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I am feeling a bit chuffed, removing render from the out side of my house I found two very rotted out external wall leaf wooden lintels, age god knows, as below. These needed to be replaced, given I have a bit of time on my hands I decided to DIY it, so got some lintels, cavity trays and a strong boy from jewsons this morning, and gave it a go. Main thing was the house didn't fall down, but I actually got it all done in a day in the sun. Pretty happy with the results, though the brick work is appalling!!! Not sure what the going rate is for lintel replacement, but feels like I have saved a fair chunk of money.

I am hoping to start work on site in May, about two-months later than my original plan. Things may well slip further and I am fine if they do. Currently, the timber frame is being designed, by a specialist frame-designer based in Herefordshire that was recommended by (and contracted via) my chosen local timber-frame company. And the frame designer has just sent me the line-and-point loads (see below), so I have in turn just sent those on to my foundations designer in Ireland so that the insulated concrete-raft foundation can be designed in parallel with the frame. (To save on VAT, I also contracted the foundation designer via my frame company.) In parallel, with this, I am in the midst of arranging a fibre-optic data connection to my plot. I already have electricity connected. The fibre connection comes from a local fibre ISP who have been pleasingly helpful. The connection requires a new overhead wire from the end of the access road about 40-metres to the gable of my neighbours house and thence down to the ground and on to my plot. My neighbour is being most obliging, partly because he also gets a connection and can drop VirginMedia, who has been unreliable for him. To my astonishment, the whole installation will be free as I, it seems, am eligible for a voucher from the government that covers the cost. The voucher does not cover the VAT but the company kindly agreed to absorb that cost themselves (!) when I mentioned zero-rating. I am getting closer to choosing a groundworks team and finalising the details of the groundworks. I am pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable for what is supposed to be a "no-dig" build but it will all be done with expert tree-specialist oversight. I need clay heave protection which will be 220mm thick so digging down about 375mm was needed if my final floor level was not going to be high in the air. For my screw piles, I will probably go for a supply-only deal for the ground screws themselves and have the groundworkers install them with a mini digger (in my presence). I am told that installation is simple. For the installation of the insulated concrete raft, I still have not identified who will be the installer. I am tempted to speak to all the local concrete pourers to see if I can find someone who has experience of insulated rafts. The raft design is going to slightly unusual. Because the insulation is not load bearing and because I have a ridge height restriction and want tall ceilings, the insulation will be thinner PIR rather than the usual EPS. To my distress, the local water company has insisted I make a water connection all the way 40-metres back down in the access road to the 5" water main there rather than 2" main directly in front of my plot, citing "the impact of another service". Oh well at least the water pressure will be good! I need now to apply for my drains connection. I had been waiting on the tree matters to be resolved as it has an impact on the trench routes. For the protected trees around may plot, I have just finalised the Arboricultural Method Statement (AMS) with my tree advisers. This unlocks the chance for me discharge my nine planning conditions, all in one go. It took a surprising amount of time to work out how this is to be done, requiring a counterintuitive use of the planning portal to create a new planning application (!). I have paid deposits for my windows and front door (IdealCombi) and my roof lights (Roof Maker, their passive-house-certified product). Bauder, my chosen warm-roof and green/sedum-roof supplier, has been very helpful with advice on matters such as waterproofing when the rooflights are too close to the edge, and on standard roof-edge details for my architect. As soon as the frame-design is ready, I will be tendering among the local Bauder-approved installers. I have identified my brick-slips cladding I will use (Eurobrick P-Clad) and worked with my architect so the corners and window openings are properly proportioned for the brick counts. I have just booked myself on a slips training-day for 2nd April in Bristol. On my to-do list are signing up for building control, warranty company (reluctant purchase) and buying site insurance. I also need to arrange some bespoke aluminium copings and profiles. The intention is that the frame will go up, the roof will go on, and the windows and rooflights will go in, in quick succession followed in short order by brick-slips cladding. With all of these done and installed, I will have a weathertight shell ready for first fix to start, perhaps around mid-summer time. Hopefully. (I am already dreaming about @nod-style metal framing!) I have been continuing to visit other Buildhubbers, with visits to two people installing Fermacell, and one Buildhubber all the way at the end of second fix. As always, I learn so much from these visits and am gratified by everyone's immense generosity. They are truly inspirational. And thanks to everyone at BuildHub for all the advice I havre received (and will undoubtedly receive in the future). The journey is just beginning. Comments, observations, guidance, suggestions welcome, as always ?

