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This blog is for me to look back over time to see how things have changed and to assure myself that we are making some progress, albeit very slow. I appreciate all help and friendly comments, but appreciated that this is not an exciting blog. Looking through my diary for the last month it seems to say, work / work / work and not on the conversion. Moving to a new factory seems to entail lots of extra hours. Good to add some OT to the budget, but by the time the taxman etc. have their cut it's not as much as hoped. Anyway, this weekend 7th / 8th August is the server move which means the rest of the office staff can move so one more busy week with them and it should slow down. The factory is a different story, but that's not my responsibility. Anyway, back to the conversion. After looking in more detail when replacing some blocks we realised that the crack in the middle of the long back wall went from top to bottom and was not level, but luckily hadn't cracked the somewhat limited existing foundations. Thanks to BH and advice we went from the plan to stitch to removing the whole section to replace. So, from this To this, and hopefully soon the gap will be no more. To provide access for drainage and just add more space on the back, which is south facing, we have been removing rotten sleepers and the steel girders which held them up. This picture is back before everything started growing, now the whole bank has been covered in bracken as you can see in the picture above. So again, from this To this, which will ultimately be retained by gabions and cleared the whole length. Getting out all the tree stumps, rotten sleepers and metal girders is quite a labour intensive task, thanks for diggers. As of 2019 this stretch was completely impossible to get through with lots of weeds and tree branches growing through what is now our windows. I didn't think at the time to take any pictures, but I'm beginning to become part of my children's generation and trying to remember to take photos daily of everything that does and doesn't move. Not something that was ever done when I was young. So, onwards to August, building up the gap, extending some internal walls and if we can get a floor saw then breaking more concrete, hopeful at an auction tomorrow. Good luck to everyone on their build and back at the end of August. Jill

Consider running at least two cables to each location - I would run 4 to main TV position Cable to each CCTV camera position I would wire back to a patch panel, rather than direct to the switch Consider small 19" rack and devices with rack ears to keep it neat Some switches can have very noisy fans Think about which devices require POE and make sure your switches can provide the standard of POE required Most ISPs will only "officialy" support their supplied modem/router, though you can use your own with most. I use my own and would just swap out for the ISP supplied one if they were trying to tell me a line fault was due to me running my own gear. I run Draytek router/modem, netgear switches and Ubiquiti wifi with no complaints. Would probably be tempted to go all ubiquiti if starting from scratch now

TV + console or 2 + sky + DVR (if you use one) + media PC (if you use one) + sound bar (if you use one). It adds up.

I believe most people would recommend to do this. Not only TV's "get networked", but sound bars, home theatre amps, Android/Apple TV boxes, Chromecast, Streamers, the next "big thing" etc etc. Hardwired is more robust than Wi-Fi, and Cat 6 is relatively cheap so may as well stick extra in. Flexibility. You only need to make a connection live, when you intend to use it. ie. patch it from the patch panel to the switch. You can also change whether or not that connection has PoE, if you run a PoE switch and a normal switch (PoE ports are a premium so you may not wish to have capacity for all connections to be PoE)

So, all 90metres of fence panels in front of motorway crash barriers - now complete! The woodstore needs to be finished and the bank will have a few more things planted in it that are being relocated. It's now likely in front of the panels will be grassed for the majority with just parts of path e.g in front of the utility door and parts joining to the patio up to summerhouse mainly because it's cheaper and easier to maintain. We are really pleased with the result. VID_20210808_200242.mp4 VID_20210808_200242.mp4

In this situation I would go for surface boxes, easier to install and when it goes wrong easier to repair. Surface boxes that are plastic with the 20mm knock outs are preferable to the hard plastic type that may crack when screws are over tightened.

I am looking to buy cavity closers, and just has a thought. As i am doing a fully filled cavity do i really need to buy a high spec cavity closer as the full fill will provide a good amount of insulation and there won't be cold air circulating in a residual cavity.

Absolutely certain that I'd cut this straight ..... Sometimes, when working on your own, you really can't see how knackered you are .

