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Quickish update only because I seem to have run out of hours as now we are building, balancing family life and a full time demanding job. So after the last update, where the stone wasn't really getting solid. I ended up getting it dug out, it was bothering me too much and I was completely worried about it. It was no major issue the boys dug it out in an afternoon, then put dry type 1 back in there and compacted down and built the levels up no hassles. We had a full dry week so it made a massive difference and they were able to get along much much quicker. In between the stone drama I had the surveyor on site and we set up profile boards to set out the corners and main walls internally that I needed to reference off for ducts. I set my boards up so that the string lines lined up with the lower portion of the insulated foundation once I came to the stage of setting that out. Doing it that way worked well. They built the stone up to level, then we cut all the ducts and drains in. The groundworkers took my layout for the drains, then done what they wanted to do in instead, which worked better. They didn't fancy using the rest bends but I insisted in some places. They did prefer to use Tee's which seemed fine. I wasn't too bothered by this point. The ducts ae all mm precision hoefully along with the drains so they all pop up and I spent A LOT of time planning the plant room. Then we screeded with 50mm sand. I used steel pipes for this and we set them up with the laser. It worked well and we had it screeded with 50mm sand in an afternoon. I used concrete sand for this which was wet but worked fine. That's a picture of me in the bucket of the digger doing the bits out in the middle. None of us could deal with leaving a hole in the middle. I got straight on to the DPM after this. My system has the DPM placed under the Kore insulated foundation. I did this all myself and had worked out all the joins on CAD befroe hand. It's easy to lay that way, albeit I hadn't anticipated the PITA it is to not walk on the sand but lay the DPM and then not walk on the DPM is impossible as i want it to stay level. I used OSB boards to move about most of the time. Cutting round drains is a pisser with the DPM, alsowhere you have 4 ducts popping up next to one another in a bunch it is also a complete pain. I did big cuts to get it over and it took forever to patch. I used top hats where possible and taped them in but there was some dodgy joints around where multiple ducts come up in a bunch - Those have been foamed to death now the insulation is down. Things to note - the Visqueen DPM is good, their double sided tape is good. I actually kept it in a cooler with a hot water bottle to keep it malleable as it was pretty cold when I was doing it. Their single sided tape is absolutely shit, do not buy it. Toolstation single sided DPM tape is also shit! However the Screwfix DPM tape is mega, stick like mad no matter what. really impressed with it. here: So once DPM was done I got the insulate foundation down and got started. I took some advice from @LA3222 as albeit straightforward it's not bang on. I was expecting something more highly engineered and don't get me wrong it is of high quality but some bits are a little longer and few mm here and there and some cut slightly off the square which means a good bit of adjustment. But works fine. I set out the corners first, then loosely laid it with my profile board lines. I then ended up taking a middle section out each line to get it to the right lengths and adjusted from there. I checked the lengths and squareness and procrastinated about it, ovethought it and all sorts, I didn't trust my tape as I could stretch it however much i wanted. I then ended up moving it all about and doing all sorts, one thing was apparent was the internal diagonals KORE/tanners can get relied on exactly due to the manufacturing tolerances mentioned above. So you just need to get them square tothe same size and as long as it is ballpark it is fine. I set out again and used the outer lengths, then I bit the bullet and called the surveyor back. He took 250 off me....stayed for 45 mins. Only to confirm I was pretty much bang on. I was 0mm out in some corners (bare in mind i set up with tapes over 20m) and 3-7mm mostly. Two corners I was 20mm off but i knew that as a profile board got knocked. All in all gave me plenty confidence. I then proceeded to pin the edges and then I finished filling in the three internal layers last night. Took me two full days (sat and sun) and then three nights. I used the U pins, I found them good, i started with the PU foam but found it too hard for the edges and thought it woudl take a while. So I pinned it, then filled holes with PU foam.I used PU foam in all internal joints though as that was easier. Cutting through the EPS 300 is a PITA but planned well it's ok. I'd avoid drains in the out sections next time. If i get time I will put more effort at the insulated foundation installation details, but knackered tonight after the last 5 days at it and doing my normal work. I've been writing down things that I would change and I'll list them in each blog post to provide a hint for a step! Lots of pics attached as normal. Lessons learned: 1) It is is wet - buy the type 3 stone 2) Listen to your groundworks guys if you trust them - they wanted me to add big stone down the bottom to help it drain...I didn't want to. We should have. 3) Dont buy the visqueen DPM tape, waste of money. 4) Don't be cheap and by the pro nozzle for the foam gun, It's only 20 quid. I didn't that was a schoolboy error. 5) Don't buy the bahco £19 wavy 'insulation saw' it's crap and near impossible to use with the KORE stuff Ditch it and just a normal saw. It's messy but much much quicker. thanks for reading.

