Bitpipe

Too late Mr Flange, I have claimed this sub forum for Norn Iron.

I thought he'd have been here in a heart beat so I'm putting down my marker first

The best questions come well before you're ready and the most urgent after you're ready

It's about that, there are some obvious ridges that can be ground off but it looses less than 10mm over 10m. As it's concrete and not screed, would something more heavy duty be required?

Meant to add that our guy was aligned with a warranty firm who gave us a very competitive quote initially (and he would have done the inspections for that also) but when we came to start work a year later, they had shot up in cost so we used Ark (Zurich backed) who were cheaper and require no inspections at all.

Ok, I think I heard that! Will await the post grout update.

We needed a contamination report anyway to ensure that the spoil was inert for muck-away (and get the lowest rate) so the report was probably way more detailed than they required. Archeology was not that hard as all was needed was the agreed investigation scheme (watching brief) which is pretty boiler plate.

When we started the project, the architect suggested we use an independent assessor. Have to say, this is one of the best decisions we made. They were cheaper than LABC (who price on the completion spend but this excludes kitchens, bathroom fittings etc so could be manipulated to be what you need) and are super responsive but also light touch. There was a paper exercise up-front to supply all the detail drawings and calcs (these came direct from MBC and the structural engineer who designed the basement) and then details on other elements. Their first major inspection was when the rebar was in, ahead of any concrete pour. Seeing the quality of the work meant they didn't need to come back until the frame was erected. Next visit was after first fix and we'll see them again near the end. We've been able to negotiate away an external soil vent stack (their suggestion) and use of fireline plasterboard everywhere plus had sensible discussions on fire doors, escapes etc. I'd say that they have saved me money and been a good checkpoint for some issues. One golden rule though - whatever the outcome of a phone conversation - always get it in writing!

Thought I'd share my experience of this as it's often overlooked in the fight to get planning in the first place. We had a total of 14 conditions to discharge with five pre-commencement conditions, an archeology condition and ground contamination report (we have a basement which likely triggered these last two). The architect practice wanted £15k to work on these along with the Building Control submission so at this point we parted company and I tool them on myself. Quite a few required statements on how we would meet various local policies (sustainable design, lifetime homes) so these were easy enough to do - just obtaining the relevant policy online and replying point by point. We had the usual materials approval and our samples had to be dropped off - I only handed in a roofing slate (a freebie from the local BM) and a render sample. We also had to specify planting (quick google on hedge types) and confirm that we'd comply with the meagre rainwater collection requirements, parking requirements and balcony glass obscurity (these are pre-occupation conditions). We had to produce a site traffic plan, which was pretty easy, and acknowledge a few other restrictions. The longest lead item was the contamination report as we were doing that as part of our ground investigation survey, which itself was a bit of a saga, requiring two visits. We probably could have got away with something cheaper but we did get a very comprehensive report than firmly stated that there were no issues. Then came the big surprise - the amount of time it took to discharge them, a function of our overworked planning team. As there is a fixed fee per submission, not condition, I did them all in one shot and then sat back. Deadlines came and went with very little communication and then the 8 week deadline was exceeded. I emailed the planners to ask what was going on, by this stage you can leverage the planning act to get a default discharge but I held back as I didn't want to antagonise them. When 12 weeks was passed I was less patient and wrote a stiff email, quoting the legislation and asking for a refund of my fee. Low and behold, all conditions were discharged and we were able to start work - I really doubt if they read half of what we submitted.

I find that I take on a lot of small jobs, keep putting them off and then have a mad panic as I realise that I'm about to hold up another trade. Rinse and repeat.

Good find £99 at the moment - a bit late for me now, but I was happy enough paying £125 compared to the £250 at Eclisse! Will definitely check them out when buying the rest of the gear.

We had an old brick soakaway in the back for the old house that would have taken the lot...had we not filled it in a while back. As I understand*, disposal is only an issue in landfill where the high sulphur content in the gypsum reacts with biowaste to form Hydrogen Sulphide gas. *Ok, I googled it...

It's the soundblock version, about half as dense again as the normal (35kg a sheet). We have it on ceilings in the basement and ground floor and also used where we had pocket doors as the void obviously can't be stuffed with rockwool. Also enclosed the downstairs loo in it to prevent any awkward situations when entertaining

Getting quotes to tile the basement - it's quite a large area, just over 100m2, divided into a hall and four rooms. The slab was hand finished with a boom, not power floated. As such it has a few ridges but is fairly flat. We're using reasonably large tiles, 800mm square and are getting different opinions from different tilers on the best prep. One has suggested grinding down any high spots and using adhesive to make up the levels (but warns that we may be in iffy territory if there is more than 12mm adhesive) wants £10/sqm just for prep. Other has proposed using a self levelling compound which is about £600 in labour and about same again in materials. Thoughts?

Depends where the hole is...

So after filling a few skips so far and being told "no plasterboard", the penny only dropped that this might be difficult stuff to get rid of at the plastering stage. We have quite a large house so generated quite a bit of scrap, especially the rooms in roof where there are lots of triangular sections. Turns out that the local skip firm will do a plasterboard only skip but at an increased cost to normal to cover the additional landfill cost. I got a 4.5 yd for £265 inc VAT (Berkshire) and it was just big enough (note to self, always get a skip one size larger than you think you need). Quite tricky to fill it efficiency too, I ended up stacking larger bits up the sides and kept the middle for small bits, which I regularly compacted with a sledge. I did call a few of the industry recycling schemes but they're only geared up for big sites. A few skip companies go by weight but the challenge of keeping a skip of board dry put me off, not paying to dispose of rain water Note that there's no issue in disposing of plaster itself in a normal skip, we've accumulated quite a few bags of scraps and will have quite a few more before we're done.

