epsilonGreedy

The first completed property at my 3 plot self build location has shown similar slow 1st year growth with their hedge. I think the raised bunds required in the planning approval are prone to lack of water in the summer hence the saplings will struggle for a few years, I am not expecting anything like @Redoctober's surge of first year growth. I get the impression that bare root hedging will only be supplied when the nurseries are sure the plants are dormant. I was told that even if I placed an order in September they would only ship in November or December.

I will need to plant 45 meters of hedge eventually though I have to leave a 5 meter access gap until the build is finished to allow mid size plant access to all sides of the house. A local in the village is happy to turn up for £35 per hour with his telehandler which is money well spent I hope when moving packs or bricks and blocks to ideal positions as the build progresses. Then there is still the possibility of needing to dig a hole for the LPG tank if I don't go 100% electric. Thanks for the offer of tree guards, apparently Muntjac dear are the main problem here.

Looks good and planting the hedge would be a useful winter time-filler activity. Is that a beech hedge? I will be planting a copper beech hedge which retains its old season brown leaves through the winter before the new growth comes through. The BM delivery lorry will be able to swing deliveries over the hedge during the first growth season.

Because of my central location many experts pass by for a chat when I am onsite. Most suggest a drain first solution like yours. I will implement a drain eventually but for now the speed bump flood defense is less contentious. At this point the project is stalled because I have lost the marker peg for the end of the roof drainage attenuation tank outlet pipe. I need to call in the BBC TimeTeam "geophys" crew to x-ray my drive for the lost pipe.

That looks like a Philmac stopcock. This brand has caused me similar anguish and like you I found the loose fit a problem, maybe Philmacs are only suitable for mutant plumbers with 4 arms. As it happens I have yet another slow leak in my shed at a Philmac connector and find Philmac connection collars have to be cranked down to the thread endstop before they stop leaking. A plumbing trade old-hand explained they were originally designed to accommodate two common pipe sizes in use decades ago. I suspect that original USP has become a liability today.

I wanted to follow that advice but since it is not possible to predict many turns before the collar is fully tight I was not sure where to put the mark. Do you push the pipe fully home to the mark with the collar disconnected further down the pipe?

Pipestock: A word of warning, their much publicized next day delivery does not apply to Plasson connectors because they do not keep Plasson stock which means any order with Plasson bits will go to "back order" and take a few days longer. Like the OP @pocsterI found Philmac connectors difficult to use and deeply regret allowing Pipestock to substitute Philmac connectors when I ordered Plassons.

Much sense in that plan. I also have a ton of ballast leftover which prevents us parking two cars side-by-side. Consuming the ballast heap would mean an end to all that linear car switching. I am thinking about that as we are approaching the time of year for planting bear root hedge saplings. I have a highly visible position in the middle of a conservation village and the natives are getting restless over the slow pace of the build. Forming a hedge would be good village politics. Swmbo has been out planting bulbs in the hedge bund for next Spring and I maintain a striped mowed lawn on the 1/3 of the plot that has survived build activities. We might end up like the young guy on Grand Designs this year who had a finished landscaped garden while inside he stalled half way between 1st and 2nd fix.

I think you are right about this but the site has a long contentious planning history including comments from the drainage board and I can only win so many planning revision battles each year. After living for a year on a damp plot I have developed an appreciation for drainage matters, the final solution will require a balance of measures to stop water entering the site and others to help water exit the site, there is a decent overall gradient. In the short-term I have to focus on keeping the water out because the static caravan is parked over the site's low point where water exit drainage is required. It all sounds worse than the reality, I am just getting fed up with using my Screwfix sump pump each day. Screwfix kindly replaced the first one which wore out.

Thanks both, I was about to head off to the BM at 4pm to buy 14 path edging sections for £90 then said to Swmbo "if this idea fails it will be a right pain to remove, I will postpone for a day and see what they think on BuildHub". Ok I will shop for something more substantial than path edging kerbs particularly as the BM lorry can save me much labouring effort if it enters the site and swings deliveries further in. In addition to the flood barrier I need something that looks rustic and as a bonus will keep the chippings separated because my drive will have light "Cotswold Chippings" (actually the non porous type of the same name from Derby) but the site road has dark grey chippings to resemble tarmac.

