All Activity

Update to this topic: The survey took a long time and the SE took even longer to act on the results. Long story short, there will be a concrete slab under the pool, and the rest of the building's substructure will be perimeter foundation with a block/beam floor. My issue is that the builder I'd like to use is at odds with this - he's done lots of very large pools and associated buildings and is convinced that a concrete slab would suffice other than for a high risk of ground instability. My layman's view is that the slab is 28m and only 7m wide so it's a relatively narrow slip and if it was a slab, upwards ground movement would have a lot of surface area to push up against whereas the slab under the pool should be OK as it has a lot of weight pushing it back down. The survey came back with ground firmness rated Stiff to Very Stiff apart from part of one section/borehole sample which was just firm. Nevertheless, the survey noted that either trench or strip foundations would be a suitable approach, and this would explain the SE's requirement for a block/beam floor. However, while I can see that a simple slab wouldn't suffice, why wouldn't an engineered raft (mat) foundation work? I haven't had any suggestion from the engineers on what type of pool I can have but I've presumed they're working on the assumption it will be built in ICF. I'm guessing though, that a one-piece fibreglass (or even stainless steel/composite, etc.) pool is a non-starter - does that sound right?

And the membrane comes up over the fascia but under the fascia vent. You either need a strip of OSB or a proper eaves tray to support the sloping bit of membrane so there is not a sag to fill up with water.

That's most people's maximum. The attitude of steel and cladding workers used to be "if I was going to fall, it would have happened by now". They walked along rafters. They all knew of someone who had fallen though.. just the once. At that time I tried to use nets but HSE wouldn't allow it. It was 'a French idea' and not approved. To be fair, leading edge protection worked quite well. Adding a handrail was innovation. MEWPS hadn't been around long either. I've come across a site photo, from the 80s, of steel erection with ladders at 5.5m. That was normal and approved.

Courtesy of @craig - 22 windows plus 2 doors and a set of Bifolds going in this week. Windows are aluclad Zyle Fenster (tilt & turn downstairs, outward opening upstairs) and the bifolds are Cortizo Bifold Plus.

Mine came with a bit heavy duty black neoprene type bung that had a hole pre cut in the centre a bit of a tight fit that I rammed inside the duct.

TBH that drawing is all a bit wrong delete out the two battens at the bottom they won’t be there lift the facia up to 25mm below the bottom tile add an over facia vent on top of the facia to make up the 25mm height.

Re running a dehumidifier. Check the spec before you buy. We have one, and it does not have any defrost function, so if you try and use it somewhere cold, the evaporator ices up and it shuts down. So check what you buy will actually work in a cold unheated garage.

Not exactly. We used a fall resist system, not fall arrest (drops). Think of it as a temporary mansafe system using ropes and movable frames. I also used to do building repairs whilst 'hanging' which was fun. I was dangling 80 feet up when the planes started crashing into the World Trade Centre - we'd noticed lot's of military aircraft activity (formations of RAF AWACS!) but didn't find out what the fuss was about antil we got off the ropes. The week before I'd been on the HSBC tower, which later gave me pause... I did fall through a roof once, but that was caused by scaffolders moving our markers and walkways around the skylight panels (white painted corrugated plastic on our white primed asbestos roof) The barstools needed a scaffold boards to finish their tower, and unscrewed and knicked the ones we had carefully laid around one of the openings and before the ropeway lock-on point. Fortunately this was over one of the mezanine offices, and I landed on a photocopier, rolled off onto a table next to a number of paper spikes, and landed in the lap of a very excitable secretary. The next week I was working in a paper mill in Kent, with our ropes looped over steam pipes that were supposedly shut off for the duration. Some absolute winker cut the safety locks of the stops and restarted the steam plant. Half an hour later our ropes snapped, and gravity stepped in. I was lucky and landed on my heels on a set of access steps 40 feet below; the way I fell meant I only severely bruised my rips and compacted some vertibrae - with just a short period to think about life whilst the nurses gave me bed baths. The chap I was abseiling with was not so lucky, but is now able to walk again.

Mid 80’s we walked around on single skin asbestos agri buildings - only fell through once when I stupidly jumped over a crack … straight through and bounced off an overhead crane on the way down!

Can't say I was thinking of a desiccant type rather a compressor type. It should be the first thing to do if you can. Makes anything else more effective and lower cost. Rust happens due to two things, temperature changes and humidity. If the steel is kept above dew point then rust will be much less of a problem even if the humidity is relatively high. So if you can attack the problem from both sides it's likely easier/cheaper than just trying to solve the problem via either one or the other.

I'm facinated. You abseiled down the slope? And if you fell through?

And the gutter will probably ( can be) be bigger than shown. That looks small and far too shallow..... gutters seldom go in level or to a steady fall, so any dip or rise severely reduces capacity.

I used to do asbestos roof repairs on commercial buildings back in my abseiling days. We used to use Belzona water based rubber roofing paint with nylon reinforcing mesh. This was applied to the whole roof to strengthen and seal the asbestos sheets completely, inside and out and though expensive it was much more economical than reroofing a massive industrial roof. Well over the top for a domestic garage roof! CT1 is a fantastic problem solver for small patch repairs like this, and is my go-to for most repairs around the house. For asbestos I would jet wash the roof to remove organic material and let it dry before sealing. CT1 will go down in the wet, but works better on dry, and it gives you a chance to see if all of the moss was removed. Use copious amounts of spit - NOT WATER - to smooth it into cracks and the surrounding surface. It's disgusting, but its the only way to stop your fingers sticking to the CT1! Unlike NfW, I wouldn't put a brush anywhere near CT1 until it dries, but I would apply some rubber roofing paint or DPM paint for belt n' braces afterwards. Only jetwash the bit you need to repair, otherwise you can cause more problems than you started with! However, if the roof is small I'd want to wash, repair, and encapsulate (paint) it all to prevent future issues. Wear a face mask when jet washing (for zoonotic protection more than particulate). Commercially, the runnoff should be removed, filtered and disposed of as hazardous waste. What you do is up to you, but make sure it it doesn't just run off onto a surface where future heatwaves might make it friable and mean you or your children might end up breathing it, as miniscule as that risk is.

