ProDave

It's a "plant room" because that is what is says on the plans. Originally it was going to contain the mvhr, heat pump (GSHP) and hot water tank(s). however we have changed to a monoblock ASHP and the hot water tank is going to go in a cupboard off the small bedroom so it is a lot closer to the kitchen. So now it is just the mvhr and some storage space. (with our vaulted ceilings there is very little conventional "loft" space) But you have touched on an other potential issue, that is of the council tax valuer trying to include it as "habitable space" hence why (at least to start with) very little will be boarded. I guess a "solution" to both problems is just install a small trap door that you have to undo a few screws to get in there? The door can then come later. But I would rather know the answer now and just fit a door.

Can I ask a "variation" on this subject. What if you are a self builder. You have had a contractor in to build and erect a timber frame for you. They have finished and gone (without any accidents) The house is finished outside. You are now working 100% on your own to finish the inside of the house and not intending to employ any other trades. You have a self build insurance policy in place. How does the situation change?

simple version of question: What is the minimum door width into a non habitable room (plant room) under Scottish building regs? Longer version. The plant room is the attic space above the attached garage. It is accessed through a door from the master bedroom. Next to this door was going to be the twin wall flue from the wood burning stove in the room below making it's way up to the roof. But SWMBO has just changed the room layout around, and suddenly this wall needs more space, so the flue has to move. The flue position is dictated partly by joists positions, so to move the flue over, it would have to jump into the gap between the joists "one joist over" if you see what I mean. That would put the flue in front of the door opening. Here's a picture trying to explain it: The wall is a supporting gable end wall, there is a lintel over the door opening supporting the ridge beam, so moving the door opening over is not an option. the only option is to make the door narrower. I then have to make some assumptions as I have not yet chosen the flue. It seems from the searching I have done the minimum flue size recommended is 5" which in the twin wall version has an outside diameter of about 280mm. (I don't know why but nobody recommends a 4" flue which I would have thought was plenty for my little 3Kw stove) A further assumption is what distance has to be left between the flue and a combustible material (i.e. the joist) Building regs leave it entirely up to what the manufacturer of the flue specifies. As I have not yet chosen which one I am using, I have taken a "typical" 3" clearance and allowed 80mm between the flue and the joist. As the drawings shows that would allow me a door opening of 700mm wide which translates to an imperial 2ft 3" door. My question, is would this be acceptable (it would be acceptable to me) All I can find in building regs is the section on accessibility within a building which typically talks of door widths of 850mm but says a door may be reduced to 775mm if it is approached straight on (which this one is) But this is NOT a habitable room, it is the plant room so does that width still apply? The room in all probabilty will resemble a "loft" space with only part of it being floored for the mvhr to sit on and access to it.

That cable needs fixing somehow. Is there any slack in it where it disappears out of sight? if so you might be able to just pull it back and fit a junction box. I personally don't like the fact he's used push fit, and a bit of plastic pipe. Nick will be along to tell me it's fine, but I personally just don't like it. I would rather he had fixed the leaks and stayed with copper.

Did he itemise the hourly rate? (I do on my invoices) If what you are saying is true, that the parts cost £30, then that's £250 for 6 hours labour or £41 per hour. I know the SE is a LOT more expensive than here, so that is in fact probably a fair price. The only thing "wrong" with it, is the time taken and hence cost would have been lower if he had fixed both leaks in one go when it was drained the first time.

I have a customer like that. she bought a new tv recently and she called me out twice because it "was not working" the issue was she didn't know how to select hdmi 1 input and it was just trying to receive a freeview signal, which it could not do as they have no ordinary aerial. Both times I showed them how to select hdmi 1 and even wrote instructions. I had to go back there again to change a light fitting and I noticed the tv was on with nobody in the room and the sound muted. I got the impression they now never turn it off, just mute it when not watching it because they still can't fathom how to operate it.

True. My preseent house, 13 years ago, they didn't ask for any certification. But this time I am minded to fit a temporary electric hob until after completion.....

Contrary to popular belief, it is still legal to DIY your OWN gas work, as long as you are competent. where it would become an ofence, is if someone not gas safe registered started doing work for other people.

