Elton

I have a kingspan timber frame house. Sound transfer and a solid feeling floor was a priority for me so I had the pozijoists at 300mm centers and put 50mm of cemflow screed upstairs. There is 100mm rockwall between joists. We haven't moved in yet but all tests show low noise transfer between up and downstairs and there are still carpets to go down. The extra cost for the joists was around £1500 and the cemflow £2500

🤔 might end up a bit like the old lady who swallowed a fly.

I think most of the swimming ponds built in the uk and probably the eu use the Austrian Biotop system this is quite involved so would probably be described as a lot of filtering. They may well work but they are also expensive. I used the airpump system championed by David Pagan Butler this uses airpumps around the pond connected to perforated pipe set into the gravel bed. The air pumps are run from a single 60w air compressor, this system moves a lot of water for little energy. The water quality has been excellent but its probably not for everyone. I like the pondyness of it but then i like swimming in rivers 🤔 If this was 6weeks ago I would have reported no issues however there is currently a flush of algae although the water is still clear. This has almost certainly been caused by the accidental introduction of sticklebacks. The sticklebacks eat the daphnia which eat the algae. I am currently looking at my options for removing them. Any ideas?

I built a natural swimming pond last year I used the digger we had for doing the foundations. House still not finished but we've been enjoying the pond for over year

I've done lots like this. If the concealed brackets are fixed to the wall before templating i drill oversized holes usually 15mm in back of the stone shelf then use chemfix on installation. The shelf should be 30mm thick. Alternatively we glue stainless threaded rod into the stone at the factory then drill holes into the wall and fill with cemfix. This is usually better for brick walls. If you want to put weight on it recessing the shelf into the wall makes it a lot stronger.

We used siberian larch with a heavy charred from inflamed.eu it was cheaper than buying from the uk. I didn't find it hard to work and not too flakey. We nailed gunned it with stainless pin nails It's been up 4months and looks good so far. We have lots of trees around so it may weather overtime but we like a bit of character

I have standing seam zinc with bedrooms in the roof and was worried about the noise. We haven't moved in yet but last week there was heavy hail so i went into the bedroom to be and was v.pleased that it was no noisier than the tiled house I'm in at the moment

I sort of agree with don't sweat the small stuff and be happy with what you have. But I template kitchen tops every day and if the doors are fitted straight i would have done 2-3mm overhang. Max 10mm if doors are a bit out but never 20mm on handle less. However that profile gives a lot of room to get your fingers in so I'm sure you will get used to it and not notice

I was thinking of doing something similar. As I understand it the purpose of the ventilated firestop is to stop the build up of hot air in the boxing. So if i block it at the vapor barrier going into loft space but i put ventilation in the boxing below it should do the same job. Is this what you did? If so what size vents did you put in the boxing? I does seem silly to me that there is no provision for air tightish houses in the regs

You appear to have had the same concerns as me regarding the ventilated firestop and i was wondering if you came up with a solution. I have a reasonably airtight newbuild with mvhr. Im installing a stove with external air source. The regulations state you must have a ventilated firestop between floors so i am basically connecting my living room directly to the cold attic space.