Leaderboard

Worktop went in easily .

Finally, I added a small piece of 4x1 and a single woodscrew to hold the bolts in place and prevent them pushing out when the concrete went in. The Ledger was levelled and secured with the 6.7mm Timber Screws, but was fairly tightly in place behind the props anyway. The concrete is now in and once it has fully cured, I'll go round and cram the nuts up. As an additional bonus, I think the Ledgers helped keep the wall nice and straight. Hope this helps someone out!

I can't think how the website has any bearing on how good they are as builders. Some of the best builders I know are semi-literate.

Possibly slightly on a tangent, but when i had the dubiuos priviege of looking after a fleet of trains, we always had lots of complaints about cold carriges in winter, and to a lesser degree too hot in summer. Investigation usually revealed all was working as intended. ie, the system was controlling the internal temp to 21c as expected. However, humans being fickle, this wasnt the answer. So we ran an test one year, to increase the target temp to 23 for winter, and 19 for summer. Being rekleativelt simple, this involved a manual adjustment twice a year. The results were better than expected. complaints dropped to a fraction of the previous levels. Illogical? Maybe. But its the reality. Having stood on a freezing cold platform for 15mins, you wanted it warm when you boarded. 21c didnt fulfil that criteria. I confess, it applies very much to me in that circumstance. Like wise in summer when its 27c outside. Getting on, 19c is great. Im the same at home. Despite the fact the living room is at 21, im layered up. In the summer, it would be just a t shirt. At the same temp. Maybe im odd.

Ain’t that so. There could be plenty more curveballs to come, so try to stay focussed and always protect the downsides in any decisions you are forced to make. Resilience is essential as self building can really test your mental health.

It’s a marathon not a sprint. There will be several more hurdles to get over in your self-build journey. Each one can feel impossibly high to climb over but inevitably you’ll find a way.

Are you sure they haven't got another reason they can't share with you? Have they done a credit check on your builder? CCJ's ?

Hence saying use humidity activated, not manual ones, which are almost always closed at some point and never get reopened, or vise versa. dMEV ventilation in summer house, currently -2, last night -5, external humidity is 87%, internal humidity is currently 32% and last night dipped down to 30%, so not sure at that level condensation would form. Our house has MVHR and sits at 36%. Important bit is having ventilation that does what it's supposed to do.

What you see in the final picture is how we went into the pour. Ledgers in place.

i am with Melton, they have been good https://www.themelton.co.uk/mortgages/self-build-renovation-mortgages/ not sure how a mortgage company can gauge it also you could try a self build broker https://www.mayflowermortgage.co.uk/self-and-custom-build

V. nice

Get the SAP up Not that it would make your builder better, or worse.

The world according to Polypipe:- POLYPIPE Air Admittance Valves and Anti-Syphon Units - Technical Guide.pdf (plumbingforless.co.uk) 1. For up to and including four dwellings, one, two or three storeys in height, additional drain venting is not required. 2. For five to 10 dwellings, a conventional vent stack should be provided at the head of the drain run. 3. For eleven to 20 dwellings, a conventional vent stack should be provided at the mid-point and head of the drain run. 4. For multi-storey domestic dwellings (other than those referred to above) and non domestic buildings, conventional drain venting should be provided if more than one such building, each equipped with the valves, is connected to either a common drain, itself not vented by means of a ventilation stack, or to a discharge stack not fitted with a valve. Our architect recommended one as we were connecting to an existing drain.

Welcome to the world of Windows. Not an issue with Linux, ChromeOS or iOS

One of the last two options would be my choice.

Think it depends on the application. My partner is an accountant and all those spreadsheets apparently benefit with the-wider-the-better monitors. Many SW engineers I worked with prefer vertical monitors (ideally 2 side by side, 24" or even 30", flipped up vertically) as code tends to scroll vertically more than horizontally. Especially my last employer had an 80 col line length in the coding standard for many years, hence very tall skinny code layout.

"But what about [...] . I would have thought that was obvious. " Not showing a reaction to that technique is an acquired art. This made me laugh out loud - this is most accurate thing I have read in a long time Yes I have been asking for a 'design' for weeks but its now holding us up as it needs to be done so skirting and coving can be finished etc... The soundbar would be recessed below the tv The mrs doesn't seem bothered and her current view of when the TV breaks is we will cross that bridge when it comes to it

Whatever you do don't get a 4k monitor at 27 inches. The font's don't scale right at 4k on a 27" monitor and it looks awful. I use two 27 inch monitors at 2560x1440 on an amzon basics dual mount and that works great for me. As @Conor mentioned, multiple monitors with a single app maximised on each is a lot easier than messing around resizing windows on a single big screen. Before doing anything, make sure your desktop/laptop can support monitors at the desired resolution with the proper port(s). Which may or may not need to carry audio as well.

