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.

This 100%. Wasted £500 on a condensing tumble drier - never used it and probably never will as the humidity control with MVHR is awesome. Air is fresh, no condensation, dry stuff indoors in a few hours all year round - it is great. I think these things work best in a new build / total ripout as you can make sure that the bends in the pipes are minimal and in the right places - noise is a common complaint and these are probably mainly in retro fits I imagine.

I would have an early chat with them and find a decent mutual solution. You don't really want to get in a 'Get Off My Land' conversation if it is unnecessary and get everyone riled up. Clearly it shouldn't be there but it is so, if an easy solution can be found, then everything is amicable. Had a similar issue on my current site - the neighbor's waste cut across my site and I ended up smashing it to bits when we dug the Plot 1 foundation (no-one knew it was there). Sorted it out and ended up using it as a lateral connection to the sewer saving us about £10k.

A fully recessed box may be ok for power but you can only have semi recessed for gas if you are connected. They won't even let you screw the box to the facing brick.

It is the MVHR regulating humidity. I had the same - moved in 17th Feb. Heating just gone on and didn't have much time to slowly ramp it up and MVHR commissioned pretty much at the same time. What would take a 'normal' house to dry out happened at least 10x faster. Only had 1 board pop with a couple of drywall screws so that isn't much of an issue. The cills and architrave and the like shrunk real quick. I stocked up on some caulk and will probably hit it late summer if I can be arsed. So maybe in a year to 2 then.....

No surprise on the target date - the planners are all still 'shirking' at home. You will get a call asking for an extension of time soon - that is the time to pin them down and get it sorted.

I have wet ufh downstairs and rads upstairs with electric ufh to the bathrooms. Since moving in early this year I have turned to upstairs rads off and no-one has ever used the ufh in the bathrooms. The ground floor heat loops are so effective it sorts the entire house. I used Prowarm electric mats which were fairly cheap and easy to install but you then have the faffing about with laytex screed and the like. I wouldn't bother if I were you.

No way on knowing without context mate. Some Local Authorities like extensions to have a stepped down roof line and some are not bothered etc. Chuck it in - you can always amend the drawings if needs be and keep the current application live.

There is a lot going on here which may belong in different packages. Looking at the fundamentals - Setting out - £not much Digging the strip - 5.5T digger and a dumper for a week with 2 blokes - £1500 - 2k concrete - depending on the depth at whatever rate you have per cubic m - you are probably going to get through £15k of concrete + at current pricing Then you want to get your brickies in to take it to the beam level Groundworkers or whoever (easy to do yourself) to set the below ground drainage and water duct etc) and take out past the foundation - you don't want to be worrying about the septic tank and soakaway at this point Whoever to do the beam and block (again easy to do with a mate or two). I did 2 x 1,650 sq. ft plots plus my 3,000 sq. ft. house with floorspan E-floor Plus for £6,500 including installation (I couldn't be arsed tbh) Brickies to splash Don't see how that adds up to £75k although someone is offering to take away your hassle at a big markup.

Sounds very expensive - get more quotes. You will find a list of approved contractors on you local water board's website. With no traffic management etc I would be expecting nearer to £2 - 3k for that unless the sewer was really deep.

I don't see how that vent works as it is below ground level and will have no airflow....