LSB

Your approach is very similar in lots of way. It took us years to get planning, we love our current wood burner and will definitely have one, even if just for the look and we are planning on total UFH, but we are single storey. My only hesitation is the ASHP, or it will have to be oil or LPG as no mains gas. We currently have oil and last summer or maybe the previous one the oil price dropped to 24p per litre (wish the car was) so we got a much bigger tank. We don't use much oil, our current house is a freezing single skin 200 yr old cottage and we have realised that it is not worth heating most of it now the kids have flown the nest as it loses the heat so quickly. Doing something about that is for the future after we move out, when we have the money or for the next residents if we decide to sell and not rent.

I have just been looking into getting the new mains water supply to our barn conversion. We currently have water from the host property and as a total DIY project it will be years before we need a separate supply. But, I thought it would be good for estimating to get a quote for how much it will cost and the lead time. Our water supplier is Essex & Suffolk Water, I downloaded the application form from their new connection webpage, but to submit the form I have to pay £138. Is this normal to pay a fairly high fee, does this come off of the connection cost and how long does any application stay live, if we don't need it for years. We don't want to connect too soon as we will then have to pay the standing charge, plus meter charge for any water used, although this is also the case for the host dwelling. Can anyone else share how much their connection cost with E&S and how long it took. TIA

the house to be is still a barn so no insulation at this time. what state should the dwelling be before installing. we intend to make it airtight and insulated. before we start building we first need to remove most of the barn,, including the bits that have to go back. so, as the build will take years being a total DIY process I guess I don't have to do anything yet. At what stage of your build did you make changes to allow for ASHP rather than boiler

The more I think, the more confused I become, I've been reading so many articles, but also statements on here where people are horrified at the cost of their electricity bill once they install an ASHP. As I said we don't have mains gas, so I also need to compare LPG, biomass is not sustainable if you are buying the pellets and they become scarce. When I eventually make a decision, which won't be in time for the RHI, as not that far along I shall post it, and then probably change my mind.

This is something my hubby was talking about, I will remind him to have a look around. thanks for you help

I hope it doesn't go through, would double my bill. We bought our house 20yrs ago almost derelict and have massively improved it.

will you be able to move them, I have relatives in Vancouver, great place haven't been for years though

If only you could fly somewhere ?

In an out of town area we have. Jewsons Ridgeons TP (opening in Feb) Wickes Screwfix Toolstation and B&Q in Ipswich, walking distance from my office, although I'm RFH at the mo We also have a number of small / private merchants within 8 miles from home and another small Jewsons One in particular are expensive, but really helpful and drop things off to us at short notice. I might have a chat with them about discounts, we already have a monthly account . Also on the industrial estate that I work on they are plumbing shops, electrical shops, timber merchants and maybe others. It's a huge estate that I've never looked round fully, should do now. But, the plumbing and electrical only seem to supply their own brand and didn't seem very price competitive in their 'trade' catalogue I have a very detailed spreadsheet covering everything room by room of what I need, except of course for the things I've forgotten. Is it worth me sending this list via email and asking for a trade account at the same time to the above list. For items like Windows, doors, flooring etc is it best to use specialists even though the likes of Wickes provide everything. Interesting about AMEX, I have one somewhere so I shall dig that out. I spent an hour yesterday raising the limit on my 3 credit cards so I'll look at amex today. WFH does help with the build as I can do some bits like respond to emails whilst I'm 'working' Somethings just have to be done in the daytime. My job at the moment is IT commissioning for our new 8,000 sqm factory, I see so much waste there, maybe I should try and pluck up the courage to ask the site manager if there is anything I can have. Bet they get good prices on things. Thanks for all your comments & ideas It just marginally reduces the stress from 10,000 to 9,998 ? Jill

not heard of MKM, we have a brand new TP just being finished.

thanks, the estimate is one thing that Ridgeons offered us.

that is pretty much how we feel to be honest, also can't claim back VAT and buyers premium to consider ? It's so difficult to find good plant at a reasonable cost.

Just actually able to start, at long last. What builders merchants do trade accounts for self builders and are they even worth having. Who are the best for price, stock and service. TIA Jill

lucky you, we wish we could visit to view.

we are true self builders and although we already have lots of stuff we still need loads. Hubby is looking at diggers, wacker plate, power float, breaker (for digger), possibly breaker without (we sold ours a couple of years ago), nail gun, joist lift, power lift We already have all the drills, cement mixers, dumper type things, but need lots more. As we are going to work on it as and when we can we don't want to hire as we are too dependent on time off from work, weather etc. We have a local auction, but they don't have much big machinery and it goes for stupid money for tat that often doesn't work.

The other day someone posted the link to the current plant auction at Clitheroe. https://bid.gatewayauctions.com/auctions I just wondered, has anyone bought anything from this particular auction and if so were the goods as expected and more importantly working. It is 286 miles from me so although there a few things we need we are a bit loath to buy unless someone can vouch for the site. We have had quotes for moving, basically a lorry load is £600 to Suffolk as it's not feasible for us to collect. Having bought our house and barn at auction it's a method we are familiar with, but we would normally view first.

thanks, I love this forum, such helpful people and no constant advertising like FB groups

Here is the layout with thoughts on furniture and dimensions. This one only has one window. Also, the shower in the toilet is no longer going to be there, just a dog bath, living on a farm with animals our dogs get absolutely filthy so I really need that. My email has just pinged with approval of our planning condition discharge, this means that we can now get started after 2 1/2 years.

Just to clarify a couple of things, this is a single storey build with no roof space at all, so no stairs and no void. This due to planning restrictions on roof height. As previously discussed we are digging down, but as the roof height at Wall C is currently only 1.85m high we are limited to how far we can go down without causing too many problems. With digging down Wall C will be 2.215 internally. Much as we would like the whole thing to fall down and we build from scratch I'm not sure the LPA will quite agree having refused the knock down rebuild option and only agreeing the the class Q. As this is a utility / plant room / boot room we are not hugely bothered by appearance. The only thing that is not going in there is the DHW tank which will go in an airing cupboard. When I said ASHP & boiler I still haven't decided which to have. No mains gas, so would have to be oil or biomass. I'm just concerned about some articles / comments I have read about the performance of ASHP and as the house is 240m2 single storey the whole floor space (except utility) will have UFH, that's a lot to be heated up. This is the bit of the house around the utility room, also ignore the lines, that me thinking about wifi / cat6 the big room is the family room, living by the big windows, dining to the left and kitchen to the bottom. The little room in the utility is a WC. At the moment we have an outside toilet which is really useful so this is the equivalent with some space for dog bath. All drainage is along the back wall

not built at all so can move, the only reason I put it there was because the other side of wall B is my kitchen, because of cabinets I didn't want the door on that wall, but I thought I would like the door close to the kitchen, but guess 600mm is going to make much difference, the other side of Wall A is the dining area

I'm just trying to work out the layout of my utility room. I need multiple consumer units, boiler (probably), ASHP, UFH manifolds, MVHR, washing machine, tumble dryer, storage, sink, freezer. I just need an idea of how big all these things are physically and if anyone has any idea on the best way to layout the room. See this hand drawn plan below.

thanks for the update, I shall just have to be patient.

we have requested 4 quotes, but everyone seems to be slow to respond at the moment. except maybe the cowboys

when was this.

thanks, it's not a lane it's just a farm track across one of our fields to get to the old barn, historically there has been some hardcore dropped so it has lots sticking out, but that was 20+ years when it was still a pig farm. Locals who used to work on the farm said that you couldn't even get a tractor up the slope in the winter, so I will definitely not be trying to do it them. I've no real idea of timing yet, hopefully this summer.