shuff27

Have you considered putting the hob on the island? That works well for us & is more sociable - in your layout whoever is cooking faces the wall rather than other people in the room.

KTS is part of the Kingspan Group: "Kingspan was dishonest and cynical, Grenfell Inquiry finds" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyne526506o

I doubt any paint mixing service would guarantee an 'exact match' in its small print. What I am certain of, having used both, is that 'trade' versions of paint from Crown, Dulux etc are better quality than their 'retail' versions available from the DIY sheds.

Paint buying tip - Farrow & Ball is now owned by Crown. So open a trade account at your local Crown Decorating Centre (mine is happy to give the trade discount to self builders) & they will mix their excellent trade emulsion to the exact F&B colour using the code number off the F&B colour card. And don't forget to reclaim the VAT from HMRC.

Received VAT reclaim in my bank account today & as the online process is relatively new (it may be mandatory now?) I thought that the timescale might be helpful for others who are about to go through this. 29 May - submitted claim. I had been keeping track of all my invoices on a spreadsheet so it was an easy procedure to upload these to HMRC in the format requested, along with the various supporting docs. Received email response from HMRC with a claim ref number. 11 June - email from HMRC confirming my claim is valid & requesting copies of 10 specific invoices (my claim had 117 invoices) which I scanned & uploaded. The 10 invoices were all relatively high amounts but I'm unsure whether they were picked randomly or specifically. 13 June - email from HMRC confirming receipt of 'additional info' i.e. the 10 invoices & stating they aim to process payment within 3 weeks. 10 July - payment received. The amount paid is approx £300 less than I claimed which I assume is due either to claiming for invalid items or miscalculation of VAT on my part (the latter possibly happened where invoices included both reclaimable & non-claimable items). In due course I expect to receive an explanation of the underpayment from HMRC & will update this post then. All in all, I found the reclaim process straightforward & I should think the online process is a great improvement on the previous paper/postal one.

One of the many mandatory documents you're required to submit is the property title deeds. Also, because I have neither a mortgage nor a warranty I had to submit proof of a valid VAT reclaim (I'm still waiting for the actual refund but HMRC has at least verified my claim which the planners accepted).

Just received confirmation letter from the local planning dept, 19 months after we moved in; my delay in submitting the Part 2 form was mainly due to waiting ages for Land Registry to sort out the title deed & plan. But guess what - the planning dept addressed the letter to my previous home which I sold in 2021, which is an appropriate reflection of its incompetence.

You can submit an approved VAT reclaim or proof of a self build mortgage instead - I made sure to check this as I don't have a warranty.

Another vote for Spanish slates. I was originally going to use Sandtoft clay tiles but as they were unavailable due to lockdown I switched to slates & very pleased I did so. Capimor 1st grade Spanish as recommended by my roofer who only works with slate.

My chippies made a sturdy temp staircase out of scrap timber (mainly left over from the timber frame package) for £200 & installed it shortly after the plasterers had finished the final skim coat. The design more or less mirrored what I wanted for my permanent staircase, albeit with narrower treads. They came back about a week before we moved in to remove the temp 2 flights of stairs & install the permanent ones. I kept the same half landing as it was already in the correct position (laid vinyl click flooring on the board, same as on the GF) & they attached a hardwood fascia to the pine. Where the temp stringers were removed there were just a few small areas of bare plaster to paint. My staircase is made from ash by a local joinery, with glass balustrades - I didn't want oak (too common!) so I visited their workshop to look at various hardwood samples. I've left the ash untreated as I prefer that look & don't have young kids or pets to worry about.

I had a similar situation although the 2nd property was to sell not let. My solution was set up a VAT registered limited company to build the 2nd one so I could reclaim the VAT on materials & other expenses. The 1st property was for us to live in so usual self build rules applied. It was a bit complicated to keep all the invoices etc separate but not a major issue. I did employ a good accountant & HMRC were fine with the arrangement. In building terms I did the groundworks & foundations simultaneously (making sure the contractors invoiced for 2 separate jobs - 1 zero rated to me & 1 with VAT to my company). Then I completed my self build & moved in before completing the 2nd property (which went under offer before 2nd fix had been done).

