Johnny Jekyll

Thanks guys. Just had a great phone call with the Green Building Store, very helpful actually. They explained that the Intello Plus membrane can be laid directly against the thermalite blocks (overlapping and taping all joints in the membrane of course), and the battens can then be used to hold the membrane in place against the wall. It's ok to screw through the battens and through the membrane into the wall as the batten pressure should create an airtight seal for the membrane screw hole, but I'll check this again at installation time because I can always add a qualified sealant around each screw to ensure at good seal at that time. So this is how my walls are made up so far, what do you think? 3mm skim for finish 12.5mm normal plasterboard 50mm battens for services void, and some extra insulation Pro Clima Intello Plus membrane held against the wall by the battens, this membrane will envelop the building 100mm 7.3N thermalite blocks 100mm cavity using Cavity Therm by Xtratherm as they can achieve under 0.2 U Value at this thickness 100mm medium block 15mm K Rend

Thanks guys. The site is nearly flat (very slight slope from back to front). It doesn't really suffer from surface water, just gets a little wet during heavy downpours. The DPC should not be an issue. Do you think a slab would be better (I'm really in two minds)? I'm thinking with block and beam I can do much of the labour myself? Is block and beam much more expensive?

I'm researching MVHR and airtightness. I'm not going for Passive House but buying into making the house airtight. We are using block and block with render. I believe wet plaster will make it airtight to a degree, but I'm wondering if using an internal airtight membrane to envelope the building (walls and ceilings with a cold loft) would be cheaper and actually better over time (cracking and all that)? The Pro Clima Intello Plus looks like a great product. Has anyone had experience with it? I have questions like: - Can Intello be installed directly against thermalite blocks? Or does there need to be a gap? - How would it install around the posi joists at the joints to the walls, using joist hangers perhaps? - I'd like to batten and plasterboard over the top of the membrane if possible, and run pipes / wiring behind the plasterboard. That way I can do most of the work myself. But how are battens attached to the blockwork through the airtight membranes? Screws? Anyone have experience / advice installing airtight membranes? Thanks.

We are building a new house in the back garden, and we are interested in using block and beam foundations. Question 1 = Will a 150mm void under the block and beam be ok? Or does it need to be greater? We are thinking of digging the void down into the ground a little to avoid a big ramp up to the front door for Part M disabled access (using vents down through the foundations of course), but the void may suffer from surface water during heavy rain. Question 2 = Should we install some sort of water barrier at the base of the void to keep it the water out? Is this allowed and is there a specific product we should use? Question 3 = Do we need to install a Radon barrier as standard practice? How do we find out whether we need one? Thanks very much

Again thanks guys. The bricky is a friend of mine and I will be there helping him all day every day as a labourer, so attention to detail should hopefully be good. Has anyone got experience with this Cavity Therm stuff? It seems to look good from the outside? Probably bloody expensive though.

Any opinions on either of the following? Thanks Kingspan Kooltherm K106 - 90mm with 10mm cavity https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/insulation/insulation-boards/kooltherm/kooltherm-k106-cavity-board Cavity Therm - Full fill wall insulation http://www.cavitytherm.com/ Would they be much more expensive compared to EPS blown beads?

My apologies what is EWI?

Planning is completed so 65sqm is set in stone. What about 100mm cavity using EPS beads with Thermalite? Every time I see a building lorry I see Thermalite on the back. Do people in the know just not like using them?

Awesome thanks guys. Hope other will also comment. This is so helpful. Regarding the EPS beads, are you thinking Kingspan Ecobead or another manufacturer? Also, our house is only 65 square meters, so it's small. What if I wanted to keep to 100mm cavity? What do you think would be the best solution?

May I ask for some advice on wall design. It's a small detached newbuild with 65 square metre floor plan, one and a half story (second floor in the roof). I'm a newby self builder and researching / organising this myself so help would be much appreciated. I'm using block and block with render for the build. This is what I have so far, from in to out: - 3mm Skim - Plasterboard onto 38mm or 50mm battens throughout - 100mm Thermalite Aircrete Shield 3.6N blocks (Forterra) - 100mm Cavity with 50mm partial fill insulation (perhaps Kingspan Kooltherm K108 Cavity Board or Celotex GA3000) - 100mm Dense 7.3N concrete blocks for load bearing - K rend What do you think? I hope to use an MVHR system, so air tightness may be quite important. Also thinking underfloor heating. I have questions like: - Should I use insulated plasterboard e.g. Kooltherm K118 Insulated Plasterboard? Or is that overkill? - Should I use battens or dot n dab? - Could screwing battens to the Thermalite blocks (using the correct fixings of course) cause problems or drops in U values? - Is there a better option for the internal blocks than Thermalite? - Should I be using teplo wall ties instead of normal metal wall ties? - Is 50mm partial fill insulation a good choice for this house? If so, feel free to comment on Kingspan or Celotex? - If using foil backed insulation for the wall cavities, could this cause problems for mobile phone signals? Faraday cage effect? Please of course feel free to detail how you would design the walls? Products and why? Am I missing things? I'm especially worried about one product not working with another or damp problems etc? Many thanks in advance.

Just removing specifics for privacy reasons.

