Redoctober

Top tip @ProDave - I will certainly bear that in mind because we were certainly caught out by the water table. We found it hard to believe that the water table would "force" the tank out like it did.

Thanks very much. Yes, I am confident that given the time frame and the tradesmen "booked" in, we should comfortably meet our intended moving in date. But as we all know, when does a plan come together?

Blimey another month on there is a real sense we are getting there. So much so, we have given notice on our rental. We move in on Friday 30th November regardless! The main emphasis this month has been installing the treatment plant and drainage system. The treatment plant was initially installed, somewhat optimistically, without any anchors only for it to pop back out of the ground within 24hrs, despite being filled with water and the pit filled with pea shingle. Needless to say the second time round, it was anchored down and the pit filled with a lot more concrete than the first time. SEPA – [Scotland] had requested a soak away to be installed along with a 20 metre drainage channel 1.2 metre wide, before connecting to a field drain that eventually discharges into a nearby water course. I then had to register my plant with SEPA at a cost of £137. The local Building Controller arrived on site to test the drains and within 20 minutes or so, both the foul and rainwater systems were passed. As soon as they had been given the all clear, the landscaper and his team set about back filling the trenches and levelling the site ready for a Hammer Head driveway, boundary hedging and turf across the remaining plot. Landscaping can be one of those often forgotten costs and to assist others here are my quantities and material prices. I haven't included the cost of the turf as it is still uncertain as to whether or not it will be laid this year or next. That decision will be taken during the week. Patio mix slabs & single slabs 2265 Setts 540 MOT 3 x 28 tonnes 448 Sand x 6 tonnes 195 Cement x 40 bags 150 Membrane - 60 metres 150 20mm whin stone x 26 tonnes 650 Internally, progress has been frustratingly slow. I had a check of my records and found that the joiner / tiler had only been on site for 11 of the possible past 30 work days!! That said, we now seem to have a momentum building and the floor tiles have started to be laid. This in turn will allow the kitchen units to be fitted this coming week. The electrician will have completed the second fix installation by the end of this coming week and the plumber is booked in for the following week to complete his second fix installations. Once the tiles are down, the joiner will turn his attention to cladding the dormers. So, over the next 4 weeks the following needs to happen – Internally – Floor tile to be laid, grouted and sealed. Kitchen, utility room cabinets to be installed. Fitted furniture in the master bedroom to be fitted. Electrician to complete his second fix and to wire up the pump for the treatment plant. All sanitary ware to be installed. Final bits of internal joinery to be completed. Externally – The gable end stone work to be completed. The dormers to be clad. The porch to be erected. The chimney to be finished off. The landscaping to be completed. Open Reach to connect us to the BT pole outside the plot. What can possibly go wrong ??

Looking good. Love the cladding and fingers crossed the weather works in your favour.

Yep, I too feel your frustrations - our Joiner has been on site for just 13 days out of a possible 30 working days!! As a result, other trades are having to be put back and the time in our rental extended for another month. Electrician said he would be on site this week - failed to show thus far. Plumber won't come out until Kitchen is in. Kitchen can't go in until tiles are down. Tiler failed to show for past 3 working days despite saying he would. What can you do? I'm sure it will all come together over the next 2 -3 weeks but why does it have to be so blooming frustrating ?? I believe it is part and parcel of self building - I don't believe anyone said it was going to be easy !!

Hi and welcome to the forum. It is certainly the place to be - We too went down a TF route and have project managed from thereafter. Some TF companies offer plan drawing options so it might be worthwhile looking into that - Fleming Homes are just one - As for your plans I would make the following observations - The front door looks odd being off centre - I appreciate why you have done this, to accommodate the stairs but from an external view it might be niggling. The Boot room, utility and upstairs DHW room appear a touch tight - are you planing on having a cylinder? If so where is that going. I'm not sure there would be sufficient room on the spaces mentioned if indeed it was going to go in one of them. A Snug and Lounge appear to be an extravagance and perhaps a large all en-compassing utility room / boot room /plant room and cloakroom could be accommodated. We have a 165 sq metre house, albeit 3 bedrooms but conscious of costs etc,. we built / building a fairly rectangle house - see my blog for details. It might help. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/entry/127-base-camp-finally/ Good luck.

Looks good to me - I have attached a screen shot of what I sent though along with all the relevant drawings etc. It seemed to work for me and proved to be the basis of what we have worked with since. The end column was for them to price up the various elements of that section of the project. the tabs at the bottom worked through the whole project in a similar vein.

Have to agree with this. I know I paid a premium for our UFH etc. and roofing but felt peace of mind was worth the extra,

What an excellent suggestion this is. I wish I had someone like that whom I could have turned too. Not that I would be doing this ever again, but if I were, or were to advise someone, I would suggest trying to latch onto someone locally, who is going through the self build process and " work" alongside them perhaps.

As for free labour - Mine, I spent my time doing general fetching and carrying and all the decorating. I am not useful for anything else but even so, I figured I have saved myself £1,000's by doing just these types of jobs. I would rather spend my time [hours] moving tiles etc into position than someone I'm paying £25 an hour etc.

Exactly what happened to us! Include in that list soffitts and fascias and I was faced with an extra £2k - An oversight on my part yes, but the way the quote was written didn't help as I assumed it was included as it featured on their list!

