Alexphd1

Cheers. Very similar to what I was thinking. Will stand my ground on this one.

I am 90% sure 15mm would be enough so 22mm would be more than enough. Bracket it properly, one length no joins and take a few photos of it before covering. I can't see the gas safe guy having any issues.

Quick question. Without goin into to much detail, If I pay for supply and Install should i be liable for a telehandler to offload lorry and move the items into place?

Very interesting reading from a different angle. When we 1st started the two main options were timber with a block outer lay or block cavity block with both being on traditional strip foundation. With more research we ended up with an insulated raft with ICF, done 90% by us. If I bought a house on a new development 300 meters away I would be another £250,000 for a slightly smaller house... No oak windows, no flash kitchen, smaller garden etc. Could we have built a house to a lower fabric spec...Yes. Would we have saved money on total build cost. Very little.

Oil boilers run at 100% or nothing unlike a gas boiler which changes it power output (example5-30kw). So this is why you are better to size your boiler and put it under load for longer burning period rather than on off on short period. A thermal store will help short cycling. Also oil boilers normally come badged ie 15/21 but come pre set to the middle kw output ie 18kw but the power is easily increased or cut by changing the nozzle, air and oil pressure. Any decent oftec engineer can do this. I personally would stick to grant or worcester oil boilers but i would sway to worcester as they have good back up in the area but would happily have a grant.

Was it plans or plans and a window schedule, we found we got a lot quicker replies with the schedule.

80% of the mass builders in this area use timber frame......

Depends on size of house! We bought enough kwikstage for 3k to do 2 normal houses.

Yes.

Haven't read the whole thread but the 500l tank is slightly overpriced. Comparison we bought 500l UK manufactured stainless pressure tank with a few extras (coils etc) for less than £1400.

@Triassic Any update on this ? Have you bought your eps300 insulation yet?

Some places you can make a saving that's worth the effort some not but i do not see a brickie as one of the savings. We employed two brickies for three days work to put up the garage. My father and I laboured for them (kept the block piled at there hand and helped them anywhere we could ie moving the trestles etc, our priority was keep them laying bricks) and at the end of the day cleaned up after them. We agreed on a day rate that all they done was turn up with there hand tools, we provided everything else. We also got to use there trade account with a large steel supplier, we almost saved the 3 days labour cost on steel, and yes i shopped around for steel prices! Bigger saving is research and understand exactly what you want. Heat pump heating systems is somewhere with time you can pick up cheap maternal and if you understand the system any decent plumber can plumb it up. Drainage pipes are also a lot cheaper online but no good if you need material day before the digger and driver turns up. You have a big advantage with secure storage. Online nail gun nails a lot cheaper than local esp boxes with removed out of date gas if you have a battery nailer! Also note get set up with the rite credit card, we have earned a few long haul 1st class flights with our build!

What's wrong with one of those cheap cameras that connect direct to your phone/tablet? Could be a handy thing.

Anybody any recommendations in Staffordshire?

My sister in Staffordshire has just had a eye watering quote to repoint a brick house from a "specialist". I haven't worked out the £m2 but does anybody have a guide, they have also quoted £10 per brick to replace any damages ones.

Very tidy job!

10 man days to install 30x panels, that's 3 panels a day..... I have never installed in roof pv but have moved 16x on roof panels to another roof in 1x day (but there was two of us). I reckon I could knock off another £1200 on material (like for like) without to much research so a premium of £3400 for mcs. Total price was £9800. I don't know if its worth FIT, depends on how you look at it but there is still a premium for getting it signed off.

+1 for more pics. Just out of curiosity what's the spec of rebar in basement wall, next build has a three sided basement as well.

We went with nudara as there price was the same as amvic but there wall bracing was cheaper which swung it. There is amvic build just a few minutes up the road and was impressed the block aswell. Would happily use either on next build. If you are doing the icf yourself have a look at the rebar tie machine, it is a expensive luxury but makes life so much easier. We bought ours on eBay and hopefully break even when we offload it.

I was just looking over a old quote (November'17) for 8kw in roof pv from a small local company. The break down cost for design (Inc independent roof survey), mcs paperwork and labour (2 guys for 5 days) was £2200.

Yes & yes. Any questions just ask.

Before we packed them out there was big bounce.

I was getting slightly worried reading this thread as we are installing our wolf posi joist this week. Our joist are designed to hang by top chord on a 47mm wide batten one side and 100mm other side. Span is 5.6m WS250 joist that is 147mm wide @ 400 centres. No steel joist hangers. We have tightly packed the bottom chord between the chord and wall. The joist are solid. We don't have any strongbacks mid span but may add in for extra reassurance.

http://webapp3.bosch.de/etk/servlet?cmd=show_assemblyparts&sid=SID5873000281243475292971958563631781139&init=&parentid=37941724

Hope this is of a help