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.

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..

Yep. ?. Wrong place. I've used the insulation you mention but difficult / impossible to get flat with the spray glue. Horses for courses ??

For me it would be joist OSB or thin ply Vapour Barrier Insulation T&G OSB 3 Boards - fixed with long screws into joists EPDM this way you can use the PVA type adhesive for the majority of the roof - allows the removal of creases much easier. then contact adhesive for the perimeter / upstands Otherwise you have to use contact adhesive for the whole area, and any crease will be there for all to see. Additionally Firestone would not guarantee direct bond to insulation. Lastly I create a timber edge around the roof the thickness of the insulation (4x2 / 5x2) so you have something to screw trims, drips, gutters etc.

Resonance in the pipework could also create this. I would look at clipping all the pipes, I can't see any clips on yours for insulation, but you could put some waste water pipe clips over pipe and insulation. Either 32mm or 40mm but you want to reduce any vibration. So smaller may be better.

@TerryE Fantastic, thanks for the update, I've read your blogs and although some of the " Boffin's" bits are over my head, I'm considering this approach for my heating. As you pump after heating, did you design the UFH loops on a room by room basis? Or just 100m loops, as it seems your goal was to have uniform temperature across the slab? I'm keen to adopt the sensors and monitor via RPI but want to ensure the system can run in the future without programming. You mention that sometimes you need to top up the heating in the day, could this be overcome by 2 willis heaters or is this related to the thermal calculations and the inability for the slab to take this heat in one go? Out of my depth here?. Thanks

How long was this Journey? From Preston to our plot is around 8hrs 30 drive. With minimal comfort breaks (2hrs further on from Inverness)

I've gone on a bit of a tangent, but the above has got me thinking about heating my two pods, amenity block. The ideal solution would be a large UVC, ASHP to provide water for showers and UFH. but this is not economical for cash flow. So going with 80 / 100 L tank with 2KW immersion for hot water (cheap to buy) and when there being used I'll be being paid This leaves the heating. I have looked at Oil / IR panels and the thread below, load of ideas. But I'm leaning to think UFH with biscuit screed and timber floating floor (18SQM), with a Willis Heater might be a good solution, with the option of upgrading to ASHP when finance allow? The Pod will be fairly well insulated with good airtightness. The calculations are approx.. of 120M pipe @ 0.12L /M so around 15L of water, Lets use 20L. so a 3KW heater will raise the temp of water from say 8deg to 40deg in around 20Mins using around 1KWH. This is where I get stumped, how do I get a feel for the total cost to run UFH? the blending valve will raise the water temp so the above calculation doesn't take this into account, and obviously the floor radiator will reduce the return water temp? Are there calculators that I can use? The above gets me UFH and Hot water for around £500 / pod. Electricity is the fuel - no gas - no wood. TIA. Pete

There is a Highland design guidence document, they like slate, but it did offer metal roofing, we tried for metal roofing and cladding, there are numerous on Skye, but my planner wasn't up for it. After numerous back and forth it's was very clear they wanted white render. We got metal roofing. And cladding on one elevation, I think I could have got away with cladding the whole house in timber. Seemed a little archaic. We needed a solution as the purchase was dependent on planning. So ultimately we gave in.

Do you mean just immersion heaters for DHW, or electric boilers? I've Built several large extensions with Wet UFH and loved the result, so my plan was 250L Thermal store (to eliminate the G3 requirements) also the thermal store should prevent any issues with flow rates on the heat pump. but this is way down the line so open to more research if you can point me somewhere.

Building warrant application in , change to design i.e. façade materials etc will require planning approval, and the Highland council really wanted a white rectangular box. getting cladding on one elevation was a massive win.

So windy Wick night not be the best place to to prove the concept?. I want easy, would prefer to clad.so might get some feedback and guarantees from render manufacturers, if I can't then Use this as a lever to change planning for cladding?

Planning were very adamant that render and white render to be sure, was the way to go.?. Cavity walls not ideal for my build is I don't want to build them.

Hi. Well, no one has specified this, but I've read and read your build and it make sense, so if you have to nail me down to a specifier I would say Pro Dave, Build Hub?. No decisions made on the reader yet. With regards to the wind turbine, I agree. So the initial application was for 2 micro turbines, with the idea of directing anything they gave through a battery and to a immersion heater. However planning wanted very specific information regarding specification and noise. And at the cheap end this is difficult. I found one turbine that gave 42Db. But they came back and asked what distance/ pressure range that was taken. At 42db there are noisier fridges, so I gave up and removed the request, planning was granted by return?? We wanted to clad the whole place in steel cladding. But planning were adamant the square box, white render was the way to go. With the back and forth this is where we ended. So my question is would you use this render again?

