Nickfromwales

I think a few binders for the worst affected rafters would be a good idea, and no more.. Try and lay the soil pipe on some 50mm fluffy rockwool to offer some sound deadening to the room underneath. It'll compress down to 5-10mm.

I was going to say, "think yourself lucky", but that wasn't the subject matter I doubt I will ever have the opportunity to build my dream home so find it hard to sympathise. That and of course the fact that I live and breath construction work so am numb to that side of it. If I ever find myself at the standing and staring at it stage, I look around for something peripheral to carry on with, something simple that requires little or no thought, and that gives me time to think about whatever I've got hung up on. A deadline helps, yes, but in a self-builders head there will always reside the fact that they're essentially self employed and can pretty much do what they like, when they like, ( other than say meeting deadlines for the initial build ), so have that essence of relaxation that I'm not afforded. To sharpen the mind, just imagine how you'll look forward to being in the new house rather than look at the tasks which lay in your path. . It'll make them seem less of a trudge and more like stepping stones. . ?

One day this will all be yours ?

This is one of my current jobs. Tiles straight onto MR PB and the trims fitted prior to skimming. I purposely fitted 12mm trims where I could have got away with 10mm, and I set the tiles an extra 2mm off the walls so the skim didn't eat too far into the visible trim. I'll post a pic tomw of the skimmed and painted job, ( one I skimmed myself to make sure the trims didn't get 'dinked' by the trowel ).

? Better to skim the part tiled walls if your not used to spacing the adhesive out to compensate for when it gets skimmed afterwards. Not doing that means the skim covers a good bit of the tile edge trim whereas skimming first sees the trim meeting the skim, so flush and full.

Never, EVER, paint where tiles are going . New plaster gets sized with a 50/50 mix of primer, then a coat of neat primer, then two or three coats of tanking, then tiles. Fyi, with tanked areas, also NEVER use acrylic ( ready made ) tile adhesive. It has to be cementitious, powder adhesive. With painted walls, the water in the adhesive reconstitutes the paint and then the lot just separates and any bond ( purchase ) goes with it. A customer of mine once "helped out" by painting everywhere, including every INCH of the bastard bathroom and the kitchen splash back areas, prior to me turning up to tile......( all of which I then had to scrape back with a Jack saw, at his expense ). Edit to add : tiling directly onto the plasterboard is my favoured method tbh, but I know you've had the place skimmed so I'll keep that to myself

Yup. It's a no brainer. 100mm bearing ( overhang ) each side and Roberts your Mothers Brother. You could quite happily get away with a timber head tbh, it's really doing nowt.

A bit tricky as Daves trying to eliminate areas before boarding. I had a vision in my head of dave running down the road at 20mph holding his house above his head like a kite Swansae air show today, maybe I've got sunstroke . Enjoy the ? ??

Have you been drinking? ??

@Dee If it genuinely is only performing the duty of ceiling rafter, not floor joist, then whack away ma'am. A couple of binders ( timbers to connect upper joists to lower rafters ) will be a belt for the braces, and if the above is correct then the ply is unnecessary.

To be perfectly honest a trowel in the hands of a novice will likely make the surface worse, not better . Once you start catching and digging, rather than feathering and flatting it'll soon go Pete Tong. If you get the mix spot on and not too much water you'll be able to get the aggregate to stay submerged, as it's the aggregate surfacing and poking out which is the real pita. Those bits are like, erm, granite, and require chiselling or grinding flat so any investment for a newbie slab layer should be in the mix imo. Id recommend leaving an end of the lay slightly void of mix so where the tamping board stops, you can draw it clear from the slab without it 'sticking'. Just back fill that little defecit with self leveller prior to final floor laying. Alternative, if you can, is to tamp towards a knock through ( door way ) and drag the excess mix back to the cavity void. Bag the void first so any spill can be easily removed when part cured.

Inch ( 25mm ) plywood would be best. Local yard may have a saw and be able to rip it down for you.

You can take more out if you sister each joist with plywood, one each side of each joist. You'd need to fit these the same height as the joists and about 1200mm long. Glued with proper resin based waterproof wood glue, clamped and screwed every 100mm an inch down and inch up ( so two screws at each 100mm interval ) which will replace almost all of the strength in the section you have cut away. Pre cut the plywood according to the notches you've made in the joists . Hanging them off 'binders' as @PeterW suggests will also help with the worst affected ones but not needed all the way if only taking half inch or so out of start / end of the run.

Drumroll please ? Hammers a hammer ain't it? ?

Oh, I see, the trusses are also at 600 centre? Thought for a daft mo that they were bridging them with off cuts to catch 400 centered trusses rather than full pieces spanning the 600. . I'll make another coffee. ? What he said

Who cares if she can cook ! "Dominos Pizza!" Seriously, not worth the effort . Cheap enough here edit to add : not worth blowing your expensive makita batteries up on either

Nope Dulux do a scrubbable Matt called iirc Diamond Matt ( or words to that effect ). Supposed to be the ? bollocks TBH.

Praise the lord! Finally, somewhere to hang both sets of car keys ?

Not if it's only a 100mm long packer . Sounds like a good idea TBH.

Marlboro ? They bloody STINK ? When I worked around the world on cruise liners, I shared a cabin with my mate Luke and he woke and sparked up a Marlboro light like it was religion, and it fackin stank the room out. As we were contractors we got the cheap, small, in-board cabins with no window and minimal a/c. Great.

Have you not thought of using a smoke machine ? Know any local DJ's you could hire one off ? That would show you instantly any further minor leaks, multiples of which would bump your results south . Failing that a can of smoke detector check spray ?

5 mins on the naught step. ?

This is more of a problem with slates rather than with tiles surely?

And what if you don't 'do' Facebook ?

First thing to watch is that the copper around the boss doesn't start to distort. If there is any sign of corrosion then be VERY careful about how you proceed. At that point, applying some heat with a lamp may do you a favour Hitting it round with a dumpy chisel is the last resort but does work ( usually ).