ProDave

Our Conder, is like many of the air pump plants, a conical shape. One of the reasons I chose this one was the retaining "ring" near the base. Once that is encased in concrete that's it solidly anchored into the ground. Our present septic tank was installed by a contractor and I didn't know better then, and it's just encased in pea gravel. I only ever get that emptied in the summer after a long dry spell, I would never empty it in winter, I have seen one "float out of the ground" doing so.

It says what I have said for a long time, that a WBS is NOT carbon neutral and is not the answer to climate change. Selling WBS's and boimass boilers on some phoney eco credential is verging on fraud. I still like a stove and in a sparsely populated area like this and with ample free wood available I still think they are good, but in a town or city, or even a large village, and especially if you have to buy in your wood, then I think they are a bad idea. (I can't imagine many Londoners finding enough free wood lying around for the taking)

Yes that's all that's normally done here, some 2*2 battens.

It's a building regs requirement here (don't know about the rest of the UK) that you provide a fire atop around doors and windows, AND at ground floor / first floor joist level in the cavity of a masonry clad timber frame house.

If my build went that much over, a) I would not be able to afford it, and b) it would make the house cost massively more than it would ever be worth. all these programs show is how modest and how cheap my build is compared to many self builds. I could point you to one self build up here that I expect will have cost nearly double what the house will be worth, mainly because of how he acquired the "plot" and how much he paid for it.

How many pallets do you have? That was lots of good pallets stripped down and cost £100 for the roof sheets. Very strong indeed.

It depends where you are? when I was in the south, individual building plots were as rare as rocking horse (you know what). And the village we lived in had many suitable infill plots but nobody could get planning permission. Even a lovely barn in between two houses was refused PP many times. But up here in the Highlands, there are always several plots on the market at any one time and the local house builders don't seem to be struggling for land. I regularly pass a 30 house development site that's been on the market about 5 years now.

That's exactly what I meant. Or if you buy a cheap old static caravan as your storage unit, it will have a toilet, basin and water heater. Plumb that into your tank. Although strictly speaking you need a site loo, I have worked on at least 3 new builds where the "loo" was a tree to go and pee behind (not so many of those on Harris though) On my own build, I offered the builders the use of the loo in our house 2 doors down. Most chose the tree.

Try SIG (Sheffield Insulation Group) they were far cheaper than anywhere else.

I will watch this one with interest. My planning allows me to retain the 'van as a garden out building with the condition habitational use of the 'van will cease upon occupation of the house. So they bloody well better not try charging council tax for it once we move into the house because nobody will be allowed to live in it, and it will in effect just be a garden shed. At the moment, it's not a "rateable hereditament" because there is no electricity to the treatment plant so no functioning drainage system.

You wanted some pictures..... That's the stack rising in the right hand corner. you can see the branch under the floor that leads to the "provision for a shower" drain point. To the left of that is the riser for the WC, the branch and 45 degree bend just fit within the floor make up, allowing for the UFH build up, so the socket of the 45 degree bend will be a few mm above FFL. The 50mm will continue left about a metre before turning upwards to come up under the sink unit. (I don't have any 50mm yet) Looking down from above, that's the branch for the shower. It will remain capped in the joist space and will only ever get connected to if anyone installs a downstairs shower. And the top of the stack. That's the corner branch that started the thread, Left hand outlet will feed toilet #1 and the right hand outlet will branch again to feed toilet #2

Got one of those when I signed up 2 years ago. Was very disappointed that it was only an FM radio (in spite of saying "digital" on the box, whatever that refers to) so it went on ebay and I got £100 for it. also while it would run from the battery, it would NOT charge it when plugged into the mains. On the subject of offers, Wickes are doing 3 for the price of 2 on all paint until 21st February,

What we found when the seats got broken is the only seat I could find that would fit (top fixing) was a self closing one. Now that just makes you lazy and when you go to a friends house that does not have self closing, you give it a nudge and BANG. Whoops.

I suggested the "solution" to that is to install a urinal. Yes I am allowed to have one. In the garage.

^^^ +1 to the above I looked at a GSHP. Even having my own digger so the ground work would only cost some diesel, I decided to go for an ASHP. The cost of all the pipes to bury in the ground and the antifreeze to fill them (which you have to replace every 10 years, where are you going to dispose of the old stuff?) cost more than the actual heat pump.

Not in the same league as all those sports cars, but I have a 1972 Landrover. I could unbolt the hard top and have some open top motoring in the summer if I wanted to. Even that, the value is going up and costs nothing to tax it and very cheap classic car insurance. Mine is mechanically sound and has been rebuilt on a new galvanised chassis, but it's in desperate need of a re paint, that will have to wait until after the house is finished (though some might say an old Landrover is meant to look tatty with peeling paint?)

So same as us. If it would cost over £10K for a plumber, I know who will be doing ours.....

As someone just starting my mvhr ducting design, can I ask why thenumber of inlet pipes is not equal to the number of outlet pipes?

We had a B&B guest who in the course of a 4 week stay got through two loo seats. One shudders to think how? He was not an especially large chap.

That is a really nice looking blend of high tech house with traditional exterior.

I would be more concerned with percolation rates and where you are going to put your leach field, on the assumption you are off mains drainage and are going to be installing a new treatment plant (if you have mains drainage that is obviously not a concern) Clearly it's a wet area, something I have here (though probably for different reasons) But a SE should be able to sort out a foundation system for you.

Out of interest, what made you chose that one? It seems to be unique in that it doesn't run the air blower all the time. Yet I can't see any figures on average power consumption. I don't have experience of one in use, but as it happens, two of the new houses near me have installed that one, but neither is in use yet. One has put the controls in his garage which is close to the plant, the other has the little outside kiosk thing for the controls Have you compared the output cleanliness with the other "best in class" plants like the Biopure, Conder and vortex, which were the three best I found when I was looking (I chose the Conder, several on here have installed a Biopure and I think at least one a Vortex) The price seems comparable to the others. When I bought mine I got quotes from the local builders merchants, and TP were cheaper than all the on line shops so they got the order.

Hi and welcome to the forum. We have quite a few Scottish Islanders on here now (though I am on the mainland) Harris is a lovely place, the best part of the Outer Hebredies imho

What is the site like? any drainage on site yet? A portaloo is normally emptied by its provider, normally weekly. It makes no difference to you if the builders supply it or you do, either way the cost will end up at your door. If you have, or can get drainage installed early then a site toilet can be connected to that and save the portaloo costs. Re storage, buy or hire a container, or even a static caravan. You need to get whatever is available on the island otherwise transport and ferry costs could well exceed the cost of the unit. My guess would be a static 'van would be easier to find. What build method and how much waste do you expect? I have never had a skip on either my first or current self build. I work on the basis that any timber left over gets used to build something or goes on the stove. Any brick or tile rubble gets used as hardcore. that really only then leaves plastic packaging, cement bags etc and plasterboard, that I put in my trailer and take to the tip recycling centre myself at no cost.

My experience is the sleepless nights start when you move into the caravan, especially in winter when cold and particularly condensation is your enemy.