Use plastic coated 10mm copper, usually sold on a roll, already annealed so it's soft to bend. No spring needed, though I do have a hand held bender for it that I inherited from my dad to make a neat bend. In the basis of fewer joints = fewer places it can leak, I have just one joint to connect to the hob and one to the regulator. Use propane not butane, then no risk of freezing and no need to cover the cylinder. If it's a back up hob and not a big problem if it runs out then one cylinder is okay, but for a main hob I would always use 2 cylinders on an auto changeover regulator. You are most likely to use your gas hob when there is a power cut, would going outside to change the cylinder if it ran out be a nuisance then? Even though the gas usage is small I would still use the big 47Kg cylinders simply because the gas is cheaper in the larger cylinders.

A lot of holiday rentals here use a key safe, just give the tenant the number. Most are by the back door. Why not give the cleaner her own key, and hide mum's spare key somewhere away from the house? i.e. not under the doormat or plant pot by the door.

We have a rug in front of the fireplace with UFH and solid wood floor. No problem. Yes if you lift the rug it's a bit warmer under there but does not cause problems and noes not limit the heating in any practical way.

If it's any help, I used the Baumit.com thin render system. Their website id not very helpful, but the base coat render was MC55W mixed from powder, with their Silokon Top top coat ready miced in a tub. That comes in a range of colours and textures.

The aim of any business is to make a living for its owner and any staff employed. I sleep better at night knowing I have done a fair job for a fair price and know that my customers are happy with the work and happy to recommend me to others. In all trades there are good and bad. Electricians are no exception, we hear horror stories of poor work and extortionate charges frequently. I will finish by saying that it sounds like you are a reasonable person, and it is just such a shame that when I was looking, I could not find an architect that I would describe as reasonable. Perhaps it's time to talk more of the positives rather than negatives?

Re "architectural technologists" the only reason they were the "cure" for everything was that was the only route I could find to get the package of work that I wanted. I had designed the house myself and done all the drawings for planning. All i wanted was someone to detail the drawings so building control would issue a building warrant, and produce a set of drawings from which a builder could construct it. For some reason no architect that I spoke to was able to quote for that package of work, they all just wanted to charge the standard fee based on their over inflated estimate of the build cost with no negotiation. That is my main gripe with architects. All this contract stuff just further entrenches my view that they are out to make the maximum money from the minimum work. If I took that view in my business as an electrician I wold be out of business very quickly. There might well be some very good architects out there that will do just the work you want them to do for a fair price, and with a fair contract. It's just that I could not find one.

Like I say, all you are doing is highlighting how devious some architects are in wording their contracts. Yes I agree if that is what the contract says then that is how the law will interpret it. What I am saying, is an architect COULD word their contract fairly, i.e they are designing a house to be built on a particular plot and if the plot changes ownership then the new owner can build the house that was the subject of the design on THAT plot for little or no extra fees. Yes they could word it (and it seems they often do) that only the original owner has the right to build the house on that plot. That is just writing in a clause to extort money in return for no actual work, which to my mind is verging on fraud. The ONLY way that would be fair, is upon payment from the NEW owner, they them made a partial refund to the OLD owner, In effect the old owner selling back to the architect the licence to build the house and the new owner purchasing that licence. Keep on arguing all you like, but this just demonstrates how devious some architects are. and then you wonder why they have a bad reputation?

Sensus. ALL you are doing is exposing how bad architects and their contracts are. If someone PAYS the architect to design ONE house for ONE plot and provide all the plans, then I am pretty sure that 99.9% of people would think it perfectly reasonable if the plot changes ownership, to expect owner B to be able to build the SAME house on the SAME plot without anything more than a small administrative fee. Any attempt to "sell" the copyright to the new owner while possibly perfectly legal (if that's the ay the original contract was worded) it would be to most people very very sharp practice and extracting money for old rope. I am not talking about building multiple houses to the same design, or building the same house elsewhere, just the one house on the one plot as the architec designed it. Perhaps the ONE lesson from this, is when you appoint an architect, make SURE points like that are worded to YOUR satisfaction in the contract that you sign. And can I throw into the mix what happens when the OWNER designs his house and gives that design to the architect to detail (was the case with my present new build) There can be no argument that I own the copyright to the "design" the architect only owns the copyright to the details that he produces.