Looks great

Thanks for the advice guys, my mum isn’t happy about the garden being so small so have to cancel the sale. for completion, the neighbour has that parking space and ours would have been at the front of the house really appreciate the advice though and thank you

As above - I've never regretted running an extra cable, but I have regretted not running an extra cable when I've had to mount some ugly mini switch somewhere to give me an extra port ! Patchbays give you a lot of flexibility, @IanR mentioned POE, but you can also patch telephone, video, etc that you may not want to terminate in a switch. For example, the CT clamp for our solar diverter runs from the distribution board, through our patchbay, and out to the device, not going through the switch

Wow, really good, bet you guys are well chuffed ?.

So they only introduced a little Hydrogen? Typical journalism. So when we shortly go to E10 petrol, the Times will be reporting we are powering our cars from Ethanol then? I would have expected better from the Times.

£100K will get you a plot in the north of Scotland. From where we are, 30 minutes north of Inverness it is about 2 1/2 hours drive to Perth. 5 hours will get us to the English border. When we moved here, our target was 30 minutes from Inverness as it offered employment, shops, and transport, and this side is less wet and less midges than the West coast, but we can still get to the West in an hour and holiday there often. But also look at the Southern Uplands that might offer what you want. Much of the property sold in Scotland gets advertised on the Solicitors Property Centres and they are all brought together here https://www.sspc.co.uk which would be a good place to start browsing to see what is available.

Pedantry or precise use of terms, as you choose but: It is not an expansion joint, but a contraction joint. All concrete and screed shrinks when it cures. More or less according to water content and reinforcement. Expansion joints are for use outdoors where it may heat and expand (back to where it started usually) If in doubt, movement joint covers everything. I would tile under and either side of the appliances as suggested above (in case of any leaks), and tile to the feet of the other units. Then plinth goes on top of tiles, covering up feet of units. You can even use cut or other old tiles under the appliances. BUT if you change the kitchen there might be awkward gaps. Unless silly expensive, it may be worth tiling the whole area. There is a bonus to doing the tiling first: the kitchen fitters will put the worktop at the right height, and the legs are all much the same height.

You could consider mounting on he cupboard floor, or a shelf, for a firmer surface. Looking at mine, I have 3 types for the first 3 I looked at (kitchen done by previous self-builder ? ) 1 - Mounted on back of cupboard. 2 - Mounted on side of cupboard. 3 - Mounted on wall where cupboard is backless. However they are all fine *. And he was obviously a flexible chap. F * Apart from the socket in the island for the wide-boy led plinth lights fed by a lighting cable buried directly in the screed.

If I look at the first two plans it looks like your mum has two spaces and the neighbour has one. But looking at the Google Maps picture it doesn't look wide enough to park three cars, although has he got some bins at one side there and is then stealing some of your mum's space to still have a parking space? It does look pretty clear that the boundary between the spaces is in line with the boundary between the houses. Maybe the previous owners just didn't;t mind him being over the boundary as they didn't need the space. If it isn't wide enough for three cars and there is basically a space for one car each why would you want to make life awkward for someone for the sake of a tiny bit of extra garden. On the other hand is the neighbour being cheeky and using one and a half spaces by using it for storage as well? Also whose car is that parked in front of the garage. If you made the neighbour move over, then they couldn't park there either. Does your mum need this kind of hassle with neighbours? Ignoring my personal opinion, I agree with other people, it is highly unlikely that you own what is basically the road and can enclose it. The deeds appear to show the neighbour owning the spot in front of their garage, if they actually parked there, you wouldn't be able to get to your garage. If you do own it, you would likely need planning permission to enclose it and it would likely be refused. I see a lot of people locally in modern estates trying to do this, where they try to enclose amenity ground around their house which is on their deeds. It often gets knocked back.

Dry lining boxes usually need at least 9mm thick panels, the thin backs of some kitchen units might not be thick enough. So yes, surface mount boxes.

We have a mix of stone and tile over UFH in screed. Used flexible adhesive without a decoupling mat. Only issue we had was where we screeded and tiled through a doorway from one room into the next. The two areas of screed shrank towards their centres causing a curved crack at the doorway. This propagated through the tiles. Should have made a deliberate straight crack in the screed (aka expansion gap) and arranged for it to be under a sill or on a grout line. Or perhaps used decoupling mat in that area.

