Stones

+1 on spending the time doing some 'what if' heat loss calculations. I built on Jeremy's spreadsheet to include household gains, solar gain and the effect of wind speed. It was a very useful exercise and let me compare various permutations, which resulted in swapping out one build up for another that saved several hundred £ vs a 50 year + payback.

Hi and Welcome. As per @ProDave, which is your building?

We went with a professional consultants certificate, simply as that was the most cost effective way of having some form of certification that the house had been built according to the approved plans, in the event we have to sell. From a buyers (and a lenders perspective) you have to consider that self build is a pretty broad definition, from those who contract a builder to do everything to the other end of the scale where people with no previous skills, build a house with their bare hands. SWMBO has commented to me on several occasions that having seen various levelso of workmanship on DIY self builds over the years, she wouldn't touch certain houses with a barge pole. That's not to say there was anything wrong with those house structurally, or that a builder would do any better, but perception is everything. The comfort blanket of a warranty or a PCC, may well set anxious minds at rest.

Our house is built with Amvic ICF - 65mm polystyrene / 150 concrete core / 65mm polystyrene. Additional insulation fixed to the outer face of the ICF block, rendered / clad thereafter.

Just been having a look at replacement filters. The current filter has a 30mm thick piece of carbon foam within a nylon sleeve. Genuine replacements are eye wateringly expensive, so here are the alternatives I've found: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Active-Carbon-Filter-Round-Set-Exhaust-Hood-Universal-Electrolux-902979357-Tefal-/142592319553#shpCntId what looks promising about this one is that it appears to be filled with granules, which could in future be cheaply replaced. Alternatively, I could just buy some replacement foam, and swap it out every 3 months https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-50-50-2cm-Fish-Tank-Activated-Carbon-Filtration-Foam-Filter-Sheet-Sponge-Pad/152796144787?hash=item23935c2493:m:mq8oUKVIRF-ZtEiUeg9fN0A I should get two sets of 'filters' out of one sheet. So, foam or granules?

From your description, that's a hell of a lot better than the installation I saw in a top end showroom. They had taken up virtually all of the unit underneath the hob with all the gubbins, part of the reason I didn't consider them (cost being the other factor). Will report back on the ozone generator asap.

@Alphonsox is it ducted outside or recirculating?

@AliG Apologies, missed this earlier. As you know we built with ICF. Prior to the decorator coming to tape and fill the walls, we ran two industrial dehumidifiers 24/7 for two weeks (they used 1kW each so not cheap), dropping down to one overnight whilst the taping and decorating was being done. We had them plumbed directly into the drains so no idea how much moisture was actually drawn off, but you could feel the humidity gradually drop and the house feeling warmer and drier. When we got the UFH up and running after I had finished decorating, we set it for an internal temp of 16C, it only took a couple of days to stabilise and sat at that temp until the day before we moved in when I raised it to 21C, which it did over the following 24 hours. Best advice / course of action - dehumidifiers.

@JSHarris That's very helpful, thanks. Decision made. Will give it a whirl and report back in due course.

Looking at the output of fridge units, the larger 400mg/h unit would seem to be the way to go, plus it has a timer, presumably to prevent over use. A 50mg/h plug would no doubt keep things fresh, but perhaps struggle to quickly eliminate odours from a 'shock' event like cooking.

I've decided to buy a small ozone generator as a means of eliminating odours resulting from cooking. These wouldn't be permanently on, only used as and when required for the minimum length of time required (which I'm sure will be a matter of trial and error to determine). Looking at two options. Not much money in the grand scheme of things, but wondered if anyone had any thoughts / views: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ozone-Generator-Ozonator-Sterilizer-Hygiene-Discharge-Air-Purifier-Home/232568538266?hash=item36262a449a:g:eiUAAOSwzppZ-C9q https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-PLUG-IN-OZONE-GENERATOR-Eliminate-Odor-Kill-Smells-Air-Purifier-PLUG-/232544595432

@JSHarris I'm assuming it's this stuff you are referring to https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/141423012362?chn=ps&var=440565779051&adgroupid=48942490953&rlsatarget=pla-380368210229&abcId=1128946&adtype=pla&merchantid=7240314&googleloc=1007335&device=c&campaignid=856243387&crdt=0 and simply a case of emptying the filter out and refilling?

