crispy_wafer

I need to get one of these to connect up new house to existing soil drainage - already discussed with inspector. What's it called please, before I go pestering the civils co,

Just browsing a 2nd's site for insulation, I notice they sell non foil faced PIR boards... What's the use case for these? If they came up in the sizes I needed could I use these as floor insulation?

hoping prices drop back, I'm in the middle of a build. Planning on getting watertight then shutting the door for 6 months whilst I keep an eye on materials that will be needed from there on in.

Yes and no to the parge coat. Not fully decided... I need to look in more detail, if it something that I can DIY or am I gonna create a big mess then require a pro to come and sort me out. I'm confident enough to give stuff a go it's just biting the bullet and going for it. I've seen products like blowerproof and passive purple, but does this stuff actually work and provide longevity or will it just dry up and end up cracking and splitting a mastic would in a few years, i'd like to think it does work, but there be sharks out there, selling stuff to the uninitiated. Spoke to the builder about the tony tray idea, he liked the idea, however, I'm not going to end up in a world of hurt later with rotten joists by doing this am I? I guess that's where the breather membrane comes into it's own? But if something can breathe how can it keep draughts out? I guess all this has been done to death in the past - I'm a newbie and love to ask how and why...

As above It's good you've got contact with builders, get a gut feel for who you feel you can work with, and communicate with on a regular basis. Be prepared to wait though. 1) Get planning submission sorted, busy builders like at the moment seem keen to spend time with clients once planning is passed and Building regs drawings are in place, that gives the reassurance that they are not spending valuable time building up quotes when the order may no be fulfilled. Talking to my builder I'm getting an appreciation for how much time they have to spend off the tools to go out customer facing with future customers, then building up an estimate, dealing with suppliers etc etc. It's not as easy as us customers think... Especially timing everything to run as smooth as possible. Add in material shortages and merchants being run off their feet too, material price rises are also causing a concern with customers aswell. - once planning has passed, and only if you haven't already you may need to submit additional information regards window colours, brick types etc 2) Architect will have contacts for an SE, again the SE may take a little while. Another one of those jobs I thought would be wham bam thankyou. Some can be quite steady. 3) Submit building regs drawings and detail to the LA with SE report, your builder ought to be able to use these drawings for dimensions and working out qty's. All the best.

Thanks for the suggestions above, ought to mention it's a brick and block construction, airtightness isn't going to be up there with the best, but I'm striving to do the best I can. We did look at Manthorpe joist seals, but my pozi's are quite beefy at 122 by 300@400, told the manufacturer I didn't want any bounce, so these are probably overkill... The joist seals are 120. They will do special's if you ask, and was quoted about 680 for 48 from the BM, but my builder has everyone lined up on a conveyer and the joists are being installed next week, so not much time to act. My fault really for not communicating effectively and expecting stuff to be available off the shelf so to speak.

Anybody have recommendations for choice of membrane to use when employing the Tony tray method of maintaining airtightness around first floor joists. Many thanks.

@Faz Loving your pictures and progress, you are a way ahead of me and your pictures are really helping me visualise what I'll be needing to do later on. Your insulation between the rafters, are you insulating right down the attic truss void aswell? Curious, as I've not decided as yet. Good work sir.

Quick question. I'm using PIR cavity wall sheets in the cavity for my build, can this be used in the cavity wall behind the stove and chimney? Suddenly dawned on me whilst I was setting out for tomorrows job. I would have thought so but was unsure...

I really liked @joe90 brick detail for his window cills, I've got some pictures/ideas for the brick detail at the gables, and eaves. But am easily swayed, I'm like a kiddie in a sweetshop at the minute. I'd love to see more pictures of lovely brickwork detail.

Yes, I like that, and it all works together really well I think. Well done. I especially like the window cill brick detail, I will show that to my builder, that design could well save me some pennies too against the cost of cast cills. Can I ask how the window frame is sealed against the angled brick in the Cill?

Yep, have samples, bricks, tiles etc and to be fair we like the contrasts between the bricks, tiles and windows. just not with the lighter mortar as this was a suggestion made to us yesterday. It's the mortar colour which has thrown me TBH, perfectly happy with the 'as mixed' with our local sand colour. Myself and the good lady want to see it all together before deciding on the lighter colour or not. Good info on the cills, - Thankyou.

