Kelvin

We went Velux this time as our experience of Fakro in a previous house was poor with all bar one of them failing in some way.

One of the most overlooked areas affecting STPs is if anyone in the household is on long term medication or undergoing therapies like chemotherapy. Considering that the majority of the population will be on some form of medication in their later years. It’s also a problem for commercial treatment plants. Do they cover this at all?

Regards cleaning top hung windows. They can pivot round to allow you to clean the outside. We went 3G for the Velux rooflights.

Maybe you could write a summary for each scenario described. There’s almost 6 hours of video in that link alone. That’s a lot of shit to wade through.

When our friends self-build caught fire the actual fire damage was minimal (just the roof) but the rest of the house was ruined due to smoke damage and water damage.

I don’t know but I do know there’s a specific coastal Ecodan model which suggests there is a problem.

https://securonorway.com/advantages-of-the-firebreather-cavity-barrier/ I’ve not decided if I am definitely using this product or not but it’s what’s been recommended

It’s dear stuff. We need about 70m so about £1700 ex VAT using the stuff the timber cladding supplier recommended or £752 using an intumescent strip.

No problem. Buildhub is an invaluable resource for the self-builder and indeed anyone doing anything to their house. It is pretty likely most questions you have will already have been asked and answered so use the search function. A top tip is to use google to search the forum as it can return better results. There are a few books that are useful and worth getting: Self-Build Simplified by Barry Sutcliffe - walks you through all main things to think about The House Builders Bible by Mark Brinkley - This is a more general book covering a wide array of items including renovations and extensions.

To give you some idea. My approach so far has been: Engage timber kit company. They’ll supply and erect the kit to weather tight so that includes windows and doors, external membrane, steel work and insulation. Engage various consultants for the technical design such as foundation, drainage (treatment plant and soakaway), private water supply etc Install electricity supply. Engage groundswork company on a fixed price. He supplied all materials and brickies except the insulated blockwork I sourced them I’ve then got quotes/tendered for every other element of the build from the roofing down. Kitchens, bathrooms, MVHR, ASHP, HA, electrical, plumbing, tiles, screed, joinery, plastering, garage, scaffolding, welfare etc, some on supply and fit and some just fit. It’s about 13 different companies/trades so far averaging 3 quotes per element and 5 contacts per element (not everyone you contact will quote) It’s a fair degree of effort tracking it all and it’s taken me 12 months to get to this point from when we signed the kit contract and 20 months from when we first viewed the plot. It was 11 months from signing the contract to breaking ground which is almost complete. The kit arrives on the 17 April and will be up by the 27th. Two week buffer in case delays and first trades on-site mid May. We’re aiming for an October finish. I’m effectively retired so have the time. Other half still works so effectively my client 😂 Hats off to the folk that do all this plus actually build it and hold down full time jobs.

I don’t know how it generally works but we got this and provided this to planning: Planning stage: planning drawings, drainage design including soakaway, house specification, architect statement on why this house, land survey, topo, drilling report for borehole, visibility splays Warrant: more detailed drawings showing drainage in the house and electrical design (neither of which we are actually following), structural engineering drawings and notes including garage and retaining wall, more detailed drainage design and rainwater attenuation, detailed construction design and notes Construction: detailed foundation underbuild drawings, timber kit construction drawings Separately to this I’ve done the MVHR layout drawings, electrical layout plus lights, all the ductwork for the house and garage although haven’t sent this to BCO. I have spoken to him though and we’ve agreed I’ll update/discuss any changes and submit a variation form at the end.

They call that turnkey. We didn’t look at that as it was too expensive. It’s undoubtedly the easiest way to do it as your handing more or less everything to them but at a price. However if it’s within your budget then it’s convenient. There are builders that will do the whole thing for you too. So you get a design done via an architect then go out to tender to a number of building contractors who then build everything for you which could be via any of the build methods. The first step before you do anything else is work out what your total budget is. Then get an idea what the going rate is for plots of land in the area you want. You’ll then know how much you have available to build. The hardest part of self-building is finding the plot of land in the first place.

Timber kits are dearer. Comparable stick build cheaper but slower. Timber kits are obviously faster to put up as you can get to weather tight in days. Ours is going to take 10 days including all insulation and windows fitted. However this is only an advantage if you can schedule all the follow on trades immediately after the kit goes up. That’s not easy to do unless you’re using a main contractor. I’ve managed to do this but it’s been a fair effort to do and as we’ve just finished the groundworks my careful planning might fall apart at first contact. Also look at ICF and don’t rule out brick and block.

Cemfloor have updated their website already and removed the incorrect information.

Yeah I didn’t think the building control drawings are uploaded to the portal. Our warrant drawings certainly aren’t nor were they for the previous house as I was similarly interested in the wall and floor build up.

We’re doing exactly that. They won’t be boxed in.

Was that Cemfloor?

I’m glad someone has said this as this is how I laid mine out with the groundsworker. We have one pop up per room that needs it plus the island and joins are at angled and one in the garage for the water softener. We have two manholes one at each end of the house 3m from the gable ends.

I’d ignore any online reviews. Ask them for references better if you can go and have a look.

I’m pretty sure he won’t come to West Lothian. I started to get quotes in as soon as I got the SE foundation design and final warrant drawings. I didn’t wait to get the warrant. By the time we got the warrant approval I’d selected the groundswork company. By then it was December and we planned to make a start as soon as weather permitted in February. The stress I had was I had to commit to a delivery date for the kit which is the 17 April so securing a groundswork company early was crucial for my programme schedule.

It’s expensive new and delivered and cheap second hand and collected. In my case I’ve found some local to me via Facebook Marketplace and paid a local guy with a truck to deliver it.

I’m sorry to tell you that it took me months to find someone in Perthshire. I started looking 5 months prior to getting my warrant as I anticipated it wouldn’t be easy. I contacted 6 companies and got three quotes back two of which took several months of chasing to get. The company I’m using is SD Clark Planthire in Blairgowrie. Fortunately for me he lives at the bottom of the hill from our plot so very convenient. I can’t recommend him more highly. Whether he’ll cover your area depends on where you are in Central Scotland as he has plenty of work around here. I found lining up the groundswork company the hardest part of identifying trades for our build. Good luck!

Just spoke to Cemfloor. They said the information on their website is incorrect and you can install thicker depths than 60mm with no problems. They recommend you don’t just for performance reasons. They are going to update their website with the correct information.

Sure but why do Cemfloor state that 60mm should never be exceeded? That’s pretty emphatic. I’m going to call them anyway.

Timber kit (302mm CPS panel) on block foundation. Top block is a 300mm insulated trench block.