Make sure you don’t go off the straight line when laying or it’ll quilt up and then you’re into cutting out sections and patching. It’s quite hard to spot too, so keep checking back on the previous runs to ensure they’ve stayed down. A cheap 9” roller will help to lay it smoothly. FWIW, I’ve laid Christ-knows how many floors without Ditra / other and not lost any of them ever. My golden rule is prepping and never laying onto a dry / dusty / contaminated subfloor. I have seen others lay directly onto screed which has been too long on site / not laid quick enough and the tiles + adhesive + top skin of screed has come up one one big sandwich. Screed needs to be sound, prepped properly, and bingo. I’ve only ever used a mat over unknown sub base or liquid screeds.

Surface mount, simpler to Install and you don"t need to wreck the cabinets to fit them. I used metal surface boxes with the cables coming in the back via a grommet at millstone manor.

Get some stainless steel rope and wrap it around the lifting eyes and then resin this to the concrete, this will help prevent uplift while you add more mass.

I would tile under and either side of the appliances as suggested above (in case of any leaks), and tile to the feet of the other units. Then plinth goes on top of tiles, covering up feet of units.

Hmmm. I would be doing the garage in a way that it could be a separate house later. I think there was a GD that did that too - bloke built on an old scrapyard or storage yard. Where is the lake going?

I would say their version of the one on the right was removed to build the one on the left ???.

You need a trap for the washing machine, sealing the waste pipe on just let’s the smells out of the drum.

still jealous !

For what it's worth we found fixing one end then moving (hoiking) the free end about and fixing in every batten on the way helped to tame the banana boatds into straighter lines. Small gaps are a swine though! Jig to sit on the battens (hooking through gaps with small bolts) helped align screws where eyeballing through gaps isn't viable / borrowed helpers can't eyeball for toffee. Will try to find a pic!

@ProDave— that’s definitely a worry, but I’m fairly set on my plan to use it as the entrance down into the house, so I’ll have to find a way to make it work. @joe90 it’s grade 2 listed, and the main stipulation from the planning dept is that the Doocot needs to remain the prominent feature of the plot, hence building below. For everyone asking what cars I have, I’m actually starting from scratch after selling them all to fund a business when I left the UK a few years back. I love older stuff, so I’m starting my new collection with a restomod 911, and perhaps a 308 GTB or 512 TR for something a little more unique. I’m also big into my bikes, so a chunk of the garage will be reserved for storing and tinkering with them.

Don’t be bloody ridiculous

You will need to talk to the supplier. Some recommend using dittra mat. Guide here on what trowel to use to end up with good % coverage and required thickness. Eg 6mm x 6mm square notch or 10mm U notch should end up with a 3mm bed when properly compressed. They say the U notch is easier to compress.. https://www.rubi.com/en/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-tile-trowel-size-step-by-step/ PS I'm not contradicting @nod. Thicker adhesive is normally used on floors.

So this might make my terrazzo nightmare even worse. We are having UFH embedded in screed and we’re going to tile directly onto that. Checking the build ups, my architect has actually only allowed 3mm of space for the adhesive which goes in between the screed and the 20mm thick Terrazzo. If this space needs to be a couple of mm bigger, that should be okay, but if it actually needs to be 20mm as opposed to 3mm I’m in a real pickle as I don’t think our front door, which is made of steel and opens inwards will be able to open.

Perhaps 6 on a flat wall 8 is quite thin for floors Work off the thickness of the tile 10 tile =10 mil adhesive Should really back butter also

I thought a 6 to 8 mm tile needs a 6mm x 6mm trowel to apply the adhesive which will leave a 3mm bed of adhesive beneath the tile. Is that not right?

And you must tile under washing machine / dishwasher space. Leave end panels off until tiled and cut to length to suit?

