epsilonGreedy

Three years ago an archaeological dig commented on the especially thick top soil layer at my end of the field. My building control inspector inspected the foundations at a plot 40 meters away and is relaxed about what we will encounter, I am in the dig and discover camp. Yes though previously the farmer and JCB man were not entirely in sync on the loading issue. They agreed a plan though I did not understand it at the time.

Is there a bullet proof way to establish if a council applies or has enacted CIL? I cannot find a definitive statement on my district council's web site about the application of CIL. A phone call to them could result in a work experience teenager picking up the phone and giving false information which feels too random when possibly £4000 is at stake.

No his remit is dig only. Every one else I talk to says leave foundation trenches exposed for a minimum period possible. I only booked the concrete yesterday, not too late to bump that date. The spoil is taken care of, a local farmer wants it for another project.

Not much of this todo, the seller of the 4 plots put in a communal access road last year. The rest of the site is mown grass with a 300mm gradient across of the foundation foot plan. Digger man thinks this will take just over a day and he suggested ordering concrete for day 3. Got the inspection covered, "dig for ducts" is a missing element of my plan. Ducts worry me because I assume with trenchfil some of these will be set in the concrete.

No I am skipping this and hoping the newbuild really is my "forever house". Cannot believe I am using such a cutesie term, I must be watching too many TV property programs.

Yes this is my current top priority, it will be in place well before a blade of grass is touched. I trimmed the roadside hedge last week just to ensure a litigious cyclist would not sue if his Lycra shorts got ripped. My private building controller says I can dig and fill the foundation trenches with just the foundation diagram released. His attitude is that he and I are a joint team battling the evils of modern officialdom.

Now that I have a foundation dig day booked (9th July) , let's call it D-Day, when should I start ordering other principal components for a brick and block construction? I have a day scheduled for the mains electric connection (29th June). Portaloo hire company said they just need 4 days notice. Building control diagrams are in prep. Private building control inspector is assigned. Neighbouring plot builder says I can tee off his builders water supply. Mains sewerage connection is out of my hands because the cost was incorporated into my plot purchase. I think it is time to think about ordering: Beam & block floor. Blue engineering bricks for below dpc. Foundation blocks (its trench fill so not many needed). Air bricks and telescopes, roll of dpc and membrane sheet. Hardcore for deliveries to stand on. Some pipes and ducts for through foundation services, this is all a mystery to me at the moment. Cement mixer. Site insurance. Got a 90 day lead time on wooden sash windows but non material planning amendment pending before those are ordered. What have I overlooked with respect to my water-tight before Christmas target?

I might be giving off procrastination vibes so timely advice. Things are happening behind the scenes: The foundation digger man is booked. Concrete ordered dig + 2 days. Got an even lower price on the concrete because wise old owl builder says the concrete wagon will have no problem on my now very firm green field hence no need for pumpable stuff. Concrete supplier is going to pop around and double check ground condition. Wise old owl semi retired builder is loaning me his £600 laser for the setting out levels levels. Meeting building control inspector on site this Thursday. Now I have time to speculate what happens above dpc.

I started a thread asking why whole-house 12v lighting did not feature in this forum of otherwise progressive thinkers. The answer is partly due to mechanical light switch contacts getting frazzled by the sparkyness inherent when completing a dc circuit. I wish I had titled my thread "Whole house dc lighting" because my original thread got side tracked over whether 12v was the best choice for dc lighting when in fact my main interest was central rectification ac to dc.

Ho hmm, this pours water on the notion that a direct appeal to Aus HQ would stir things up in the UK.

Odd indeed. Ultimate responsibility must rest with the Aussie international business development exec at NuLok who has allowed this situation to evolve. Maybe they tried to enter the British market and encountered type approval hurdles, so now we are left with this low-key presence available for a few tenacious self builders like @ra.

