Stones

+ 1

There is a lift out 'tray' inside the Biopure in which the air pump sits, so visually, all we have is the lid of the unit. You do however have to lift the tray out to access the internals of the unit. Having to build a housing to hide the box was something I didn't want to have to bother about hence my decision.

When I was looking, I narrowed it down to a choice of 3, a Condor, Biopure and Vortex. I couldn't get the Condor delivered to my location for a sensible price (or source it through the local BMs) which is a pity because it has one big advantage over the Biopure - there is a separate built in chamber for the air pump, i.e. you do not have to lift the air pump out in order to empty or check that the plant is functioning. I went with the Biopure in the end as I wanted to house the air pump within the unit. The air pump for the vortex sits on top of the unit, not something I wanted, and it was a little more expensive (delivered) to my location than the Biopure.

@oranjeboom How big is your house? Bear in mind the original spreadsheet was for a simply shaped and modestly sized house, so the fact your heat loss figures are a lot more isn't of itself anything to worry about.

Mine has a mix of trusses and ridge beam / cut rafters. Depends on complexity of your build and what you want to achieve internally.

Welcome.

and the availability of it / particular trades

I can certainly see a future where large numbers of (single) individuals are housed in student type accommodation - your own small space (10-15 sq m) with multi functional furniture and en suite shower facilities.

I actually ended up building a small rain shelter at the back door for the cats, rather than messing about with a cat flap. No smelly food (or litter) in the house at all. Cats would come in from time to time for a cuddle / sleep, but otherwise would do what they wanted outside.

When I decided to go with that system, we had an alternative kit quote from Deeside TF. Although they were cheaper for the same U values, all insulation would have to be fitted on site, and having worked out the time / cost of that, the Supawall wons hands down. Compared to previous kits where tolerances were very elastic, the Supawall kit was mm perfect. A lot of time went into ensuring the soleplate was fixed according to the critical frame dimensions, but when the kit arrived and was craned into place (we had one 10 metre panel) it went like clockwork. Simple quick and effective, with each piece sliding in and interlocking with the next. It certainly persuaded the contractor I was using that such systems were the way forward. It was the first time he had built with it, and had been a little reluctant, but having erected the frame in just over two hours, he came to me and said all houses should be built this way.

The 'indoor' cat my wife had was a rescue (and quite old too, 14 IIRC when we got her going outside) but believe me, when she did get the opportunity to go outside, there was no stopping her.

I've built 6 houses now, 5 TF and 1 ICF. Of the TF house, 4 were kits manufactured off site, the kit suppliers also being responsible for supplying the internal materials such as insulation, PB, facings, doorsets, windows etc. Our last house used the Supawall system (injection filled insulated panels). One of our timber houses the frame was built on site by joiners. Our current house is ICF. I felt the Supawall system was significantly better in terms of quality compared to a normal TF panel. Having built in ICF I think it is superior to TF. Did I compare to block built - yes, I costed it out, but for all my houses, assuming I was employing someone to do the work, it was either slightly cheaper or the same cost to use TF, so I went with what i was comfortable with. Interestingly, paying joiners to stick build the kit on site was no different cost wise to buying the structural TF panels. Having moved somewhere where there were two ICF contractors, ICF as a build system became viable and comparable cost wise to TF. A lot comes down to the availability of particular tradesmen. Where we previously lived, there were more joiners than brickies, so TF was more common. That may well be different elsewhere. If you have the skills, time and desire to build your own TF or lay blocks then of course you may save money but if you are employing people to do the work then I suspect you may well find there is very little in it cost wise.

+1 My wife had two cats when I met her, 1 indoor and one outdoor. When we built our first house, we 'trained' the indoor cat exactly as Dave describes, worked brilliantly. IIRC, you can buy pet waste compost units which may be an alternative.

Good to get started. Driving a dumper is surprisingly therapeutic isn't it?

That's how we had to do it, as partitions etc were to be built around the kitchen units. On a previous house we did tile the entire floor, but only because the tiler was in the house before the kitchen had been delivered. Certainly well worth retaining a few boxes of tiles as spares. I have 4 boxes (4.5m2 worth) which should be more than enough to replace the odd cracked or chipped tile.

+1 http://www.vitaxamenity.co.uk/product/sbk-brushwood-killer/ Also good as a selective weedkiller for getting rid of dockens in grass.

The clause as worded wouldn't (as far as I can tell) preclude him from undertaking the work prior to the 'no later than' date specified.

I know of one chap who built a house in Perthshire that initially went with a small WBS for his DHW and minimal heating (it was a passive standard house). IIRC he had electric towel rails in the bathrooms and had wired for electric heaters in the bedrooms. He reduced the WBS output to the lounge by placing a couple of firebricks inside to direct more of the heat to the back boiler which fed a TS for his DHW. He ended up fitting a couple more radiators to the initial heat dump to get a better distribution of heat in the house. An easy option for you if you don't want full CH may be an electric post heater in your MVHR supply ducting.

I know someone who fitted a rotor unit and had (still is I think) real issues getting it set up properly, as there seemed to be so many input variables that have an effect on the drum heat exchange. Counterflow seems a far simpler and bullet proof option for a domestic setting.

I did the same, applied 3 coats in total, spending just over an hour per door between denibbing and applying the Osmo. Should be some pictures on my blog. I went for unfinished doors as I wanted the doors to have the same finish as our oak skirtings and facings. A prefinished door would have looked very different to the Osmo finish we had settled on.

If you are fitting a new deck anyway, how about EPDM? https://www.rubber4roofs.co.uk/shop/epdm-rubber-roofing Easy to DIY, single piece so no joins to worry about and fascia trims to finish the job off. I've used EPDM a couple of times and been very impressed with it.

@Crofter I sourced our aluminium cills from www.mspcladding.co.uk as our window supplier only had standard sizes available which didn't suit our build. I have to say they were easy to deal with and their cills were half the price the window supplier wanted. I paid between £5.57 and £7.38 per linear metre for 2mm thick / 254mm wide aluminium folded (to my spec) cills. Longer lengths were cheaper per linear metre than shorter lengths. There was a minimum painting charge of £130, although I'm not sure how much you would get painted before additional charges kicked in. In my case I got just over 18 linear metres worth. Delivery wise, I can't say how much it would cost to get lengths delivered as they came up with my windows. I'm assuming there is a Skye based haulier that does a run down to the central belt on a regular basis that would be able to quote? I had them price out a bespoke gutter system and it was half the price of other alu rainwater goods suppliers, but still too much budget wise for me. I too have larch fascias and at them moment, they don't look as good as the rest of the timber which is weathering nicely. Time will eventually weather it to match but the transition will take time. One thing you might want to consider rather than going to the expense of over-cladding with aluminium is giving it a light sand with an orbital sander. Part of our cladding was flecked with white render primer (caught by the wind) and the only way to remove was a light sand. The cladding had weathered for a few months prior tot he sanding out of the primer flecks, but the finish once sanded (still weathered but smoother) was really quite good.

Must admit it was quite satisfying making them from all the odd bits I had left over. I'm hoping to acquire a few off-cuts of beech worktop from a friend so may well have another table or two in time. As for being a fraud, what can I say...good communication and attention to detail meant a lot of the usual snags (or snags I have seen in the past) were avoided.

For me, it's very much a case of keeping it looking good, and making sure that everything is sound. I was caught out many years ago when a shower leaked at the tile / tray junction because the sealant had come away, I think due to a combination of age and regular cleaning. For the sake of 15 minutes to clean the old off and run a new bead of sealant round, it isn't really a problem.

Nice