Faz

Agree the spec with the Mrs before you start! Include everything. I build houses for a living and it is fine - building mine has been a disaster as I feel I can't order the gear as it is needed. Took 4 months after I said I needed to press the button for them for the bathroom vanity units to arrive. Not good. Kicking another 10 plots off next year - I will keep 1 but it will be my investment plot. Won't be doing another self build. The stress of it has actually put me in hospital. I will be wrapping up the build in the next 4 weeks - 14 month programme for three 4b detached houses totalling 7000 sq. ft. so not the end of the world but frustating as hell on 3000 sq. ft. of it!

There are good trades and bad - just look at the shitshow that has been built next to mine! 2 months post PC and the damp is rising....

So you haven't been opening them much this year John ?. What a crap summer tbh - been somewhat rescued by a really nice autumn though otherwise I think I would have been playing with rope in my garage! Edit - coz I can't spell!!! Edited again - coz having 2 goes I still can't spell. FFS!

Butt hinges for me now I know the difference ? Them bullet hinges look ghastly.

You may have well have written that in Chinese because I have no idea what any of it meant rather than the 'pay us more money' bit. Gut reaction is to say Get F*cked'.

And you need the PVU glue too - expands and makes a mess but that is the idea.

Party at Steamy Tea's house it is then! ?

Classic mistake of presenting the full options to the Mrs - what a surprise she picks the most expensive one! Now, if I bother to present anything, I get samples of 2 bits of rubbish and the one we need to buy and ask 'which is it?'. I would be living there by now if it were not for the 'better half'. Instead I am now in knee deep slop for the 2nd winter! Grrr.

A proper pita for a little bit of storage. You could always not bother with the insulation in that bit and just board it?

Won't work off a combi - and with that mains pressure you are going to need an unvented cylinder and I would have thought and even then it would be shite. 10ltrs/m is the boarderline for the definition of low water pressure.

Heard of the Building Regulations? Nothing to do with the warranty provider bud.

Like I said - release of finance funds ffs. If you have ever tried to claim from one of these policies you would know how useless and overpriced they are.

You get some flakes but most;ly the slate just cracks into 2 pieces. I would say that you would have 3 - 5% of the slates affected in this way in the first winter. Then it will be a few slates a year ongoing.

I have used Build Zone for my last few projects. Fine to deal with and competetive - only complaint is that they are a bit slow on the back end processing of paperwork.

It is what it is mate - a lot of money is spent in construction to get a piece of paper. Compiling my certification at the moment and it is all pointless tbh. You just have to view it as a passport to claimimg CIL releift / VAT reclaim / release of finance funds etc.

No - in line with it for your storage area only just so the flooring doesn't compress the insulation. You want to lay 100mm quilt between the trusses then run 200mm perpendicular across it. You will have to piece it in for your storage bit. When you remove that existing muck I would be a little wary as well - properly mask up with something decent - FFP3 I would suggest. Don't like the look of it tbh.

Lies, dammed lies and statistics nod. A few real treats go into inflation calcs - see what you makes of this - Chaining - so you go to buy your Sunday roast and fancy a bit of beef but, f*ck me look at the price of the thing at £10/kg - so you buy pork instead at £3/kg. Well that is £3 in your CPI basket then. And the real charmer - Hedonic Adjustment - so last year you bought your pos iPhone 12 for £800 and this year you bought your iPhone 13 (because you are a sheep) for £900. The price has gone up right? Wrong - we are clearly being dumb. The iPhone 13 is 20% more powerful than the 12 so actually the price has fallen by £80. So £80 out of the basket. Lots of other tricks but the number is basically bollocks.

The low mileage cheap runner is still available mate - surprised no-one has snapped it up! By the looks of it I am not interested in a PX btw....

'Existing insulation is a bit old and scappy' - it looks like they used cow dung mate! You don't want to be doing more joists - why? And how would you get them up there? You want a 225mm batten over the existing truss bases to give your storage area and then run 100mm insulation between the trusses and 200mm quilt across it perpendicular - I used a company called Kershaw (I think) who were very cheap supply & fit.

The price rises are insane - internal doors - +50% since August (already paid for all of mine but my neighbor just bought the same for his build) Laminate - +100% since July Screed - +100% in 12 months The list goes on... HMG tells us inflation is running at 5% - what a joke. Those clowns couldn't find their arse with both hands with their Mistress giving directions! Double the money supply or worse then you get what you deserve. At least on here we are into hard assets - cash will just evaporate.

I wonder if you will struggle with a gshp. I was going to put one in but the proposed ground loop covered every inch of my 1/2 acre plot. Can't put it near trees either.

Hi Jilly - you have to ask yourself - is it better to ask for permission or forgiveness? Are you likely to be dobbed in by neighbours / nimbies etc? Are the planners ever likely to come and have a look (rare!)? How obvious a change is it - clearly doesn't help being on the road side? You can apply for retrospective consent if your fingeres get caught in the till - how likely is it to be granted (Article 4 and all of that). How much would it cost to reinstate vs building to plans and doing it later? What are the implications on programme? Is there a compromise where you could make it look a bit more in line with consented drawings while taking a bit of a flyer? At the end of the day you just have to take a view - hopefully the points above give you some perspective to assess it. Personally I would chance it depending on the cost side - 4 years and you are in the clear either way.

Trades arriving at 9am? wtf? Warm weather atm - kick everything open and leave it that way and it will sort itself out.

Condensation into the hairline cracks in the slate - freezes and half of the slate busts off and lands in the garden. I am renting a 100 year old house and the things are still comming off - you just can't avoid it mate. It doesn't look unsightly until it is too far gone in many years time - it is just one of those things and depends on the slate coming out of the quarry - some is better than others and the price point is not a factor.

I used the Cedral (used to be Marley) Thrutone manmade slates and am really happy with them. The benefit is that 1/2 of them don't end up in the garden after the first hard frost!