83dons

Thanks for your help. My only thought is I aim to paint the structure every summer with the ronseal waterproof stuff it has on it. Doing this and the bottom board wont get painted again, which maybe is the one that needs it the most?! I guess it shouldn't matter if its pretty water tight. I guess I could maybe raise the membrane and paint underneath if I really want to but sounds like a nightmare! Is it worth painting the bearers I didn't bother as they were supposed to be treated wood and couldn't be bothered masking the concrete to avoid painting it too.

Thanks yes stapler sounds a good idea, that's a lot of staples for a 22M perimeter! Would the following sort of thing do underneath the whole way round, not sure it even need fasted to the walls I presume its only there to ensure against pooling in the plastic membrane and keep the angle there so the water drains off? Wickes Arris Rail - 75 x 75 x 100 x 2400mm | Wickes.co.uk For the bottom of the door I think you can buy proper stormguards or even make one out of the triangle rail covered with the plastic membrane with an overhang so it goes over the edge of the concrete?

No the roof is completely sound in over a year I haven't seen any water ingress. It also has drains that drain into the french drains at the back of the summer house. Its under the front patio doors mainly and front side I can feel the carpet tiles damp Iv put down inside after heavy shower so I assume water is pooling on to of the concrete and under the floor boards getting in under the bearers which wont all be 100% flush to the concrete as it wasnt 100% flat and smooth. The front and back also dont have big overhangs of the roof so much more likely for water to hit the bottom part. The canopies, water deflector wooden strips and sealant in gaps have dealt with slight water ingress around the windows and top of the doors so its trying to prevent water getting in underneath now Im more concerned with.

Ah yes that is what I envisaged could pick as wide a one as they have. How best would I fit it to the timber 6-9 inches up so as to avoid water seeping down between the timber and the plastic? Does it need some sealant and nailed in or tacks? Sorry not a great DIY man but happy to have a go! Some sort of plastic triangle lengths under that to create a 45 degree angle or so away from the base of the summer house? Not sure where to start with that but can have a look round B & Q I guess!

There is a ditch all the way round with sub base and gravel which i brought up to be level with the slab. Its where the slab meets the wooden treated bearers that I feel water can ingress. I didn't paint the bearers same as rest of the summer house as they were treated as opposed to untreated wood but I can do that. Also hard to paint them without the concrete too. I don't think I can trim the concrete as the gravel is filled now and the metal rebar went to the edges of the concrete so might be hard to cut anyway? To me the front and back sides are the main issue as the sides have a considerable overhang and concrete doesn't get that wet. I feel some sort of skirting overhanging from the bottom of the summer house across the width of the concrete would help but unsure how to do this cheaply/well. I dont really care if it looks bad as long as it helps keep the water out in winter months. Water seems to drain away at the back from the drains ok into the gravel no issues, its the water that may come in under the bearers and pool underneath the structure I'm more concerned with. The awnings I fitted to all windows and doors have helped water that was coming through their seals a lot.

Hi I can only find the following is this what you mean? Its a little expensive to do the whole summer house. Type Z Cavistrap DPC fixing strip - DPC Products Direct There are drains at the sides from the roofing and they go down the pip and out into the chuckies which are quite deep and sub soil underneath. There was no drain dug to link in to. The main point where I can feel dampness inside is under the front doors and the front and back sides have no roofing overhang so they need some attention I feel the most. The side concrete doesn't get too wet due to the overhang. It just has treated filler planks along the side as the weight bearing treated strips go horizontal to front and back. I think the one at the front isn't sitting flush to the concrete bases so its easy for water to get in under it at some points so that area definitely needs sealed.

