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Cheers guys for all the pointers! Up to DPC now and they are looking good. Mortar still wet in the pictures. Past DPC we are going to use a light grey mortar with V or raked out joint to show off the rough edges of the brick.

Well, last week I took the difficult decision to pull out of a land purchase for two plots, in part because of the material prices and labour shortages. It's impossible to plan a project when prices are inflated and no one knows when it's going to stop. Just too risky.

Hi and welcome That looks like it should be on Grand designs. Best of luck.

Also that Clifton Unkempt Novice Tiler...

Can’t recommend the Rubi ( or similar ) levelling system enough .Tried some others ; whilst pretty good - this one is the best . My workmanship now exceeds Uncle Nicks ( aka @Nickfromwales ) . Indeed round here they just call me “ The Incredible Tiler “ - tit for short

Yup. Thank FCUK ???

They will if they work as bricklayers!

My old man's on the trowel up your way @nod ain't many weeks he grosses less than 1200 rain or shine. All ready mix and forklift with good health a safety can see why brickies don't want small self build jobs. Not sure about other subbies but he's copped close to 20k in grants this year too I'm guessing he shouldn't really be claiming but you won't convince him of that. Brickies are about the most money orientated trade out there. I think it comes from counting every brick they lay and getting paid accordingly.

16k feels expensive to me, but it all depends what you're after. I expect there is a lot of opportunism at the moment as prices are high and everyone wants one. Could save you £8k to wait a year. As a reference: https://dunsterhouse.co.uk/helena-garden-office-right-w4-3m-x-d2-7m Their prices have probably rocketed too though

Just checked the dimensions and it's 1.8m x 3.3 There is loads of space, most things are not that deep so there is still space for a large table with tools etc under it.

Think caref6about the damp layer as well. Your first picture uses two layers on non perforated blue engineering bricks. Using plastic doc can create a real weak spot for walls like this. If you're making a 9" wall and it only has to look good on one side I can imagine you incorporating 100mm X 100mm reinforced concrete posts built in to one face. The posts would be buried a couple of feet down and lend a fair amount of strength. Would need to be confident that the posts wouldn't 'rot'.

Not quite afaic... "A4" relates to the corrosion resistance of the stainless steel. So A2 is nom 304 and A4 316 is 316 (better than 304). We've always referred to A4 as cutlery or marine grade. I recall a load of "ordinary", A2 stainless fixings used on a seafront job in Eastbourne. They had holes in them like a Swiss cheese after not too long! Atop a st/st bolt you'll see stampings for example "A4 70" or "A4 80". The 70 and 80 refer to the tensile strength, 80 being higher. Roughly 80 is equivalent, tensile strength wise to 8.8. We used to use a lot of M16 nyloc nuts on M16 A2/304 studs sticking out of concrete. They are notorious for locking up. (Nobody then ever used copper slip). One trick was to use A4 nyloc nuts on A2 studding. Used to lock up far less for some reason. As an aside, with mild steel bolts, no stamping means you can't tell the tensile strength grade. Working up the strength scale you get 4.6, 4.8, 5.6, 5.8, 6.8, 8.8, 10.9, 12.9 all fairly common. Above 8.8 they tend to be black and not zinc plated/galvanised as there can be problems with hydrogen embrittlement.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/20/fences_gates_and_garden_walls/2 Note-wall thickness of half brick is single skin,and then multiples thereof.

A quick montage of my partially sunken one if any use:

A few of us have code that can run a simple temperature and RH data logger. £30 will get all the parts you need. Here is some very basic code for a RPi, it created daily, time stamped files. #!/usr/bin/python #imports necessary libaries import os, time, datetime #load drivers os.system('modprobe w1-gpio') os.system('modprobe w1-therm') while True: #Sort out the time format dt = datetime.datetime.now() runday = dt.day dt.day == runday #sensor 1 tfile = open("/sys/bus/w1/devices/28-0306979462ca/w1_slave") text1 = tfile.read() tfile.close() temperature_data1 = text1.split()[-1] temperature1 = float(temperature_data1[2:]) temperature1 = temperature1 / 1000 #sensor 2 tfile = open("/sys/bus/w1/devices/28-031097946bbc/w1_slave") text2 = tfile.read() tfile.close() temperature_data2 = text2.split()[-1] temperature2 = float(temperature_data2[2:]) temperature2 = temperature2 / 1000 #sensor 3 tfile = open("/sys/bus/w1/devices/28-030197941c13/w1_slave") text3 = tfile.read() tfile.close() temperature_data3 = text3.split()[-1] temperature3 = float(temperature_data3[2:]) temperature3 = temperature3 / 1000 #sensor 4 tfile = open("/sys/bus/w1/devices/28-03149794263a/w1_slave") text4 = tfile.read() tfile.close() temperature_data4 = text4.split()[-1] temperature4 = float(temperature_data4[2:]) temperature4 = temperature4 / 1000 #opens and reads the time ts = time.time() #sets time to UTC and dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss format UTC = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(ts).strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S') logfile = '/home/pi/monitoring/data/1wire-%s-%s-%s.csv' % (dt.day, dt.month, dt.year) #creates and opens or appends data to file tfile = open(logfile, "a") #writes to data file tfile.write("%s"%UTC + ",%s"%temperature1 + ",%s"%temperature2 + ",%s"%temperature3 + ",%s"%temperature4 + '\n') #closes data file tfile.close #sleeps for (n) seconds until next reading time.sleep(25)

Switch off ventilation system. Hang dust sheets over windows, don’t let the sun in , if it works use external shutters, Does design have large areas of south or west facing glass? Did you get a building physics model?

It will be cheaper for you if you can head off enforcement. If you haven't already done do I would write to them ASAP asking them if they have considered the judgement in: "Panton and Farmer v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the regions and Vale of White Horse DC [1999] JPL 461" Which you believe establishes that only abandonment, not temporary interruption, resets the four year period for enforcement. Point out that use of the structure was never abandoned. If you have already done that I'd apply for the certificate citing the same case.

Have next door been told the same?. I once replaced a staircase in an old cottage but it was steeper than new regs so I retained one small piece of wood and told the BI I had repaired it not replaced it and he just laughed at me but let me keep it.

Raised platforms are often an issue if they overlook other private gardens. Had you repaired this in stages, you may have been OK. If they issue an enforcement notice you can appeal it.

Good idea which we thought about but our kitchen designer put us off them and we are very glad. We have a very light coloured large 1.2m sq tiles throughout and you have to hoover nearly everyday. You would not believe the amount of dust/debris that accumulate every single day and if you put lights under your worktop it will show up absolutely everything depending on your floor covering. GROSS WARNING!! If you walk round bare footed as I do when you sit down you have an area of dirt/skin exactly where your feet have been that drop off as you move your feet around. Plus you would not believe the amount of hairs that get shed each and everyday as they form a patch around your feet when sit down. We moved from a carpeted house with a dark laminate floor and used to hoover once a week as there was nothing to see but now we hoover every day and may get a robotic hoover in the future as it is depressing reality of living in a modern new build that is so light!! GROSSNESS OVER!

I lumos do some nice products: https://hartingtonheath.com/product/i-lumos-8-x-16mm-warm-white-led-flexible-waterproof-neon-strip-light/

Get the joiner fitting the worktops to router out a rebate for the led/trim/bezel. That would work

If it helps, I found that the more commonplace the work the easier to cost. The more "way out" or experimental the less certainty (not that there is certainty). My experience: Example 1: Full drawings, full specification, fully costed by cost engineer and evaluated by QS. Quotes came back 27% higher. Ring round for feedback: builders all very busy and would have to engage subbies and temp staff to cover work so cost higher. Market hot. Example 2: Same but result 11% below: Contractor recently lost job he was hoping for and prepared to do the job at almost cost as long as it can be done before his team start the next big contract that they have 6 months down the line. Two different out comes. So what was wrong with the estimate? I could go on about more complicated scenarios and I'm sure other will have many fascinating examples but I hope you get my point. Finally to be 3 times over budget requires some level of unknownness (if there is such a word) : To reassure yourself, you need to analyse the reasons that happened to your friend and avoid making the same mistakes. My guess would be challenges with the groundworks or changes of plans, or the other certain spanner in the works: let's get started and we'll work out how we're going to do it when we get there. Good luck M

The last pic looks like when that naughty Gremlin jumped into the swimming baths.