Thanks for the extra info folks, I like your creativity @SiBee the log filled baskets will be a great insect habitat, I think the iron in the rocks has caused a reaction with the galvanised surface of the baskets and is something I Had not thought about....I have similar shite rock with iron parities in it...... and I live within a few hundred meters of the sea..... thanks @vfrdave for the link still depressingly expensive for a 1x1m wire box...... Like me back when I was running my company cost would not have been a problem but there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then and my cash reserves went with it.... I really like the idea of the sheep netting and I think it would be a good solution to some of the areas that are not so much structural, like retaining the bank behind my proposed polly tunnel, I have some left over high tensile rylock from my garden fence (450m.....) and will have do an experiment To see if this is suitable. Growing various climbing/ draping plants on and over them could go a long way to making it look good. @scottishjohn some good points made and as a stonemason I am capable of filling the baskets Well, it’s all a bit frustrating as given the time I would just build Dry stone Retaining walls But I just don’t have the time as I have so many other pressing projects and retaining these areas is key to getting those projects started.... Covid has left me without an income and I think I just need to bite the bullet and accept that some projects will need to be delayed, only buying the bare minimal baskets and look into alternative solutions like the home made basket idea. when someone else is paying me to build a wall for them I have all the time I want but can only dream of having the time to do this on my own property, pic of low retaining wall I built in Hornsby NSW Australia about 8 years ago.

IMHO, yes, they do. You end up with a much wider open area. Price wise, the doors I'm looking at seem to be the best in the market - triple glazed, 25 year frame warranty, class 4 airtightness, and looks like around £9k for a 4.6m opening. I know lift and slide for that size are around £5k - so almost double the cost. BUT, our doors will be 2.7m tall and I've yet to find a lift and slide locally that comes in anything taller than 2.4m. For comparison, our "standard" double glazed 3m bifolds in our last house cost £3250 including side windows and installation. I'm sure you can get a good product for aronud £1k/meter.

We are in the process of replacing all the windows on the south facing elevation of our 60s bungalow. There are many considerations but, for us, there are two really big ones . . . 1. Being able to open the doors for ventilation and to have that sense of connecting to the outside and 'bringing the outside in'. Bi-folds address this concern perfectly. 2. To maximise the glazing and to minimise the framing - so that the latter doesn't interfere either with the views or cut out light. (The current uPVC French doors that open out onto a terrace are only 75% glazing, i.e.a full 25% of the overall aperture is plastic!) Bi-folds score poorly in this regard - large sliders win hands down. Living as we do in Devon, we concluded that the number of times each year that the doors will be open will only be a fraction of those that they are closed. So, for us, it was a no-brainer; large sliders it is. If we lived in the med' - or in a warm climate where the doors would be open more often than not - we'd may well have gone with bi-folds. TIm.

Hi Col, Thinking of what to say? My oldest gabions are 5-6 years old now. The mesh I picked was 75mm x 75mm x 3mm dia galv wire. The stone fill I used came (free) from the quarry at the bottom of my garden. This has crumbled over the years and something in the stone has reacted with the mesh and caused the gabions to rust? Also, we keeping walking on them so the top of the gabion wall is no longer level. Would I use them again? Definitely. Would I use the same supplier? Defiantly. We couldn’t afford to buy stone to fill them, we just got creative with what we could get for free.

