Gone West

Our 90m2 Isoquick passive slab with 300mm of insulation was around £18000. This was with a 200mm thick reinforced concrete slab. It was around 50/50 materials and labour.

If it really is meant to be a VCL I would use stainless steel staples and tape over with aluminium tape. All ridiculous of course.

Parts 1 & 3 sound reasonable. I would have thought part 2 wouldn't be above £200.

Try white cement mixed with different types of soft sand.

The problem disappeared when I replaced all the Hep2O with Speedfit on the CH.

Definitely not decades. From experience it takes about three years. I plumbed a house in the early nineties with the original Hep2O pipe and it caused no end of hassle.

Back in the 90s the original Hep2O pipe didn't have an oxygen barrier which meant oxygen passed through the pipe walls and into the water. In a central heating system it resulted in corrosion on the radiators etc. even with inhibitor.

Possibly the grey Hep2O piping may not have an oxygen barrier.

There are a couple of old Hep2O fittings along with old Plumbsure fittings and a mixture of Hep2O (grey) and Speedfit (white) piping.

Possibly there could be different types of movement between the two different types of foundations of the two semis which would cause problems with party wall cracking. All depends on ground conditions.

Good luck with the project Mark, it looks like a very nice area.

It would be interesting to have a repeat of those pictures in five years and maybe ten years time.

We designed our home so all the bathrooms, kitchen, water tanks, pipes etc were in one quarter of the house. This meant there were no long pipe runs and the utility/plant room could be next to the kitchen and have all the ventilation, electrical and plumbing equipment in it.

Well done, I can tell you're pleased.

Yes I have a Genvex Combi 185LS which is a compact unit housing a 185l UVC, EASHP, which provides warm air and heats the DHW, and the MHRV unit.

Bluewater is at Greenhithe, Kent and Lakeside is at Thurrock, Essex. Both currently have free parking, but for how long who knows.

I used skateboard trainers, very grippy. The second picture is me, I like sitting down on the job.

I think gaps under doors have to be larger than 10mm or the air flow will be faster creating draughts. I like @JSHarris's idea of transfer vents, wish I'd thought of that before fitting all the pocket doors. Like others have said I doubt many of our doors will be closed anyway.

Perhaps it was just bonfire night.

Good idea to gain as much experience as you can before you start the 'big one'. Good luck with the project, I look forward to reading the updates.

I like pocket doors.

In our naivety we used a budgeting estimate sheet at the back of a self building magazine. We altered it to reflect our build and amazingly we are still within budget with little else to buy. We have spent more in some areas and cut back in others but overall we're pleased. As they say ignorance is bliss.

Do you get that many flying insects in the winter? The MHRV is unlikely to be on in the summer so it's only going to be a problem for a couple of months a year. MHRV is worth it.

My daughter used X Tex to remove the worst Artex on the ceilings of their last house before having the house skimmed. Where the Artex wasn't too lumpy they just had it skimmed. I think the plasterer painted SBR on before skimming.

Very enlightening.