epsilonGreedy

In the end I chose paint grade Hemelites for the car port section of the garage, at 14kg per block they are at the upper end of medium blocks and much denser than Fibolites at 8kg per block. The Fibolites will be used for the inner cavity where it will be finished as dry lined plasterboard.

New task created at position 57 on the list. The garage door faces due south so this wood will dry out under the single story roof overhang.

The oak is quite fresh, it is cheap because it is a by product of another commercial activity.

Ok I can picture all that coming together, would I be correct in thinking that the 8mm stud in the oversized 10mm holes in the oak provides enough free play to accommodate movement in the wood without stressing the blockwork?

I am considering some decorative embellishments to my currently in-build plain brick & block garage. The intention is to retain the essential masonry structure for all 4 walls but to frame the garage door entrance with an oak frame goalpost and then clad that wall in horizontal feather board. So far I have been warned off trying to incorporate the oak frame as a structural element because as it moves there is a risk it will stress the block work at attachment points. Can someone offer tips on how to flexibly mount the goal post at the doorway? I have a source of cheap green oak 200mm square in cross section which would be heavy enough to kill someone if it peeled away from the garage wall. Here is an example of the end result I am after, though just a single door in my case. More info: The garage has standard 100mm cavity walls and I expect the rafters will rest on the inner wall over the door with a lintel across the span.

Have regulations about solvent emissions led to a swing towards water based paints? When I asked a similar question about sealing OSB sheet no one identified a solvent sealer and in the end I used half a can of solvent based garage floor concrete sealer left over from 5 years ago.

Rather than build up 6 block corners above dpc with appropriate fixing slots for my new Blake brick laying profiles, I want to mount them onto the existing below dpc blockwork. This will require creating two small slots per corner for the profile mounting tangs. The slots need to be 30mm x 6mm x 40mm deep to receive the profile mounting tangs. The slots will be created between the blocks in strong mix mortar that has been set for 3 weeks. I have read mixed reports online about how well a corded multi-tool will cope with this job. There is a total of 12 slots to route.

I ended up visiting Trade Tools of Leicester which is a traditional family run emporium of serious house building tools squeezed into a small footprint, they also run a mail order business. Got tips on how to convert internal profiles to externals for a few ££'s.

I like that idea and hope the dpc manufacturer anticipated such a workflow with the ridgy face ending up on the right side. Thinking back to the age of 5 when I watched a house being built I recall dpc was made from a material like tarry roofing felt which had better inherent surface friction hence no concerns about "slip planes".

Mine 100mm wide from Capital DPC has a diagonal grid pattern embossed from the other side (inside of the roll).

Too embarrassed to elaborate further...

I thought is was cancelled after a campaign of civil disobedience and HGV blockades at refineries. Anyhow a private car is an elective luxury whereas heating a home is not. A better taxation incentive would be a stamp duty penalty on poorly rated homes and criminal convictions for fraudulent assessors.

This is the 3rd thread in recent months on the subject of marginal fuel gains relative to U value improvements. On the face of it the annual saving is typically small, however if you asked a pension annuity provider how much cash would be required to fund an annuity to pay that fuel bill increase, inflation indexed for the rest of your life then the upfront insulation costs would look like a better deal.

Are the major energy suppliers loosing money hand over fist? Trebling energy prices would push millions of householders into a debt spiral and ultimate bankruptcy.

How large is the discrepancy between the submitted plan and your preference? Would the difference affect the privacy of a neighbour?

Small load of 5 m3 delivered for my garage concrete floor slab last week at £84 + VAT + extra for fibres and no charge for "air" on part loads between 4 m3 and an 8 m3 full load. This was in mid Lincolnshire,.

Is there any risk of an enthalpy unit becoming a breeding site for microbes?

In the end there were just two shovels of excess so nothing to dump, see my explanation above. Tell me about it, it also filled my face. Moral of the story is don't stand 2m downwind of the splat zone when the chute is disgorging at full rate.

My arm was nearly back to normal following the Monday afternoon steroid injection which meant a full 3-man crew. The wagon reversed right up to the garage foundations and delivered the concrete mid way into the garage slab position and we managed to spread out the 5 m3 of concrete inside the allotted 20 minutes. There was a worrying point half way through the pour when the driver said he doubted the load was large enough to get to the prescribed floor tamping level. I said I had rounded up the order from my calculated 5.1 m3 to 5.5 m3 to be on the safe side. He looked concerned, went off to the cab and returned with a bit of paper saying the load was 5.0 m3, so we shuttered off the 2.5m x 1.8m store floor extension to the main garage to avert a complete disaster and then bought the concrete level up to FFL in the main section. In the end 5.0 was enough for the whole floor including the store floor with two shovels of excess. One hour after the pour started I carved a 1 in 10 gradient ramp at the door threshold. This initially looked terrible until I cut the tamping 4x2 batten down the width of the door (2.7m) and then tamped down the ramp surface in the semi set slab. Looking good today.

I had intended to buy my brickie profiles over the counter on the basis I did not want them being knocked around in the back of a delivery van. Now that I am looking to buy I get the impression the local trade outlets like Toolstation and Screfix do not sell them.

Would this be a land of Outback pioneers free of planning officers, building inspectors and regulation? Will your cottage be inspired by English cottage designs or does the word mean something else in antipodean parts?

The local concrete supplier advised today that they charge £1 per minute after 20 minutes if there is a customer caused delay onsite. I was prepared for a higher penalty rate, is a £1 per minute reasonable?

Presumably I would wait until the surface is no longer wet and tacky? Or alternatively I could arrange some wooden battens standing 8" above the surface then lift the plastic over these, but then would I ask creating a greenhouse heating effect? Weather tomorrow is sunny after lunch.

"Expansion". And here I am worrying about traction from wheels tugging the blocks (E) towards the hardcore ramp (R) which will not provide that much lateral support. Where does your garage door sit at floor level? I ask because another thing I am concerned about is the possibility of wind driven rain causing moisture ingress between C & E with a result that water flows under the slab but above the membrane and thus becomes trapped. The vertical dashed lines are the wall profile.

... Is a digger hire part of your DIY plan?