@recoveringacademic have you looked at EasySlate which is a simpler rubber implementation of the same concept albeit the inter slate perp component is nailed to a regular wooden batten? I spoke to a representative for the Easyxxx product range at the Bicester self build show. He dismissed out of hand that the system offered slate material savings on a regular pitched roof and stated the EasySlate system was specifically for low pitched roofs. This is odd because the following product description mentions increased effective overlaps as a benefit which I interpret as equivalent to slate material saving at a regular pitch. http://www.permavent.co.uk/easy-slate/ https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/product/permavent-easy-slate-side-check-for-600-x-300mm-slate-sold-per-strip.html

According to this Yell business entry, Lilyash has installed 1/2 million sq m of NuLok. They must be so short of time dealing with this incredible success story they have not been able to get their web site operational. https://www.yell.com/biz/lilyash-ltd-ballymena-8656802/

I wonder if the french building industry offers an alternative? When sailing around Brittany I see many new-build high-pitch slate roofs with shiny clips evident across the rows of tiles.

I like the sentiment though doubt it will work in this case. How will they ship to the UK from outside of Europe and with what time delay? I also suspect regional agency rights would deem such direct dealing to be in breech of contract.

Presentation of the brand at a global level is good, the problem for a UK self builder is establishing a minimum viable purchase dialogue with their local representative. They must be loosing a ton of business and this leads me to believe the few UK customers who manage to complete the pre purchase Lilyash assault course will be paying over the odds for the product to make up for the lost revenue.

I do no see anything wrong with the WhoIs entry for nulokroofing.com I agree that the UK representation for Nulok is comically deficient and leads me to wonder how the person behind this manages to retain representation rights at a national level for NuLok. I tried to reach NuLok UK via their web site but did not get a reply. Edit: I was wrong about the Republic of Ireland telephone number, it is an 033 number with a long delay to connect. On Thursday I spoke to a roofer working on my neighbour's new build and we discussed roofing of my future new build in slate. I asked about NuLok and he confirmed doing one job with the system, he was not keen because from his pro perspective he did not see time savings. I went on to ask about material savings and said it seemed to make the job diy approachable, he conceded these points.

Oh interesting, I had been thinking the main challenge of UFH was persuading the concrete slab to shed enough watts into the air above through whatever floor finishings were fitted. Now I appreciate that charging up the slab temperature through the available pipe surface area requires careful thinking.

Since starting this thread I have found that H+H offer a self builder's estimation and supply service. The whole package is delivered to a local BM so some de-risking here for a first time self builder. I also read somewhere that special thin-joint block sizes at 75mm multiples were offered to help maintain course alignment with facing bricks but cannot find examples. Maybe with new drilled in wall ties, course alignment would be a bad thing.

Yup, the ties are very different and when skinning a completed internal thin-joint wall with facing bricks the ties are drilled into the low density inner blocks with a special tool that ensures a specified depth. Because the ties can be driled anywhere into the internal block there is no concern about course alignment at this step. Rob Songer emphasizes the drill angle should be upwards towards the inner block to ensure cavity moisture runs outwards.

Is this advice specific to the OP's thin screed layer or UFH design in general?

I only intend to go two courses above the first floor joist hangers so not a problem in my case. I wonder if he just reaches around from internal scaffolding and glues those wooden plinths in position with thin-joint cement?

Indeed it is the workflow around openings that I cannot picture at the moment. The blocks are easy to shape but ensuring the following facing bricks are simple whole multiples will require some precise maths and double checking. My building control chap said he will ensure masonry panels and apertures are sized to whole facing bricks. I can picture the problem you raise, what do you think of the Rob Songer method illustrated on YouTube where he attached a temporary wooden plinth each side of the opening on the external wall to support the 200mm of unsupported lintel? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDovS2azbNg

Good to hear firsthand experience even if ambivalent, I need to be aware of the negatives. Porotherm looks to be based on clay blocks and the perp joints are dry because a moulded lug replaces thin mortar on the perp joints. Is this the original European thin-joint block system? Speed of laying is not the issue in my case, I would be adopting it to avoid a 2 or 3 month idle phase on my project.

Yes the blocks can be used with regular mortar, the magic ingredient is the thin cement glue that is chemically closer to a tile adhesive I believe. The resulting inter-block bond is 4 times stronger than a regular sand/cement mortar, hence the single-skin structural stability up to say 5 meters high. Rob Songer has published many brick laying videos on YouTube and in the past I have got the impression he is a level headed expert. Yesterday I discovered his 6 videos on thin-joint and he seems to be a proponent of thin-joint when reading the comments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHBnNQ4_D14