SimonD

I'm sure the market will change eventually. One small change I've noticed recently is that Travis Perkins online prices are now much more reasonable then they ever where before. They now actually reflect a real world price rather than the massively inflated prices of yesterday. Even Jewson has started giving some prices on the website. I wonder whether Amazon will provide the impetus on some of this stuff. I found the Spax stainless steel screws I needed, sold and delivered by Amazon on next day through prime (Screwfix couldn't give me an availability date for their stock). I've also just ordered some Aluminium Butyl tape, again on prime. Amazingly, for one particular need, I bought bags of 5 and 10 small stainless bolts for pennies each from the marketplace. The other thing with Amazon is that I've found some small independents using the marketplace by buying items and they send a business card with the order for future supplies. I like to avoid Amazon whenever I can but when needs must and all that.. I've dealt with a few suppliers like this now, from nail gun nails to guttering to render. Works really well. If you're lucky enough to find a builder who'll tell you what discount they get. You'll probably also find that you get an add-on for materials supply by them - sometimes 10-15% rather than the discount passed on. To me that's not entirely unreasonable as one thing I've learned is just how time consuming ordering and arranging material logistics is, particularly when dealing with archaic BMs!

I've avoided my local builders merchants like the plague for my build, but might have to use them for some things soon. For me it beggars belief that I have to go in there not knowing what price I'm actually going to pay for a particular product without waiting to see if the person on the till is in a good mood or not, or having to go through the painful process of getting a quote. It's like something out of the industrial age and they haven't moved on since. I've recently found it amazing what I can get delivered on the various pallet networks, for not a lot of money. I got a quote for 19mm x 100mm interior cladding (cover of 86mm) a few weeks ago and it was £1.16/m plus the VAT at the timber merchants I use. Lucky you! I'm currently mid way and unlike @ProDave's rant, my daily tantrums can't be published. It now just takes something like nobody having some basic stainless steel screws in stock so I can finish a job to push me over the edge! I've also been sitting there looking at three different options for fitting out the first floor due to both price and availability problems - the original design looks like it's now out of the window unless I want to sit tight and wait to see if things settle down.

Personally I'd be taking a serious look at the tape. Once you've used tapes instead of foams/sealants, you'll not likely want to go back. Also, when you have very small gaps between insulation and rafters, it's very difficult to get the foam gun in there to fill and you can end up with several mm gap that only gets taped. Whether it's still the case, PIR has been known to shrink with age so any small gaps left over may expand.

I can't see a photo but as for square bays it's usual to have corner posts. With the steel posts, you'll simply fix the windows to the steels and cover the steel posts with trims and insulation to reduce cold bridging. In a way this'll save you money on having to buy corner posts from the window company. My square bays, for example, have 109mm x 109mm corner posts plus the profile of the window frame @ 36mm each side. I worried how it would look but once installed it's surprising how the posts disappear from view from the inside and just look like a natural part of the window from the outside. HTH

You could also look at Xpanda tape sold by Qualitape and Lynvale expanding foam tape. Both with BBA certificates. Neither quite the deal the ProClima tape you mention above, but when I bought from Qualitape online, they got in touch to say call them next time and they could give me discounts. They also sell all manner of other useful building tapes including Siga tapes. Perhaps worth a look. I've tried several brands of expanding tapes now and I honestly can't tell any difference between them - I'd hazard a bet they all come from the same factory somewhere...

Spot on, here's one https://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.co.uk/wet-room-systems/aquaseal-wet-room-tanking-system-large-75-meter-kit-aqwrskit

If you take the BBA certificates seriously, both Norbord (SterlingBoard) and Kronospan say the OSB: "When used in high risk areas, such as kitchens and bathrooms, the panel must be protected from wetting, eg by providing a continuous waterproof covering, turned up and sealed at junctions with walls and where services pass through the floor." Here's a link to Sterlingboard BBA - https://www.norbord.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/bba-cert-osb3-flooring.pdf And for Kronospan - https://uk.kronospan-express.com/en/ajax/express_services/download?args[0]=express-services&args[1]=downloads&args[2]=United-Kingdom&args[3]=certificates-and-datasheets&args[4]=kronospan-osb-flooring-bba.pdf&show=1 I've tanked the osb directly in my bathrooms over the whole floor using liquid membrane over which I'll install the final floor covering as overall it's cost me about £60 thanks to a deal. For me it's worthwhile insurance. With the kitchen I'm just applying the membrane below and around the wet areas. As for longevity when not protected, I had osb subfloor where there had been a pin hole leak in the central heating system spraying water up against the osb under the suspended ground floor. It lasted 2 years like that and what alerted us to it was a large black wet area appearing in the floor. Despite this the floor area didn't lose its structural integrity - you could still walk on it an a sofa leg was resting in the middle of the patch.