Hi Alex, I've given this a little thought. Although initial impressions mightn't stun, the house isn't actually that bad. Just wearing the wrong frock. I think on a modest budget you could make huge improvements. There is no visual break from the hard brown surfaces running from the driveway through to the low wall, the rockery/garden and the walls. The expanse of plain brick above the door also jars. I suspect this was done for ease of maintenance but lends to the "quarry floor" appearance of the whole thing. The windows are flush with the external wall giving a caravanesque, depthless quality, lacking the 3D appearance of solidity and quality. The roof and the dormer are what they are, but the combination of weathered tiles and various shades of brown give that feeling of putting a three course meal into a blender. My suggestions: 1. Simplify the colour pallet, choose 3-4 main complimentary colours and stick to them. 2. Improve the appearance of the house openings by adding some depth. 3. Break up the hard surfaces. You could remove the roof and replace it with 400mm I Joists, pumped with cellulose, externally insulate with 300mm rockwool with a modern thin layer render, new triple glazed windows €100k plus etc etc etc Meanwhile back in the real world with bills to pay, and if your primary objective is aesthetic improvement rather that comfort/energy upgrades, I've made some suggestions below, see what you think. Jonathan I don't think brick and a contemporary aesthetic are mutually exclusive. Buy some tile paint, and give the whole roof, including the shingles on the dormer a new lease of life. Consider some contemporary window mouldings to give the windows depth. Paint the windows and the fascia+soffit a tasteful colour. Update the front door to a more modern design. A coat of paint,some new glazing and some ironmongery might do this. Add a tasteful porch overhang to break up the large area of brick above the door and provide shelter. Change its colour as required to achieve the contemporary aesthetic. Dig out the area of limestone and plant lawn or tidy shrubbery in this area. Take up the last 2-3m of brick paving nearest to the house and replant with lawn or similar if space allows. This terraced effect would settle the house into its surrounds and reduce the feeling of living in a parking lot.

You need to use a slip coupling. It's like a double ended socket but has no central stop so it can slide up and down the pipe.

Be careful Checkout company house search

The fixings are epoxied to the underside of the worktop in site. the whole underside of the worktop had been prepared with a rough surface for that purpose. The fitting process is more involved than I expected. It starts by a site visit to template the worktops, which means making an exact 1:1 scale worktop in plywood, including any scribing to make it fit all the walls. They then take the sink with them so the hole they cut is exactly right for the sink. This is where you sort out details, e.g in our case we wanted the join between the full and half bowl to exactly line up with the centre of the kitchen window. You will need to cut some of the sink unit away. Anyway I seem to have hijacked Mike's blog so if you want to ask more tag onto my kitchen worktop thread

Need to sent the SEPA people on the same course the EA go to.

@Onoff you've done me proud. Put my deck boards (loose) stuck on a chair, popped my 1st cider, evening sun.. & its a knockout! a total winner of a deck/ design/ the whole base. Perfect space for 1 to sit, good for 2, & the floaty cantilever feel works like a BOSS, so much so I'm inclined to do without front posts/rope. I think. Rock solid too of course. Your design gets 11 zootstars.. diolch Onoff.

Well done, feels good don’t it doing it yourself.

tidy enough - its being rendered..!!

I imagine they are suggesting they will offer H & S advice compliant with CDM 2015, not that they will take on any of the formal roles (Principal Designer or Principal Contractor). Maybe a wodge of pro-forma paperwork for method statements, risk assessments etc as well as basic site safety. If you have never received any formal H & S training on a construction site it may be worth considering. Find out exactly what they propose to do for the fee.

It is not really worth doing just one ceiling as it takes a while to set up and clean out. You can do the whole house in a day if it is prepped. Cover wires if they have been marked up. Make sure all the plaster is good before you start spraying. You can't easily touch in sprayed surfaces. Turn the nozzle round if it blocks. Good luck.

So that is te various sizes of pinhole the paint goes through.

Hi all Just purchased a 4 acre small holding in Devon. Needs TLC and redesign on number of levels. 1st project - new sewage treatment plant! We are a family with 5 young children so just ticking off one project at a time. I'm a Pastor by trade not a builder but have found threads and advice on here v. helpful. Look forward to getting to know some of you! Jim

It’s a You just want to watch me balls it up !