In the above example. The original owner paid to have a house designed for THAT PLOT. The fact that the plot has changed hands and the new owner does not have a right to build that house on that plot unless he pays a fee to the architect to buy the copyright, is verging on fraud. Yes if he wanted to take that design and replicate it elsewhere then I see a justified case of having to buy the copyright, but not for building the ONE house on the plot that the architect designed it for. So as Peter says, a reasonable admin charge to cover the time actually taken to provide the drawings would be reasonable.

The overwhelming message I get from this thread, is there are some very good architects, and some very bad architects, and no doubt the vast majority lie somewhere in between. The "problem" I found is there are not many up here, and the ones I contacted all fell very near the lower end of that spectrum, and my "criticism" of them all was they estimated the build cost at nearly twice what it eventually cost to build, and based their fees on a fixed percentage of that build cost estimate. None were open to negotiation on their fees or discussion about what I wanted them to do and what I did NOT want them to do as a way of reducing the fees. As an electrician, most of my work now comes from recommendations. I don't advertise anywhere really. But I could not find anyone willing to recommend me an architect. What does that say. Mind you, the same is true of builders. nearly 20 years ago when we were down south I wanted to build an extension. I spoke to a lot of people who had similar work done, and NONE said they would recommend their builder. Eventually I found one and I WOULD (and did) recommend him to others. and the builder we have just used to build the shell of our new house I definitely would recommend again. As the the architectural technician we used to detail the present house, the individual was brilliant, the company he worked for had some "issues". I would recommend him, if I knew who he was working for now as he has left that practice.

I take Crofters comment "There is a shortage of housing" . NO THERE IS NOT. You only have to look at the number of houses for sale (yes including mine) and how long they have been on the market. Many for up to 5 years now, in fact I can think of a couple that were put on the market at the downturn in 2008 and still have not sold. The Highlands, like most of the UK, went into a house marker recession in 2008/9 and has NOT yet come out of that. And don't try telling me it's because prices are to high. Any lower and they would be for sale at less than the cost of actually building them. I can't afford to drop the price of my house by much or else I could be in the ludicrous position of selling the olf 5 bedrom house for less than it is actually costing me to build the new 3 bedroom one. It's lack of people WANTING to live here that is now the problem, be that children leaving, or incommers not wanting to come here any more, or both. That is what needs addressing to stop a terminal decline.

There are some interesting figures in there, some that I dispute. Like £150K to build it to 20 year old standards, £250K to build it to current building regs standards. There is nothing in current BR's to add £100K to the build. I wonder what figure he would have guessed to build to near passive house standards? Land cost does seem high there. I got our plot for £50K just a little below open market costs, though plots closer to Inverness do ask more. But what I do agree on, is at the moment if you buy a plot and build a house, you would be lucky to sell it on the open market to recover your costs. But hold on. has owning a decent sized detached house on a decent plot EVER been a "starter home?" I think not. It's something you aspire to at the top of the "housing ladder" (a term I hate) by which time you will have more assets and more cash and won't need to borrow to fund 100% of the project. Unlike other parts of the UK, real starter homes are still affordable. His "solution" build a CLT factory and churn out CLT kit homes as cheap as chips. I don't see how that's any cheaper than a stick build and while that build method has some good points, it also comes with some other complications. If you really want to build cheap, I think the "portable building" model should be used more. You can build up to about 100 square metres without building regs so the freedom to make it as good or as bad as you want or can afford.

Hi Lee and welcome to the forum. As well as lots of self builders we have at least two electricians (I am one of them) and a plumber on here so those trades are covered. Plus an enourmous wealth of knowledge about building in general. So you should feel at home here. We lok forward to you sharing your project with us.

Scottish regs says in a garage large enough to need vents, it needs two at low level and two at high level.

That is what we are planning. Hung on parliament hinges so they will open right round and fold flat against the wall if you want the house opened up. The purpose of them is mainly acoustic privacy if we want to watch, or listen to different things, we can close it off as two rooms either side of the hall.

You definitely need a fire door. In Scotland there is no option for a level threshold, you must have a step. A single garage does not need vents, but a double one will, I forget what size triggers that need.

Actually, what I am seriously considering for my house, is sheet the ceilings, sheet one side of each wall, and leave the floorboards upstairs loose, perhaps loose laying every other board. Put all services, wiring, plumbing, mvhr vents etc, and THEN lay the floor upstairs.