It's late here for me but I have to say and please excuse the spelling / grammer. Hold the bus here, if you do this, although very tempting, you are on a very rocky road. I would advise not to do this. Take this action and you will in my view come off much worse and expose yourself to a big legal bill and, worse.. You have other options. These are : Go back to basics, get some local authority weight on your side, with their financial clout. Here are a few points to give you a flavour on how you can get this under control, and maybe benefit as an unintended consequence. I can expand later if you wish. Write to the council and say that you have a concern that they have built a habitable structure on an unproven foundation. Explain that they have not had access to your land to determine the size of the existing foundations and thus if they have not done that then how do they know the (foundations) are safe. Also ask about this being a fire boundary wall. These conditions apply. It may be that this "Architect" has not complied with the fire regs. Ask this question. I have a big check list but suffice to say once you start to ask legitimate questions then these can sway matters. Next. I would have a guess that they have opened up more of the existing main terrace rear wall to create a more open plan space. If so who is the SE that has signed this off. To explain. If all the home owners in a terrace cut a big hole in the rear wall then the whole terrace of houses could be unstable.. thus this is a public safety matter and that falls within the remit and expense of the council to pursue. Once you get this ball rolling then this "Architect" maybe can't sell on, maybe even can't rent it out as there is a fire safety / structural stability issue? To defend this the "Architect" needs to now defend against a well funded public body. For me I would rip it to death on the structures, safety side and a bit of technical stuff, get the council on board and turn it around, your expense will be your time alone. If this does not work.. it usually does, then by all means consider the drastic legal option. One key is that as soon as you get the local authority behind you on the safety issues ( which what we all should be doing as we don't want to live in houses that will fall down) then you are on the way to sorting it out. It may even be that once you get this chancer on the back foot then there may be some compensation coming your way / agreement for you to build too should you wish? The easiest and cheepest way is to hammer them on the engineering / safety side , it's often a winner as this is where they (chancers) are weak!

Arrived bang on scheduled day, no delays due to the B word, unloaded by Hiab as agreed with no problems. They are going in here, the final part of the house to get completed It will be so good after months of doing not very much to get the last phase of the build under way.

