Thorfun

Thanks Dave. I don’t mind the extra costs for an easier first fix. I’ll probably recoup some of the costs in saved labour costs anyway. Which is why I wanted the posi joists.

just a little light reading, hey? ? I'll crack on with that. I know people on here have used I-beams and others have used Posi Joists. I like the idea of Posi Joists for the ease of first fixing but if there are potential issues using them then why do people? would this simply be a companies preference or (with my cynical hat on) a product they make a higher margin on?

Hi all, we're in the process of getting quotes for timber frames and one company is offering I-beams rather than Posi Joists. The say that they prefer to use the Steico engineered I-beams as they have less deflection than Posi Joists. now, if I knew what that meant I might understand it! But as I don't I was wondering if anyone can explain what that means and whether there's any concerns or if it's just simply not true or something that doesn't need to be worried about. cheers.

Thanks @pocster. I really appreciate it. Now I know they come in triple glazing I’ll definitely book a showroom visit. We also have a double height entry hall with Windows front and back all the way up. I think IQ should be good for that structural glass type thing as well, at least their previous project photos show lots of that!

it's good to know that they do triple glazed units! it's really not clear from the website nor the spec sheets I was sent. they sent me the Sieger Legacy, Sieger Slim Casement and Sieger Slim sliding spec sheets. did you go for the Sieger range?

@pocster sorry to resurrect this thread but I've had a quick look at IQ Glass and I'm struggling to see from their website that they offer anything half-way decent! I've been sent technical data sheets and can't find a good performing inward opening window and no mention that I can see of triple glazing. what windows did you order and how are you finding them? I think I need to visit their showroom to see what they have as it's not too far from us but, at the moment, I'm struggling to justify even that short journey.

my architect suggested waiting until we had planning permission before getting this survey. But I’m thinking we should get it now as even if planning is rejected the plot has permission for a new bungalow obtained by the previous owner so even if we build that we will need a geotechnical survey. So I can’t think of a reason not to get it done now. Assuming cash flow allows it of course! But welcome the thoughts of others.

Welcome! I’m also a new member but have already asked a number of questions, read many blogs and learnt a lot, but I’ve still a lot to learn. I’m also looking at building a basement and the big basement post @Bitpipe mentioned was in response to a post of mine. Some great info and can be found here:

wow! thanks so much @Bitpipe for taking the time to give such detailed information. there were a lot of questions there and I'll try and go through them and answer as well as I can. but I think what I can take from your post is that I'm not even close to being able to get a decent quote from someone for the basement. I think I need to be more patient, it's just I've got 8 weeks of waiting for planning to respond so thought I'd use it wisely to get rough quotes in so once permission is granted (ever the optimist) we can make a decision and crack on! so naive I know but you've got to let me live in ignorance for a while yet. like yours it's just off square under the house (it's a part basement) at approx. 9m x 8.5m but it has a sunken external courtyard as an outside space, to let light in to the basement and also to act as a fire exit (which should answer some of the other questions you asked about light and BC fire exits). here's a basic plan. no wet services as we didn't want to bother with that. any guests who need the bathroom can go up the stairs and there's a toilet up there. I haven't decided on the roof of it yet. we do want UFH on the ground floor and also want good sound insulation as the music room will be used for my band to practise and record in so don't want the sound to travel upwards. so I'm leaning towards a solid floor even though this goes against the sustainability requirements I have. but a sustainable build is all about compromise and I will think long and hard about this aspect. again, not sure on this yet. but from initial reading, and I believe that the water table is very high where we live (our neighbours have a cellar/basement built recently-ish that they use for food storage so not really habitable and they said that the water table is above their basement (which is surprising as we're on top of a hill). anyway, when I get the geotechnical survey done that will tell us all) so I will probably have to go with Type C waterproofing with Type A tanking as a belt and braces option. so I would assume we would insulate the slab and also the internal walls in-front of the Type C waterproofing layer. but I have lots more reading to do on this subject. again, I would probably defer to the 'experts' on this but I'm leaning towards poured in-situ using movable formwork. We have just under an acre on the site but the existing bungalow takes up a bit of that space but we do have plenty of space to put/fit plant on site during the build. The sunken courtyard is closest to the existing bungalow and is about 6m away which should be enough that sheet piling shouldn't be required to support the hole. nearest neighbours are between 50 - 70m away I think so no concerns about party walls! we will most likely need to de-water but I'm hoping that the planets will align and we'll break ground before the end of the summer and so the rain might have stopped by then. thanks for all the other information in your post. it is noted and I will revisit it many times in my journey. this is a very valid point! it did seem that they were pushing Type C waterproofing but I'm not so naive to be led down that path without further investigation and double checking everything first. I will request a quote from them anyway to get a comparison but as has been previously mentioned, personally recommendations count for a lot and so will bear that in mind when making a final decision. I have a good friend who's father works as a QS for a big groundworks company and he has already said he'd get him to get me a quote. so this is definitely a route that I will be pursuing. thanks again for all the excellent advice. I know I have just started on this journey and still have a long long way to go and I'm trying to fill the time waiting for planning approval in a constructive and educational way. ?

