epsilonGreedy

Medium = something around 14kg per block @100mm thick e.g. Hemelight https://www.tarmac.com/blocks/hemelite/hemelite-standard/ It is just the common sense way to interlock blocks at a corner, you need to have a strong argument for doing anything else. Then having decided on stretcher bond and properly bonded corners the 90/100mm blocks are just a consequence of how the maths works out.

In hindsight I should have built a complete internal chimney breast off a subwall in the fonds. Many new builds in my village have a false brick chimney sitting on a metal gallows bracket welded insitu into the gable cavity wall. Given my hipped roof the solution recommended by multiple experts was a brick plinth at wall plate height with the corbel starting 8 bricks below wall plate. The centre of gravity of the chimney is within the 300mm wide cavity wall so the corbelled plinth will only experience significant strain during high winds.

A double portion of dot and dab cement or something more adhesive. The concept is to stiffen the internal block cavity wall 2m below the corbled chimney support and say 1.5m either side so a total reinforced wall panel 6m2 in total.

Fair point, I should have asked a simpler question. "Which board is the strongest when subjected to a variety of loads e.g. compression, tension and bending?". I suspect it will be the Glasroc or particle cement board. The hardiebacker cement board UI purchased earlier this year in 6mm and 12mm thickness is incredibly strong stuff.

My house is meant to look as though Jane Austen might have visited 220 years ago, a chimney brace could help reinforce that impression.

Thanks I was not aware of such a device, my chimney will be a similar size though having a hipped roof means less support from surrounding roof carpentry in my case. Some chimneys on the older properties in the village could benefit from such a brace. One reason my chimney is 2.5 bricks wide is that when I mentioned to the architectural technician that the local heritage style is 2 bricks wide he quipped "how many of them have a lean?".

The motivation behind my question is this: During various conversations with different trades on site thay have said the final strength of a house is derived from the combination of its parts i.e. first floor joists stiffen the block inner walls and so do the roof trusses, even the dot & dab plasterboard adds rigidity to a wall apparently. I have expended many brain cycles thinking about the support of my false hipped roof chimneys built up from wall plate height. Three experts including my build control inspector have reassured me that a corbeled brick plinth is fine to support the 250mm internal overhang of my 1215mm x 550mm chimneys. Anyhow to tip the balance of structural stability in my favour when an 80 mph gust strikes my false chimney, I have been thinking that a strong plasterboard could add a few extra percent of stiffening to the internal block wall supporting the chimney. Which extra strong plasterboard would most help in this situation? Firmacell: https://www.fermacell.co.uk/en/dry-lining Habito: https://www.british-gypsum.com/products/gyproc-habito?tab0=0 Glasroc: https://www.british-gypsum.com/products/glasroc-f-multiboard?tab0=0 Cement Particle board: https://www.vivalda.co.uk/products/building-boards/cement-particle-boards/#:~:text=Cement bonded particle boards are,ceilings%2C general lining and acoustics. p.s. The false chimney will be built from full sized facing bricks, so it is only false in the sense it does not have a flue and the corbelling starts at nose height in the bedroom below.

My previous thread was just an account of a random council visit to a nearby self build. At the time the tax inspector told me my build had been logged months earlier and the 3 month count down clock would start when a drive-by inspection noted windows had been fitted. She also said if I could demonstrate that I was a bumbling self builder the 3 month period could be extended to 5 months... not her exact words. This latest Council form feels like a policy change, it is a bit like the modern policing tactic of phoning up a criminal suspect and telling them to voluntarily present at a local police station to be arrested. What next, should I expect a letter from the Inland Revenue saying "Dear Sir, an NHS health bot algorithm has predicted your future date of death, please remit £10,000 to HM's Government as an advanced tax payment for future death duties!

In my case building control has been the trigger, my reasoning being that BC registered my plot under a strange hybrid mangled address and this is the address used to post the form to me today.

My house does not yet have a roof yet it appears the local Council is preparing to levie full council soon. At present we pay Band A for the static caravan onsite which is our main residence. In the post today is a form requesting that I provide start and completion dates for 13 major stages in the build of a home. At present I am at stage-3 "Outer Walls Build" but no roof. My question is: does this info request have any statutory basis or is the Council fishing for info on some fabricated interpretation of the law, they have form on this i.e. using terrorism laws to track people cheating over school catchment areas. The letter starts "We have a responsibility to issue a Council Tax Completion Notice when the building can be completed within 3 months". The reverse side of the form warns vaguely I will be in trouble for not complying with the info request on two accounts: One relates to failure to advise of a change of circumstances under 2013 regulation pertaining to Council Tax Reduction Schemes. Fair enough thinks I, when I move from the static caravan to completed house I will inform them. The second states the Council has a statutory duty for tax collection under a 1992 Act. I am tempted to play along at this stage and put "Summer 2022" for the estimated completion question.

