Leaderboard

@YeBullen You could use an overage agreement to cover the scenario where you've spent money (on a borehole or a planning application, etc) before you've bought the plot. "We agree that I'm going to spend £X on this improvement and when the land is subsequently sold or transferred I will be paid £Y" Usually these would be used by the seller letting you have land on the cheap (upfront) with the balance due after you increase the value of the land (e.g. by getting planning consent) but you could also use it in your scenario. https://www.taylorvinters.com/article/five-essential-factors-overage-agreements Write down what you want to do in plain English. Ask a lawyer how to make it legal. "I would like to buy this land. I am worried if there is water readily available. I agree to spend £X finding out. We agree that if the land is then sold or transferred (to anybody except me) I will be paid £Y." The seller ought to agree because you will have increased the value of the land. There will be some discussion about what X and Y are. Or "I would like to buy this land. I am worried if there is water readily available. I agree to spend £X finding out. We agree that if I find water you will sell me the land for £Z and I will buy it. We also agree that if the land is then sold or transferred (to anybody except me) I will be paid £Y." Or "I would like to buy this land. I am worried if there is water readily available. I agree to spend £0.5Z on the land now. I will agree to spend £X finding out if water is readily available. I will pay you another £0.5Z if water is readily available." Or "I would like to buy this land. I am worried if I will get planning. I agree to spend £0.2Z on the land now. I will pay you another £0.8Z if planning can be secured." etc Don't worry about the mechanics how this is made legal. Work out what you want to do achieve first.

You can get them combined as a threshold bit then a weatherstrip: https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Threshold-and-Rain-Deflector-White-838-mm/p/203002 Or put a traditional wooden bit on the door to oversail a modern, sealing threshold. Search the Stormguard stuff:

Hoping to see responses to this too, sounds very similar to what I hope to achieve. My thoughts so far are to possibly buy a pop-up downdraft extractor, and rather than use the lifting function, Plumb the extract unit into a self created opening in the wall.

A few on here have Bora downdraft extractors I think. Search "Bora".

Very true. However they will fill your skip with all the shite they have in their van. Usually waste from all the other jobs they’ve been doing whilst they had promised to be on site at yours.

I get what @Bonner is saying. I have often seen MIs that say bed completely onto sand and cement, which is a right PITA with a 40kg tray in a tight alcove. Same tray can be supported on some plastic legs.

Oh no they won't. They'll drop it right next to one of their feet. Tread on it, trip over it repeatedly, fall over it , grind it into the ground, look at it while drinking tea. They won't give a flying fookety fook about it. Not one. Not even half a one. (PS, Written with feeling - can you tell - , not to say annoyance, #ucking lazy bastards)

today I learnt a very important lesson that I hope will assist others reading this in the future. this is important so please pay attention...... ....KEEP ON TOP OF YOUR WASTE MANAGEMENT!!! I decided that I thought it would be easier to get to the stage when we were out of the ground and then I would spend the time getting rid of the waste rather than getting a skip on-site early and clearing up as the build went along. that was a BIG mistake! just spent the whole day going through mounds of waste sorting it all out ready for skips to be delivered next week. ? moving forward I will ensure there is a skip on site at all times so the trades can put their waste straight in to it rather than just piling it up for me to sort out later.

Nu-Heat = ?. Go with Wunda.

External foam is all superfluous so get rid of as necessary

A friend who works for Anglia Water told me it is possible to have a sub meter in situations like this. They don't advertise it of course.

I think we are almost identical to @Bramco. On the Octopus app I can see the usage per half hour and it's not drawing power from the grid when it's working. We can see from the lights on our Solic 200 exactly what is happening. So now for instance, we have surplus power and it is being offered to the immersion as well as other things (washing machine likely). If I was to turn the washing machine off the sensor light would flash red/green as we'd have all excess going to the immersion. Out DHW is only at 34 degrees as we both had baths last night (water was at 52 degrees last night after a sunny day). I'd expect if we continue with the mixed cloud/blue skies the temp will be high 40s by the end of the day from the solar alone (as has been the case for the past few months).