I have dug a shallow trench 5.4m long across the entrance of my drive which leads to a gravel private road. My intention is to build up something resembling a speed bump to prevent water running onto my plot. Background: Last winter I suffered repeated flooding episodes in my open foundation footings during heavy rain e.g. 1" overnight or 2" in a week. This autumn matters have improved because the uphill boundary of my plot now features a 40m long soil bund about 600mm high, this will become a hedge base which is a requirement of my planning approval. My lawn is much dryer this year compared to last winters boggy state because surface water is deflected around the plot. However much the same volume of water now enters the site via the drive entrance which is a 5m gap in the hedge bund. Planned Solution Having watched the inward flow of water during heavy rain I reckon a shallow ramp at the drive entrance will dissuade water from entering the plot i.e. think speedbump. The problem is my final drive will have a stone chippings surface which leads to a private drive which is also finished in stone chippings, this means I need to form a solid ridge to prevent water wriggling through the hardcore and gavel of the private road and then into my plot. My Question. Would a double row of concrete path edging kerbs deteriorate as domestic traffic passes over or should I buy something more solid such as the Melton kerbs shown here https://www.brettpaving.co.uk/commercial/kerbs-channels/meltone-kerb/ I was going to use these https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/Marshalls-Concrete-Round-Top-Path-Edging-50mm-x-150mm-x-915mm-1615/p/924013

My BCO is past normal retirement age and went private after a full term career in local authority building control. He was also the UK representative at the annual European congress of building control inspectors for some years, he is a vastly impressive expert who has already saved me significant dosh. The BCO did not necessarily agree with the condensation issue, he was explaining the thinking at the B&B design office when they specify the number of floor void vents as part of a floor kit specification. Do you agree with the concept of floor void ventilation?

This is a very odd thread. Some of your posts give the impression you view rising damp and dpc as a passing industry fad though in other posts you emphasize the importance of the floor dpm lapped to dpc on top of the B&B floor which by implication says you accept that damp gets into the floor structure. There is clear industry consensus that effort should be put into stopping rising damp at the bottom of a B&B floor. The OP's builder has deviated from B&B construction norms by creating a moisture bridge.

My BCO popped over for a chat the other day when inspecting the neighbour's self build. We talked mainly about the building control industry landscape post Grenfell, when I asked if I had enough void vents for my 3 sided outbuilding workshop he said oh plenty, they are just there to placate the concrete beam manufacturers who are concerned about condensation settling on the underside of the beams. More evidence the floor structure should be kept as dry as possible, I am sure we have all driven under a 1970's motorway bridge suffering from concrete cancer.

Not so much "best practice" it is more a case of clear absolute minimum clearance as defined in building standards. It depends on the the soil type and risk of heave. 200mm for clay, less for other soil types, 100mm or 150mm I think.

Why was the concept of a DPC ever invented? From memory an F2 standard brick can absorb 12% water which sounds porous to me. Block & Beam manufacturers emphasize the importance of not letting the dpc under beam ends shift out of place as beams are moved into final position, they also caution about the risk of dpc getting punctured as heavy beams are dropped into position. The creation of a large moisture bridge as shown in the OP's hand sketch is clearly contrary to the design intent of keeping the B&B structure as dry as possible.

Is there no concern about moisture the entering the B&B floor structure below the DPM at those door thresholds?

Any open flame gas fire in the property? If so rather important to retain one.

Is there any dpc between the vertical joint at floor blocks and outer wall? Also was the floor delivered as a designed kit from the beam manufacturer?

Looks wrong to me, my main concern would be moisture ingress into the b&b floor structure though thermal bridging is a secondary issue.

I think the design is an effective division of the space available and hits the sweat spot for modern family living. What prompts the angled the rear glazing of the day/dining room?

Not doubting this statement, just trying to understand the science. Is this because a panel radiator is subject to more heat loss due to convection compared to a heated floor slab and also because it has a tiny area compared to a floor slab hence little area to irradiate IR heat from?

That is an interesting one, noted.

Reminds me of my struggles doing the shed/laundry plumbing in 25mm MDPE. I thought I could delay learning about normal plumbing until much later in the build = mistake. 25mm MDPE is fine for sweeping curves underground or up through foundations but should not be shaped for more complex pipe routes at room scale.

Edit: Whoops thought you we talking boilers then noticed the forum topic. Is that just a strange way of saying "we don't deal direct with retail customers thinking of buying a single boiler".