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The insulation is foil faced. It is designed to have pipes laid on to it.

I’m Not sure about this. Here is a photo, with my thumb lifting up the plastic “washer” in question. It d doesn’t come off completely, because it is attached centrally at either side to the plate.

Yes, there is a 5% retention for the whole project (which is fairly significant) and also he hasn’t invoiced me for the work he has to do over the next few weeks.

FD30 doors do have a nice hefty feel to them, and with three hinges they work really well. You should be able to find oak FD30 doors, they look like solid oak, but in fact are engineered with something else on the inside. This is actually far preferable to solid oak, as solid oak will warp. So just look for oak FD30s in the style you want. Todd Doors has a nice range.

So just thought I’d update everyone: it’s still not finished and we still haven’t moved in. To compound matters my builder has left the country and promised he will continue to manage his guys remotely. Who knows how that will pan out. We have a few crunch points coming up over the next couple of weeks, but apart from snagging, we should be done by the end of the month. I fear there is a LOT of snagging. How long should snagging for a brand new 5 bed house take?

that's impressive!

Something similar happened on my build. UK Power Networks fixed it for free. I would call UKPN and not really tell them to much other than there is a live mains which has been exposed/punctured, it's dangerous, etc. They should come out pretty sharpish and fix it.

Ended up going with Knightsbridge sockets for a number of rooms, and very disappointed with the finish. Turns out there is a plastic piece which the plate needs to clip onto that is visible all around the plate and doesn't match the finish of the plate at all, because instead of being the same colour as the plate is an opaque plastic, which shows all away around the edge of the plate. It looks really bad. I'm thinking I might have to apply decorator's caulk all the way around each socket to conceal this plastic, but I fear that will make it look just as bad. @BMcN I think you also got Knightsbridge sockets. Did you have the same problem?

I agree F and B looks much better and cannot be imitated. I’m just very disappointed that on this occasion we had such bad colour consistency between two batches of the same colour and finish, bought from the same F and B shop only weeks apart. Madness. Here is a picture showing the difference between the door and the architrave. Both the same estate emulsion colour and same estate eggshell finish, but from different tins/batches.

@Selfbuildnewbie this is better, but the en-suite for bedroom 2 is tiny. You could make it 40cm longer by taking away some space from that rather large cupboard. Unless that cupboard is for a UVC. Where is your UVC going? Architects often forget about the importance of locating these somewhere central to all HW outlets. And depending on what size UVC you will be going for, you might need your SE to chime in on its location as well, otherwise you might find out too late that you don’t have the support for it.

I agree. @CharlieKLP’s windows look much better

Thanks. We need to sort this out before we install the stove and stove base, because once the stove goes in there won’t be any way to access (or see) the air supply pipe. It is all hidden behind a concrete plinth e we have built to support a steel tabletop which in turn supports the stove. Hence we need a fit and forget solution.

I beg to differ. I’ve spent over £2k on F and B paints to do my whole house. Had an absolute nightmare with batch consistency of one of their eggshells. Likely to lead to litigation is so bad. F and B accept there is a problem, yet have only offered me a “free” can of paint, even though whole room will need to be repainted.

Plus 1. Also worth insisting on D4 expanding glue and floor tite screws for fixing your chipboard flooring down. Metal studs, if staggered, can also isolate the side of a wall from each other.

We have a soil pipe under our screed bringing in fresh air from outside. Next week we need to connect it to our new Stove. The Stove inlet is 80mm diameter and needs an 80mm diameter steel duct. But our soil pipe is 110mm diameter. It’s been suggested to me that the 80mm steel pipe should just be fed into the soil pipe and the gap between the two should be closed up with duct tape. I guess duct tape is designed for ducts, but the issue I have is that once the stove goes in, it will be impossible to access this connection, because it sits under the stove and that area will be sealed up. Will duct tape keep the connection sealed for 20 years? Surely eventually it unsticks?

50 years? Anyone going through the blood, sweat and tears of building a house surely wants it to last for generations, not decades!

Microcement installation started on 22nd March and was finished by 25th/26th. I think all the microcement itself was finished on 25th, the 26th was just sealant. But we've not been able to follow the guidance to keep the room above 18C. We have kept it uncovered with no traffic on it for first 48h and only light traffic since. I won't turn heating on for another couple of weeks, but my doubt remains whether I should postpone the installation of the stove. The plinths of concrete which support the steel tabletop which support the stove, are also covered in microcement, installed at same time as floor.

