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Jenki

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  1. Jenki

    Poly (carbonate) Tunnel

    By Jenki,


    Poly Tunnel / Storage
    Thought I'd do a short blog on the Polycarbonate tunnel we built.  
    Our big field suffered with no storage, and location meant containers were very expensive to transport.  so one option was to build a polytunnel, which we have planning permission for.  again due to location, 500m from the coast 73M AMSL I wanted something sturdy.  so looked at off the shelf packages.  in the Highlands and Islands the PolyCrub is seen as the mecca. Designed in the Shetland isles, guaranteed to withstand 100MPH winds etc etc.   due to the ability to get CROFT grant assistance on these, the price is, IMHO, artificially high CIRC 6K for 4M *6M.. this wasn't going to happen, so after looking at many photos I designed my own..
     
    Basic principle is hoops of MDPE pipe secured to posts in the ground, then 3*2 timber used as horizontal support, with Polycarbonate sheets secured to this timber. the bottom sides are then clad.
     
    My design was to use 65mm Black MDPE pipe, and secure the timber with coach bolts and penny washers through the pipe. this way I get a guaranteed fixing that won't pull out , and it still allows for flex in the whole structure.
    4m wide x 6M long, but this can be extended.
    My ground has bed rock close to the surface, 300-500mm below ground, so just knocking in post wasn't going to be secure enough to withstand the winds, also where I was sighting the tunnel its on sloping ground, so I couldn't get it level. 
    I cleared the area to removed the top vegetation and a bit of the top soil. and dug 14 holes.  then due to rock levels I then core drilled the rock to allow for the post to be deeper.
        
     
    We then set these in concrete, (at the same time as doing the slabs for the cabins.)
    The next day we had a look and I wasn't too happy with the security of the posts, so slight change of plan, we created a plinth. basically I used some 6x2 either side of the posts, with a slight angle, then filled this with concrete (again we used ready mix at the same time as back filling the treatment plant)
    this added about 300kg of concrete to each side, and joined all the posts together, and gave us a solid plinth at the side.
     
    No Photos of the next stage but we cut 7M lengths of 63mm pipe, this when placed over the posts gives approx. 500mm dwarf walls and a 6M polycarbonate sheet, giving a head height of around 2.3M.
    we used a plumb bob to get the centre line on each hoop and drilled an 8mm hole through the pipe and secured the top 3x2 treated timber to al the hoops.
    One thing we found was that the MDPE  did not bend uniformly, this may have been due to slight errors with the posts being plumb. The resultant timber (which was not very straight), snaked from hoop to hoop.    after head scratching and re thinking. I decided it was a poly tunnel and to get on with it.  we used 7 lengths of timber jointed with half lap joints to extend  the length to 6.5M.  if using a clock analogy the timber was placed at 9,10,11,12,1,2,3 positions, with the 9 & 3 o'clock being 500mm off the ground, also ensuring the 9 & 3 o'clock timbers were approx. 5.8M apart circumferentially.
     
    Then it was a case of securing the polycarbonate sheets to the timber. each sheet is joined with some soffit H joint strip. (you can buy a clear joining strip for the sheets but for a 6M length it was around £65.  the H strips proved extremely difficult to connect the two sheets together, or should I say impossible.  so I cut off the back edge on one side and used some glazing sealant. this way we could attach the strip to the polycarbonate prior to bending over the tunnel. and each sheet 'H' strip basically lapped over the previously installed sheet.  
    day 2 we had the basic structure.

     
    It was noticeable that the curve was not symmetrical, so putting the door frame header in by securing to timbers at 11 and 1 o'clock was not level.  I overcome this by using a ratchet strap attached to the 11, and 3 o'clock  timbers and tightening until timbers at 11&1 o'clock were level. I then put the two door jambs in (concreted at the base) and cut to the length required and secured to the header.  This worked and the tunnel was now more cylindrical.
    I framed the rear by baring 3x2's off the horizontal timbers.
     
       
      
     
    Last steps were to clad the base, I used 4*1 treated timbers that were screwed into the MDPE pipe and wooden posts. then used strips of visqueen to create a more sealed dwarf wall, this will help prevent driven rain from the winds getting inside.  over this I used Larch timber backs* to create a vertical cladding    
     
    All in with hardware, polycarbonate, timber, concrete the project cost £1200. not cheap, but its solid as a rock.  It withstood the first Autumnal storms this week with winds hitting 50MPH. 
     
    Its also very warm inside, even now as the temperature is falling.
     
     

     
     
     
    Larch timber backs are the offcuts from the saw mills and are reasonably priced as scrap.  we purchased a pack of timber backs, approx.40 lengths of larch timber with bark in 4.8M lengths for £100. these are not uniform and taper etc, but as i only needed 500mm lengths it was straight forward to make it work.
     
     
     
     
     
     
  2. Jenki

    Breaking Ground

    By Jenki,


    Breaking Ground
    Wow, we have finally started, and what a journey. 
    The goal of the last 8 days was to try to make the the stars align. We had planned several meetings / connections deliveries all to happen the 1st week in April, and this was it, lets see what unfolds.
    Firstly, the plot, being located high up on the East coast in the highlands, which is basically a large un-serviced field has a few logistical issues, the main one being storage, the second distance.
    We had quotes for containers to be purchased and delivered in the region of 4.5K so alternatives were needed.  The initial solution is the back of an Asda delivery waggon, 12ft long, 7ft wide,6ft high, with 3 lockable doors, and racking for the green trays, also a larger roller shutter section.  £250 - with working fridge if required - (this may have a second life once were up and running with rare breed pigs🙈).  just need to get it from Morecambe 430miles North.
    Secondly how to get everything to site.  We bought an old removals wagon - 7.5Tonne ally box with tail lift. MOT till NOV 515,000KM - 1 careful owner  
    Our hope was for this to get there in 1 piece, and be left on site as storage. the sum of £1200. all in with insurance (which may be cancelled) its has cost us £2K.
     
    Talking with my timber supplier, he warned me of impending price rises and possibility of shortages due to the unrest in the UKRAINE. so out of the blue I bought all the timber 450M of 6x2 C24, and 56 off 11mm OSB for the PODS.
     
    In addition to this I found a contact selling factory rejects of 120mm PIR insulation. In Scotland the pods need to achieve good U values, so 120mm on roof and in floors was required.  Basically this guy buys pallets of insulation that are usually end of production run , or slightly damaged corners etc, and not full sheet sizes.  I went to look, as he has had some bitumen coated and fibreglass coated boards. Generally the sheets are all 1200mm wide, min 600 long, most are around half board length, but will need to be trimmed to make them suitable for the warm roof.  I did a deal to buy the equivalent of 44 Boards of 120mm some Bitumen coated, some fibreglass for the sum total of £660. This is a massive saving on 'Box Fresh'
     
    Now I had a problem, with the insulation tightly packed into the back of the truck and leaving some pockets to slide the timber in I had filled about 2/3rd of the truck, I didn't have room for all the timber or the other stuff I was taking. The revised plan was to cross our fingers and hope the truck will not only get to Scotland , but now return with a view of making another trip.

     
    Living accommodation. We found a static caravan, 2 bedroom in V good condition, delivered to site included in the price. The deal was done and he would get the van to site for our arrival on the Thursday, along with the delivery of our other investment an old Ford 550 Backhoe Loader, with buckets and pallet forks.
    We decided to set off Wednesday evening, with the plan to see where we got before we were too tired, then to sleep in the Wagon / Car.    The picture below  was us all loaded with 430Miles ahead.  Me driving 'Nessie' as Mandy has called her, and Mandy Driving the Car / and trailer.   I know we look like 'Travellers' but needs must, what will the new neighbours think when we turn up..... 
     
     
     
    The Journey was horrendous. Setting off at  18.00 the trip was uneventful, with he exception of filling Nessie to the tune of £245 with diesel and not knowing how far these 150 litres will get us. Uneventful until we got to the A9 around Perth, then the snow started. Visibility was poor, and the local truckers seemed oblivious to it.   Mandy had a big scare on a dual carriage way where she lost visibility of the edge of the road, and found herself nearly hitting the verge, a stab of the brakes and forgetting about the 16ft trailer saw said trailer try to over take her.  Luckily she managed to correct this, and coming to a stop in the dark with snow on the dual carriageway, composed herself and set off again. 
    At 03.30 on Thursday we pulled into a layby just after Inverness. Got our heads down for a couple of extremely cold hours (-4). and set off to the croft, arriving around  8.30..
     
    During the drive we were informed the Static- our accommodation for the week was not going to make it - COVID... 
    I managed to make a few calls and Borrowed a 3 berth Tourer from GOW Plant Hire / Groundworks in Caithness..  What a top bloke....
    This is us on site day 1, digger arrived.....

     
    The Plot..

     
     
    So down to it.
    Day 2 on site Friday.
    Electricity was to be connected on Wednesday 6th, we needed to dig a 30M Trench and install the cabinet / concrete base.  This had to happen.  Over to the digger to fire her up.... no go. Quickly the battery went flat.  We moved Nessie closer, did a quick 30Mile round trip and bought some jump leads and by lunchtime and still no joy, turning over but not firing..... it was running the day before but they had to jump start as it had been sat in the yard for a few week.  
    Ok looking at the battery it wasn't the correct one, so another 30mile round trip and the owner of a monster battery  we tried again.  no luck, I phoned a mate mechanic he advised trying spraying cold start into the air intake.  ok another trip? , No, he told me to try deodorant as the propellant may well work, one quick spray and the old girl fired immediately. Best smelling digger in the highlands...
     
    Now to get to grip with an old backhoe, I've experience with up to 5 tonne 360 machines but never a back hoe, so this took a while to understand how to dig a straight trench next to a fence..  I managed to excavate the connection pit and around 15M of wandering trench by the end of the day.
     
    Day 3 Saturday 
    It was cold and no amount of deodorant was working on the digger. 
    The mighty battery was losing power...  Time to try Nessie to give a boost, we got the Truck stuck in the mud... FFS. we needed the digger to move the truck, and the truck to help start the digger...
    This was a testing day, and I know from experience in building game you have days that just fight back, and this day was fighting hard.
    Mandy set off in search of some supplies and some cold start.  By lunch she was back, I had made the shuttering for the cabinet base just needed the digger to get the concrete over to the hole.
    Cold start didn't work and we both felt deflated...
    Numerous attempts with planks, stone etc to free the truck were not working.
    As a last resort as the sun was now out and shining we gave the cold start another go and the digger jumped into life..  Obviously not a morning person...
    We moved the truck to relative safety of some drier ground with the aid of the digger and concreted in the cabinet.  Another 10 M of trench, and we made a start exposing the water main.
    I noticed the digger was beginning to be sluggish and leaving hydraulic oil pools, when I check the level it was nearly empty. So Parked up the digger, next to the truck, batteries next to each other - just in case.
     