Not done it but I'm aware there can be issues. You not only need to have possession of the land for the required time but it must be "to the exclusion of all others". So make sure all the fences are present and intact. I would not replace any just make sure there are no gaps or evidence of a neighbour taking a short cut when they come over for coffee. Possession must be adverse. If the owner has ever given permission for you to use it you can't claim adverse possession. You must never acknowledge someone else owns the land. There is a sneaky way to stop an adverse possession claim. The owner rocks up (after say 12 years but before you have been granted title) and says he will sell you the land for a nominal £10. You accept the deal and he pulls out. Your previously valid claim to own it by adverse possession has just gone up in smoke because by accepting the offer you have acknowledged he owns it. Check out.. https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/security_of_tenure/squatters/adverse_possession

We had a bespoke oak door made by another company. Like many companies, Idealcombi's front doors looked pretty commercial, like what you'd find on a block of flats...

Yes the same applies. Stack them all up at one end. Measure the total gap, and then divide that by the number of spaces.

Either way The has and electric tests are for the house not the tenant Pretty much like an MOT on a car

...in Brighton...

Been done to death at the other place. Aren't a lot going to ignore the silly rules and just do it?

That YT video shows exactly what I was trying to describe to measure and work out the spacing. What you you mean by Louvres? that makes no sense to me in the context of stair spindles.

We are through a nationwide agent and every 5 years per property seems to be the norm While we don’t have much of a turnover of tenants We wouldn’t have more than one test in 5 years Our Electrian normally says allow an afternoon and will need access to every room I think it would be reasonable for a tenant to refuse access for this Certainly this side of Christmas

Nearly there! Just waiting for DIY Kitchens to come and fit the mechanism for cupboard doors on the oven unit.

Bit of a coincidence We where discussing this yesterday Not sure if this is of any help But we have an Electrical check overdue by three months In a property that the daughter is awaiting a heart lung transplant So can’t send an electrician in Weve been told this is ok and to use common sense and work around what we have

youcan buy cages with a secondary wall to keep the front layer inplace while you fill the middle packing them tightly ,like a dry stone wall is the secret --very time consuming if the rocks are not good shapes my suspicion is sheet netting is too thin for long term localfarmer used some to make a retaining gabion wall --starting to look squint after about 5 or 6 years looks like he did not take alot of time locking the sotnes together in the baskets. a dyker will tell you that the most important part is not the big stones but placing the little bits to make up the gaps between the big ones so it cannot move over time If you asking the basket to do all the support --then thickness of wire will be important making round ones? --think you will need big river pebbles to make that work not sharp cornered ones could be wrong -just my take on it you can see in above pictures what happens if you just dump in loose stuff between big bits --it moves and then basket is not fulland distorts I personally wold never use that type of "rotten rock"--as it just keeps falling apart -but ido understand he was trying to use what he found in garden

Try F H Brundle in Glasgow https://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/search?query=Gabions

On the building itself. You have a reasonably plain and not very interesting building. You don' have to focus entirely on changing the structure itself, and personally i think I would look through the lens of using it (argued in last post) rather than "what does it look like". I think that changes will be appropriate, but that I would treat it as perhaps one package now and another one further down the track - perhaps think 7-10 years. And I think the roof (unless it is failing) is one I would leave for now as it could swallow so much of your budget. Consider Las Vegas ?. You go there for three reasons - gambling, floor shows and fun. But the cards and the go-go dancers do not just stand there to be looked at. Both are also about display, and concealment, and diversion of the senses, and implication about things unseen, and creating thoughts in the mind of the viewer which haven't actually been done. Play some games and make it a house fun. You can do that with your house - if you put a suitable pergola or part or perforated wall 3m in front of your house you may be able to leave it as is, or do something inexpensive. You can grow a climber (eg Virginia Creeper or a Wisteria) right up the end gable to hide it. Or a half width terrace to break up the monotonous facade. I am slightly drawn to a simple render of the walls, and leaving the roof and windows alone unless there is a real reason to do it, and then spend the weight of the budget on things that directly impact on your enjoyment of living there. If you want I think you could be quite bold - eg somehing posmodern could be interesting, such as an arcade build from royal blue bricks, but that might need careful handling. Just thoughts. Ferdinand

