ToughButterCup

That's normal. Prioritise. Develop a thicker than normal skin. Hold on to and remind yourself -often- about your successes. God knows, I mostly don't take my own advice. Warra eejit, eh?

Which is exactly why, after 4 bursts in four pours, on the last pour I was quietly physically sick behind the site storage container. And, by 6.30 that night, pissed as a fart because the final pour went off without a hitch. My signature mentions avalanches - it should also refer to grim determination.

I nearly swallowed my false tooth..... 10 lots of £415 (above) ... plant already on site...is £4150. And the final price is more than double that? Whas' goin' on ? It won't be hard to do a quick search on https://www.drainageonline.co.uk/ (there are loads of others) to get a general indication of materials price.

Referring to SPONS and local price experience ( NW UK) 10 - nearly 11. meters of 10mm steel, 203mm wide = £300 delivered Site welder £300 - check the quality of the work. Material handler (worst case ) £100 @jamiehamy : bang on - on as usual.

Well, for free stuff, that looks excellent. So, those screws go through the board, through the Celotex and into the joists / rafter?

Erm, 'normal'..... If you mean height, it'll be just under 3.0 meters

Cheers lad.... The idea of metal studs is attractive, but I have a bit more confidence with wood. Maybe next house......

In other words it's reasonable to do either; put the studding in first then insulate under the rafters and round the studs OR underboard all the rafters and then dig out where the studs meet the rafters Right?

Our roof design has 200mm insulation between rafters and 80mm underneath. With only a little bit of cursing and swearing I got three 80mm insulation boards up -on my own- yesterday. Vaulted roof spaces look sexy but they are sods to underboard. 0300 this morning : bububugger - I bet I should have put the studding in first - because that needs to be attached to the bottom of the rafters. And I've gone and hidden them now. Well, not quite. I can see where the rafters are because of the attachment points for the insulation. Those massive washers are a bit of a giveaway. Am I going to have to dig out the insulation where the verticals meet the rafters, or should I put the studding in first - and then underboard? Phhhh, 'nother steep learning curve I got myslef into innit?

That factor is so important. Unless you are a serial selfbuilder ( @Stones for example ) you are highly unlikely to be a repeat customer. Most of us here are ordering more wood / blocks / screws / plasterboard than we have ever done. But only a few grands worth. Once. And that's it. There's so much 'normal' work around that self builders have become the icing on the cake for a few tradespeople. SPONS is an excellent guide. But that's all - a guide.

You say potatoes I say patatoes. Interesting innit?

Could I suggest you consider using Solar PV rather than solar thermal? A little while back, I worked through the same questions as you are currently investigating. Just a quick site-wide search will bring up more than convincing evidence in favour of PV in relation to heating water. However, it would be useful to see if the technology for solar thermal has moved on since I looked into the matter..

Ok.... erm, why Gary? (sorry mate)

I'm putting 70mm of insulation under my joists. Using 100mm screws and insulation washers. Pesky little things insulation washers; they don't tell you which way round to attach them ..... Wrinkly side-up or smooth side up? Theres a bit of me which thinks that I should have the smooth side uppermost. But you know me and thinking about stuff. Too much too often. Does it even matter?

We can guarantee noise because of ice movement on our flat roof. It took ages for me to reassure SWMBO: the sound is close to an air-rifle shot. Off putting.

Well if he wasn't, he sounded as if he was. Needed SmellaVision to be sure really.......

Welcome. Busy then?

In one memorable episode poor Willy lost his pullover I seem to remember. I still wince - poor lad..

Here you are boys

Take heart. We needed piles for our build - and initial quotes came in between £22,000 and £17,000 - which, as you say, would have made us fall at the first hurdle too. Persistence is key. 6 months research got the piling job done for £6500. Its just a matter of stickability. .... So you have a limited budget. What's new? Every Man Jack One of us on here has exactly the same problem. Change the parameters of your build and make it happen for £165k. It'll be hard, but not impossible. You will get loads of help, sympathy and financial advice here. Loads of it. Oh, and bad jokes from @Onoff

Welcome @Kate12. When you get used to the idea of Fabric First (took us a while) then you need a way of evaluating the different ways of building. In that task, PHPP is your friend. You can change many of the parameters and look at the outcome(s). Once you get in to it, its great fun. Buy it and run it yourself if you're comfortable with spreadsheets or spend £200 or so to get someone else to do it for you. Anyway, best of luck.

Bit expensive maybe. This stuff is a bit cheaper - but still expensive compared to beach. We're hoping to use it, and Ecover as @PeterW suggests.

I'm thinking of publishing the definitive work on tiling using only this thread and its photographs. Due to be released on on an unsuspecting public by the well-known publishing house Floggit and Runn Should sell well.

It will work, and work well. Here's why I know. Three years ago I bought an offcut of Astroturf the size a garage... bit bigger in fact, and laid it outside our kitchen door, on the patio. At the edge of the patio, there's a boot-wash, and a hose. Its easy and quick to de-mud boots and shoes without taking them off. But what to do about the wet boots that need a bit of a drain-off before getting in to the kitchen? Thats where the AstroTurf comes in. Its is a Godsend. I thought of it as a second line of defense before getting to the kitchen mat. We find that people automatically scuff their boots and shoes on the AT before getting into the kitchen. Of course our kitchen gets a bit dirty: I'm in and out 20 times a day, but you dont need to take yer boots off. 3 years later, you can see some light wear - and one or two Dock leaves have grown through it over the last two summers, and the Great Crested Newts love one particular corner. Not going to begrudge them that.

Oh FFS..... twerp. This is the correct link..... to Impey screed floor former