    We retired to the un heated caravan, and I went to the Generator to start it, we had a 2KW heater that helped take the chill off, A couple of pulls and the cord snapped😂. the day was going to round 12 like it or not.  So tools out and repair underway. 
     
    Day 4 Sunday.
     No Hydraulic oil till Monday so left the digger alone, and marked out the position of the pods, and the septic tank, I wanted to do some digging here to confirm the suspicion that the rock level was high, and some breaking out will be required.  We hand dug a trial hole for the water main, as we found electricity cables running towards where the trench was going. We hit rock 300mm below ground, so were happy to dig this with the machine on Monday,
    We also started unloading the insulation and timber from the truck.  We sandwiched timber and insulation with visqueen and ratchet straps to create a heavy mass that hopefully wont blow away whist were not there.
     
    Day 5 Monday.
    With Hydraulic oil on board and the shelter of the truck the digger fired first thing, and we were off. 
    Mandy continued un loading insulation.
    We dug a small trench for the water (we new the main was laid in a blasted trench to a depth of 800mm)   we had to breakout our trench with a 110V Breaker to obtain the 600mm depth and hand dig to expose the water main, I left Mandy to this while I dug the septic tank hole, I got to a depth of around 800mm before I hit the rock. This will need pecking out now.
     

     
    We installed a homemade standpipe, and blue pipe, then asked for a track inspection via the online portal.
    We were given date of 11/12/13April, but we put a note on to say we were on site until the 8th.
    They responded and the Meeting was set for Wednesday 6th - result.
     
    Day 6 Tuesday - the night was very windy and wet.
    A cold and wet start, We finished off the electrical trench, laid the ducting / draw cord and all was set for connection the next day.

    Made a start on the pods foundation dig.
     
    Day 7 Wednesday - electrical trench was full of water, and the ducting was floating.  the heavy rain drains towards the sea, and thus straight into this trench, I was concerned that the Install may be called off.
    SSE turned up around 10.00 and were not bothered in the slightest.

    They connected a new length of 95mm Wavecon to the pole and jointed the existing 2 houses and our new supply - 2 core 35mm straight concentric to this 95mm cable. Resin pour joint box, and fitted the 100A cut out in the cabinet.  They were done in 2 hours. left me to throw the cable in when the resin had gone off.
     
    Scottish water inspected the trench, and this has been signed off and will be added to the works list, hopefully a few weeks.
       
    I filled in the cable trench,
     
    We managed to rough dig out the pod foundations and found the rock is close to the surface. so the slab foundation will be pretty much mass fill concrete around the perimeter, with some MOT to reduce the thickness to 4" for the slab. This will then have a Radon barrier on top and a floating floor insulation on that,
     
            
     
    Due to the poor living conditions and more rain and wind we made the decision to leave Thursday morning.
     
    Day 8 Thursday,
    We packed up the caravan and Nessie then dragged the caravan out of the mud with the digger. The trailer was also dragged clear with the digger, but Nessie was so at home she didn't want to leave. I was pushing here through the mud, but she was sinking.   Fortunately tour Farmer neighbour saw our plight and came along with his massive tractor and dragged her clear.
    We left site battered, bruised but happy in the knowledge that no matter what was thrown at us, we had achieved what was required and more to boot.
     
    Thanks for reading... its all possible, Mandy made a few videos if you want to see them https://www.facebook.com/The-Windy-Roost-101816829105927, you can follow the progress there as well...
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
  3. Jenki

    12 Months living in The Windy Roost

    By Jenki,


    Running Costs
    I thought I'd publish some rough figures for the running costs for 12 months.
    Details.
    85 Sq M bungalow.
    North Scotland -highlands
    All electric (heating/DHW/cooking and running * two self catering cabins)
    4 kW South facing solar panels.
    0.88 ACH
    EPC A103
    Heating set to 20⁰C
    DHW set to 43⁰C
     
     Year to date:
    Total Electricity usage 3300kWh
    ASHP usage 890kWh heat and DHW don't know if Samsung gen6 can split the usage?
     
    Solar Generation 4254kWh
    Solar export (given away) 2359kWh.
     
    I'm happy with the house, and the heat retention seems very good for our budget build.
    Heating hasn't been needed since mid April, and has only been on around 6 days this autumn.
    Obviously my biggest issue is reducing our solar export.  I have done nothing in this regard with the exception of manually loading shifting  washing machine / drier / dishwasher on sunny days.
    My issue with solar diverter is that the meter is located 50M from the house (in an enclosure) the house is supplied separately from the cabins  so I can't just monitor the house as the cabins maybe using power.
     
    I'm in the early stages of exploring using ESP-Now as a CT clamp monitor and building a diverter similar to how @ProDave and others have done.
     
     
    How do these figures look?
    *We had around 170 days of cabin usage which use electric for cooking/heating and the laundry.
  4. Jenki

    Water management solution and completion

    By Jenki,


    Water and Completion certificate
    My initial plans were to have rainwater harvesting, build hub taught me no.. so with that scrapped I needed an alternative, soakaways are difficult due to bed rock levels. In addition to this we have lots of run off on the croft, and the track to the house floods.
    We have already installed a pond for the ducks and this has a large berm to the back and sides so that the runoff is held back and slowly soaks away, but this winter has proved it overflows regularly, that's around 3000L extra. So the plan was to install an overflow pipe from this pond to a new larger pond. The larger pond also acting as rainwater run off capture.

    The larger pond will have 2 levels, a pond and then an extra layer to act as a overflow that can evaporate and or be pumped to the rubble drain in drier times.
    I got a big carried away with the backhoe and ended up with around 10M x 8M and over a meter deep. The overflow capacity will be around 30k - 35k L.
    We had to peck out some of the rock to get depth, and at the front used "as dug" rock from the quarry to form a rough and rugged stone wall, quite in keeping in Caithness. Time will heal the scars and soften the edges with planting.
     

     

    Due to the two levels we came up with the idea of hiding the liner under some camo net, that we intend to plant up in time. Not sure how this will stand the test of time.
     
    From the house the rainwater enters a rock filter, an idea loosely based on a post from @ToughButterCup- thanks.
    From the rock filter we have created a little stream that the rainwater will flow down and into the pond. In addition to this we have a pump that will take the water via a home made skimmer from the pond and filter the water from the pond through the rock filter and stream constantly. This also has a diverter to pump the water past the house and into the field to reduce the overflow capacity in drier times.

     

    This is the rock filter, and some of the pipework yet to be buried. Getting to this stage ticked a box for building control as we now handle our run off. 
     
     
    We got our completion certificate on the house this week, yeah. There are some things to finish, the second bedroom needs decorating and trim work. And a few small jobs here and there, but in general the house is decorated, and fully functioning.
    We started the build in earnest around May 23 I think, so quite pleased with the effort and timescale we achieved. It's was built by me and Mandy with the odd person helping with concrete pours. 3 months in summer were busy with the cabin rentals that saw Mandy spend 3-4 hrs a day turning them around for the endless NC500 travellers.😁
     
    We're embarking on the VAT reclaim soon.
    To summarise the build:
    89sqm True bungalow
    Floor 0.094U (300mm EPs 120mm concrete)
    Walls 0.139U  ICF with 50mm EWI and 25mm PIR IWI
    Cold roof 0.1U 25MM PIR 400MM mineral wool.
    UPVC triple glazed windows and composite doors
    MVHR, 4kW PV in roof, 5kW ASHP, UFH.
    EPC A103, Airtightness 0.83 ACH.
     
     
  5. Jenki

    Water management solution and completion

    By Jenki,


    Water and Completion certificate
    HiMy initial plans were to have rainwater harvesting, build hub taught me no.. so with that scrapped I needed an alternative, soakaways are difficult due to bed rock levels. In addition to this we have lots of run off on the croft, and the track to the house floods.
    We have already installed a pond for the ducks and this has a large berm to the back and sides so that the runoff is held back and slowly soaks away, but this winter has proved it overflows regularly, that's around 3000L extra. So the plan was to install an overflow pipe from this pond to a new larger pond. The larger pond also acting as rainwater run off capture.

    The larger pond will have 2 levels, a pond and then an extra layer to act as a overflow that can evaporate and or be pumped to the rubble drain in drier times.
    I got a big carried away with the backhoe and ended up with around 10M x 8M and over a meter deep. The overflow capacity will be around 30k - 35k L.
    We had to peck out some of the rock to get depth, and at the front used "as dug" rock from the quarry to form a rough and rugged stone wall, quite in keeping in Caithness. Time will heal the scars and soften the edges with planting.
     

     

    Due to the two levels we came up with the idea of hiding the liner under some camo net, that we intend to plant up in time. Not sure how this will stand the test of time.
     
    From the house the rainwater enters a rock filter, an idea loosely based on a post from @ToughButterCup- thanks.
    From the rock filter we have created a little stream that the rainwater will flow down and into the pond. In addition to this we have a pump that will take the water via a home made skimmer from the pond and filter the water from the pond through the rock filter and stream constantly. This also has a diverter to pump the water past the house and into the field to reduce the overflow capacity in drier times.

     

    This is the rock filter, and some of the pipework yet to be buried. Getting to this stage ticked a box for building control as we now handle our run off. 
     
     
    We got our completion certificate on the house this week, yeah. There are some things to finish, the second bedroom needs decorating and trim work. And a few small jobs here and there, but in general the house is decorated, and fully functioning.
    We started the build in earnest around May 23 I think, so quite pleased with the effort and timescale we achieved. It's was built by me and Mandy with the odd person helping with concrete pours. 3 months in summer were busy with the cabin rentals that saw Mandy spend 3-4 hrs a day turning them around for the endless NC500 travellers.😁
     
    We're embarking on the VAT reclaim soon.
    To summarise the build:
    89sqm True bungalow
    Floor 0.094U (300mm EPs 120mm concrete)
    Walls 0.139U  ICF with 50mm EWI and 25mm PIR IWI
    Cold roof 0.1U 25MM PIR 400MM mineral wool.
    UPVC triple glazed windows and composite doors
    MVHR, 4kW PV in roof, 5kW ASHP, UFH.
    EPC A103, Airtightness 0.83 ACH.
     
     
  6. Jenki
    Around 11 months ago, we started from a stripped site, the treatment plant was in and running the cabins / static so drainage just required connecting up. we had to wait for the warrant to be amended (change to the certificate of deign) this  held us back ma month or so until the BCO just said "get on with it, we can sort that later"- top guy!! 
    If we had waited for the amended certificate of design we would still be building, it took him 5 months to get it to us. 
     
