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November the 5th. baked potatoes and a few beers. invite your neighbours 😂😂

Good plan but you just can't beat hours in the machine. Was the fourth hire or so before I came what could be considered competent. Just keep at it and get the feel. Fyi the larger the machine the easier it is.. more stable. It's fun. Enjoy.

Husky chainsaws and Stihl kombi brush/hedge cutter for years. In my garage I had lots of 18v makita drills/routers/saws/etc. Decided to try battery based hedge trimmer. So impressed. All electric now, apart from the Stihl stuff I’ve not yet got round to selling. Will never go back to petrol. If you’re going to be using the brushcutter for a few years I’d strongly advocate making your life easy and going electric (and I’m with onoff, makita stuff is fab).

I have an Echo and it starts on a single pull every time. I occasionally borrow a Stihl 4 stroke for the harder woody stuff and it’s also very good. If you have a lot to do get a harness and preferably the two handled type.

Do a compression check. I find the cheaper brands eventually score the bore or loose compression one way or another and it's this that makes them hard to start. Once the compression is gone you might as well throw them out. If the compression is ok then it might be worth getting it serviced or just fit a new plug and try new fuel. I ended up breaking the bank to get a Stihl 4 stroke after killing a few different makes.

I got a stihl, previously had a Kawasaki, but that was nicked when my shed was raided years ago. Don’t think Kawasaki are in the game any more, but the stihl has been faultless for me. As far as 2 stroke gadgets I’ve had Kawasaki, Tanaka, echo, husqvarna, and stihl all been faultless and easy to start. Before this when I was starting out as a grown up with no money I had mcculloch, and Ryobi both were absolute pigs, never again.

Mine: https://www.howetools.co.uk/makita-dur368az-twin-18v-brush-cutter

If you want a bush cutter that's easy to start, powerful and do heavy duty as well grass, with different attachments. https://www.stihl.co.uk/en/p/brushcutters-grass-trimmers-clearing-saws-fs-491-petrol-clearing-saw-183362#fs-491-c-em-petrol-clearing-saw-183362

Makita 36V here. Well pleased.

No Weve purchased a Honda Absolutely brilliant

He did a couple of circles around the pipe about a foot back from the end. Plastic isn't great for getting a grip on, but the tape is textured so the push and twist is easier. You don't have to squeeze as hard to hold onto it.

If mulched it will reduce to 5% of the volume and you have lot of mulch. The domestic ones only take one branch at a time, maybe 20mm dia, but then drag the secondary twigs through behind. hiring a commercial mulcher will cost a bit. If you have time and/or help, snipping the branches down into 30cm lengths the volume also reduces a lot. to 10% perhaps? Then you can dispose of it or pile it up to rot. How much the volume reduces never fails to amaze me. Plants are good at taking up lots of space with minimal ingredients. It follows that hedges don't make powerful bonfires and they need constant feeding and attention.

I use a carbide tipped blade, but my blocks are pretty soft

You are correct. I didn’t realise it was an internal corner. If you still have reservations you could send me a copy of the plans and I will check it all for brick dims.

Half a brick is 102.5 and with a perp 112.5 mm 910 and 1023mm are door opening sizes. I’m not sure why you would want to match an internal door width.

i did a quick final box last night as i missed a AV box when i did them all. SDS drill with 30 or 40mm flat bit went through block like butter, just guide the bit by grasping onto it while it does its thing. I stitch drilled my brick as its solid, but on block just go straight in with the SDS chisel, takes like 5 minutes a box or something.

you need to get at the back of them, add wedges and loads of foaming glue. nothing you can do from the outside apart from make it worse!

What are you thinking is in breech of its planning Use. Does the Annex have planning permission to be an "Annex". ie. a Use incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse? And does that permission include the room types that exist in the Annex, ie. kitchen and bedroom(s)? If so then renting that out to another person/family would be the same as having a "lodger" within the main dwellinghouse. ie. within its defined Planning Use. Or, does the "Annex" building not have planning permission, or the use of it as a liveable area not have permission? More info is required. Renting it out maybe entirely within its planning use (although you'll have obligations as a resident landlord), but it maybe that you'd need to be able to prove a 4 year continuing breech to make it immune from enforcement, or depending on circumstance it may be a 10 year breech that you'd need to prove. Only a breech of planning can be immune from enforcement, not Building Control, so it would still need to meet building regs. When was the Annex built? is it attached or separate to the dwellinghouse. When first built, did it have planning permission? or within PD rights. Did it have kitchen and bedrooms when first built? When was it first used for living in and how long since it was last used for living in?

Just did. We are in this phase and having spoken to some architechts, they have ruled themselves out saying things like: oh it will be around 20k or reading articles saying it is £4000 per square meter! So when we are looking at a simple design, why would i want an expensive architect plus a structural engineer and someone else drawing all the required drawings .

I have used one of these in the past, it worked well. https://www.toolstation.com/tct-sds-plus-electricians-box-cutter/p17695

Two blocks high becomes 440mm .44/0.18 = 2.44, 1/2.44 so a U value of 0.4. So U value downwards, but really with the buildup by the time you have got to the second block it's depth is being comprised by plenty of sideways cold areas. So as said maybe one block would be enough.

PS. Julia is wondering it’s taking you longer answer all my stupid questions @JohnMo than it would to build our blooming house! (I do appreciate the help though guys).