Whether you are converting a barn, like us, or building from scratch I just don't know where the time goes. Agreed hubby works full time and although I'm only supposed to work 3 days per week I've been doing a lot more lately as we are so busy with the work new build. It's also been dark and cold which doesn't inspire enthusiasm to get outside to do things. I'm also very limited in what I can do, I'm not very strong and don't always know how to do things. I've also found that keeping the site clean and tidy is a thankless and time consuming job, but essential, last week we lost a crow bar and took days to find it buried in a pile of old newspapers that should have been thrown away. One of our bigger issues is the barn being so full of all sorts of things gathered over the years before we even start, as it was pig units it's split into 7 large areas with a corridor with a wall down the middle. Some of the stuff is rubbish and can be disposed off, but I'm loath to get rid of anything at this stage in case it may have a use in the future. One area we used for hay and horse feed, which they are almost through being the end of winter. Of course by next winter I'm going to need somewhere else to store this, it may be next year that it's still in the barn as we are most likely still going to be putting the outside together. The other areas have tack and cat food, another one wood, then there is the farm implements, the tractor, the digger and other machinery. So, to store the things we really need I cleared out the old bike sheds, these had collapsed roofs which had to be removed, cut up and taken to the tip. Then to provide us with storage space they had to be rebuilt. The wood wasn't a problem, over the years we have knocked down lots of old sheds so we had lots of wood around which was good enough for this purpose. We also had some roofing sheets from old sheds, enough for one of the bike sheds. Even though the sheds suffer from subsidence they should be good enough for the duration of the build (we hope) when they can be knocked down. We then needed more sheets and some long lengths of wood to put a roof on the 2nd bike shed. So, I had to take some off the roof of the barn to provide what we needed. Not being a building expert in any way I was surprised at how much was involved in this, with battens, insulation, rafters, roofing sheets attached with lots and lots of long nails. Also, after that more wood on the top of each wall, wall plates I guess, I thought that they would be one piece, but oh no, it was battens with 2 pieces in between, lots of mouse nests and more nails. So, that's one shed, with the roof off, only another 6 to go and then the corridor. Each roofing sheet is 20' plus and far too heavy for me to move so I remove the nails with hammer and crowbar and then get hubby to get the sheets off. This week I've also removed the old gutters and what used to be wood holding them up. It did make me wonder, this barn is about 50 years old and lots of the wood is completely rotten, so what protects timber framed houses. I guess that they are just not exposed like this. This side of the barn is south facing as well so gets lots of sun. This lower roof that I'm removing at the moment will be raised to be the same height as the other part which along with digging out the floor will give us enough roof height at the lower end to pass muster. We also went shopping this month and spent a large chunk of our budget buying a digger, wacker plate, breaker, nail gun and some tiles. All auction purchases at Cheffins plant sale in Ely. We spent more on this than intended because of the VAT that we can't claim back, and will lose when we eventually sell it. But, it's going to make our life so much easier. The first task though is to dig out some huge troublesome brambles that have spread very quickly. Good practice before we need to dig out the floor in the barn. That will be done once I've finished removing the roof. Another urgent task is to get some concrete fibre roof sheets removed as they may contain that pesky asbestos. These are on the 'L' part of the barn, the majority is the metal sheets. On as more sedentary note I spent many weeks going through everything that I think we need for the build from nails to zinc roof. This was 100's of items which I then manually searched for the best price for. Then I contacted 8 builders merchants asking about trade accounts, only 4 responded with Wickes saying "do it yourself from our website". The big boys didn't even reply at all. The 3 that did respond were all local merchants who returned my spreadsheet with largely varying prices, but all offering good discounts due to the volume of stuff that we need. They also said that they sometimes have special deals, in one case 75 - 80% for some items. Of the 4 I looked at 3 priced Kingspan insulation whereas one of them listed Celotex. This is what is in the barn at the moment to keep the piggy's warm, is there much difference as the Celotex was a lot cheaper. During April, I want to get the rest of the back roof off and also get the asbestos cleared and removed from site. This does necessitate some water and electrical changes as this roof is in the area where the power and water come in from the host house.

Well - we got it done. Bit breezy....

It does highlight the benefit to have an all RCBO cu. Having the "boiler" on it's own circuit would narrow it down very quickly. Even to the point of the person "phoning" can easily convey what circuit is tripping.

Have you chased up the builder you've already paid? It sounds like things just went a bit wishy washy and he drifted off to something else. I'd try to get him re-engaged to finish off the work before making it formal with a letter before action. With taking things the legal route too quickly and too soon, you'll harm your position if and when you need to take things forwards legally and you'll likely get the back up of the builder. You also loose more control of the situation. You have to give him the opportunity to come back and fix/complete what was agreed. I'd make a list of what was agreed, what was done and what is remaining so you can get both yours and the builder's minds clear on what is outstanding. Then write down exactly what you want done by him and when. Then get in touch with him with some clear instructions and ask him to provide a reasonable timescale. This is a step you'll need to demonstrate you've done if you try with a letter before action. If the other builder is part of the same company that you originally contracted, you're fully in your rights to ask him to complete the work as you'll have paid the company not an individual/sole trader - assuming that's what you did? As others have suggested, I wouldn't get the other builder involved to do any other work than what is outstanding right now as it just muddies the waters and if they don't get on, it may add friction the situation. You also want to avoid paying out any more money to anyone else until you know more about getting things on track, or if you've really got a serious problem with the builder who's gone AWOL.

Agree 100% with this. Have a look at this which, assuming the property is in England and Wales, sets out the requirements for such a letter (section 7 in particular): https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_ced

Fitting kitchens in DOT and Dab rooms is a pain especially in old places with uneven walls behind. Ive ended up cutting a strip out of the D&D plasterboard and installing a batten to fix the top cabinets to.

Get it out of the house as soon as possible.

Trying to get my head round how to get your doors (front, rear and bi-folds) flush with finished floor level, when they'll be going in before the screed. Any advice?

you can pile under an insulated raft. Theres a few on here who have done it.

@catrionag it's just a small company, couple of guys who do groundworks and have the digger etc. they are on instagram and facebook called SD plang and services. I do have another set of good friends who do all sorts of civils also I can send the details of.

How close is close ..?? And what type of tree ..? You could use something like Hy-Tex barrier to create a root protection area and then extend the stone downward slight to strengthen the edges but you’d need an engineer to sign it off. It’s a raft so the the strength is there, it’s just if the tree roots would affect the area.

