epsilonGreedy

As per my other electrical post a few minutes ago, I need to fix my cavity wall meterbox firmly into position, pronto. It is currently live and feeding a temporary CU in the house and is so full of electrical gubbins I cannot fix it with screws into the brick wall. A visiting DNO surveyor helpfully suggested using sealant to glue it in position with a couple of wooden props to force it flush to the wall while the sealant sets. The cabling in and out of the meterbox in the cavity wall seems to be resisting my attempts to push the meterbox facia fully flush to the wall, so this sealant needs to be grippy and strong. What sort of sealant should I use?

A couple of weeks back a surveyor from my local DNO visited. He was cross checking MPAN numbers with meters and property addresses for 20 odd properties in the village. He had a few "concerns" about my installation after opening my partly installed meter box in the cavity wall in my absense: His first point was a surprise. He did not like the underground > cavity wall hockey stick cable route into the cavity wall meterbox. Apparently my DNO recommends running the cable up the external face of the wall and into the meterbox with a protective shield. This was a disappointment because being in a conversation area I thought my neater hockey stick setup was a deluxe finish. He explained visiting emergency call out teams do not want the hassle of a cable cavity feed. He relented and said he would not report this issue but warned that should a new cable be connected in the future the DNO engineers would cut the hockey stick cable and route the replacement feed up the facing bricks. Issue 2: He commented on the unfilled foundation trench under the live cavity meterbox that I had covered with a wooden pallet and traffic cone. I mumbled something about filling it in ASAP with some cable marker tape. "No need for the marker tape" he said and explained their cable tracing sensors are so good they have dropped the requirement to lay warning marker tape over the cable. Issue 3: This was my primary concern from the moment of the DNO knock on the static caravan door. The meterbox is not properly fixed to the wall and hangs out by 3". He was surprisingly constructive about this and said the big boy builders just use sealant to mount the meterbox these days.

Thanks it is a cold attic space with insulation at ceiling joist level. I have not made a decision in vapour permeable felt yet. Depending on slater availability the felt might be exposed to the elements for a month or two. I assume an old fashioned impermeable felt is tougher?

I have been delaying trying to get my head around roof space ventilation. There seems to be a prevailing assumption that a modern house requires a ventilated ridge but I do not see these on some new builds near me. Digging deeper I have read that my 30 degree pitch slate roof with hipped ends can meet building regs with just eave ventilation. https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/content/dam/wienerberger/united-kingdom/marketing/documents-magazines/technical/UK_MKT_DOC_TEC_ROF_SAN_Dr_John_notes_roof_space_vent_001.pdf If a put some effort into meeting the "well sealed ceiling" criteria, is a ventilated ridge an avoidable complication? p.s. I am likely to end up with wooden boxed eaves with a 9" to 12" overhang. p.s. The underlay will be conventional felt and battens.

Mine is similar, the permutation of flat/on-edge blocks varies according to the gradient. My plywood skirt that keeps the winter winds out is semi structural and prevents minor wobbles when a severe gust strikes side on. So far I have survived two winters without anchor points at my very sheltered plot.

The chassis under my caravan had 12 labelled support points. After progressive jacking up with a 12 ton jack I raised the van up about 5 inches, now the rubber tyres are just clear of the ground. The 4 puny crank down struts at the ends do not contribute much to long term stability. How firm is the ground under your van? I ask because axle stands may work with a concrete slab at an official caravan park but would keep sinking on a typical building plot. Mine is propped up on flat heavy 19kg building blocks. Even these blocks were prone to cracking under a few tons of load until I bedded them on a fine 10mm gravel over the 50mm harcore base. You will needs loads of different sized wood shims for fine tuning the final level. Have you calculated the gradient for your caravan sewerage connection? Allow the best part of a day to prop the van up and then another few hours a few weeks later for adjustment at the whole setup settles. Safety Note. During the first few lifting attempts I nearly let the caravan roll forward off the jack.

I should have specified. Slate Angled slate ridge tiles Underfelt Regular lead flashing Whatever lead grade is used in a chimney to create a full flashing skirt across the full depth of a chimney. Decent metal valley as I have been warned off using a GRP valley.

Way back at the start of my self build before the foundations were dug a nearby builder recommended a large regional roofing supply business in the East Midland. I think it was between Nottingham and Sheffield. Does anyone know the likely name of the business he was referring to?

Ah ha, this explains a mystery from 1 year ago, regional specifics is the explanation . Back then I challenged another forum notable who suggested that 3:1 mortar was inherently superior to 5:1 mortar and that anything less than 3:1 mortar was dubious penny pinching. A 17 year old trainee brickie and the NHBC know this is not true, yet at the time you said in NI 3:1 was used for above dpc walls. Given what you have told us in this thread it appears 3:1 is used to compensate for the poor quality sand. It sounds like you now agree that when building high single skin walls a self builder should be alert to windy weather particularly when the mortar is still hardening.

