LSB

we are in East Suffolk. This is a standalone phase and not part of anything else. Where are you and when was this. I wonder how much difference the drainage field size makes and the fact it's quite a slope that needs levelling. We were quoted 9k by one company, but I discounted them as they had no idea when they could do it and were in Norfolk and a one man band so I wasn't confident with the support. The others were all more professional in their approach, above supplier didn't even come to sight.

We have been quoted circa 10k from 3 difference suppliers for the following. Waste plant, air blower, 30m sq drainage field, pipe from outside the build to the plant, commissioning and installation. Two of them have suggested a Marsh Ensign and one a different one, but can't remember which, will find out (not a Klargester) They all have 25yrs on the treatment plant and 10 years on the installation. We know that as DIY builders we could do this ourselves for less, but time is dragging on and it will take us a long time, not least to dig out the drainage field. We have the space, but it's on a slope and they all said it needs to be level for the pipe installation. No muck away as we can use / spread on the fields anything dug out. How does this sound for costing.

but what rating did your rental get

one of my family is looking at buying a house with a budget of circa 850, she doesn't want new as the gardens are too small. So, not one of the properties that she's looked have an EPC rating and it isn't something she particularly cares about. Of course listed houses don't have to have an EPC, so that also limits the control. I live in a rural area with lots of old cottages, most inhabited for decades by the same people, now retired. I doubt any of these meet EPC C+ rating and increasing them will be extremely expensive and impractical in many cases as they are single skin with small rooms. I think it's admirable to want all properties improved, but I think this needs to start with properties being built, renovated, extended when the homeowner is already spending money, but expecting people who have a low income or are retired or just don't have enough money to do this is unlikely to happen.

I get that this was about ceiling height, but I thought OP was talking about putting sockets at skirting level, maybe I mis-understood

how does this work with planning, if you have higher rooms them isn't the whole house hight. also, isn't there something now about sockets being 'accessible' i.e. in the middle of the wall.

that name is not on my list. So far booked is Les Cotton (laxfield), Mantair (Frinton) and Gilson environmental services (Ipswich). A couple of others didn't come back to me so I won't chase unless these are all rubbish. Hubby dug a percolation test hole today so we'll do some testing this week.

I've got a couple of companies coming out this week to discuss treatment plants and the expected water that needs handling from rainfall and how to handle, slightly smaller and on 20% clay and rest sandy loam so not exactly the same. But, I'll share with you what I find out.

if you ask an SE then I guess you will pay if you have a 'friendly' builder then ask him, depends on how you are planning to fix. you may need an SE / surveyor for fixing, but for an initial question then builder.

we were visiting Blackpool last week to visit family and went to many of the local place. Fleetwood was cheap as was Morcombe, Lytham St. Annes, not so much. North is generally much cheaper than the south. Where are the family.

This is a barn conversion and we don't have an SAP report. The SE drawings don't specify in detail either, just mention Catnic ones, although they also mention other suppliers who are the most expensive you can find.

Following on from my questions above, I've read on other posts that you shouldn't use lintels over 2mtrs, but should use steels. Is this 2mtr in total or 2mtr including the overhang. We have 2 doorways, one is 1860 gap and one 1750, both of these will be over 2 m with the overhang. But, is that okay? One is our front door and the surround, door 1.2m and side panels of 330 and one 'gap' of 1750 to have a barn sliding door at a later stage. Will these be okay with lintels. TIA

we bought one from Travis Perkins, solid wheel so no punctures. It was about £40 (with trade discount) and has been brilliant and very hard wearing. We do use an old one through for the mortar

This reminds me of when I lived in France for a bit, the house had the only toilet in the corner of the large garage / shed open to all when the doors were open to the street The other family 'house' had one like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in a shed at the end of the garden. This one was just a hole in the ground.

