ToughButterCup

@Jilly , here's a schematic for our COLD roof - it's flat - not sure yours is, but the principle is the same. Imagine the illustration to be a cross section of your vaulted ceiling.... The image shows how to allow for ventilation, and where the VCL (dashed line at the bottom of our PIR ) is. (Copyright Sam Edge, Architect) There would be an equivalent breather gap at the other end of the roof ( in this image - the right hand side - not illustrated here)

Thats the best bit of advice I've ever had ( given to me by @nod ) . A Story Rod is useful all over the build and throughout the time of the build. It's such a simple, super accurate way of measuring and fitting: I'm going to use one today to mark out the support holes for a heated mirror. I have a ' good one ' and several gash (throw away) ones. I repaint the good one every now and then: it gets loads of markings on it fairly quickly, and painting over old marks is a simple quick way of 'starting again; The key thing is - have one reference mark - doesn't matter what it is, just one , thats both easily visible, and immovable. And measure everything from that. Can't see it becuase there's now a wall in the way: make yourself a new one.

I was tempering the wind to the shorn lamb. So to speak.

Cheerful bloke that @Declan52 in'he ? Trouble is , he's bang on right. 5 years in, and I'm just about used to it. This is the most important thing he said.... Our walls ( well two of them - because by then I'd sacked the builder) bear more resemblance to a propellor than a wall. Those faulty walls caused the following headaches Increased costs in respect of; first floor joists (up to 15mm variance in some cases cladding ( hours of setting up the battens correctly) plastering ( found a magician plasterer who corrected most of the errors If the builder had spent even one day more getting the lines and levels accurate, I would have saved a good deal of money. I rationalise it by saying that I have learned a great deal from the errors - and indeed I have. But Twinkle Toes indoors could have had a better kitchen , I could have had a couple of weeks holiday etc, etc. I think they call it a steep learning curve.

You bad men. Bad bad bad men. Anyway I am not allowed to delete threads anymore am I.....

Installing an electrically heated towel rail is usually simple. Unless you throw the fittings away and then burn them and their packaging. Bummer. At least I didn't throw the electric heating element away. Tiredness does more than kill. It makes ya do stoopid stuff. This is the radiator I want to fix onto a PB wall, and since I havent got the fixings any more , I was going to try to do it with these proprietory fixings ( trade name forgotten , but 90Kg per fixing claimed in PB - more than enough) But this is the threaded attachment hole in the radiator - which has a blanked off end. Not only that, the hole is M8 I think, one size bigger than the fixings (above) I have to hand. Damn. The studs behind the PB are not in line with the fixings on the rad. If they were, it'd be fixed by now. Before I take the PB off and mount noggins behind where the fixings will be, I thought I'd ask for advice please .....

Welcome. Planning: the core of it all. And planning means lists. And lists mean following stuff up. Work out how best for you to do that, and you have it cracked. Well, bar buying walk on glazing in error. ?

How about some candles? Seriously? Yes. Buy some nice candle sconces, a few tea lights: the candle light is diffused by the increase humidity. Lovely effect. Sooooo much cheaper.

Thanks very much @BobAJob. I did work that day (the one on which they fixed the ridge tiles.) I will pop up and check in the next few days. Going back into my google photos account - as often happens, I find I didn't take enough photos of the roof going on . I do know (because of advice from @ProDave) that we overlapped the felt from one face over the ridge to the other side. (I cut it to length). Thanks. I will get up there as soon as there's a weather window , take some photos and post here. Thanks once again for your comments. Very valuable indeed. Ian

Excellent. Welcome. In terms of self-building (rather than marketing), how might low carbon materials help us in terms of improved performance and reduced cost? Some of us have built houses with quite large areas of glass (in my case Gaulhoffer low emissivity triple glazing). How might low carbon materials improve performance and reduce price?

Under the ridge tile there's a corrugated metallic, sticky-backed membrane which extends all the way along the ridge (forgot the trade name) . That provides the waterproofing. But, hint taken. There could be a split in that although I doubt it.

Excellent. It'd be interesting to know how long delivery takes....

