Kelvin

Congrats. Well done in getting this far. There is loads of information on the forum about all that so do a search but by all means ask away.

Yes public liability which our general insurance provider added to our policy (NFUM) Therefore start with your current insurer and see what they say.

Same for us too. In terms of where to live. We rented a farmhouse 3 miles from the plot. I know some folk do the static caravan thing but we could not have spent two winters in a static caravan and there’s just the two of us with two dogs and I’m retired. Doing it with a young family and both working wouldn’t be easy! Finding a rental was hard though as people don’t tend to want to rent to people with dogs.

The Velux one can be flipped over too. I’ve not had the balls to do it 😂

Our Velux windows are 1600mm and top hung 3G. Not sure if they do 1500mm you’d need to look. They are heavy and if there’s a bit of wind it lifts them fully open.

Depends on the tape you use I expect. Pro Clima do a tape (other tapes are available) designed for sealing windows and junctions called Profil which is split into 12mm and 48mm. Plasterboard and a skim coat ought to cover the 12mm. I do have a few places where you can just see the edge of it but a thin bead of caulk has covered it up. You’ll make loads of mistakes but you’ll also become adept at thinking your way around them.

We live rurally as well. I love the quiet stillness inside the house.

Nearly everything I’ve had delivered has been on a timed delivery slot of a few hours and nearly everything has arrived on schedule. In fact I’ve been somewhat surprised that of all the issues I’ve had building the house deliveries have been the least problematic.

The house we last lived in was renovated old barn. It never had any windows in it. The planning consent was very strict on the type of windows we could fit and where we could fit them. uPVC wasn’t allowed. Unfortunately the windows that were fitted were so poorly made that a few of them rotted beyond repair after only 5 years. Window company had gone bust. In the end we had the builder replace three windows and the French doors at their cost.

I aim for as thin a bead of caulk as I can get away with if painting over it. If thicker then I don’t paint it.

Out of interest. If it was spray painted why are the walls so rough looking?

The farmer where we rent had all his metal barn doors painted with red barn paint. As far as I could see the painters prepped the surface well. Less than 4 months later it’s all flaking off. The worst is a brand new door he had fitted.

I’ve just fitted one (cable type) I shall post the wiring diagram for it albeit it’s a Pro Warm thermostat but they are all much the same. Won’t be until Sunday though as currently camping.

Same for the Greenraft slab but we never did it that way and stuck with the trench fill etc. We used A252 for the concrete slab.

The quote I got from Greenraft was £27k (164m2)but that didn’t include all the groundwork.

Someone posted some excellent advice on here which I followed which was to do a simple cost benefit analysis of every major decision such as floor build up or insulation for example. Pick a value you’re happy to spend up to then really question when you go above this.

That’s all standard stuff. The MVHR commissioning certificate is on my list too.

You can keep pushing but it’s far less than the original £12k which they claimed was an error. The potential £100k+ was likely scare tactics to make you think the much lower quotes are a bargain. Call me cynical. Anyway £7k is within your budget I assume so get that locked in. You can argue the toss later. Try and save £3000 or so elsewhere. My experience of the DNOs is they are all over the place with this driven by inexperienced designers. I got umpteen different estimates and quotes some they said were in error and some based on incorrect data they held about the line. In the end it cost me £450 after I got £600 refunded. That £450 must also have been wrong because they had 3 guys on-site for half a day plus the cost of the 3 or 4 other folk I dealt with, the cost of the easement, the cost of the materials, their retained margin etc.

Yes, it’s how ours is fitted.

Plus you have identified a potential weakness in that these tiles could come off and hit someone/you. In any event, putting the legal position to one side for the moment, it’s in your interest to have this surveyed and affect any necessary remedial action to make good regardless who ultimately pays for it. But on the legal side use their words against them. They’ve said there’s no loss so no claim. A survey identifying what remediation needs to be done and a quote for the work constitutes a loss so do that and go back to them.

Yes we ended up with four although split the cost with the buyer. It’s a scam in my cynical opinion.

Lenders have tightened up on loads of things. When we sold our house a few years ago we had no end of grief from the buyer’s lender and ended up with several indemnities for relatively trivial things.

Well personally I wouldn’t be putting a fridge/freezer in a closed cupboard fire rating or not for the same reason we don’t have a tumble dryer. Rethink the utility room option as that’s the best place for it.

If you have a garage bung it in there. We fitted a full height fridge in the kitchen and an under counter freezer in the utility room. We have another freezer but it’s in the garage.

Exactly what we do in the current house and what we will do in the new house. Create some shelving in the cupboard to store it and transfer as necessary. Removes BC headache, one less thing consuming electricity, removes an electrical appliance so reduces fire risk, and, if you’ve not bought it already, saves a few hundred quid which you can spend on beer/wine.