I understand what you're saying and will take it on board. thanks. thanks. I really don't fancy tackling form work! any recommendations on who I could contact initially? or should I just Google it for now and then do more research?

yep. I need a self-build mortgage at the financial institution I've been speaking to do indeed need their surveyor involved from the outset to sign everything off during the build.

the company I spoke to at Build It Live use an internal membrane to manage water ingress just like you've described. I'm sure I could fit it and do it all but what about future saleability (not that we plan to move but you never know!) or getting a mortgage? wouldn't they need some form of sign-off that it's all been done properly and given a guarantee?

agreed. I've read a lot about @Bitpipe's basement and will, if it's ok with him, send him a PM to get the name of the company he used as he seemed very happy with their work.

would be very useful to PM it if that's allowed. cheers. we're in West Sussex south of Gatwick so South London is not that far.

this is what scares me and why I'd want a specialist or at least someone who will guarantee their work, not just the concrete pour. if it wasn't for all that I could probably just ICF it myself.

sounds good, but scares the cr@p out of me as it sounds like a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to get everything ready for the pour. or am I completely misreading this? I'm alright at DIY but building a basement is a bit beyond my confidence levels.

Hi all, our planned self-build has a basement that will be a habitable area consisting of a music room and a games room/entertaining area. the ceiling will be 3m high as I have an idea to put a golf net and simulator down there and need the height to swing a golf club! I am at the point where I am looking to get quotes for the work and was wondering if those that have had basements done are able to recommend their basement contractor? Also, I was as the Build It Live show in Kent the other weekend and spoke to a couple of chaps from Surrey Basements who seems to know their stuff and looking at their website seem to have done a large number of good looking basements in the London area. does anyone have any experience with them? any opinions are, as always, very welcome. many thanks in advance.

never mind. I found it on the forum guidelines. "Starting a Blog Many members choose to record their project by using the forum’s blog facility. A blog is a great way of recording your progress and sharing it with others. The blog functionality can be enabled via a request using the Contact Us link at the bottom of the forum. Once the functionality has been enabled you will have the ability to ‘Create Blog’ from within your user profile."

am I being completely dumb but I can't seem to find a way to create a blog! can anyone point me in the direction of how to do that? I have a personal website that I could use but thought it might be more useful to host it here

we got 3 different architects to come round to see us (it was supposed to be 4 but the 4th didn't seem to be interested as after I phoned and left a message with details as to what we wanted I got a voicemail back saying he'd received a message about an extension or something rather than the complete demolition and self-build we're doing! it goes without saying that I didn't call him back). all 3 came to site to have a look around and for us to get a feeling if we'd be able to work with them. we then got quotes and all were pretty similar but we chose the chap we thought we'd most like to work with. After an initial consultation he came up with a few sketches which we were completely not what we wanted and we also questioned as to whether he even listened to us at the initial meeting. we were thinking of phoning around and trying other architects but we went for a meeting and explained how we felt and he said, no worries I'm never going to get it right first time and we took aspects from each of the sketches and discussed it all and now we have final plans that we absolutely love! so, in my experience, if you like the person and get on with them then give them a chance. the first drawings will never be exactly what you want and they will change and evolve as time goes on as the relationship builds. obviously though, if they're pig-headed and won't listen to you at all regardless of how nice they are you need to dump them and find someone else! just my 2 cents and experience of our architect.

thanks guys. great information so far. keep it coming. ?

I would've thought that any system that connects to and can be charged from the grid would do this, no? if not then surely the grid companies would be complaining. ? I work from home 4 days a week at the moment and my wife also works from home occasionally making personalised cuddly toys and the like. I don't think we get a lot of power cuts but seem a little prone to power trips/blips. and that means that my computers/NAS and other devices with hdd storage take a battering when that happens and unceremoniously shutdown. this could lead to hardware failure. the new build will have whole house automation so this will only get more important after we build. I could by a UPS big enough to power the IT equipment and allow them to shutdown nicely in case of a power trip but they tend to be pretty expensive in themselves! Thanks. will take a look. thanks for the info. some good names for me to research there. interesting about what you say about the Powerwall and that is definitely the Tesla way (as we both know with the software updates on our cars!). they're very much a release it and see what happens type software company. doesn't mean I don't love my car though. ?

Hi all, for our self-build we are looking to put in at least a 4kWp solar PV array (maybe more if I the DNO will let me and it's not too expensive) and I would like battery storage as well to act as a battery backup for power cuts, blips and outages. I am aware of the arguments about it not stacking up financially but I'm not so fussed about that as I can't put a price on the fuzzy warm feeling inside that I don't have to use bought in electricity, at least not at full price. I have a Tesla as well just for completeness of my electric requirements. so, financial arguments aside, has anyone had any good experiences with battery storage? just to add that I was at the Build It Live show in Kent on Sunday and was talking to a guy from Solar Watt (who I'd never heard of). he was very vocal on the fact that BMW are their parent company and how their system is a DC system which increases efficiency as there's no conversion from the panels to the batteries. downside is that they don't work as a battery backup and can't charge them from the grid. so, they're pretty much out of the equation! but I was wondering if anyone had heard of them? I couldn't find any mention of them at all on here. Most of the other threads on battery storage on here are pretty old so I thought I'd start this as a way for people to recommend or give updated experiences on the whole battery storage topic. thanks in advance.

We don’t have an SE yet but I have spoken to 3 friends who are an SE, a builder and a surveyor and they have given me some good ideas but basically the outcome of the conversation was that we need to wait until we’ve got the Geotechnical survey to know what we’re dealing with. so, for now, we’re going to submit the planning application to get that ball rolling and then get the geotechnical survey done and engage the SE to design the foundations. If at that point we determine it’ll be cheaper to extend the basement And slab the entire thing then we can go back to the council for an amendment to the plans. the whole thing is complicated by the fact we have an annex, a garden room and a boot room that all branch off the main house that there’s no way a basement will be going under. once I have the geotechnical survey and structural engineer report I’ll start my own thread. sorry to hijack this one @Conor!

Hi Peter, that is very interesting as we're only doing half a basement to save money! I will speak to our architect and a structural engineer friend and see what they say. thank you so much for the input.