ProDave

Hi and welcome to the forum. You are not the only architect on here, so you will have some backup. I think mention the word architect here and it's a bit like marmite. So keep your tin hat ready. Personally I had very bad experiences of an architect. I could only find one that charged a fixed fee being a percentage of the estimated build cost. Telling them that I didn't want it project managed and put out to tender did not make them budge on their fees. And as it happened the actual build cost ended up a little over half their estimated build cost. To say I felt like I was being taken for a ride and was just a "rich self builder / cash cow" was an under statement. I ended up using an architectural technician who charged a much more reasonable fee related to the amount of work he did, not some ficticious build cost estimate. I would hope I was just unlucky and you will tell me your fees and scope of work are both reasonable and negotiable.

But that would mean installng a usage app on my pc, SWMBO's pc, SWMBO's phone, and daughter's tablet, then add them all together. Shame the router doesn't just log it, or BT were not so unhelpful.

Anyone know how to find out how much bandwidth you are actually using in a typical month? Would be useful to have an idea when looking for alternatives. We are with BT unlimited and if you log into your account it says (in slightly more polite terms) "you have unlimited broadband so we refuse to tell you how much you actually use" Likewise I can't find anything in the router that logs actual date wither way.

Okay, this Tethering thing. That restriction is just "wrong" to me. surely some enterprising software engineer must have written an application that can relay mobile data to another device while hiding that fact from the service provider?

GifGaff is 3G isn't it and no 3G coverage here. I need to wait until the new 4G mast is build here and see who offers what then. What puzzles me about the location of this new planned mast, is it is certainly not positioned for "main road" coverage. It's almost as if it is intended to serve a small scattered low density population for home use.

By the sounds of it the only insulation that is really "safe" to be in contact with cable is mineral wool / earthwool type. I have never found a cable in contact with those to have suffered any damage (except overheating due to being encased in too much insulation) How do LSF cables fare with EPS? any difference to ordinary pvc?

I've climbed all the Glen Coe munro's but not the ones accessed from Glen Etive (yet) I met Jimmy Saville at his cottage in Glen Coe. Perhaps not something to be proud of any more

Pray tell us who does unlimited mobile data for £10 per month. I want one.

We only get slow "broadband" here and no prospect of that improving (by BT) for a long time. But there are two interesting developments. One is the community is looking to set up a high speed wireless broaband network which they expect to cost about £25 per month. The second development is a planning application for a new 4G phone mast in line of sight of our house (at the moment we only have a very weak 2G signal) I can see a future without a landline.....

Sounds fun. the A82 can be a bit of a slow grind in summer.

How far down the Glen are you. It's a long way to the end (and then you are a long way from anywhere) and liable to be cut off by snow in a decent winter. Dorran houses have a reputation for concrete cancer and being hard to get a mortgage on. But they are basically sound if not particularly well insulated. No shortage of places to go walking there!! One has to ask being so remote what do you do for a living? I can't imagine being that remote as long as I still have to work. But having my boat on a mooring at the top of Loch Etive sounds very attractive.

Hi and welcome to the forum. A semi detached Dorran house with no garden does not sound much like a building plot? I assume that's just somewhere to stay while you find the perfect plot?

I thought getting the extra two property stamp duty back only worked over a short timescale, to effectively exempt someone buying their new main house before they sold the old main house.

In contrast, my trreatment plant cost about £2K so my "saving" on Crofters system would pay for about £25 years running cost. I estimate £130 pa for electricity, and £150 to desludge every 2 years. So about £200 per year. I have no idea what mains drainage would cost, it's not available here, but mains water is about £250 per year so probably a similar cost.

Same here. BC wanted to inspect and witness a pressure test on the drains before they were covered. When I called them to inspect the final 3 metre run when I connected the plant they were too busy. They were not the least bit interested in the discharge pipework.

I thought 2.5 metres only applied if it goes right up to the boundary. If it's 1 metre or more away then the height is 3 metres eaves height. Even my static caravan just squeaks in under that (I left exactly 1 metre between the 'van and the boundary fence)

You mean it hasn't left the site yet? Search you tube for machinery falling off the low loader, low loader getting bogged down, machinery and low bridges / power lines. That will ensure you don't sleep until it's off your land and not your problem.

Looking at your plot layout in your other thread. http://forum.buildhub.org.uk/ipb/uploads/monthly_2017_02/Concrete.jpg.19ae38850212e87cce0c54671b07f7df.jpg and Even if you can get around the back with the dumper, it would repeatedly be going over the same narrow strip of ground that would turn to soup in no time. And you will never reach the inner sections of the pour. As others say, get a concrete pump, or someone with a decent sized digger with a large bucket and long reach (long enough to reach the back of the house while sitting at the front 65m3 sounds a lot. Is it a particularly large house or are you doing a deep trench fill?

I was given several bags of rockwool offcuts. Most of them were used in the garage ceiling to stuff in between the webs of the posijoists (and normal frametherm in between the joists) I had some left over so used it as the first layer in that bit of the floor for no other reason than using them up.

Finally the correct fitting arrived and I got this finished. Floor going down, never to be seen again (I hope)

I have looked at this for my house. I only need the "Fascia A" profile with no soffit, to over clad my wooden fascia. I don't see how installation of this differs in any way from any other sheet cladding system?

All good stuff. I didn't know the glaciers were that far south (I don't suppose many people talk of you being in the south do they) Glacial boulders are everywhere here. Did they let you have a go driving it? In essence it;s just a slightly modified digger (take off the bucket, replace with a vibro rod)

Mixed feelings on this one. Our static caravan is 28 square metres and into that fits a living room / kichen / dining room, 2 bedrooms, a WC and a shower room. That layout would not pass building regs for a "house" because it would not meet any of the "accessability" rules that force a certain amount of space in front of showers, toilets, kitchen "circulation" space, corridor widths, even space needed next to a bed. I found all these accessability rules very restricting on what you can do when designing our new house. Wider stairs and provision to fit a stair lift in the future, leaving space and provision to fit a downstairs shower etc. So to get a more compact house it's building regs that have to change, not planning law. I guess most people who would like to make smaller homes are builders wanting to make smaller apartments so they can get more into a block? If a self builder wanted to make a particularly small detached house, then he can do so already by building a "portable building" and be exempt from building regs (as it's classed as a "caravan" in law so exempt from BR)

I am not sure what your first floor make up will be, but you your electrician may curse the fact there are no holes in any of those steel to feed cables through.

My long extension lead is made of 2.5mm 5 core YY. It was a work of art getting two 2.5mm into the L and N terminals of the plug.