    I've documented most of the build in blogs on here, partly to have a refence to remember the process, partly as pay back to Buildhub for the inspiration and pointers in the planning / design stage.   
    I'm so glad I spent hours looking at and reading others blogs that we made the switch to ICF. I'm convinced there is no way I would have achieved the efficiency I have for the money spent. 
     Budget was always tight, so some decisions have been made due to Hobson's choice, leading to triple glazed UPVC windows and composite doors.
    The front door, south facing GRP Composite with low threshold and a slim glass panel leaks with 40mph winds, this leaks through the gazing cassette, and the low threshold. as I know we wont use this door much, we went for a slam lock, another mistake, it blows a gale through. To be fair the company are re making,  I'm just not sure if there re-making the panel or the full door, I did ask, if they were remaking the full door to change to standard handle and lock, so it can be adjusted to minimise the drafts. we will see what happens, a full door replacement will mean taking off the reveals in side so a complete PITA, but worth it for no  drafts.
     
    We had the airtightness test carried out, and they used the front door for the blower door to mitigate any issues with that door. I had put caps in the MVHR. so he just cracked on, the back door is not perfect again due to the low threshold. 
    He didn't seal the blower door to the frame, not sure what the procedure is but seemed a little frustrating.  
     
    We achieved  0.88 Air permeability, which I'm very happy with, budget wise we didn't spend hundreds on airtightness tape, just designed good solutions, and the doors leak a bit .  
    Our As built EPC came back at A103 , with a possibility of A128.. the report say A105 if we install Thermal Solar EST saving of £40 pa , and A128 with a wind turbine EST saving of £1100 pa, so pretty much the best we could hit. 
     
    To finish we need to sort out some paths outside, ramp, and the rain water pond, but other than the second bedroom need decorating the house is done. Next week we will hopefully get building control around to see what he 'needs' to get a completion cert.
    I'm hoping for some flexibility on the ramp and pond, .  We need the VAT refund to pay for this stuff.
    We are working our way through the invoices, but we built for less the 90K and we still need the VAT refund.
    I've enjoyed it all, and we both agree we have a home.  Good luck to all of you with your current builds.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  7. Jenki

    2M² Plant room

    By Jenki,


    Plant room
    Just a very short blog to show the windy roost ( not fully finished, is a self build ever?) plant room. I'm quite chuffed I got it all to fit, and I think it's quite neat. It's full DIY and house's the UVC and combined buffer, UFH manifold, MVHR unit, inverter, consumer unit, network hub.  All in 4M³. Plus storage to come.
    Yes, the printer doesn't fit, but it's coming to its end of life so that's all it's getting for now.
    Jobs to do:
    Ceiling
    Insulate MVHR ducting / box in
    Shelves on the left hand side
    Clothes Airer ( a Scottish requirement to have one)
     


     
  8. Jenki

    6 Months, so we got plastered

    By Jenki,


    6 Month build
    It's been a while since my last blog, but we've not stopped, the days are shorter and the weather skipped autumn🍂 and dived into winter with a few storms and loads of rain.
     
    Our windows are budget friendly triple glazed UPVC, and composite doors.
     
    The external EPS was sealed at the cill with EPDM airtight tape, the tape has reinforcement in it and can be moulded, it does crease but creates a water tight junction and sticks like the proverbial to the EPS.
     

    We created a cheek reveal with an additional layer of 50mm EPS  and sealed the upvc frames against this, I then ran a bead of sealant against the face and edge of the EPS giving two seals. Then when clad a third seal.
    I used soudal air tight foam and I thinks it's LMA sealant, soudal's airtight solution.
    The winds gave good opportunity to test for air leaks when had several days of 35mph winds. This proved a good test with a smoke pen. The internal frame was sealed with soudal sf40 which adheres very well to the upvc and timber blocking, when cured it is like rubber.
     
    The cladding is larch boards in 2 widths 150mm for the bottom layer and 100mm for the top. 
    We finished the top of the windows with a custom palistol coated drip
     
    The bottom of the EPS footing was finished with reclaimed slate.

     
    Inside we are having a cold roof. We needed to add 25mm pir under the truss cord to satisfy the tightened regulations in Scotland.
    We tapped the foil boards with foil tape, and the perimeter boards were pushed to touch the wall plate. Then used airtight foam between the PIR and internal IFC wall creating a seal. 
    Under the PIR I used plastic membrane that I spray glued to the PIR, and this draped down the perimeter walls. The under ceiling was battened and counter battened, this created a service void for the cables and not penetrating the loft. The plastic was jointed with EPDM airtight tape on joins and walls.
     

     

     
    Cables were put inside Flexi conduit that was cut into grooves in the ICF. (All water pipes were run under the slab.)

    This picture shows the detail for the airtightness and the service void.
     
    MVHR ducts (7 plenums ) were run in the loft, and under 400mm of loft roll. The manifolds are also under the loft insulation.  I made these airtight using the same EPDM tape.
    I made gaskets out of the plastic with a circle cutter and stretched it over the plenums, then air tight tape to seal everything to the plastic/ PIR.

     
     The walls also needed some IWI to meet the tighter regs, so decided to go with  25mm PIR. This also added another seal for the plastic airtight layer and walls. 
    The  poly steel ICF has these metal plates at 150mm ctrs that allow the cladding battens  to be secured externally and the plasterboard internally, we used self tapping drywall screws and insulation discs to hold the PIR in place before installing the plasterboard.
    Picture for detail below.

     
    At this stage we've got a large airtight box. Now it's a case of installing the stud work. I lined the plant room with pre painted  12mm OSB, and the bathroom with 18mm OSB ( a Scottish building regs requirement needing the ability for future hand rails etc)

     
    Electrics are simple, a few Ethernet points and sockets and spotlights. One pendant over the dining( and if I get my way, and budget allows  pool table).
    The only penetrations from the loft are a light, PV cables, TV aerial, and 4g antenna cables. These are in conduit and sealed both ends.
    All other cables run in the ceiling void or stud work.
     
    I've put a few sensors in the studwork for future Arduino projects to accompany the in slab sensors.
     
    The plant room is compact, and work in progress.
     

     The PV is up and running and to date produced just shy of 300KwH in 5 winter weeks

     
    With the first fix complete it was time to plasterboard, we got 80 boards delivered Wednesday midday, just as storm Babet hit, it was too windy to bring them in, I tried, I failed so it had to stay outside 😭, covered in plastic, tarpaulins, scaffold boards and the obligatory ratchet straps.
    3 days of constant 35mph gusting 50mph gave opportunities to check for airtightness.
     
    I managed to install the flush shower tray during this downtime. 
     
    Once the storm blew though we got the boards inside and cracked on, the open plan lounge, diner, kitchen was boarded first and as soon as it was complete I skimmed the ceiling, 11 boards was too big for me and my tennis elbow, that coupled with not plastering anything for several years. 
    I split the room in two and used several layers of scrim tape to plaster up to, then remove the scrim tape and skim the 2nd part. It worked well, and it's painted and the join is seamless.
     

     

     
    The next few days we mixed it up skimming in the morning and boarding in the afternoon for the next day.
     
    Today is day 182 of the build, this is basically from the cleared site that was down to rock with the pecking already done.
     
    Currently the house is fully skimmed, most of the ceilings have been primed and painted white and we started the kitchen install today.
     
    All the bathroom is here waiting to be installed, and some appliances are here most arriving this week.
     
    This has been pretty much 7 days a week, with only around 12 to 18 days off  to earn some money and pay off some labour debts.
    We're hoping to move in, in 2 weeks with a working bathroom and kitchen 🤞, the static has now reverted to ice box during the night🥶
  9. Jenki

    Insulation, UFH, conduit and Slab

    By Jenki,


    The Windy Roost Slab.
    Day 31 of the build. (this is taken from the day we started shuttering the foundations)
    The weather up North has been spectacular for about 3 weeks, so we (Mandy and I) pushed to prepare and pour the slab before the weather changed, as I'm sure we will get a few weeks of low pressure, wet changeable weather after this spell.
    Following on from the foundation ICF walls, I'd already loaded around 20ton of 40mm to dust in a pile the slab area. Sat on the sand blinded radon barrier.
    Job one was to sort the drainage. I'd posted previously about my plan, and some constructive comments suggested changing my planned route, but with the extra length of run to the drain invert level I would have had to increase the floor height even more. So stuck with my original sketch. We ran string lines to mark the main areas, namely WC, SVP in the plant room, shower, WC and Bath, a need ran the drainage to the locations, as the utility backs onto the plant room I didn't add a drain in here as I'll run through the stud and use the SVP. Once the drainage was in place and is tested. We spread out the hardcore and compacted it. I used 10mm crush and run to bed the drainage and cover the pipes, I also ran ducting at this level, bringing in water, power, treatment plant feed plus some future ducts. 
    To get the hardcore level / flat I used 3m lengths of galvanised conduit set on mortar pads all level to each other and used a 4M ally beam to screed the slab.
    I compacted the first layer then used another screed pass to fill in any deviations and used this as the level for insulation.
    I used a combination of 200 mm EPS 70 (50mm sheets and 100mm sheets all layed to stagger the joints, and used foam to seal to the ICF.
    The top layer was 100mm EPS150 this gives a firm hold for the UFH staples, and a firmer feel to the insulation layer.
     

     
    We plan to use a large shower tray and have this level with the floor, so I made this area sunken with two layers of EPS150 and a layer of 50mm PIR.
    As we were installing the insulation I installed 2 * 100mm ducts for the ASHP in the second layer of insulation these were only 800mm long, and a duct for cables.
    I also added flex ducts in the insulation for Hot & Cold services to the kitchen, utility, WC,Shower,bath, all these were cut using a hot knife.
    Lastly I cut some pipe for floor sensors  in the kitchen, lounge, bedrooms and bathroom.

     
    The underfloor heating consists of three loops around 95M length, planned using Loop cad.
     

     
    The manifold was plumbed , filled and a pressure gauge to ensure no leaks. We have good water pressure so could pressurise to 6 Bar. ( With the heat ☀️ this rose to 9 bar one day).

    The above picture also shows  K Steel screed rails. I used these to break the slab into smaller bays, and mainly will be under stud walls. The slab will for the foreseeable future be our finished floor, so I wanted to introduce expansion joints and force any cracking to these locations🤞.
     
