Leaderboard

NO I would lay flags like that Whilst voids behind wall tiles to really matter He’s making work for himself A nice even 10 mil notch on the wall and a 5 mill lick on the back of the tile

So I spent 3 days with a 1.5 tonne excavator and a pecker breaking up the huge amount of concrete slab. Thankfully, it wasn't reinforced and all I can say is that I didn't envy the neighbours. I am just finishing off pulling up the broken slab with a 3 tonne machine and getting the concrete collected with a grab lorry. There is about 5-6 loads to collect and that is going to cost me about £700. I could have hired a concrete crusher, but I calculated that to hire a crusher, 5 tonne excavator would have exceeded this cost. I also do not have any water on site for the dust suppression, and there was a lot of large lumps, that would have not fitted into the crusher without having to broken up smaller.

Just for you @steamy! Below is a knocked up (it's not prefect but hopefully gives you the jist) idealised model of some of the forces in the fixings. In real life they behave in a much more complex manner. Maths wise its pretty easy to solve this, quadratic equation or if lazy just use the goal seek function in excel. Now intially I would apply a lot of safety factors.. mostly to do with the local crushing of the masonry at the outside edge.. then wind them back by saying.. if I use a few more I can handle a few failures.. which is basically what a lot of builders do.. chuck in a few more if in doubt. For all the easy way if you are buying a lot of fixings is to contact say Hilti / Fischer et al and ask for advice. They may (and often do) send out a rep.. to do a few load tests on site.. On something that is a bit out the norm I would take a fag packet approach (idealised model) as above so I don't end up with too much egg on my face = being wildly wrong and also as a second qualitative check in case the rep gets it wrong.. which is sensible.

I've decided! I'm going to char the pallet cladding on the cat tree house. It seems fitting as he is part Siamese.

Exactly It Will hardly be noticed on the monthly bill

I lifted the Lawn Mower up 4 steps for 24 years at our previous house. It was imperative I wasn't doing it at our self build. Easier to design in from the start than to retrofit.

Hi everyone ,my name is frank,originally from germany,58 years old optical technician with 1 semester electrotechnics.I have been living in GB,east sussex for 12 years before returning to Germany ,ehen my mum died and then moved to italy with my partner.We opened an optician shop where I work as a technician .We are moulding our own lenses with liquid plastic which gets uv hardened ...I started pv with a little backup system,as we have got a wooden kitchen stove and the Italian grid is famous for its long lasting blackouts.I have now got a 2 string 8.5 kw solar power system which feeds an italian made Delios inverter and a diy 34 kw lifepo4 bank.I love walking in the mount with my dog enjoying a rather settled down live with my partner,having to got known some 27 years....Thanks for having me here and sharing some interesting views 🙏❤️

I'm just about ready to put some garden steps in. I'm following the published guidelines for Accessible Garden Design. Context: Old - replaced hips - reasonably fit - tow ramp access to other house doors Spec: 1200 wide ( minimum) handrails risers 150 ish. tread (going) 700 or maybe a bit less but not much fall of (max) 1:50 on each tread step lights ( in the risers ) So far so good. But do I need to put in a ramp to one side? What have you done about that ?

On a similar theme, a nephew of mine got a roofer to repair a leak but found extensive rot and a quote for £20k for a new cut roof. Said roofer has done good work for my nephew before and he took my nephew up on the scaffold to show him the extensive damage he found. As my nephew knows nothing of building and prices he contacted me. Knowing the size of the roof and lead work etc required I think it was a reasonable quote. On top of this the roofer could do the work immediately (before winter sets in) and has a good reputation locally and with my nephew. It can be a nightmare out there regarding trades people and when I was working ALL my work was from recommendations which IMO is the best way to pick trades people.

Go around the outside and look for cracks or replaced mortar. Check the corners of window frames inside and out. Feel for drafts around door and window frames. If there are no signs of issues, then it just just be the house was built by someone drunk. Drink, and you'll forget about the wonky house.

Taking tiles off

20% of what ever your budget is could dissappear into thin air if you don't have a legally binding contract with the builder. If has has done renovation job's for you in the past and your happy with his terms, go ahead. If you found him on faceache or check a trade then I wouldn't be handing any one 20% of my budget as an upfront payment. Of all the trades I've used and all the customers I've done work for over the year's. I have never given or asked for an upfront payment.

