Thedreamer

Our groundworkers did a simpler trick, but hid 100 tree stumps extracted when putting in the access, this went into our 'borrow pit' which was emptied of rock for our access and then refilled with the stumps and clay with turf put back on top. This resulted in no rock coming on site and no muckaway costs.

Welcome @DreamHouseDreamer Well done on getting planning permission. We had a longish wait of ten year before starting our build. What are you planning to tackle next? As mentioned above we like photos and plans here. But also sharing experience and knowledge. Best of luck The Dreamer ?

That centre pivot window looks over trees. But the big top hung PK10 veluxs are great. I'm 6'3 and can stand completely out of them, would recommend always upgrading to the top hungs ones in a bedroom. These photos were what I pictured it would be like on day one of choosing the site in 2009.

No need, as I won a bottle of champagne in the work raffle today! The balance will sit nicely in the contingency part of my budget spreadsheet.

Yes the bit of metal had to be clicked which then release the handle and allowed the window to be fully shut. This one was over the stairs so was awkward to access. https://www.yarddirect.com/blog/Reasons-Window-Lock/#.XBuRXVz7RPY

I was scratching my head when opening the veluxs this summer. I didn't know about the top hung spring clicking activation, have top hung veluxs always been like that? The other issues was my centre pivot top level was opened to far and had to click the metal bits at the top to get it to fully close. Had to look for the instructions online to see what was needing to be done.

Had a very nice unexpected surprise this evening. Came home to letter from SSE.... what do they want? Well it was a cheque for just under £1000 to me, three years after the connection was done. Costs incurred were less than the invoiced amount! References all square up to my paperwork. Merry Christmas

Looking forward to next summer, I'm aiming to have the house completed at some point in July and August, the days will be nice and long. At the moment i'm working 9 till 7 so only really get to see the house on Saturday/Sunday.

Following on from finishing our blockwork a few weeks ago, our brickie came back the next week and fitted the concrete cills. We then had a short wait before before our joiners could come back on site and fit the remaining Siberian larch cladding. Here are some photos. The next exterior job will be rendering, but with the winter weather it might be some time before this can be done. Our attention will now be concentrated on getting the house to 1st fix, fitting the insulation is the first job on the list.

We're using a storage container to store materials and provide a base for our tradesman during our self build. It's very useful and because the container faces south it actually heats up during the day, if it had furniture in it would stored this just fine. One of the benefits of a container compared to a caravan is that you might struggle to get the furniture into a caravan!

@ProDave looks good.

The Civil war is very good. Another good series by the same director is Lewis & Clark. I'm interested in history generally and people/family members who seem to span historic periods. Once interesting fact is that John Tyler, 10th President of United States born 1790, still has two living grandsons! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler

Yikes!

I was in the kitchen and picked up bottle of vegetable oil and it fell right through my fingers, it was nightmare to clean up, had to call the professionals. Can't imagine cleaning up after a oil tank leak.

Just out of interest, how would this be cleaned up?

If it looks half as nice as @Redoctober house at the end I'll be pleased. It will eventually be white like most houses in the Highlands and Islands but prehaps if I stand on the other side of the croft I might be able to pretend that the block work is stone cladding ?

Apologies for my ignorance here, but are modern developed houses, timber frame or block?

Feel so disappointed for the people affected by this. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46454844 I'm not going to say that I've done most of the work for my build, this has been done by contractors, but I have done enough research to understand the work they were undertaking and know the fabric of the house. Whether it's a new build driven by profit or an older home standing for 100 years (but you never know what's under the walls, roofs and floor when you purchase) it must be a nightmare buying a house! No doubting that areas have improved like insulation, but on average structural work/materials like the quality timber, brick work, roofing materials these must be poorer when comparing a house built now to 100 years ago.

So when the council want to start charging tax, what address do they put on the letter to me? If they give me a newhouse or some strange address can I then just ask Royal mail to update?

Superb, well done @Redoctober I've enjoyed reading your blog, hopefully your do one more entry once the last few jobs are done.

Me too. It will look grey now probably until the Spring at the earliest. Now looking forward to doing the insides, I don't even have a floor yet, still hopping around on joists!

Our blockwork started three weeks ago. This was always going to be weather dependent and it was mixed for the first two weeks in November but since then we have had a really good weather window where its been calm, sunny and not too cold which allowed the remaining work to be completed. Our brickie was fitted a temporary gutter which could be taken off when required. This gable end is where the prevailing wind comes down off the mountains, we have shelter belt here but its nice to know that we now have a solid concrete wall. Next on the list is fitting the concrete windows cills which should be next week. The sections that don't have blockwork will be fitted with the remaining Siberian larch cladding in early December.

Mine are a batten of timber with dpc attached.

What is the red tape? Is this DPC for the firestops?

That looks great. The white render looks very crisp.