Both. You start flat with the intention of making it upright ?

'S Ok on a Friday night innit.....? We're looking at the same issue from different stand points. If everything is setup perfectly, l am sure I can lay 50 sqm. But that's not how the world works. The prep work always takes many times longer than the 'job'. There are many factors to consider. But simply laying blocks accurately, 50 seems about right.

When furst I saw that Russ, I winced and clutched me withers. Ooooooffff.

The one area with more charlatans than any other on our build: piling. Looks like we're exactly the same as you. In brief, £6500 for 64 piles + detailed ground survey £2.5kish. Forgotten the exact ring beam price but roughly £6 (10 by 10 plus a few bits here and there) Have a read : Preparing for quotes Comparing prices fairly Talking to contractors about piling And here's a list of the other stuf wot I writ bout piles. ? The search section of the site is very powerful. Play with it.......

Oooooo, ya shouldn 'ave asked me that.... Depends on who's doing it: experienced team , team of recently trained goons or on yer loansome. how many's doing it what the quality control is like how many blow outs there are With the bitterly hard-won experience I now have - give me just one labouring on gorilla, a smiling sweet young thing to bring me tea and cakes, and I'd do it on my own. Nobody will care more than you do. And I recon that works out at about 50sqm per day laid. Entirely on my own - say 30. Accuracy accuracy accuracy is key. Whassa point of a fast build with bursts because they couldn't give a stuff (I'm not payin'for it am I? ) and walls that look more like a propellor than a wall ?

And to be doing it now: you have my respect and sympathy. Keep going !

Could not agree more. Its a real pain, but speeds up workflow no end, and reduces trip hazards. Here's a broom and shovel story which might lighten up a horrible Friday. Enjoy.

Back again : their German phone number is 0049926153468. The number is not being answered at the moment: and thats because they knock off at 3 on a Friday The website is so badly designed and coded that I think the best you can do is ring them (from Monday 06:30 our time - that far south in Germany, English is likely to be spoken with a strong accent ) . If langauage is an issue, I'll give them a ring for you. BTW, the company's not far our Queens family stomping ground : Coburg

OK, I will poke around on the German site and see if there's any Tech support. Back in 10 minutes.

This page identifies the seller in the UK. Give them a ring. I have had a look on the German site (waermehaus.de) and - putting it mildly - the site is stuck in 2010.

Good plan. From the images, I'd suggest that there's plenty of ventilation as it is.

Waste time on BH. Retirement and getting professionally out of date - oh how I agree. But retirement has its own challenegs too. Mustn't grumble.

Welcome. My name for you will be SirBreathOfFreshAir . I hope you don't mind. Here's why..... I started build five years ago and I've had five years of people - from professionals to Odd Jobbers - who when politely asked in an unthreatening way, cannot explain the simplest things to me. Some have offered barely concealed contempt " Good luck with that mate ", outright denial (a la Donald Trump level ) " Passivhaus stuff is crap" [local TF manufacturer, financed by a famous local footballer], a long meaningful stare. Others simply avoid answering. One or two smile, and with a bit of pride show me. They'll always be welcome on site. I can - to an extent - understand. Their job is not to teach, it's just to do. In other words, encultered learning. They've done it for so long like this or that, that they have forgotten why - and therefore cannot explain. We all do it in our own sectors. The trick is to get them to explain what they know of their own free will. Thats the moment when many realise how much they do know. The underlying processes which contributed to that knowledge is even more deeply hidden. And if you are being paid by the job, the job is - get-it-done-pronto. Explanations? - Couldn't give a stuff mate; now pay me and bye bye. Unless there is a culture in which Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a requirement to continuing practice (i.e. licence to practice), then very few, vanishingly few workers in any sector will care to explain anything to anyone. Which is exactly why Build Hub is so popular. Its the generosity of the Mods, the Foundation Group, the members, to share what they know, and to care about what you so accurately ask. Why? In the research literature in online learning this place is a Community of practice. A safe place where we are expected to share and explain. And that's not easy. We'll be glad of your help.