Leaderboard

Each time I buy a resin shower tray 5 on this build They come supplied with a trap I always replace these with a Mcalpine trap Hand tightened But the best out there Around £20

It’s only a few mm but it does make a difference ( said my ex wife) 2915 overall would be better. 552 each side of the door and an 1810 structural opening. Above 890 brick pillar and 1135 opening. Also the overall measurement of 6750 would be better at 6740. Trust me I’m a bricky. 😜

The way I looked at it very crudely [hope I don't embarrass myself here!]: Thermal conductivity (lambda, k) of a Marmox block is 0.05 W/mK (https://www.marmox.co.uk/products/thermoblock). Maximum thickness of marmox is 0.1m (100mm) and you can't stack them. So thermal resistance (R) = 0.1/0.05 = 2 m2K/W. The U value (1/R) is 0.5 W/m2K. Thermal conductivity of an aircrete 7 or similar is about 0.18 W/mK (https://www.forterra.co.uk/product/thermalite-aircrete-hi-strength-7/). Assume you've got a single 300mm block R = 0.3/0.18 = 1.67 m2K/W. The U value (1/R) is 0.6 W/m2K. So not a lot in it as long as the aircrete block is kept dry by appropriate routing of the DPC? I've gone with a standard thermal block because round my way, no groundworker was likely to bother reading up how to install the Marmox blocks correctly.

Sorry slight redraw, shown in blue

What I found when I started looking is the UPS function on most inverters is pretty useless, they can only output a very small kW so only likely to support a few lights not much. I went AC coupled because it would take over fully (6kW) and I can do just about whatever I want while I have battery power. Borehole pump, sewage system, MVHR, heat pump on, boil the kettle etc. When that runs out of power we also have a generator that can do the same.

Mcalpine traps here as well. all solvent welded.

hi all, hoping to get advice here in due course. Live on a remote island and builders are rare as hens teeth, am only renting so not much i can do to improve my protected home, but am hoping to have a tinker with a stone outbuilding, part of which the roof has already caved in, but id like to try to use one end which still retains some of the stone slab roof, but needs shoring up (or pulling down). anyways ive lived here a decade and am happy to have a basic home environment, its just ive acquired more pet sheep over the years and want more indoor space for them to be able to shelter in the winter. and its way easier to feed them undercover in a gale..... hoping folk here will be kind and might be able to give some tips as i will be doing whatever i do on my own so i need simple solutions! cheers!

It's not a sewer /water chamber. It's some other utility or service. It could be a valve, air release valve, telecoms, electric, anything really. The orange PVC cap is covering something. Fundamentally, it's not yours to mess with.

True unless there is a socket nearby, which with intelligent siting there often is.

It's grand. Rustic. Won't see half of it anyway once you have the oven in

I cannot see how deep any 'dinges' are but if it were me I'd be tempted to try a bag or 2 of thin-coat EWI-type render. Goes on easily (you can use a toothed trowel as a depth guide if you want, and effectively do it in 2 'half-coats'). Let the first half stiffen up a little then 'fill in the valleys'.

@Dunc +1 we did the same calculation - similar conductivity, but the high strength aircrete are much cheaper and easier to install

If it’s less than a half then use header 3/4 it doesn’t look good though and should be avoided if possible. The donkey that designed your openings at 1200 mm is in the dark ages and has problems adapting. You could go for either 1135 opening or 1248 but the latter gives you a half which will prevent you getting the window central over your doors. If you get your brick dims correct then you would have no problem using the stooled cills at 205 mm longer than the opening width.

things you can do with a 3ton digger and decent dumper and my ground is allclay+rock and quarry waste so you can a alot with practise

It doesn't look bad, and you can make a lot of pizza for the cash you saved :) If you really want to smooth it off, then I'd hire a polisher & diamond grinding wheel. There's a risk that more may come off than you intend though.

I've read your comments, looked at the plans today with fresh eyes and found a way to simplify it or correct it if it can be classed as wrong. See attached sketch to get the idea. (Red pen is correction which works better) As mentioned, I designed the outside walls corner to corner to match brick sizes by full/half bricks and kept all of the openings between reveals to the same spacing. The person who done the regs plans changed some things that weren't required & said it's not worth changing back. The porch width should be 2925mm not 2900, this would allow the centred 1st floor window above it, to then sit symmetrical with the correct brick bond to each side of the window if the window width is reduced from 1200mm to 1125. It leaves 900mm for full and half cuts, rather than 850mm which would end up messy. @Dave Jones Yes I sometimes overthink things, but I believe this to be something important that should have been correct on the plans.

they certainly do --to high and narrow not like my old benfoerd its wider track than the digger and it don,t complain when filled with granite --which is alot more than 3ton -- but its not hydrostatic drive its clutxch and gears and simple 30-40 deegree tilt no problem, your modern 1 ton --is very easy to tip it over not for sloping sites

Same calculation I did when I did mine.

