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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/22/17 in all areas
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I still smile to myself that we actually got planning as everybody said no chance. My "kind" neighbour even offered to relieve some of my financial commitment and buy some of the ground since I had no chance in planning.... he and his council mates have been a thorn in my side all through planning since I kindly refused his offer, this makes it even sweeter now!4 points
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haha - I had the same. Two (local) people told me categorically I wouldn't get permission and gave me hints about how someone might want to graze some sheep and I might recoup my money after 25years. Because I never told anyone about my application, I let these two people go on with their words of wisdom before finally telling them permission has been granted. LIke a camel chewing a wasp I think is the expression!3 points
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Two things ...! Brickwork and the wine cellar ..! I set my brickie a real challenge with some reclaims that were big and heavy and different sizes and he's done brilliantly ... and even a cock up with my marking out was resolved with a lovely corbel to the chimney that "looks" like it should have been there... And the wine cellar was me being stubborn about not filling in the old garage pit - perfectly sound and dry and a bit of shuttering and some concrete and we have a perfect wine cellar for about £200 vs the thousands we were quoted for a circular one..!3 points
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I had intended this entry to be about our heating system and DHW, but due to the interest and debate on MVHR silencers, have brought this entry forward. As reported in a previous blog entry, I’ve been aware of fan noise being emitted from the individual room supply and extract terminals. The valves themselves do go some way of dampening down the noise, so acoustic valves may well be a good solution, but I decided to go down the route of building my own silencer following some discussion on the main board. A check of the various offcuts in the garage revealed some sheet MDF, plenty of CLS, various pieces of 150mm plastic ducting (supplied by BPC but not required during installation), half a box of screws, and three opened tubes of different types of sealant. Whilst it may well have been simpler to buy a ready made silencer for circa £50, I fancied a small project, and felt I would be able to produce something more effective (i.e. a larger silencer) for less cost. So, having assembled all the constructional materials, I ordered a sheet of egg box self adhesive acoustic foam from ebay. With an audience watching proceedings I set about constructing the box itself. I decided on a rectangular shape, 900mm x 600mm x 300mm as this was about as big as I could make it without causing myself problems getting it into the loft next to the MVHR unit. As you can see from the pictures, I constructed a fairly simple timber frame and clad it with MDF sheet. Acoustic foam was stuck to the internal surfaces of the MDF, with additional strips of foam being added if any of the timber framing remained visible. A generous bead of sealant seals the perimeter of every piece of MDF to the frame, and to all external MDF joints. I then taped up all external joints as a belt and braces approach. The end panel remains removable, as I used some foam tape as the sealing gasket rather than sealant. Using a jigsaw, I cut out 150mm holes in the top and end of the box and sealed in place short lengths of 150mm plastic duct, the idea being that these permanent connection points could then be fitted with whatever additional rigid or flexible ducting was required to make the final connections to the MVHR unit. Cutting the plastic duct was a bit of a challenge due to the inherent flex in the pipe - it simply isn't as thick walled / strong as drain pipe. After a couple of failed attempts at getting a straight cut, I switched to using my mitre saw. Holding the duct against the back upright guide on the saw, I simply brought the blade down for the first cut, then rotated the duct against the back plate until the blade had cut all the way round the duct. This produced nice, clean straight cuts. To finish, I wrapped the whole box in foil backed insulation and taped it all up. Up into the loft, I fitted a couple of pieces of timber as a supporting platform for the silencer and positioned it next to the MVHR unit. Using a mix of flexible and rigid ducting, I made the final connections to the MVHR unit and supply manifold. Having switched the unit back on, the difference was immediately noticeable. Even in the dead of night I cannot hear fan noise from any of the supply terminals, so it appears as if my home made silencer is doing its job, and doing it well. We still have fan noise being emitted from extraction terminals so I’ll be fitting a silencer on the extract duct as well. The plan is to use the silencer BPC are sending me. Whether it will be as effective given it’s far smaller size and therefore has a smaller sound absorption surface, remains to be seen. I hope so, but if not, I do have enough material left to make another DIY (albeit smaller) silencer. Next entry will be – Heating system and DHW2 points
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Strikes me there's a good bit of doom and gloom about..... So, what are you most pleased about in your build or refurb? Not the place for moans. Not the place for groans. What puts a grin on your face when you go on site?2 points
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Is this because Faye has been locked in said barn? "That every time I drive home (so far) the barn is still standing and Faye is still in there"2 points
