ProDave

No I have not measured my DIY hours. But I suspect if I had to cost all the labour including my own, but build cost would comfortably exceed the market value of the house. I took the floor area from one of the design documents I think it was the DER report, so I don't know if that used the internal or external floor area. I should just look at the plans and calculate it myself. Here you go, from the plans, external floor area 173m2, Internal floor area 150m2 That makes it £940 per m2 internal or a better sounding £815 per m2 external. It is actually better than that, as those areas are just the main house, but included in the cost is also the garage and the plant room above it. My brain is starting to hurt now. No I can't relax yet, must press on with that sun room (windows now ordered)

I can't help directly buy my LG ASHP does a similar thing. Annoyingly it is not a documented function and I can find no way to turn it off. The LG one operates slightly different that it opens the heating valve and so sucks it's heat out of the heating loop, but as the UFH is no energised at the time it only has a relatively short length of pipe run to keep recirculating. Nonetheless it does still suck some heat out of the house.

This may be of interest to people in this area. Highland Council are updating the local plan for the area and it is currently out discussion and comment. The gist of what is proposed can be found here as a starting point. https://consult.highland.gov.uk/kse/event/35403/section/5445428 One point of not that stands out in my brief reading is the following with regard to self build: " Research shows there is strong demand for self build and that there are a number of benefits which can be gained from increasing the supply of plots. In recent decades, within the Inner Moray Firth, like within many other parts of Scotland, new housing has been largely delivered by "volume" housebuilders. Whilst this is an important part of the housing market, there is growing recognition that self build in urban areas can play an important role in the supply of new housing. As it would essentially be a new part of the market in some urban areas, it could complement volume housebuilders in promoting faster sales and quicker build out rates. It could also provide a much needed boost for smaller sized developers which have declined in number significantly over recent years. Furthermore, self build can contribute towards placemaking by delivering greater diversity and innovation and enhancing the character of our neighbourhoods. Evidence shows that as self build is often taken up by older people looking to build a more suitable home it can even be a good way of providing housing for an ageing population. As one of main barriers to self build has been the lack of available sites, we think that the best way to increase the number opportunities is by introducing a new policy which requires a certain proportion of land to be available for self build within larger housing developments. We recognise that the detail of such a policy and how it's applied must be subject to consultation with the development industry and all other affected parties. We also don't want such a policy to undermine the economic viability of sites confirmed through this Plan. To ensure this, the policy's application will be subject to proof of demand for self build in that part of the Inner Moray Firth. The forthcoming, statutory register of interest in self build will provide the evidence necessary to apply the policy. Where registered demand doesn't translate uptake of plots over a defined period then that portion of the site would revert back to general demand housing. Self build may also be appropriate in rural areas especially where suitable sites are not available within nearby settlements. We will analyse the future statutory register to see where such interest originates and whether both the affordable and market sectors can meet it on allocated sites within settlements or whether a more flexible approach is required for example by broadening the suggested policy approach to include consideration of smaller development sites in rural areas." And the proposed implementation of that would be: "Each developer of a large (50 or more dwellings) planning application will be required to safeguard and adequately service part (a minimum of 10% of the application's total dwelling capacity) of that application site for self build plots. The exact number, location, size and shape of those plots should take account of the Council's statutory register of self build housing interest - i.e. best match the supply of plots to local, registered demand for those plots." Self build has always been popular in these parts but to have a set figure of new developments allocated to self build is a good step forward, one I feel should be implemented in other places as well. There is also much emphasis on "sustainability" with most new development targeted on settlements with good public transport links and away from settlements only accessible by car, but the new proposed local plan still provisions for individual builds on mainly infill sites in such areas.

Now that the main part of our house is finished, I sat down and added up the build cost, excluding land cost, design, planning legal and professional fees. Total cost £141K House floor area 147 square metres So that's a cost of £959 per square metre. Well chuffed to just get in under £1k /m2 That is just the main part of the house. The sun room is yet to be completed (though that cost above does include the shell and the roof of the sun room) and there is still outside work to complete like decking, driveway to finish etc.

Looking at the state of the loft insulation, it looks to have been thrown in rather than carefully laid. so it would not surprise me to find gaps where warm air from the house can get through and as mentioned above if no vapour barrier moist air getting through. Looks typical of a poorly built mass produced developer house I am afraid.

If this is really temporary site accommodation then take the easy route. £5K or less will get you a good static caravan with all services ready to hook up and move into.

Did the neighbours not complain at them having clear glass in the end of the conservatory also overlooking their garden? There is a section of hedge there, all the neighbours need to do is let it grow taller and all the overlooking problems go away.