We've settled on a facing brick TBS Farmhouse antique, builder has come up with an idea that the brick would suit a light mortar, which I agree with - however It hadn't even crossed my mind to stray from grey... Additionally we have specced Anthracite on the windows, black rainwater, and a dark grey slate effect clay tile. I had seen some rather fetching cast cill's and I'd found a manufacturer that will do these in Anthracite too, so have priced these up and I'm ready to pull the trigger. Under DPC we've got blue's. Now I've got the picture in my mind, the bricks work well with the windows and roof covering, it seems a fair contrast not too overpowering in favour of one colour, or the other, the cills i'm 70/30 in favour of... However adding white/lighter mortar to the mix adds another level. It doesnt help that my elevations on the drawings are in the wrong colours either. For what it's worth the building will be set in a rural, woodland location, no other properties in the same field of view so have nothing to contrast against. Does anybody have this combination of colours on the go, or even just antique brick and light mortar? I'd love to see pictures, so I can fill my mind with other possibilities. Many thanks Marek

@Olly P That's Beautiful, well done. Mine will look close to this, although the glazing company have suggested the triangle piece will need an upstand so the horizontal bar wont quite be at the angle. Also interested in insulating the steels question, but also the detail for the bit between floors, I cant quite visualise in my mind how the pieces will go together.

gotcha, Thankyou, pictures are perfect

Sat in work and a daft question entered my head, it not important right now, but I cant work out what's the right way to go about? So, DPM, does it go down before block internal walls get built or after? If it goes down before then it's gonna get shredded and ripped up, so has gotta go down after , right? Internal block walls will have a dpc built into them then you dpm each room connecting to the DPC layer separately? - Is that right? Block+Beam floor if it makes any difference.

@epsilonGreedy Just reading back through this thread, what method for your cavity and insulation did you opt for in the end?

Post and rail fence is a nice option, tis what we did 20 years ago, stand the posts in oil, creosote or a mixture for a couple of weeks will help them immensely in the long run, then square 4 inch wire mesh run along the fence from ground level to about 4ft high to keep out dogs. Eventually I planted laurels, loads of them over the space of a few years, purchased them in the winter as bare root in bundles of 50 or so, then heeled them into my veg patch then planted them at my leisure. Beware though, Laurels grow big if you let them, Mine are now at about 2.5 to 3m, which keeps out prying eyes. Means I can have more man toys to keep it in good order though, and its a twice a year job at that. Not sure what's worse though, painting fences, or hedgetrimming!

So yesterday, was a fairly productive day in terms of ticking things off the list. Bricks ordered - before price rise. Not that I've got much space to store them at the moment. I'll be extending the driveway infront of the build up to the front of the bungalow to create a little extra room. It's gonna get muddy when I get a machine in but needs must, it was something to do later in the year but I've had my arms twisted a bit. Building inspector is happy for me to connect to existing septic tank so that's a result. A wagon load of limestone chippings is now ready to be deposited under the block and beam floor... Water table and standing water round the trench blocks where little or no back fill, building inspectors recommendations so happy with that, the ventilation space will be maintained as I'm out the floor by a good way... I can handle a little damp, but a moat, no thanks! Quote back from roof truss and first floor pozi joist supplies, not bad i think, took a bit of toing and froing to get to where we wanted... on a 5100 span we started with 254*100 at 600mm centres... I'm no flooring technician but that sounded a bit bouncy to me, he explained the software spits out the most economical design. Eventually we have ended up at 304*122mm at 400mm centres, not quite double the price, but close. To sanity check its 12*5200 and 5*5100 + ancillary items for 1980 + vat , I'll look a bit further afield to see how the quote stacks up. And heres a link to the timelapse from the day it all started. Rose Maroan, New Build - Day1 - YouTube

Blocks coming up on slab, on drawing they are specified as block walls, there's one a couple which are spec'd as stud walls, but blocking them gave me a feel for the location, and door positions.

Parge coat - Noted. I will have a word when the blocks are going up, ask them nicely to point up and ensure the mortar fills the bits where it should maybe a cup of tea and a bit of cake will seal the deal.... 175mm as between myself and the builder we were discussing the finished floor height and how many blocks down before and above the b+b, then we were working backwards from the level AOD stipulated by the planners, 170mm or 160mm + 60mm or 70mm screed , so its a number that could well change a smidge depending on costs, and what bargains I can lay my hands on. Haha brings me on to screed, all the builders round this way all seem to use floscreed now, but to be different I quite fancy good old fashion sand/cement screed. MVHR location is now a consideration, admittedly I hadn't actually planned on one, but a bit of tweaking and a reduction of the downstairs shower/wc has created a bit of extra space in the utility for this. Pipe routes are now being worked out.

