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Evening all, Finally! A decent forum I can enjoy... Before the time of social media I was an avid forum goer, big on my underground electronic music. Rave scene jungliest movement forums were the only way I could network outside of the nightclubs. Photos from events would be posted up, pirate radios would hunt for talent and promoters would post up their flyers to try and gain momentum to get as many tickets sold before the night.... All seems a generational back in my day thing now but those were the best days, back then... Instagram, facebook and twitter changed the game and when we look back it was really only in the last decade that such trends have happened and what a change there has been! For the better.. imho no not really, negative feedback rather than positive criticism floats around freely... forums always felt more of a community to me, people sharing knowledge, wisdom and experiences to help learn and influence for the greater good, and from reading through the threads on the weekend it gave me a sense of those good old days before I had a career, before I had bills, kids & not enough time in the day! Gas engineer by trade (15 years), and now working as a supervisor for a housing association. I bought my first house when I was 20 and spent 8 years knocking it about thinking I would be a millionaire by the time It was done. It was pretty much done but we got bored of spending all our money at builder merchants so when the kids came along a few years back we bought a VW transporter, kitted it out and off we went, now we have Finley (1 and 3/4) & Penny (3 going on 30), an old dog named max, Lenny the tortoise. We just got married 2 weeks ago after being together for 14 years and now my new wife is telling me we need a bigger house.... She's right by the way! Great thing Is I've always wanted to build my own house I spent my childhood watching Grand Designs, bad thing is we may have to live in a caravan for awhile, lets hope the kids are buckled up because its going to be a bumpy ride but hey, what's life without a few challenges. And everybody who knows me knows I'm not the type to sit around watching Tv, always on the go like many of you are I sure. My brains constantly ticking over about the next 'big project' I'm working on, or at least working towards. To have our own self build we can all call home would be amazing and if we can make some memories building it well that's even better. Our plan is to snag the house we are living in and sell up by the end of the year, whilst this is happening we will be designing and obtaining planning for our plot, a bungalow that we bought last January for 170k at auction which is currently being rented out. It sits on some nice land about 1000 m2, a triangle shaped plot that is slightly sloping, its north facing with some potential views and is in prime close to centre of town position. It sits next to some green land giving a nice secluded feel about it and hop over the fence and you in some dense woodland. We hope to gain planning for a replacement dwelling by xmas and then move up their January ready to put a spade in the ground in April. Our hopes are to borrow £280k, that's £200k for the build, £40k to pay of the mortgage on the plot and £35k contingency. Ideally we want to build as big as possible but will be limited by budget. We need a 4 bed property with open plan living space, evening living room, multifunction room, bathroom, ensuite, d/s w.c, garage, workshop and a room to fit a small hair salon in. Using my skills I will be project managing, and carrying out as much as possible. I am seriously considering building in ICF with Nudura being the front runner, The fact I will be able to build the structure myself is a huge plus to me and potentially a great cost saver, the energy efficiency it will bring along with the soundproofing and sturdiness all sit well with us as a family. I am loving the way that the 1st fix and dry lineing can be installed and think it will make ease of a laborious job so I am looking forward to enrolling on a few courses in the next month of so, I also have a mate who started a concrete company last year and has the only pump and boom in the local area so I'm expecting some mates rates on the pour! Our wish list also includes a smart home using Loxone or Niko, high quality aluminium windows & some solar panels with an electrical battery pack system and a zinc looking roof or similar style, again it depends on cost but it would be great if it will all squeeze into 200k. One things for sure, I know we have our work cut out for 2 years but I know it will be worth every late evening, every cut and ache. Hopefully with some expert guidance from this forum we can make this dream come true and my kids can learn from their mum and dad how you build a future for your family. Thanks in advance Edd & Phillipa.

Hi,I am planning to do some work this year in July on my parents’ house which they bought 10 years ago, nothing considerable has been done on the house as they are can't afford the majority of the project that are present to them. I am taking on the project to help them out and to make a change, right now I am in the process of ordering the stone window surrounding set so it's ready for next week. I've talked thing out with my parent and we are looking to integrate the security roller shutter in the tight space behind the stone head of the window set so that box doesn't appear ugly. we are also planning to put a tilt & turn aluminium window in the two opening and put in a lintel above the 180 x 180mm shutter box. I was thinking of replacing the timber lintel to a steel beam with 200mm end bearing on each side. I will probably need to buy some arcow prop and some strong boy for this kind of job but don't know how many for a 600mm opening in a stone wall. probably 2, to support the timber floor joists inside and 4 for the window opening. Please let me know if am wrong.At the moment I need some advice on what lintel to purchase on your but need reassurance on the right lintel for the job.I will leave the detail below for your adviceSpan of opening: 600mmWall construction: Stone Wall (solid wall) no cavityMasonry height: 2m above, has roof load and floor joist bearing (2 storey)I will leave photos of the natural window surrounding set plan and a few photos of the 2-storey house.If you have any advice, I will be happy to listen

OK, it's a bit lonely and quiet in here, but I guess this is the right place for my new project so here we go. This is right at the very start and was hoping to start this after the initial meeting with our architect. However the snow here in the North East of Scotland is REALLY bad today and the appointment has been postponed until next week. Anyway, this would be my first project of this size. I intend to get the roof and glazing professionally done, but the rest will be myself. Well, that's the plan at this early stage. I work from home on a part time basis, so I'm fortunate to have the time and be onsite. The plan is for this to be an investment. At the end the intension would be to sell both properties and move on. How realistic that is, will be up for debate and discovery! this is outline of the plan: We have a very rural three bed house here in the North East of Scotland and as is often the case here, it came with various outbuildings and a small steading which is just a Scottish term for a barn. We've done a lot of work to the house, and now it's time to carry out our long held plans to convert the steading into a small 2 bed dwelling - if possible, allowable and feasible of course. The building is of granite construction and apart from some lime pointing, the walls are solid and true. The rood will of probably have to be completely rebuilt with the intension of slate tiling, but hopefully some of the main beams can be re-used. Though of course, some are rotten. Originally, the building had an extension on the left of the main picture below which you can see the signs of mortar of - just above the tyres. We hope to restore this small extension and hope this - together with original pictures from the 60's we have - will help get this through planning. This would give us a large mezzanine type master bedroom, with a smaller one at the opposite end. We also intend to install a large window where you see the existing doors and blockwork. It is only a small barn (lets call it that from now on), but I feel it would be still a good size for open plan kitchen/diner and living space + 2 beds, bathroom and utility. The overall internal size is 5m x 16m which I believe would be small, but perfectly formed - especially if we get the small extension approved. I would welcome with open arms any comments, questions or experiences anyone has had. At this very early stage, I feel a little overwhelmed yet excited about it all. Yet I know there are going to be some painful times ahead. I will keep this thread alive and will let you know what the architect says on Monday. Hoping the snow stops by then! Cheers,

A bit of advice needed here please. We are completely new to self build and progress has been slower than we hoped. Planning permission for "demolition of existing house and garage and building of new house and garage" has just been granted. We are just considering what to do first. We are thinking about knocking down just the garage to start with. This should allow us to dig to locate our utilities (still haven't found them so resorting to a digger), and then put our static caravan in without covering over said utilities (only one potential site for the caravan). Then we can move onto demolishing the house afterwards. If we do this, we assume our build will "start" as the demolition is noted on our permission. Is this correct? We plan to sort out the CIL with the LA before we "start". But do we need to have a building control inspector involved? Do we need any building regs stuff done before demolition? Site insurance? Or is all that just for the building phase? Anything else to consider at this stage? Thanks everyone.