I believe the OP is looking for general advice for the remainder of his build and not specific comment on the garage in the photo. A strong 1 in 3 mortar hardens more quickly and at any point in the first two weeks the wall will be stiffer, as a result in NI you suffer less wind damage incidents. Hence you are unaware of the issue.

Your comment highlights another issue which is regional variations in building practice. A year ago you told us it is normal in Northern Ireland to use 1:3 mortar for all walls whereas in mainland England this would be considered bad form. Also I think in NI you tend to use medium/heavy blocks because this is what is manufactured locally and available more cheaply? As a result your freshly laid wall starts off with a strength advantage. In mainland England damage from wind force is a higher concern.

You should be alert to stability concerns during high winds. Mortar continues to harden and the adhesive bond strengthens over the first two weeks. My brickie took the ground floor outer facing bricks up to 5ft then laid the inner blocks up to the same height. He kept an eye on the weather and half the time the single skin walls were braced with wood. He did the reverse above the first floor and took the inner block wall upto nose height. Scheduling of scaffold lifts will sometime influence the sequence of work. Fitting cavity lintels are another stage where the wall heights need to be synchronized. My semi retired building advisor later told me he noticed the height of the unsupported blocks wall when he drove past the site and he was concerned until he visited site to advise on chimney corbelling at which point he noticed all the internal temporary bracing said it was ok. Like @LA3222 I have discovered a first time self build is a difficult journey involving watching exert trades do things that fall short of internet forum best practice and deciding to intervene and request rectification.

I have never discovered a need for a general purpose compressor, I must have had a sheltered DIY life so far. Once the garage/workshop is finished who knows.

Much sense in that. My concern is that the weak point of the £98 Makita will be the electronics of the gauge. Just reposting a clickable version of your link for others: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-69924-Pressure-Gauge-Flexible/dp/B0002GV286/ref=asc_df_B0002GV286

I like your thinking as I have other Makita 18v gear. A bit pricey at £98... think I will first compare with the Aldi/Lidl option. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-DMP180Z-Compressor-Air/dp/B085M2C6CP/ref=asc_df_B085M2C6CP

Since moving to a rural area garage forecourts with a working tyre pump have become few and far between. Can anyone recommend a combined electric type pump and gauge?

A roof truss plan should specify the weight of each truss. If you could post the weight and dimension of your largest truss then people here could offer suggestions on how to man handle the trusses up. I have seen a 4 man team lift 6.5m long 40 degree pitch trusses

You have clearly entered into a contract when emailing your acceptance of his offer to project manage. His fee structure is clear and the overall charge is within industry norms. The legal question is what early termination clause can be invoked. Is this mentioned in any correspondence with the architect or has the architect indicated he is adopting a contract structure as outlined by a professional governing body? Failing that I think established industry practice defines early termination options, my hunch is that architects half expect to be ditched at some stage and take it on the chin.

I am indeed though Lincolnshire is one of the larger English counties, Stamford to Grimsby is a 2 hour drive. South Holland (District Council) is 40 minutes away from me, even so the OP is welcome to visit. There is another timber frame forum self build going up a further 30 minutes north of me.

My first thought is that weight would be the problem and this limit it affected by ground stability when the loaded skip is lifted back onto the truck. A bit of maths suggests I am wrong. You have 3.5 + 3 + 3.5 = 10 linear meters. x 2.3m high = 23 m2 of wall. 23 x 60 bricks per m2 = 1380 bricks + render + mortar = 3 to 4 tons.

Just had a read of your thread, thanks. You have indirectly answered my original question, I should open the yellow pages at "Topographical Surveyors".

You need a better sense of proportion on this subject, airtightness is a percentage game. The effectiveness of your air tightness envelope is not deemed to have failed the moment a three year old rams his tonker truck into the plaster and chips it. Your idea for parge coating the outer face of the inner block wall would add £5,000 to build costs for a saving in heating costs of £1 per year. The result might be worse than a standard internal parge coat because once the brickies have twanged the wall ties while laying the facing bricks there would be hundreds of holes.

The other self builder was using the entrance as hard standing for his bricks. The other end of the private drive was being used for access two years ago. The access swing problem only became apparent as the other new build house and landscaping was finished. The owner of the disputed fence only appears for a few random weeks each year and this week was her first since summer 2019.

I suggested shortening the fence 1m and shifting it 1ft to 2ft left as a temporary measure while the plot boundary was professionally assessed. The shift 2ft left would only locate the fence on the second fence line within my plot shown in the screen shot above. Her gardener offered to shorten the fence by 1m to allow me to reprofile the entrance curve but she countermanded him and offered a 0.5m shortening as a full and final settlement of the boundary dispute. I declined that offer.

The 2m strip is at the far end of her garden 35m away from her house and its return does not impede her access or use of her property, it is just mown grass extending up to the public road.