Hi I have a 6x5m summer house. When its wet water seems to seep in under the treated wooden boards the structure sits on (they sit on a large concrete base). This is also worse at the side with the double front doors. At the sides of the summer house there is a larger overhang so less water gets to the base although I might seal these too. I have installed awnings over all doors and windows. The base is 6-12 inches wider at any given point than the summer house so water can pool and likely seep in underneath. I considered using putty or something to seal the concrete base to the wooden slats the summer house sits on but I feel some sort of deflector attached to the bottom of the shed may be better that would take away any rain over the edge of the concrete base might be best. As I said this can be about 6-12 inches wider at any given point it varies as not perfect square. Can anyone suggest a solution that will be cost effective? I include a photo. It mainly shows the side of the summer house which isnt so bad due to overhang of the roof but a bit of the front which has little or no overhang so rain hits it easily.

Hi I have built a summer house with stones around it. My garden slopes from the top where the grass is level with the base of the summer house to the bottom where the lawn is like 6-8 inches or so lower than the base. How would I go about raising the level of the grass and plant beds to the same height. I was hoping to source railways sleepers to lay along the bottom of the garden (there are already some around the summer house) and up the side fence too where the soil beds would meet the fence (as the neighbours garden will be a bit lower than mine). Also lay wooden panels around the beds at the bottom and side. Do I need to buy in some subsoil and proper soil to build up the level on top of the existing grass (which is patchy at best) and then buy rolled turf to lay out on top and more soil to build up the beds? Just looking for the cheapest way possible to do it myself really. Is it likely I can source old railway sleepers from a station maybe? Not sure what sort of volume of subsoil, soil or amount of grass to get hold of. The patch of grass needing replaced will be about 2.5m wide (from summer house stones to bed sideways) and 5.5m long from bottom bed to parallel with front of summer house. There is a photo below. Feel free to ask any questions. Would like to get this done this summer so the grass can take before winter.

Ok that sounds good. I guess measuring the height of the beam from top of the shutter to the beam itself should be obvious I can check this later on, I guess maybe just stick a ruler in front of the beam for the dot to fall on it with zero point at top of the shutter.

Iv a laser spirit level which produces line or dot. So would I put another piece of wood on top of the opposite shutter and mark on it where the dot sits if above? I am not sure how far the laser sits off the flat surface it sits on though if you know what I mean and there is the issue of is the surface actually flat it sits on or it inclining the beam somewhat although I guess I can position the top spirit bubble level to fix that to some degree. I thought there may be some other economical tool I could purchase perhaps maybe using GPS coordinates to measure any fall over say 5 or 6 metres.

Hi Is there a cheap digital tool I can purchase to check whether there is any drop from top to bottom and side to side at any point in a wooden shutter that has been set up for me prior to the concrete being poured? The area is too large for string solutions. I have a laser measure but that is only good for measuring the distance between two points. I am also aware that the concrete will likely self level to some extent if its not too thick but want to double check we arent way off before we pour. Using the spirit level round the edges looks not bad but its drop from one end to another and from side to side I am interested in measuring. Thanks

I tried that already its not possible due to the large size of the area. I am attempting to use Geogebra software to do the same thing but in a more exact method. I would think from what I have seen so far the frame needs changed for sure to give more comfortable margins.

You are misunderstanding I only have the shutter down the concrete isnt poured yet. It can certainly be fixed.

To confirm, I will have to ensure the lengths are actually 5.8 x 4.9m or as close as possible or they will be too small, then remeasure the diagonals is the best approach (and then if still not square then the whole frame will need moved slightly will it)? If I dont get the parallel lengths the same I am guessing it can never be square?

The frame is just standard 44mm wide timber and I don't think each side is completely vertical. Do you mean tilt the top of the frame outwards slightly to extend the width of concrete at the top but not the bottom? I think one side already has this I would prefer they are all vertical I still need to check that also. Thanks for confirming the parallel sides need to be the same length I think that is the place to start first then remeasure the diagonals?

