ProDave

Re the pension thing. This is one of 3 pensions I have, and the smallest of them. The only one that was a defined contribution scheme (The others are defined benefit and the main plank of my retirement funding and will not be raided) The very worst thing I could do with it, is buy an annuity. Thankfully that is no longer your only choice. The plan is to take the 25% tax free lump sum immediately, then put the rest into a drawdown fund. As I understand it, that is then taxed as income, so the tax you pay, depends on the tax thresholds in place and how much else you earn, and of course how much you draw.. So I don't think the tax implications of drawing it gradually are serious, and no more so than drawing it as a pension where you would still be taxed. The worst case would be taxed at source and some of that refunded at the end of the tax year when submitting your tax return. I am not bothered about being short of funds in retirement. That would only be an issue if I reach retirement and the old house still had not sold. The ultimate sale of the old house makes this little pension fund seem rather insignificant in the big picture. The loan issue is that we really don't earn much. We earn enough to live on, but not to fund the build in any significant way, nor to repay a significant loan in a short period. I could of course take on more work, but then I would not have so much time to build a house..... I hope things will become clearer in the new year.

Since paying off our mortgage some years ago, borrowing has not been on my agenda. I have always worked n the principle that when you are short of money, the very last thing you want to spend it on is interest. That's why I have always driven a second hand car I own outright rather than a new one with a loan, or worse one of these lease deals. I got "burned" expecting this windfall that now may or may not happen and spent in anticipation of that. In theory I can grab my pension in a few months, unless something changes (it will be shortly before the spring budget so hopefully they can't cock it up for me, but I won't bank on that) If I could be certain that one of these was an absolute certainty then I would seek out something like a credit card with a 0% deal to tide me over, but I don't have the certainty to do that just now.

So they have been under stating the values. So it is better then they have said? And the problem is.....?

Re selling / renting the old house. The tenants are continuing to run it as a B&B and by advertising it a lot more are getting a much higher occupancy than we ever did. Be we only ran it as a hobby business, we didn't want to be too tied. Being self employed, they would not get a mortgage straight away. Most lenders want to see 2 years of accounts before they will lend against that income, hence letting them rent it for 2 years to get to that point. I do believe they want to buy it, but also in the real world recognise there is a big difference between wanting to do something, and being able to do it. I suspect when it comes to it they will also have a property to sell, so that's another complication. In the mean time we will have had 2 years rent. That has helped a bit moving the build forward, but boy it really would be slow if that was all we had.

Can I hijack your knowledge here. We have one bit of wall, between the house and the garage that has a worse U value because unlike the rest of the house, it does not have the wood fibre exterior insulation. I was going to improve that by insulating the service void as this post suggests. But it sounds like from what you are saying, I would be better leaving the air gap service void, and adding any extra insulation on the garage side (before the 2 layers of plasterboad) Is that correct?

Thanks for all the kind words. Buildhub is more than a place to talk about insulation, I have some good friends here. There is always plenty of work at this time of year so that's not a problem, and I have at least 2 big jobs lined up for after the Christmas rush and into the new year. But no I have no wish to go and work away from home. What hurts for me is being in this position for reasons outside my control. I have a deep sense of anger at the situation, which is not a healthy emotion to be harbouring, but there is sod all I can do to stop that anger. If it wasn't so damned wet I could go and shovel barrow loads of soil and complete the landscaping of the garden across the burn, at least that won't cost anything, but have I mentioned that we haven't had a day without rain (or snow) for weeks and the ground is just sodden.

Our old house is currently let to a tenant who says they want to buy it in 2 years. That does not help the immediate situation. I can't wait 2 years for the house to sell before continuing the build, hence the cashing in a pension. We will give them the 2 years but if they then don't buy it, the tenancy will be terminated and the house back on the market.

Some of you will remember roughly 2 years ago my "and then there was one" post. That was the point we realised our old house was not going to sell any time soon leaving us short of funds. At that point we laid off the builder (amicably) and since then it has been me and SWMBO working on the house so there are no (or minimal) labour costs. Well now, we have reached the inevitable conclusion to that. The pot is empty. Seriously empty. It could not be more empty. The sad reality is now we cannot afford even to buy materials to continue the build. So how far did we get? Probably a lot further than I honestly thought we would, but that does not ease the pain. We have a house largely finished externally. Fully insulated and air tight. Upstairs has been plasterboarded and plastered and we have a staircase. Upstairs is also mostly wired. There is no plumbing, apart from a toilet downstairs and temporary plumbing for a washing machine. No hot water system and no heating installed. Downstairs remains a bare shell with just the air tight membrane on the walls and the sub floor OSB flooring. All I can do now is work, for others, and earn money. We need that to pay the bills. We are resigned to a cold winter in the caravan, with no prospect of even partially moving onto the house for the foreseeable. I won't post too many personal details. We had expected hoped for a little windfall that we thought was coming our way. We now don't know when, or indeed if that will actually happen. If not, the only source of funds is to cash in a small pension I have from a previous employment, but I have another 4 months to wait before I attain the age that allows me to do that. Unless the windfall does happen, it is going to be a very long, cold and frustrating winter.