If you applied for CIL exemption you need to include the Final Certificate at the final stage of the exemption process (Form 7, Part 2).

I don't agree with your last point. My wife is from SE Asia so naturally does plenty of wok cooking - no problem on an induction hob, according to her, with a large flat bottomed wok from IKEA.

Will be interested to hear about this - I probably (until I remember something else!) just have to buy interior paint & stone chippings for the drive before I submit mine. I've already re-formatted my spreadsheet to the new HMRC template.

Yes for sanitary fittings but not for kitchen/laundry appliances if they're what the OP is buying.

Another possibility if it's happening regularly - Legionella boost setting for the ASHP? I've recently changed from Agile to Cosy for the heating use months - my ASHP was set by the installer to heat DHW from 3am to 4am so I changed that to an hour later to suit the Cosy tariff. But I was still getting a power spike once a week at 3am - I eventually realised that the Ecodan FTC6 controller had been set up to do the Legionella boost then.

We're also next to fields but find neighbour's BBQs more of an issue. Our Zender can switch ventilation mode from 'balanced' (i.e. normal supply & extract operation) to extract only via the app - this mitigates the issue effectively. It runs automatically on a timer (1 hour by default) so you won't be deprived of fresh air if you forget to switch it back! I'm guessing that other MVHR brands would have the same facility.

I bought my bricks from Jewson. They have a dedicated brick rep who covers the Midlands - he was very helpful & happy to deal with a self builder. I was sourcing materials during lockdown when UK factories weren't producing. He eventually found me some beautiful bricks from Belgium at a great price - my brickies said they were better quality than most UK bricks they'd ever laid.

Just finished mine last week - slabs on full bed of concrete ballast laid on thick layer of wacked type 1. Ramp slope is approx 10 degrees, I believe the permitted range is 7-15 degs. There's about a 5mm gap between the slabs & door cill to allow for drainage although the oak porch canopy keeps it virtually dry in any case. The slab path is 900mm wide & extends for 8m along the front elevation, so long enough to park parallel & get out of the car straight on to the path - final driveway finish will be 20mm stone chippings, i.e. not wheelchair compatible. Apart from the air tightness test this should be the final element before BCO completion sign off - probably a common situation for us self builders.

Hopefully BG will actually turn up for the installation, in my case they didn't despite their online support lying to me that the engineer was on the way. £30 compo & switched to Octopus to do it.

Seconded. No aerial nor landline for me & don't miss either - fortunately my village got FTTP while I was during construction stage. Getting Gigaclear to acknowledge that my house exists (their computer said no) was a painful process but all sorted now.

Once Octopus gave me the meter installation date I called their contractor to ensure they knew I needed a 3 phase meter. Apparently not all their installers are qualified to fit 3 phase meters so they allocated me one who is - he did a really neat job.

Why is that problematic? I have 3 phase & Octopus arranged for their contractor to fit the appropriate meter. I'm on the Agile tariff atm which suits my consumption pattern (no gas & EV). May change tariff in winter once ASHP heating is needed.

I'm in a Western Power area so got 3-phase supply installed as standard last year. The only elec suppliers willing to install meters at the time were EDF & British Gas but neither would install a 3-phase meter so I got a single phase dumb meter. BG offered the earliest appointment so I went with them. Since I recently bought a used EV I need a smart meter to use off peak tariffs so next week BG are returning to install a 3-phase smart meter. I'll then switch to one of the Octopus tariffs - will probably start a new thread about which one will best suit me as an ASHP user.

Almost time for my 1st filter set replacement, G4 + F7. The oem filters are approx twice the price of generic ones (ventilationland.co.uk) so I'm wondering if the generic ones would be fine or a false economy - I assume other MVHR owners have had the same decision to make so any comments?