    I also used Tibmix metallic  dry shake topper on the concrete, the dry shake should help suppress the fibres and also increase the surface hardness. 
    The pour happend on Friday 16th June, the first 5cube arriving at 8.30.  we did the kitchen bay first which needed the 7t 360 to move / place the concrete, then, poured the WC / plant room and utility bay. This was an error, I wanted to pour the lounge next so both bays could be finished at the same time, but under the pressure of the pour took advice to do the awkward section next. This resulted in only a 3rd of the lounge bay having concrete, so this was spread out lower so the next load could fill the bay.
    By the time the second load arrived, the kitchen and utility bay was ready for power floating. The pan worked well and I had some time to start edging the slab, the rebar didn't allow the power float to get to the edge of the slab. 
    By 13.00 all bays were in and leveled, but not floated, but the sun was very hot, and the kitchen bays was getting hard rapidly, I managed to float this but was struggling to to get a perfect finish. 
    To dry shake makes the surface hard and this was apparent, the lounge and bedroom bays floated better, and to the main the dry shake suppressed a lot of the fibres but there are still some visible. The kitchen bay was rock hard by the time I managed to float again, and although it is fairly flat you can see, but not feel, the path of the power float.
    I used Setseal 6 as an acrylic sealer, which seals the surface and  aids the curing process. By the time we finished the floor was rock hard, I mean hard, the idea being that the slab will slowly cure now but will not be affected by rain etc. Time will tell.
     
    Due to the temp, and the float not getting to the edge, I will have to carry out some remedial work on the edges of the slab, as by the time I go to troweling these it was too late.
    Today the slab looks great, it's flat and level, but the perimeter 2 inch will need some polishing, as will a section in the plant room.
    I'm confident I can get this fixed. Time will tell.
    The following picture doesn't do the slab surface any justice. It looks rough, but it's glass smooth.

    So 10.5 cube of fibre reinforced concrete. Power Floated, and this was non stop until 17.30.
    My chest and fore arms are wrecked from trying to tame the power float.
     
    I'm a little disappointed in the edge finish, but looking at it another way, it's way better than if it would have started raining, or the wind that we have today. I'm sure a few hours with a wet diamond polisher will rectify the edges.  Maybe another hand would have been good. 🤔.
     
    Onwards to the ICF walls...
    .
     
     
     
     

  10. Jenki

    Topping out

    By Jenki,


    Roof
    Sunday in the Highlands, and the weather has a feel of changing, we've been so fortunate on the build so far, day 105 today, but the last week or so has been wet, windy, sunny, overcast usually everyday. So autumn is on the way.
    July and August have been busy with the 2 cabins with around 100 nights occupied, that's over 250 people staying, and 30 +dogs 😂. The upshot being we can afford to eat, but the labour for the build has been affected with Mandy continually cleaning and washing.
     
    We've got a roof.
    Again the labour for all this is me and Mandy. 
    The ICF allows the wall plates to be bolted to the core.

     
    Getting the trusses, 44kg, onto the roof was going to be by using a borrowed small loadall. We used this to take them off the truck and set them next to the house, but lifting them onto the walls was proving tricky with access and wind.
    So we resorted to leaning two lengths of 4x2 against the gable end , leaning 1 truss at a time against it and then sliding the truss up the 4x2 onto the wall plates. Then dragging them into place. 
    We had a scaffold erected at 1 end of the house and used this to raise the first truss.

     
      Then it was repeat the process. Untill it was done.
     

     

     
    At either end of the house we used an additional truss to form a timber gable wall, this saved money on the ICF as we are having a cold loft.
    I drew the gable frame on CAD and created a cut list, then framed the gable out of 8x2 Insitu.
     
    I used 4x2 as a sub fascia to support the eaves trays, allowing the use of capit fascia boards keeping a keen eye on the budget🙈

     

     
     I held off boarding as I had some labour debts to repay to the local farmer, and the wind was up and down.  Once we had a clear window
    The roof and gables were boarded with OSB.
    At this time I also fitted  membrane and battened / counter battened the gables.
    Black fascia boards, over fascia vents and eaves support trays were installed.

     
    The Highland vernacular is for small soffits / no soffit. So working back from the board on board cladding thickness and the battens I should end up with just the return on the fascia showing, about 30mm. I used some 4x1 as the sub soffit that will also act as a fire stop / smoke from entering the loft.
     
    Our location, and elevation suggests we can't use enough fixings for the tiles, we opted for Marley Edgemere thin leading edge tiles in anthracite.
    These were fixed at the eaves, every tile nailed and every tile clipped, more on this with the GSE trays.
     

    (Mandy back to real work🤣)
    I also taped the joints of the membrane with tyvek membrane double sided tape.

     
    We tiled the North elevation first as this was straightforward with only two roof vents (for MVHR)
    These were klober 25000mm2 universal vents as the Edgemere vents only ventilated to 10,000mm2.
    These are a good vent but it's a struggle with thin leading edge tiles to get them to sit flat. I ended up grinding a little of the back of the adjacent tiles and drilling an additional hole and nail to get them to sit as best as I could. There is a slight kick where the rubber flashing sits under the adjacent tiles but this doesn't affect the rows above, so decided I have to live with it. 

    (Picture from a distance to stop you zooming the vents😂)
    The south elevation has 10 longi 405w PV panels, so I was using the GSE trays. Incidentally these trays and flashing were 50% more than the panels😔.
     GSE panels......
    The instructions are very in-depth, but to be fair I just struggled with them. They suggest you don't need flashing for the top course as the tiles can sit over the trays, I doubt this works for any flat tiles / slates. Possible for pantiles if your lucky.
    A few on here @Dave Jones, and @dpmiller (I think) suggested this was the case, and I confirm you need the flashing kit, or use Flexi flashing, but IMO the detailing of the raised sections of the trays ( between panels) would be tricky  and ugly.
    The thin leading edge tiles also caused slight kicking issues on the side flashing as well. So I had to be creative. (maybe this is standard for a proper roofer?) 

    For the bottom flashing I used a 4x1 and timber wedges and used a replacement self adhesive flashing. Annoyingly the width of the trays with the raised section etc and the side flashings made the overall width 6.2M wide, so I had to order another length, and this was held up with Evri for 10days🥲.
    Fitting the extra battens for the clamps and tray support was painful for my brain, just too much timber. I ended up fitting a row of half trays at a time.
    Once the trays were fitted we tiled the RH side of the roof upto the GSE tray lateral flashing. This is where I needed to think out of the box, the tiles on there own kicked up into the air a looked terrible. I also had narrow tiles (120mm) cuts to allow for the half bond. These tiles needed the nib on the back of the tile grinding off which in turn meant they had nothing to hang on, and couldn't be nailed as they were on the flashing.
    So I used a hanging valley clip. To get these to sit flush I had to grind a little slot into the tile face, then to stop the tiles tipping into the flashing, and to give them a second fixing, I ground a groove in the rear of the tile, then once the next row was installed used a c clip to hold it all in place.

    Picture shows the valley clip and wire to hang the tile.

    Groove for C clip.
     

    C clip in place.
    This was repeated on all rows, so all tiles have at least two fixings. (Overkill?)
    The top flashing as I mentioned, had to be ordered and the corner flashings need modifying to ensure they sit flush over the PV  panel.
    I installed two panels, then test fitted the flashing and corner flashing, which needed snipping with tin snips, then the overlapping cut edges pop riveted to reduce the height. This was sealed with lead mate.
    Once I fitted the flashings, I tiled the remaining roof and top rows. The flashing kit is expensive, but works and looks neat from the ground.
     Dry ridge installed,l and  end caps finishing the roof.

     
     
    Then the panels, these were simple with 8 clamps per panel.  Just the gutters to fit and scaffolding can come down.

    Some more EWI to fit then onto the windows and doors which are sat patiently waiting for us to pull our fingers out.
     

  11. Jenki

    ICF walls and dodging bullets.

    By Jenki,


    ICF WALLS
    Day 48 of the build was a big one, we poured the ICF ( PolySteel) walls.
     
    Following the slab pour 2 weeks earlier, we start on building the PolySteel ICF walls.
    I've no experience with ICF, and thus can only comment on the usability and quality of PolySteel. The process is straightforward, all the blocks are t&g on all edges, so you simply use a bead of fire rated foam and push the blocks together. Each block clips to the last with two **clips joining the metal mesh inside the block together.
    Our rebar spec, was I think over the top, but basically we had a pair of 10mm starter rebars vertically every 300mm centres so the first two rows we had to position the blocks over the starter bars. In addition to this each corner block( 2 left-hand and 2 right-hand in our case per course) have 4 off 10mm L bars and pairs of 10mm horizontally on 300mm  centres. 
    Our perimeter is just shy of 40M, so all in that's just short of 2KM of rebar.
    Point 1, the spec calls for 400 mm L  corner bars, (which I had cut and bent)  you can't fit these. You can get 1 in but the other 3 need to be shorter on one side to get in, this was more so on the first two courses with the precast starter bars in the way. I ended up cutting 1 to  400mm X 300mm and 2 to 400mm X 200mm per set.
    These were tied in place to the metal grids in the PolySteel.
    With so many starter bars I made the ones located at windows longer so that they were around 80mm below cill height l, (this was when I poured the foundation.) This saved me adding extra verticals bars after, and in the main worked out.
    To cut out the windows I had to figure out a good way to cut the blocks. The Steel mesh in the block has a 30mm plate that sits under the surface of the IFC to allow you to screw into with self drilling screws ( one of the reasons I liked this block)
    For window openings This needs to be cut, I had an old rage metal circular saw and this worked amazingly, if I did this again I would buy one for the job. But I'm never doing this again😂
    The most difficult part was cutting the mesh, this is 3mm bars, I used a small cheap set of bolt cutters which worked but was difficult getting into the cavity of the block and then squeezing the cutters.  The angle grinder was too cumbersome in the tight space, and ripsaw with metal blade just too bouncy it felt like a bodge, so patiently cut hundreds of 3mm bars to make the openings. I think a small cut off air grinder would work well, as I did try a Dremel type cutter but this was painfully slow.
    At two courses high it was time to start bracing. This was done by fixing 4x2 to the blocks on 1M centres and at every opening ( the 4x2 will be re-used for studding later)
    I secured the timber to the blocks with 100mm baypole screws 3 per block in pre drilled holes. Below shows a bit later on but a 4x2 ring beam tied to all the verticals. We also tied the long walls (N&S) to each other with long ratchet straps and more 4x2. A little security if the winds picked up.
     

    Once 3 course we're built, I made the boxes for the windows and doors, basically 6x2 screwed through the ICF into the timber. These we're then sealed with some silicon and or foam. On the back of the 6x2 I screwed in some coach bolts to act as a key to fix them to the concrete. Each course we added the corner and horizontal rebars.
    We then erected some Kwikstage scaffold around the inside perimeter. This is old rusty scaffold but wasn't ready for the scrap man just yet.
    The bays fit really well, snug if you like. When I purchased the scaffold I also got thrown in a load of 5ft tubes, swivel, couplers and clamps. So I went around and braced the scaffold and tied each section to each other with short sections of pole. This made the stage rigid, lastly used some standards to brace the North and South walls together, creating a mesh in the middle. 
    The final course of ICF seemed easier to cut out the openings, not sure why.
    All blocks were screwed to the vertical 4x2 and then the vertical 4x2 we're plumbed and tied to the scaffold. This made the whole lot rock solid. I used string lines to make sure the walls were straight and plumb before fixing to the scaffold.

