Omnibuswoman

Walls are 45x95mm stud walls with 9mm ply on the inside, a breathable membrane outside, battens then shiplap cladding. 45x110 depth rafters up to a central main beam (45x2200). 9mm Ply on top of the rafters, EDPM roof covering.

Many thanks HTH. I have cancelled the OSB order and reordered the pine ply, which he assures me is structural, and is 60% of the cost of OSB. I have identified Tyvek as a popular breathable membrane choice, which seems it will do the job. Quick question: is it important not to have the insulation touching the ply or the membrane, or does it not matter? Thanks! M

I've managed to track down 30 sheets of OSB from a local builder's merchant. £25 a sheet plus VAT - almost £1k!! But I'd rather get it right and have the workshop outlive me than see it decay and feel that I could have done better. The chap from the BM said prices have doubled recently....?

Thank you all for your excellent contributions. I have now ordered the wood (a rather eye-watering £2400, but it is quite a big shed!) and have a couple of outstanding questions... The timber store couldn't supply the 30 sheets of 2.4x1.2 11mm OSB 3 that I wanted. He said it is really hard to get hold of OSB at the moment, and offered me 9mm pine plywood sheets instead. Will these be adequate? Or should I go on a search of the south west for OSB? I found this product at Wickes: Is this the correct product for the membrane between the stud and the cladding? Insulation - looks like I will use mineral wool. Will 50mm depth suffice, or should I be stuffing the frame with 100mm? The workshop won't be an office or anything, I'm more interested in stopping it freezing over in winter and boiling in summer - it is basically a rather large shed. Many thanks!

We didn't go with an architect in the end. We did speak with one recommended to us, but in the end we felt that we just couldn't spend that proportion of our modest budget (around 10%). Instead, we used the questions the architect had asked us to think about - how we plan to use the house, what our living habits are, feelings about 'must have' things and 'absolutely not' things etc. I used an app called Room Sketcher to map out plans, based on a simple rectangular house (which we understood was likely to perform well as a passive house and was likely to be the most cost efficient to build). Once we had completed that, our builder engaged an architect that he works closely with to draw our plans up properly, and then I spent a couple of hours meeting with him to make a few final adjustments. We have spent a total of about £3k, which is 1% of our budget. And as a result of doing all of the thinking and planning ourselves, I now know the plans for the house upside down and inside out! It was definitely the best thing for us, and has helped me to gain a sense of ownership both of the house and the project as a whole. If you know what you want, I would recommend this way of approaching it, and maybe getting an architectural technician to draw the plans up for you.

Hi there, welcome to the Hub. I am one of the members building in East Cornwall. We bought a plot in South East Cornwall last year, with extant planning permission. We’re building a timber frame passive house, ASHP, MHRV etc hopefully starting the build proper in the Autumn. Buildhubbers are a friendly and generous lot offering invaluable advice and encouragement, sometimes a gentle reality check, and plenty of banter. ☺️

Thank you all for your replies. Such a huge encouragement and brilliantly useful info. The concrete slab has a DPM /radon barrier under it as we’re in radioactive Cornwall ☢️, but I will also put a membrane under the sole plate and will take the cladding down over it. I’ll post some pics and words as I go along. And will do my best to enjoy the process!! ☺️