My thought as well. Last week my brickie team bedded in the upstairs window lintels and while helping with menial jobs up on the 2nd lift staging I saw the cavity tray being trimmed and said "feel free to trim it back in favour of a larger mortar bond". With only 3 courses exposed above the window and sheltered by the eave overhang, I felt moisture ingress was a minor concern.

My hands-on self build means I have reached peak life-time personal physical fitness this year though mental wellbeing is in doubt. The lockdown has not affected the pace of my slow selfbuild.

The number of corners over 4 will affect the quotation. Another issue is how will bricks be lifted up to 1st and 2nd stage scaffolding. Have you costed in gables?

I had scaffolders moving stuff onsite this week and as the 1st stage planks were moved it exposed a faint band of light mortar discolouration. The scaffolders told me this is called scaffold rash.

I am struggling to picture the geometry of the problem you are raising here but thanks for the warning. I will upload the present technical drawing showing the eave detail in a following post.

Fair question. The "context" driving my thoughts is the variety of eave details in my local village which is also a conservation area. Most properties are 100+ years old. Back then the modest homes had a minimal roof overhang with their gutters on brackets embedded within the wall. The grander homes have big statement boxed eaves and the mid ranking properties have a faux facia fixed directly to the wall. As my new build is not in the grand category I was considering reducing the eave overhang. The historical reference for my plot is a reduced scale georgian rectory built when the local parish was going through a financially lean patch.

I am building in a Lincolnshire village where most properties built in the past 150 years do not have a fascia or soffit, guttering is fixed to metal brackets embedded in the top brick course. The planners deemed that my plot should feature boxed eaves. The plan shows a truss eave overhang of 250mm plus fascia thickness but I am thinking of tweaking this down to 175mm. Would this reduced overhang still be within a normal range? Background: 2-story house with a slate hipped roof and 30 degree pitch.

[Edit: There was ] A clear consensus plus pro+ tips from @nod I forgot to say: I have an L-shaped hipped roof design and had a hunch there might be some sag with such a roof hence I liked the idea of a stud wall transferring some of that sag load down to the ground floor block walls. My thinking was that it would be best to transfer that force direct from rafter to studwall wood rather than through in intermediate 15mm shim of crumbly plasterboard. The roof cover is slate so maybe I am overthinking roof loads. Expanding on point-1, I am considering ordering attic trusses for the central 4m ridge of the main hipped roof, this will create a useful attic storage area 4m x 3m however with a ridge height of 1.7m this 4m x 3m area will never be converted to a room. Given a possible cumulative attic storage load of say 200kg I thought it best to fix the stud wall direct to rafters. Does this additional info change the advice?

During the past few days different experts have recommended two ways of fixing the top of a stud wall to roof truss joists and neither of these methods matched my default assumption on how best to do it. Expert A: A carpenter who is quoting for the stud work has recommended fixing the ceiling plasterboard across the whole first floor before he builds the stud walls. He wants to include fixing the ceiling plasterboard in the scope of the job. Expert B: Suggested building the stud wall up to a few mm below either the truss joists or the in-place ceiling plasterboard and then using expanding foam to anchor the stud wall to the roof. Me: I was expecting the stud wall to be nailed or screwed firmly to the roof truss joists but I have been advised this might lead to creaking sounds. Merging these opinions together I am now swaying towards this revised plan: Build the stud wall frame to say 8mm below roof joists. Squirt in a low expanding foam glue for an squeak free adhesive bond. Plasterboard each room ceiling by cutting the sheets to the studwall frame. Is there a BuildHub best-practice consensus on this subject?

In addition to this problem, when showing with a combi there is the mid shower heating overrun/cold/heat restart problem. If the shower is stopped while washing hair the boiler overruns for a few seconds and super heats the now static water before it shuts off. When the shower is restarted the user risks a short slug of scalding water, followed by a few seconds of ice cold water before the heating cycle of the boiler catches up and delivers a fresh stream of hot water to regulated temperature.

Back to the original question, I would add that your current back garden is a useful setting out tool i.e. somewhere to practice.

Can metal mesh roll laid on mortar beds provide an alternative reinforcement against wind pressure on large masonry panels?

3.7N fibolites are the default choice for inner block walls in my part of the world. I would classify them as belonging to the light end of medium weight blocks at 8.9Kg per block from memory. When I enquired about ordering 7N Fibolites my BM said that would be a special order though I did notice packs of blue-stripe 7N fibolites onsite at an upmarket millionaire type private build in Boston the other day. Fibolites are quite distinct from the typical light weight blocks which have the consistency of a Cadburys whisper bar. My brickie likes them because when laying courses above chest height he can lower an 8.9 kg block onto a bed of mortar with one hand, that said my simple masonry property does not have the engineering challenges that you mention.

My concern is that a larger digger would be better suited, is there an access problem? The amount of sub soil that came out of my foundations and later drive scrape back and levelling was incredible. The levelling is best done with a wide bucket which implies a digger with some muscle power.

@Tony KHave you calculated the volume of soil to be removed during the levelling phase? I ask because you mentioned removing 600mm with a mini digger.