Thedreamer

Also remember those quoting low building costs, probably didn't work for best part of a year. I view the missed earnings as being a cost in it's own right. Also it's hard to know the quality of the spec used.

Buildstore/Buildloan these are just brokers. When I had an initial chat with build store I had to run and get a jotter pad to list all of the fees payable. Try where possible to go direct to a lender.

https://www.mygov.scot/self-build-loan-fund/ https://www.hscht.co.uk/uploads/4/6/8/5/46858349/sblf_-_fact_sheet_for_general_information__may_2019_.pdf https://www.hscht.co.uk/scotland-self-build-loan-fund.html Hope that's helpful, not sure what the interest rate is at the moment, but the key bit is that if the project exceeds the agreed timescales it increases to 9%. This didn't work for me as generally a quick build is an expensive build!

GET PROFESSIONAL ADVICE!!!! ?

I think it best to let it sit for a while to allow the timber to adjust to the surroundings. Larch will weather at different speeds on various elevations. The OSMO oil is pricey but good for UV protective and also for rain. It's gives the larch a uniform look. Yes had to go for quite a traditional look for the house as we are in a national scenic area.

How are you calculating the base value of the plot and have you compared it to the market value of the plot today? Surely the plot value has increased dramatically since the original purchase. Capital gains is on the gain of an asset on disposal. Inheritance tax is when you inherit an asset (whether before or after death), this is separate to the possible gain. Need to consider connected rules and market value, if this is being gifted away to nothing from a family member. You not going to achieve to much on here you need to speak to tax adviser/solicitor and possibly may need a surveyor who does valuations to determine the gift of an asset.

Thanks. We left it to weather for 18 months or so, but in the end used Osmo oil with a pigmentation.

Not really a cap like this. But ours is like this I've also fitted Siberian larch, but in T&G, got some more on the way for decking and the ramp.

Not 100% clear from the photos. Our dry verge contains the slates on the end. We went with fairly thick slates so the dry verge has a few bumps when the three course meet so just went with what was available in Jewsons, nicer ones are available. The idea being that driving rain could go between the gable end slates, you still have the protective of the roof membrane but prehaps the clipped slates negates the need for the dry verge. Traditionally up here you would have concrete skews on the gable end of highland houses. Here is the best one I could find from my blog. I should say that our build on Skye is more likely to get battered by wind and rain than most on here. Your build looks great by the way, what's your cladding, cedar? ?

The clipped slates look good, not seen it done locally here on Skye. What do you have on the gable ends dry verge under the slates?

Should be zero rated. Could you write them a signed letter declaring that you are building a house for residential purposes. Also there was a previous discussion about VAT certificates on here.

Yes, I'm running an exhaust air source heat pump to heat a 260 litre tank (our supplier also does a 300 litres, would a couple work for you?). I'm running it as a MEV system (which help to recover the steamy air from baths and showers) but you could draw the air from outside/garage if you have MVHR. What I like about this system, is that it cost us £2,500 for the heat pump and cylinder (also has a back up dual immersion and acts as the fan for the MEV). Been running it for two months and the running costs is very cheap. My overall electricity usage is 10kwh a day for a family of four. The heat pump is fairly small compared to the larger ones often installed by other self builders but as it just does the hot water the output capacity is maximised through out the year. My general view is that a well insulated house need very little in terms of heating if I ever have a really cold period (I live in Skye, winters tend to be mild, windy and wet, similar to Oban I would imagine) I have our WBS and ours is not a token stove but well designed in the centre of the property, surrounded by dense concrete blocks. If we need a little bit of extra heating in morning then I'll use direct electric heating/heating from towel rails etc

Thanks, although some of the blog photos were soon after being fitted. The roof today after two years is quite universal, although the north through last of sunlight will probably look slightly different in the next few years. As other have said the contrast in different slates is not a bad look but I suppose it's down to personal preference. To me it's similar to cladding, we got a few cracks in the Siberian larch but it's natural product, if we wanted to be completely sure of the flawless look we would use an artificial product like Marley Eternit. I suppose dust from ridge tiles etc and lead work can also create some temporary discoloration.

Not sure on the install cost, the groundworkers invoice was £1,340 but this also included a couple of days for landscaping and digging a french drain. I would say the tank (net of VAT) and installation cost (zero rated) around £2,600.

That's fine by me. ? I can't remember if I mentioned in that thread, but the only reason I choose that one was that all three of the building merchants here stocked it as their treatment tank of choice.

@Oxbow16 You can read about it here. For the record that photo for some reason is not the Tricel one but the one @ProDave suggests. Our tank is now installed is working well and quiet. It cost £1847+VAT. I did not have to pay haulage but they had to send three tanks to the Hebrides before it met the standard I expected.

Normal to have splits and cracks. If your house is completely covered with larch then your find that different elevations will adjust differently to it's new surroundings. South more prone to splits and cracks from Sun/UV and the North might develop some black mold spots. Are you planning to treat the wood? We were going to leave it to sliver naturally but decided to used Osmo oil with a pigmentation.

I used 25mm PIR after 140 mineral wool. I used frametherm 35 and 32 elsewhere, if I could go back I probably would have used frametherm 32 through out. Joints on PIR taped with an air tightness barrier for critical areas. Then battened for plasterboard. Probably could have pull some additional insulation in between battens. Wasn't going for a really high spec just a little bit above building control. I would try and make up your budget elsewhere and increase the insulation spec.

I also had some argument to support an appeal, but it's not a band C. I guess with areas like Skye where generations have self build, properties tend to be different compared to a row of identical of 1930's semi detached properties.

Wasn't sure which way it was going to go but in the end I got a D! Most of my neighbour get Ds or Es. Highland Council collects the water in the council tax (no meter), band D and water is £1,539 and band E is £2,004, as a 34 year old and this being my forever home this amounts to quite a large difference over a few decades. This is important to me as I hopeful of getting my mortgage, council tax, electricity, phone/internet, insurance, tv licence within £600 a month. Made me think, does everybody know what banding they are expecting when they self build? Anybody on here ever self build to band below D?

Is K rend difficult to be applied correctly? Just an observation but seems to be a few posts on here about it going wrong.

I think that is the air brick in the middle? It's not to clear from the photo but prehaps the soil level is a bit to high also.

Although it would be interesting to do so, it would not be possible. As the internal temperature would vary if it was a cloudy or a sunny day. If it gets to hot I tend to just open one or two of the windows depending on the wind direction to get the desired temperature. Another factor which I think make these air source heat pump efficient is that I am able to recover some heat from showers and baths into the system. Although the hot water for the shower just disappears (apart from steamy) into the treatment tank. When baths are used I tend to leave the hot water and this allows some of the heat to gets sucked back into the system and then this recovered heat can be stored for future use.

Yes, that is true but the heat taken is not really felt. All the heating since we have moved has come from our south facing glazing, from us and residual heat from appliances. If the bulk of the heat comes from the sun then this is free energy and it would less efficient to have a heat pump taking electricity from the cold outside. To me it’s irrelevant how efficient the system is as I could have had a large external heat pump that would be more expensive to run and require a lot of electricity. This system is small in power but is easily meeting our demand for hot water for what seems to be very little electricity. The cost was also very attractive at £2,500 for a good UK/Ireland constructed cylinder, mini heat pump, dual immersion (not planning to use!) and extraction system. As I said previously, I will reflect fully on how well it performs once a full year has passed but I don’t see how we could have got a cheaper method of hot water that provides so many functions.

I appreciate everybody will have a different view on what is acceptable fridge noise, but can you not a get a feel from online reviews?