of plans is it just 2 sq m or 200. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I didn’t think you had any trees, I thought you just removed them.

Yes you can appeal the placing of a tpo.

I haven’t read anywhere on here that planning has been approved. just applied for.

The first way to save money would be to stop buying very expensive rubbish logs from the local garage. find a good supply and buy a 2m load tipped loose.

Expect some more expensive foundations on the tree side. if you take an imaginary point 10 metres from the trunk and say to yourself that inside that area is a complete no go zone then you will know what your dealing with. no excavation for pipes or cables no driving of plant or equipment no storage of materials no fuel storage just treat it as the wild natural bit of garden then base your plans around that, then you shouldn’t get any nasty surprises. if when you do your application you note that the tree has a TPO and you have designed your build to be sympathetic to this it could win you some brownie points.

What we haven’t seen is a plan, show us a layout of what you want to build. I will stand by my thoughts that a smaller door would work. or go even smaller and a large picture window. has the SE said anything about supporting this beam.