We went wet as the slightly higher cost of install was outweighed by the cost of the units - electric rads are quite a bit more expensive than wet. Electric UFH is not that expensive for a small area - I'm using the UFH store's cheapest system which is just 100W - figure that I will only want it on when the bathrooms are in use. Have been advised that the mats should be run to all accessible areas of the bathroom, including just under the bath, as the heat does not spread far and wide - which is probably good for our type of house.

We went with all black 300W panels with in roof trays on a slate roof. I'm amazed at the number of people who don't notice them until they're pointed out.

We have quite a few pocket sliders in our build, they are great for bathrooms as they avoid the issue of having to accommodate an opening door, also have double sets between pairs of basement rooms to allow the rooms to open up. We were planning to use Eclisse and built our frames around their dimensions but then we discovered that they only do 3" or 4" studs and we have CLS, which is in-between. I then discovered http://www.hafele.co.uk/shop/home and got the correct sized sets for half the price of Eclisse - the frames are not as comprehensive as Eclisse but once clad in plasterboard they're fairly solid.

Ah well, the room is a mix of full and half height tiling so at least half would need skimming anyway, so should I hassle him to take it neat to the bottom? Any issue if it all gets mist coated before the tiling/tanking or is that a no-no? Also, still a bit confused about the tanking and tray (vs former) - if I tank behind the tray, won't any stray water want to go down the back? How do I ensure it runs into the tray itself - tray is 25mm deep so with adhesive / 6mm backer board / ufh mat / adhesive and tile, should be just about flush.

We have a MBC house with 3 bathrooms, two are in a cantilevered section that sits over the porch and the ensuite is at the rear and is over the living / dining room. The cantilevered section is well insulated (400mm of Warmcel) but I have been advised that cold bathroom tiles under feet will not be tolerated! Our main heating is wet UFH on the ground floor only (under the suspended timber floor). As a last minute measure (and I mean removing plasterboard and re-tacking kind of last minute), we made provision for electric UFH by running a conduit into each bathroom and adding boxes for a stat plus fused spur each. Plan to put the cheapest 100W mat system on the cheapest 6mm backer board and have it as a just in case system. Was planning to use 9mm ply to build up the sub floor so this will get me there or there abouts. So, two questions: 1) Anyone have experience of using this system and any tips? Tiler has offered to lay board and mat for £40sqm (areas are a few sqm each). 2) Any of the MBC owners club care to comment on the feel of tiles under feet in 1st floor bathrooms? We have also not put any UFH heating in the basement as the rebar was too complex to lay pipe in during the pour. Basement is 300mm slab on 300mm EPS and walls (now plasterboarded) are 300mm with 200mm EPS so a very consistent temperature. It will also be tiled and resisting the urge to also lay electric UFH as a just in case measure.

Cheers Nick, always happy to hear that it's a job best paid for rather than have a go and stuff it up. So former first, then tank both then shower tray. That said, if the tray goes in after tanking, how would the water get into the tray ? Follow up question - plasterer has not gone tight to the floor in the bathrooms - says he's happy to do so if the tiler wants - does it make the tanking job easier & better quality or no difference? I have a related question on electric UFH but will start another thread.

We have three bathrooms in the new build, one with a bath, one with a shower tray and one with both a bath and a wetroom former tray (because we couldn't get a 900mm square tray to line up the waste with the joists). These rooms have all been tacked with green board and plastered so we're now looking at tanking and installing the showers so we can get on with tiling. So, given we have two different types of shower tray, what's the right order to tank? Tiler says put the former in, tank both rooms and then put the tray in. Plumber says tank both afterwards. Tiler has also offered to tank for a fee - but is this an easy DIY job? Finally, Nick previously recommended this material http://www.bcprofiles.co.uk/aquaseal-wet-room-system-4-5m2-kit/?gclid=CPijq4SShswCFTUW0wod7GAL2g are the coverage rates for one coat or mulktiple? Take it away Nick...

The EPS 200 was for under our basement slab which was 122m2 x 300mm RC with just under 50 linear m of 3m high of 300mm thick RC walls - 12+ tonnes of steel in that plus about 80m3 of concrete. Plus the TF house on top. I ordered 49 sheets (2.4 x 1.2) which worked out just right as Hillard (not our SE but I used him for advice on the EPS) recommended a min 200mm toe between the insulation and edge of slab which we just about met in places and exceeded in others. Just laid whole sheets (on base of 150mm compacted type 1 and 50mm blinding) didn't bother with any cuts and then covered with a high density DPM, taped at the seams and tucked down at the edges. Groundworker filled in the edges with more type 1 to give a flat surface. Each sheet weighed about 35kg, not super heavy but tricky to manoeuvre and you need a bit of space to store them. One note, the footprint was originally marked out on surface by a surveyor using a Total Station. Groundworker then translated the pins outside the excavation area and dug down, with an additional 1m working space all round. When the surveyor re-marked out the slab ahead of concrete works, we saw that the footprint we were working to for laying the EPS was about 100mm off true but it wasn't an issue as we'd allowed for plenty of toe all round.

This the data sheet that I shared with our BCO and SE, they used it to agree the required grade for under slab (EPS 200).We used EPS70 on the sides as there is no load bearing there. http://www.insulatio...Information.pdf