Our builder was going to build our workshop for us, but is now too busy and I have decided to crack on and do it myself. I have never done anything even remotely as challenging as this - putting up shelves has been the limit of my previous DIY experience - so I am quite apprehensive. HWMBO and my son have been roped in to help, and my dad will also come along to tell me what I’m doing wrong ?... The builder has laid a reinforced concrete base, and two rows of breeze blocks around three sides as follows... I will build stud walls (2x4s at 600mm centres) up to a total height of 2.4m. First question: how do I fix the wood frame to the block wall? I was planning to build up the wall by facing it with 9mm OSB boards, then a waterproof membrane, battens, and finally shiplap cladding. The builder has advised me to put the OSB on the inside of the wall, not the outside, then to batten a membrane to the stud wall and clad on top of that. Second question: what are the advantages and disadvantages of each method? Is one better than the other? We may put insulation into the wall at this point (something wooly) or wait until the house is insulated with blown cellulose an insulate it with that. The roof will be a gently sloping apex roof (12 degrees), with a central beam and rafters, strengthened with a cross brace. I planned to put OSB on top, followed by corrugated roofing sheets, but I can’t see how I will close the gap between the top of the rafters and the top of the walls. Question three: Should I put the OSB on the inside of the ceiling instead, and then fix the roofing sheets to the top of the rafters?? I have been offered some second hand windows for it, and I think I have worked out how to build the frames for the windows, and plan to put in both large double doors at the front and a small door near the back for quick access to the freezer. Does anybody have any tips or tricks for framing and fitting windows and doors?? Any and all advice and encouragement gratefully received!!

what a great idea!

Thanks Dave. I will pop an email over to my friendly planning officer now! Does notifying building control have any bearing on the planning consent deadline at all? I’ve had conflicting advice about that (from planning and building control depts). M

We have been increasingly anxious about the approaching deadline for the existing planning consent to expire - mid March 2021 - but today, at last, Dan our builder has made a start on the foundations for our workshop/garage/temporary site office and storage space. A large amount of hardcore arrived, the fencing around the protected oak trees was erected, and a digger and dumper arrived. Dan suggested making a start by scraping the mud off the driveway which was turning into a quagmire - an excellent idea. The hardcore is in place ready for levelling, and on Friday the concrete foundation slab will be cast. Plans are afoot for disposing of all of the topsoil that we had scraped off back in October. This is one of our planning conditions: to remove soil imbibed with arsenic compounds and replace with 'clean' topsoil. We have engaged a fantastic remediation company, Remediation UK, to do this. They sent us two brilliant guys to do the scraping, and piling it all up in an enormous 60 ton heap. Hopefully next week (council permit processing permitting) they will be back with an enormous skip to load up and take it all away to their disposal site down beyond Truro. Of course, I am 250 miles away, locked down at home, and am only able to supervise via phone calls with Dan, and his photos (attached). But one thing I was able to do today was to meet with a company specialising in passive house engineering (Greengauge) to start talking about the PHPP spreadsheet and whether or not our window plans might cause overheating. We chose this company because they have made some really radical commitments as an organisation to only work on enerphit and passive house projects, and they are committed to climate crisis action. So far so good - second meeting in two weeks to review the results of their calculations... I'm now wondering when the right time is to dig a utilities trench. Anybody have any advice about that...?

All progress is some progress! We are in a very similar situation with living in the south east and building in East Cornwall - we haven't been there since October when we had the topsoil scraped off (one of the planning conditions as the area has raised levels of arsenic in the ground). We can't wait for lockdown to lift so that we can get down and start some work.

I'm looking at a Land Rover defender 110 on bidspotter, and wondering whether other people have bought things through bidspotter and if so what your experiences have been? I've found very little by way of reviews online, and am concerned about spending money on something I can't go and view. Thanks! https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auction-catalogues/assetauctions/catalogue-id-midlan10896/lot-4876e8a3-3c9d-421e-a56a-acaf00ab5a2c

This is the Christmas present my husband lovingly made for me, as a permanent reminder of my favourite ever comedy sketch. He taught himself embroidery just so that he could make this!!

I'll just leave this here....

thanks. I’ve had a quick look at the rules and I will need to put in a preliminary application by March 2021, but have until March 2022 to get it installed, which is great!

I can’t find reference to this date online, and had thought it was open until 2022. Can you point me to your source please?

I’ve previously doubled up on underlay, using two layers for an extra springy feel underfoot. Your fitter might be able to do this for you.

It's fair to say I'm feeling pretty chuffed about this, and Mr HWMBO is too! ?

Original customer breakdown of costs.pdf Original plan of proposed new supply.pdf

I found out that WPD should be funding infrastructure upgrades itself, although there is some contention about that as ultimately the cost of upgrading the entire network to allow for future needs in a low carbon economy is well beyond the means of these companies, even though they make significant profits. Clearly this was a case of the company trying to get this past me without me realising that the cost should fall to them and not to me. I wonder how many other customers have been similarly fleeced. Attached are the previous and current plans and cost breakdowns.

