Canski

he only has 150 mm to play with

You could leave a 610 mm gap between the b140 blocks and put one course of bricks down then a 600 x 100 x 65 mm lintel on that then you will have a letter box and a support for your beams. Although I think the 50 mm gap would suffice unless you are building on top of the sleeper walls in which case the void should be filled with brick slips anyhow.

I don't know about MF but I use Fastbuild supplies for all of my brickwork sundries and they are well priced.

My labourer can cut a pack in an hour with a block splitter but I’m guessing you don’t have one to hand.

No ! for the complete first course. It will stop the bottom course being visible and sticking out as you mentioned earlier. What height is your door cill going to be from the top of your concrete foundation ?

Why not cut the bottom block in half down its length so you have 2 x 440 mm x 112 mm x 100 mm blocks and lay them flat leaving the cut edge into the inside. Your total height of the wall would then be the same at 335 mm (110 + 225 mm ) then cut a block up to the top of your finished concrete height where the doors are.

The off-site affordable housing contribution would therefore be: £12,797 (for the net gain of one dwelling) ( I am knocking one over to build 2) A shit sandwich softened with .... ( from the planning officer) ..The positive thing in this regard is that I am looking at a positive decision (without prejudice) with this application.

It took them 6 weeks to validate my application and they have just requested a contribution to affordable housing 2 days before the consultation end date.

3523 kWh I know I know I need to keep shopping. It just seems that the PV suppliers are snowed under and getting a quote is a real pain. When I get one its almost like they are trying to price themselves out of it. I may not even bother with it on this project now.

My small solar installation went from £6300 to £8500 in 3 months.

That seems like a hell of a waste of Alcohol

And many are better than the plumbers !

I was talking to a site manager today who has just completed about 400m2 of cemex over UFH. He said that they had ordered 20% more screed than they needed based on area x depth. He is convinced that the pipe work accounted for the 20% I doubt if it’s that much but what are other peoples experiences ? The pipes must eat up some of the volume but I haven’t worked it out yet.

That’s true but under the whole floor not just the doorways. I really can’t see the problem here. Everyone has openings in beam and block floors. They are all dealt with in the same way or not ? Preserve your build envelope by installing continuous insulation. There will always be a cold(er) spot at thresholds in one way or other. It’s about how you deal with the other 99%

Maybe stitch some 3x2 to the chords but level them up and board up to those ?

OMG what is wrong with people ?

I usually start them one course of blocks up from the concrete. There are usually enough ties with the pack to fit them at 225 mm centres after that. One for each skin and also a cavity wall tie within 225 mm from the wall at 225 mm centres.

Or fill cavity below the void up to the underside of b&b. And then fill with PIR up to your floor insulation.

I always determine the finished screed level then add the screed the insulation and the total B&B floor make up to determine the height of the bottom of the B&B. Sometimes this doesn't work courses but I make it work. From your sketch I see that you have 200 / 210 mm above the top of your 150 b&B this would leave your DPM approx 15 - 25 mm above the top of your screed. The skirting would cover this. your insulation would extend to the outer skin of brickwork at door openings or use a design like Temps above. To facilitate this you need to start forming the openings at the top of your trench blocks on the inner skin only. This would enable the insulation and screed to run up to the brickwork or rather to the thermal break that you install on the inside of the brickwork where the opening is. or to the back of the door cill like Temps design above. I hope this helps

If you look at litecast website there are several examples of beams with insulation infill maybe one of those will be for you. Without seeing photos / plans I’m confused as to what the issue is.

for supply and fix ?

I've just been quoted £21.50 m2 supply and fix for all walls and 12.5 mm ceilings(measured through the openings) . Not sure how that fares but I wish I got paid for brickwork through the openings.

Why not remove the stack as well ? It’s just something else that will need looking after in the future. Start at the top like Fred Dibnah and drop it brick by brick down the flue. Have a goalkeeper at the bottom ready to load ( stack neatly) into the skip.

It ensures that the joint is sealed and makes the work look tidier. NHBC started insisting on it about 15 years ago and to be honest for the small amount of time involved it’s well worth it. I just wish the Brickies would all remove any snots after pointing it takes seconds and improves the appearance no end.

They make 7N/mm2 thermalites density of 730kg/m3 U value 0.18 W/m.K