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I'm most pleased that I've not murdered anyone this week Proud of myself I am!2 points
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That I'm virtually finished! How well the house sits on the site (now that its landscaped), how it looks and the quality of the build / finish. Inside I love having a kitchen worktop height of 1000mm, the showers, endless supply of DHW, and the little snug with best view where I sit and have a cuppa.2 points
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Yeah I have sampled the afore mentioned goods and can confirm after numerous tasting sessions that they are of good quality. I am fully prepared to undertake more tests if the need arises.2 points
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Well I've just got back from site. The good news first: the frame isn't out of square. I spent a good hour checking the frame and +/- 5mm it was pretty good. I think the "its all to cock" statement by the window team was a bit of a chuck a hand grenade and distract the attention away from us tactic. Not overly helpful! The bad news is the ground floor slab isn't level, neither is the first floor deck. The reasons why are probably a bit of an unknown but as Jeremy said they didn't have a great time with the weather, it was truly foul most days. Regarding the window openings; again there are a number that are out of true. Unfortunately this is a (as is so often the case) compounding of a number of errors. Firstly they had a manufacturing issue in the factory and had to adjust a good number of the openings onsite. Secondly the designer simply misread the drawings from Internorm and got some of the slab recesses wrong. I picked up these errors in advance of the windows arriving but unfortunately the remedial works in some instances just weren't quite right. So moving to the resolution. The guys turned up at 8:40pm after driving all the way from Gloucester. Joe and Brendan looked at the issues and conceded the problems without any hesitation. They are going to apply levelling screed to both the slab and the upper floor. Furthermore they are going to square all the openings with batten and packers as required. Their apporach was 100% no quibble. A refreshing change to many contractors who seem to make shirking responsibility an art! So so in summary; remind me again why we do this self build thing? Don't I have enough stress in my life? #nutter!2 points
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I went in on Monday for some milk, Just milk, I came out with 3 sets of Alan keys, some screwdriver bits, some pickle topped pork pies (very nice), an electric cool box, a crate of bottled water, a chocolate brioche loaf (also very nice), a desk bell, some round playing cards, a router and a pot of coffee. I had to stop at Tesco Express on the way back to get the milk that I forgot2 points
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As we approached our move in date, our tiler was unfortunate enough to come down with a bug that was doing the rounds. He had to take a couple of days off (and I think probably came back before he really should have) but it did have a knock on effect on the plumber, who couldn’t get all the sanitary ware fitted before we moved in. On the morning of moving in day (and to obtain our Temporary Certificate of occupation) we had one fully working bathroom. At the end of moving in day we had both working. We sourced our basins and toilet pans (Ideal Standard) from Germany. Doing this saved around £300 (even after delivery was taken into account) compared to the best price I could get in the UK. Other members of the forum have found that buying from Europe can generate savings however this is dependent on the prevailing exchange rate. We sourced our bath and shower trays locally, simply because there is no saving to be made by importing from Germany. I was also concerned about the likelihood of transit damage to the bath and wanted to ensure that a local supplier was responsible for delivery and able to resolve any issues that arose. Taps, shower valves and concealed cisterns were sourced from: https://www.plumbingforless.co.uk/ We went with Grohe for the lot. Generally speaking, we are very happy with them and certainly happy to have a 5 year UK warranty. The only disappointment is the pop up waste lever on the basin taps. It seems relatively flimsy compared to other taps with pop-up waste that we have had. We’re very impressed with the showers, good flow and a large shower head means a very luxurious spray of water. I’ve measured the flow from the shower at 16 litres per minute. Whilst this is slightly extravagant it does make for a luxurious feeling shower and is not something I intend restricting – it’s a cost (in terms of DHW) I’m willing to bear. The shower screens were also sourced locally, which turned out to be a very wise decision in view of a fairly significant oversight on my part. When ordering the shower screens, it never occurred to me to check the height. Virtually all of the shower screens on display in the showrooms were 1950 or 2000 mm high, and in previous houses we had always had trays which you stepped up to get into. It was only when the shower room screen had been fitted and I stood next to it that the issue was highlighted. Being over 2000mm in height, the problem with a 1850mm high shower screen on a low profile tray is self-evident. Fortunately the master en-suite shower screen door was still in its packaging when I identified the problem. A quick visit to the plumbers merchants and they agreed to take the unopened screen door back and replace it with a different shower screen. That screen arrived a couple of weeks later and was subsequently fitted by the Builder. The shower walls were finished with Multipanel rather than tiles, simply to make cleaning easier. Picking the right colour / finish of panel was a little challenging, although I think we managed