No whitewood sarking at all, just battens onto membrane as you suggest. We had considered using a cassette roof system on our last house and the TF company proposed battening the cassette panels (OSB sheathed) then fitting sarking onto the battens ready for slating as normal, so I suppose you could do it either way. A lot depends on the slate you plan to use. If its all of a uniform size, then fixing to appropriately spaced battens would seem to be the way to go. If you're using reclaimed slate, whitewood sarking may well offer more flexibility for fixing.

Yep, traditional way of doing it in Scotland is to sark with lengths of whitewood and nail directly into it. The only time I have seen it done differently is a house that used SIP roof panels, where they had to batten.

Obtaining a CLEUD would regularise the breach and effectively grant that development the same status as if it had planning permission.

Worth bearing in mind that although immune from enforcement action, the development, whatever that may be, would still be unauthorised. The potential then exists that the unauthorised development may have an impact on the way any future application for planning permission is determined.

+1 This is what we have done and works really well. We have engineered oak in the bedrooms.

At its simplest level, there is nothing to stop one member of the forum offering to loan money, on whatever terms they happen to agree, to another member. I guess that any such loans would be relatively small, and in all likelihood, there would only be a limited number of individuals comfortable loaning on that kind of basis. That is not something that BH would really be involved with I suspect, it would be up to members to sort out privately. P2P and CU's are in my view a lot more interesting, and one can see the potential in terms of the size of the self build community and its financing requirements. The question then becomes does BH want to morph itself into a body that is primarily a financing vehicle that happens to run a forum, or do those interested set up on their own, perhaps linked back by recommendation to BH, as you really would need to reach a decent size and have sufficient funds to offset the overheads that would inevitably be involved. As @Ferdinand says, it may well make a lot more sense to talk to an existing P2P or CU to determine whether a focused stream of lending to self builders, funding by those who were interested, could be created and managed by them. Given the size of the self build community and the experiences of those trying to fund builds, I suspect there is a decent sized market that could be tapped into, and consequently, money / good investment returns to be made.

I started this thread to try and tease some of these issues out (crowdfunding and P2P mentioned in my original post) and see what was or was not possible / realistic, and obtain any direct member experience. I think @JSHarris has provided a useful summary of the two forms of funding and their potential applicability and limitations. P2P does indeed appear to be the model to explore further, but equally helpful to look at alternatives, even if we now dismiss them.

Take the sealed double / triple glazed glass unit out the frame and use as a fixed window built into the shed?

I started this topic to discuss the wider idea...to gauge interest and experience of...

As I'd hoped, this is becoming a useful discussion. It would be good to hear from anyone has has actually used this method, pros and cons etc Obviously individuals could make private arrangements between themselves, but there is also a lot to be said for doing something like this collectively, to spread the risk. If enough people are interested, and as I get all my ducks in a row, I may well add my name to that list, the big question as @JSHarris says, is how one would go about doing it.

There have been a few mentions recently about members using or considering using peer to Peer lenders or Crowdfunding to finance part or all of a self build. I thought it might be useful to collate experiences here. I'm especially interested in the Crowd Funding concept, and the terms applicable (repayment, interest etc)

@ProDave I know we chatted about this last week. Can't add much more than has already been said. I've certainly been in the position previously where we couldn't move forward due to delays selling a house, so I really do have sympathy for your situation. Chin up as they say, it could be worse - I'm just back from the hospital with my wife, who having fallen heavily on her arm in August (and been given the all clear at A&E) had an X-ray today which revealed a significant fracture, which unsurprisingly has not healed. Cast up to her shoulder with an operation to the pin the bone a real possibility.

We had Kardean in a kitchen / dining / family room a few years ago. Have to say I was very impressed with it. Looked really good, seemed very hard wearing, but like everything, it does require some maintenance - day to day cleaning, but also stripping back and reapplication of a 'polish' every year (or more depending on traffic). As others have said needs a dead level base to be laid on. I've seen one installation where the floor beneath clearly hadn't been prepared and it really, really showed through the Kardean.