I don't actually see why an Election would hold these up - they are decisions made by Inspectors following planning law. The only reason would be to cater for the call-in process by the Secretary of State, but in the UK Ministers stay in post throughout the Election then change over happens like the flick of a switch. But the report is in the Telegraph which for me is now a red flag requiring a reliable source, as I observe them including more entirely fictional pieces as reporting or news.

Can you just fit a metal cover and put a plant pot, or a seat over it?

Why not find the squeeky bits and try squeezing expanding glue such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-5MINPU3-LumberIrwin-Polyure-Adhesive. Into any gaps, might work 🤷‍♂️

Fixing from the top with screws might actually make things worse. As you won't know if you're forming gaps by pushing the wood sections apart.

Unfortunately it’s under the stairs that remedial work needs doing, tightening wedges (the wood shrinks with age and the wedges become loose ) also additional blocks can be added. Why can you not access under the stairs?

Planning stays with the property/site and not the person. Not sure where 6 years has come from. It’s now 10 years unless it can be proved it had been completed/in use prior to April of which would be 4 years… https://www.planninggeek.co.uk/planning/applications/certificate-of-lawfulness/

I'd keep things as they are until you can do the thing properly. Removing half may destabilise it.

and there has been some discussion on the Vaillant FB group about drains and airbricks which were formerly not allowed in the exclusion zone, but now apparently it is OK so long as they do not communicate directly with habitable rooms. So in a typical UK house with a suspended floor it is OK for a flammable air/propane mixture to accumulate in the void beneath it. Sometimes it is clear that the advice is based on German house construction methods without much consideration of what is done elsewhere. Given the quantities of gas involved (900g in a 12kW HP) the whole business is a farce when you consider what you see done with twin propane gas bottle installations for cooking off the main gas supply.

I have just fitted a Vaillant ashp, a window above the unit and outside of the protected zone is permitted. You can also have a window that extends to the ground as long as it is non opening or at least the element that is located within the protected zone is non opening i.e. split unit.

Ground beneath an uninsulated slab has a surprisingly good U value in a very big building, and the insulation manufacturers have stopped mentioning it. However there are diminishing returns if you have good insulation above it, as not much energy reaches the underside. For a typical house it is about 0.8 to 1.0, which isn't great. Therefore a suspended slab should be selected for other reasons*, and then add 10mm to the insulation if you want. * on clay, on hillsides, where access is tricky for vehicles, for low skilled diy, to rise higher without lots of fill., to get a floor without weather delay risk.

While the EPS300 typically used under the integral ring-beams of an insulated raft is rated at 300 kPa @ 10% compression, it's not going to see those loads in a typical foundation for a timberframe structure. For mine, worst case is less than a 10th of those loads, on the top layer of EPS, that obviously spreads across a greater area as it goes through the the EPS layers. We're talking 1 - 2mm compression.

It will come down to the bearing capacity of your ground at the dig depth, ie. 600mm - 700mm below finished floor level (likely 450mm - 550mm below ground level). There's no reason why your ground wouldn't achieve the required bearing capacity of, typically, 70 - 100 kPa/m². There are also pile supported insulated rafts for ground that doesn't achieve those values, but cost goes up just as it would for a traditional foundation. If you price up what goes into an insulated raft foundation v. a tradition foundation, and you are comparing like-for-like, ie. a 0.1 U Value with a potential 0.04 W/mK Psi value and include the insulation, UFH and Screed that a traditional foundation requires in order to be equivalent, then materials, labour and Engineering costs of an insulated raft are lower than a traditional foundation. However, an insulated raft foundation remains a niche product in the UK and the lack of experienced ground workers that will install them and the lack of Structural Engineers that will Engineer one correctly (optimised) pushes the self-builder to a packaged insulated raft where margins may be higher and travelling ground-works teams incur higher costs etc. It's a product that needs a lot of researching to get to a good value. If you are willing to take the Installation on yourself, with a couple of ground workers then it can be very good value. I'm happy to recommend Advanced Foundation Technology Ltd. My experience with them was excellent. Their advantage is that the business owner Olof, has been designing and installing insulated rafts in Sweden for +30 years, where they are not a niche product as 70% of houses use them. https://www.advancedfoundationtechnologylimited.co.uk/our-products/

A strip of Aerogel insulation perhaps?

Yes that or a real possibility of the chimney collapsing. Although i am that Engineer I still wanted the bco to agree. The local bco is probably able to advise as it will likely be a common thing in your area.

Knocked out chimney breasts is a scary thing. Do these people have no idea? I've seen a chimney hanging on nothing but the half brick party wall and a ceiling. We built in support using the brackets made for the purpose and got bco approval. How many other houses have the same? I'm inclined to keep the chimney and support it.

I'm sure those that have gone through this will be along with some real-life examples, but for reference, take a look at https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/health-and-safety-file-key-document-site-safety

We built a timber I-beam portal frame house with 350mm I-beams and external 15mm OSB3 racking. The walls and roof had 350mm Icynene between the I-beams and 50mm Rockwool on the outside of the racking. We had interstitial condensation analysis carried out during the design stage and didn't use any airtightness or vapour membranes. We also didn't use any airtightness tapes in the house and achieved an average airtightness of 0.47ACH.