This is helpful thanks. Our build up of the floor in question is: 3.5mm of microcement 0.5mm mesh specified by microcement company 70-80mm of sand and cement screed containing UFH pipes 100mm tacker insulation DPM sand blinding 150mm of concrete slab containing a A142 mesh to BS4483 machine compacted hardcore London clay I take comfort from the fact that due to various delays, the concrete slab was laid a year before the microcement and the screed was laid about midway through that year, so hopefully everything has been done in a fairly gradual manner, with the only mistake being that we turned on the heating only 10 weeks after the screed was poured, whereas it probably would have been best to wait to 13 or 14 week point. So given the stove and steel table top is not that heavy (150kg in total and supported on three sides by concrete plinths that were cast a few months ago), I think the conclusion is to proceed with the steel tabletop and stove installation next week, but to delay switching on the heating till a week or so after that. Is that right?

Yes, unless the supplier has an export agent in the UK and is selling the product as a UK product, you will have to pay the Boris-is-a-liar customs charge AND VAT AND an admin fee for the privilege of having a delivery company - not chosen by you - administer this ridiculous affront on free trade for you. Moreover, it will be tricky to work out how much the customs charge actually is before you are hit with it, because HmRC guidance notes on these things are fairly complex. I would bank on 6%, and hope it is fractionally less. Vote Brexit!

Yep:

Our screed is about 75mm thick. It was poured in early October. Apart from one 3.5m long, but very thin crack which developed on day 125 or so, it seemed to cure very well. Around day 70 we started putting gentle heat through it. Well, I say gentle but my manifold can only do 35C as a minimum. Maybe that was a bit early and what caused the hairline crack, I don’t know. Around day 150 the company that was going to install microcement over the screed came and “stitched” the crack and also filled a couple of small holes that I’m not sure how I missed because they were almost 2cm in diameter. We also did about 2mm of self levelling compound to raise a very small area near a threshold. About 2 weeks later they installed the microcement, which consists of a thin mesh, topped with various layers of microcement which adds about 3.5mm to 4mm to the Screed. The microcement was laid during 3.5 days and sealed on the last afternoon (first coat of sealer) and on the 4th day (second coat of sealer). The installer said I could walk on 2 hours later without shoes on, and with shoes on the day after. He told me to leave it uncovered for a week so that it can breathe. I then had a dispute with the company because I realised the installer had ruined various walls that had been painted a month ago by not using low tack masking tape. So there hasn’t been much by way of aftercare in terms of customer service. The dispute caused me to read the small print of their website Ts and Cs and I spotted that it is recommended that during the first 72h after installation one maintains the ambient temperature in the room above 18C. It also says not to do this with UFH or with any heating that will dry the air. Not exactly sure how one is meant to do that. The house isn’t fully air tight yet, so even with UFH heating on in the two areas adjacent to the room where we have had microcement installed, it doesn’t get Enough heat into the room with underfloor heating. At night, the microcement is around 11C and during the day it gets to 15.5C. I found another website which talks about curing microcement in general and it also says about keeping it above 18C for the first few days, but also says that if you can’t do this all that will happen is that the curing will happen more gradually. The company who installed the microcement say that after a well one can turn the UFH on gradually. Should I delay that by a few days to account for the slower curing time at 11C to 15.5C ? What about floor deflection? I’m due to get a stove installed next week which will sit on a heavy steel plate that will be supported by three concrete plinths cast onto the floor. Total weight of the steel top and stove is about 150kg, though it is spread out onto the three plinths which are about 70cm long each, so shouldn’t really cause too much deflection I hope. Would you delay the stove installation to allow the microcement to fully cure?

Yes, possibly. This is what we are going to try and do next time the electrician is on site

I need two bulbs. It is not the only light in the space, but it is the main light illuminating the kitchen island

Amazon was my first port of call, but unfortunately they don't have what I'm looking for. The bulb needs to be: E12 LED dimmable 2500K to 3000K at least 3W but preferably a bit more as we really need at least 1200 lumens per bulb opaque/pearlescent ball shaped (ideally golf ball size, but could be slightly bigger) Very happy to be corrected, but I don't think Amazon do anything that comes close to fitting all these requirements. Doesn't seem to be an issue in E14 or E27. It's a light fitting where the bulb is very prominently on display, so needs to look nice.