to achieve a pretty good match in the end. We went with a simple L-shaped aluminium trim to finish the tiles for a sharp clean look. The bulkheads, which conceal the cisterns allowed us to raise the basin height to 1000mm. There are two removable tiles, one for the basin trap, one for the cistern. A larger flush plate was an option for the cistern however we preferred something smaller and stuck with the push button supplied with the cistern. We fitted the flush buttons so that they are behind the raised seat, forcing users to close the toilet before flushing. A couple of reasons for doing this, firstly it prevents any flush spray into the room, and secondly to ensure the toilet seat is left down (this saves a lot of grief) which in turn encourages users (or should I say children) to wash their hands after use. The bath was fitted into a tiled frame, the front panel being removable if we need to get access to the trap. The taps are connected to copper pipes with long flexi pipes. We’re really pleased with how both the shower room and en-suite have turned out, and both feel it was worth spending a bit extra on porcelain tiles to get a nice finish. Next entry: Heating system and DHW1 point
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Evening everybody. I'm a project manager working for a housing developer. Trained as a techy but ended up doing this so am not an Architect or Engineer but something of a jack of all trades having a brief overview of all disciplines and overseeing and coordinating housing developments. Hopefully ill be able to offer some advice occasionally instead of just seeking it. I would love to do my own self build one day and if i can make a good job of it id like to do more. I think ive got the knowledge to make a good fist of it. My dream is to build a nice place for my parents to retire to, they've worked so hard their whole adult lives and itd be a great way for me to repay them. Ive found some land in a great location but it looks tricky technically, but im sure i could handle it. The one string i dont have to my bow is the commercial one, ive no idea how much it costs to build a house so i dont know if i could afford to do it for them. Any of you able to give me a rough idea of a cost for building a 2bed terrace of a decent spec?1 point
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http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/15814-boosting-water-pressure-whole-house-supply/page__hl__ boosting water Found my old thread! Geeez this project has dragged out!1 point
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cant see why not, you could probably get away with just winding a load of 250mm timberlocks through it but biscuits and glue would probably be better1 point
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Absolutely, it's the Concept Sphere range. We sourced from Skybad.1 point
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I would suggest something like this http://cpc.farnell.com/sip/01700/bench-pillar-drill-50mm-350w/dp/TL19178 It's what I call the "generic bench top pillar drill" sold under any number of different names from loads of suppliers, even been in Lidl before now. I have been using one for over 20 years, bought originally for about £50. 5 speeds via belt change. I'll bet you find one a lot cheaper than that on ebay.1 point
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This thieved off the mig welding forum. Done by welderpaul there: "Didnt bother making the rising hinges as a cranked set - they were too unweildy and would have hit the fence on the left hand side of the gates which was close to the post.Instead: two tubes which slide inside each other. One welded to the gate on two 80 x 15 plates. Other has a normal adjustable hinge pin welded to the end and a large washer welded on on site as a stop. Wheel attached to the bottom of each gate. as the gate opens and rises up, the tubes slide out and the bottom of the gate rises still staying upright. Hinge 'eye' drilled over large so it doesnt bind on the hinge pin.Works a treat.These gates were painted rather than powdercoated - still a decent finish on them!The gates rose 450mm over a 2000mm length"1 point
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Thats very kind of you but really it is ok. He keeps me very well fed and watered. Sometimes he even brings me dessert. The only change I would make is for him to be a little less good looking. He tries so hard to fend off all the other women but it must be very tiring for him. ?1 point
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That the pain has stopped. 2 long years of nearly killing myself took its toll on my back, knees , elbows and every other joint. Now it doesn't take 5 mins to get out of bed and straighten up. I can sit out the back now in this great weather and finally enjoy living in it.1 point
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Yes, I could tell that you were going to enjoy that: 'sod-it-I'll-do-it-myself' writ large all over that post a couple of weeks ago.....1 point
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I am just please that I am still managing to progress our build, albeit very slowly, without selling the old one and without borrowing money. I never expected to get this far before the pot ran completely dry, and I even have a plan B to release some assets next March to get even further.1 point
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I just visited my lidil to pick up my plunge saw.... decided against it but came away with a panini toaster and a apple turnover (first time). Dam they are good!1 point
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That every time I drive home (so far) the barn is still standing and Faye is still there. It's been painfully slow but I can almost taste it being watertight.1 point