10 mil tile will need 10 mil adhesive

Last two kitchens I’ve installed have been before the tiles. Build cabinets and legs as if flooring was there, then I stick the units on a piece of 18mm chip or similar. I always leave end panels approx 5 mm above the finished floor to stop them soaking water up. As long as you have an idea of what the tiles will be, just allow a suitable thickness.

Generally tiles come in various thicknesses, from 6mm up to something very thick like 20mm terrazzo. But don’t buy terrazzo! Adhesive will vary, but I would have thought 3mm is ok. So maybe identify 3 or 4 tiles you are considering and see how thick they are. You might find they are all 8mm to 10mm thick, which is a pretty common size. 2mm fiebre unlikely to make a huge difference. Units should have adjustable keys to give you a bit of play. i would have thought you don’t need to install everything in to get an idea of what tile will work with your scheme. Get a door sample from the kitchen company and take it to a tile shop. That should help narrow things down a bit.

You would need to make sure that the notices you served contain the correct information and there are suggested proformas on line. Your neighbour would need to give their consent in writing for you to then go ahead. If they do not, it is best for you to agree to appoint a surveyor. If you cannot both agree on the same surveyor you neighbour can appoint their own. You will pay all fees. If you just go ahead the neighbour could apply for an injunction and get works stopped, together with costs.

Vapour membrane is vital for airtightness and to prevent condensation on your rafters causing the rafters to rot. PIR in the roof is a bad plan for loads of reasons. Torturous to install. Expensive. Bad decrement delay leading to overheating. Shrinkage of timbers and PIR causes drafts around the insulation making it underperform severely. I have attached probably one of the cheapest options. No PIR. Better still if you can replace the glasswool between reg joists with blown densepack cellulose. Supplier installed. Excellent for decrement delay, airtightness, toxicity, environmental credentials the list goes on.

Hello Internet Known How. As a bit of background you probably know about the "45 degree rule" This is a kind of rule of thumb which assumes that any load from a party wall or foundation say spreads out at 45 degrees thus if you are 3.0m away from a party wall or neighbours found you can dig happily down 3.0m. But this is not always the case and this is where the issues arise. As a bit of background. If you tip out a load of broken jagged brick from a lorry it will form a pile. The sides may slope at some 40 degrees. Tip out a load of round gravel and the pile will spread further, the sides being less of a slope. Tip out a load of custard and the slope of the sides will be pretty shallow. This is called the "angle of repose" and it is roughly related to the shear strength of soils. Much will depend on the type of soil. You could have a stiff boulder clay / good chalk ( goodish shear strength) and this will allow you to dig deeper and closer so long as you don't leave the excavation open for too long. A soft / sensitive / high plasticity clay found often in the South East say can behave a bit like custard under certain conditions so the 45 degress rule can be no longer valid. The bearing capacity of a foundation changes depending on how much soil is above it. If the ground slips you can remove / change this extra weight on top which is confining the soil around the found. You also have to look at where the water table is for example..it can be quite complex as when you change this water level it can make the ground behave in a different way. It would be worthwhile having a chat with your SE and get them on board. They may not even charge you for this and give you good pointers. One aim here is to reign in the Surveyors, focus minds and hopefully speed up the process. Also, by doing so you can show you are acting in a responsible manner and this can carry some weight. On a light hearted note to finish.. if your SE mentions custard then ask if porrage behaves the same.

Looks great! You probably already know that wildflowers like poor soil so subsoil is ideal for them.

You want to go for fttp mate. Keep the copper entirely out of the system. Openreach actually offered it to us for free - we just have to do the trenches and buy a quadrobox. They even keep turning up delivering ducts and bends and all sorts. In rural Cambs (and I mean seriously in the middle of nowhere!) this will give us 900mB/s on current tech - if the network improves the speed will improve with it.

Like something out of The Blair Witch Project. At least the ASHP is quiet.

Translated. Movement and people jumping up and down and dropping things. ?

Looking at the shape it's created I am a fan of your work ?

Two holes drilled, one exciting moment Pressure holding so far Beer chilling ?

A special prize is needed for Best Thread Title.

Tbh it's poisonous to kids and animals... potentially lethal I think. I only posted as it's also known as bunnies heads! ?