Carrerahill

Hang on a minute, am I missing something here, maybe... but if it was me, I would screw a form to the front and side of the reveal just over 3/4 of the way up the "mess", batten it up with 2x4 or something, you could clamp it etc. then pour in concrete. Leave the forms for 24 hours, remove and then you could fill the remaining bit by packing in concrete or use some commons. I am sure there are reasons, but I would prefer to see this more permanent that bits of OSB and board.

Why do they need the final payment 2 weeks before? Presumably at this stage they have got all the materials for your order and started your order, so it is not like the second payment is to buy materials so why this cannot be prior to delivery I do not know - I would say not a chance, I'd probably walk away. Also, if they say they will give you a certificate saying you own them then that suggests they have been made... yet it's 2 weeks before delivery so what do they need another 2 weeks for, well I deduce that means that actually they are still not finished... so there is nothing for you to own so how could they legally give you a certificate of ownership if no asset exists?

My windows are on order, have been for weeks and I have not paid a penny. Arrangement is full payment on collection or just before delivery. If you are worried then talk to them.

Approved (Council stamped) BC drawing simply says: Limit of Infiltration: To satisfy Section 6 of the Scottish building regulations 2014 edition the building to be constructed in accordance with the provisions of BRE Report 265:1994. Infiltration of air into the building must be limited as far as reasonably practicable by: Sealing dry lining junctions between walls, ceilings and floors and at window, door and roof access hatches. So essentially there is nothing I need to adhere to that standard room finishing won't seal - i.e. plaster skim etc. However, I do intend on trying to improve on this somewhat.

Hi guys, BC plans show foil faced PB to form the vapour control but I am thinking of going for a full vapour barrier internally as I feel I can get a better seal and tape all the laps with foil tape and around penetrations whereas once you cut the PB that's it gone. I know the area for sockets etc. equates to very little but I just see a full taped membrane being far better. However, the Quinnthem foil faced PIR going between the studs is already a vapour barrier, so another option is 100mm foil tape and tape the insulation into the studs, so 25mm lap of tape onto the insulation, 25mm out on the stud side that forms the service void, then 50mm over the face of the stud, then use another piece of 100mm tape to seal the other side, result is fully sealed in PIR - I could then use foil faced PB too. So can those of you who have done this give me their thoughts and experiences please. Will I just get a roll of Protect VC foil and be done with it, or do I go down the taped PIR route?

First of all, keep your architect for now, it sounds like you need him A, for his knowledge and B, because he will have all your CAD drawings, and unless you have these in dwg format and and a copy of ACAD and can work ACAD software who is going to draw it all up for you? You could get a draughtsman to look at it or an architectural technician but to be honest I would just keep your architect for his professional services here and he may not give you the ACAD drawings in DWG format anyway. People are often all to quick to dump the architects and designers and consultant engineers then something ends up badly detailed or doesn't coordinate onsite and it ends up costing you more than the fee of the service to put it right. As for planning, I think your proposals may be beyond a variation, you may need to resubmit. I would speak to the architect or your appointed planning officer and ask them. On your comment re. trades who would lay floors, I am confused, as to what type of floor you mean, the sub-floor? the concrete slab? the finished floor? Brickies put up walls, plasterers plaster and render walls. Depending on what you need you either need concrete workers, joiners or a flooring contractor for the floor. Again not knowing what what you mean I cannot comment on hos arduous it is, but if Chris has bad knee's I would suggest he stays clear of any flooring actives as much of it involves being on your knee's! What type of build are you putting up, block, ICF, timber frame etc. etc.

Engineers are the ones in white shirts and ties. He will advise, design, check and specify for you and can provide for BC reasons a design or calcs or report confirming suitability of your chosen site.

If you want to use your solicitor to submit the plans for your legal reasons then fine, but don't let PP know they are from a solicitor, my advise would be for you to have plans drawn up, have them signed by yourself, witnesses, your solicitor and their dog so that those plans are now legally "the plans" then you have your architect or engineering consultants etc. submit those plans. This way it just looks like a normal set of drawings from a normal channel - remove the whiff of solicitor from the whole situation.

On this point. What you need is to QS your job. You may even get a QS to do this for a reasonable fee - but it is not difficult to do yourself - just takes time and a fair bit of knowledge of all the materials and all the bits that go into a build to make it happen - which is why sometimes if your not in the industry it can be difficult. I would set up a tender cover document, a standard document with your details on it, and then add it as a cover document to your window schedule or electrical schedule, so people receive it, they will immediately treat you with a bit more respect and they will tend to offer better quality written quotations - this is how the building industry works. It is common for designers and engineers and architects to submit tender packages to suppliers and manufacturers to gauge costs on builds and to do their budgeting due diligence, this can even be before a client has even gone for planning but we all need to keep an eye on costs, so suppliers are used to receiving this sort of thing and it will often result in your being contacted by account managers who will look after you and are often very helpful. This will help you to control all your costs. As for your foundations, I can see your issue, you want to pick the best spot on the land to have an easier ride with the foundations, makes sense, what you need to do is try and find out what you are standing on to ascertain the best building ground, consider also water run off and utility routes etc. A geotechnical survey might be worth the money - have a look on the borehole database and see if there are any boreholes near you - they could help you to understand your ground.

