MortarThePoint

He's already bought some bits so I'll do as @jack suggests for that. Any other stuff he gets he'll do as @nod suggests, and I'm going to shop around for the more expensive stuff (Tikkurila & Scuff-X) as @saveasteading suggests. Thanks 👍

Yes prob £700+

They won't do it. He gets 30-40% off and they say I can only get 10%

Decorator gets much better discounts on paint than I could. I've spoken to his supplier and I can pay for things and receive his discount. The resulting invoice would have his name and address under the 'Invoiced to' section and my name and address under the 'Delivered to' section. Would HMRC accept that for a VAT claim? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-refunds-for-new-builds-if-youre-a-diy-housebuilder#vat-on-goods If the approach above isn't OK, is there another way of navigating this I've missed? Decorator isn't VAT registered so he can't sell me the items and we each claim back the VAT.

I wondered about that. The elevation of the house faces West-South-West if that makes a difference.

We're having a loggia along part of the back of the house. It passes over the kitchen window as well as kitchen patio doors. This means the roof of the loggia will shade these and reduce the amount of natural light. This has made us think of the possibility of having a skylight type window in the roof above the kitchen window. Both sides of the window would technically be exterior and so it doesn't make sense to use anything like a Velux. Is it possible to include a sheet of toughened glass in the tile area and flash around it? The tiles are plain clay tiles. Alternatively, is the a suitable window type of flashing kit I should consider? There are a couple of CAD drawings below and the rafters have been shifted over to fit nicely over the kitchen window (3 rafter gaps above the window).

I agree with this. I hadn't been prepared for how lonely self building is as you spend day after day on your own facing stressful decisions that friends and family have not experience on but usually a trivialised solution. Even very close friends have a lot of sympathy, but not real understanding and the truest empathy comes from a shared experience. That's why BuildHub is so valuable to me, but with the caveat that @ToughButterCup adds that everything can look perfect. When the chips are down, there is a lot of kindness here though and that's invaluable. You'll get there!

We are a funny lot here and some people just don't get it unfortunately. We're 5 years in which is longer than expected. I keep getting asked "Why don't you just pay someone to finish it?" I pointed out this was like standing at the side of a marathon at mile 23 and shouting at runners to give up. Also, the use of the word 'just' grates.

Is this the hardest question? I'm out for dinner with friends. I'm tempted to design a buildhub T-shirt that makes it clear that this is an unwelcome question.

I notice you you don't have a condensation trap. Any issues without it?

I would prefer a option with real PWM control and Bluetooth so I can add it to home automation, but the only people making those at the moment a NoNames on AliExpress etc. These ones: They do look cool, but if I'm to preserve the ceiling fire rating not an option. Looks tidy. Am I right in saying you've used some rubber vibration isolators on the mounting points? Where did you get those?

This is for first floor bathrooms (two) with a loft conversion above. I'm planning to use a Manrose MF100T inline fan, pushing out through roof tile vents which are already installed. In both cases, the ducting will only pass through unheated space and the tile vents are about 1.5m or less from the planned location of the ceiling valve. It feels like insulated ducting is a good way to go to avoid condensation, but I think that's only available as flexible, unless I just wrap rigid ducting with thin (25mm?) mineral wool. I could use partition roll. Or should I just use pre-insulated flexible ducting? Is it worth / required to insulate the ducting? I plan to use fire rated ceiling valves which is a bit silly as a fire in bathroom is not likely, but everything else about the ceiling is fire rated so I don't want to compromise here. Kair seem to do a sensible one (shown below). Going up from 100mm to 125mm massively reduces (-67%) the flow resistance with a minor (+18%) increase in aesthetic size. I could probably then immediately reduce to 100mm ducting since it is the ceiling valve and tile vents that are likely to be the limiting factors for pressure drop. https://www.i-sells.co.uk/product/kair-fire-rated-ceiling-extract-valve-white-coated-metal-vent/?attribute_pa_size=125mm

That sounds pretty dodgy. You'd need it L-shaped all the way along as otherwise the 'tabs' could just fold up. I'm surprised by these levitating bricks that are otherwise just supported by the door.

We do own the house at the front and it is where we are living at the moment (cramped etc). A 'bodged' water supply is easy though (I don't mean that rudely)

I have an upstand about 20m from the house but it is on the same meter as the house at the front

I am the main contractor 🙂 😱

Water connection has been an oversight since we have a semi-convenient supply for the build and I have procrastinated over sorting the proper connection. No date yet arranged. Good point, that should have been on the list Sewage treatment plant commissioned

This looks a bit strange as it is since I would have expected a lintel to have been there already. laying the bricks without a lintel would have needed a temporary wooden form (or the like) which feels like more effort than a lintel. The L-shape lintel sounds good to me. The hard bit will be getting into the sides since it needs to overextend the opening by 150mm ideally, though 100mm may be fine for such a short span.

We are itching to get in and I know that there is a significant downside to moving in whilst work continues, but we are struggling where we are at the moment. What are the minimum requirements to be able to start living in the build? I can think of the following possible items: Staircase and landing has appropriate fall prevention A working bathroom and toilet Finished bedrooms that are to be used (painted and carpeted) No exposed live wires (shouldn't be anyway) Agreement from BCO but that would depend on the above What have I missed? Is running water a must, I could install a tank and low pressure feed in a day and use bottled water. Coordinating mains water connection takes a long time. We are already connected for electricity. I don't think we need a fitted kitchen in the short term to make do.

I got the one with the heater and fire damper. I haven't installed it yet despite having got it about a year ago

Sorry if too slow, but you can find it cheaper: https://www.electricalsonline.co.uk/products/vent-axia-479091-pureair-with-heater-home-piv-unit I went with a variant of this

Yes, I might see if I can make a jig for my jointer planer to help save my fingers

I was thinking it would be tricky

Plane to a shape like this: Door opening on right side, wall on left.

Not sure I follow. The wood is recessed behind the plaster