Are you sure that U value is correct? I though 300mm of Warmcell would be nearer to 0.1? I see no problem with filling the service voids with 50mm rockwool batts, but leave a gap where cables run so the cables are not embedded in insulation. That would be my choice rather than solid insulation.

As above, just my Kwikstage scaffold. When I am done, I will be keeping some of it. I will probably wire brush and paint one set and keep them stored dry for "inside use" and keep some offcuts of carpet to stand the feet on.

A forum bulk buy of "good value" solar panels. Count me in for 6KW or so.

What I think is how will it be profitable? With the FIT now so low, it is doubtful that it is even viable for a small scale domestic install.

For the bit where the kitchen cabinets are going, fit 50mm battens instead right down to the floor, glued and screwed to the OSB of the SIP panel and insulation in between. Then continuous insulation and thin battens everywhere else. The slight reduction in insulation will be small and I would (cough) not mention this to your BC inspector.

That's the highest bit in the plant room. I only set the mvhr unit that high off the floor so it matched the inlet and outlet vent levels, and that was an arbitrary decision when cladding and rendering the house. It sits on a stack of offcuts of wood fibre board thinking that would make a good anti vibration mount. The two distribution plenums are on the floor. From there the pipes run up or down in a service riser, some to the loft for the upstairs rooms and some in the first floor void for the downstairs rooms. The plant room will eventually double as a workshop, and I will floor over above the mvhr unit to make a storage platform.

I am confused. Is this additional insulation in the existing part of the house? If the sips panels themselves need additional insulation, I would instead be looking for thicker sips panels?

Mine wasn't done when this thread was new, but it is now.

We started with 2 years. Have renewed for a third and will probably renew for a 4th.

Prime candidate for a corner branch like I used. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-110-mm-Double-Corner-Branch-Soil-Pipe-110-110-110-90-87-Sewer-Waste-Wate/263345533647?hash=item3d509df2cf:g:77YAAOSw65FXtg4k

Aluminium, or aluminium clad timber? I got quotes from about half a dozen, and Rationel were the cheapest (and almost the best for me) Others I tried were Internorm, Nordan, Katzbeck, Russel Timbertech and a couple of others I forget. Oh and welcome to the forum.

No "off the peg" solutions as yet. But I think a bit more searching as found what I want. http://www.unishower.co.uk/uniclosure-900-hinged-wet-room-shower-screen.html It mentions magnetic strips as though it's intended to be a door closing into a door frame, but the picture shows it exactly as I want it as a hinged screen next so a shower not attached to anything other than the wall. Oh and they won't deliver to the Highlands. So that shows what I want, but they nay not be able to supply me. So keep looking folks.

Our main bathroom will be a wet room. The ladies have just decided the layout needs to change which has presented me with a challenge. The new layout will put the bath and shower next to each other. A fixed glass screen alongside the shower area will create 2 issues, poor access to one end of the bath at floor level for cleaning, and insufficient "activity space" alongside the bath (Scottish building regs for accessible bathrooms) A solution would be a hinged shower screen. But I can't find one. It needs to be full height (no more than 2 metres) and about 900mm wide. It needs to be entirely supported on hinges that fix to the wall. The bottom should not touch the floor though I would accept a rubber strip or similar. It will be completely free at the other end, i.e. it will not close onto a frame. So friction hinges so it stays where you put it? The problem is I can't find one that does not expect to close into a frame. This just literally needs to be a piece of plain toughened class mounted on 2 hinges.

I would never pay the full price for poor work. I would give them the chance to come back and do it properly, and I would be there to watch them. If they refuse I would be telling them I will get the council to inspect their work and see what they think of it and see if they still think them fit to have a street works permit.

My BIL in Queensland is called Bruce. The first time we went, he met us as the airport. I had never met him before. My nightmare was going up to the person I thought was him and asking "are you Bruce?" in my English accent.

I think creosote does soak into hardwood. I have been chopping up some old "rotten" oak fence posts for fierwood. It is only the outer half inch that is rotten and in the middle they are solid. I suspect they were soaked in a vat of creosote as it seems to have penetrated a long way in. As an aside, I had to drill some floor joists in an old cottage, and by the smell as you drilled them, they were soaked in creosote. First time I have seen it used indoors.

I have passed a sales yard on the Bruce Highway several times that has a field full of second hand houses for sale ready to be moved to a new plot.