     
    Now we put in the vertical rebar, pairs of 10mm rebar on 300 centres.
    Pic below shows the corner L bars before the verticals were fitted.

    To pour the concrete, around 12M³, a pump was put of budget as they would have to come from Inverness, we were quoted 2K, so reverted to the 360 bucket method.
     
    I created 2 pour boxes and 1 corner box put of OSB, to act as a funnel for the concrete.

     
    We poured in 600mm levels and vibrated the concrete. Moving the pour boxes along as we went.
    The first wagon had 7 cube so this would be over all the cills, once the cills were full, we capped them off and screwed some 4x1 in place. All working like a dream...
    When vibrating I noticed some of the ** clips holding the blocks together pinged off..
    I went down to check levels etc, and noticed that one corner block on the SE corner, between a long window and large lounge window had moved😱. The t&g was holding but the was a 15mm gap. Ok panic starting now. We stopped pouring here and moved moved on but needed a solution. I'm not proud of this, but we used a haulage strap, through the window around and out through the door and back and ratcheted the section of  wall together with some timber on the corners to prevent the strap digging into the ICF.
    Followed this up with some OSB and timber straps.
     

     
    Then the cheap electric vibrator we were using in to window voids gave up. Couldn't handle the stress of the day, my heart rate was in triple figure now.
    The hired in vibrator we were using from the top was still going strong, and I also had some cheap plate vibrators to hold against the walls which were doing enough. 
    I went around all the corners and added more bracing, berating myself for not adding large strips of OSB on all the corners.why didn't I do that.  If your reading this because your planning to use PolySteel then screw large sheets of OSB to the corners..
    Ok, heart rate still in the hundreds, but the first truck was done, we were level, with the exception of the problem SE corner to about 1.4m. everything was holding and plumb. The moved corner will be ok, as long as it stays put. While waiting for the truck to go back and refill, around 90mins,  I went manically around screwing more battens to the corners. The concrete was setting up on the SE so I was feeling a little better, but worried about filling up the corner
     
    With the excitement of the corner issue and my manic battening, I forgot to add the additional supports for the two large windows, these were left out so we could fill the lower part of the wall from the 360 bucket.
    We start the second lorry on the West wall, working out way to the SE problem, all working well, vibrating and filling as we go, shuffling the pour boxes around. Then the hired vibrator started smoking and gave up. Back to sticks and the flat plate vibrators for the last section. We skipped the SE corner and worked our way along the S and then W walls.  With about 3m  of wall to complete the digger shut down. 
    Spanners out, more fuel, clean the filters, bleed the injectors, no go, dead. Ok. Fire up my old loader and get it as close as possible and shovel it in... No this wasn't happening, the steering piston decided to come off, an old fault that came back just at the right time. FFS anything else. Yes, those supports for the lintels I forgot.. Pete!! Those lintels are sagging argghhhhh. Acro props and some more tense moments we jack them back into place level and plumb. Ok back to the other fire.
    We were contemplating buckets when my neighbour brought his Manatu with a big bucket and managed with shovels for the last bit around 1/2 a cube.  While the tops of the walls were being floated, and in anticipation for excess concrete we managed to fill some shuttering for a front path, and the start of the ramp to the rear door.

    This is the offcuts of ICF from the windows that will form the path and increase the levels at this corner hopefully softening the height in this corner.

     

     
    So it's done, it's up, my heart rate is now normal, and I think I dodged a bullet or two. But with DIY and house building you have to adapt to react to the events as they unfold.  My list of favours I owe my neighbour has expanded. But we can sit here today and be proud of the product. the SE corner will need a little fettling to get square,but nothing to worry about.
    On wards and upwards. Day of rest today, just off the strim around the pods, guests due later.
     
     



  12. Jenki

    Mini Split Air to Air Heat pump

    By Jenki,


    Caravan Heat
    A short blog to show my Mini spilt Air2Air install, in the Windy Roost Static.
    I looked at installing a wood burning stove, but we have zero trees on site, so when I looked at the costs of twin wall flue, terminals, flashing, creating a heat shield and making the caravan tidy plus the hassle of getting wood / coal, the costs were adding up.
    A quick question on here - Build hub, some options were suggested and I decided to go with the a cheap Air 2 Air heat pump from Appliances direct. 
    The unit is a Telefunken 12K BTU split unit. cost around £375 but did not included the pipe to connect from indoor to outdoor unit.
    I got 5M twin insulated copper pipe with the flair nuts from ebay for £56. 
     
    Our Static has a gas fire - useless, and a chimney breast made from chipboard, the side panel just screws off to access the flue. This was the perfect place for the indoor unit, as it would be a neat install and the rear will allow for the pipes to be hidden, also I could use the hole in the floor to route the pipes/ drain and power for the remote unit.
     
     
     
    I removed the light fitting, screwed the bracket on the timber, and drilled a 80mm hole, for the pipes / drain and power.  Then its a case of posting all the pipes/ drain and power cables through the hole, really straight forward, the indoor unit then just clips into place.
     
    The indoor unit comes pre wired with a 13A plug top, and you need to run a 3core and earth cable from the indoor unit to the outdoor unit. this is Live, Neutral and a control / switch cable.
    Next to the chimney is a double plug socket, so I wasn't messing around running new cables, I just drilled an 8mm hole in the side of the chimney breast and used 2M extension lead to plug the unit in. I used some zip ties to secure the extension lead and plug to the pipes (these were put on after the photo below). and that was the internal work complete. zero mess, and no rework / decoration required.
     
       
     
     
    The outdoor unit was going to sit directly outside, behind the chimney breast, the ground outside was not level but it is bedrock, so a made a simple frame and made level concrete pad, and cast some hook bolts into the concrete.

     
     
     
    For initial research I spoke with a Local (ish) refrigeration engineer, and he said he would connect for £120. but was telling me there is nothing to it, and if I was doing everything else then maybe I do it all???
    I found an American You tube guide which was helpful on the pipework side.  (linked below)  Basically, the unit comes pre charged with gas, so you are not filling  with gas etc. the main issue is removing the air from the two pipes you install. This is done with a vacuum pump. (some more expensive units come with pipes and they are pre-vacuumed with quick connectors)
     
    I found a vacuum pump and gauge set for sale on Vevor for £79 so £41 cheaper than the refrigeration engineer.  I bought one, and an adaptor. I'm not suggesting anyone does this without an F - Gas Engineer, but the main issues are leaks, if when you connect the pipes up and they leak you are going to loose the gas, and the unit wont work. 
     
    To Purge the pipes

    Step 1 connect your pump to the centre of the two gauges with a hose
    Step 2 connect  a second hose to one of the gauges and the other end to the one way valve on the outdoor unit
    Step 3 Open the valve on the corresponding gauge from step 2.
    Step 4 Run the vacuum pump for 15mins  to remove the air, and you check the gauge is reading negative. (-30 blue gauge in pic below)
    Step 5 turn off the pump and wait 15mins, and check the gauge is still negative. (-30) - this proves there is no leaks
    Step 6 close the valve you opened in step 3.
    Step 7 Open the 5mm Allen screws on both valves to the gas fill the internal unit.
    That is disconnect the pump plug the indoor unit in and you ready to go.
     
      
     
    Notes: I used expanding foam in the hole at the rear of the fire. We have no intentions of using the fire as it is /was rubbish.  Also the indoor unit should not be near a source of heat.
    The total install time was around 4 hours. and total cost £530
    More importantly my caravan has warm air.   lets see what its like in winter.🤞
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  13. Jenki

    Foundation and first course of poly steel.

    By Jenki,


    The windy roost foundations
    A busy couple of weeks and favourable weather has seen some progress at The Windy Roost.
    When in use the word I, or we, I mean Mandy my wife, and me. So far that's the only labour on the build. Mandy has worked office based for 40 years before we moved here, so this is an all new world for her, and although she regularly tells me she's older than me, and she's needs a day off,  I can't be more proud...
     
    It seems that the engineers really worry about the wind here, which is fair enough, but you would think no house has ever stood the test of time.  The 40M perimeter of the house required 288 H10 starter bars, after installing the radon barrier inside the shuttering, I used some 8x2 timber, (that will later be used to frame the gables), and drilled lots of holes and feed the L bars though.
    These were spaced as per spec and to suit the poly steel blocks. 
    Checking the dimensions, diagonals and rechecking this was all secured in place.  The 8x2 timber made pouring the shuttering difficult.
    I made some pour boxes, but this had limited success, so ended up using the 7 ton 360 & bucket method, a Caithness speciality, and the bonus was the concrete truck driver is also a very skilled 360 operator, which speeded up the pour. I think Stuart now counts as the 3rd bit of labour on the build.

     Rebar work in progress.
     

    4 cube of concrete and all dimensions still bang on.
    Next day stripping the 8x2 was to be honest, a pain in the ass. But a few hours later all the shuttering was removed and we were ready to install the radon barrier over the sub slab joining it to the previously installed barrier now under the footing.

     Sand blinded, and then added 20 ton of 40mm be to dust in preparation for the slab  after the foundation block pour.
     
    Installing the poly block we loosely set all four corner blocks, leveled them using plastic folding wedges, and measured the lengths, widths, and diagonals. We strung string lines around the blocks to ensure the corner blocks were in line.
    We sprayed the footing with marker paint, and then marked the blocks in position onto the footing.
    Then one by one we set the blocks in position and fixed in place with fire rated expanding foam.
    Checking the level with a laser level  and double check with a dumpy level.
    Next day we filled in between the corners, gluing the blocks in place and ensuring the blocks are straight level, again using the string lines and levels.  We cut holes for drains, ducts, and sealed the gaps with foam.
    The poly steel block are t&g and also come with clips that lock  the blocks together.
    Before we closed the sides we needed to feed in horizontal H10 rebar🙈.
    We tied the horizontal and starter bars together, and also tried the rebar to the metal grids in the blocks.
    To close the runs the blocks needed cutting, luckily our cuts didn't cross the metal firings in the block, so it was simply cut with a hot knife.
    Then glued (foamed) in place.
    These cuts were braced with 4x1 screwed into the metal firings with bay pole screws.

    Foundation course in place.
     

    Mandy starting to tie the bars, you can also see the clip between two blocks.
     
