Redoctober

Looks lovely. ? Can you recall whether or not your oak panels had the horizontal cut in them on the reverse, like my larch panels do?

Not sure whether the same applies to oak cladding but our larch cladding, has been through a process whereby the reverse side has a horizontal cut / saw line across the entire length. This by all accounts, stops the cladding "curling" up. Hope this helps.

The other thing you need to factor in is the appearance of the two woods mentioned. Pine in my opinion, can be very knotty and surely regardless of the staining process, these will show up. I have oak throughout and yes, albeit, a costly item, the appearance is far superior in my mind than pine. You often find folk opt for pine or even MDF, if they are going to paint it, thus avoiding its appearance. Examples shown below Planed Natural Pine Skirting If price is an issue then the following may be a compromise? Light Oak Laminate Skirting Board

I wish I could tell but we only placed the order last week and were informed that there is a 6 - 8 week lead time!! Will certainly let you know once it has been installed etc., so watch this space ?

Interesting thread as we too have a "wind" issue which sometimes restricts us from sitting out on the patio to enjoy the evening sun etc. We have opted for a more permanent solution by way of a vertical retractable screen. I appreciate this isn't a cheap option but I feel it is worthy of mention nonetheless. See link for details - https://www.markilux.com/en-gb/side-screens/markilux-790

Yes, I agree. We ran our UFH via the ASHP for a good 4 weeks on a specific cycle which aided the slab to dry out correctly. Prior to that it had been left to dry for a few weeks anyway. A top tip would be to put down a sheet of clear plastic, taped to the floor and then leave it to see if any moisture is evident on the underside of the plastic sheeting a day or so later.

Hi @Coalbags welcome to the forum and congratulations on getting thus far with your project. There are a few members in the Borders and more further across Scotland as a whole, so you are in good company. We like photos and plans as well as questions so please feel free to share your experiences so far and as the project unfolds.

Yes welcome to the forum and also to the Scottish Borders. This area is fairly well represented on this site with self builders currently going through the process as well as those [like myself] who have come through the other end! What is your situation ? Are you new to the Borders? Have you identified a plot? Anyway, plenty of good advice available to you - just ask away and get involved - enjoy.

Likewise - I actually filled a small skip with such stones prior to our turf going down, across 600 sq metres of earth. Back breaking work - probably not want you want to hear @Ralph ?

Hi @rebeccajane17 - welcome to the forum. This is certainly the place in which to gain a further understanding of the self build process and all that goes with it. From your post it seems you are starting from a very low base knowledge wise, so I suggest you try and break down the areas you wish to "understand" a bit more about, into bite sized chunks if that makes sense. With self building, there are many elements and yes it is important to understand where they all fit together. From a starting point, I suggest the best thing you can do is to continue with your "reading" - be it monthly magazines, blogs on here [Mine might be of use to you?] and online research. With that in mind, start researching the availability of plots in your chosen area, consider the price and then your budgets. How is the project going to be financed? What are your options? Then couple all that with specific questions / reading of past questions on this forum. Good luck.

Hi @Argento I too saw the programme and was impressed with the property the couple went to see. However, I didn't get the impression it was a "complete" self build in as much as I think it could well have been a re-build on an existing property, if that makes sense? The reason I say that is because I thought the central chimney breast was a strange "design" feature to have if building from scratch. To me it looked like a supporting wall and they decided to "incorporate" it rather than knock it down etc. If you look closely, the "chimney breast" wasn't being used as a fire place and the reverse side was nothing more than a display area for crockery. I have no idea as to the construction company were etc but don't be surprised by self build properties being completed within 6 months. It all comes back to that magic triangle - Budget / Time / standard of finish. You can often achieve two of these elements but rarely all 3 - [Rarely used as it can be done and has been done but isn't that common].

Hi and welcome to the forum - you have certainly come to right place for advice and guidance but I fear helping you with your quest for a sizable plot in your chosen area is probably beyond even the sagest of members!! That said, and out of curiosity, what is the current situation for land down that part of the world? Are you hopeful in finding such a plot within your desired budget?

A lovely uplifting thread - thanks @ToughButterCup - Thought I would try and tie in the "lawn" thread with my offerings!

I don't sadly - all this SAP business is beyond me. I just set the timers and temps and away we go. That said, I shall PM you some paperwork BU provided us in an attempt that they may assist you as it seems you understand this "stuff" far better than I do?

That is correct. BU did install our system which included the ASHP, UFH and DHW tank etc. The science and calculations are sadly beyond me but suffice to say, they would have applied the same process to our build ads they have yours and I have to say, we have not had any issues with it whatsoever. The house has sufficient heat as and when we require it and we don't run out of hot water - even when "guests" were allowed.? For completeness, ours is a 165sq m 1.5 storey house with a 5KW ASHP and 170l tank. Our air tight test, should it be relevant, came in at 4.9. Have you enquired with the other companies as to why they feel it necessary to install a 10kw or 12kw ASHP? All the best . ?

