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MikeSharp01

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Everything posted by MikeSharp01

  1. MikeSharp01
    Interesting Ian. I guess you don't need to worry about cold bridging so as long as you get the anchors well into the concrete core of the ICF that should do it.Do the three steel columns form a stand alone structure? (IE would it stand up without the walls or are the walls doing the racking work I wonder). If not stand alone then fixing might have to be done through two sides (at 90deg) so you have racking strength transferred to the steels in two plains.
  2. MikeSharp01
    +1 defo the SE patch. It can be done but just how much and what form of beefing up will be required will depend on where in the length the hole is going and the load profile at that point. Remember it is not just the load but also the deflection, which can produce high stresses in gusset plates and their fixings and the fire rating needed because that will have to be at least as good as the plain beam. You also do not have much meat around the hole to run strengthening through (((203-110)-60)/2) mm each side. You may need top and bottom strengthening as well. I presume you don't yet have the steel so it could be fabricated off-site because doing it on site will be a specialist job of the first order.
  3. MikeSharp01
    Can't help feeling that you may be overthinking this. If you seal the aqua board joints & fixings and then tile with grout sealer not sure why you need any more, it is not a swimming pool is it, although I suppose if you run hot water down the walls then you might get some condensation in the substrate somewhere which will need a way out.
  4. MikeSharp01
    Thanks all. @Pete Buttboard would work in most places but I like the thin batten idea from @Onoff although it does mean having extra batten's close in to the join so as to prevent and 800mm wide dip to fill.
  5. MikeSharp01
    I am about to start boarding out the garden room with dry lining board. In a couple if places the runs are greater than the 2 400mm and so I will have to form end on joints. The question is how to finish these joints using a dry lining approach. Side to side joins are easy because of the thinning of the board edges but when jointing end on no such provision is obvious so any tape will be quite proud and I am worried the joint will be visible. Any suggestions? Can you get boards with thinned edges all round?
  6. MikeSharp01
    In my world the contemporaneous note book is the bible, all the computer stuff is just that, stuff. The temporal, thought and associated decision based knowledge is all in the note book and hard coded along the time line by the dry ink on the pages. The idea being that you can follow your thinking and track the points at which decisions were made if there was ever a problem the note books got called in! EG on the 24th of October 2015 we agreed the budget for the kitchen and that is the figure in the spreadsheet. All in hard bound, I have created a large pallet load of them across my professional life. Still using it on the build but have augmented it with small moleskine notebooks I can have in my pocket around the site. All the non critical tracking is on the CAD systen including links to products, PDFs from engineers and architects, letters etc. The spreadsheet for costs, links to quote documents and invoices etc - All in a one drive folder so I can access it from anywhere, pintrest for images is about it although I gave a folder set in Gmail for the build where I link all the emails up.
  7. MikeSharp01
    Another approach is to get it mixed on site by a mixer truck that way you can control the mix as you go.
  8. MikeSharp01
    Just seen this thread - not good news. There may be a middle way for you here Ian. Why not move on but not let it drop. IE take the intellectual decision to stop the past affecting your future but at the same time just prod the claim along gently in the back ground without rancour as it is no longer a problem for you but you might be successful in getting a result and inadvertently help others using this technology. Looking through it all DURASOL have a problem at the bottom of this because their advice is just wrong and very plain to see. Just saying the build should have used common sense is not a defence, your builder was actually following their advice by the sounds of it, if the advice he was given by DURASOL is as it appears on their website. There is not, for instance, associated footnote that indicates there are any limits to this claim that there is no need to support them. If the DURASOL advice now changes then your case is strengthened if it does not change the DURASOL will now be liable for any incidents and were any incidents to result in death of injury then things could get very nasty for them - nobody wants that. Move on an plan a strategy to follow it up off-line by showing all the parties that there is a problem here that has cost you money and you intend not to let it drop.
  9. MikeSharp01
    Talk to a mortgage professional before you make any decisions such as giving up your offset facility you never know what's out there.
  10. MikeSharp01
    In theory this should not be a problem that cannot be solved provided you achieve two things and one risk item does not crystalise: The plot will need to have a value in excess of the mortgage, by a significant margin - lenders will have appetites here from about 70% loan to value down. This just means that the plot is significantly more valuable than the cost of the build. However this is as the plot stands because: Any building / preparation work you are likely to do must not devalue the plot below the appetite threshold with a margin in hand the lender is likely to set. The risk item is that lenders might not see this as a 'domestic' proposition and want you to take a commercial mortgage - fewer rules around repossession should you default, particularly if you have another domestic mortgage somewhere else. Mortgage broker is the way forward, but push for what you want and don't get managed into the box they have ready for you!
  11. MikeSharp01
    "Great service full refund when quoted saw depth and brand wrong on web." 71 chars.