    Concrete day. 3 cube. Concrete pumps don't exist up here, I was quoted 2k to bring one up from Inverness. I fabricated two 1200mm
    OSB form boxes, which sat between the top of the ICF block and formed a funnel, and used the 360 and Stuart to pour the concrete into the forms. We had two pokers on the go and filled one funnel, and while the bucket was being re filled, vibrated and leveled the concrete, filling the forms alternatively, and moving the empty form along. Mandy was a demon and just got in with it.
    The whole 3 cube took one hour to place. So paid £15, waiting time and a drink for the 360 operator.
    It went really well.
     
    We cleaned up the top of the forms, then checked the walls. 
    We didn't prop the forms before, and used the rebar to be sure it wasn't going anywhere.
    Inspection showed there was some movement especially in the areas where a I removed one side of the ICF for door ways. 
    This was easily rectified with some timber wedged and screwed in place. About 15 props in total were required.
     
    I was really impressed with the strength and quality of the poly steel blocks, only slight issue is they do have a slight wave along the block, but screwing timber to the metal firings lessons this and over all after the pour the walls are straight.
     
    Next slab prep, drainage, and lots of insulation.
  14. Jenki

    House build started

    By Jenki,


    Breaking Ground
    Finally made a start in earnest. The original plan was to stick build on site, but the cabin builds opened my eyes to the winds up here, and established concern for getting the house airtight.
    I priced ICF, and although the costs are higher in the begining I think, I can self build for similar money, but get a far superior product. This is a budget build, most of the nice to haves have been dropped. The only redline is we want to ensure this is future proof, so all on the ground floor. 
    Around 12 months ago the area where the house is going was stripped down to bedrock. The initial plan was a DIY insulated raft, but the move to ICF opened up a more traditional strip footing using the ICF.
     
    Back in February we hired a 360 with a pecker to break out some of the rock to lower the NE corner, as the bed rock slopes to the SW.

    Bed rock exposed looking East

     NE corner
     
    We broke out and removed around 400mm of rock along the W and N elevations, the break out got shallower towards the SW corner. 
    The main aim here was to reduce the height of the house on the SW corner, we will be bringing the ground level up to minimise the impact.  We also need to strip some rock of the slab area to allow for the 300mm insulation.
     
    This week, thanks to an understanding BC officer, ( still waiting for the revised certificate of design to change the building warrant, but he's happy for me to proceed with the old warrant for the time being👍❤️). We made a start preparing. 
    The plan is to shutter the strip foundation. First step was to level the strip with layers of compacted 40mm to dust stone, and also level the bedrock for the slab.
     

    Ready for stone looking W
     

     
    Starting on the North trench we barrow in the stone and compact.

     
    Adding more stone in layers and compacting, the backhoe loader was doing some of the grunt, but the leveling was all by hand, 100mm layers at time.
     
     looking NE
     
    Took the decision to build the sub slab to what will be the same level as the strip footing, this allows for the Radon barrier to be put under the strip up the side and then on top of this sub slab, then all services will be above the  radon barrier and below the insulation in another layer of compacted hardcore.
    The main reason for, what will be a fiddly taks of having the radon barrier under the strip, is that the strip footing has 288 starter rebars and sealing these penetrations would be worse.
    Once the strip is poured we will finish of the back filling and install the radon barrier.

    More stone looking East
     
    So 5 days in me and Mandy have moved levelled and compacted 70T on 40mm to dust. 
    And around 5 ton of quarry dust, this is used up here as an alternative to grit sand for blinding and pipe bedding.

     
    The shuttering is 150*50 timber that will be leveled then the radon barrier folded to form a tray, later to be joined to the slab. I'm going to use 6mm threaded rods to link the two shutters together, preventing any spread when the concrete is poured.
     
    Hopefully next week the ICF arrives, in I've got a 10 hour round trip to collect rebar. For a tank of fuel and a days driving I can save around £500 collecting from Central rebar in Aloa.
     
    For info, £930+ / ton direct   Inverness suppliers (100miles away) we're after between 1250 & 1500/ton plus delivery charges ranging from £200 / £350  plus vat. 

  15. Jenki

    Cabin builds

    By Jenki,


    Cabin Builds
    Since the last blog, a lot has happened in a relatively short time. The last blog was Stage 1 of the Amenity block, needing cladding and the roof, and as I'm sat here early in the morning , with the wind constantly blowing 20MPH, 2mm rain p/h. and a toasty 8 deg.  inside the static, which is our home  now - yey. The Cabins are complete.  A lot of work and a move thrown in to the mix since the middle of August.
     
    The cabins are stick built on site, under the supervision of Building control, this means that the insulation and detailing falls within the small building regulations and thus U values are quite tight.  The positive is that they will be relatively cheap to heat year round.  The downside was we spent a lot more on insulation.
     
    The process was the same as the amenity block, the foundation slab was cast, and the floor insulation (120mm PIR) was sat on top of this and a radon barrier with floating chipboard on top. 6inch walls with glass wool insulation.
    Due to the extreme cost variations and difficulty getting hold of Frame therm 32, the walls were filled with a mixture of Frame therm 32 & 40, I managed to get some at £18/ roll in Bradford and dragged it up with me, collecting some over ordered frame therm40, from Stirling on the way (thanks Market place). The bottom line was that I needed to add 25mm PIR inside to get the 0.21U required.  The Roof was 120mm fibre glass coated PIR, with Firestone rubber bonded direct.
     
     

     
      
     
    The original plans was to clad the pods in Black Metal, but after some thoughts through BH (Salt in the air etc, we changed to Scottish Larch.  We had 300, 4.8M lengths delivered from Huntly area. Mandy spent around 2 weeks solid staining these both sides and edges black.  she was amazing, this was not an easy task. I think I painted 3/4 of 1 plank before I was off doing something else.   The Orange look would have been too harsh, so we decided to stain them , and hopefully as the Larch ages and the stain fades they will eventually take on the natural look of Larch.
     
     
        
     
    Another tweak to the design was to cut the corner off the bathroom. allowing for 2 double beds, thinking that as our customers will in the main be only staying for a day or two, the bed was more important than sitting areas.
     
    My biggest concern was heating and hot water.  I've asked on here before, and was thinking of using a 300l UVC, but was never happy this would supply enough hot water for two cabins and up to 10 people. - so either the expense of a Heat pump or direct immersion.
    I had laid 20mm MDPE pipe x 2 to each cabin from the amenity block. for the H&C supply.
     
    We bit the bullet and decided to supply the hot water via 2 off  Cointra CPA11 open flue caravan heaters (LPG), I was concerned if the temperature would be ok, especially as the water travels between 3 & 6M underground .
    This was compounded further, later on,  as we started having problems with the same heater in out static. Low temperature HW and problems when the wind picked up over 15MPH.
     
    Too late to worry, money was spent and It was suck it and see.  Fitting the Open Flue heaters in the Amenity block created another issue, so we have ended up with a little extension on the side of  amenity block that houses the two heater, basically its like they are outside, but inside.
    I have insulated them, but I will have to add a small heater with PID control (Job to do) to ensure the water does not freeze inside the boilers.
    For the hot water I fed 10mm PB pipe inside the MDPE pipe and hope the flow rates and temperature would work.... (I thought about asking on here, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and see)
     
     
     
    We have installed UPVC DG windows, and I created MDF reveal liners, this allowed for the plaster boards to be fitted flush to the liners, with face mouldings to finish.  I taped and jointed the PB, but to be honest it was a pain, due to the number of butt joints,  on a couple of occasions I nearly went and bought some Multi finish.  In general were happy with the finish,  but it has confirmed that this WONT be happening on the house build. 
    Mandy wanted a feature wall (interior design is where I stop), and the en-suite seemed to be a good place for this.  We had just enough Larch left over, so Mandy cut and ripped this down, sanded one face and painted in various contrasting (I think that is what she said) colours.  I helped a little with the first row or two install,  as it does have some 22.55deg bevels, then I was back to to the other cabin sanding and filling.
     
    Due to the success of the Air to Air HP in the static, we decided to install the same in the cabins, this way we know the heat all year round will work. As this was a little after thought - external cladding was complete, I had to be creative with the internal pipe run, I created a box / shelf which can be seen in the photos below, this now acts as a cup holder with some cup hooks.
     
    The Bathrooms were clad with shower wall cladding. a Boxed in WC allows for all the utilities to enter and also houses the Wireless access point, which is powered POE. from the amenity block.  
     
    Once the bathrooms were fitted, it was time to see if the HW works.   Its a resounding yes.  we had -4deg (This is  how I know I need to stop the boilers freezing). but once I'd managed to thaw the boiler out, we were getting 40Deg in the cabins.  The showers are not power showers, but they work really well, better than an electric shower.  and heat up time is around 35 - 40 sec.  The boilers have worked in 30MPH winds, so the issues with our static are just that and I'm still exploring the why.
    As we stand today 1 cabin is ready to let, and we are waiting delivery of 2 beds for the other cabin.
     
    200m of livestock fencing in the new year will see this side of the project complete.
     
     
     
      
     
     

     

     
     

     

     






  16. Jenki

    The Windy Roost

    By Jenki,

    Over the years, 24 and counting, as a couple we’ve never settled, bought a house needing doing up, renovated it, lived in it, whilst bringing up our son.
    Sold, moved to rented, bought and renovated others. Sold and moved on, but never settled.
     Thought about emigrating, a disastrous foray into overseas property and we still found ourselves unsettled.
    The thought of doing something different with our lives and possibly working together was always there.  Over the years I’ve built extensions for families and seen the positive impact I’ve had on them.
    The want to build my own house was strong, and when I say build my own, I want to do it all, and luckily Mandy’s onboard.
    Fast forward a few more years, we re-model our house and sell. Move to rented with the plan of moving to the Highlands. We’ve got a very modest budget i.e. not enough (remember the overseas bit).
      So the land needed to help, we found a croft for sale with no buildings or services, and too expensive, but with a bit of negotiating made an offer with clauses for planning and services. More on the plans later.
    Based in a small rural village of Occumster on the North East Coast in Caithness, Scotland, known as the lowlands of the highlands, our croft of 11.8 acres of grass, now has planning for a house and a couple of Glamping Pods.
    The croft is fronted by the A99, part of the North Coast 500 route, so hopefully this is where our initial income will come from.  I’m more than aware that I will need to go off and earn money to live.
    Eventually we will have Bees, and rare breed pigs hopefully boosting our income, and satisfying the croft requirements to work the land.  And here starts the adventure..
  17. Jenki

    Amenity Block - Part one

    By Jenki,


    Amenity timber frame.
    To finish my 22 days on site. I started timber framing, decided to start on the amenity block, as this will initially be for our washing machine and dryer, plus some storage.  My aim was to get water tight -ish. before I had to get home for the weekend. 
    The poly tunnel (constructed this visit) - is my cutting shed, I set up my chop saw and worked to my cut list.  
    This was proof of concept on my build plans, and it needed tweaking, the roof to wall junction has been modified and will work, but I want a better / neater solution for the cabins.  
    here's my first attempt with the Binno camera. 

    amenity.mp4   The wind picked up (20mph with 35mph gusts,  so I needed to get some structure and racking boards in place, so the camera set up didn't happen day 2.
    I left site with it wrapped, and with the vapor barrier on the OSB roof. (with some 6x2 to reduce the wind uplift.  I'll need BC to have a look before I put the insulation on the roof, as I want the insulations and rubber to go on on the same day.
    This block and the cabins will be clad in Scottish Larch. 
    There's a gap above the door, that needs the final framing to be finished, but generally happy with the result. so far. 
     