Do you have you planning officers name? Can you meet with them at their office?

OK - I've had another think - you would probably be better keeping it as a renovation/modification rather than a new build. So, I would demo all the bad stuff and if that means that you end up with 2 walls of the original house and nothing much else then so be it, your then doing a renovation with modifications and extensions, and not a new build. Also, you could probably leave very little of the old walls, a nod to the original building sort of thing.

Yes I get that but the original parts are you going to build the same? So in doing your "new build" you end up with your "old" house in a modified state? So anything you need to knock down and simply rebuild will be like for like and the new bits will be new and as per planning? If it was me, I would just do it, but that is me, PP are not going to tell you to take it down, they might just get upset, act daft, they would give you retrospective or say, OK in the interests of taking down a a dangerous building we will leave you alone - if I was in a very compliant mood I would speak to my BC guy and say, look, whats the deal here, can be just pull this all down and rebuild, PP won't care will they? Act daft.

Are you going to build it identical to what was there before? If so then take it down rebuild it as "restoration works". I would not even tell planning, in fact, they would be hard pushed to tell the difference between a fully renovated original and your new build by the time it is finished in all reality. Only person who will want to be involved is BC - but they have been so your sorted there, do BC know the state of the old walls and appreciate that you are making good on shoddy building?

May be an option to try the Marley Dblue acoustic pipe - if it is all installed and you are happy with it then probably not an option but might be. What are your floors made of? If concrete you could pour concrete in around it. Cast Iron pipes never made much noise because they were solid and would not vibrate or carry sound - adding concrete would have a similar effect - probably against reg's... but... https://www.marleyplumbinganddrainage.com/products/soil-systems/dblue/

I am going to be doing exactly what you describe above, my plan is to return the warm fresh air into the loft bedroom or the upstairs hall - it is my understanding that having only the extract in the bathroom this will negatively pressurise it, drawing air in from the hall and thus ensuring that the bathroom air is being circulated, if you put the return into a smallish room like that you are going to create a fairly balanced situation and the extract side of the system may not be as efficient. You also then get the benefit of the warm air returning into the house freshly somewhere you might actually want it. I am going to do a kitchen unit and a bathroom unit.

I would suggest they are pre-occupation then...

So you must have had pre-commencement conditions. OP may have pre-occupation - which for material finishes tends not to stop commencement as founds etc. will not be seen.

It depends on what they have applied to your PP - the condition type will be listed. Are they pre-commencement or pre-occupation conditions? If the former you don't actually have planning yet if the latter you can start - there is also performance conditions which don't need discharged but yours is material so your going to be one of the "pre" options.

Photos! Sounds good. I intend to go down a similar route but I will keep a real log burner in the living room.

There is the flip side in my reply. Nothing wrong with heating with wood. When the power plants go down and gas is banned people with wood heating will be the ones that survive the cold winters!

A friend uses a Bosky, installed it all himself, couple of tanks in the loft, has heated his house for free for years. Wasn't overly costly to install, UFH in his kitchen etc. he has immersion heaters for electric water heating in the summer. His situation works well for him though, unlimited access to wood, lives on a smallholding with a tractor and log-splitter so he can prepare the firewood himself. He also uses some smokeless ovoids in the winter so he can leave it unattended for longer but only £100 a year or so in smokeless. These look good too, interesting video of an old guy on YouTube who has one of these installed and has had it for 40 years or something: https://www.garn.com/

Wait 48 hours then try it - it can take 72 hours till it feels solid.

Yup, I am hearing you. I know for settlement I want the concrete sill slightly lower than the window and it's own stub sill or whatever I opt for so as the frame shrinks it won't end up lying on the concrete sill. I think what I will plan for, is exactly what you have just mentioned - my block will go up before my windows go in annoyingly or else I could just fit my windows as they need to go and my brick layer would just bring his blocks up to suit the windows. I have old windows, I am going to take the bottoms off them and sit them in position as a guide for the sill position, he is a good brick layer and knows his onions bricks so he will leave sufficient settlement gap.

Yes well my plan had always been to do it something like this, frame out the opening with 50x50 then install it flush to the front of the cavity which would put the inner glass pane into the insulation area, just and the block would come up to the face of the PVC. I should just go to the same height with the wall and use a the PVC sill.

Thanks for that. I did do a deal with the merchants that they will take the sills back for a small fee - I could be tempted to find some like this... Hmmm...