Kelvin

In the last house I created a deeper void on the stud wall and used the top of the void as a shelf with a nice bit of oak I picked up for free. We had two manifolds but the other one was in the downstairs loo and I did the same in there again creating a shelf. I couldn’t make it all fit in our stud walls.

It is indeed. Fortunately we both agree in our house on the weathered look. 😁 Russwood have a large wall of board on board that’s weathered (the pic I posted at the start) and that picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s completely uniformly silvered and has a deep silky sheen to it. We both loved it straight away. We don’t agree on the stone flooring however and after the third trip to yet another another flooring place I’m sick at looking at chuffing stone floors so have given that decision to my wife albeit we have agreed on porcelain rather than stone. We have decided on the timber flooring for the stairs and first floor though. 😂

Had another quote from Russwood for Scotlarch in a board on board profile factory treated with the SiOO:X stuff and it’s come in at £9900 ex VAT for 208 sqm. I’ve had some quotes from local sawmills for Scottish Larch and it’s roughly half the price but untreated. Given I want it treated with SiOO:X so would need to buy it separately at approx £2000 by my calcs and paint it on myself which would take quite a while given it’s a three coat process. Therefore, going directly to the sawmill is saving me a couple of thousand approximately. Don’t think it’s worth it really. Would be worth it if I wasn’t bothered about treating it. The Scotlarch is less than half what I originally budgeted for with the Abodo I was very keen on so I’m doing the man maths around that. 😀

That’s pretty good value. My garage will also be partitioned as I want to use it as a workshop so some insulation will make it easier to use.

I’m going to go with a Murray Steel insulated building. I’ll be able to get erected before the end of the year and then I can use it for storage etc

Both nice options. Closed board needs stable timber. The detailing behind rain screen needs to be done correctly otherwise the battens are obvious. There’s a beautiful barn done in horizontal rainscreen for both roof and walls.

Got a quote back from Russwood after our visit and follow up email. The quote resembles nothing like what I asked for and I couldn’t have been more clear in my email in what i asked for.. And the Thermopine they did quote for was only marginally cheaper than the Glenalmond Abodo quote. What a waste of time.

I am in the same quandary. I was going down the full Loxone install for building mgt and had budgeted for it but the only local Loxone partner near me have been utterly useless to deal with so sacked them and subsequently Loxone off. In the end I concluded that the extreme cost of the plumbed in systems doesn’t represent good vfm especially given that the heating and ventilation systems can have their own degree of automation depending upon what you buy and they are mostly fit and forget if installed well. What I really wanted was automated rooflights that opened and closed depending upon weather/rain with automated external blinds and I might still do that. We only have 5 of them so not necessarily massively expensive. That leaves lights and curtains and in terms of lighting it’s really the main areas you use and we plan to have few curtains in the house anyway. I’ve ruled out PIRs in big areas and main rooms for the reasons already stated.

Looks lovely as does the house! How is it weathering? I’m also looking at The Scottish sawmill in Dunfermline who are also cheaper than Russwood.

We visited Russwood today to look at cladding. Immediately ruled out Accoya. The expense aside, once painted it might as well be plastic. Fine if you want a very sharp perfect look. The biggest issue for me was the examples they had on display were chipped here and there and that would annoy me as it would definitely end up chipped on the building. That left two main options really. Thermopine (from Finland) and home grown Scottish Larch. They had a large wall of board on board Scottish Larch that was untreated and had been up for 3 or 4 years. (See pic). It was stunning and exactly the look we want. They can do Thermopine as board on board too although the planks are slightly narrower than the Scottish Larch. The challenge is it means we end up with exactly what I didn’t want when it initially goes up - orange, weathering at different rates around the elevations, staining while it weathers, and potential for the black staining it can suffer from. My preference is the Thermopine because it’s more stable than the Scottish Larch and being a processed wood has better longevity. However, Scottish Larch appeals because it’s grown and milled here in Scotland. The other alternative is Abodo from Glenalmond in the Patina coating. It is really stunning, will look weathered from the start and will weather consistently. However, it’s more than twice the price of the Thermopine and more than three times the price of the Scottish Larch. I’ve had a quote from Glenalmond for it and it came in at £17,500 ex VAT for 208sqm untreated supply only so quite dear. Has anyone fitted homegrown Scottish Larch cladding or something similar in terms of quality?