Thank you so much Garry! Your help on this has been amazing, and I really appreciate it.

Not typically historically where it's essentially just a stack of bricks with an internal parge coat. But modern chimney construction do have trays at the roof line and at the top of the chimney. Wouldn't worry about it. They just went belt and braces to make it watertight.

Yes, but make a thick as practical especially if you have UFH. Start at top of screed and down 2 levels. DPC to keep aerated blocks dry

I would doubt they would even realise, they make so little noise doing cooling, especially if you are flowing 14 to 16 degs Mine just runs at the lowest it can modulate, can't it hear it from about a metre away.

hi@ToughButterCupindeed I have spoken to a couple of companies and as suspected received differing approaches, and thought I could have a go at making a complete balls up of it on my own.

>>> I guess you could have two consumer units, a 40A one with and a higher power one without this UPS functionality. I don't think that's a big problem in practice. I plan to have 2 CUs anyway, one for battery backed stuff (fridge etc) one for stuff you generally wouldn't run off a battery - heating, car charging, oven etc - all the big loads.

Crikey, any one on here still think the earth is flat? Peace out @joe90 and @JohnMo, weather's too good to be stuck inside: I'm going to bend some coat hangers and give this a go

Absolutely. The comment was clarifying that micro inverters can interface to a battery, same as any inverter can

you may be overthinking this. if they are 2 part cills you can just cut them to suit.

no, you have the width of the tile to account for as well.

Good decision! No way will you regret it with the amount of insulation you've already got!

I had this same issue on our previous build I spoke to the cast stone supplier He simply said send us your drawing and we will work round it Most of the openings Did vary But that wasn’t an issue

You mean by having a sill that projects 50mm either side of the window width? Traditionally these were added for additional strength during transportation and should always be cut off, though that doesn't always happen.

You always want alternating (vertically) full & half brick at the reveals. Ideally set out the windows so that you have no cuts between building corners and the windows, and none from window to window, then use cut bricks above and below the centre of the windows. It's better (less obvious) if you use two ¾ length bricks (or similar), rather than one ½ brick, assuming you're laying them stretcher bond. And keep all the cuts vertically above one another. So you can go ahead and order the sill lengths you need. BTW, if you're building the brick fist and adding the windows later, add 10 to 15mm to the window width to give some tolerance, when calculating your sill lengths.

1ton dumper don,t hold much lots of trips

Any AC coupled battery would do the job they don't care how AC is made

What size brick are you actually using?

25mm PIR at the perimeter is OK, some have more, some have none but the expansion strip. It's fine, move on, focus on getting the ufh pipe repaired to a good standard, tested, and replacing any displaced or missing perimeter PIR, then move onto the next challenge.

..as far as Im aware there is no requirement to register a wayleave on the title so I'm not sure how they would know for sure

Our solicitor confirmed today that there is no wayleave agreement tied to the land

The best solution is to find a problem with the pole or the cable... ...so there was presumably a problem with the other poles, maybe this one too?

If nothing else, it gives us a sense of how reliable LPA CIL advice is - i.e. not very reliable.

Find your local water diviner. Ours found where our bore hole should be located and depth to drill, and was out by a metre on depth and spot on with location. £80 well spent.

I believe the wayleave is also keyed to the landowner, not the land - so it becomes void with a new owner. Check out old posts here on this subject.

If there is no wayleave in place, they will have to move it, if you insist. If there is a wayleave, then you'll have to pay for the privilege. Your legal pack when you bought the site should have this info. If not, request from the network owner.

Update - Internorm said the water between the outside pane and the seal is normal....

bending down for an oven is bad design

Local merchants or fencing suppliers may have stock or be able to order in. For example, travis perkins.

Have you tried any local sawmills, Facebook might be worth a look we have quite a few advertised but we are mid Devon so a bit different. I think as soon as you go over 1.2m it is charged for 2 pallets.

Result!! We managed to sell the Cattery for 2.5k and I spent 5 days partly dismantling it, before the buyers dismantled the rest. They left it a bomb site and even changed the code on the combination lock so we couldn’t get onto our land! I then took three days off and fully cleared the site. So I’m well chuffed that what could have cost a large amount of money actually left us +£1200 in credit after I deduct two 10 yard skips and a 4 yard plasterboard skip.

We are using a Reolink camera to monitor our site. It’s battery /solar panel powered and uses mobile data via a special kind of SIM card (£4 a month). I can view it on my mobile phone and can play back recordings.

I used Icynene for the walls and roof in an I-beam timber portal frame house. I've not used Isothane so don't know anything about it. Icynene is very good for airtightness and remains rubbery and flexible after it has set. The OP PMd me and I sent details.