ToughButterCup

Auto-complete / auto-spellcheck / auto-correct. That's my story, an' I'm stickin' to it

Bingo. That's what the discipline of doing a drawing (above) taught me. [ annotation This C/L matters] Now, what's the crack with the intermediate studs? What matters? How accurate? Mr Harris? Mr Edward - carpenter extraordinary?

I don't know. The other replies point to the importance of the center line of the one stud (vertical) coinciding with both ends of the plasterboard. The gap between the others matter for different reasons (which I have yet to find out about) @Cpd above summarises the main points elegantly. My point is that to the student chippie Centers does not describe the full picture. Centers for most - just not those verticals at the end of the run(s). Cheeky buggers chippies......

Studding, framing, call it what you will has a lovely little trap in it for the unwary doesn't it? Consider the average recently retired so-called academic listening to the chit chat of chippies and the BH Commentatriat (very nice people) The trap is called ' ... centers ...' In any run of vertical timbers set on the bottom plate (timber) of a framed wall, it is traditional to say that the timbers are set at ' ... centers ...' of a certain value: commonly 600 or 400 mm. Liars. Here's why I'm so irritated. The first vertical (let's say the one fastened to a structural wall) labelled A here To set the center of vertical B, you (I am told) measure 600 from the wall. Using 45mm timber, I deduct 22.5mm left and right to Mark the edges of the timber I now have the center-line and both edges of vertical A From there on, I can measure 600mm lines to mark the subsequent C/Ls Why is the first center line marked 600 mm from the wall and not the center-line of timber A ? Eh? Tell me that?

I'm really glad this isn't easy. That's a faff @PeterW - setting the thing up takes too long. Best I have come up with is a Blutak / bubblegum / target. Quick on quick off. That @epsilonGreedy is cheating. Lasers only.

Never mind the make - (mine's a Bosch, woddja expect?) Measuring the length of a piece of timber when it doesn't butt up against a wall or other object is impossible - because the laser overshoots. I bet someone has come up with a creative way round that problem. Well, I hope they have. When I can't stick my thumbnail in the way of the laser beam, I've taken to tacking a framing bracket to the end of the timber I want to measure. Or pushing the end of the piece of timber I want to measure up against a wall. And always double check with a tape measure. Cumbersome Have you got a better way?

I have taken your post to mean that you might like advice on working towards Passivhaus status. Advice on ' ... changes required ... ' is a fairly broad brief. There are a couple of tools that'll help you decide on the extent to which your design approaches passiv status. Both of the suggestions below mean you will need to be comfortable with spreadsheets. If not -see below. PHPP: quite expensive (but will pay for itself many times over), detailed, complex, but excellent. Requires time and commitment. It will answer your question - and many subordinate questions- accurately. @JSHarris abbreviated spreadsheet ( search his blog or other posts here for a copy) ; quick, ideal for a first rough look at the problem. There are plenty of people who will run your building data through PHPP for you for about £200.

@Jilly, forgive the question, £4.5k: how big is your property? Longleat size? Have you had three quotes?

Get a wiggle on then. Your ecologist will have applied for a similar licence countless times before , so it's just a copy and paste job plus and bit of tinkering. Our ecologist was among the world's worst information processors - Phone call "I'd been up all night counting bats and GCNs: I was very tired all week and it took a week's work to preparing for your GCN licence" "Does it take you that long to copy and paste then? "Erm wodja mean? "Tell me what the difference is between [xyz] application (available online) and ours: as far as I can see the difference is two diagrams, and one paragraph" Erm..... Silence He applied one month later than he could have, and took 3 months to telI me that our application had been successful. I paid paid half his bill. Silence.

I hope so.... God I hope so. Ian

Progress through innovation ( technical )

Our site slopes. A proper site survey is what you need. It will repay you handsomely. Get that done and get back to us. Loads of support here - I doubt whether you'll be facing a problem that hasn't been aired before on BH. A slope can be a great advantage.