Difficult one. Can you post a picture up? You may find that a non foaming flexible PU adhesive is better than expanding foam.

All good advice. It's probably not asbestos fibres but assume it is, so don't brush it. I'd combine the treatments. In dry conditions, coat the area with a bonding agent to kill dust. Then inject/trowel in CT1. But these panels can move quite a lot so then stick tape over it. Denso tape is primitive yet effective... but I've no idea how long it will last in sun. Tyvek tape may be worth a try... it is very sticky ( by brand, not a 'similar' make). That seems to be along the crown (ridge) so that is lucky. If you can obtain a section of the same profile you could overplate it. Steel, zinc, lead, or a piece of rooflight, and stick it on.

One of the oft quotes reasons for the UK to ditch NZ policies is "it doesn't matter what the UK does because China". Which is a terrible point of view and basically blame shifting to excuse doing nothing. Would any parents here entertain the argument from one child refusing to tidy their room because their sibling's room was in a bigger mess?

Globally no, we are not "ahead". The UK is ahead of where the pessimists, and even optimists thought we would be. The UK being miles ahead wont stop anything. Irrelevant to the thread - the UK more (and faster) the UK decouples itself from dependency on oil and gas the less our economy and living standards will be buffeted by external oil shocks. Case in point - inflation has jumped up again, mostly driven by the surge in fuel and transport costs. My point was globally. Not UK. Again, globally we are approaching peak emissions even as developing nations industrialise and increase consumption. There is work to do but it is far from hopeless. Once again, the point of the thread is that a raft of the net zero policies are desirable things to do from a purely selfish "what is best for the UK economy and security" perspective regardless of carbon emissions

Hi folks, my sewage treatment plant manufacturer says to use a foam to seal the air lines at either end of the air hose going from my air compressor to the plant. Cann anyone please tell me what type of foam to use. Cheers ! Arenite

Maybe CT1 and then overpaint? CT1 is ridiculously good for this type of thing btw. Not slightly good, ridiculously good, and will stick when wet and stop rain as it’s coming through. Nuts stuff that I used to use to seal up showers and baths etc in student digs where silicone was a constant source of severe leaks and property damage. For this application I would inject it into the crack as much as possible, and then apply it liberally around the affected area, and then work it around with a 2” brush, giving 2-3” of coverage either side of the crack. Same both sides if possible. Jet-wash it if you can, and leave to dry, to remove any friable materiel, and wash away any residue well to get rid of the nasties.

The tile course can be set back a little, and the ply + membrane ‘fly’ over and into the gutter. 30mm or so should suffice. A vent strip makes things look nice and stops you seeing up the ventilation void. Rain only really tends to overshoot if it’s very heavy rainfall, otherwise it holds on to the surface of the tile and pretty much falls (near) straight down.

China too - in the second quarter of 2026, EVs are up by 1/3, EV charging is up by 60%, and oil consumption is down by 9% (year-on-year). At the end of 2025 54% of their new passenger cars were EVs or hybrids; by 2030 that should reach 70%, with new electric commercial vehicles expected to be at 40%.

Perhaps cut a proper tilting fillet and mount the gutter to that where it overlaps the vertical battens?

Maybe go back and read my post on the previous page. Most of this ^^^^ is just another one of your rants and is not relevant to what i said.

Evening all, I would be grateful for a bit of help if anyone has any knowledge in this area! The structural engineer has specified a 12mm plywood skin on our single storey rear extension with mono-pitch roof. I'm planning to use BMI Redland Mini-mockbond tiles, as they're closest to the tiles on the main house and can handle the low pitch (17.5°). I'm at the point of building up the facia / soffit, but with the vertical battens necessary over the ply skin, I'm struggling to visualise the facia / guttering arrangement. My CAD mockup shows the water is going to overshoot the gutter, but if I use a taller facia board I'll be blocking the breathable membrane, which needs to sit either on top of the ply or on top of the vertical battens (it will probably be Tyvek Supro if BC are happy with it, as the data sheet shows it's used for this sort of build up). Any of you knowledgeable folk know what to do here?

Again, not so pessimistic. CO2 emissions are still growing but by ever smaller amounts. 2025 was only 0.8% higher than 2024. 2024 was 1% huger than 2023. Between 2019 and 2024 emissions gre from 33.5Gt to 34.9Gt - about 3.8% But they would have grown by over 11.5% if solar, wind, a tiny bit of nuclear plus electric car adoption hadn't curbed 2/3 of the growth. Almost all of the growth in electricity generation worldwide in 2025 came from renewables. 2026 is likely to be a big year for emissions reduction and renewable adoption. We will probably see emissions start to fall worldwide by the end of this decade. Which was unthinkable a decade or two ago. But all of this is focussing on emissions, carbon etc The whole point of this thread is that *even if you don't believe in any of that* we still should pursue policies like electrification of heating and transport plus a massive increase in domestically produced energy simply for national security and economic reasons. And the *only* way to increase domestic energy production is via renewables and nuclear.