So daughter phones (again) Dad, my electrics is tripping, if i leave it off for 10 mins then i can flick the rcd back on and it will last 10 mins before tripping again. So off i trot. I won't go through all the testing this and that but, finally removed some boxing around the boiler, and found the wire providing power to the boiler wrapped around the heating flow pipe. Well you can guess the rest but sorted now. fingers crossed that was the only problem for a while.

Pic 1 is extract. Pic 2 is supply

A well written pre-action letter which complied with the protocol linked to above is intended to protect the writer’s position legally, whilst still trying to remedy the situation WITHOUT recourse to the courts. It’s all about toning the letter appropriately. You need to be firm, but fair. Stick to the facts and avoid emotive language. Explain what you think has gone wrong, give as much detail of the factual chronology, supported by documentary evidence and photos, as possible and explain what you want the reader to reasonably do to correct the position and by when. Just make sure you comply with the protocol, otherwise you won’t get the protections it affords. If you don’t comply with the protocol, and subsequently the matter ends up in court and it’s for a claim that is over the small claims threshold (which I think is £20k) but can’t remember, then legal costs can ramp up and failure to comply with the protocol can result in the court not awarding you a fair share of your legal costs, or worse still, paying the opponents’ legal costs. Of course, that doesn’t prevent you from writing an email that more or less complies with the protocol, and then if that didn’t resolve matters, writing a further one that does.

Been there . My daughter “ tv doesn’t work , microwave doesn’t work , oh lights don’t work “ Flick magic consumer unit switch love ! . Fixed !

and There's your clear agenda. Address those three issues. The wall issue, I suspect, might not be as important as you appear to think.

I didn't spot this at first but it's a little confusing where you refer to the boundary wall being 6.2m and 4.8m when in fact it looks to me like you're actually referring to the side wall of the house. Can you confirm this. If the officers report recommended approval then the committee have to have grounds for a refusal. They can't just decide to refuse because they don't like it, although they often do but then its overturned on appeal. Why did it go to committee? Were there lots of objections during consultation period?

I’m going to do it ! 2 macerators shovelling ? left , right and centre . The brave will inherit the Earth ! ( or get covered in poo )

I have in mind something of a split level bar/counter thing, goal post framed akin to a kitchen island. The best value material for this seems to be Facebook Marketplace 'scaffold boards'. If anything this is too thick but I'm not paying the prices of proper timber let alone something decorative for this rustic themed project. The inset bit under the bar top will be a slatted design something like pallet slats or roof batten and I'll have a go at planing these with my new router.

https://mcalpineplumbing.com/plastic-chrome-fittings/flexible-fittings-non-return-valves/z28m-nrvs-solvent-weld-line-non-return-valve

Just found this on the BBC science page, surprising.....https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-56450965

I think you missed a con on exposed valves - look crap ..!! Even chrome pipe work looks bad.

Macerated waste will still have solids that a grey water pump is unlikely to cope with .... blockage clearing wont be pleasant

@WWilts I think the confusion is your drawing wasn’t clear, it looks like you have just drawn orange lines and not stopped at the walls. If you mark it up with rodding eyes on the end then that looks like a much better idea. Has your architect done you drawings with layers that that can be removed, that way you can have a drainage plan without all the other junk clouding peoples view.

You don’t need expansion joints on an internal wall that size. On the external expansion joints what you need to understand your render panels and their maximum length - you normally split them around windows or changes in profile at around 6m or so ( @nod is that correct ..??)

This is pretty much my proposed external wall construction, though i am proposing to use dot and dabbed plasterboard on the inside. I have been toying with doing a parge coat. Rendered lightweight blockwork 7.3N (0.45 thermal e.g. Besblock insulite) 150mm Dritherm 32 lightweight blockwork 7.3N (0.45 thermal e.g. Besblock insulite) dot and dab plasterboard U-value of 0.18. Using an aerated block internally (0.18 thermal ) gets a U-value of 0.17, but i didn't want to use the aerated due to the reasons given above. Edit: the construction above with 200mm Dritherm 32 give a u value of 0.14 regardless if use the aerated block or the lightweight blockwork due to the rounding

Since you have paid up front for all the work but not had all the work done, I would now be writing a "letter before action" to the first builder stating you want him back on site to complete the work that you have been paid for, or you will be taking the matter to court.

