Roger440

My BCO wanted to know why there 100mm of eps under my garage slab.I told it him it wasn't being heated, just wanted a stable enviroment to keep cars in. He was happy with that and asked no more questions. The intention was of course to fit heating, but as ive moved now, its doing exactly what i said, maintaining a stable enviroment for cars. All thats in there is a dessicant dehumidifier keeping the chill off and humidity at 50% The threshold still annoys me though. I cut the EPS away to the depth of the block paving that meets the base, but my biggest error was not insetting the base in front of the door. as a consequence, there is 6 inches of concrete outside. But given the slab area is over 60sqm, its probably not actually an issue. Its pretty snug in there as it is.It is exceptionally airtight.

Been asked before, by me as well as others. Not seen any proper solutions yet. At least not that can be driven over.

Was that just mopping it, rather than painting it. If so, great result. Very satisfying when you get that level of improvement!

True. But we are going to build a railway so even more people can get to the south east quickly!!! To just make it worse still........................

I too used the Acheson and Glover stuff to do a retaining wall. There blurb says no cals needed upto either 1 or 1.2 depending on the system if i recall correctly. Dead easy to use. I used it because i was very near trees, so long term likely to be some movement which these should cope with and a brick wall wouldn't. I would never build a brick retaining or garden wall again.

You have outstanding taste. I had to sell me GT4 last summer to fund my house Pic here:

Excellent And yes, you cant beat the sound of a triumph straight six! If it was me, i doubt the house would get finished before i was tinkering.

What he said. We need to know - and pics of course

No, but im watching Given that im guessing you have no DPC, id check out periodproperty.co.uk for your lime based insulating plaster options. Im going to have to do this, probably next year.

Hmmm, theres a few issues here. First off,, supply and demand will, ultimately always drive the cost.To believe otherwise is dreaming. The current thinking is to increase supply. Leaving aside how succesful this has been so far, even if you built a million houses a year, sure, in theory cost would come down, but no-one talks about the demand side. "IF" it became more affordable to live and work here, even more people would come. Which would just increase demand and push things back up. The equilbrium is where it is now. Its not going to change significantly any time soon. Only the British economy going into significant contraction is going to do that. At a more practical level, agree with those saying mass production is the ONLY way to get a decent cost reduction in construction part of the house. But why oh why, does everyone who proposes to do this make "weird" looking houses. People dont want weird looking houses. They want traditional. Planners want traditional. So why not give them that. Im sure a factory assembled house that LOOKED like a normal house cant fail to be successful. Last but not least, and again identified above, foundations. I cant believe we still dig tenches and fill them with concrete. There are lots of other types, such as the raft i built for my garage. But taking this approach to the next level, why do we need foundations at all? OK, sounds mad, but seriously, why? Surely, a level surface with type 1 etc, just as you would lay for a raft/slab is a stable surface? What the concrete actually for? If you were building a factory house, why not just make the base a steel frame (stainless maybe) and secure with some ground anchors, or on rock, just bolt it down? Ok, laugh if you like, but surely it can be done, from a technical standpoint? Sure, there would be some regulatory issues to overcome. Concretes expensive, messy and costly. Level ground, dump a load of stone, compact, install house. Not going to work everywhere, accepted. And as stated above, to me, screw piles make a LOT of sense. Minimal actual ground works. Reasons why this cant be done welcomed. Just doing some "blue sky"

Got one of these. Great bit of kit. Has done everything asked of it so far. Only issue is, its quite heavy, but im a bit soft! Spend too much of my time these days on my backside!

Are you sure about that? Welcome by the way

Hmmm, My phone and laptop came with Chargers. So i use them. As does my wife. Still not getting it. Did see them in the screwfix catalogue when i was there. Somewhat bemused then too.

I have not once in my life felt the need to have a socket with a USB port. Nor do i understand why you would. Maybe im just backwards?

Yes indeed. Saw that too

Nice job My guys screwed down every third ridge for what its worth.

Great advice Was going to post the same question, but no need, its all here. Will see how it goes next weekend.

When i was looking at bi-folds, i took agood look at the seals on various one at one of the shows at the NEC. Frankly, most of them were rubbish. In many cases just stuck on strips. Only one i looked at had "proper" seals with moulded corners etc. I.e, one piece. With a decent amount of "give". Why is it that most windows, dg etc have such poor sealing that takes no account of time, movement, shrinkage etc. They really ought to look to cars for novel sealing arrangements that work for a very long time. The hours ive wasted trying get dg units to be draught free at 3 different houses. All just crap.

That would drive me nuts. My garage had them all delivered cut to length, so no joins. Longest was 6.5m if i recall.

My life is too short for that. 80 hours a week running your own buisness at work leaves little time to clutter up my mind with things that will make my angry. I bought another house instead! Problem fixed.

Thanks Pete. Hadn't thought of that! Of course my real issue is finding someone who can actually sort it out!

Hi Pete. Found that. I think i get it now. I see no evidence inside or outside of any such thing. Given that its pre 1850 ish, maybe thats not a surprise? I fee a chimney stack rebuild coming on.............................

Humour me please Dave, what is a "soaker"?

There is some lead flashing, but only on 3 sides! That got picked up on the survey. But thats the opposite side to the worst of he damp. I understand the flue is open, but given its an old chimney, and its subsequently had a wood burner installed, does that not mean there is a modern flue up the inside of the old chimney? Leaving the original chimney open to the elements? Should that not be capped off?

In my upstairs bedroom at the new gaff, the wall, next to the chimney is clearly damp. So i went up into the roof space today to have a look round. The chimey itself where it comes through the roof is damp to touch. I did this while it was raining and there is nothing to see. Its just very damp. As i know bugger all about chimeys, does any one know of a decent chap who might be able to asses whats going on? Im in north bucks. There is a wood burner in the living room below, but there is nothing visible from the ground on the top of the chimney. Clearly it needs some lead work doing properly, which may, or may not be part or all of the issue, but what stops the water going down the chimey?