Nervous Self Builder - West Bridgford

[Kevin Vyze]

I'm endeavouring to build a new build SIPS home for my family in West Bridgford.

We decided after some time to knock dowmn the old house and to place an eco home on here that we'd both not compromise on and enjoy with our family.  

I've never project managed such a large project before and there's a lot of learning on the job.

 

So far we've gained PP / moved into a static caravan on site / demolished the old house / dug foundations / poured and completed ground work (block and beam).

The SIPS building from Glosfords arrives on the 18th October 2021.  Starting to get nervous now..............

1676L2114 revD.pdf

Edited October 14, 2021 by Kevin Vyze
Background to the Project - Old House Pics

[Redoctober]

Welcome to the forum - What is your expected start date for the build? Either way, keep us updated with progress and feel free to ask for any guidance / advice or answers to questions you may have. Can't gaurentee a smooth ride but hey - that's all the fun of the fair! Enjoy.

[Bramco]

Hi Kevin,

 

We're very local to you.  Our timber frame is going up at the moment - the first lorry load arrived on Tuesday.  Hope you had an easier ride from Rushcliffe than we did with your planning. If only they'd done their job properly, we'd have been in the new house before Covid and missed all the current shenanigans around shortages of materials and labour and the cost increases...    

 

Are you doing the rest of the build yourselves, or have you contracted a builder?

 

Simon

[nod]

Welcome 

 

West Bridgford 

Is that Nots ?

[Brickie]

Ever venture into Sneinton?

[Mr Punter]

Welcome.  Good progress and the elevations look smart.  Be aware that zinc can be very costly.  Any floor plans?

 

Are the SIPs people leaving it watertight?

[Faz]

My best advice is to properly interrogate suppliers on lead times - many are pushing these out. Some tell you in advance (which gives you an opportunity to plan) some don't. Windows, kitchens, appliances, bricks, blocks, cement etc etc - all a nightmare.  Even deliveries from the merch which used to be 24 - 48 hours max can take 2 weeks.

 

Get the gear to site well in advance of when you think you are going to need it provided there is somewhere to stash it - and that is a whole other problem especially on a single house site. I suppose you are not having to leave a path for a forks through it though.

[Kevin Vyze]

8 hours ago, nod said:

Welcome 

 

West Bridgford 

Is that Nots ?

Hi Yes it is.  Its a nice place near to Notts (and Notts Forest).

10 hours ago, Redoctober said:

Welcome to the forum - What is your expected start date for the build? Either way, keep us updated with progress and feel free to ask for any guidance / advice or answers to questions you may have. Can't gaurentee a smooth ride but hey - that's all the fun of the fair! Enjoy.

Hi and thanks.  The expected start date is Monday (18th) whwen the Sips arrives.  I'm a little worried about the overhead lines but fingers crossed.  I'm trying to invrstigate the house heat loss calcs - any advice on this.  I'm thinking of either a traditional boiler or going down the ASHP route - which I'd prefer.?

 

[Kevin Vyze]

6 hours ago, Brickie said:

Ever venture into Sneinton?

Yes my lad lives there.  I love Sneinton Market at the weekend and the Angel too in town. ? 

 

[Kevin Vyze]

4 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

Welcome.  Good progress and the elevations look smart.  Be aware that zinc can be very costly.  Any floor plans?

 

Are the SIPs people leaving it watertight?

Hi - yes it will be water tight (as left by Glosfords) and the metal roof is actually going to be a wide box profile roof from accord steel (35/1000 profile) - which from the road looks exactly like standing seam.  It is a much chepaer system to install as well and the wall clad on the 1st flr is Corrugated Steel in Goosewing grey. - Its a liitle different but I've checked mockups.  Grd flor will be a std render.  I'll get the plans loaded.

[nod]

10 minutes ago, Kevin Vyze said:

Hi Yes it is.  Its a nice place near to Notts (and Notts Forest).

Hi and thanks.  The expected start date is Monday (18th) whwen the Sips arrives.  I'm a little worried about the overhead lines but fingers crossed.  I'm trying to invrstigate the house heat loss calcs - any advice on this.  I'm thinking of either a traditional boiler or going down the ASHP route - which I'd prefer.?

