ProDave

For a start, make sure your self build policy includes employers liability. Mine (from buildstore) does and the builders I contracted to build the shell wanted to see that certificate.

I am planning on aluminium fascias over wood, if I can, painted the same colour as the windows. when the time comes I will look at the company Stones has used. Also note that Marley do an aluminium fascia cladding system that you should be able to get from a builders merchant. I am going to lok at that as well as it may be cheaper than getting a custom made solution, but it only comes in a set number of standard colours.

I would have said slightly warped joists, boards not all sitting tight to the joist and nails creaking as the boards flex. I would have said cure would be remove nails and replace with screws pulling the boards tight to the joists. But you said you have put lots of screws in so kind of blows that theory.

System boiler and hot water tank, or combi boiler? Motorised valve manually locked in the open position?

Pictures appear fine. The wall with the window, the big problem appears to be half the bricks missing on the bottom course. Replace those and pack well and re point the cracked part. The wall with the door, that pocket of blockwork is supported by the door frame and not even keyed into the rest of the wall. I would remove those blocks above the door and replace that bit with studwork and plasterboard.

I would be having a word with the contractor and telling him he put down the wrong boards to be exposed and you expect them to rectify the problem at their expense. Nice looking house by the way.

I would get something over those window openings. while waiting for my windows to arrive, the openings were sheeted with OSB to keep the rain out. That looks just like "ordinary" chipboard to me. Even the green "waterproof" stuff won't stand up to much. the only one that will is something like Weyrock (the name will be clearly printed on it) that has a sort of grey waterproof coating. Get the windows covered, let it dry out and see what it is like. Put a straight edge over it and see if the joints have swelled.

It's not the sag that bothers me so much as why it is soaking (no doubt the cause for the sag?) Unless it's weyrock or similar, I would not have laid the flooring until the building was properly watertight.

It's just a modern take on hanging tiles. That is fine if you like that finish, but it is so out of touch with the local vernacular here that I would be surprised if the planners allowed it.

All insignificant compared to the cost of the toothpaste.

I always thought there was a switch, activated by putting a plug in, that energised the transformer. Certainly all the ones we have are like that, so nothing plugged in = no power. That doesn't help though as one or other toothbrush is always on charge. To check, with nothing plugged in, put your ear to the socket and I will bet you cannot hear the hum of the transformer.

Poured a large dram of the GOOD single malt.

In which case you will be glad to hear the OSB I laid over the floor this afternoon was previously used to temporarily close the window openings in the house last year before the windows arrived. It might be slightly swelled at the edges but nothing serious. And I connected the electricity to the shed as well this afternoon. Of course it's a recycled consumer unit.

If you have a neighbour that you dislike, put it on the side facing their garden.

Begin by costing the build on a cost per square metre basis. I am hoping to get mine for £1000 per square metre but that is with me doing a lot of the work myself.

You are approaching your spare garage door problem from the wrong angle. You have the door, so you obviously need to build a garage. All you need is 3 walls and a roof to complete it.

At £1K for a building that size, that you know will be sturdy, that appears to be good value per square foot compared to a matchwood ready made shed.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I am one that bypassed an architect, because my experience was they based their fees on a percentage of the estimated build cost. I don't know where they got their figures from but their estimate of the build cost was about double what it actually cost us (so of course that means their fees were double what they should be), but others have had better experiences and there are some architects on this forum who may be able to help.

Yes it is very solid. the pallet planks that make up the cladding are about 3/4" thick. The frame is quite sturdy and has diagonal bracing on all sides so it won't start leaning when the wind blows. It's staked down to the ground so it won't blow away. It's all been painted with the modern version of creosote. the lighter brown on the rear was the first to be done and the front, looking darker was the most recent. I suspect it will all lighten up fairly quickly. I like creosote for stuff like this, so easy to apply (and re apply) and effective at repelling water and preventing rot. I forgot to say, the roof timbers are 6 X2 and 4 X 2 timbers that have previously been used as shuttering for a concrete slab, so again, re using previously used timber.

I was in town today and called in at the big orange shed. Out of curiosity I had a look at the sheds they had on display. To get a shed the same size as my pallet shed, would have cost £400 all bar a few pence. I wasn't expecting it to be wonderful, but it was far worse than I had expected. The cladding timber was probably little over 1/4" thick. The frame appeared to be little bigger than 1" square sections. There was no diagonal bracing relying on just the nails in the flimsy planks to give it rigidity. If you leaned on one corner of it, you could flex the structure and make it wobble. If I bought one of those and put it up in my garden, I would be amazed if it lasted one Highland winter without collapsing in a pile.

It's just about finished. I went into town today and bought the roofing sheets, a cost of about £100 so that's the total spend on this shed.

The 12KW will give you a better shower than any electric shower will.

Great video Ed. But that drone footage. Are there NO hills where you live? that really re defines a flat landscape where you are.

I filled mine in August (it's large enough to last a whole year) Traditionally that has always been the cheapest time to fill it, I usually use Boiler Juice to look at the price and decide just when to order a fill. I hope this is the last time I will fill it (hoping it will have sold before the tank is empty) but I said that when I filled it last year.......

What I want to know though is the cost per unit of electricity and gas from each supplier? THAT is what is important. Could it be you have just been over paying and built up a large credit with them so they are reducing the monthly amount to slowly pay down that credit (i.e no REAL saving?) I plot the weekly electricity and solar PV meter readings so I know how many units I use and generate each week, and there is a definite correlation, good week of high solar PV = reduction in usage reading for that week.