Grout staying in place after a few months with dot and dab should be fun especially near a shower head. The tiller is obviously trying to work round the situation, just because he's been in the trade for 40 year's doesn't mean he's any good. Best way to remove tiles and adhesive is with a wall paper steamer.

What would you do nod, relax or pull them off?

Yeah I back buttered it’s quite easy with a little practice and gives confidence

Back butter tiles . Adhesive on wall and notch . Don’t want any hollows especially if anything is mounted to the tiles . Though back buttering not strictly necessary for wall tiles …

Yeah I saw that, that looks crap as well. if the wall is a bit off flat just use a bigger notched trowel. That will give a much better contact area. Dot and dab is just lazy IMHO, I’ve watched lots of tiling videos and no professionals use dots and dabs, they all use notched trowels

I could not live with them that far off flat it would do my head in. l’ve just tiled my upstairs bathroom and used a levelling system. It was so easy to use and the end result looks great. I would never lay tiles now without using a levelling system.

@ToughButterCup Your guidelines in the first post seem to be about right. I'd only make the following comments. These are based on my experience with the charity Wheels for Wellbeing for whom I campaign in the public realm, who promote accessible wheeling and cycling. A few links below if you want to rabbit hole. I'm not sure whether your path is "to the front door" or "round and round the garden like a teddy bear". This is a bit related to both, also for future readers. - for widths, the maximum size mobility aid you (or your friends) are likely to be using is a Class III mobility scooter, which has a maximum width of 0.85m (these are the ones with lights that can do 8mph on the roads). The biggest of these are usually Trampers (the SUV of mobility scooters), which are the ones you see for borrowing at larger NT properties and are specced for 1 in 4 slopes in steepness or crossfall. - pay attention to outer turning radius if your path has curves in it. Outer turning circle probably wants to be ~4.5m ideally if you have corners. - A 1:50 slope is great if you can do it. Or for 1:20 you would want a flat "take a rest" bit every 10m or so. Consider a seating area to the side in case anyone might want a rest (especially if you have a steeper part) or to sit with a cuppa to admire the newts. If you do, leave a space next to the bench for anyone to park their mobility aid. The recommended path width dimension 'minimum gap' is usually 1.5m between posts in the public realms. But 1.2m sounds fine in general - 1.5m is needed for more unusual things like side-by-side tandems. For the path to my front door (which is over a concrete path) I did a perfectly good wheelchair ramp by using Wallbarn Adjustable Support Pedestals and Pressed Council Slabs. Wallbarn do things like Megapads to take heavy weights, and optional Universal Joints at the top that let it self-adjust to whatever your needed slope is. I did the 10m run to my front door and platform outside, for around £400 including hiring 2 friends for half a day who have more muscles than me (2018). It wouldn't take someone doing a drag race start on a Tramper - the pavers might shift, but it has been great for what I need. I don't think I've done a blog about this. Make it hose washable to clear debris, and avoid features that will catch accumulations of leaves etc - provide a gap so you can wash or sweep then off the path. On surface, you could do something like scatter pebbles and wash it back, or just score the surface with a trowel when half set. Lots of options. But at 1:50 you should not have a problem. Finally, give a bit of thought on recovery if someone falls over, especially in the circs that they may be alone in the house - that might be having 2 handrails so they can pull themselves up, as well as things like always having a phone to hand or a rape alarm to call the neighbours. Links: Wheels for Wellbeing design guidelines for 'Inclusive Cycle Parking' Sounds off topic, but has a lot of relevant info in a small doc. https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/14-features-of-inclusive-cycle-parking/ Index to their resource sheets: https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/our-campaigns/resources/ Tramper Mobility Scooter with dimensions and specs: https://4zn.f0c.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/tramper_brochure.pdf Public realm recommendations: Guide to LTN 1/20 https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/wheels-for-wellbeing-guide-to-ltn1-20/ Govt Inclusive Mobility standard: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61d32bb7d3bf7f1f72b5ffd2/inclusive-mobility-a-guide-to-best-practice-on-access-to-pedestrian-and-transport-infrastructure.pdf HTH Ferdinand

Wish I'd used a levelling system...

How about normal concrete with crushed stone, severely tamped to bring the fines up. Next day pressure hose or brush the surface to expose the stone. OR sprinkle grit on and tamp in .

