Thorfun

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.

also this.

this might be a bit off the wall but have you considered a complete redesign of the house? maybe a contemporary style property with a flat-ish roof which will give you more room upstairs might be in order? not sure what your local council is like on contemporary design but might be worth considering? anyway, just a thought.

that's what I'm thinking but 100mm PIR instead of the 70mm. this is good to know and another tick in the box for the omnifit. thanks.

this is what I've decided to do. no need for sarking board outside as far as I know (in the south of England at least) as the BCO has said it's fine to have the relevant membrane touching the insulation and then counter battens/battens for roof tiles. we're having 197mm rafters so I will fill that with 200mm of some form of mineral wool (I quite like the look of that omnifit for a price performance material) and put Roofshield membrane above taught and touching the insulation. our architect specified a 50mm gap and very expensive Kingspan phenolic insulation. so not only a lot of money but also a pain to install! even when I take into consideration the extra timber cost for the counter battens, Roofshield membrane and labour for the roofer I'm still a lot better off fully filling with cheaper mineral wool and slightly thicker PIR internally.

we've got a load bearing wall in our basement that runs through the spine of it to take the load of the block and beam ceiling. SE specified 215 x 100mm blocks laid flat to give enough room for both beams to rest. maybe it depends on the engineer?

fair enough then

so the original architect quoted you £2k and someone else quoted £4k. I'd say the original architect is a bargain. probably as he already has the drawings so there's less work to do? Our architect didn't do the building regulations drawing but got the office architectural technician to do them. that's pretty much the same as outsourcing but just keeping it in house. ? unless there's a personality clash or you're not happy with the original architect's work I'd be going back to him to do the work. £2k is a lot of money to save!

did you seal the concrete in any way? if not I presume no concrete dust comes off in to the plant room?