Thanks for coming back. A few further thoughts now that we have a little more context - eg it being a forever home. I think there is too much focus on the building itself as I have hinted. I think you need to reflect some more on how you will actually live in it, and how eg the hierarchy of space will work - public space, semi-public, semi-private, private. I think one question is that at the moment the entire front is public space - ie a passerby can see right up to the wall of our building. The hint at a pergola is about intermediate space - where are your children or grandchildren going to play, where will you eat your breakfast or supper outside, where will you sit with your mates and a beer, where will you have conversations with your neighbours, bonfire night parties, buffets and so on? The answers depend on he site, the orientation to the sun, what you actually own, the layout of the close (looks like an open plan cul-de-sac with fences under 1m but old enough that you can get away with bending a few rules). I can see an argument for learning from the house form of eg Central Europe (high fences at the boundary) or Africa / ME (treat it as a compound). In the UK at the least i might try to turn part of that paved area into semi-private space where you can sit out, and neighbours can observe if they deliberately look but not enter without perceived permission. One way would to put a wall and/or hedge round your boundary at the front, or a hedge (forever home = time to grow). Then if you have a pergola plus division within that new outside space you get a whole new half to your garden. I am planning an outside terrace at the front of mine for sitting, as that is where the sun is throughout the day. But I already have a wall round my front garden / drive. Can you do something with that dwarf wall - knock a few holes in it such that it becomes a row of seats with something replacing the first bit of paving? Render it pink? Parterre? Checkers, Nine Mens Morris, Hopscotch and a Labyrinth set into the paving design for the under-12s and everyone else? Perhaps take some inspiration from the Get out there and get some ideas. eg Inspiration from the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris or Village Squares with moderate sized fruit trees over paving? Use you imagination, but give it some food to chew on. Ferdinand

Copper panel pins ideally as they don't rust and show through. Guess ordinary ones would be ok with a dab of paint on the heads. Use a couple of blue 3mm packs under a straight edge to get the "3mm off" to start with. Basically push the bead, from the right, up to the packed straight edge and pin. Do in a few places. Use a long level to check plumb. Then put the packed straight edge on the right wall, push the bead up to from the left and pin. You can back the pinned bead up with smears of No Nails etc before finishing.

OK so thankfully that didn't take too long but REALLY? Can a technology really be this unreliable? My red indicators (illegally fitted of course!) were not lit and my power meters weren't flashing so I know neither of them were drawing power. So rather than simply "bounce" them lets see whats going on behind the panels. Board has power but no demand light on. Check permanent feeds and immersions feeds (basic test but couldn't be bothered to go and get my meter). All good. So clearly no demand for charge: So now power cylce the permanent supply (They are switched independently you can see the switches either side) and TADA they both start demanding charge. Of course there is no way of knowing when they stopped calling for charge. I'll get some idea once they've both fully charged as I can see how much power they consume.

Yes but the Steibel is the "safety net" If you are the unlucky one that has the last shower and it runs cold, then the Steibel will let you finish your shower and get the shampoo out of your hair, but you might have to turn the flow down a bit to maintain an acceptable temperature. That is it's purpose, and sounds infinitely better than nothing but cold water to rinse your hair. That is all it is for, nothing more nothing less.

It is quicker than spending an hour cleaning out your gummed up sprayer ?. *innocent face*

Crikey that's a lot of window cleaning!

if it was that little a difference it'd be a no brainer. although I've not yet seen the idealcombi windows we could tell that the Internorm windows were just very solid and good quality. before Covid-19 hit we attended a build show and saw many manufacturers and still came away thinking Internorm felt the best. for us (we've got 42 windows which equate to 116m2 of glazing) the difference is about £15k. which buys a lot of other stuff! hence the dilemma.

Switched mine on for the first time last week. It was like switching on a log flume or jacuzzi. (Clear fresh water I hasten to add) No moving parts. Pump breaks? Take the lid off replace the pump , reconnect, go. Found a great crested newt clinging to a piece of PIR, tried to rescue it, leaned in - glasses straight off the end of my nose never to be seen again, but Sharpies float. NotAlotOfPeopleKnowThat

sounds like a deal. as long as it's the incorrect size of course. wouldn't want any that actually fitted.

Yes I gave up being a landlord once. Now I am trying to give it up again.

I know just figured more landlords here. Tbh I wish we'd just sell them and be done with it. SWMBO on about buying another ffs. Make fa from these two.

I assumed a run of infinite length!