Thanks for the information everyone. Any more opinions or advice would be most welcome please. I'll also start doing some Googling.

Just removing specifics for privacy reasons. Does anyone know what they are? If these pose a problem at all? Is there something we need to do? Thanks very much

Just read that article thanks guys. I'm leaning more and more towards Private Residence Exception and being clear of CGT. I've posted on a tax forum and also have approached a professional as well, so will hopefully get a definitive answer soon to post here.

Thanks everyone, and for this link Temp. In the Tax Implications section at the bottom, it states: HMRC have stated that parents may still be liable to Capital Gains Tax if the property being given is their second home. The only way to avoid this is via the Private Residence Exception (Principle Place of Residence), meaning the property has been/is occupied by the parent as their main home. So I Googled Private Residence Exception a bit more, and found / read through the government page here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-residence-relief-hs283-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs283-private-residence-relief-2017--2 It seems my parents are entitled to full CGT relief where all the following conditions are met (which they all are): 1) The dwelling house has been my parents only and main residence throughout their period of ownership. 2) My parents have not been absent other than normal holidays over the years. 3) The garden including the buildings on them are not greater than the permitted area (which is half a hectare). 4) No part of their home has been used exclusively for business purposes during their period of ownership. I'm probably going to check with a tax adviser, but any further comments (including agree or disagree) are much appreciated?

Thanks very much Peter. Very kind of you. Am hoping for some similarly excellent answers to my other questions. Have a bunch of other more interesting actual build questions ready to post on the forum after this. It's a great place for people like me who are about to embark on their first self build.

Would anyone be able to fill in a few gaps or confirm my hunches regarding capital gains tax. My parents own a house (mortgage free) worth about £650k. The land is about 1/4 acre in size. It has been their principle private residence since 1984. They do not own any other property. The house has a garden big enough to build a second house on, and my parents have successfully gained planning permission to build the house. Our plan is now for my parents to gift me the garden land and I am going to build the house for my family and I to live in as my own principle private residence. I now understand fully about inheritance tax and the 7 year rule, and also that stamp duty will not be due because it’s a gift. But may I ask: 1) Is either myself or my parents subject to capital gains tax at all? My previous questions and hunches are now no because: a) They are gifting me part of their PPR to be my PPR, and: b) I will be selling my current property (the only property I own) during the build process. Which should be fine because I believe I would need to sell my current property within 18 months from the point where the new house is finished before I’m liable for CGT. Of course, best to check if I’m correct on this. Furthermore, may I ask: 2) When is the best time to transfer the land? I’m thinking ASAP to get the 7 year IHT clock ticking. 3) What are the actual steps to transferring the land into my name (e.g. transfer at land registry / notifying HMRC)? I'm presuming it can be transferred into both mine and my wife's name (tenants in common) as we will jointly own the house together. 4) I’ll probably need a professional to help with the land transfer as I’ve never done it before. What type of professional do I actually need? And what are the typical charges for this? I’m based in the South East. Thanks very much in advance.

I see, I'll have a good look around, thanks.

Thanks very much newhome and PeterW. That's all very helpful. One last question, is there a reason the forum only seems to show more recent posts rather than all post added over time? Am I missing something? For example this Self Build Mortgages section lists 507 posts but I can only see maybe 50 posts over two pages?

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Regarding this point from newhome, are you saying that if we transfer the land now, it still won't actually be classed as owning 2 houses until the build reaches a certain stage? If so, do you know what stage that would be? Habitable? Utilities connection? The point council tax is due (I don't yet know when that would be due either). Please all feel free to give opinions on this thanks. Should I speak with a conveyancing solicitor to confirm? Or am I worrying about something quite trivial? Also, today the Self Builders Bible 12th edition arrived so I'm going to smash through that over the next week to get a better understanding of everything. I am officially a novice at the moment but a pretty quick learner.

Thanks everyone. If you could share more thoughts on when is the best time to do the gift of land transfer, based on HMRC / capital gains / or any legal points, that would be very useful. Either before the build starts or during the build (we of course want to get the 7 years inheritance tax period ticking if possible)? Basically implications of overlapping and owning our flat and the land at the same time is something I probably need to understand more.

I've been awarded planning permission to build a house in my parents garden. My parents will gift the land to my wife and I, and we will build the house and live in it as our principal private residence. Our budget to build is around the £300,000 mark. We are having full building plans drawn up and will use an estimator to help plan the cost of the build. My main question is around financing the build. My wife and I currently live in a flat less than 10 minutes drive away. We own the flat outright mortgage free, valued at approx £200,000. We are debating whether to: Option 1 = Sell the flat and move in with my parents, effectively providing us with £200,000 cash flow to start the build. Option 2 = Take out a mortgage on our flat to start the build, and stay in our flat during some of the build. Once the money runs out, our plan is to take out a self-build mortgage or if we can get habitable, take out a normal mortgage to finish off near the end. Any advice on which option would be much appreciated? Also, I have other thoughts such as, when is the best time to do the gift of land transfer? Before the build starts or during (we want to get the 7 years inheritance tax period ticking if possible)? And are there any implications (e.g. capital gains tax) of overlapping and owning our flat and the land at the same time for a while? Many thanks.