Klober is good it doesn’t really matter what Tge mass house builders use A house is often completely covered and tiled in within two days Using quick cheap interlocking tiles Unlike most of us using lead and slate

He may have introduced the forum to the concept but I think it was described earlier on the openenergymonitor website where there are a couple of implementations of this that you can download if you build your own device. Obviously the OEM site may have half-inched the term from somewhere else.... Simon

For a shower tray? Good luck with that.

that is a big bobby trap --what if she sells and next person does not like you sharing ? and no water board would ever allow that ,so they will not ever sort any problems for you ,where would the water meter be? all would be classed as a private supply so you would be paying neighbour for water --on another meter where it comes off their supply + they can charge you what they like not a good idea bore hole will cost what ever it takes to get down to good water -- if ground is soft then lots of borehole casing to pay for as well all you can do is get a quote and see =are there any other bores holes close --can you find out how deep they are>? ball park guess for bore hole would £10-£15 k maybe the fact that the sellers water comes from so far away tells you that borehole is not viable?

I thought it said challenged dad... 8-10 years seems a fair estimate for this job.

Thanks @PeterWand @SuperJohnG, email and floor plans sent to Wunda .

Perfectly fine. I did this on my shed to keep the roof height below 2.5m.

100% wunda here. Very competitive and they provide a design at the front end for 50 quid. Nu heat last I checked were a rip off.

Do you mean for supply and fit or only supply …? I guess you’re talking the big names such as Nu-Heat etc who are usually 3-4 times price of the suppliers such as Wunda. I think they charge £50 like most for a loop cad plan but they are pretty good.

We got design and supply from https://www.ufhtradedirect.co.uk who seemed reasonable. Think design on its own is £50, but that can be taken off the price if the kit if you order through them.

Hi Tank. This is kind of for all and I can see it's a shed. I'm assuming that you are talking about a concrete lintel. There are two generic types. One is a non composite lintel. This acts just like a steel beam which is often designed to carry all the load on it's own. The other type of lintel is called a composite lintel. These lintels have a declared capacity based on the fact that they have brickwork that is laid directly on top of the lintel and forms a bond with the top of the lintel. In other words the brickwork is "stuck" to the top of the lintel and thus the lintel and the brickwork form a quasi arch.. work together to carry the load.. hence the term composite. Again, for all if you stick in a cavity tray you create a slip plane so destroy the composite action. Tank.. Based on your rafter size it looks like the lintel is not carrying a lot of load. If you have a non composite lintel then reducing the courses above should be ok.

Assuming we are talking a standard 65x100 concrete lintel here, with a 4x2 wall plate. All will be fine, get a decent length lintel such as a 1500 so you’ve got good end bearing and be done with it. Assuming you’re using concrete commons for the top course ..??