It's hard to say for sure right now. Bank of England sees this as a short term blip as a result of Covid that won't cause long term price inflation but that averages inflationary pressure across the economy as a whole and as we know a lot of the economy is still holed up for the time being. I also don't think construction is fully back to normal yet either. The more worrying side to it is that with timber, for example, demand has been growing slightly faster than supply over the last decade or so, which has shown a slow uptick in timber prices year on year. Now we've got the bottle neck caused by Covid, it's going to take some time to flush it all through. There are other issues in that the US government has decided to increase duties on Canadian lumber imports, which at the moment will drive more importers to look to Europe for supply (because North American and Canadian lumber is a traded commodity with sky high values right now, up over 200% since August last year). Supplies are difficult right now which means some planning ahead, or as has been the problem I've faced throughout Covid is having to build, not according to sensible sequence, but doing a bit here and and bit there as materials, fixings and other bits come through the door (it's very frustrating and slows things down a lot). As it is, I know of smaller building firms and trades that have had to stop work because customers won't go ahead with price uncertainty and they can't get the supplies they need (there's a new house being build just down the road from me that's pretty much halted for a good month or so now with partially completed walls). People will also eventually see some sense and stop paying stupid prices for materials. This will eventually have enough of an impact on the market to ease supply problems and bring prices down (even if only marginally as they never seem to go back down to previous levels do they?). Where you are at the moment, it's probably more sensible to consider the timeline for your project and consider the risks in that light. If you're only just buying plots right now, I anticipate that by the time you've got planning and everything else lined up there may be a longer term more stable outlook. But who knows, we're in very strange times right now.

haha, I did the same the other day as the site said they had stock, tried two locations but got phone calls cancelling about 20 min after putting the click & collect orders through.

Do you need it in a complete roll? If not, I'd call a local metal stockholder and ask them to cut some sheet into strips for you. Otherwise, some roof merchants hold 0.6mm coil used for copper flashing. You might have to spend an afternoon on the phone. Both these sources will be better than craft suppliers on price.

The only place for it!

Yup, I had to drive to 3 different places last week for just 2 bags of the stuff. I think I was fairly lucky as where I got mine they only had about 12 bags left. One of the places said they're hoping for 670 to be delivered on the 29th May "so get here early"!

It's an unfortunate condition of the market right now. Given some of the timber price hikes I've recently had, less than 10% is very good going. Some timber products are up more than 100% in recent months. My timber merchant said they'd received a 44% increase in one day with one supplier. Some of the issues are simply down to supply and demand issues due to Covid, but there is also a massive increase in timber futures, along with Brexit and the fact that timber demand has been growing for the past 10 years with not a great increase in production. I know it doesn't help you directly, but may help alleviate some of the pain knowing that it isn't down to the timber frame company. Have you asked the timber frame company about how your contract stands for future payments and price increases, or does your next payment lock the price in?

Apart from that they really don't seem to know what on earth to do, I suspect a lot of this is hot air, merely using the time honoured political communication strategy of informally leaking extreme end of possibility - really bad, unpleasant and unpopular ideas - to then gauge push back and outrage, finally resulting in a policy that rows back on a lot of it, but seems to everyone much more reasonable. Unless of course the government is riding so high on its own self-belief, it thinks it can get away with what would almost amount to a new poll tax. For all the other talk of national economy and the importance of investing in infrastructure, there seems to be a glaring hole, screaming for investment into renewable energy infrastructure, development and implementation, including various storage technologies. Hopefully that is built into the new policy somewhere in a way that doesn't just rely on private companies but looks to develop a national public resource for the long-term.

It's been a good few years since I did any tiled roofing but one thing that's bugging me is I don't see any kind of soaker at the roof and wall abutment in this photo. I'm almost sure from my vague memories that you need soakers when using plain tiles and that flashing only above the tiles is unsufficient in this case. Perhaps someone with clearer, more recent memory can confirm, or maybe a google could provide the answer ..

You definitely shouldn't be experiencing water running down behind the fascia. My first thought was whether the gutter is overfilling when it rains hard. We had a similar arrangement on an old house where the down pipe went into the ground but there was no soakaway, or pipework below the ground so as it rained, the pipe filled up and eventually we got an overflowing gutter. Looking at those photos, I would look closely at the flashing as it looks pretty poor, especially on the left hand side. Has it been chased into the wall properly?

The simple difference is in condensation risk. There is greater risk with the warm roof. The difference in price is not just with materials but with labour as if you're constructing a warm roof, the metal roofing contractor should really do the roof buildup and detailing because most building contractors won't have a clue what's needed.