It was very tongue in cheek. It's a 28ft static caravan. Used as temporary accomodation during the build, presently still storing building materials but will end up as the 3 main rooms used as a studio, store room and workshop, with the added bonus of still having a working WC. and we will probably leave the kitchen sink in, place.

My "garden building" measures 8M by 3M and cost £4000 but would not be described as "pretty" or to everyones liking.

You need ventilation in a house. If you want to ventilate it without letting lots of cold air in, then you need mvhr which is what most of us fit in our new builds. This gives you constant fresh air while recovering most of the heat from the exhaust air that would otherwise be wasted. Just blocking up all ventilation to stop cold getting in, is not going to help the situation. The more I know about buildings now, the more I feel the best thing we could do with a lot of the UK housing stock is flatten it and rebuild properly.

Re the bainster spindles. Building regs say "a 100mm sphere will not pass through" so the gap should be less than 100mm.

No having had it in the last house, dirty, smelly, noisy, needs a big tank, and the price is very volatile. No mains gas and my choice would be ASHP, which is just what we chose.

Are you saying there is one pump feeding into a manifold that feeds several properties? The only time I have seen this before each property had it's own pump in the break tank so all separate.

Oh I wish. I think we are on course for the entire January to average less than 0, with -16 the record one night. The weather man just told me tonight is likely to be the coldest night of the winter with "minus double digit" temperatures widespread. Definitely permafrost set in which will take a while to thaw. I think we might get up to about +4 by next week. We went for a walk by the coast here today as all the local footpaths are far too slippery for nice walking at the moment. Snow lying right down to the high tide line.

An explanation of what you are doing would help. Digging a big 1M deep hole, shoring up the sides then leaving it over winter to fill with water is unusual. Far better to pick a dryer season, dig and pour as quick as possible. As it is filling with water and not draining away, I would not be sure you are not below the water table. If so just where do you plan to drain it to? Our ground is like this and at times. Before we built I dug some 2M deep test holes for the SE and left one open over winter covered with a board and had a look down it from time to time. I could find anything from a dry 2M deep hole to water almost at the surface depending on how much rain we had recently. EDIT just seen more information in a post above. Although this may be under permitted development, the size of it means you WILL need building regulations, so I suggest you stop, get a properly designed foundation plan and notify building control. And digging 1M deep close to a boundary probably also invokes the party wall act. How close are the nearest buildings?

I am struggling with orientation, particularly as floor plans are drawn with a different orientation to site plan. But assuming site plan is drawn "north up" and I have not got confused rotating floor plans to match site plan you seem to have the living room and kitchen in the north east corner of the plot, missing the sun, and missing the views over the garden? That would be my one criticism of the architect, not keeping a consistent orientation on the plans and not marking where north is. The "non 90 degree" angle between the 2 wings will not help the budget. If you are thinking of future extension possibilities, have a think about making the layout and the building construction such that it would be easy to add a second storey to the other wing as well.

@Onoff bathroom won't be finished until at least the body dryer and UFH are working. If he gets the body dryer working first at least that can serve as some heating for the room.........

It has already been announced that it will NOT be extended in Scotland.

Mine must be a "hybrid" though I always think of it as a warm roof. Outside to in: Tiles battens counter battens breathable membrane 100mm wood fibre board 200mm rafters filled with frametherm 35 11mm OSB racking layer Air tight membrane 25mm battens Plasterboard and skim 25mm battens are just for cables, being a 45 degree sloping roof, surface mount spotlights are used. If it is a flat roof or only a slight slope and you want flush lights you will need more space. Or use flat panel LED lights that often will fit in the thickness of plasterboard.

Picture? If the staircase is disused it would have made more sense to remove it thus giving a flat space to create a bathroom.

It is the INTERNAL air tight and vapour control layer that is your friend, on the inside of all the insulation. So even if somehow a bit of mould developed somewhere withing the frame (it should not) then it cannot get into the living space.

Why would it not comply as long as the staircase meets all the regs. What concerns do you have?

That shows they are correctly torqued, not possible if you line that up. But sod that, the countersink is not deep enough. You either need smaller head screws, or get your countersink bit out and countersink the hinges a bit more.

The issue there is developer houses, built as cheap as possible, often to poor standards, and certainly with none of the measures we have been talking about like good insulation, good detailing, and things like mvhr.

That is an automatic air bleed valve that will normally bleed the air. BUT your problem appears to be the manifold is downstairs and some of the loops go upstairs. Air can form in the loops upstairs and block flow. There is a procedure using a hose to blow the air through each loop one at a time though I don't see any hose fittings on your manifold so that is not going to be easy.