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Typically needles penetrate the building in the room above the room where the steel is being installed. Yes they are disruptive and result in more remedial works but they are a significantly more robust and safer method of providing temporary support vs strongboys particularly in wide openings such as yours. No doubt strongboys and back propping joisting is used also by some, ultimately it's your call.

Hunted down some bits and diy ‘d it

Do NOT inject any insulation in the cavity between a brick/block outer and the timber frame. Simply not a recognized system/method of insulating walls. Cellulose cannot be used in external masonry cavity walls.

Now I often post up links to radio shows, and get very few replies, but people may find this interesting. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001y89y There is 5 of them.

Plus 1 Needles are by far the easiest and safest If you have a Stihl saw You can cut a lintel into four to save buying padstones

Yes you certainly will need temporary support of the external leaf. That is a significant opening and if I understand correctly has two storey of brickwork above it. Similarly I'd question supporting the inner leaf by solely propping the existing joisting. Sounds to me like a job for needles penetrating both leafs.

Hello and welcome, hopefully they are not ordinary celcon blocks and actually high strength ones or concrete or similar. you definitely need to support the brickwork with strong boys or a cascade failure is likely. Leave the supports in until the beam is in, grouted and the gap under the bricks packed solid. you can use one pad across both leaves but that’s a big cold bridge, I’m assuming you are having an inner and outer beam? Or just one?

MY view on this is similar to few others, I arranged a Kick-off site visit with My BCO, this for me has always been a way of getting a positive relationship with the BCO officer, in Scotland with the Warrant the work is very formalised anyway. My invitation was open the discussion similar to "I'm planning on doing X, Y, & Z over the next few weeks, do you want to see any certain aspects? want me to send photo's? etc. and an open offer to visit whenever they were passing. I have nothing to hide, there experience and help is more valuable than then turning up ad-hoc IMHO. This worked to my advantage on the build they did call in one day and I went through the progress, all good, then when It came to pouring concrete, They were unable to visit due to other commitments so I sent photos and moved on with no issues. IF I was a BCO, and the client got twitchy with me turning up, I'd be suspicious. If its purely Insurance etc, I'm sure that could be worked around with a site visitors book for signing in etc. @JWHIT "it also seems to be the case that because we are doing a fair amount of work ourselves, and not using any of the main island contractors, they have sparked a particular interest " My View on this is simple, they don't know you or the quality of your work, so for me it's up to you to A; help them understand your ability and quality - i.e. let them see your work, your passion for the quality etc, B: be cryptic, evasive with them, and expect them to look under every stone to make sure their happy with the progress.

A question that is ask on a regular basis Fixing track or studs to a floor without drilling I found this stuff to be cheap and the most effective way to fix I put these two bits of track down at 4 and built the stud up a 6

Nice cupboard. I just avoided UFH pipes under walls, units, planned cupboards, and beds. Then you or someone else can drill holes without any worry.

Steampunk garden implement … I like it

Now that's a sublime piece of carpentry there! 😁

First, I think you need to go back to your Gas Safe Registered person and question why they've failed it because of this reading. Whilst the regs state a theoretically acceptable limit of a design pressure loss of 1mbar this can not be guarenteed in practice so in and of itself it is not sufficient grounds to fail a safety inspection on existing pipework. The important figure is the minimum required inlet pressure specificied by the boiler manufacturer, which is given within the MIs. With 18.87, you are nowhere near the minimum which with some boilers can be as little as 13mbar and with others around the 16.5 mbar mark. The only times a boiler is deemed to be unsafe is if the gas pressure has been proved to affect the safe operation of the appliance. Refer your Gas Safe person to IGEM-G-11 which they should know and have available on site. And finally, with such a specific measurement, the person has used a digital guage. They're know to be very sensitive,going up and down and under test conditions a varation of 0.25mbar is consider to be no perceptable movement so your measurements are so close to 19mbar anyway, they're not an issue at all. With the information you've given me, you don't need to incur any costs at all for pipework! Get a new Gas Safe registerered person who knows what they're doing. And yes, I'm Gas Safe Registered.

Or better still start a new thread in the appropriate section. This is the place we welcome new members.

