Bonner

Any thoughts anyone? They are supposed to be digging the trench today 🤔

We are ready to run the water, electric and phone cables to the house but there is a garage to build later in front of the house. It will be awkward to go either side, can I trench through the middle of the garage location and build over (ducted) utilities?

Jumping in if I may, as I am planning my tiling .... Is that 15-18mm finished thickness of adhesive or depth of the notched bed before the tile goes down? How do you apply that much adhesive? I know you back butter the tile (2-3mm?), then is it one layer on the floor? What size trowel (notches) would you use?

Good point, thanks! I will get the manifolds moved to more accessible locations

Only PDF file unfortunately but I will make it clear where everything goes. Why toilets and showers, can’t you put UFH pipe under them?

Just got the first layout drawing for my UFH piping. My initial feedback would be; Why no piping under the (open) stairs. To be fair they wouldn’t know they are open, on the other hand would you not have UFH under a boxed/cupboard staircase? Avoid any piping under kitchen units and island? The outline of the kitchen is shown in the floor plan, location of all built in units highlighted in yellow. There are a bunch of pipes under the left hand side of the kitchen, feeding other loops. Would these normally be insulated? Any other thoughts much appreciated!

Welcome! Are you happy with the result? Anything you would do differently if you did it again? Feel free to share plans and photos, we are nosey buggers here 😄

In an air tight house, I think you need an air supply whatever the size of stove (either direct or indirect)

Benvenuto! You are correct, a larger plot does not make the finished property proportionally more valuable. Depends on the size of house as a larger plot should accommodate a much bigger house. Plot value = finished property value - build cost (inc. all fees and utilities etc.) - profit margin/contingencies. It would be worth talking to a few estate agents. If the 0.5 acre plot is restricted to a single dwelling, I would guess £200-220k. If there is any chance of getting permission to build several houses, you can double the value!

Perspective changes as the rooms grow from an outline on the ground to fully built. Even then, an empty room can look smaller than a furnished one! Make decisions on the measurements and comparison to rooms in other houses.

Goulash

I would add dimensional consistency. Got some samples of Turkish tiles and a few are bowed 2-3mm (they are 800x800 porcelain). Don’t know if this is in tolerance or could cause problems fitting, @nod? I understand it can be worse with planks due to the length and staggered joints ...

Don’t forget the drainage, this can be more difficult than water and electric. Again, pipe work can run behind units but you need to make sure there is enough fall. If you are having an island, run all the services to it, whether you think you need it or not ...

Sorry can’t remember it was about 10 years ago. Various sizes, all made to measure. Specs look the same as on their website now.

https://www.benlowe.co.uk/windows/heritage-sliding-sash I installed these in the last house. Decent quality, factory painted, spring balanced.

+1 working with friends can be very trying and easily lead to the end of a relationship, both personal and professional. Best to maintain as professional a relationship as possible on the build, then go out for a pint on Friday night and talk about footy! Make sure you have got a good set of drawings, clear specification and explicit agreement on who does what. Leave him to do his bit and avoid the (overwhelming) temptation to micro manage.

PIR is a closed cell foam with very low moisture absorption. Absolutely no problem with it getting wet, it only needs covering to protect from UV which degrades this type of material.

I built the house in the wrong place, do I win? 😃 Long story but it ended up about 18” from where it should have been. Clearly I will have to live with it but it annoys me every time I think about it. Nobody else has noticed or will ever.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions, light sanding before applying another coat. No need to remove the existing coats.

Forget tiles, go for a wall panel here. Easy to fit yourself, no grout and easy to clean. I am sure you can get a shade of green to go with your flashing neon light strip

Not experienced this yet but I think it is fair warning. Some timber is definitely from Russia so supply will be reduced. Also, few joiners tend to use sales tactics or need more work! I was looking at porcelain tiles last week, retailer told me that most of the clay for Italian factories comes from Ukraine. Thought it was BS but looked it up and there is at least some truth in it. We finally chose the tiles we want (160m2) only to find the factory have stopped making them 😬

Sorry, too much info/too many questions for me! Suggest you break it down into specific topics rather than “tell me everything” 😬 My initial thought is that it is a very interesting room particularly that fireplace! Whatever you do has to ‘answer’ to the other features, either by echoing parts or contrasting them.

You can get solar control glass but I suspect that reflects IR more than UV. This needs to e referred directly to the manufacturers who will probably have done full spectrum testing.

Been tile shopping today, one retailer warned of imminent shortages and price rises. Gas prices hit the factories hard, also much of the clay for Italian tiles comes from Ukraine?! I thought the latter sounded like BS but it seems to be some truth in it. Old article ... https://blog.biokeram.com/how-to-replace-ukrainian-clay-in-decorative-tile-production With its vast reserves of high-quality clay, the Donetsk area in the east of Ukraine soon became the largest supplier of raw material for the European market. After the Russian aggression and occupation of Crimea in 2014, the export has choked, and prices are now five times higher than when the Ukrainian Clay entered the market. Now tile manufacturers turn to local variants for help. Unfortunately, it is hard to find decent replacements that can comply with the production standards of large tile production.

Will these do you ?