I know planning consultants that deal regularly with East Devon District Council (where OP is) and they always say that the Council are pretty conservative in what they allow and aren't that progressive. That said it really depends what area the existing house is or what @JennyDevon wants to do, as there are some stunning one off houses in East Devon that have been permitted.

Oh don’t I know that , with my fight I ended up at appeal and they (IMO) are a lot more agreeable than b^^^^y planners ?‍♂️

The planners can be very awkward and use ambiguous planning policies to try to thwart peoples plans to build replacement homes out in the sticks. It took years to finally get permission for our build but if you stick at it you can win. If the property is more or less okay it can be a lot easier and quicker to alter it using PD to create what you want.

That isn't the max distance required in building regs it is 22m i think, Table 13 here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/442889/BR_PDF_AD_H_2015.pdf Though if the rods come in 10m packs i would out a max of 18m between inspection chambers so you have 9m + 1m overlap from either inspection chamber

If you can get the falls, i would always get the foul out of the house as quickly as poss.

Ours goes out and around at the back and front. Means a few more ICs but with Clarke drain covers you can have them in your drive or patio and never notice. Drain rods come in 10m packs so that should be the distance between ICs on the runs.

The only reason I can see cracks appearing is if airated blocks are used (I dislike them a lot) my longest walls are 10m long, no movement joints or bed reinforcement and in the whole house only two minuscule cracks have appeared after 2 years. The only movement joint I have come across was an extension I did years ago and the architect asked for it in case of differential settlement to the new foundations. If your house cracks it’s because the foundations are moving or not built properly. Small cracks are expected as a house dries out, timber shrinks etc. A good plasterer worth his salt will do a good job but so many nowadays can only skim plasterboard.

It's not one of my choosing.@Russell griffiths made me change my screen name because he told me to '... toughen up buttercup... 'I felt so wounded, devastated, shattered, traumatised that I had to.... His fault, not mine.

Go around the outside unless absolutely necessary due to required falls and termination levels preventing the extended runs

I would be nervy about having those length of runs and a joint under the house, especially when you could easily bring them round the house footprint

****** goes off to change my drawings ****** ? i was getting confused as a product i was looking at used is a single ply PVC that is mechanically fixed without OSB https://www.bauder.co.uk/roof-systems/waterproofing-systems/single-ply/pvc-systems

Hello JTB. Yes I had the same issue. My flat roof make up is: EPDM rubber glued to 18mm thk OSB3 glued onto the top of two staggered layers of 100mm PIR (thus 200mm thick) on vapour membrane. Vapour membrane is on 18mm thick OSB3 resting on 195 x 45mm joists with 12.5mm plasterboard on inside. I plumped for this as I was doing it single handed. The glue for the insulation / OSB3 interface is a poly urathane (PU adhesive), I used Insu stix, the can is in the photos. Very effective. I did the membrane in two halves as it was too heavy and bulky to handle on my own. The blocks are to weight down the insulation while the glue cures. And yes the pipes in the garden etc can do with a tidy up. Roof lantern in progress. I also opted for this solution as the weather is a bit unpredictable here. As there are no fixings then no potential thermal bridges, problems installing a fixing through 200mm plus insulation and hitting a joist etc. Hope this helps flesh out your ideas. Only issue is you have a pretty thick roof so I'll maybe use some careful shaddow gaps etc to try and reduce the tunnel effect at the lantern. It looks promising at this point.. nearly ready to start messing with the plastering here.

Good point. I've gathered quite a few quotes but I think they're all from single insurance providers rather than a broker ... some of them positioned themselves as brokers but are actually just selling their own products. So I probably need to delve further into the detail before acquiring yet more quotes to find a firm that actually can offer independent advice rather than just throw more and more products into the mix and confuse me even more!

greenery in the way to see properly, @Meechl85 can we have a better picture?

Oh, that'll be fine. I assumed that you were talking about a shelf sticking out from a wall, rather than one supported from underneath like this.

In case anyone is reading this and considering buying a router, before using it, do some research about what direction they're supposed to be pushed relative to the edge you're working on.

As I was using Klik ceiling roses, I've used Klik wallplates for the remote-switched lighting .

I would take out a brick 600mm up , fit Louvre air brick after stuffing fibreglass plug down flue assuming on internal wall, insulate up outside of flue to 600mm

Seal around pendant cable penetrations if any? or fire hoods around downlighting if they aren’t fire rated.

Hi Download from Dropbox here. Andy