The display screen regulations or whatever nonsense it’s called now wouldn’t allow the moon landing now , no wrist support, no foot support, no 5 star wheely chair, breaks every hour away from the screen…

I've tried all sorts of combos. Currently three ~24" monitors, perfect for me. If you use lots of ssingle window applications like excel, word etc, then I find having a adequately sized monitor dedicated to a single window is better than trying to split larger screens.

Have 21:9 monitors at work and I moderately dislike them. Have 2x 32" 4k monitors at home and love them - I can rotate them into portrait and typically do with one of the two most of the time - this makes it useful for stacking apps vertically. I work in cybersecurity, so it's useful to have a lot of space for the obligatory binary waterfalls and meaningless green code while I'm slouching in a hoody. I think you made the right choice with the conventional aspect ratio in 32"

But only to take up the slack, don’t pull the rod out of the hole/resin 🤷‍♂️

Mark hole. drill 8mm hole, follow instructions get 6mm rod- Screwfix sell it for under £5 resin into hole, filling from the back to front, fit bracket, twist rod into hole filled with resin fit nut to rod and tighten

Ah, I see the confusion. The cheap quartz heater I installed is the victor.

Adtran box will be the ONT probably, Linksys modem+router. It should have spare ethernet ports in the back, if so you don't need a switch?

Not understanding what you have. I was expecting a modem and router supplied by your BB supplier (may both be in one box) and the router would have some RJ45 network sockets, and you would connect a cable from there to a wifi access point at the back of the house. Are you trying a solution that receives the wifi from the suppliers kit and relays it?

Update time I've surprised myself and gone down the MCS route! I was sitting on the fence for absolutely ages, had done an absolute load of research but ultimately my time had become too important recently (Both myself and my better half both run businesses). So, after a lot of haggling (to keep within budget) I've gone for a system provided by an installer for a price I can pallet. It's not installed yet (so far, only the on site survey has been completed). For the ease of life I'm losing out on a bit of battery capacity if I were to DIY but other than that I've ticked a lot of the boxes I wanted to tick. I will, however, be back to update everyone on how much it cost me, what I got and why etc as I'm keen to give back where I can to help others in the future when searching. I'm waiting on the first fix for now!

Yes, Iceverge you are spot on. I should have dug into the numbers. I thought aerogel was supposed to be some wonder material but once manufactured into the blanket form a K value of 0.02 vs 0.034 is Rockwool is not exactly groundbreaking. I now see why aerogel has not taken off! Thanks.

Use resin and screwed rod, and put nut on it once bracket in place.

I paid for the application in August 2023 to allow me to get on with getting the footings in for the extension (and have them inspected). I then spent 3 months maybe, doing the plans in the evenings. I finally submitted them in October. They came back after about 6 weeks and asked for some ammendments (that are included above) and finally got approval 19th December 2023.

the rest of the floors aren't like this, this bit of the barn was like an 'add-on' and is an independent structure with its own roof. We are building this first to then use as storage as the rest of the barn is where we store things at the moment. thanks for your help

If you have any more floors like this to do, then there are other possible constructions that will be more user- friendly. On the bright side. The land was free and you've got PP. You are willing to learn. The concrete hadn't gone in. Sharing more on here will help, but make your blog less interesting.

Overlaps more than recommended are fine with the steel sheets. Just ensure they're aligned top to bottom to ensure a close fit at both ends. The more that the profiles that overlap the more any misalignment becomes obvious as gaps form between the sheets, so you may want to cut. If you do, no problem. Just have the cut edge go under the next sheet. Not following you on the ply/OSB. What is your roof structural detailing? And yes, you can over screw and warp the profile down. It's limited though as it's only 18mm normally, and from the ground you won't see much of that at all.

That looks really good, I take it you got some professional in to help you.

Thanks all for your responses. The developer is sending an electrician around to check !?

No change there then.

Sorry I read another thread and replied on yours!!!! Ignore me

Sorry - my mind wandered …. Monitors yeah

You could just have a cold shower, then step into a toasty 20 degree room with no need for additional heating source. Problem solved, save your stones may disappear for an hour or 2.