This is the email I wrote WPD: Dear [name of WPD staff member], I have been doing a bit of research, and it seems to me that what I am being asked to fund is a local infrastructure upgrade, as well as my own connection. Obviously, as the country moves towards more heat pumps and electric vehicles, the existing infrastructure of 95mm 3c cable, and two 50mm ABC cables just won’t be sufficient for Cemetery Road properties, and it is a matter for WPD’s capital infrastructure budget, rather than asking individual customers to fund that. I’m aware of the policy principles at play, as follows: 4.2. The minimum scheme is the solution designed solely to provide the capacity needed for the new connection at the lowest overall capital cost. A DNO may design an enhanced scheme,2 but the cost to the customer will not exceed that of the minimum scheme. The customer can also request work in excess of the minimum scheme where it thinks this would be more beneficial. For example, it may decide that a more expensive route to the existing network will receive planning permission more easily and is therefore worth paying for. The customer will need to pay the full cost of this additional work, including the cost of operating and maintaining these additional assets over their lifetime I have also had sight of a recent memorandum from WPD stating: SD5G/5 (Part 1) 29.10.2020 Design Standards: Low Voltage Relating to the Connection of Low Carbon Technology (Electric Vehicle Charge Points and Heat Pumps) with a Capacity < 32A per phase This document details the approach for managing Electric Vehicle (EV) Charge Point and/or Heat Pump (HP) installation notifications and applications for individual or multiple equipment (installed beyond the same point of supply) rated up to 32A per phase onto Western Power Distribution’s (WPD’s) distribution network (low and high voltage). Main Changes The charging methodology for cutout replacement and service cable overlays has been changed. When a service cable is being overlaid due to a low capacity, the cable shall be overlaid with a three phase cable. Impact of Changes Western Power Distribution (WPD) will provide free of charge service upgrade costs for domestic installations (profile 1 or 2) where each item of low carbon technology has a rating < 32A. Taking account of the above, I would welcome hearing from you alternative solutions, such as running a cable directly to my property from the Tx at Drakewalls Mine, for instance. This would remove the necessity to run the cable all the way to the pole on Cemetery Road, dig up the road, install new junctions etc. Kind regards Morgan

Nope. The new proposed works are identical to the previous proposed works, but they are paying for it themselves and only charging me for the works involved in the connection, rather than the local upgrade. I made the argument that they were going to have to upgrade the local area in any event as with petrol and diesel cars being phased out, most properties would require a car charging point to be installed eventually, ditto gas boilers to heat pumps, and therefore they upgrade in supply ought to be a capital cost for WPD, not a personal charge to me. Although no mention was made of that argument in the revised quote, this is exactly that outcome.

Great news - Having obtained the information I needed from a forum similar to this for electrical engineers (The Institute of Engineering and Technology), and having gone back to WPD with a gentle challenge using that information, we now have a new quote for just over £3k, rather than the £14,600 they quoted originally. I am thrilled to bits with this. We learned last week that the planning application next door for the 5 new houses has been turned down as the developer had not done their bat homework properly. Now that the window for doing the bat survey has closed until next year, and the neighbourhood development plan which designates that land as a rural gap will go to referendum in May 2021 (and is likely to be passed), the possibility of the development going ahead has just decreased significantly. Whilst this means we can't piggy-back on the access this would have created for us (which would have been useful), it does mean that we will continue to have lovely green views to the north of us for the time being.

We do have a builder that we were planning to use for the whole thing (subject to cost comparisons), and it looks even more tempting in the context of coordinating trades etc, but you're quite right, things always crop up. The description by the chap who lives on the IoW really resonated with me - he hurt his back doing some lifting and wrote off a weekend. Another weekend written off by bad weather, and evenings constrained by loss of daylight. I'm now fully expecting to start saying 'we'd like to be in by Christmas', without stating which year!