Nickfromwales

Is it worth getting someone to stich this façade and re-point, with lateral bars to tie it back together?

Why hasn't your plumber advised you to fit one? At a certain PPM all your manufacturers warranties are voided for shower valves and taps etc etc. Get one fitted el-pronto!!!

I’d bet the split in the brick is exactly where the end of the lintel is. Prob best to bite the bullet and get the lintel exposed and checked, and replaced if it is the offending article. Obvs it’s very hard for us to say with any certainty, over the internet, so a builder would better advise on site I expect. I’d say you’d have cracks much further down the wall if it were subsiding, and possibly inside too.

It’s fully welded at the butt joint, as well as additional mechanical fixing. It’s also now plated that side, and also on the reverse, for belt + belt + braces. Needed adapting (beefing up) as we moved the point where the crown sent the load down to founds, on to the smaller width RB2 vs the original wider RB1 that it was first placed with. Originally RB2 just sat alongside RB1 with zero connection. We also introduced a connecting plate at the underside, to accept the rising post, which we drilled and bolted and then also continuously welded too, for more braces. If this moves even 1000th of a mm I’ll buy the drinks. SE will get pics, and sign it off accordingly, and BCO will inspect and nod / smile / shrug shoulders and so on. Loads are small, just a simple (now) roof, so if anything it’s ott.

Ok. No, it does not need 2 x pink FR plasterboard. That's your BCO taking crack, after a week on the Jack & Jill's. The steel requires 30 mins fire protection, and that is adequately provided by 1x 12.5mm regular PB with skim coat applied. Go back and ask your BCO to show you the written regs and where this requirement is born from, and watch them shrink like my hotnuts when I jumped in the pool in the resort in Antalya last year. "When two becooooooome one"

Looks to be very much associated with expansion at the lintel, so likely caused by the lintel. When these corrode and expand, they have a lot of force/ energy to get rid of, so the resultant cracks (linear) are characteristic of this type of failure. You can simply keep re-pointing this, and pass the issue on down the line.

One simply knows when two pieces of metal have been fused together sufficiently. Given the 2 adjoining ridge beams were firstly, at my request, fully welded together (ahead of the fitment of the 2x plates (front and not visible rear)) I am more than happy with the results. Before you fail them, maybe it would be beneficial that you'd perhaps better understand the overall situation, and after those facts are in I will take your punches squarely on the chin Until then, no dice old boy

If the grouting is all good, and water can't get in, then I'd not worry unless it's over 50% of a fitted tile. Porcelain is very hardy, so you should be fine with some hollow 'voids'.

What wingnut told you this??

+1

If you've got the headroom, I'd do a continuous layer of 30mm (or more) of PIR across all the ceiling as well, and tape the joints with foil tape, as your VCL. Flat roofs are hideously cold, so focus on that well. Stopping the repeat cold bridging should be a priority. Use Marmox boards to line the opening of the skylight, not plasterboard, as those upstands will also be a huge cold bridge. You can plaster straight on to the Marmox btw. Also, where do you think you'll get all the sheep wool from in Aberystwyth? LOL.

@Ay8452 Do not expect your BCO to have much to say, but if they condemn the welding as sub-par, then you have a good one. I expect, if you say nothing until the absolute last minute of their inspection, that they will glance it over and walk on by. Would be an interesting experiment.......just saying......

This is what on-site welding with a decent size MIG can produce, in the hands of a seasoned, expert, fabricator and welder. What you have is just a pile of heated wire laying on cold metal that the unit didn’t have the power to heat and fuse it all together. Almost looks like a crap stick weld from an arc welder, but the guy we had on site made the stick welds exceptionally good too, so this one’s got zero excuse…..they just cannot weld. Ask for it to be all taken apart, ground out, and for it to be welded again properly. Utter shite. 👎👎👎👎👎

May your luck be ever-flowing my good man So far so good is an understatement, you're doing a sterling job and have managed to find some great folk to help you achieve your goals.

Another good option would be to get a full drains camera / video survey done asap. That will instantly show defects or where leaks could be happening.

I’m sure @Benpointer can whittle this down to a few sentences…. …..and if he does, whatever he says will be the first ever tattoo I get lol.

B I N G O. 👌

Assuming weep vents would need to go through the external masonry and through the EWI and be open at the rendered facade if so necessary too?

If there’s only fire risk at one elevation, then the EPS EWI should be okay for everywhere else. At nearly £25 per single 600x1200mm batt, 120mm rockwool isn’t kind on the pocket! Still, the question is about the EWI negating any concerns about your cavity tray / DPC issue. So, with a fully rendered EWI, is there any real world chance of water / moisture getting behind the EWI, through the external leaf of masonry, and into the fully filled cavities, and causing issues there? I’d assume that the item in question isn’t fully continuous or completely intact either, so if it stops and starts or is perforated / damaged, that would allow any puddling water to eventually escape; as a last possible line of defence.

Ps kudos to @John Carroll as I am guilty of skim reading, and assumed stainless cylinder and 3 or 3.5bar at the control group. Many heads always better than one.

If you can leave a 5bar PEV feeding the softener, and only drop to 2.1 at the cylinder group then that would help. If your incoming cold mains will never see 5 bar then just leave a raw feed to the softener. Can you install a 150 or 200L accumulator anywhere, as this would make a big difference.

Option B is preferable, and my go to for each project. Option A would require a chamber at the top left (2x45°) where it changes direction. Another pot there for no reason imho. No need for an AAV in the downstairs loo btw, if the invert is less than 1300mm. Challenge the BCO if they’re stuck in their ways and push you to install one. Completely unnecessary here, and the only places you need these is at the first floor.

Needs removing the minute they leave the room. Explain to the spreads that the windows have all been cleaned and photographed as being in perfect, undamaged condition, and any dings from the trowel hitting them won’t be acceptable, and that damages must be paid for. You can say this non confrontationally, but you need to say it imo. That way they’ll start by being careful and continue on that way. You’ll need to leave a margin of at least 10mm unprotected for them to cut the plastered edge in to, and brush it back, so the finish against the frame can be seen and made presentable. I have a current client who opted for narrower frames (minimalistic) so for that job I’m going to install stop beads around the window reveals, set in with no nails, plumb and straight, with a view to removing any ambiguity of how these frames must have the same finished margin at the sides and heads. I’ll either set these myself, or get the carpenters to do them, ahead of the arrival of the spreads. Same where the obtuse external angles happen where the vaulted ceilings turn / converge, using full lengths of stop bead pre installed arrow-straight to be used as a guide for the spreads trowel to run across. OCD? You’re god damned right it is but if you sit two similar jobs alongside this, mine will take 1st place on the podium = super-happy client.

Storm in a teacup here methinks, sorry! Let them bury their own manhole, the only thing they really need to do is add a rodding eye downstream that looks back up the pipe to the then buried chamber, so they don’t have to come on to your property to jet that. If you don’t have any issue with them having 1:10 year access then let them fill their boots. If the manhole on your drive that accepts both houses has ever blocked then that’s a network issue, but if there are snots where say feminine products or baby wipes have snagged, then ask your neighbour to pay to have someone line it or chip the snots away, stating concerns of previous blockages, shake hands, and go about your day.