 

Ah 

im down there in two weeks (Eltham RD)

I’ve friends who live there My sister is a lecturer at the Uni and lives in Sherwood 

Small world 

Good luck with your build 

We are about to start our second and third ? Long story 

Edited October 14, 2021 by nod

[Kevin Vyze]

9 hours ago, Bramco said:

Hi Kevin,

 

We're very local to you.  Our timber frame is going up at the moment - the first lorry load arrived on Tuesday.  Hope you had an easier ride from Rushcliffe than we did with your planning. If only they'd done their job properly, we'd have been in the new house before Covid and missed all the current shenanigans around shortages of materials and labour and the cost increases...    

 

Are you doing the rest of the build yourselves, or have you contracted a builder?

 

Simon

The SIPS arrives on monday.......... I'm a little worried about the overheat lines from BT but will deal with this at the time.  Its a 3wk build and I'm tryign to  mange the full process myself as well as a full time job.  Not easy.............  The roof is metal box profile and the walls are metal corrugated steel as well (coloured).  Fingers crossed.  Any adivce on the heat source you have used (ASHP or boiler).?  I'm an engineer so trying to find a good source for the heat loss calcs

[Kevin Vyze]

Just now, nod said:

Ah 

im down there in two weeks 

I’ve friends who live there My sister is a lecturer at the Uni and lives in Sherwood 

Small world 

Good luck with your build 

We are about to start our second and third ? Long story 

Not sure I have your stamina........ ?   Blimey 3rd....  Any advice on heat loss calcs or ASHP vs. a trad boiler system?

[nod]

We didn’t have ASHP in our first 

Our next have been an easy decision 

No Gas 

If your decision is based purely on cost and you have gas readily available Then 

Gas will be cheaper to install and also cheaper to run 

All the story’s of fazing gas out are nonsense 

Even the government’s pledge to stop the fitting of gas boilers in new builds by 2025 

Is also nonsense It simply won’t happen

Ss I say our decision has been made for us But in reality the electricity that runs our new greener alternative is likely to be generated by fossil fuel 

 

I’ve found that contacting local ASHP suppliers is the best way to acutely size a pump for your needs Most seam to have the software that allows them to feed your details in to there office computer For a free comprehensive quote and sizing 

We have spoken to three All showed pretty similar printouts 

[IanR]

Welcome to the forum.

 

10 hours ago, Kevin Vyze said:

Any advice on heat loss calcs or ASHP vs. a trad boiler system?

 

Can Glosfords not provide a good steer on the heat loss calcs?

 

wrt to heating system, whichever you choose (ASHP or Gas), just ensure the design is for a low temp system, ie. with a UVC and ideally wet UFH on the ground floor. It will save a big rework if you choose to go with a Gas combi now and have to change to ASHP when the gas boiler needs replacing.

 

Personally, if you can get the heating system commissioned by March next year, I'd go with ASHP, as the RHI on offer now is more generous than what will be available after April 2022 and should easily cover any additional cost of ASHP over Gas.

 

9 hours ago, nod said:

All the story’s of fazing gas out are nonsense 

Even the government’s pledge to stop the fitting of gas boilers in new builds by 2025 

Is also nonsense It simply won’t happen

 

You may be disappointed with Bojo's announcement next week.

Edited October 15, 2021 by IanR

[nod]

11 minutes ago, IanR said:

Welcome to the forum.

 

 

Can Glosfords not provide a good steer on the heat loss calcs?

 

wrt to heating system, whichever you choose (ASHP or Gas), just ensure the design is for a low temp system, ie. with a UVC and ideally wet UFH on the ground floor. It will save a big rework if you choose to go with a Gas combi now and have to change to ASHP when the gas boiler needs replacing.

 

Personally, if you can get the heating system commissioned by March next year, I'd go with ASHP, as the RHI on offer now is more generous than what will be available after April 2022 and should easily cover any additional cost of ASHP over Gas.