  12. MikeSharp01
    An unenviable position. A couple of things come to mind mainly around stepping back and looking at the big picture. Firstly is the builder situation getting worse or has it always been like this, IE overall progress to date is / is not an indicator of future performance. Secondly you have a mass of options at this point were you to decide to split with the builder - EG appoint another full builder, appoint a PM who pulls in trades as needed, do it all yourself, take on and employ an 'apprentice' in association with the local college to provide an extra pair of hands, go back to the University's engineering / construction dept / school / faculty and see if you can find an experienced mature student or two who would like occasional work, be your own PM and bring in trades as and when, get your architect a bit more involved for support, lots more. Thirdly have you paid VAT as part of the builders bill because you will need his invoice to claim that back? You can chase this through HMRC if push comes to shove, he is obliged to give you a VAT invoice. Finally, perhaps most importantly, is there anything else going on in your life that is going to / likely to take your emotional energy / focus off the build - suggests ways forward and / or is the current situation having effects in other areas in which case time to get back control.
  13. MikeSharp01
    Clever, not seen one that thin.
  14. MikeSharp01
    Got one of these on Saturday. Not cheap @ £20 but amazing! It's a stiff brush with both plastic and metal bristles. Got the green and slimey pond deck clean alost as new in no time and cleaned the patios of moss looking for other things to clean now. (No offers) Exhausted but much quicker than the pressure washer.
  15. MikeSharp01
    Be positively negative - I think the modern generations would call it passive aggressive. You know: "Great company to deal with as they gave me a full refund when I pointed out that sadly the hole saw was not quite able to cut the depth it said it would on the website and was not an own brand product as they also said." Service review +ve product review -ve.
  16. MikeSharp01
    Just a chance here but did your legal team not spot this and give you a heads up? Might be a case against them if they did not.
  17. MikeSharp01
    Ooops One course wont be a problem - did I miss that in your description.
  18. MikeSharp01
    Hi Ian. You won't want to hear this, and it may not be a problem, but in case it has not been addressed there is also a toppling force on the wall which needs to be 'managed' which may or may not be why the pull out resistance of the rebar needs to be good and the number of them high enough. As depending upon how high the next pour is you will have a weak line along the join which could, in some weather conditions, put pressure on the top of the wall and cause a failure. If there are corners in the pour or a good number of castelations (you picture shows a few) the risk is lessened. Sorry!
  19. MikeSharp01
    You can make any construction type deliver a grass roof so it comes down to preference, usage and cost. Do you want to graze your elephants on the roof or is it just ornamental and taking no more load than the grass + snow?
  20. MikeSharp01
    Just one thought, which I am sure you have thought through, in the WC pipework you have the heat / pipe under the pan and most pans are fixed down with screws so extra care needed when drilling the fixing holes! An alternative, given the other pipework in the room as @PeterW says heating the WC area, you could delete that section of the loop or at least ensure no pipework is anywhere near where a drill might be used to fix down the pan.
  21. MikeSharp01
    I think that if you insist they have no choice but to provide a VAT receipt, if they don't offer to report them to HMRC who will wonder if their VAT system, which must be vast, is sound. As I understand they have a duty to show you, the customer, how the cost of your purchase is split between goods and taxes - its an EU law so perhaps they think brexit has already happened!
  22. MikeSharp01
    Welcome. Looks interesting, can't see a problem putting the upstand on afterwards but you could just move the formwork out 100mm and put the upstand inside the formwork, might be simpler! Also you have about 300mm of insulation under the floor and only 150mm in the walls so your overall U value will be relatively low with the floor performing better than the walls. Might be worth thinking about thickening up the walls, with some PU, on the outside of the SIP as you have room over the ali flashing, will cut your bills in the long run.
  23. MikeSharp01
    Looks great, wish i could work at this pace.
  24. MikeSharp01
    Welcome and what a lovely situation to be in. I only know what I have picked up in along the paths of life but you could perhaps look at putting the 2nd property into your company pension fund, assuming you have a self administered fund, this might be tax efficient but won't allow you to realise instant profits for the staff. If its a true part of the business you will be liable for corporation tax on the profit not capital gains (a tax for individuals) unless you are keeping the property privately - in which case you will need to ensure traceable payments are very carefully made by private individuals and on the VAT reclaim side you will need to declare your relationship to a VAT registered company when you make your return to claim back the VAT on the first house IIRC. There is is also a possibility of setting aspects of the build off against tax if you handle parts of it as R&D (EG Developing innovative energy systems), training and development of the staff (EG air tightness skills perhaps - wholly and exclusively naturally..) and possibly apprenticeship(s) unless you are big enough to be paying your CiTB contribution already! Given all the options your accountant would perhaps be best to provide insights.
  25. MikeSharp01
    I got my PHPP free with an introductory course at BRE and it was well worth it. Think it was around £500 for the one day course and the software was free.
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