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We had a few acres of land that was completely overgrown with brambles and thick growth of everything else including some small trees - it was a completely impassable jungle. We wanted to get it cleared and asked a contractor what it would take - they said it would take a couple of weeks with plenty of machinery and would cost thousands of pounds (can't remember exact figure - but it was completely prohibitive). Instead, we put proper stock fencing around the area and put a couple of pigs in it to see if they could make any impact. The result was within a couple of months they had cleared everything - brambles, bushes, even small trees! Livestock can be a good way of clearing unwanted vegetation.1 point
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We have a Lidl up here and shop there on a fairly regular basis for certain things. 3 year warranties on electrical goods is great but you need to keep hold of the receipt. All too easy to throw it away when it's mostly groceries listed. I've made one warranty claim, for an internet radio. Phoned the warranty / support line, scanned and emailed a copy of my receipt and sent a replacement within days. 90% + of the Scottish Beef in Lidl is sourced from Orkney.1 point
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Things that make me smile: - The building as a whole and the fact that we managed to get PP - the site itself with its remoteness (no cars) and fantastic views1 point
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I will keep an eye out for it and park elsewhere or have Scoty (been with us since I was a lad) drive around the town while I do the shopping would not want to lower the tone.1 point
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One of the "overheard in Lidl" quotes: "My God it was awful! There was nowhere for Derek to park the Bentley!" (In a dog rough, 19 year old Ford Focus I fit right in! IT'S A CLASSIC. Just waiting for a pair of new sills actually).1 point
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@jamiehamy I agree in part with your statement but I think it's clear the key word in what @craig says is should be null - there will always be issues as tolerances on buildings are always going to be +\-5-10mm so when that is the average gap around a window you are bound to get issues. A lot of these can be down to spec and quote but unless you build the whole house to factory tolerances then something coming out of a precision factory environment - and I have worked for a window company in the past - is being fitted into something that potentially has a tolerance of build of more than the available on the product. I am building with a reclaim brick that has a +\- 12mm per brick on any of the length or width and up to 6mm on the depth - my brickie has managed to get the openings within 10mm of plan but if I had ordered my windows off plan then 2 would not fit. As it is I then have to wait for them to be made but that is easier than having to fix an opening in a brick wall..! Yes windows cause problems, but usually because we are wanting to put something onto a schedule that really should be waiting for the proper stage of the process to complete. I know that's probably an over simplification too, and windows do as you say seem to be the biggest sticking point on any build ..!1 point
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I'm sorry but that statement is nonsense, it really is. I went to minute details for my order - and the company were fully involved - and they screwed it up. Their fault fair and square. It's simply wrong to suggest that if you do xyz, there will be no issues. In this case how would the supplier have reasonably expected to identify thus issue in advance? They couldn't and they are clearly not to blame. I don't mean to sound rude but I honestly think you live in a fantasy window world that is completely different to the real world where window companies across the board are crap - they appear lazy, careless and have poor attention to detail both in specifying and manufacturing. Without exception, everyone I know who has built or is building a house has had issues with windows and doors (Nordan, Rationel, Janex and Blairs) - and in almost all cases they are at fault - in spite of minute attention to detail by the client. And I don't watch Grand Designs but people always love telling me it's the windows test go wrong...1 point
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I can do it 20 or 25mm galv conduit or Unistrut if he wants it on the quick! Seriously though I can't see a "cheap" solution being viable tbh especially with the position being remote. The legalities are a minefield. There was a case where a kiddie put their arm through a closed gate to hit the open button and was killed when it opened against them. Various issues like overload settings and sensors there but you really need to think carefully. Imagine kids getting the code and playing with it unsupervised! http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/powered-gates/safety.htm Say you do "motorize" a 5 bar metal gate, forgetting the ends hitting someone for a moment there's multiple trapping issues as the frame passes the post. That's why mine is close wooden boarded. Some industrial settings put Perspex sheets over the frame so it's still see through. If it's a collective thing I'd get a professional quote. One DIY route I'd considered was to gut an old mobility scooter. Plenty of grunt via the 24V motors (could charge by PV), speed control, flashing lights etc. But then you need to add limit switches and load sensing etc. That's why I went with the kit.1 point
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Anytime I've had people in, I have Multiple sets of the drawings printed in A3 and laminated. Their faces tend to light up! Works really well for the ground work as they kept their shape and didn't get affected by dirt or water. Not cheap but well worth it.1 point