@Alan Ambrose The The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) defines what a valid application is under Article 34, Part 6 which also mentions that a valid application is taken to have been received when the application, and such of the documents, particulars or evidence referred to above as are required to be included in, or to accompany, the application have been lodged with the appropriate authority mentioned in article 11(1) and the fee required to be paid has been paid. When you submit an application via the planning portal, the council receives the application and all documents by email and the fee is transferred over to them. The LPA can not treat the application as invalid until you agree to their change of the description. Refer to the following which mentions that Checking the accuracy of the description of development should not delay validation of an application: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/making-an-application#Changes-to-the-description-of-development

>>> If you submitted an application through the Planning Portal and all required particulars were provided along with the correct fee then the council has to deem the validation date as the date they receive the application, not a date 1 or 2 weeks later when they have processed and registered the application. Is that an actual rule defined somewhere or a convention which might vary between LPAs? I just received this nonsense: Unfortunately your application is incomplete and cannot be registered as a valid planning application. To complete the application, please submit the following: 1) Please can you confirm you are happy with the change in description, from:- Change of dwelling design for xxxxxx and yyyyy- single storey design. Resubmission of zzzzz following Inspector's material approval of both the design and impact on the LB. This is a self build. to:- Construction of 1 no. single storey dwelling (revised design) There are some rules somewhere re application titles? On related subjects: Do LPAs generally receive all the docs from the Planning Portal and load them onto their own systems, or are they using a direct view onto the Portal's database? I see LPA's have similar but not identical web interfaces for applicants and local residents? Are they generally using one or two standard systems, have written them in-house, or or a view onto the Portal's database? And, do applicant's generally use the Portal's 'amend application' functionality or just send new docs to the LPA directly? BTW I see "TerraQuest Solutions Limited" run the Portal. It produced a £5.6m profit in its last accounts and is owned by "Mason Bidco Limited" which is owned by "MASON MIDCO LIMITED" that is owned by "Mason Holdco Limited" that is owned by "Mason Topco Limited" which has "0 active persons with significant control". These guys seem to regularly pop up all along the way: https://apsecapital.com/#team

I bought it at a time when prices were rising quicker than my wages, mid 80's. It was the only house in the county I could afford, literally and was nowhere near what I wanted and I had no intention of staying there any longer than I had to. In my case it was easy to put a gate in the back fence onto a public path and wheel the mower round. Most of the estate where gardens backed onto other gardens did not have that option. If nothing else that house confirmed what I did and did not like about houses. I can't say there was very much at all about that one that I liked other than it was cheap.

Well that conversation could have gone better. I said he didn't need to replace them to which he said he wouldn't be happy knowing they are there, but he'll finish up where he has already started and step out on the rest of the job. A shame as I think he's a good tiler and normally seems like a nice bloke too. No raised voices on either side and I approached it as being a tad apologetic to raise the issue. I've a big area (72m2) of hard to lay tiles that I need to have confidence in and if I can't talk quality with the tiler it's an issue.

They squeezed more houses in. It is normal for mid terraces to have no side passage. You bought it.

Do you have a shower tray or a former for tiling? If it's the latter, you'll have to tile the room. Our es, we have a former, and have the room tiled. Used a mapei tanking kit. Our basement bathroom has a ceramic tray and we've left in.

It astounded me when I bought my first house, a new small terrace house. It had a lawn front and back, but the only way to get a lawnmower between the 2 was to pick it up and carry it through the house. My first DIY job was put a gate in the back fence so I could wheel the lawnmower around the outside. Why are builders so stupid?

It also matters if you’ve got the cash to build it in full, need a mortgage on it now or in future or need it to be an asset you could sell if you had to. If none of that matters ignore the rest below. If you need to sell it would it be mortgageable or require a cash only buyer? Our timber frame with 100% metal cladding reduced mortgage providers to 2. Look at the challenges Colt houses have selling just 60 years later - cash only. Will a mortgage company believe the 100-200 years or be totally risk averse. You can build anything but it’s whether you need it still to be an asset in your lifetime or not and can persuade lenders of that.

Welcome I used to do the same, but for point of sale displays.

It will work, it won't be efficient. If you're paying good money most companies will do whatever you want. Fit a heat pump in a totally unsuitable building, no problem etc. 99% of folk would feel warm underfoot and give the company rave reviews based on the feel good factor. Noting the extra expense will come later. Do all you can to mitigate heat losses elsewhere. On here @oranjeboom excavated his whole ground floor in his existing house then built back up with insulation and a new slab with UFH in.