Completely agree. There’s is an element of trust here that the builder will comply with the agreement you’ve made. A solicitor’s letter will show intent so worth doing for a few hundred quid not worth it if it’s going to cost more than that. The big question to ask yourself is what’s your feeling that the building company are stand up people that will follow through. As I’ve already said get it done right at the start. If you leave it they’ll prioritise the building works over you. Our previous house was a barn conversion and one of 8. We were first in so the building company was on-site for several months finishing the other houses. We had a long defects list. We made a point of getting to know the site foreman and got on well with him. Consequently we got 90% of the defects resolved just by dealing with him but crucially while they were all still there. The actual process was to go through the office and get every defect signed off which generally was a painful process.

Welcome Dee! It would be worthwhile changing the title to "Advice on floorboards after initial poor job" or something similar to get the attention of the right people.

We placed thin hardboard pieces in all the doorways. Despite we had one slight crack appear running away from one of the doorways. We’ve also put tile expansion joints in every doorway and across the width of the large open plan area.

Thanks @Gus Potter Happy to share my experience and how I approached it. When I got the warrant approval letter and therefore got the name and number of the BCO assigned to our build I made a point of asking a few folk that had built houses in the area what their experience of the BCO was. I also asked some of the trades I had lined up what they were like to deal with. The common feedback was helpful, pragmatic, and practical. I then called him to introduce myself and tell him a little about our project. I asked him how he liked to work and if he had any advice for me. He asked me which trades I’d lined up and while he didn’t offer a direct opinion on them I still got his opinion (if you catch my drift) What I did notice was that the trades I was using made a big difference. For example when I told him the groundswork company I was using he immediately said brilliant you’ll have no problems there which presumably helps him a bit too. They are busy people working in an underfunded department so getting them onside early is important. I can imagine that their approach on the islands will be quite different to my area due to necessity of geography. My BCO can drop in when he’s passing which he has done a few times. Yours can’t so when they are there they are likely to want to make the best use of their time. Plus you’re doing this yourself and their experience of people doing much of the work themselves is mixed hence his slightly more thorough approach possibly. The BCO told me of some horror stories when he first visited. All of that said, the guy might just be a bit of an arse, some are. If so you’ll need to bite your tongue a bit and work around that. One last point, whenever I’ve visited the islands I’ve seen lots of building work going on and very little in the way of security fencing in place. If that’s you then I’d make your site more secure. Your site insurance could be invalid if it’s not secure. Clearly Heras fencing isn’t the last thing in secure fencing but it stops people randomly entering your site.

I got timed on the editing so have reposted in full. My passport says I'm a citizen of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." I do not support Scottish , Welsh or English nationalism in any way. We live on a small island and face many global threats to our way of life. We have a massive immigration problem, some legal, some not. It is putting tremendous strain on us., some is stressing out our health care system financialy.. but there is a big threat from radical "Islam". It is the big elephant in the room. In Scotland we have this new hate crime bill. I have to be very careful about what I say as I could face 7 years in jail for posting this. What you folk don't really know is that if you say something that can be read on the internet in Scotland then you are fall under Scottish law as you are deemed to have published this in Scotland. You could be hauled up to Scotland in our courts. Also if I report you for a hate Crime even anonomously it will go on your record , thus if you are say a teacher in England and they do a full record check then this will flag up that you have been recorded for a hate crime. Do you know about this? Now most of us up in Scotland are absolutely against this law. Also in Scotland the next thing they want to do is to abolish jury trials for rape cases as not enough blokes are gettting convicted. But Imagine if this was your teenage lad that got a bit pissed, the girl is pissed.. now it is down to a single Judge to determine rather than 15 adults. To make matters worse the Scottish Gov have now taken control of our legal system. @saveasteadingI wonder if this is cultural matter that has to be worked around pragmatically. Yes it is. It's basically a contrast between say living in London and contracting where every one is shafting each other and a bunch of adults being fair to each other in Wales or up Durham/ Yorkshire way. If you want to go culture then a Yorkshire man is one of the hardest folk to deal with. I know as have just had a Yorkshire man as a Client, six foot two, retired Quantity Surveyor.. we are still friends. Most folk in Scotland don't get hung up on folk moving about the UK. Some get touchy.. say I trucked down to Cormwall and started shoving haggis down your thoats? Now for you folks that do think that you want to have a bash at English nationalism.. Up in jockland we have 1/3 of the UK land mass. Also we the sea bed and fishing rights that extend 200 miles from the Scottish coast, the defense envelope that comes with that and a bit of oil, yes we may cut out the gas but you'll still need to oil the hinges on your doors? Yes I know when you look at the BBC weather forecast Scotland seems small.. but that is the BBC for you. We also have the land that defends the high north arctic circle, the big submarine base with deep water access. For the English nationalist.. do you really want to give away 1/3 of your country just to get rid of the jocks? Oh and then you'll give away Northen Ireland.. yah dafties! @saveasteading'Can you come and inspect the drainage trenches'? Yes of course: 2 weeks on Tuesday at 11.30 and don't fill them in. No.. It won't work up in the islands.. it needs much more give and take.. also our ferries don't run if they turn up at all. The Scot gov have just spent £400 million on two ferries that are stilll being commissioned, we could have ones that work for £20.0 million.. so we could have had 40 working ferries by now. Bc are still ok but seriously underfunded. All of my posts about this is trying to encourage @JWHIT not to try and apply mainland rules to an Island situation. It won't work. rather get with Island life and enjoy.