     
     
     
  18. Jenki
    My dual roles for the first 10 days of the June / July trip was to get ready for concreting. 
    This breaks down into two slab / raft foundations for the Cabins, 1 slab for the amenity block, and some backfilling of the treatment plant, and while I'm at it, concrete for the Polycarbonate Polly tunnel. another blog to follow.
     
    In my opinion, the structural calculations for the slab rafts were well over engineered. the slabs will be ground bearing (rock) foundation and thinner slab, all poured at the same time.
     
    The Radon barrier and timber frame will sit on this, with an insulated floating chipboard floor. I know this will give some thermal bridge on the timber frame, but these are camping cabins not the house. Costs said this was the way forward.
     
    I'd already exposed the rock for the cabins, so BC could see this, and was happy for me to crack on.  I framed the the cabins with 6x2 timber, and levelled this formwork.
    Then used  crush and run to raise the central slab area up, to leave me a 100mm thick slab with thickened foundation perimeter. This perimeter varied due to the level of the rock.  I used around 6 ton of MOT in each cabin., then A252 around the base of the foundation and A142 across the slab.
     
    At the corners of each slab I ran the WC waste, and also a feed for H&C water, power and internet supplied for the amenity block.
    The amenity block was a simple 150mm Slab on compacted hardcore.
     
     
      
     
    With this prep done, my wife, (the now only breadwinner for the next 8 weeks), was due on site, for a baptism of fire.....
    To be fair Saturday and Sunday consisted of me and Mandy getting the mesh in place and getting the post support for the extended roof of the cabins dug, tying the mesh, getting the post support brackets ready. and some land clearing/ hole digging for the Poly tunnel.
     
    Monday is concrete day..... The plan was simple. the truck would reverse up to each cabin, drop around 5 Cube in the cabin, whilst I'm levelling, then the remainder would go into the amenity block. we would float this, and then when the truck came back pour the second cabin, finish the amenity block, and whilst waiting for the truck to come back get this floated off.  the last load would be the treatment plant (this would be using the loader bucket) and leave a little for the poly tunnel..  easy 15cube, no problem..
    It didn't work this way, Mandy, who is game for anything, but being an engineer needs to know what she is doing.  She has never laid a slab.. didn't matter, because I was going to do it, no problem. she was there as a go for, and edge trowel-er
    (I must point out, I knew that the surface finish wasn't important, as its being covered with insulation and membrane - but)
     The wagon turned up around 10, after a 30 min trip to site, the day was damp, with slight rain, not overly hot, the driver would not drive on to the earth next to the cabins.  So I had to use the loader. (an old Ford 550)
    the first half bucket was solid, I could tell by the colour, there was a lot of cement in the mix, I told him to add water, lots of water,  but he didn't have "loads" so the best we got as a stiff slump, I loaded as fast as I could, and Mandy was trying her best to rake  / shovel this level, and she was doing a great job, but she didn't know what she was doing, and it was hard work. 
     
    I thought the concrete was wetter than it was. after about and hour we had the concrete out and some in the amenity block,  but it was far from level, and starting to go off. I had to use the loader to level some more, than then used my beams to get it flat.
    This was hard, and the bull float wasn't bringing up a lot of cream.....
    I asked for a wetter mix for the second drop and asked for 2 hours to get set.
    I got the slab flat and fairly good, but not great.
     
    Whilst Mandy was teaching herself to drive the digger, (she wasn't having round 2 with the rake).
     
    Round two was worse, the mix although a little wetter, was setting faster. Mandy put the first few loads into the amenity block and I levelled this, then started on cabin 2, it was a real graft.  Again the loader was used to move the setting concrete, there was some concrete left, so this went into the treatment plant pit.  With the running around the site, cabin 2 slab was far from finished and I had to resort to putting water on top to help. Not my best day.
    I get the slab level., but floating was not producing a smooth mirror like finish.
     
    We also had to set in the post support into the 4 shuttered blocks. and had around 3/4 of a bucket left in the loader.  We rounded the day off with setting the posts in the poly tunnel. 
    We got cleaned up around 18.00.  The amenity block and 2 cabins were flat and floated, but not fantastic (hence no photos). the treatment plant had around 1 cube of concrete and the 14 posts were set. 13Cube of concrete, and Mandy politely informed me, she was never concreting again....
       
    Tuesday, we needed to finish off the treatment plant. but couldn't get concrete until late afternoon.  
    The morning we started on the poly tunnel, but decided that we needed more concrete, so created a shutter to link all the posts with a plinth. 
    The 3rd Batch of concrete was the worse, we did about 9 loads with the bucket and it was setting again. we left a full bucket for the poly tunnel, levelled the concrete around the treatment plant. (the driver informed me, that I probably had got more than 2 cube, as there was some in the mixer when he loaded mine, so that explains it going off real quick then.
     
    Anyway. we persevered, were still married and talking to each other, and we achieved the goals.....
     
    The future house slab pour will need more people, a different concrete company, and a solution that doesn't need my digger, PUMPS are not common this far north, thinking cap on.
     
    thanks for reading.


     
  19. Jenki

    Drainage Part 1

    By Jenki,


    Drainage Part1
    Wednesday 26th June, I spent most of this day travelling, in my van and my two helpers for the next few weeks.

     
    The trip is 433 miles door to door, the goal before the boss arrives for 9 days was to  get the caravan (home) connected to the treatment plant. plus get ready for concrete. other blogs to follow.
     
    To connect the Static I needed to install the treatment plant, install some of the drainage for the pods, confirm with BC he is happy and basically crack on with the long days that far north.
     
    Previous work had the pit dug out of the rock, so the basic plan was to sit the plant onto compacted, level, stone and backfill with gravel. Then put a top of concrete to hold the whole thing down.  In the 8 weeks the pit was open 
    there was no filling of the pit, so I was quite happy the rock was porous, but couldn't be convinced in heavy rain it wouldn't fill with water.
     
     
     
    The rock at the bottom wasn't going anywhere, so didn't see the point of fully filling with concrete. I backfilled with stone up to around 350mm from the central rib of the TANK (a Tricel Nova 12P) then put 3 cube of concrete over this. this concrete is now bonded to the rock sides to the pit and if my tank floats its going to have to bring the bed rock with it.
    The observant of you will note it sits a little higher than the ground.  This was for two reasons. - to assist with the outflow depth for the rubble drain, and secondly I am going to raise the level of the ground in this and the rubble drain area, to soften the impact of the house, that will sit further East on slightly elevated ground. (I also buried a 5 ft earth rod in the concrete for the future)
     
     
    I got my levels from the pods to the tank a distance of approx. 46.5M, and worked out my fall, the levels of the land assisted this, i..e the pods to the West and the House to the East of the treatment plant are both elevated, with the treatment plant in the lower part, and near the existing rubble field drain. (our initial survey and plans worked. Phew)
     
    The trench for the waste pipe was also used for services (Water, telecoms, electricity, Ethernet) , backfilled with stone and fill from site.
    I then laid the pipe, with a fall, and supported this on flat rocks. 
    Connecting lengths of pipe together on your own is not easy, (I asked the dogs to help, but the lack of thumbs became an issue. )
    Top tip, long ratchet straps make this an easy process. the picture below shows this, I broke the length of the run up with branches for rodding points, not required at these distances, but makes sense and easier rodding if required.
    The ratchet strap is 15 m long, at one point I had two connected together. simply loop the hook around the chamber, or branch and the other end around the pipe you are connecting and a few ratchets later the pipe slides into place.
     
     
     
       
     
     
      
     
    Once all in place and re checking the levels I used stone (lots of stone) to fill the voids under the pipe, re-checking the levels (falls) and compacting as I went.
    I tested this run of drainage with bungs and water manometer.  Building control were happy not to inspect before backfill, as long as I was happy that if it failed the pressure test later that was my issue...
    My initial meeting with building control, laid the ground for our relationship, I asked what he wanted, showed him my proposals, chatted about this and that and hopefully from this he could see I wasn't a muppet, so we agreed to move forward with a few photo's here and there and he might pop in at anytime if he was passing. works for me. 
     
    One of the branches that will be a rodding point is doubling up as my caravan connection.
    For now the Treatment plant is running by being plugged in. I Will run the SWA cable but this will be powered from a house yet to be built, so for now, comes from a Caravan hook up point, with RCBO protection.
    Part two will be the rubble drain this is still work in progress..


      
     
  20. Jenki

    The road to a static caravan and services.

    By Jenki,


    Static Arrival
    The next stage of the setup of the site took place over the last 3 weeks. with some good progress.
    The trip up North, 433mile from our current rental in the NW of England. I set off on Wednesday morning in the 7.5T truck, and the 2 dogs for company.  I took some materials with me, and had a gut feeling I was overloaded. I had worked out the approx. weight of what  I was taking, but was unsure of the TARE weight of the truck. so I didn't take all I was planning.  Luckily the nice guys from VOSA, At Carlisle (Todhills check site), confirmed my  suspicions when the invited me in for a check.   I was over weight, but the truck and my paperwork were all in good order, and they give the truck a thorough looking at.
     
    The upshot of this was me renting another 7.5T truck for storage, offloading the excess weight, driving the remaining 333 miles, unloading, returning the next day with the empty truck, re loading and driving back to site.
    1100 miles in 38 hours. not what was planned, but you live and learn....
     
    I arrived back on site on early Friday morning, 02.30am.  and slept in the cab of the truck, until I was woke up at 05.10, by the guy delivering the Static, he was at the end of the road... 
    Here's a screen grab of our new home arriving to site, this was 05.25 am...
     
     
     
    I hired a contractor to carry out the highway works for the site entrance, basically as he had the correct insurance and RAMS it was easier to get this stage subbed out.
    The idea was he would open up the site, with a 5 T digger, start the initial road and stone this up with around 60T of type 1. I would then meet on site and hire his man for a few days to assist with the pecking of the treatment plant. 
     
