soapstar

Thanks. Can you confirm the different options with Wet Dash? I assume the texture is changed by using different size chips?

Perhaps we are a little premature with presuming the stones will all fall off! We are in the north east, Aberdeenshire, about half mile from the coast so can get a fair bit of wind/rain etc in the winter. Close to trees also at one side so perhaps k-rend wouldn't be great for us anyway? I assume wet dash can be painted?

Hello Folks, What is everyone's preference when it comes to render? It seems the options we are narrowed down to is wet dash which is our preference, then we have dry dash and finally textured (smooth?) We like the look of wet dash as it seems a fool proof application which cant go wrong and is quite common here in Scotland. Our only worry being that one mans wet dash seems to be different to another, one house is never the same. I assume you can use different size chips in with the mix? I just worry we ask for wet dash and get a horrible lumpy texture like that you see on old fishing cottages for example! Dry dash has put us off slightly simply due to the fact the stones falling off the wall! Still looks nice when new. Textured looks very nice however can this be achieved without the need for special systems such as k-rend etc? This inevitably brings us to 'K-Rend', they seem to boast there renders are far superior to that of the normal mortar renders. My builder opposes this and states its money wasted which could be spent elsewhere. I somewhat agree with this, does the extra cost really benefit us in the real world? It would seem there are plenty of houses which have had the 'old fashioned' methods applied and they are doing just fine... Any thoughts or photos of examples would be great!

On top of the screed it will be carpet ideally

Thanks ? I guess the only real negative is the small portion of UFH pipe the slab would cover wouldn’t be as efficient as the rest of the room but it would be extremely minimal I assume!

Thanks everyone for the helpful information and links. It would seem this constructional hearth isn’t really required given many stoves seems to reach a temperature less than 100c. so I guess my main question now is can the slate or whatever material we choose to sit the stove on go over the UFH pipes below? For example is we have a slate slab which is say 2m in length. Our constructional hearth as in photo is 1m wide meaning 500mm overlap either side which would be overlapping the pipes somewhat. Would this be ok?

I am not 100% on the depth of the screed but 100mm seems about right. This begs the questions what is the point in the constructional hearth if the screed + slate will be sufficient?

Thats concerning - what size would you recommend? I was hoping a 1m x 1m constructional hearth would be enough to contain the heat from the stove and we would be ok to have a slate slab wider than this which may overlap the UFH pipes?

That’s interesting thanks, your hearth looks nicely proportioned with your stove. Our stove will be free standing. i believe the ‘visual warning area’ is basically what defines the ‘danger area’ around the stove, so in your case it would be the black block. The constructional hearth is the concrete below the floor. From what I can gather if your floor does not have UFH the constructional hearth is basically the entire floor given it will be concrete, however if you have UFH pipes the constructional hearth needs to be dug out as in my picture.

Hey Folks, On to the wood burner now! Question relates to the constructional hearth and what is referred to the Visual Warning Area - from what I gather this is usually the raised area around the stove, usually made of slate etc. We have the constructional hearth in which is 1m x 1m, this was done before the UFH pipes were installed for obvious reasons. However I am concerned this will be quite small to sit a wood burning stove plus all the other utensils etc. Given we have UFH pipes around the 1m x 1m area can the VWA (slate slab) be wider than the construction hearth beneath and partially cover some UFH pipes? The screed is to be poured on top of the pipes obviously with the wooden shutters to construct the hearth. I have uploaded an image for reference! thanks

To conclude this for anyone interested in the future it would turn out you get what you pay for, the Cupa Heavy 3 is an excellent looking slate with no discolouration. Apparently this occurs when there has not been adequate quality control with there being too many 'oxides' present in the slate causing a rusty look.

Anyone have a rough idea of the going rate of the Cupa Heavy 3 right now?

Yes would be interested to know what experience you have had with them...it would seem you really do get what you pay for when it comes to slates. Although from what I can gather it can be down to having a skilled person to fit them, it’s just not a case of throwing them on..they have to be sorted to an extent by thickness and get rid of the odd bad slates? Maybe someone can explain the process further!

Thanks. i do realise there’s will be variations however why do some houses have flawless slates which don’t have too much variation. Would this be due to a cheaper slate? No so stringent selection process compared to say Cupa Heavy slates? I am a fan of @Thedreamer house and the Cupa Heavy 3 slates as shown on their blog, it looks really good and no ‘patchiness’ to the roof...