I've posted this before but take care screeding through doorways. You end up with the screed in two rooms joined by the narrow bit in the doorway. The screed in each room can shrink towards its centre causing a crack at the doorway. The crack is unlikely to be straight across but may curve significantly into one room and propagate through tiles/stone. The solution is some kind of expansion joint (aka deliberate crack) at the doorway. You can arrange it to be under a grout line or sill piece. In my case a curved crack propagated through stone laid in a Opus pattern so several pieces were cracked.

If the BCO can get into your site easily what about kids and thieves?

I'm a recent convert to this stuff. I've recently done a couple of pipe repairs with it, including exactly your issue. Fernox LS-X Leak Sealer 50ml (23614) (450) COMPARE 1 Year Guarantee Suitable for Compression Joints & Screw Fittings For External Use Product Quantity £5.98INC V

Hiya. I'm Scottish base and have family that live on one of the inner Hebrides and have lot's of experience dealing with BC on the Islands. Also I deal with Scottish Building Standards on a regular basis and have done so for the last 40 years. Some of the BC officers I know quite well, we have a chat on the phone about our careers and reminisce on how good the old times were. In other words they are folk just like us.. there is the odd exeption but that is life. In the round though BC officers actually do have your best interests at heart. It would be great to have a BC officer or two join BH! On the Islands there is a lot of politics. Some Island builders are really shite, cut corners in a big way, some are better / good. BC know who they are so maybe you are getting a heads up and not just seeing the wood for the trees about the work that has been done by others. Now you are doing a bit of work yourselves.. well how much and when did you start doing a lot yourselves? It is in your own interests to build your house right? There is always friction on the Islands... BC know this but are not corrupt at this level. There are loads of other Islanders and folk moving there that do DIY projects so you are not the first and last. @JWHIT "surely this is trespass" My advice.. get this right out your head now. If the BC officer can access your site then you have a Health and Safety issue and they can hammer you on that. The HSE law is quite clear on this all over the UK, if your site is accessible then you are on a hiding to nothing. Have a looked at your site security? Don't pursue this route as you will likely regret it. Too late for that, BC can hammer you much earlier. There is no argument in law for shoddy HSE by saying.. hey I'm insured. Insurance is for when you have tried to do your best and things still go wrong. If they can see bad things from outside the site boundary then surely.. you may be making a cock up? If you try and play hard ball with them then they will pull your trousers down and you won't get to pull them back up until they have run you ragged. Now you may feel that the BC officer has turned up with no appointment.. but they are allowed to do this under UK HSE law (not just Scottish law) .. part of their remit is pubic safety.. they can hammer you on this too! To lay it on a bit thicker they may start to ask if your project should fall under CDM regulations., just to give you the run around. In summary: 1/ Yes there is Island politics, don't worry too much about the main Island Contractor not getting the job. 2/ Phone the officer up and ask when they are next on the island and arrange to meet them in person. This is so imprortant. You are on an Island.. you must get to know folk.. the emails you get from BC only show a snap shot.. sometimes they write stuff that seems really daft / aggressive.. but they are pushed for time and under funded. Cut them some slack and cut yourself some slack too. Keep an open mind as while you see this as a personal opinion then they may be able to give you good advice? Also if you hit it off with them then later on when you apply for a completion certificate you'll probably find that part of the process much easier and not get hit with a load of things that don't conform. 3/ Build a rapport with the officer.. recognise that they may be trying to help you rather than hinder. You may have a young and inexperienced BC officer. Be very careful here not to bully as their boss will then give you the big stick! Listen to what they are saying.. put forward your ideas and have a bit of fun.. seriously they are just folk. To finish @Kelvin may be able to give you some advice about how you deal with BC when relocating to the north of the UK ( Scotland) 4/ Some of my family live on Tiree. Clocked this at the end! Well it does.. Some of the building regs are open to opinion / discussion / detailed design. BC officers often hold professional qualifications / have great experience. They are entitled to question. As before one big stick they do hold is the public safety issue (I do it too as an SE) . Lot's of folk on BH think that this is their house and they can do what they want. BC say and I.. that house has to last for 50 years at least and you may sell it to a family in a couple of years time. Our duty is not just to you but all the folk that come after. Just copied this right at the end. The above is misleading as if it is deemed to be a risk to public saftey then the LA can effect immediate access as what they do will call on the Fire service, the Police , gas board and me as an SE. You see.. who knows what building regs have been compromised? Is it just an extractor fan of a serious structural defect that could cause a gas leak? If push comes to shove and I'm acting for the local authority.. I'll find a legal way of getting into your property if I feel there is a safety issue. You are pissing in the the wind! If you have nothing to hide then you should be relaxed about all of this.