Well done, great progress. You can join your separate ridge beams using a scarf joint. There's a very neat video on it by Skillbuilder - Cutting a scarf joint for a carpenters roof - which is a self locking version, although you can use a simpler 'straight' cut which is bonded or mechanically fixed. You will need to some pretty hefty timbers to span your 4.6m flat. If you're looking for a vaulted ceiling, it may be worth looking at plywood gussets as ridge rafter ties, which you can make . Otherwise, if you have the head room, adding ties across the span at wall plate level is pretty straight forwards and probably a safer best. You don't need to build roof trusses so to speak. Here are a couple of links you might find useful: Article: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/framing/how-it-works-collar-and-rafter-ties Video: Plywood Ridge Rafter Ties Verses Conventional Roof Framing For Small Sheds - Building Better Roofs HTH

I'd agree with that. The unfortunate thing is that this is an accepted aspect of "standard" timber frame details, whether SIPS or not. See, for example the Scottish timber frame standard details here. This detail is a thermal bridge, but it is 'okay' (not my words btw). Better would be to add a block with improved thermal performance as a starter - this is actually mentioned in the Scottish standard details. It's absolutely essential. This is where using a service void to the inside of a timber frame is a blessing as it will reduce risk of perforating the vcl. Usually, the vcl in this buildup should extend beyond the bottom of the internal face of the wall and a distance along the floor over the floor insulation, under the screed which should then prevent excess moisture ingress to the sole plate. As long as the sole plate remains dry enough, then the rot risks are significantly diminished, which does mean you need to ensure moisture can get out if it gets in too. Kingspan do have a detail where there is an additional layer of insulation outside the timber frame, but I don't know if that extends to sips, or render board as I've only seen the details for this in brick clad timber frame. It still bemuses me why building practise hasn't moved to standardise wrapping the timber frame with an external layer of insulation. I actually did this with my project. Initially BC were a weary of it, but having given them some research paperwork to back up my design, they've been fine with it. The problem you're experiencing here is so typical. You're probably being squeezed between purists who will detail the hind legs of a design, and try to cover every worldly eventuality, whether it's overkill or not, and the commonly lazy, this will do construction company attitude. But also the answer to your question isn't entirely black and white which means you're going to get variations in opinion. As this is causing you to worry, I would personally look at it slightly differently: A material with better thermal performance under the sole plate would help things out from a thermal bridging perspective and this may help reduce risks of condensation. With that in mind, what is the opportunity/cost ratio if you will? Is it marginal, or significant? Do you have both the time, opportunity and budget to add this detail into the build? If so, would it significantly ease your concerns? If it would, then I'd think it's a sensible thing to do. From a decision making perspective, one of the things I've found with my build is that when I've decided to do something that improves the performance of the fabric of my house, once I've made the decision and done it, I feel good about it, even it if came with cost and inconvenience. When I've decided not to go with a potential enhancement, I've had a lingering question nagging away in the back of my mind of what if (unless that 'what if' was totally out of budget or reality of course! ?).

Oh, that’s where I’ve been going wrong then... On the plus side the timber delivery driver did say he will be praying for me.

Isn't that the one you reach for when you're about to break ground?

As @Rogersp suggests, 'the bible' is a good book and each edition is different as it tends to cover different projects. I'd also ask what information you're after. Are you after something that gives an overview of the self-build process together with advice? And/or do you want more nitty gritty stuff like how a house is actually constructed together with more technical information? For more detailed information you could take a look at The Construction of Houses or Building Construction Handbook For something similar to House builder's bible, you could look at Self Build Simplified by Barry Sutcliffe

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. As long at the frame retains sufficient vapour control to avoid excessive moisture ingress, it's unlikely you'll suffer condensation problems. Standard stick build timber frames typically have up to 15% repeating cold bridges due to all the studs, top plate and sole plate, which is why the frames nowadays often have an additional layer of insulation either to the inside or outside of the frame. Does your drawing show an internal layer? However, even if it doesn't, there are numerous frames just like it around the world, many in far harsher environments that have performed and survived just fine. As it is, you're probably better focusing as you are on airtightness and vapour control detailing.

Oh my, I feel for you Jilly. What a frustrating situation. So are your plans now to draw a line under this builder chapter and take on the remaining works yourself or are you going to try and find replacement builders? When I was starting my work, I had no less than 4 neighbours come and talk to me and share their experiences with builders. All of them had firms either letting them down, 2 of them disappearing, one leaving incomplete work, delaying completion and claiming they had done to completion. One of the builders actually left one neighbour when they got to the roof structure and when chased just said he wasn't interested in the rest of the work anymore! I know it doesn't help solve your situation but hopefully illustrates that you're not alone in this.

If you build up as the OP, using plywood or osb sheathing on the inside of the frame, you don't need an additional vcl as the sheathing does this job and then you just need a breather membrane on the outside, this is particularly the case if you're using a vapour open insulation. AFAIA there is not requirement in building regs that you have to have a plastic vapour control layer, it depends on your buildup. You simply need to ensure that the internal side of the wall is sufficiently less vapour permeable than the outside. No, you don't need an extra layer of plastic between the ply and the stud as you're using a different wall buildup than is being suggested by @Marvin who is suggesting a traditionale wall buildup. You are using what is called a reverse wall. If you decide to put your plywood on the outside of the timber frame instead, then you would need a plastic sheet. With your buildup, taping the joints is fine. If you want independent reference, have a look at this article that explains the differences in wall buildup and why. https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/the-breathing-wall-is-a-simple-concept-but-often-confused-by-linking-it-only-to-particular-wall-constructions-all-timber-walls-breathe