Hello kiwibloke. "How does building construction type ( brick, block work, timber frame etc) affect the foundation cost?" Not that much on standard strip foundations. To provide some context. A typical two storey house with well propotioned load bearing internal wall loads a strip found by about 40 - 50 kN/m, a bit less if TF. That is about 4 -5 tonnes per metre run of found. A common allowable soil bearing capacity, say a consolidated clay (not soft clays) is 100kN/m^2 .. 10 tonnes per square metre. Thus a 600mm wide strip found can carry 100 kN * 0.6 = 60 kN per metre run = 6 tonnes per meter run so gas in the tank there.. Practically you often need a 600mm wide found to fit the wall on anyway and to give the brickie / ground worker a bit of tolerance. "My second question is what dominates the foundation cost, is it the ground geology or the building construction type?" For most domestic stuff it's the "geology" that tends to govern. Type of generic soil type ; sands / clays/ rock, chalks filled ground. Next you drive down; water levels, proximity of trees, ground gas potential and so on. "For the sake of argument If I am free to choose the geology and construction type what would be the best geology and construction type to minimise foundation cost?" Kiwi.. is this the Xmas wish list? Worked on a job a few years back. Top soil about 250/ 350mm thick from memory, great top soil all saved for the garden. A sub soil, clay / sand firm but easily dug and this was used to regrade the landscape. Then about three feet down (900mm) fractured weathered rock. This rock had not seem the light of day since the last mini ice age. Although fractured was great to support a house found. The site was slightly sloping and the rock was sufficiently fractured that we got good soakaway results for the septic tank and rain water run off. We excavated out the big hole for the septic tank with a JCB 3CX. We just carried on digging out the fractured rock here an there and used this as sub base for all the drive / hard standings.. saved a fortune. That was nearly perfect! Aye Conor you were lucky there! For all. If you are new to building a house think twice before you do your investigation with a mini digger. Also, if you have say one house under your belt.. well pride comes before a fall if you think you are suddenly a ground expert. It's often false economy. For a standard house set of trial pitting budget on something like a JCB 3CX for a day with a good driver. Get the SE to attend on the same day. Let the SE and the driver work together, stand back and just watch! you'll be amazed at what they can find and deduce! Make them tea and provide some buns and they will often include you in the process. It can be a day well spent and you can look back knowing that you have a good understanding of why your house "stays up". Take a standard strip found at say 900mm deep. To do a proper job you want to dig down some 2.7m or until refusal to be sure. If you hit something solid with a mini digger at say 1.5 m how do you know it is not a boulder! a mini digger is like taking a knife to a gun fight! A mini digger just does not have the "poke" and you end up disturbing the soil so much that the SE is left up with mince. What can often happen here is that you end up with an over designed found which will cost you a lot more than the extra expense of getting the right machine. "grabbing a handful of soil" Yes at times it may appear so. But there is a little more to it than that. I wonder.. you often pay your lawyer / solicitor a good fee without quibble, but balk when you need to pay say an Architect / Professional Contractor, Heating Engineer / Electrician for advice that will save you loads of money! Even though they are still all insured to the same if not a higher level!

Cadman s will do you a quote with a design

But doesn't get past the plastic lining on the inside of a modern house...effectively living inside a plastic tent with a building around it. Well, yes. But no. If you've designed the building with lime in mind, you wouldn't then go and ruin one of it's advantages (vapour permeability) by installing a VCL. Really, you highlight the point that building with lime is not just like building with OPC, but quainter. Building with lime can offer advantages, but to make the most of them, it also requires a different approach to the philosophy of the building. Some people confuse vapour permeability with air tightness - they are not the same thing, but the common (mis)use of the word 'breathability' often makes people think they are.

