Sarah29

Thanks all - Am liking the sound of mess free ice blasting for this project as there are quite a few layers of varnish over the many years to remove and the beams appear to have some good existing character too....shall make some calls and find out more.

Just seeing if anyone can offer any thoughts/experience with renovating/lightening old oak beams? I'm going to start the refurbishment of a 500 year old room that has old oak beams across the ceiling. Condition excellent....but over the years endless coats of varnish have gone on and they look rather dark and dreary....bit like an old pub! I've read all about the various methods: Sandblasting, Bead blasting, Chemical treatment, Specialist treatments Has anyone been down this road and can share a thought? The simplest looks like specialist surface treatment where you simply apply a cosmetic finish on top that on the face of it looks very good....there are a handful of companies doing it with endless supposed happy customers. If it's just a surface treatment, I'm happy to do it myself but need to find the right product. I'm all ears if anyone has any thoughts/knowledge on this.....thanks, Sarah

@vfrdave any of the agricultural limes will slowly adjust the soil pH level over time. Use a finer grain for quick release etc. or larger grain for gradual release. Also depends on your soil permeability too etc. Can also pick up one of those simple soil ph meters which will give you a good steer if you're going in the right direction. @ProDave ha no i'm not suggesting a dig up! Liming is a slow/gradual/permanent fix to the issue so you could possibly introduce coarse grain lime along an adjacent flower bed perhaps that naturally drains through the soil under the tarmac....just a thought.

Yes nearly certain it's horsetail from that pic. And yes v difficult to get rid off using the usual methods. Best way and most permanent is usually to make the soil less hospitable to it (horsetail loves acidic soil).....so if you can access the soil layer (poss through the side water table), you can introduce lime to increase the pH and permanently get rid of the stuff. I've spent too much time talking about this annoying weed with farmers/ecologists. Glyphosate doesn't really do a great job of getting to the roots but it will certainly weaken it if you pull surface weeds and glypho the green shoots religiously. But would really think about tackling it more fundamentally if poss and adjust that pH in the soil...as Joe says the roots go down the metres. Sarah

After much umming and arring and taking everyone's comments on board here on Buildhub...thanks! I've decided to avoid a Saniflo type systems. This is what I'm currently thinking and would appreciate any comments/thoughts - The new build property has a basement with a WC/Shower/Basin - The basement is below the main sewer invert level - Am thinking of having a gravity drainage setup for the basement WC/Shower/Basin that runs outside to a sewage pumping station with a single vortex pump adjacent to the house A few questions on this - - As the lifting requirement is around 2m, I believe a macerator pump is not required, a vortex pump is fine. Is this correct? - Has anyone had any noise/smell issues from sewage pumping stations being close to the house? - Since this solution is for a basement, the sewage pumping station and drain runs will need to be fairly deep underground (around 3m) to allow the basement WC/Shower/Basin to gravity flow into it. Apart from this being a bit costly, are there any other problems with this I've not thought of? Building control/Structural warranty issues perhaps? Thanks very much in advance! Sarah

My SE is looking to use beam and block for the upper floor of our new build. This is raising a few unknowns which I'm trying to work out what is best. The property will have MVHR ducting and also will be screeded with wet underfloor. The property certainly doesn't have too much ceiling height to play with so I'm looking to keep this B+B floor thickness to a minimum. On the MVHR front, there is 51mm semi-rigid ducting available we can use which helps out there. Realistically how much service void space needs to be left under the beams as a minimum? Is it realistic to use the void area between the beam and blocks themselves to run this thicker ducting if positioning allows? I understand B+B performs well acoustically, but would I need to incorporate other measures as well....rockwool, double board which will add to the floor thickness? From an insulation perspective, can I ask what have others done on this front for an upper floor B+B? Are there any low profile B+B systems anyone has used? Apologies if my questions are rather basic, but any pointers or ideas people have done to keep an B+B upper floor to a minimum would be appreciated. I have not had chance to use a B+B system before. thanks, Sarah

I'm just up to the stage of appointing someone to prepare my building regs drawings submission for a new build house. Hoping someone can confirm a few points for me as I'm hearing conflicting information on exactly what is required: - Are full lighting/socket/switch design and layout scheme drawings needed at this stage? - Is an MVHR layout scheme with inlets/duct positions required at this stage? - Are drawings for the wet UFH layout needed (ie. pipe runs?) at this stage? Many thanks in advance, Sarah

All - thanks for your input on this. It's decided, I won't try and reinvent the wheel, seems the tech just isn't ready for anything more creative just yet. UVC and a monobloc ASHP it is! Now onto deciding on the most suitable ASHP make, am swaying towards Vaillant in this scenario, shall keep the research going.

Just seeing if anyone has done something similar or can tell me I'm barking up the wrong tree. New build house in progress with wet UFH throughout, c.2000sqft 4-bed. Have been considering the best ASHP installs and what could be a good approach. Considering a Daikin ASHP with Sunamp Thermino 300 for the UFH and hot water. Any shortfall dealt with by E7. Seems like a fairly straightforward setup and PV ready. Has anyone done something similar or can offer any thoughts? Would you expect any flow rate issues when concurrent showers are used etc? Would I be correct saying the UFH circuit would still require the usual buffer tanks as this basically operates in the same way as usual? Thanks in advance for any comments.

thanks - yes I did look through that article, an excellent summary. My query goes on a bit further on as it seems to be a bit grey when you split the whole project into 2 parts like I'm thinking.

Have been reading all about CDM and how it fits what I'm planning on doing, hope someone can offer a thought on this for my self-build. The relevant facts are as follows: - I am a domestic client building a self-build house for myself. - I have an architect who has designed the project, hence he is the "Principal Designer" under CDM. - What I plan on doing is using a main contractor to take the project out of the ground to a watertight stage and then I would pick up from there and manage the remainder of the project through a combination of work myself and bringing trades on as required (decorators, electricians, plumbers etc). - In this scenario I believe I can initially designate the role of "Principal Contractor" to the main contractor for delivering a watertight project and therefore I would have no legal duties under CDM beyond these initial appointments of Principal Designer and Principal Contractor. - Then when he hands the site back to me as a watertight shell I would then become a project manager and employ individual trades at different times when required. At that stage I would then need to comply with all the matters outlined in Part 4 of CDM 2015 (Welfare, first aid box, etc.). Am I sounding right on this? thanks, Sarah