@Thedreamer hopefully with the amount of insulation we have invested in, our bills will be no where near that and we will be warm! No I can't say I was influenced by a Highland Croft House but I can certainly see the similarities. Our inspiration came from an Oak frame company called Border Oak.

This was our quote for our carport/ shed - see image - measures 7m x 6m deep. Supply and erect scaffolding to front and back of car-port to gutter level. Supply and fit new plastic deep-flow black gutters and fittings including downpipes. Supply and lay new tyvek breather membrane to sarking. [Scottish thing] Supply and grade new Cupa H3 slates Slate roof (Using Copper Nails) Supply and fit new ridges to match house. £4182.00 (Zero Rated).

Thanks @Russell Griffiths - there is what I believe is a weep hole in the second image down on the second course of stone up from the bottom. These are located throughout the stone so I happy with that, if indeed they are weep holes! ?

Many thanks. I will mention this tomorrow - it's the old adage " if something doesn't look right, it probably isn't" Cheers.

Hi - As you can see from the attached photos, the builders are currently finishing off the stone work above the single storey roof. Is the lead finishing acceptable? The only reason I ask is in my naive thinking, I am concerned that the rain may get in between the stone work and lead, which in turn may cause long term issues. Am I worrying unnecessarily? There is an overhang similar to that on the gable end of the single storey roof.

A timely thread as ours is going in this week - a bio-pure treatment plant. Installation instructions are [or seem to be] builder friendly and SEPA [Scotland] have insisted on an additional soak away pit before we tap into a field drain leading into a local water course. High level overflow drawing SEPA.pdf Bio-Pure 1 Tech Drawing PDF.pdf

Thanks @Tennentslager we have had a few issues but nothing major thankfully and hopefully there will be no elephant traps as we approach the final stretch. As for the blog, I have tried to tell it as it is from our perspective, mindful that the build approach is one whereby I have employed a main contractor and subbies, as opposed to undertaking any aspect of the work myself, beyond general labouring work and decorating.

Yes @Stones is it and yes the Electrician is due Tuesday so we can fire it up and get the UFH working. Thanks.

Yes it seems the main phrase for our build currently, is "nearly done" - As much as September seemed to be a frustratingly slow month progress wise, I am optimistic that we shall see things all come together during October allowing us to move in for November !! Having said that when I look back on the photos that I had taken, quite a bit of progress had indeed been achieved. It is easy to lose sight of such things when you are in the thick of it on a daily basis. The upstairs is now complete – in as much as we are still awaiting the sanitary ware to be fitted – but the rooms have been decorated, the bathroom and en suite, paneled and tiled. The paneling is moisture resistant MDF, which came in long panels, making it a lot easier to fit and also better than individual T&G panels. The floor tiles, laid in an OPUS design, went down on anti fracture matting. The oak staircase arrived and has also been installed. We have gone for a predominantly oak staircase. The main stair treads are redwood as they will be carpeted. We decided to go against a full oak staircase as we were concerned about the noise, safety element when coming down them and also due to the financial costs. The cupboard under the stairs is yet to be completed. Once done this will prove to be a very useful storage area. Downstairs, the cylinder and associated items are being installed together with the ASHP. The cylinder itself is a 170 litre tank which will have a recharge time of 37 minutes to 40 degrees. This will allow the UFH to be fired up and thereby ensuring the screed floor would have dried out completely, prior to any tiles being laid downstairs. The sitting room is now being plastered and will be painted in due course. The delay in getting this room finished was due to the fact that the chimney hadn’t been completed. Thankfully, it has now been done, which in turn, has allowed the WBS fitters to come and install the oak beam and register plate. The WBS won’t be fired up and formally commissioned until early Dec, due to the delays cause by the chimney not being done in time. Outside, the stone work is almost complete. The chimney end will be finished this coming week and then work can turn to the awkward gable end above the single storey roof. We are now in discussions with a landscaper, so things must be heading in the right direction. Over the coming weeks, the drainage system and treatment plant will be installed, allowing the roofer to return and fix the downpipes. So by contrast, October should be the month when it all comes together - we can look forward to the kitchen being fitted, electrics and sanitary ware being installed and the floor tiles being laid. Fingers crossed for a good month! Thanks for reading.

Ha - good luck with the site toilet. I found ours on its back that day after the strong winds - Muck and bullets everywhere but the Hire Company were great. A replacement unit on site within 90 minutes. ?

Wow, what are you going to do / did you do with all that stone?

Not sure about insulation being nailed / screwed to the joists but like @Declan52 has said, insulation usually goes in between the joists - that is certainly the way we did ours. See image - Nothing required to keep it in place as the width of the insulation came in at the same width of the gap between the joists.

Hi @PeterW - I appreciate that. Thanks. The holes for the pipe work are already in the wall and the builder just wanted to ensure that when the ASHP sits on the base, they line up.

Hi - just a quick one please - the concrete base for the ASHP goes down tomorrow ahead of it installation. Can't seem to get hold of teh installer at the moment but the following question has been asked - What should be the distance between the top of the base and the bottom of my ASHP be? [Mitsubishi 5 kW Ecodan]. I have tried researching via the internet but can't find any answers. Any thoughts?