Just to preface this, I am by no means an expert. By no means. The more I find out about using lime in building work, the more, I realise, I don't know. But I have used it a little over the years, have read lots about it, and plan in using it in my own build (if the planning department ever get around to my application). Mixing and using lime mortar is a little different from a more usual Ordinary Portland Cement mix. For a start, you need to be more exacting about the quantities you use. Whereas with OPC you can make a perfectly good mix by measuring it out by rough shovelfulls, you will need to be more accurate than that with a lime mix. Many people would use a pan mixer for lime, as it can clog and ball-up in a barrel mixer, and generally require more attention. And be careful with the water. If you're mixing from lime putty (non-hydraulic lime), you may not need to add any extra water at all. To an extent, a stiff mix becomes more pliable, the more you work it, so give it plenty of time in the mixer. Using it can be a nicer experience than an OPC mortar - a good mix is workable and pliable stuff, has a much longer open time, and can be re-knocked up to bring it back to life. The long curing time of lime means that you have to give it some after care. Keep it damp and protected from direct sunlight to help prevent it drying out for at least a couple of weeks, and this will help carbonation to continue throughout the depth of the mortar. It may take months, or even years for the full curing process. You wouldn't want to use OPC and lime mortars in the same element, but if they are discrete units - ie. they don't form part of the same structural element - you may be able to do that. But why, if you are going to the trouble of using lime mortar, would you be using OPC in an adjacent element? A major advantage of lime over OPC is that it is 'flexible' - ie. if the building settles or moves a little, the lime will be able to accommodate this. It has a very long curing time, and to a certain extent cracks can be self-repairing. The other main advantage of lime is that it is vapour permeable, so it enables wet masonry to dry out, and can help with problems like rising damp. Some will tell you that it's permeability improves the internal atmosphere and living environment, too. A hydraulic lime mix is more like OPC than a non-hydraulic mix, as it has a faster initial set. To some extent there is a trade off between the advantages of lime and this quick set time, but you will still have to give it the same after care in order for it to reach its full strength. As lime mortar is not generally used these days, and its differences from OPC are no longer well understood, there is an assumption on the part of many builders that it is basically just the same stuff. I would want to be using a builder who is experienced with it (as opposed to someone who says "Oh, yeah, I've used it before"). Some builders also make the mistake of thinking that hydraulic lime is the same as hydrated lime, and as the latter is easily available in builders merchants for use as an admix in OPC mortar, these builders sometimes think they are experienced with a lime.

We were going to use hand made bricks but planners rejected them as having too much texture. Ended up using a mix of Audley Antique and another similar brick which I forget the name of.. https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/facing-bricks/traditional-brick-and-stone-facing-brick-audley-antique-pack-of-600/p/621571 Pretty happy with the result and was able to spend more on the roof tiles.

Something like this: You can use softwood, treat it really well then bend/notch a sheet of aluminium to go over it as a protective cover. Done it a few times. I'll see if I kept the last one.

Sorted. Pretty good with just that brace across the rear. Spanish winch:

Building control are hardly interesting in doing foundations and drainage checks, they aren’t going to be the least bit interested in outdoor lights. if you get them in, all they will want to see is a certificate to pass the blame onto, and then charge you for their 20 second tour of your garden.

so I didn't learn this today but what I've learnt over the last few weeks that the basement contractors have been on-site is that there isn't a problem that can't be solved with a hammer. rebar in the way? smash it with a hammer formwork dirty? smash it with a hammer nut won't tighten/loosen enough? smash it with a hammer I'm surprised tool manufacturers make any money as it would seem that the hammer is the one stop tool that will fix anything and anything else is just superfluous to requirements.

Just to update this - a few years down the line. My 345ah@48V flooded lead acid bank has done the job for over 5 years now but a very busy recent work period and various other factors have contributed to some shoddy maintenance and FLA doesn't like that. They need tending and every bit of neglect takes it's toll. Anyway - the bank of twelve 115ah FLAs is now a bank of eight battered, prematurely aged sulphated hulks. I'm probably going with lithium - Pylontech. The price has come down, the warranties are long, they play well with Victron kit and will do what they're supposed to without me having to mess around with sulphuric acid once a month.

I learned that lesson in an industrial unit. I was there to change the hand dryer in the gents toilet. So I switch off the MCB labelled "Gents toilet" and heard a groan from the end of the corridor where I had just turned off an office full of people using computers.

You sure its not just an orange-juice harvesting system - cloudy orange juice even?

Yup, self building messes with your head sometimes! Welcome.

@craig should know the answer, he had broken more windows than Microsoft.

Too be fair I thought 8 - 10 years was rather quick ! @Bob Janner I think your son needs to consider walk on glazing in the bathroom . Whilst that sounds like a high cost item it doesn’t have to be .

Welcome I am sure a plumber or two will be along, as will out two bathroom experts @Onoff and @pocster X is an unknow quantity, Spurt is a drip under pressure. (Isn't a Janner a Plymouth resident)

Shows what I know, I thought it was smoked salmon, not jam!

Other way around: kWh