Hi I am afraid not. The square has to be at very minimum 5800 x 4900mm. Some of the lengths are under and it is definitely not square at each corner (well I guess it cant be if the parallel lengths on both sides are not equal is that correct thinking?). Is it not the case that I need to first make sure that each parallel length is pretty much the same then re measure the diagonals to see how much it is off square, then make adjustments as required to give 5800 x 4900 with as close to possible 90 degree corners? And to the earlier comment yes the bottom left square does look less than 90. My guess is that even after stretching the parallel sides to be same length I will still have a slight lean as you indicated, although I am not sure. I am just trying to get a practical approach to fixing. It is annoying they didnt cut the beams to say 100mm longer each one so they could just have screwed into each other to give a virtual square anyway. The way they have done it lends itself to inaccuracy and tilt on square but we are where we are with it and they wont recut the shutter so I need to try and get the thing nudged in the right direction to square it up. I am not sure it is worth getting the laser thing perhaps as trig should solve this I guess?

Hi I have an area in the garden shuttered off for concreting and I need to know the shape is near enough bang on square with 90 degrees each corner. The size is 5.8m x 4.9m so a rectangle. I have measured the 4 sides which all come out at slightly different lengths for various reasons to do with the setup of the wooden shutter and I also measured the two diagonals from corner to corner. My question is are there apps or online tools/software that I can input these measurements to get an accurate visualisation of the area (clearly this wont account for bend in the wood but will be reasonably accurate for corner to corner dimensions assuming the wood is straight)? Ideally this online tool would then indicate what the 4 angles in the rectangle are so I can see how close to square it is ie 90 degrees at each corner. Even more ideally the software would indicate how I should change the shape in order to achieve the perfect square (I presume to start with to achieve this that parallel sides would have to be exactly the same length is this correct? And that if so the diagonals would then be the same length if all 4 angles were 90 degrees). If no one knows of software solution is it possible to work out all 4 angles in the rectangle given just the length of the 4 sides and the 2 diagonals mathematically? Or would the precursor to this have to be at least that both parallel sides were of exact same length or does that not matter mathematically? My trig is sketchy and I just cant figure out how to square this shape up better! Any advice would be much appreciated on how I would approach squaring this off (bear in mind that the wooden sides do not screw into each other flush as the wood was cut exact length 5.8x4.9 for some reason not larger so they could screw into each other, this allows the corners to move easily and some have posts in so the ends of the beams are not flush which is not ideal - I wont be getting it completely redone so just need to make adjustments to make best of the situation and get it as square as possible as there isnt much margin for the summer house that is going on top). I am not able to use the 3 4 5 method as tried that but don't have the tools and area is too large for the wire/string to be accurate). I cant work out even if the opposing sides are parallel or off. See below for a graphic with the measurements in mm if it helps (i haven't included the mid point measurements as I can see the wood bows and I can just get these straightened out):

I am looking to purchase a property that had some of the internal wall removed between the vestibule and lounge 5 and half years ago. I couldn't see any evidence of cracking or bowing of the walls or ceilings but quite a few of the floorboards in the lounge and above it on the first floor were squeaky. The surveyor couldn't access under carpets but said yes to structural movement in the questionnaire and noted some unevenness on the first floor landing which they think may be related to the wall being removed and structural movement. Photo below shows the lounge and where it is now open plan the vestibule wall would have extended right along to the kitchen wall originally with a door at some point: Here are some photos of the lounge: There was slight evidence of unevenness noted to the flooring to the first floor landing which may have been as a result of previous ground floor alterations the surveyors noted. They do reference a report done by consultant engineers but don't say when: We understand from our previous file notes, that the property has been inspected by XXX Consultant Engineers. They are of the opinion that the structural integrity of the property has not been affected by the alterations undertaken. It would be prudent to obtain copies of their report. I will get a copy when the sale goes through to read further but it could have been written 5 years ago and not recently. Is it worth getting a structural engineer to inspect the property prior to purchase? The work also got council planning permission and builders warrant although the builder has gone out of business is slightly worrying. I cant find the original plans for the house and not sure if this section of the vestibule wall would have been load bearing. Either way I would welcome some expert opinion on the job and if they thought it is likely to cause any problems in the future. It looks to me like a beam has been put in across the gap but not sure? I also thought the lounge to dining room may have been opened a bit but that might be the original design. Here is the build type of the house if it helps. Is the climbing pant Virginia Creeper worth worrying about from a structural point of view on the house?