Hi All, I've been around and commented here and there, and asked questions, but finally we are in a position to say we will be starting our new lives, and build later this year. We have bought and obtained planning permission, (Finally), a croft (L shaped field - no buildings or services), in the rural village of Occumster, on the East coast in the Highlands. approx. 12M SW of Wick. The plan is to build a modest 2 bed single storey house, and a couple of camping pods. I've attached a few drawings. Big plans and small budget. Its a full change of life style, I'm a builder, so if need be I will hopefully get some work here and there, but the main focus will be to get up and running with the pods for some income, house then livestock to follow. Moving From Preston so already used to the rain, just have to get used to the wind and we will be set. keep safe Pete and Mandy 201021_REV_FloorPlan_LAND 105M SE OF SUIL NA MARA_A4.pdf 101121_REV_Site_Plan_LAND 105M SE OF SUIL NA MARA_A3.pdf 101121_REV_Site_Elevation_LAND 105M SE OF SUIL NA MARA_A4.pdf 191021_REV_Sections_LAND_105M_SE_OF_SUIL_NA_MARA_A4.pdf 231021_REV_PODS_LAND 105M SE OF SUIL NA MARA_A3.pdf

I've just had a preliminary quote, (Highlands), where the existing transformer will have to be upgraded to 50KVA, I have to pay for the percentage I use or ask for so 15KVA supply I pay 30% of the cost of the transformer. From the quote: Works Required: Shutdown the network for safe working. Upgrade the existing transformer to 50kVA to take the new load of supply. Pole Termination and lay 10m of 3c185mm wavecon mains cable to a pot end. Re-connect the existing 3 x customers onto the new mains cable. Straight joint at the base of the pole and lay new mains cable to a pot end. Service joint and then lay new single phase service cable to the new 100 amp cut out position. £3,500 - £3750

In my wait for planning / building warrant, this is similar to the project I'm working on. you also have the option of using RPI pico (£4), if you only want temperature as it has inbuilt temperature. I'm early stages at the moment. Playing with options of sending the data to a web sql database, but linking to a NAS maybe more straight forward. I'm thinking of this RPi Display located centrally with a RPI located near the router to do the number crunching. but have not got to passing data between Pi's yet. long term I would like to be able to control the heating from this as well. the PICO could easily hide in one of these covers .

Anyone know what calculations are needed? I understand you seal up and put the fan on and regulate the fan speed to get a differential pressure of 50Pa. What I don't understand is how you work out the air change. Is that related to the speed of the fan and the extraction rate of the blades? Or is it using an aneometer and cone similar to balancing MHRV? I can see the benefits of rigging up a DIY test after the airtight membrane is installed. It would be better if I could get some figures as well.?

I've used one, they are great for leveling spoil and getting rid of spoil to a skip. As for digging you need quite a bit of room probably 6 foot from back of machine to loading shovel. I personally think you will struggle. Have you considered a micro digger and a conveyor belt? Load the belt with the micro digger straight into dumper. This would be my method from your description.

one option might be to look at getting a bespoke metal fabrication made, maybe to include the stairs as part of it, but it wont be cheap. Or maybe use mop stick handrail vertically, as these are bigger diameter,. at 1.8m you want to ensue they don't bend. or go frameless glass?

agree with the above . Eggar Protect - with special glue is the only product I would use if I had to put the finished floor in. https://www.egger.com/shop/en_GB/egger-protect If you put standard P5 chipboard in no amount of correx / tarpaulins will prevent water damage over that timescale. Past experience says the plastic sheets wick the water in (capillary action) and once this gets to the joints they will swell and become expensive Weetabix ? I would go for the loose osb option unless it is a floor cassette, if so you have to question and reduce the 5-6 weeks until water tight.

Thanks Nick I was intending of using a thermal store - for both DHW and UFH, no buffer? Main reason is I can do it myself as its not pressurised, ASHP monobloc so again fit myself. So is reverse ASHP an option. with a dedicated loop, i.e bypass the thermal store with valves ? Can all ASHP run in reverse?

Although planning a building on the East coast in the highlands, I do have a concern for over heating. Heating to be thermal store - ASHP - PV and ( possible Solar thermal)- all DIY, possibly a small wind turbine connected to DC immersion - it is windy all the time....... Anyway I got to thinking about cooling, and read some people use the ASHP and buffer tank to cool the UFH. I plan to have 6000L rainwater tank ( it also rains a bit), this tank will be underground and relatively cold, so I thought a couple of three port valves and a dedicated loop of pipe running through the tank would provide all the cooling needed and a possible heat dump for the solar. Any thoughts , problems you see.

Thanks ?

I think as long as the trims for your cladding, (header can give you a drip edge), (cill gives you run off and drip edge), and reveals can combine with these neatly, then would look great. I am planning cladding my build, and this is the area that's keeping me awake. Its essential that the detailing for weatherproofing this area is robust, and if any water can get past this cladding isn't going to do any damage to the timber frame. I'm still trying to get this detail to work in my head. I've not found any drawings that fit my scenario yet.