Thats exactly the problem I had at the beginning of the build. No tools to speak of before I started, I had to price tools into the cost of the house, bearing in mind that I'll be re-selling some. I chose Bosch. Because of the price point and basic quality. And not just because I'm Deutsch. Lots to criticise about Bosch: clunky, teutonic, poor design sometimes, heavy. But I'm not going to use them for much longer. Would love Festool, and every 2 or 3 months or so I buy a bit of Festool for later : crosscut saw, MFT, Domino jointer, others in the pipeline. I hate the way that Bosch seem to be resistant to constructive customer feedback. Try posting a review of their kit on their website - as opposed to how wonderful their [xyz] is. Very insular, lazy-minded, touchy, arrogant. Vorsprung durch Technik UND Kritik !

Work out the area of your intended house. Multiply that area by £1500. Add a margin of a few percent. Work to that number. That number can be, and regularly is bettered. There's a financial planning spreadsheet for you to use somewhere on BH. In haste.... I'll have a look for you at lunchtime. Or you could try site search yourself. Ian

Yes. What matters is your reaction and your joint reaction. Your reaction, hers, and how you both see it. One or other, but not both equally committed: tears at or before bed time. Brass tacks time. Why doom? Not enough money? Welcome to the club. In my direct experience, there's only 2 or maybe three here for whom finance is not an issue (out of 1000 + members) I (we) went from ' Yeah, we'll have money to spare at the end of this ' to doing all of the semi skilled and grunt work. Briefly put, compromises - thousands of them. You might call it waking up to hard reality. Stretched time scales, squeezed budget, infuriating lack of control. Even @JSHarris for all his expertise and deep knowledge got bitten hard a few times. @PeterW above points to the core issue. Leg work: network. With the emphasise on work. I'm four years in to the build. And still this very morning, I have to screw up courage together out there and get on with it. Because I lack control. Am too committed. You will find BH members unequivocally supportive. This is a support network second (online) to none.

Yeah, wot's 'at abart ven? Wha's rong wiv a normal screw? Bet Ed @Construction Channel knows......

?. Worse, much worse. I'm on a Ketogenic diet. Nay beer Jimmie...... But I can have Wodca from Wladiwar - no calories. Grateful for small Murphies at this stage Iife.

I wondered that and found this: a quiet evening's reading by the fireside. Oh, and this......

You need to follow the General Binding Rules. But.... Round here, everyone seems to do exactly what they want with - apparently- no reference to anyone.

Yes. But not for everyone. They are perfect for self builders (the full-on type) who are in control of everything: well nearly - the sparky comes in to do xyz - so short of giving her the exactly correct spec screws yourself, you have to accept some 'screw diversity' (Sincere apologies - you can take the pedant out of the self build, but not out of his turn of phrase) And this, this is the real danger, specially when you aren't looking The BarStewards just nick them...... Worse - people see your lying around, and guess what: they get nicked. I have now washed my WERA bit set three or four times now. It stays in my left hand work trouser pocket permanently. Its too big to gum up the washing machine, too small to leave lying around. Too expensive to keep buying.

Thanks: I'd kind of wondered whether I ought to do that..... now I know. I need to make sure the bars are exactly in the middle of the cross pieces, so I'll need to bear that in mind when making the jig. Frankly, I see this as a fun job, so I'll be doing it at weekends..... As to Vulcan @Onoff, not so sure that I could carry off the nudity: but then I would fuss over a little thing like that wouldn't I

My Bosch one is fine: the pouch it comes in is extremely valuable - and maybe to you if your tool-bags are as much of a mess as mine.

Where's the challenge in that? As to screen-name change Hephaestus he had a problem with his missus : Debbie is completely faithful to me.

Brother -in- Law supervising - very experienced welder......

ta! You could have chosen to write if instead of when . Wounded I am now, wounded I'll get round to spraying and powder coating when you finish yer shower boudoir OK? Deal?