Yes you will need to paint and protect it. As it happens I visited a rain screen timber clad building at the weekend and the battens weren’t painted and it was the first thing I noticed and very obvious.

Yep that’s how I’ve asked the quotes to be worded and the drawings

Our planning proposal includes a largish garage/workshop/music room which is 10.5m by 6m. The original plan was to build it is a smaller version of our longhouse house in a timber kit. Prior to costs going mental it was affordable but it is the obvious place to do a bit of cost engineering. We were in the Western Isles at the weekend and saw loads of metal storage/garage outbuildings. It the first time I’ve had a good chance to look at them and we really like them. They look very agricultural which will fit in with the farms around us. I’m expecting a quote back from Catnic for their Matrix metal SIP system. It might well be as dear as the timber kit route. Any other suggestions? This is the look we are going for.

And will also quote you many more pounds than the above prices. The quote I got from them with no filtration was £18,000 ex VAT just for the plant. They had already charged the farmer £18,000 to drill the hole!

The three quotes I’ve had all recommended an accumulator tank but not for the reasons you’ve been given. It’s more to do with direct abstraction from the borehole and recharge rate of the borehole as it’s better to pump from the accumulator rather than directly from the borehole. You also don’t need a 2500l tank unless this has been sized specifically for the number of folk in the house. SEPA recommend 150l per person per day but we’ve been recommended to assume 200l per person per day so allowing for 3 days worth of supply we need a 1200l tank. Who is doing your borehole plant?

Thread resurrection. Having made the decision on standing seam I’ve started getting quotes. The first one back is from Catnic supply only. 310sqm @ £15,000 (garage @ 95 sqm and house @ 215 sqm) It includes fascias and ancillaries. This ex VAT. Delivery is £1100. I’ve yet to haggle so possibly a wee bit less. Was expecting it to be more so under my roofing budget. They’ve supplied a big roof near me in Arbroath so will do a driveby and knock on the door 😂 as I think I know the house. I had ruled out zinc as my expectation is significantly dearer.

We looked into this too for our new build. We have a borehole so the thought was to reduce the water abstraction from the borehole rather than flashing it down the loo. Setting aside the ROI as that wasn’t a significant consideration, what point me off was: 1. over complicated plumbing for the house 2. failure of RWH pumping which seems to be a given 3. the mess it can make of cisterns etc. I went to see a few installed systems and had a sneaky peak in their cisterns and all were fully of black mould. My assumption was this was just bad design and poor ongoing maintenance 4. The size of the tank for it to make sense In the end we diverted the cash to PV/batteries. If you want to remove your lawn watering guilt completely then don’t water it at all. The lawn doesn’t really need watering and if you do water it, it needs a huge amount of water as too little water can encourage poor root growth.

Encouraging for us as we are 6/7 months before starting

Estimators online

He’s apparently done the QS on most of the houses the kit company have built. I can’t believe folk have paid this. He sent me a spreadsheet to complete to spec the house and he’ll go and get quotes etc. I already have quotes for 80% of the stuff on his spreadsheet 😂 so I’d be paying him to send me back the order of costs much of which I’ve provided. Anyway, I’ll sack him off and use the online folk for the order of costs.

Complain but what will it achieve? You want to concentrate your energy on building the house. i’ve spoken with a QS recommended by the timber kit supplier and he’s sent me his fees. I am a bit shocked at the cost. £775 to visit the site and report on any possible issues, £850 for the order of costs, £2040 to manage the tender process, £850 to analyse the tender responses, £775 pre start meet with builder, £1050 post contract and work valuation, £2040 to prepare final account, £340 per month for the duration of the build, hotel and travel expenses at cost, printing and admin at cost.

Octopus are a shambles. So much so I’ve emailed ‘call me Greg’. 😂 A month of nonsense to get the supply connected and now 4 months for a meter. They’ve given my £90 in compensation but that doesn’t really help me.

True but it’s a problem that uniquely impacts the UK. Triple whammy if you will.

Cutting as it relates to groundworks; digging out the hight point of the slope and filling the low point. Fortunately all our trees are on the boundaries and none at all in the field. 5 weeks for both would be great. Due date for decision is 24/8. Validation has dragged on a bit but that was down errors and omissions by the architect 🙄

Good advice. Will do. Thanks.