ProDave

That reminds me of a friend that had a collection of expensive classic cars. He wanted me to rewire his second hand 4 poster he had just bought and connected himself. Not with the Maserati on the lift and the lamborghini under I was not laying a finger on the lift until there was not a car on or under it.

My garage has my Landrover in it. I tell SWMBO that by doing so it reserves the space, so I can get either of the other 2 cars over the pit for an oil change whenever I want to. If it suits you to use the garage for something else, then do so, but I would make provision for another room for the "something else" instead. People do like garages even if mostly they would be better described as workshops.

That's a nice tale with a nice outcome. I'll bet the council is now kicking itself for rejecting the original proposal for one dwelling.

Is it so expensive because you started work BEFORE the insurance was in place? We are paying £550 with buildstore. And I thought that was expensive for a 150 square metre build.

300mm of Frametherm, U value about 0.14

Don't forget you don't have to have a concrete slab to have UFH. This is the second house I have built with UFH on a suspended timber floor.

I would tell them you are ready to place the order but need to make some tweaks to the design, so you need the pipe plan in advance of placing the order. Definitely omit the UFH from the inner hall and perhaps just include the WC as part of the tv room loop(s)

I will be interested how you get on with that. A tap connector expects a nice crisp flat shoulder and seals with a fibre washer, not the tapered profile where the olive would go.

Go with no more than 200mm spacing. It sounds like you want a zoned system so each room has it's own thermostat and can be set to your required temperature. Do you have a floor pipework plan to see what they are proposing? I can't see how to comment on the number of zones without that. If they are proposing a set of pipes under the hallway (right through the middle of the house) then delete that. I can say from experience it is not needed to heat an inner space like that. That will reduce your zones a bit. What are the overall insulation levels of the house? MVHR fitted or not etc?

Stinkpot is what sailors call motor boaters. They call us Raggies (rag and stick)

Back to the question of making provision for two "appliance waste hoses" I bought one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/McALPINE-1-Domestic-Appliance-Tee-Piece-V33S/291196199450 It was a bit of a punt as I didn't know if it would match the threads on the waste and trap that I have. But it fits perfectly and goes immediately below the existing appliance connector.

There are quite a few sailors on the forum as well and (no offence meant) a few stinkpot owners.

There's more than a hint of Mini Moke about that. Looks like it could become a cult thing amongst the surfers perhaps?

A bit like cornering too quick in an early Range Rover.

Nothing automaticatlly cascades through the system, least of all the Postcode Address File. Our new house is on all sorts of address databases, including the Councils own house name / number database, DNO's database, electroal register, DVLA, HMRC etc. The house name is even on the OS map used by the Land Registry, where the outline of the house is mapped quite accurately. The one it is NOT on is the PAF because I refuse on principle to pay £100 just for the council to notify the address to Royal Mail. So don't worry there is no fear of your address dropping off the PAF unless someone pays for it to be de listed.

Other suggestions. The outside of our house is clat in 100mm thick wood fibre board. That seems very effective at reducing noise. Everyone comments just how quiet it is inside (but then it's not very noisy outside) I would go for a sealed house with no trickle ventilators at all and no direct fans. Instead install an MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) and have the inlet and exhaust vents for that on the wall opposite the road.

For me the hardest bit is the finishings. e.g we still have 5 doors to hang downstairs because I don't have the wood for the frames, and cannot face the soulless trawl around the timber merchants and other places to try and find the wood that is just right, because experience from doing the same before says I will probably waste a day and still not find what I want. We still have a stained glass window to procure, delayed several times for similar reasons that it's not exactly simple to organise. As regards other interests, I say this every year, but I hope I will get more sailing next year than I did this year. But it is work (as in earning a living) that mostly gets in the way of that. On that score, 3 years and counting down.

Re the road noise. I lived my childhood years on a busy road. It just made me very intollerant to noise. I could never go back to living somewhere so noisy. It clearly bothers you as well. Yes you can make it better but that won't help you on a nice day when you would like a window open or want to go and sit in the garden. So (apologies in advance) my off the wall suggestion is sell both plots and the existing house, and use the profit to find either a house or a plot in the quiet location that you really strive for?

The first thing I suggest is you look at the tax implications of building one to sell, particularly with regards to the self builders VAT reclaim scheme. (I am not the best person to answer that) I would suggest you take a look at air source heat pumps for heating and DHW

What are you meaning by "plumbers pipes"? Surely you are not talking about the under floor heating pipes? And you can't blame the trades for chasing the floor to get services to an island. Just what else do you expect them to do?

My lead flashing came with a suitable "Chinaman's Hat" that slides over the flue, slides down onto the top of the flashing and clamps to it. I also sealed the gap between the flue and the "hat"

A few observations: If the FRONT (which I take to be the bottom on the plans) faces south, then you have put the most important rooms, facing north where they will get no sun. I wold put Family / kitchen /diner down one side of the house with dual aspect to get the sun at the front and open out to the garden at the back. I would put the lounge at the front the other side to get the sun, and utiliy and bedroom at the back. We had a very similar staircase in the middle with a gallery landing. It certainly gave a wow factor but it uses up a LOT of space. That does not fit with cheap to build? I am not saying change it, as it was a feature we liked, but I was always conscious of just how much space it used up. I suspect you are going to have to do a LOT more work than you are expecting to get down to your price.

That must have been some heavy walk on glazing they had to carry up there.

I can't see it matters for a VAT claim. You could quite legitimately be living on site in a caravan and using the site address during the build.

Those pictures are an advert for why unvented systems are so popular.