Thorfun

is this something worth speaking to a civil engineer about? it might be worth paying for that design to ensure it all works. just a thought. congratulations on your planning approval and good luck with your journey! ?

can you not get just as good AT at the window junction with a membrane and tape?

oh I agree. they did a spiral design for me too but their 'default' design is serpentine as it's easier (I presume) but will take the time to do the spiral if requested by those who want it. as the general public will not be doing this work themselves but getting their plumber to do it they will probably not care whether it's serpentine or spiral or some other shape as long as their floors are warm. us self-builders seem to go above and beyond what is normal. ?

FTTP for us too and all the ducting, draw rope, chamber etc delivered for free as well. Like @Faz just have to run the ducts from where the pole will go and they'll come and fit the pole and connect the fibre.

this is a very common technique when trying to buy some time if you're overworked. I've done it before in IT support where you ask the customer for information that may or may not be relevant and then wait for the response. while waiting it gives you time to work on something else and also makes the customer think that you're working on their problem as you've contacted them for information. so it's a bit of a cheeky win-win tactic.

this is exactly what we're using. recycled clean crushed concrete graded 30mm - 100mm. seems pretty free draining with the amount of rain we've had recently!

congratulations. looks like it'll be a stunning house. we look forward to reading about your progress.

thanks guys. I made the decision to follow the drawings and have told the groundworkers to do as much. I'm not clever enough to second guess the reasons the SE designed it the way it has been!

I’m putting geotextile on top of the backfill.

exactly why my cynical mind said ?

I feel for you and you did well to get them to agree to work under someone else's road closure but as you didn't pay for it there's no recourse for the cancellation and you are, basically, back to square one! terrible situation to be in. I would suggest the best course of action is to take this hit on the chin and start again from scratch and get your own road closure in place (using the utility with the cheapest quote for that) and then attempt to get all the utilities to work under the same road closure. that's what we did and we managed to get electricity and water to work under the one road closure. We decided that Openreach would put a pole on the corner of our property which saved needing a road closure (and the stress of trying to get 3 utility companies working together!) and will also be free. I put more details of our utility journey in this blog post: good luck.

thanks Oz. I'm also not familiar with standard practice! hoping @Bitpipe will be along soon to tell us what he did but I'm liking your thinking tbh. maybe not to ground level though, maybe to the top of the basement walls as per the SE drawing?

hi all. I have another question on the backfill and am also looking for opinions. How high should the free draining stone be filled to? i.e. should I top it off with site spoil? if so, how much? 40cm? 60cm? 100cm? or should the backfill stone be taken up to the top of the basement walls? The SE drawings show stone to the top of the walls in places but also says "Ground level (to architects detail)" which isn't that helpful. we're not exactly sure what we're going to do around the perimeter of the house yet but maybe some small shrubs, or maybe a path, or maybe just laid to lawn so it's hard to know exactly what to cater for. we will have some drainage for the roofs where the backfill will be and that is approx 600mm below FFL (FFL is approx 275mm above the top of the basement walls). At the moment I've told the groundworkers that I'm happy with 60cm - 80cm of site spoil (i.e. clay) above the backfill (on top of geotextile of course) and I can then put topsoil on top of that if gardening or just dig it out down to the backfill if patio/path. too much spoil? not enough? can you tell I'm confused as to what to do?

I'd hazard a guess that quote 1 is SUDS compliant but Quote 2 isn't as the type 1 isn't permeable? Also, the depth of the sub-base will depend on the type of sub-grade material. our civil engineer specified 235mm type 3 subbase, 70mm porous tarmac, 20mm resin bound gravel. someone who actually knows what they're talking about will be along soon I'm sure.

Greetings. I had some Wunda UFH pipe (I believe it's Pert-al-pert) delivered on 10th May and I've left them outside since then as I decided not to use them for the basement. Anyone know if the exposure to UV would've compromised the pipe at all or should it be still ok?

worth hiring a nail gun?

yes they are. my original basement UFH design by Wunda was the 'standard' serpentine layout which they said was their recommended layout but I asked them to design a spiral design and they did just that. they probably design serpentine layout as standard as it's easier in the loopCAD software. ?

of course you can. Architect got me 3 quotes and I got 2 quotes independently from other SEs and in the end went with TSD based in Ireland who were cheaper and more versed in what we wanted (insulated slab) than the Architect's chosen SEs. Architect never said anything about not using the quotes they got.

Council’s and planning have no rhyme or reason for their actions. I wish you all the best with it all.

I'm confused as to why a conservation officer is involved when it's outside the conservation area? surely if it's outside then anything goes?

DIY that using Sketchup.

opinions on here vary about architects and their worth but, for us, we paid about £10k for our architects to get to end of building regs and we think it was money well spent. they came up with a great design that we love and have been a single point of contact between all the various engineers, timber frame company, windows company and much more. plus we know they're on the end of a phone or email if we need further advice or work done. yes it will cost us an hourly rate but as we're first time self-builders having that assistance on hand is invaluable.

the GI company I used wouldn't budge on charging VAT. no matter how much I argued HMRC said it was zero rated they wouldn't have it. for us it was about £500 in VAT so I decided to not bother arguing too much, nor to bother spending the time trying to find another company to do the work to save that £500. just a word of warning to those who assume GI work is zero rated by everyone.

a gem from @pocster! put it in your diaries peeps. ? all joking aside. it's what we did and quite a few others on here. it's not the cheapest way to get more space but if planning are being problematic then it's definitely a great option.

I wouldn't worry about neighbour objections, they don't hold much weight. sounds like the planning department are ok with a replacement dwelling and so, even if the current planning expires, there is a good chance that a new application will also be granted. if you go ahead and purchase this land then I would consider approaching an architect and a planning consultant and seeing what you can get away with! our plans were for a substantially larger property than was currently there and the planning department objected to the increase. something along the lines of "disproportionate to the existing dwelling". we just pointed out that under PD we could extend the entire length of the property 3m out at the back and convert the roof to a habitable space etc. which would create a building the same size we wanted but would be ugly as ****! so just let us build what we want. they said ok. ? this blog post give details of our planning woes. so, don't discount ignoring what's already been approved and finding another 'team' to build what you want and not what the vendor could get through planning. (this is exactly what we did. the approved application was for a bungalow and before that outline planning permission for a chalet bungalow. we got approval on a building nothing like those) obviously, this is all caveated with it a risk that planning won't approve another application and if the current one expires you're stuck with out any permission to do anything! good luck.