epsilonGreedy

@oxo I would drop this element of your objection because it is weak compared to the other points you are making. Using your logic anyone could over populate a home and then demand rights to extend based on a need for extra internal amenity space.

@LA3222Did your visiting air tester explain the industry reluctance to do site test visits at high performance self builds?

Had you purchased a 13 x 38 static with no cats and no children your build would have taken 5 years like mine is likely to take.

I thought they were kept in power by something called democracy. I believe we are spectating on the end-game of liberal democracy but things must be moving faster than I thought.

"They" want to be in power so if there is a general will amoung the people it could happen. I think there are other countries where land values are closer to this 10% of build cost level, when I lived in rural France the local mayor on behalf of the community was selling building plots at a fraction of UK plot prices. I don't think it will happen because retired people would not want to see the value of their homes knocked down 30%. The 45 to 65 year olds will not want to see their inheritances devalued. The over mortgaged aged between 25 and 50 would not want to face negative equity. It would only happen if 1 million angry young people filled with revolutionary fervour march on London and take over, I live in hope.

In Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain he describes the Town & Country Planning Act of 1947 as one of the most significant pieces of UK legislation, it is the reason we live in a green and pleasant land not blighted by ribbon development along roads as seen in the US. I now think that green and pleasant lives should trump a green and pleasant land. LA's do what Central Government and Acts of Parliament dictate. If there was a political will to flood the market with building plots valued at 10% of build cost it would happen though I don't think people would appreciate the resulting 30% fall house prices.

There must be some peculiar internal room dimensions given the loss of 200mm for the block walls.

Although I live in a picture postcard conservation area village, I agree with that. Planning controls amplify wealth disparity. If the Government decreed that a building plot should never be more than 10% of build cost and flooded the market with approved build plots to reach that 10% target, the result would be a better country.

@Ben Westonhave you established what is motivating the intention to apply the overage? Is it a clause in the Will or something demanded by the beneficiaries? Are just just trying to discourage development in a cherished family garden while getting decent value from the main property sale?

Ah! I asked because in the world of coastal marinas there is a hush-hush grey market where non boating marina-side home owners sub let their garden-side mooring.

There is a boom in narrow boating YouTube bloggers at the moment, have you noticed any passing while talking to their selfie stick?

Are you entitled to sublet your garden-side mooring? Or would that spoil the view?

I cannot help with your main question but your post gives the impression you have one gang lined up for the 2nd week of August and you need an extra gang. is that the case?

When my house and garage footings were built I incorporated an underground cable conduit to bridge the 1.5m gap between the house and garage, (yellow in the plan view diagram below). However I have decided to dig a separate trench for the 240v supply and use the conduit for only Ethernet lan cable and BT telephone. This change of plan is due to a concern that running 240v mains and data cables through the same conduit risks degrading the Ethernet data speed. The second diagram shows the cavity wall footing detail for the dividing wall between the garage and workshop. My hunch is that it should be ok to run the 240v feed to the garage CU 2 along the base of this cavity because the floor level on either side is high and offers protection against a future DIYer with a drill. Would an electrician sign off such an arrangement for a new build? The cable will be armoured with a 25 amp or 40 amp capacity. Edit: The green bock below is the cavity fill at the base of the cavity.

In my part of the world it is common practice to have a different brick below splash, 3 courses of grey engineering bricks showing below dpc would look good and engineering reds might work.

Just two courses of LBC bricks to create the upstand off a beam & block floor for 90mm of floor insulation plus 60mm of screed.

I am still confused why Screwfix sell ad-mix in 5 litre containers whereas my BM sells the fiddly 1 litre concentrates. This seems the wrong way round which is why I assume I am overlooking something important.

I have run out of mortar plasticiser and was hoping to lay 50 bricks today. On a weekday I would visit my local BM and pickup a 1 litre bottle with the calibrated measuring bubble moulded into the neck of the bottle. However Screwfix only do 5 litre cans of plasticiser which judging by the price must be a diluted version of what comes in the 1 litre bottles. Is there any gotcha with the stuff in 5 litre cans?

Ok clear message in the responses so far. I will have to go outside and rethink my brick gauging to loose 75mm somewhere, I might be gone some time.

Quite. I think the OP has made a basic error by ordering bricks based on photos. Even so the blend delivered is so far away from the catalogue photo (complete absence of black/dark bricks) I think he has a case to reject the whole lot. I would caution against opening further packs because this will make their pickup and removal from site more problematic.

I didn't have to because each pack contained a balanced mix, though within a pack there were some clusters of a single type within the blend. I offered to mix packs for my brickie but he said it would be a waste of time because the packs were so well blended. What time of day did you take the first photo? I ask because the evening sun can emphasize the red part of the colour spectrum.

At least you got a price. My local BM put my name on a list and said maybe sometime in June for roofing battens.

I need to lay some bricks that will form the width of the door aperture leading into the room on the lefthand side of the garage. The internal dimensions of the room are 2.47m x 5.0m. For reference the overall garage width is 7.2m plus 2.3m for the lean-too on the right. The function of the room is not clear at the moment, probably lots of shelving and maybe a tumble drier plus some bicycles or a treadmill. The masonry apertures for external doors to the main house are 1025mm but I am tempted to reduce that by 75mm for this pedestrian garage door. For comparison the main entrance door to the static caravan is 28 1/4 inches wide and seems fine but the shed access door is 29" wide which feels constricted at times probably because the headroom is just 1.76m. It is not clear from the drawing that the open parking portion of the garage is completely separated from the lefthand room.

I wonder if the commercial casting fabricators put in concrete cores for strength or to save money by reducing the amount of coloured finishing mortar? I guess the main strength comes from the metal reinforcement. The commercial fabricators also have to worry about transport handling stresses.

Would I be correct in thinking you did not bother with a concrete core as discussed in the other window cill onsite moulding thread?