Gone West

We didn't work on a cost /m2. We had a budget based on what the house would be worth when finished and what the site was worth. We didn't want to lose money on the build but we weren't looking to make a profit, it was supposed to be a enjoyable project ?. We researched different foundation types, timber frame types etc and costed them. We always used the highest cost knowing we should be able to improve on that. For instance stairs quotes came in at between £3000 and £30000. You can always cut back on kitchens and bathrooms and our stairs came in at the lower end of our quotes. We ended up paying just under our budget. There is a lot of leeway on second finish costs.

Know how you feel. I retired when I was 55 and spent most of my 60s self building our house, and that was only one house. I'm knackered and my working days are getting shorter and shorter. Edit, welcome to the forum by the way.

After we had installed the new sewage treatment plant and connected the old bungalow to it we removed the septic tank. We had it emptied and I hosed the inside of the tank while it was happening. I then got the farmer to dig it out completely. It was rendered brick. He back filled it with earth compressing each layer with the bucket

When we lived in the bungalow, before the new build started, we had rainwater flooding off the road and into our driveway. I complained to the Highways Dept. and they said all they could do was lay a raised bed of tarmac along the width of the driveway which I accepted. It worked and it also established that they accepted there was a flooding problem. As a result I was allowed to install road kerbs along the whole frontage of the new build.

You'll need a few drums of Dettol then when you replace your cesspit/septic tank.

Hi and welcome to the forum. There are quite a few of us on here who have done a lot of the build themselves. It's a steep learning curve but well worth it for the challenge.

Hi Tom, welcome to the forum and good luck with your project.

Here's a few points that may help. Our MVHR unit is very quiet, but it could be because it is very heavy and floor standing. External vents can be almost flush to the wall so not very visible. Wherever the unit is installed there should be ample space around it so changing filters and general maintenance is easy. This is a list of tips that I researched when installing our system. 1. The inlet and outlet grilles should be 3m apart to prevent cross contamination of air. 2. The inlet and outlet grilles should be high enough (2m) to prevent interference by animals or children but low enough for easy cleaning. 3. The inlet and outlet grilles should be on the same wall so they are affected equally by the wind. 4. The free flow area of the grill including insect screen should be at least as great as the cross sectional area of the duct. 5. The duct should be smooth wall to reduce air flow restriction. 6. Any ducting bends should be large radius of curvature or two 45 degree bends to reduce air flow restriction. 7. The ducting to the inlet and outlet grilles should slope downwards slightly to ensure any moisture drains to the outside.

Apparently we just have to build more offshore windfarms and there will be endless cheap electricity. "Endless cheap electricity", now where have I heard that before. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/24/offshore-windfarms-can-provide-more-electricity-than-the-world-needs

I don't think cod fishing in the North Sea has been banned yet, but probably soon. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/24/north-sea-cod-menu-two-years-fishing-sees-stocks-halve/

We could do that, but the point is that it doesn't yet have to be built on more greenfield sites. The government owns huge areas of land, brownfield sites, around the country which could be used for housing. The problem lies with the government giving sites away to private companies rather than handling the development themselves due to political dogma. Sometimes it works as in the sale of old army barracks in Canterbury, to developers and houses get built but often the really large sites are just mothballed.

One of the plans I saw was for the 'Old Fort', where the contamination levels were greatest, to become a museum for the work carried out at the establishment in the past. The rest of the site could easily support development but it's difficult, when you don't know what is going on behind the scenes and with these sites changing ownership to find out what's going on.

The government owns several large sites, as a result of department rationalisation, which could be used for new towns. For example Fort Halstead near Sevenoaks was owned by a development company and rented by the MoD until closure. There was substantial opposition to the plans from the surrounding villages even though traffic links were good with the M25 less than a mile away. Don't know what the current situation is though.

And not waste so much of it.

Use the side of the hammer if necessary with pre-drilled holes in the joists so the 100mm nails only have 50mm to drive them in.

If they're all equally spaced there's no problem. Just as difficult for all of them .

Haven't been called that since primary school .

TBH I can't remember exactly. I installed it nine years ago and I think it's quite basic, just a metal tube that the air comes out at the bottom.

We have a self installed WPL Diamond DMS2 which supposedly has four year emptying. After two and a half years the diaphragm in the Secoh air pump split due to the back pressure from trying to pump through the sludge so we had it emptied. We decided it would probably last two years but we actually have it emptied once a year which is done in the summer. This is for two adults occupying 24/7. Edit: I notice their website now says up to three years for emptying.

If I had five joists I would just space them equally and cut the celotex to fit as it's not a large area. I would also fit the noggins either side of a centre line so they are easier to fit.

If i were doing it I would do 400mm centres and 22mm decking, but then I tend to over engineer. Looks a lovely spot by the way.

I initially set my MVHR rates to satisfy building regs. and SAP for the BCO, who incidentally wasn't interested. After the building was signed off I set the system to PH rates because I think it makes far more sense to base the set up on the volume and purpose of each room than overall rates.

Our DHW is stored at 45C heated by the EASHP.

I used brick slips on the outside of my house as a plinth and my son used them on a chimney breast. He just used tile adhesive and 10mm spacers.

Our TF company used threaded rod fixed into the concrete with resin.