 

 

You may be disappointed with Bojo's announcement next week.

Is he going to resign ?

Edited October 15, 2021 by nod

[Bramco]

11 hours ago, Kevin Vyze said:

I'm a little worried about the overheat lines from BT but will deal with this at the time.

 

The digger driver doing our culvert snapped the BT line to next door - Openreach have a 24 hour service to fix things like this.  I bought him a fridge pack of Magners cider and he seemed OK....

 

11 hours ago, Kevin Vyze said:

The roof is metal box profile and the walls are metal corrugated steel as well (coloured

 

Our roofs and the cladding on the 2 storey section are black corrugated steel - one contractor has mentioned up to 16 weeks lead time.....

 

11 hours ago, Kevin Vyze said:

Any adivce on the heat source you have used (ASHP or boiler).

 

We used an M+E consultant to do heat loss calcs - there is a spreadsheet on the forum which you can download and dial in your U values for roofs, walls and floors etc. - I had used this earlier and it confirmed what the consultant's report said.    Gas would be an arm and a leg as there isn't any down our lane. Even so, I think we'd be having an ASHP installed. We're having PV installed and when our car packs in, will replace it with an EV which by that time, we should be able to use as a house battery - so should be relatively self sufficient.  There's lots on ASHPs and RHI etc. on the forum.    If you can't find the heat loss spreadsheet, let me know and I'll find a pointer to it.

 

I'll PM you about where we are in case you want to cycle or drive over to see our build.

 

Simon

[Ferdinand]

20 hours ago, nod said:

Welcome 

 

West Bridgford 

Is that Nots ?

 

It's  just in Notts - the bit of Nottingham that would go to war rather than admit it is in Nottingham ? .

 

Just south of Trent Bridge - including the Trent Bridge cricket ground.

[nod]

26 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

It's  just in Notts - the bit of Nottingham that would go to war rather than admit it is in Nottingham ? .

 

Just south of Trent Bridge - including the Trent Bridge cricket ground.

Yep

Ive heard all that before 

and about Them Lot at Sheffield thinking 

Robin Hood was from there ?

[blackcab]

On 15/10/2021 at 09:48, Bramco said:

If you can't find the heat loss spreadsheet, let me know and I'll find a pointer to it.

 

I would really appreciate that link please. I'm learning the finer points of ASHPs at the minute and I'm finding that the concept is great but in practise you need to be very well informed.

[joe90]

Welcome, I designed and installed my own ASHP so it’s not rocket science but different from “normal” radiator systems, plenty of info here (and scaremongering ) remember to factor in the standing charge and connection charge fir gas in your calculations plus servicing.

[Bramco]

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

I would really appreciate that link please.

 

Here it is -> 

 

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

I'm learning the finer points of ASHPs at the minute and I'm finding that the concept is great but in practise you need to be very well informed.

 

From what I understand it's a lot easier than it used to be - ASHPs have been improving over the last few years as manufacturers add new features and the rest have to catch up. So they are all quite similar in terms of features (someone will no doubt be along in a while and say the opposite!).  From reading the forum though some are apparently easier to program than others - although once programmed, you probably won't have to use the interface again in years, so maybe even that isn't really an issue.

 

Simon

[joe90]

Yes, even our Jeremy made his own weather calculating programmer and binned it in favour of one room stat. I have done the same, my programmer needs a degree to understand so I use a single room stat and timer. KISS ?

[richo106]

Hi Kevin

 

I am also very local to you, I am few miles away in Willoughby

 

We are hoping to start our project next August if all goes to plan (does it ever!?)

 

I was just wondering where you got your static caravan from? did you buy or rent one?

 

I am also in the same boat as you, never took on as large project as this but will project managing all aspects

 

 

[Bramco]

On 14/10/2021 at 22:03, Kevin Vyze said:

walls are metal corrugated steel as well

 

Kevin hi,

 

Just re-reading this thread and realised that you are also cladding your build in corrugated steel - can I ask who is doing this for you?  We've found a couple of companies but are still looking around.

 

Simon