Chanmenie

Thanks for sharing that, I need loads of it so a 25% saving will make quite a difference to me

Yeah surprising what you can do when needed if you have the time

Ah yeah that’s a problem I did barrow mine a fair way, doesn’t take long, I recently moved 4 ton of sand by barrow and shovel

That’s an expensive way of buying it, my shed was 10ft x 20ft and I think I used nearly 1.5 ton of gravel can you get a 700kg bag delivered from a BM

Not pea gravel, you want 10mm crushed. Pea gravel or pea shingle has a quantity of round pebbles which move about too much, crushed stone is all angular and packs in much tighter so it doesn’t lift out go everywhere

Yeah could be depending what the ground is like

I didn’t need to add sub base, I compacted what was already there as it was sand and gravel. My whole plot is sand and gravel. So depends on your ground, but the grids spread the load so 60 -70 mm of compacted crushed concrete should be fine, Assuming you won’t be parking cars in the shed 😀

The ground was just sandy gravel, after I’d removed the topsoil so compacted that, put down a weed membrane then levelled the grids and filled with 10mm crushed gravel. Crushed is much better than shingle as it compacts so much better. no didn’t cut the grids I left overhang

I used the gravel grids https://www.ibran.com/products/plastic-shed-base i think they are great, timbers stay nice and dry.

You could use Illbruck sp925 or Pro Clima Aerosana Visconn Fibre, both can be brush applied, then you could seal the window to the cavity closer and the cavity closer to the blockwork. Would work out cheaper than tapes I think

Yeah I know how you feel, having been caught by insulhub I was very nervous of paying by bank transfer, the boss at Beco let me pay a deposit with the balance on delivery so that was a little more comfortable.

So how do the Pro Clima Contega tapes compare to Compriband TP600 ? considerably cheaper but how do they perform ?

Join the Facebook group “Isotex Users UK” and ask on there, there were several members looking to buy direct with the 45% discount Italy offered. I decided against it and went with an EPS ICF

Have you looked at fibre reinforced concrete, it’s cheaper and easier than rebar mesh and very strong. The company that did my slab used the same stuff in their yard at 150mm and they park artics on it, 100mm is ok for fork lifts so should be plenty for your car

Hi Jake just search for the Facebook group “Isotex users UK” you’ll need to answer the questions to be accepted

I agree with @Dave Jones. I was going to borrow a digger and do my own, but found a local guy who had all the equipment, I marked out the site and levels. Using an 8 ton digger with myself holding the lazer level he dug perfect trenches, they were straight as an arrow and within 10mm of required depth all round. It didn’t take him very long and he took 200 ton of muck away at a very reasonable cost. I then arranged for a local company to pour the 300mm strip footings then did the blockwork up to DPC myself. So with a mixture of DIY and Trades I got very accurate trenches and level, square foundations for a much reduced outlay

I wish he was nearer to me, I’ll need a good renderer 😀

Yeah I started out reading the articles and posts, but gave up reading about it, there’s just loads of stuff that crops up you hadn't thought of. I'm building a chalet bungalow with ICF, the footprint is 130m2 with two large bedrooms in the roof giving another 70m2, I've got a budget of £300k plus a fair bit of wriggle room. My foundations cost approximately £23k and I did everything myself except digging and pouring concrete. However that does include 200mm of Celotex and the underfloor heating pipes , manifold and pump. And we had approximately 200ton of muckaway. It’s strip footings and a ground bearing slab, as my ground is so good I only had to dig the footings 750mm so a relatively cheap job compared to many.

I think you would have to do the majority of it yourself to get anywhere close to £1500 pm2, but you would have a small low spec house. £12000 won’t cover the foundations unless you have perfect ground, no muck away and you dig out and concrete yourself. So I think it would be a big risk and very stressful if you started the project and that was your max budget with no wriggle room.

I was completely grey, hair and beard before I started my build so no one has noticed any change.

I checked with our DNO, not allowed to have them inside.

I'm really not sure on recessed, not keen on cutting 150mm out of my insulation, my meter box will be on the same wall and not too far from the ASHP so if a surface box sticks out 215mm it should not really matter

@freshy Yikes yeah that’s a big difference

@freshy No I haven’t bought one yet hence asking the question

You would not need 150mm PIR to meet building regs, 100mm should do it ?