In this case I think we all need to re address this question. a few diagrams would be good. im saying your biscuit mix is no good to support your tiles and you will need a load spreading board of some description.

I used the Postsaver wrap on my last fence, but only 5 years back so much too soon to know how well it performs.

@Temp That is a genius idea, thank you. I shall be using it! I shall also include the timeline of when we notified of completed rectifications/documentation requested, and when he responded with new requirements, which will show up the times he has taken months to come back to us and also that new requirements have been thrown our way very late in the day, and in a piecemeal manner. The beauty of the spreadsheet is that it is all there to see, without having to actually put words together that sound like an accusation.

Why are you doing it that way? I'm assuming it's PIR insualtion on top of a concrete slab? Pumped liquid screed would be around £2k.

Hi all from the (currently) sunny south coast. We're embarking on a huge renovation, stripping a detached 1930s house back to the bones then extending and rebuilding it with better (working!) electrics, plumbing, heating, windows, doors etc. Very scary and exciting! Looking forward to joining the forum!

Hi all. Twenty years ago I bought a derelict bungalow dating back to the early 1900's, more or less knocked it down to the foundations and rebuilt it myself, learning to DIY in a truly epic and clueless Grand Designs "living in a caravan over winter with a pregnant wife" type way. Before I finally finished this place and got the skirting boards on, my family out grew it. We couldn't afford to buy a more suitable, bigger house so started looking at other options. After half a year I managed to buy a massive, half converted, derelict 200 year old Chapel... I guess this is the start of another journey of self discovery, madness and potential financial ruin for me

Generally a masonry cavity wall (insulated or not) should not be ventilated - nothing to do with reducing condensation risk. A open cavity must be sealed at the top and must not link with any ventilation into the roof space/roof ventilation route - it’s a fire safety issue.

We've had a 250mm Cavity done this week with blown eps bead. I climbed into the attic earlier to have a look as I was sceptical the beads would fill right up to our cavity closer (450mm DPC). I checked the entire perimeter of the house and was pleased to find the beads had billowed up the DPC everywhere. Its given me confidence that around the windows and doors there's a tight fill as well. I may do some trial holes if I can find the time but thus far I'm more impressed than I thought I'd be.

This is why self-builders always move onto another build...eventually...even when they say they won't 😉 Just watch it, you've started down the slippery slope. Next it'll be a two-bed tree house in the forest somewhere and then before you know it,it's another passivhaus 😁

Being retired in a house that’s finished with building kit left over and a nice workshop 🤷‍♂️

Tips don’t get it on your hands. sooper dooper tip. if you get it on your hands, don’t put your gloves back on. 😉

Concepts fine. Pushfit may be gentler on the hands when on full chat.

Does it warm your hands in winter 🙂

I love a solution, I recently needed to replace a broken handle on my Strimmer, what do you think of my “solution” ?

Will it stand the rock of the 'new waitress' test.

Make a change from Stargazy Pie and Saffron Buns. I have done Jury Service on a sexual offence charge (and a theft/assault charge as well). The opinions of the gobby juriers is unbelievable and the evidence presented to them is of no consequence, even when they are direct to deliver a not guilty verdict. It was one of the worse 2 weeks of my life and an innocent person was found guilty. I was so upset that as I walked back to my car I was in tears from anger, frustration and injustice. I felt I should have done more along with the other two people that were working to the evidence, one of which changed their mind without an explanation (they got paid the same to sit in the courts as they did cutting up bacon at work).

Don't know what the means but I believe you.