Roger440

No re-wiring. Its 20 years old. And theres heaps of it. Chap went bonkers on electrics.

Im pondering my insulation options in my newly aquired barn. Bizzarely, it has a cavity wall. Block inner and outer. So, i was considering EPS beads. However, the previous owner put 90% of the elecrrical cabling in the cavity. The internet says covering cables in insulation is bad and causes embrittlement. Just how real is this problem? Is it likely to be a problem in my lifetime? Thoughts?

Can i ask who the quote was from please?

Im at a similar point. However, walking around the area reveals very many Sitka and the like! Theres a shelter belt to the west of our propery, all sitka or similar. My boundary runs along it. Im concscious that at some point, these will be harvested. So i want to plant something in front on my side. But what to do? Clearly conifers will be more effective as they are ever green, but its hardly native! Why do you say western red cedar specifically? Sorry for thread hijack

Welcome. Im no use to you as i decided its all too hard. But hampshire you say? And not much money. As im sure others will say, move north. " plots here. Build both, sell one. All for no money, releatively. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112306787#/?channel=COM_BUY

I get my EA flood alerts 12-24 hours after the event. Very helpful! Good advice on the lay flat hoses. Learnt that the hard way.

Why do you want or need all the complication? Especially electronics? Much more failure prone than the pumps. Mine are on 2 seperate supplies, direct from incoming after the meter with their own independant protection seperate from the house. They are zoeller pumps with there own integral floats. There are no other controls. To check i can either, fill sump with water, or just lift up the float. Simples. I dont believe i could make it simpler. Simple = reliable. Electronics = unreliable!! And as back up, in the event of loss of mains power, as stated, a battery pump. Again, independant. Worst that could happen is power goess off in the house (tripped RCD, but mains pumps are still running. That would trigger the battery pump as well. So a "right side" failure. I consider the loss of mains power a significant risk in flood conditions. Can you tell my background is maintenance...............................

In my case, pretty much what pocster has done. Bought a twin pump (zoeller)version of this: https://www.sumpsandpumpsdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Zoeller-Grey-Water-Pumping-Station.html#SID=48 The pumps are at different levels. Mine was done to counter a flood event from the river, so they will rarely if ever be used. In case of power failure, the same company supplied piggy back battery pump (12v) with capacity to run for 4 hours. Which in my case, is plenty. More batteries wouls increase that time. For it not to work, both mains pumps and battery sysatem would need to fail.

You sound like you are building the garage at my last place. Details here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/my-gab-in-the-uk-thread.265998/ As mentioned earlier if BCO think yiu are putting heating in it, they will treat it has habitable space, with full compliance necessary. So accidentally installing UFH pipes after they have viewed will be necessary. Then hide the manifold. I had enough of a struggle explaing why there was insulation under the floor slab. My argument, entirely true, was i wanted a thermally stable environment to store my cars to prevent deterioration. The "trade" simply doesnt get it.

Didnt use it for a workshop, but did in my house (old, no DPC etc etc) Aside from cost, is little downside. I looked at it again for a workshop that would have the potential to flood, so definitely was in the running, as completely unaffected by water. In the house, i used it for all the reasons they state, but inside the house, and not wanting to dig to far down and expose the foundations, its main benefit was being the load bearing AND insulating layer combined. Of course, it doesnt meet current regs. Does your workshop need to?

Solid 9 inch wall suggests no DPC? In which case, covering with impermeable celotex is asking for problems of the damp variety.

What Radian said about D&D. If you are doing EWI, then the problem will likely go away. In the meantime, a dessicant based dehumidifer is prob your best option. Well, second best to removing it. How confident are you there will be absolutely no draughts or air movement beind the boards? If there is any at all, all youy EWI will be utterly pointless. You mention lime mortar on the walls. Did you do this? Given its a solid wall, and therefore, im guessing no DPC, and assuming its downstairs, id plaster in lime. Not much point having lime motor if you are going to stick plasterboard over it! If its upstairs, just plaster it.

You have a cold wall and warm plasterboard and an excellent thermal bridge. Until you solve that problem, its not likely to go away. The real question is why you would d&d onto a solid uninsulated wall? There are loads of potential solutions.

See my post above.

PIR or similar was never an option anyway because of the lack of DPC in the walls, though yes, you could be right. Though the back half of the house is modern and that didnt float away! The issue before i started was concrete slab over DPM creating wet walls with gypsum plaster over. Creating the same again wasnt happening. The arrangement is basically the same as this: https://www.lime.org.uk/products/sylfaenr-foundation-system.html The walls are lime plastered both to allow the wall to breate, and also to allow it to dry if it gets wet in a flood. I know there are wildly differing opinions on this, but removing the concrete/dpm and gypsum plater fixed all the damp issues in my house. quickly. I know what i see. But ultimately, keeping things damp free, and not not having to strip off plaster post flood meant that the thermal performance came a poor second. No idea what the power loss is. Didnt worry about it as theres nothing i can do about it. Just concentrated on the detaling to make as draught free as poss. For reference its a 9 inch wall with lime plaster on the inside and unknown render on the outside.

Because its old, ie 9 inch walls, no dpc etc, under that is a geocell/foamed glass bed. The chaps doing the limecrete that went over it put it there. Part of their system. I then laid the water pipes before they came back and laid the floor. Compared to most of what goes on here, its a thermal catastrophe, but options were limited given the construction and the possibility of flooding.

After more than 6 months since the floor went down, ive finally got it connected. Not me, a nice plumber chap. Why have i never done this before. Bloody fantastic. Everyone should have it! Gratuitous before and after shots.

If my memory serves they say no structural calcs requitred for up to 1m. Mine was 750 at the highest point. As it was near trees, that was my primary driver, so it could move a bit. Plus i cant lay bricks! I cant really see many reasons why you would use brick/block/concrete.

Have you considered something like this: https://ag.uk.com/professionals/products/category/retaining-wall-system/ Ive used it twice to good effect. Plus its pretty much idiot proof to build. And in the event of slight ground movement it wont just crack

Thanks. Are 100% certain of that? I think the lack of overhang is releatively easily fixed, as is the gutter. Much as id not choose it myself, especially given where it is, its probably cheaper to repair the damaged part than remove it all and do something else.

It was like this when i bought it, so i have no recourse to anything. Its also, id guess, up to 20 years old? Based on the fact that roof cap sheets are applied over it, and thats when it was built. Its concrete blockwork. Its well sheltered, hence the "green" look! But you comments are not filling me with reasons to repair it. Given only one end of the building/barn (that i cant see) is done, and the rest is bare concrete block, it serves no useful purpose. But stripping it all off doesnt leave a clean wall either. And im also aware that the current shelter from a massive bank of conifers will "disappear" at some point, leaving it rather exposed to the west.

That was very useful. Thanks . Ive seen some of vids, but not that one. I dont follow what you mean on the tingle repair. I understand it for holding tiles, but for a valley repair?

Sorry, but im not sure what you mean? Cut a line where? Surely i need to be removing all the tiles?

Thanks What should it be? Code 5? Yes, you are right, that run is probably 3-3.5 meters. Cant say im surprised. Main issue is finding someone to fix it properly. Ive properly bodged it for now. There are other issues, like the eaves being completely boxed in and minimal airflow. But i understand and can fix those.