Leaderboard

I built a brick one for ours. My electrician wanted enough space for a board inside the box as well and it was getting large and ugly. It wasn't the easy option as there's quite a lot of spec that should be followed but it was still cheaper than buying a box

I'm a fan of laser levels so you can do this with one too. The laser shines a level plain so, with the laser set up in single position, as you move away from the house you should measure and increasing height between patio and laser beam.

Check your minimum height Ours wouldn’t instal into anything less than 1100

Qiuick search on Ebay found this, many more available https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375394978328?itmmeta=

1 tonner with pecker for a day

The surface of the water will be perfectly level, so you can judge the gradient of the patio it by measuring the depth of water in mm at each end. If the measurements are too small to measure easily, add more water .... 😛😉. (TBH I'd suggest that the water escape routes are perhaps blocked with all that dust'n'gunge.)

If you want 2% use a 1 mtr piece of wood, stick a 2cm little block one end and put your sprit level on it on the patio (block lowest end) and the bubble should be central. This will give you an idea of the slope (or not).

The physics is quite simple. Air is a mixture of gases. Nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour, argon and the other traces gases, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide. Nitrogen and oxygen are fairly thermally stable in the earth atmospheric temperature range. Water vapour (about 0.25%) is anything but stable. It can be a solid, a liquid or a gas. Sometimes all three at the same time (triple point). Temperature is not the only thing that makes it change state, air pressure can as well. This is why when you look at some more sophisticated RH and AH models they ask for air pressure. Water is also strange molecule. It has different thermal properties and different temperatures, and to make matters worse, expands, rather than contracts, when between 277K and 273K, with the latter temperature being a phase change temperature. Then there is the way that it likes a nucleus point to change phase on. Mineral wool gives it billions of these, so like to condense and freeze in it. As water changes state, it releases a lot of energy, which can warm surrounding gases and solids. This prolongs the phase change time. It really is a messy business. But there is another way to model it. Statistically. Build an array of phase change data points that correspond to the local RH, temperature and maybe air pressure. Then look at the probabilities. You will generally find that the high risk times i.e. condensation does not happen very often, or for very long. It is also worth remembering that a wall has surface temperatures slightly lower than internal air temperature on the inside, and often much higher than outside air temperature on the outside where it is heated by the sun. Our old mate @Ed Davies wrote and interesting bit about humidity on his website. https://edavies.me.uk/2017/03/vapour/

Getting to pipes underneath and replacing it would be my top reasons. Perhaps different if you have solid floors rather than suspended, as easy access for emergencies should be less needed.

@MortarThePoint I used the Wavin Osma AAV 4S306, which is A2 rated. However the 4S304 appears to be able to be installed below spillover level. https://www.wolseley.co.uk/wcsstore/ExtendedSitesCatalogAssetStore/images/products/AssetPush/DTP_AssetPushHighRes/std.lang.all/ti/on/Wavin_Osma_Soil-Waste_Installation.pdf *Edit Just had a looked at the BBA cert for the Wavin Osma AAV 4S304, this gives very clear guidance on installation location. Added another pic. https://wavin-digital-indianajones-prod.storage.googleapis.com/assets/category/1520297e-f72b-4c71-9b89-dc027056ec87/d3c79907-6216-49e4-b861-3f792432bcdc/2b939e03-ca09-4297-8f3b-828b5b200e22 The British Plastics Foundation have a good guide on AAV https://www.bpfpipesgroup.com/media/71872/Air-admittance-valves-for-domestic-properties-v2-Jan-2024.pdf

Mainly decided against it as we have some large down lights and they need 50mm depth. Didn't want to digging holes in the insulation to install. That was the design that came from Pasqual (maybe misspelt) so kept with it. We have quite big roof overhangs and didn't want to mess up the look outside. You can get deeper. I did look into blown cellulose, but was getting lots of demands from them, which made it hard to do. So dropped in the end. The company we used for assembly of the roof also do spray foam, they did all the interstitial condensation calcs and all looked good. So the same guys that did the joinery also did the spray foam. 45 Deg roof wall to ridge. 12 Deg, wall to wall.

Send your plans over to a couple of truss companies and see what they can do. I found them very helpful. We had a semi-vaulted bit of our build and the architect/SE were looking at using a large steel ridge beam. Truss company had a look, made it work and advised how high we could raise the truss tie in the design before it started to hit their limits. Much simpler. (although I'm still faffing about with insulation and airtight tape on it!)

I'm not crazy about having PIR inboard of the studs. Firstly because they will be kept below the dew point for much of the year with the PIR keeping the internal heat away from them. This really limits drying for most of the year as temperature is such a large factor in evaporation. Concentrating only on the permeability of materials and ignoring the fact that a wall will readily dry inwards as well as outwards seems to be flawed logic, localised to our part of the world. Secondly because of the large daily variations temperature on a sunny day for the timbers. Look at these two diagrams and note the location of the layer of PIR. Without too much digging into it I would say that the long term stability and durability of the studs would be much improved by being inside the layer of insulation with a much more consistent temperature and humidity level. For my money something like this would be better. Dig into thermal bridging a little and maybe as build airtightness results to get a complete picture of what is realistically achievable with each method. Oh and for some reason I really want a sausage roll. Cant figure out why thats in my head.,......

DO NOT USE the hammer function of the drill DO NOT press hard It might take half an hour to drill one hole Pointed drill bits won't work on porcelain, only ceramic Use a spray bottle to keep the drill bit cool Buy 3 bits and have in 3 different drills so you don't get the drills or bits too hot. The drill bits will only do 3/4 holes before they need binning, that seems to be the case with Rubi, Erbauer or whatever make. I use this company for diamond drill bits and blades. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251157798718?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=0uyIXPBZQ9G&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=sZUbc1BTTHO&var=550182062082&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

the last paragraph of the page Powers to revoke planning permission are very rarely used. Where they are used they are often uncontentious and unopposed. Since 2009 only 3 revocation orders issued under section 97 of the Town and Planning Act 1990 have been submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation.

I found the stringer on the wall side was moving and causing the squeak on mine, so put a couple of long screws and plugs into the adjoining wall and that cured that.

I don’t see how a house that will be worth £1million will only cost £170k in materials.

If you don't want to go the temporary G98 route and you think your loosing a significant amount of export income, then you could add more battery capacity to capture any daytime excess and then export a steady 2kw when the sun goes down.

Glue blocks and screws. https://www.pearstairs.co.uk/blog/3-methods-for-fixing-squeaky-stairs/

I’m going to have a good read through your blog, so if it’s in there that’s great. But if not headlines would help so thank you.

@Novice14 Welcome to THE forum for people like us.

+1 VAT claim is enough.

What does she say about your hammer function?

As SWMBO says to me Don’t Push too hard . Nice and easy . Slow and steady saves the day . That also works for drilling holes in tiles .

which is completely irrelevant to my original point which was that if I were to halve the size of the house by making it a bungalow, the roof would remain exactly the same and the "cost per sqm" would not halve.

I'm a builder, I've priced everything down to the last wall tie. No service connections are required, everything is already here. I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about RE roof. It's a trussed roof with no habital space in the loft. If I made the property a true bungalow, the roof would be exactly the same...

How much do you think concrete blocks, sand and cement, plasterboard, tiles, concrete, trusses and floor joist cost?