I've been continuously building for just long enough now for us ( well, HerInDoors) to want to change the gabions we installed 9 years ago. Annoying doesn't come close. The job of removing established gabion baskets was so much easier than I thought - shove two crowbars through the basket, digga, straps , snap shackles, normal shackles, a bit of Oomph - jobs a goodun. 4 gabions; several GCNs, a good few toads, a Jeremiah (Bullfrog), loads of snails eggs, lots (3?) of frogs and a pissed off normal newt. I should have remembered to classify our gabions as a hibernacula (newt refuge) for our Ecological Mitigation Strategy. When almost constantly wet, gabions are an excellent refuge for wildlife. Loads of mosses in the gabions that remain.

Thanks everyone. Ian

A vote from a ramp here. You can continue to enjoy your garden indefinitely then.

Personally I don't like steps with a very long going, it is not natural and I end up making a very long step, or 2 little steps to ascend them. We are all used to internal stairs and their rise and going, so I like to stick to similar. Or at the most stretch them out to the longer going of commercial stairs, i.e. what we are all used to in a shopping centre.

we went for 1200mm wide steps, 150mm rise, 350mm going. split with a 1200mm landing every third step. three sets in total then transitioning to a ramp / path. forms part of exit from house via balcony so has to be BC compliant. Feels fine to walk.

I guess it depends on how steep the ramp will be as slipping might be a proboem 🤷‍♂️

At 8mm gaps you won't see the fabric (unless right up close and square on) so I wouldn't bother. Here's a pic of my shipping container cladding, 25, 70, and 100mm boards, with 5-8mm gaps. Theres light grey membrane behind but you can't see it.

We did as above with 150mm by 20mm planks, either side of the posts. Plenty strong enough to space posts at 2 metres and no additional support needed for the planks. All standard stuff from fence suppliers. Planks either side of the post like that give privacy while allowing wind to pass through.

50 x 25 seems a very 'square' section for fencing - is there a particular reason for using that? Going to take a lot of fixings! Also, wider slats would reduce any bowing and thus remove the need for intermediate support. Wood tends to expand across the grain so two thoughts on this: You shouldn't need to leave expansion joints at the end as expansion lengthways over 1.8 metres should be minimal. 50mm across the width shouldn't create massive expansion but if you're only leaving a 8mm gap then that expansion might be noticeable if one timber decides to expand down and the adjacent one expands up. To be honest, though, probably only noticeable to the person who fits it (ie you!) No experience of the privacy screening fabric but I'd imagine it will decay/split well before the fence needs replacing. Also, I presume the privacy screening fabric must be on the outer side of the fence (if you get the shadow effect from your garden) which must make the outside look just like a wall of black fabric? We're looking at a similar style of fence but using wider timbers alternately attached to each side of the post. This should allow wind through but still create a visual barrier - plus allow plants to grow both sides of the fence at the same time.

Maybe it will be neat. It's an option. They could be stepping stones in the flower bed.

Oh Fer FooksSake.... 😑 I'm a Bear With A Very Small Brain. Thanks @Russell griffiths

If you can build the ramp, then why build steps.

Send them a letter listing the outstanding work as best you can, list your previous communications on the subject, point out their responsibilities under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and say that you will will take further action under the act and / or for breach of contract if they don't provide a satisfactory plan within X days to complete the work by Y date, or if they fail to achieve it. See https://www.thecpa.co.uk/news/consumer-rights-act-2015/ : As a trader, you must perform the service with relevant care and skill, and within a reasonable time frame. Also, information said or written is binding, ‘where the consumer relies on it’. Always make sure that all your promotional materials are truthful and accurate, and relate to the product in hand. If any of these parts of your service is below standard, the consumer is entitled to ask for you to either redo a part of the service or complete the whole service again for free. If the service cannot be performed within a reasonable amount of time, without causing inconvenience, the consumer is entitled to ask for a price reduction – in some cases up to 100%.

