Gone West

Yes we were in that boat, took us eight years. It's great when it's finished.

I used BuildDeskU which I managed to download on two occasions each for 30 days free. It had a similar looking output but I used it in 2009. http://www.builddesk.co.uk/software/builddesk-u/download-builddesk-u/

1) Can't help I'm afraid. 2) It should not be dripping, but can't offer any advice why it is. 3) The blocks should be sitting in around 10mm of water all the time until regeneration otherwise there wouldn't be any brine. I would guess so, mine loses less than 10mm between regenerations and regenerates every day or two.

The timber used 90 years ago would be a lot better quality than what would replace them.

We haven't treated our cedar cladding on the house and the north facing wall has gone a nice even silver grey. The other walls are more patchy as it is the rain that washes the colour out rather than UV bleaching it. A friend clad his barn in oak and left it untreated and that went grey. It takes time for it all to even out.

Hi and welcome to the forum.We did the same as you as a retirement project, good luck. We had an initial MVHR system design done by ADM Systems.

Our window supplier/installer was registered with Checkatrade, although we didn't know it when we placed the order. Initially we had some issues with the installation and they came back and fixed them. When we had some more problems they refused to come out again as it was too far for them. After lots of phone calls and emails they stopped answering any more, so I tried Trading Standards who weren't interested. I then put a bad review on Checkatrade and Checkatrade contacted me and I told them the problem. They contacted the company for me and effectively told the company to fix things to my satisfaction which they did straightaway. So I am pleased with Checkatrade, although this was several years ago.

Is that on top of the sand or underneath?

Have you looked at these. https://www.diywardrobes.co.uk/#cabinetdesigner

@pocster All I can add is that we used this BAL flexible adhesive for all our porcelain ground floor tiles back in 2015. We didn't use a decoupling mat and tiled onto concrete with expansion joints at doorways.

PM Admin and ask to set up a blog.

Quite possibly that is the case, as you say, you don't necessarily get to see the whole picture. It's not how I would do it though, I set a budget and stick to it.

I wouldn't fit an ASHP in an old poorly insulated house because I wouldn't want all the walls covered in radiators.

For our demolition we paid £4400 to have the asbestos removed and then dismantled the bungalow ourselves. We crushed the masonry onsite and reused it. All the timber was given away on Freegle. Not a significant part of our build costs.

That programme showed to me the wisdom of not using an architect for that type of project. Given a budget he comes up with a scheme that cost nearly twice as much and then says if you haven't got the money just do a bit of it. Nonsense.

It was a timber frame around 7.5m square on brick plinth and concrete ring beam. On the back there was an old block cavity extension around 30m2 on concrete slab and footings with block internal wall. It was crushed to 50mm.

We had our masonry crushed on site and it was noisy but I guess it depends on how built up the area is and how the sound is reflected around. Not bad around here.

Yeah, he said as the house wasn't finished enough I could make a final test result worse. The result was 0.49ACH so yes policing/conning.

We had a preliminary air test done to find any leaks and it was good enough to pass easily but the tester wouldn't issue the certificate because the house wasn't finished enough. So we had to get him back to do a final test, bit of a con.

It looks like burnt mastic, old school sealant. https://www.womersleys.co.uk/shop/stone_repair_grouts_and_mastic/burnt_sand_mastic_10_litres

@Levo TBH I never considered an enthalpy heat exchanger as an option.

Road scalpings, what the farmers around here use on their tracks.

Yes as @PeterW says we got permission to discharge surface water directly onto the adjacent lane. We would have needed a large storage tank and soakaway area and we have only a small site. I asked the BCO if he would object and he was happy as long as the Highways Department were. Highways were more than helpful and as there is no formal drainage on our lane and it slopes down away to a ditch 200m away it was allowed.

The David Snell book covers all aspects of a self build from sourcing a plot onwards but doesn't specialise in any particular type of build. The Green Building Bible covers all aspects of low energy type builds. The Green Self Build Book covers the same area as GBB but in less detail and it also covers the Segal Build Method and gives examples of individual builds. Some books provide inspiration rather than technical knowledge but for me those three were the most useful.

These are some I've collected over the last 40 years.