    This didn't go to plan, they had to use a 13T machine, as it was available, so when I eventually get to site on the Thursday, due to the size of machine, the operator has completed the initial works, then pulled out approx. 60M of the road, and pecked the treatment plant hole, and I got this for free... 😁 
     
         
     
    Having a 13t machine on site, with operator for the Friday, I needed to make the most of it, as I was only paying for the rental of a 5T machine.
    Mikey the operator, made short work of pulling out the remainder of the road up to the location of the house, in total this road is around 90M. 
       
     
    Next I had him strip the area for the house.  The house is around 13M x 7M, so I wanted to strip back a working area around the house, my thought was we would hit the bed rock so this was the plan,  we marked out a 16M x 11M rectangle, and he set to it, it took him about 2 hours to strip the land and scrape it clean.
     

    The above is the bedrock where the house will be, and the road coming up the side of the house. (I used a geotextile as a separation layer for the road, although in sections the road is on bedrock anyway,)
    You can make out that there is a fall from the top left falling to bottom right, this will be made up with type 1 stone, raising SW corner of the house around 700mm, I will raise the road in this section and use some of the top soil to level this out a bit and soften the impact.
     
    The last Job for Mikey was to dig me the trench for the services, he dug a 600mm wide trench about 8M short of the Treatment plant (to allow me access to move the spoil, and a similar distance short at the other end for me to connect to the water. just shy of 60M.
     
     
    Friday was a busy day on 3 hrs sleep.  The treatment plant also arrived as can be seen above, I went for a Tricel unit, this was based on cost, treatment, dimensions and availability. 
     
    Last job for the day was to move the caravan,  Mikey helped me with this and we stripped a bit more land and located here temporarily for the night  North / South.
     
     
    Saturday I decided to get the water connected to the caravan, for this I needed to complete the  trench from the standpipe to the large service trench. I  never dug this on the first trip as I was concerned about the electrical supply to my neighbours property. 
    Cables seemed to run across my field at around 300/ 400 mm depth.  I used my contact at SSE and he arrange to get the cable moved  / deepened.
    This was carried out a few weeks prior and we discussed the position of the new road, and he made a site visit and we talked about me extending the water pipe trench in both directions so that I could also lay a utilities duct to the road for broadband.
     
    So to say I was a bit surprised, and p***ed off when I cut through the neighbours supply cable. The cable was as I was worried about 400mm deep, and the marker tape was next to the cable....   How to upset your new neighbours by having their electricity supply stopped two times (1 for the initial connection, 1 for the remedial works), only for me to cut the cable for a third time....
     
     
     
     
    At least they were very prompt, they arrived after about 40mins, and it took him around an hour to re-joint the cable.
    I then removed the water standpipe and ran my new water main up to the caravan. It will tee off for the pods at some point, and then continue up to the house. SO now I had running water in the van, and gas for the water heater and hob / oven.
    Sunday was glorious, so I caught up on my sleep, and had a restful day.
     
     
    Scottish Power were due to fit the meter on the Wednesday, so I needed to get my service cables from the meter box into the service trench and up to the caravan and to the pods.
     
    I dug a trench across the road and through to the service trench.  I used a 125mm Duct, and inside here I ran some 6mm SWA to supply the pods and some 50mm Duct to run a service cable to the caravan and ultimately up to the house.
    I pulled the cables through, and I have put a caravan hook up point next to the static.  
     

     
     
     Tuesday / Wednesday, I had 80T of Type 1 MOT delivered in stages, I spread this out using the Back hoe, and vibrating roller.   so by the end of Wednesday I have the base in for the road. which will give me good access for deliveries.
    Scottish power were a no show.....
     
     
    Discussing the caravan with the neighbour they advised turning the caravan 90deg, so it was end on East / West as the stronger winter winds tend to blow from the West, and being side on would ultimately be unstable.
    I dug out another section of land next to the caravan with the idea of swinging the van around at weekend when Mandy Joined me for the last week.
    It took me and Mandy all Saturday to move the van, using the backhoe to pull it around.  and most of Sunday to get it jacked up off the ground and levelled.  We dug 4 pits later on in the week and concreted some anchors in to chain the van down.
     
     
     
    The van in position with Mandy getting the best job of the week to squeeze under the van and start to insulate the water pipes... 
     
    Scottish Power let us down again with a missed appointment on the Tuesday with a promise of Friday....  They actually turned up late Thursday and fitted the meter, so we had power on the Thursday night.
     
    We spent a couple of days moving spoil around the site to create a mound of earth to shelter and soften the impact of the pods, this was also a planning requirement for the neighbours amenity. 
     
    Still work in progress and there's 10's of tonnes more to move.
     

     
    Last job before packing up on the Friday was to level the base of the treatment tank pit.  At this point we were still waiting for the building warrant. so couldn't actually install the plant.
     
    We end the week by getting the Building warrant approved, and the certificate for discharge for the treatment plant  both on Friday.
    Thanks for reading..
     
     
     
     
     
     
  21. Jenki

    Plans and Planning

    By Jenki,

    The story so far.
    My background of building has helped; our modest budget dictates the house will be modest and simple.
    Highland planning guidance wants single or 1.5 storey houses, ideally traditional looking, or architecturally beneficial.  Architects as a whole are probably the most important people to take Ideas and turn them into a deliverable home.  Unfortunately an architect for us is unaffordable.
     
    We have a budget, and we have to squeeze and leverage every penny from it. So doing away with every fee / service we can has to become a mindset.
    So we sketch out our plans, make paper models for floor space, list what we want, we need then categorize these into must haves.
    Our must have boiled down to:
     
    2 bedrooms, Office space, utility / boot room, WC in / near the Boot room for when were outside, Kitchen, Lounge, Bathroom
     
    I spent hours reading blogs, and topics, researching timber frame companies and the like.
    Once we had the outline we now needed the land.
    We visited lots of crofts* for sale, some as little as 10K some with building some with houses with land from 1 acre and 50 acre.
    Made enquires for electricity on 1 plot to be given an estimate of 30K for connection.
    Eventually we put a cheeky offer in for the croft and after a bit of back and forth bought our croft.
     
    I printed off lots of drawings from successful applications on the planning website, and used these as basis for the information we needed, to make the whole project possible we needed to add a couple of camping pods into the mix, and to this we needed lots of drawings and lots of information. I never asked for quotes as I knew we couldn’t afford somebody else to draw them. 
    I have used cad before, a long time ago when I was in engineering, and to a lesser extent for building works (floor plans etc), but I had never produced scaled drawings.
     
    I found the software Arcon Evo, and this seemed like a solution. I downloaded the trial and started messing around with it.  It’s buggy, but after a few hours I was thinking I might be able to pull this off, so I spent £300 for the full blown version, and set out drawing. 
     
    The software is clever, you can make your own walls, similar to build up in a U value calculator, you draw in plan and it creates the 3d model.  Once you’re happy you can create plan elements, these are automatic and form the part of the drawings. You then add the plan elements to a plan. This is your final drawing.
    For example,
    You create North, South, East and West plan elements, and you can add dimensions, text etc.  You drag these elements into a plan called elevations.  If you change the floor plan all the plan elements and plans change dynamically.  But it is buggy in places so you have to check all is good.
     
    As this was not just a house but pods we needed drawings showing the site elevations, landscape plans etc.
     
    We now needed a land survey. The plot is 8hr 30mins approx. from our house so we put some feelers out for getting a land mapping done.  £1500-£3000 to produce detailed digital levels and dimensions.... 
     
    We set off around 2pm on a windy day in July, with my trusty dumpy level, 100m tape and sighting staff, also some red flag metal spikes.  We arrived in Inverness around 9pm and stayed in a lovely B&B in Inverness for a mere £130 had breakfast at 7.30 we were on the croft for 10.30.
    The plan was simple, walk around the area the house was going to be, look out to sea and make sure we position it for the best views (there are 2 houses and a stone barn between us and the sea).  Then from here get the levels to make sure the drainage works. And start measuring.
     
     
     

     
    The sea harr didn’t help, I couldn’t see Mandy more than 35M away never mind read the staff.
    We set our datum on the corner of the field on the road, we measured in 10M increments to the position of the house plot around 80M in then created a grid of 10M sq 40M x 50M, using our little metal red flagged sticks to mark the way.
    I had to reposition the dumpy level a few times due to visibility and used previously measured markers to re-define the datum.  An hour or two later cold and wet we had the measurements we needed. After a brew in a café, we set off home getting in around 10.30pm just shy of 1000miles.
    Total cost around £300.
     
    I created a full set of drawing, to include Floor plan, elevations, sections, site plan, pod plans, plot elevations, landscaping plan, 3d plan for the pods. -  
    I sent in a Pre planning application, this is a little thing in Scotland where they like you to ask in advance for planning before you ask for planning.  Pre planning took 8 weeks, and was a report saying in general it seems ok, they would need more info on X and Y and drawings for A & B. with this I changed and amended the drawings and put forward my full planning application.
    I did get the feel that me not being an Architect, did rub them the wrong way, but after a few discussions and changes here and there planning was granted around 8 weeks later. so home drawn plans can and do get planning approval....
     
    I have been asking questions on this forum and reading posts / blogs so added my Introduction with the plans..
    The feedback was generally positive, but the big black cloud was the post from @ProDave  with regards to the problems he has had with the render on Wood fibre approach. This is the blog I found to work and copied the methodology. How did I miss the posts regarding his troubles?
    @Russell griffiths, and others also got me thinking about the exposure, so a few restless nights with the calculator and looking for options, we plan to change the external finishes; the planner has been responsive and sees no issues with my request to change the external to Fibre cement boards (Hardie Plank). And also change the roof from Metal roofing sheets to Forticrete SL8 thin leading edge concrete tiles.
     
    These changes will give a cavity between the rain shield and wood fibre that I will wrap with Breather membrane.
    That brings us to present day.
    Now waiting for the formal quote for electrical connection.
    And an issue with the water main  being made from Asbestos concrete running across our proposed entrance, so we need some trial holes before they make a decision on what needs to be done…..
     
    Shopping List:
    JCB Backhoe loader
    Static caravan
    portable storage
    small touring caravan - cheap as chips - this will be lived in by me for a few weeks at a time until we can get access,  water, power and drainage for the static sorted.
     
     
     
     
    *A trap we nearly fell into is if you buy a croft you need to follow the rules and work the land, you are bound by these, there are upsides of available grants for help, and this is the bit you need to be careful about.   If you buy part of a croft i.e. 2 acre, you’re still bound by the rules, but you won’t be able to apply for grants as the original croft will by default have this entitlement.
    You need to own the whole croft, and as far as I know this is a minimum of 4.5 Hectare, (11.2 Acre) to be able to apply for grant assistance.
     
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