Hello, Quick question regarding slates. Can anyone describe why the attached picture of slates has discolouration in some of them? Making the overall look very ‘patchy’? Is this common? We are looking out for slates for our build, originally we wanted Cupa Heavy 3 (not pictured). Has anyone used this slate? thanks

Signing off as in each stage of the build, foundations, slab, wind/water right etc. Our technician cannot obviously do this not being qualified to do so. Hmm by the sounds of those figures we are paying quite a bit over that! I will take a look and see if the RIAS have any advice. Thats interesting, our frame has just recently started. Might take you up on that offer, we are only about 30 mins away. I may message you if you don’t mind? regarding what your setup is with your architect? My situation is very complicated and I feel it wouldn’t be right having it out in the open for all...hopefully that’s ok to do on this forum.

Thats interesting to hear, you certainly seem to have the same mindset as myself in that I just want this bloody house built! I must admit having that person to go to does take off pressure some what, however at the price we are being charged and doesn’t include signing off (paying another party for this) it is making me think twice. I feel like they cannot charge a set one off fee for each stage if they don’t know the work involved..maybe I am wrong? Are we speaking hundreds or thousands here? ? Am I not right in saying your build was in my neck of the woods, NE Scotland?

@the_r_sole Thanks very much for your insight its very helpful, you obviously know what your talking about! Can I ask, is it wise of me to ask my technician that we work on a 'pay as you go' model opposed to this 'fee' we seem to being getting charged on a stage by stage basis - I mean my biggest issue with this is we dont have a clue what the future holds for the build, it may need no more input or may need major changes (crystal ball anyone?!) ?

I see this has somewhat of a divided opinion among everyone! I agree in a sense with if there are any major changes you cant expect the architect to drop sticks and jump onto your job if you have told them you wish to part ways, although on the other hand it makes total sense to agree an hourly rate or fixed fee for certain degree of works if and when required? I really do not hope to have any major changes to the structure etc during the course of our build but you can never say never. Surely if this was done wrong it lies on the builder to rectify? I am paying the builder my life savings to do what they know, build! If they cannot do this properly with a set of well drawn CAD plans then surely the blame lands with them, why should you pay a middle man to 'make sure' everything is ok?!

Thanks. Thats a good point regarding CAD files, it may be wise to get these (for a fee no doubt)

Hello Folks, We find ourselves in an awkward predicament, with our build now started we are starting to question the need for our architect/technician. To not go into too many details, is it at all necessary to have a architectural technician employed after the planning/building warrant stage is complete and the build has started? I cant go into much details for privacy issues however we seem to be paying our technician to whom drew the plans, assisted us through receiving our BW drawings etc as we now progress to the build stage. I am now questioning 'why do we still need to pay for their services?' From starting the build there has only been minor details that the builders own architect has queried to whom our technician has been in contact with to discuss - no ground breaking detail or demanding work. The sign off for the build is being done via another party - nothing to do with the technician. So it boils down to...do I need to pay this person (a some what over inflated fee in my opinion) to provide advice during the time of our build? Would it be wise to just deal directly with the builders architect? This only raises the question on the ownership etc of the plans to which the technician drew, do they have rights over these? Im so glad I have this forum to ask help - I dont know what I would do without it!

They do look particularly nice, might give them a shout and ask current lead times etc

Given we dont seem to have the option of not having a fire escape window on our gable end window I am a little concerned at how its going to look being PVC windows. I have been informed these will need to be re-enforced to strengthen the windows - this will inevitably add to the sight lines being somewhat reduced being PCV. We are planning on having the bottom centre pane an opening patio door with a tilt/turn either side. Upstairs there will be two tilt/turns opposite to the ones below. Given aluminium windows are considered stronger would it be a silly idea to have aluminium only for the gable end window and the rest of the house PVC? Anyone done this or know of any houses like this?

No as we are building a 1.5 story. In this case it would need to be a Velux to floor window which I’m not keen on to be honest! It’s looking like we have no option but to have the one tilt/turn

Our bedroom will have a double Velux window. As for the door into the en-suite wardrobe this has already been approved by BC, and we have no windows in this room! Having looked further into this it would seem BC will not allow us to use the bathroom as a fire escape, unfortunate but it’s for good reason I guess. This would leave us to decide what we have in regards to a fire escape on our gable window from our bedroom. I am thinking one tilt/turn window in the centre of the 5 panes? We would obviously need a barrier of some sort. Anyone who has any arrangement like this is it would be fantastic to see some examples.