My preference would be dense concrete blocks at 20% cheaper. What was the reason for the lightweights? Probably me being a bit naive and not reading into real world experiences. And just going by what the technician suggested Good plan. Have you priced EPS blown beads as an alternative No, but blown beads were on my list to investigate, one thought I had was, was how can I be sure they get everywhere they need to. It'll help for sure. Get him to cost it. Where does the bottom of your wall insulation stop? That steel is probably more of an issue mind you. Good question, just looked and it is something that isnt detailed on my drawings. I'll need to double check where he's filled the cavity with lean mix to, but I think its to the level where it's covering the block and beam ends. So as it stands the insulation starts at the top of the block and beam. RE the steel, yes, good point, I'll have a mooch about and see how others have solved this. My preference would be wet plaster internally. Although dot and dab can work it usually doesn't rate very well for airtightness. Nice solid walls too. Yes, I like the idea of wet plaster, but I had also thought about battening out the internal walls and creating a service void, potentially insulated PB, not fully decided at this point. - Note if I was to do this again, I'd have put in a wider cavity... Again something I'd not even considered at the outset. I'd get rid of the studs and build internal block walls. Better for sound and cheaper as far as i can remember. These can be built on the blocks that are there. I don't have too many studs so yes this is something I could do. Avoid anything that seals with a brush seal like bifolds or sash windows. They're really drafty. Triple glazing is a no brainer. Beyond that it's how much you want to spend. hehe, no bifolds in this house, don't know why, totally irrational but I dislike them with a passion. Triple glazing, yes, they'd quoted me for double, but I will ask them to requote, especially for the floor to gable curtain as this could be an issue. Looking at some of the details they'd put on the quote, they are using a system from SF52 Curtain Wall - Senior Architectural Systems Nope! That suggests you've been able to get to sleep in the first place! ? Have a look at this series of videos from the GreenBuildingStore. They're short and cover 99% of what you'll need to do to have a very comfortable house. Thanks, certainly will do, I'll queue that up on the amazon box.

So I've got plenty of time before the builder comes back later this year to shell and roof. Trouble is with all this time I'm finding out lots of tidbits of information from you guys that perhaps I'd have been better knowing before we started this journey. I'm slowly putting together a spec for the shell. It'd been decided to be brick and block, however I'm already starting to think again on this, and heading back to the drawing board. Changes I've made so far 175mm insulation on the B+B floor instead of the 100mm specified I'll be using fibolites instead of celcon lightweights, are 3.6n OK or are 7.2 the ones to use? Dritherm32 or similar instead of rigid PIR wall insulation as I wont be around the watch and monitor the builder at every step, The first course of blocks had been laid onto the B+B floor, but I've just discovered things like cold bridging at the wall to floor junction, so would knocking these out and putting down a course of thermoblocks be a wise idea? Builder wont be too happy, but there you go I guess. decisions made without knowledge and all that. I've also discovered this thing called a parge coat, or sealing the inner blockwork to help with airtightness. Then there will be dealing with attention to detail when the floor is laid and the roof construction. Internal room dividing stud walls? Now a question that's been going round my noggin, what should these sit on? Currently laid out with block or would marmox be a better idea. Also, as I know not alot about windows and glazing I'll pop up in that section soon as I've had a quote through and I couldn't tell if it's good bad or ok... Finally, Is waking up at 3am thinking about trivial stuff normal? Cheers folks this really is a great resource that helps with the unblurring of the lines.

I think the problem here, is now I've seen it, I cant unsee it ?, just need to get my head around it being part of the 'character' ... ?

Thanks George, The Highway drain is 'my drain', were on an non public maintainable highway, the type where neighbours all band together and look after, I dug it out and maintain it and have done for the last 20 years. I'm not worried about draining to that too much, but If I laid a pipe it would be about 2-4 inches under the existing ground level, and I bet I'd have to raise some levels as the pipe run would pass through the garden, which is a bit of a bowl. I think infilling could be a solution, I just hate the idea of standing water inside the 4 walls, already got me waking up in the night to think about possible solutions... However if its absorbed in stone, or some other material then I think I can deal with that. The current bungalow is built on a concrete slab and FFL is about a foot out of the ground. The water table levels haven't caused an issue for as long as we've lived in it. The new build FFL will be about 2 foot out of the ground - thanks drainage board, hence the design including b+b floor.