Thanks. Was going to recommend a local guy we used but unfortunately you are out of his range. Good luck.

We had ours emptied just last week after a 2 year period. Driver said it was in "good shape" as I thought we had let it go too long. Perhaps I could have squeezed an extra 6 months out of it but I wouldn't have wanted to leave it any longer. The Treatment plant we use is a Bio pure - and they "suggest" a 3-5 year emptying cycle! Anyway, like @ProDave we shopped around and found SW to be "reasonable" but with a long wait. We ended up going with a company called "SERIOUS" I think they are UK wide and the people we dealt with, operated out of Perth. The driver mentioned he is often going to the Highlands and Islands. They charged me a straight £250 and I would certainly recommend them. Good communications, trackable driver when on route and all round good service.

What part of the world are you in?

Oh dear not good. Sound advice given though so hopefully it won't cause you too much pain. We had a similar situation whereby the oak arrived ahead of the scheduled time and in fact unannounced. I refused to take delivery of it simply because we had nowhere to store it and had I done so we would have been forever moving it about within the build structure as I wasn;t prepared to store it outside. The Company accepted it was going to be returned but unfortunately, when it was re-delivered some weeks later, it was in an awful mess! I suspected at the time that the Haulage company concerned just "slung" the pallets in a corner of their warehouse pending re-delivery. The Oak company were very good and replaced warped and broken items.

Yes, absolutely and I will take that into consideration when fitting a pipe etc. The thin pipe shown is actually a drainage rod used for demonstration purposes, but thanks anyway.?

@joe90 - Interesting. Our Mitsubishi Ecodan 5kw has a pipe coming form the base of the unit and we were instructed to create a soakaway for the pipe to drain into, as the unit will produce a good few litres of condensate. I did that but unfortunately the soakaway I created is surrounded by clay. Hence the issue. Thanks for the advice re hole cutter etc.

Here goes - It seems I under estimated the area needed for my ASHP condensate pipe to drain away into, as the condensate has been backing up recently. [Not draining away via the soakaway created as expected.] Upon inspection, I thought I could just dig a larger area but unfortunately, the area I am working with is clay based. In fact I managed to dig down a good 900mm but all I have done, is to create a clay walled well! Yes, it will no doubt take time to fill up but it is not a "long term" solution. So, one possible solution is to connect the ASHP condensate pipe to a pipe which in turn will "tap" into a nearby down-pipe / gutter system - see image. My question is this - How best to drill / create a hole in the "gutter" / "drain" to accommodate the new drainage pipe without breaking it and causing me all sorts of additional problems' As ever, your thoughts are welcome.

Cracking video and I shall look forward to this unfolding. The "one driver / operator" approach reminded me so much of my situation. Not that we were moving the quantities you have, but nonetheless, our ground needed to be stripped and the Contractor left just one bloke on site to use both machines. As I was in a position to do so, I helped out by operating the dumper. The job still took two and a half days mind! Probably would have taken half that if left to his own devices!! ?? This was the view from "my office" for a few days.

Hi and welcome to the Forum. There are members, including myself, who didn't use an architect or QS - or even a PM. Most self builds are manageable but again it does depend on ones circumstances. You say your time is a premium so are unlikely to be too involved. That in itself will add to your costs. I don't know how far down the line you are and what type of build you are after - TF or Block/ brick? Again, all important things when trying to price up / estimate costs. 3 years ago we finished our house - 165sq metre - a generous 3 bed 3/4 build for £1850 per sq metre. Again, the detail needs looking at rather than the headline as our finish may be considered higher than others and it did include an oak frame garage and shed combination. Take a look at my blog which might assist - others are also available and can be found here - https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/

Interesting thread. As always the devil can be in the detail. "Looking at it from a one off self build project" I am of the view that the plumbers approach isn't too far off the trades I used during our build. From my experience, our Plumber didn't spend a whole day on site, he came and went having done what he could in order to move the build on. That said he wasn't paid an hourly rate. He priced up the job and was paid at certain stages - However, our Chippy was paid an hourly rate and spent weeks on site. He took a 30 minute break in the morning and an hour for lunch. All explained beforehand. He even mentioned a bit of travelling time allowance. BUT, and here is the but - his was work was top notch, he was reliable, communicative, offered solutions not problems and pleasant to have on site. As with most things with Self builds, there will be many elements to consider and things aren't always as black and white as we would want them. That said, I do appreciate larger projects beyond a one off self build would require a more robust approach to the trades employed. @NewToAllOfThis what is your situation/circumstances?