I would have thought that any half decent electrician could finish off your wiring. They may have to spend some extra time tracing and testing what is already there, but that is normal work for them. Same with the UFH pipework, except the design spacing/zoning needs to be know. The actual connecting up if the heating pump is a fairly simple job, not as if they need lots of room thermostats wiring in. I suggest you ask your builder to ask his electrician/plumber to come up with designs/prices, then contact the ASHP company and start renegotiating the price. While you are at it and waiting for a reply, get on the internet and price up the parts. You may find that you are better off just buying the kit and getting 'normal' trades to fit them. And check the MCS company out in the Companies House website, you can see what the past if the individuals is, often illuminating.

Well it's all clear, you shouldn't put it inside. And you shouldn't put it outside. What's the problem?

The extra loft insulation is going to be worth 1kW or possibly more (somewhere you should be able to change the assumption about loft insulation!), which reduces your spreadsheet calculation to perhaps 6.6kW. Its about a 3.5C drop from 20.5 to 17. The average house temp in winter is thus very roughly 9*20.5 +15*(20.5-1.75) = 19.4C. The correction factor is therefore 20.5--2.3)(19.4--2.3), about 5% suggesting your design temperature load is about 5.8kW. You will need bigger than this if you plan to heat part time when its at its coldest. 5.8kW and 6.5kW are not that far apart! Based on this my guess, and it is only an (educated) guess, is that you would get away with a 6kW unit or an 8kW unit. The latter, unless it has a particularly good modulation depth, will likely cycle a bit at mild temperatures (when you are likely to be running at 2.5kW or thereabouts), but you are probably in practice going to continue turning it off at night anyway just for comfort, which will tend to counter that because you need to deliver more heat during the day to compensate for the energy lost from the fabric at night. I would be very wary of any suggestion from an installer that you need bigger than 8kW, and if you went for 6kW then you may need a bit of supplementary heating in an extended very cold spell, which happens rarely in Hertfordshire. Note sticker capacity and actual capacity at design conditions may differ, either way! Quite a few people argue, contrary to the practice of most installers, that mild undersizing is better than oversizing. From an efficiency perspective this is true and, if you are prepared to put up with occasionally needing a bit of supplementary heating it is likely a good way to go. Others will argue that you should always oversize if in doubt. Its a trade off of efficiency vs the inconvenience of occasionally needing supplementary heating. Note that some heat pumps have poor modulation capability (ration of max to min output). This includes some 'big names'. Some manufacturers produce fewer distinct hardware variants than the number of different models they advertise, basically 'range rating' them by clamping the max output in the firmware. The downside of this is that, in a 'clamped' variant, the min output is still the same as it was when the same hardware was not 'clamped', so the modulation ratio is degraded. The more transparent manufacturers don't do this and are more 'honest' about the number of distinct hardware variants they actually produce. Hope that helps.

All good stuff and no surprises. One more question, by how much does it cool during the night time off period (Im trying to get an estimate of the average house temp to correct for that). For example if it cools by say 5C then the average house temperature is very, very roughly 9*20.5 +15*(20.5-2.55) = 19C. So any figure calculated from annual consumption should be uplifted by (20.5--2.3)(19--2.3), about 7%. That's assuming you plan to heat 24x7 with the ASHP when the OAT is at -2.3. If you can download your half hourly readings then you can look back at the consumption to be even more sure. I averaged over 3 hours to iron out, but with your short heating periods the averaging time would arguably need to be longer. The reason to do these calculations, IMHO, is to sense check what prospective suppliers tell you. If you can get close to the same answer using two or more independent methods, then its probably near enough right. With a 1996, ie fairly modern, house the default assumptions should be fairly close, unless you have done fabric upgrades (eg thicker loft insulation or better windows). Have you?.

I disagree, it was the west that started the Industrial Revolution (pollution) so we should be the first to try and reverse that, with regards “desolating our neighbours” unless you advocate isolationism how can we control what countries like China do?, yes we could stop importing their stuff but who would pay the price.? And who would be willing to do that. As said before change will happen slowly and I do believe it’s heading in the right direction.

Hi Anna and welcome. I'm in the Glasgow area (just south towards kilmarnock). Any solicitor should be able to do it without issue. Just use a decent proper solicitor and not a fixed price conveyancing service which is very basic and albeit they are solicitors they are not really very good at things apart from doing house conveyancing. Thinks to ensure is access and provision of services. Never buya plot unless you are 100% sure that you can get services and the cost of connection. Also worthwhile adding clauses around doing checks that it isn't made up ground or contaminated etc.