Drew1000

I am going to build a summer house which will be used as a Gym. It will have a concrete base inside but I am intending using self leveling compound as the finished floor. Grateful for any advice on which make to use from those with a bit more experience. Will not be pouring for a few months until weather is a bit warmer and the building is wind and watertight.

Yes another vote for engineering brick.. Only solution in my opinion

Vapour Control Barriers are breathable. DPM is not and should not be used as a VCL

Have built a few timber frame houses now and always use acoustic insulation in the internal partition walls as this helps with sound reduction. Always use sound block plasterboard (Blue) on ceilings and outside of bathrooms and toilets. No reason why you could not use the sound block on all walls. If I was doing a house for myself it is something I would definitely consider. It is more expensive and heavier to work with but you only do it once. I have not had any feedback on houses being noisy that I have done but it does depend on many factors like type of floor covering in upstairs etc

Depends on the way the timber frame is going up depends on what would be the best option. It makes little difference to the kit if it is bare timber, it will dry out in time once you get the roof and windows in. If you can get the walls up and then roof on and felt fitted without having to floor the 1st floor then that is a bonus. If you need to floor the first floor then you can use some temporary arrangements for the guys to stand on inside or use something like Egger protect P5 "Anti-slip, moisture resistant and hardwearing structural chipboard flooring that can be exposed to the elements for 60 days. Suitable for new builds, refurbishments, renovations and timber frame construction projects." But make sure they use the D5 glue and plenty of it between the joints (12 bottles recommended for a pack of 66 sheets of 22mm floor boards) The kit normally comes with a vapour protect layer which covers all the window and door openings which you can keep in place until the last moment but is a bit of a pain for preventing light in and you need to stop the joiners just cutting them out willy nilly during installation. If its a bungalow then some of the above is obviously not applicable.

When we re-mortgaged from a self build loan to a normal mortgage on completion the mortgage company insisted on sending a valuer out to assess the finished house (we had to pay his fees). This was all part of the mortgage service and quite normal. I have house and contents insurance at the moment which is only £149.00 a year from Policy Direct and covers me for build costs of £500,000 and £75,000 contents. I have seen other policies which quote a £1M as the basic re-build costs.

I would ask him to check with his accountant who will (should) confirm that it should be zero rated and if he does get him to invoice you correctly and refund the vat to you. HRMC will not refund what they class as your mistake.

Just a thought Dave. Looking at the wall between the family room and Lounge there looks like a sliding door. Given where you have the seating (which looks like the natural place for it) it will severely restrict a wall or floor area to put a tv on for both rooms. (Maybe you are not having any). Just a thought to ponder and its your house at the end of the day.

I have just finished two new builds and put in some round pin 5A sockets in the corner of the lounge/living room controlled from a switch coming into the room. That way you can get some table or floor standing lamps controlled from light switch. Much better than the Blackpool illuminations that a lot of spots give off however retain some form of main/bright lighting for whenever it is necessary. I also use two way and intermediate upstairs outside the bedrooms to enable anyone coming out a bedroom at night to turn on/off the upstairs hall light. As for sockets a good rule of thumb is a double in the corner of each room. Agree about tv area if having a tv unit with other boxes like sky Q, games consoles etc put 2 doubles behind unit. For upstairs and downstairs hall its a good idea to have one for a vacuum cleaner and don't forget about the Xmas tree area which might need extras. Hope that helps.

Hi, Just finishing a new build with my son who has just moved in. he wants to build a garden room approx 8M by 4M to use as a gym. He has some pretty heavy equipment that he would like to put in so was thinking about a concrete floor probably around 100mm to 150 thick. The plan is to install an air conditioning unit that would provide both heat and cooling. Question I have is should I put something like 100mm celotex/Kingspan insulation under the concrete floor or would this be a waste of time and money. The walls and ceiling will be well insulated. Thanks in advance.

Thanks to all who replied to this thread. Conclusions are that if cost and time are not important then 2 hinges should suffice. On this occasion the doors are not that heavy so don't think paying the extra material and labour costs are justified. hope I am right in the long run. Regards

I am about to get my internal doors fitted which are 2040 by 826/726. None are fir doors and they are 40mm thick. Question is - should I get 2 or 3 hinges fitted. grateful for any advice from joiners who do this on a regular basis.

I am about to install new kitchen and would like to put led strip lights under the worktops along the front edge. Worktops are not specialised granite or quartz, just normal laminate. Kitchen layout is L shaped with 2M by 1M island. Plan is to put lights on L shape and island. kitchen forms part of an open plan kitchen/diner. Grateful for any advice from anyone who has done something similar and any dos and dont's. Also any advice on ratings, colour ie warm or cool white, recommended suppliers etc. Any advice much appreciated. I am an electrician so will be doing the job myself, just not fitted these lights before so looking to the self build community before I start. Regards.

I need to build two steps from front door of new property. This is not the main disabled access entrance. Does the first step need to be level with the finished floor level inside or can I step down onto first step. Also what is minimum width of steps, was thinking 300mm.

I am currently doing a self build which will have quite a bit of engineered flooring fitted by myself. I have been charged VAT on the supply. Can I claim this back similar to other building materials.