Faz

0.6 ACH is really optimistic unless £££££££££££ is spent on the way through and, even then, you will end up at 3+ probably on that sized house. Does the cost of trying to achieve that level of air tightness merit the energy saving is the first thing I would consider.

Where is the cistern and flush pipe going to fit with that diagonal pipe running across the wall? You might want to pop a bit of timber behind the pan to brace the flush pipe when you push the pan back onto it - my plumber didn't follow that advice. I have since had 4 leaks from the bloody thing. All sorted now - just the resulting damage to put back together.

Can you get to a nut if it is on the other side? Bolt head may fit under the sink. Maybe a M4 or 6 bolt may fit?

You don't need to compromise on quality. You may need to compromise on spec but quality is just ensuring that what should be done has been done in a workmanlike manner by a competent tradesman. If you get the right people on board then quality costs nothing other than supervision time.

As you have found, commercial sites don't call off windows until the opes have been built unless using formers. You can get the package contracted locking into the current price with final call-off subject to site measure. You may have seen lots of new builds waiting for windows as a result as the lead times have gone from 2 weeks to 10. But at least they will fit when they arrive!

Done my last few schemes with Buildzone - they are pretty good. When I did my selfbuild as part of a larger scheme I was surprised at how much cheaper the SB was compared to the spec plots. Mind you - I have built up a top rating with them so that may have had an impact. The SB warranty was £1800 for a 3300 sq. ft. house.

This was mine all done - did the one between the other 2 plots too.

Just did 85 sq. m week before last - 20mm chip base course and 10mm chip wearing course. Asphalt cost around £2.5k and £750 for the bods to lay it. Problem is (depending how far you are away from the supplier) is how much of it goes off in the lorry. We probably lost over 3T and it didn't come far!

And, thinking about it, a shelf would screw it up as the tolerances wouldn't work and it would be visible from the front.

Didn't in mine.

Dont buy a product called Salt Neutraliser - it is garbage. Even called them up a few months ago to point that fact out and they said their chief scientist would call me back. Still waiting... Have bought something else but haven't used it yet. Judging from the number of health warnings on the side it should have some poke. The other crap may as well have had 'serve below 6 degrees' on the side as it was probably just water!

Try Crendon Timber - they are pretty national now.

I only have one screw that popped and I am going to patch it up fairly soon as a temporary fix. Will go for the cills and any other cracks when I can be arsed next spring.

They normally come pre-primed so it won't make much difference. If you are doing it all in summer then this will help you. At the end of the day the timber is going to shrink - just leave it for a year and then sort it all out with caulk when it has stabilised.

The Polypipe stuff is fine - joints generally work well if it is fitted properly and it looks pretty good. Can't go wrong really.