ToughButterCup

Thanks for catching another error just before it bit my Botticelli. Didn't know it was called a sole plate .... @Construction Channel calls it something else ( base plate I think....)

Ditto

On a train on the way to BuildItLive.... Back on line later

Hmm, @Onoff, what happens here then? Wont the right hand edge of the left-to-right PB 'float' at the yellow circle?

.... working towards a pinnable list.... Thanks @Simplysimon

Thanks for the warning. Not thought about a corner yet, but I will be next week. Whats the issue, and how is it solved? I feel another sketch coming on.

I begrudge nobody their income. I don't have to pay it if I don't like it. And in the case of three substantial invoices, where the pay was not deserved or worse - their services actively hindered the build, I paid either nothing or a small percentage. In the case of of one job were a percentage was paid , I based the amount on the rates published in the current version of SPONS with an appropriate multiplier for the North West, (0.96 of Outer London rates).

Know what folks? I think we should all work to base 8, not base 10. That'd make life interesting - lively even......

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.