I'm in IP17 like Alan, but work in Needham Market so definitely in your neck of the woods. Welcome to us lot. We are converting an old pig barn on a DIY basic, taking years 🙂

surely the Building Control inspected whilst it was being built. They check at various times such a foundation pour, floor slab etc. Do you know who the BC was and can you get anything from them. Surely it couldn't be built without inspection, if it wasn't then despite looking good maybe it should be avoided.

they are great fun, at our recent one a hire company had gone bust so huge lots for sale, probably all serviced etc. but we didn't need anything they were selling. Cheffins near Cambridge are good because you can have a really good trial. That's where we bought our excavator, hubby drove it around for 20 mins, dug in their ready pile for testing. Not cheap, but we wanted one for the whole build and to sell again after when we'll probably get the same back. Watch our for VAT if it has belonged to a business and our local auction has 25% buyer fees plus VAT Years ago we found them more honest, we bought our lawn tractor with AF (all faults) label for £200 and rebuilt, not much wrong with it. Nowadays nothing is labelled. Ours also regularly has building materials like heras fencing and scaffolding towers which are always useful. I feel the days of genuine bargains has gone, we bought a 'lot' of 3 mixers for £30, 2 worked one was repaired and 2 were sold for £50 each privately. We are still using the other one for our build. Good luck and enjoy yourself.

we buy lots from auction, it really is buyer beware and we've been seriously bitten once for about £200 when we were assured by the auctioneer that it was fine and didn't obey our golden rule, always view. It was pretty much a pile of parts. Hubby did get it going, but probably took a whole week of hours to do so, Other than that we stick to better quality stuff, Kubota excavator, stihl chainsaw, dumper and lots more. There is no honour amongst farmers to outsiders, maybe to each other, but they just want as much as possible. We like deceased estates as the stuff is more often working. Do ask yourself 'why are they selling', they will never tell you the truth and if it was good then they would sell privately as auctioneers fees are huge. So, after rambling my point is, buy if you can climb all over it, pull the starter to check it's not seized and you can fix it if it doesn't work.

I feel that there is a risk that the 'big boys' will just put money into DAC and then not do anything about what they / we are creating in the first place

Currently, we are doing everything ourselves, but we are already years in, but we have our existing house and no time constraints. We have made mistakes, but my husband is, like lots on this site, a perfectionist and we just couldn't find people who wanted to do the work or seemed reliable. It started with the groundworks, we have 3 companies out to quote and not one of them did, so we just got on with it. Doing things yourself is very slow so maybe consider what others have said and get a company to build the shell with Timber Frame and get water tight, then it's more straightforward. So I'm told, we are not there yet. Ignorance is bliss, until you make a mistake and have to go backwards.

Viking burial 🙂

welcome and good luck with your journey

welcome and good luck finding the elusive plot and design

After my horrid time earlier this year I am now going to post something more positive. As of yesterday, I was offered a job, not ideal (is any job ideal), rather than working from home I must go to the office which takes 40mins each way and hubby is disappointed that he will be left on his own all day. That said even with time out for funeral 250 miles away and wet, wet, wet we have progressed. Some pictures. hardcore & binding (take 2 after previous issues) now the expansion foam around the sides The heave protection next then taping next was the rebar here is the pour on top of the rebar - 200mm drying concrete slab with no hint of everything underneath, typical building, lots of expense and nothing to see. the first row of outside blocks added showing the cavity first blocks over DPC with all the rain we have created a bit of a swimming pool It was at this point that we purchased a puddle pump as hubby really didn't like having to kneel and build low in water going up with some windows & doors framed insulation going in joining the existing walls to the new part this is where some of the kitchen cabinets will be hung, so although internal we are using heavier blocks to take any necessary weight On the left hand side you can see part of the existing barn that will be staying. The roof is currently being held up with barrels and wood building from scaffolding is a real milestone, makes it seem like we are getting somewhere. To protect the insulation, we have the original insulation from the barn roof cut up to provide a 'roof' over the cavity. Having made the frames for the remaining to windows these need to be placed in situ for building around. This area will be our front hall and snug. Of course, the front door will only be used by visitors, but we will go through the hall internally to get into the snug. With all the cavities it is smaller than I hoped, but with all the insulation it will be much warmer than our single skin house. Hope you enjoy the pictures, next time I hope to be at lintel and wall plate level, but we would like the weather to improve. Thanks for reading Jill

thanks, our saving grace is a small pension from when women retired at 60, not enough to cover everything, but does keep the wolf from the door. I'm just a bit annoyed that I've paid many 1000's in NI & tax over my working life, never claimed and now can't get anything. It is good that people who are desperate can get help, but not us until we are destitute. hey ho 🙂